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COD Vanguard Voice Actors and Character Bios Revealed

Activision is shining the limelight on their solo campaign playerbase today, as the publisher revealed the Call of Duty (COD) Vanguard voice actors and character bios in their latest blog post and behind-the-scenes. Head on below for more of the main characters of COD Vanguard and the voice actors that will give them life.

Here are the COD Vanguard character bios with their respective voice actors:

Sergeant Arthur Kingsley (Chiké Okonkwo)

The heart and leader of Task Force One, Kingsley was born in the Douala region of Cameroon before attending University of Cambridge and enlisted in the British Army. A man of nobility whose parents encouraged his multilingualism — he speaks English, German, French, Portuguese, and Bantu, both the Equatorial and Northern dialects — Kingsley saw politics always being discussed at the dinner table, and as a kid, his mother would read him his favorite book, The Three Musketeers, every night.

While Kingsley is a natural-born leader, he fears falling into the traditional patterns of the British Army, over-deliberating at times when his soldiers may be faced with a life-threatening situation. However, that all represents a near-unrivaled care for those who serve beside him, and Kingsley works every day to not only protect them, but also earn their respect.

To his core, Arthur is a kind soul with a warm but mischievous smile. He takes things to heart and harbors deep empathy for those close to him. He loves the comfort and warmth of his home life and family, and longs for peace time to return.

However, Arthur harbors a deep resentment: despite understanding the wrongs of the world, he is unable to right them. To that point, he has a strong sense of loyalty to fight against the Nazis to help protect his home and put an end to the dangerous ideas Nazism propagates.

Lieutenant Polina Petrova (Laura Bailey)

Born and raised in Stalingrad, Polina Petrova is a soldier not by choice, but by a need to defend her country.

Stalingrad was her childhood home, one where she lived many happy memories, including hunting with her father and brother. Although she lost her mother a decade prior to the war, her reality was even more impacted by the brutal Axis invasion of Operation Barbarossa. Using the sharpshooting skills, she learned from her family, Petrova’s story is one of vengeance and retribution for all that she and her community lost.

Polina is a woman of few words, but when she speaks, it is with purpose and often leaves a powerful impact. She’s content in her own company, only opening up to those she trusts and respects deeply with sharp and educated wit.

Although she barely shares what is on her mind, her actions speak for her opinions. Often, she takes matters into her own hands and never waits for anyone else, especially when her thirst for vengeance takes over and puts her in a blind rage.

Whether by words or action, Polina is driven by a desire to see her home free from Nazi invaders, and she is not afraid to put this personal pursuit above her duties.

Private Lucas Riggs (Martin Copping)

Lucas Riggs prefers actions over words, and although his personality is far from explosive, his method of dealing with threats is highly combustible.

A child of sheep farmers just outside Melbourne, Australia, Riggs worked with his family to tend the herd and collect wool. When World War II began, he didn’t hesitate to sign up before conscription was even implemented. He was ready to see more of the world and fight a greater evil than the occasional petty mobster in his area.

Riggs can be described as an enigma – he would not take offense to this distinction, as he understands people just as much as others understand him.

To his allies, Riggs is a gentle giant, often being the life of the party, but not one to seek the spotlight. To his enemies, Riggs is an intimidating and brutal warrior of honor. He stands up to wrongdoers and those who start conflicts with blunt force, ironically done via his specialty within the Australian Army: explosives.

Ultimately, Riggs is the definition of passion within a soldier. Valuing his fellow squad mates and country above all else, he wants to show the world what Australians are made of.

Lieutenant 1st Class Wade Jackson (Derek Phillips)

A product of New York, pilot Wade Jackson is more at home in the sky than he is on the ground… And he is adamant on doing all his own stunts, even if the mission does not call for it.

Growing up in Brooklyn as a first-generation American, Jackson is a rebel who often finds himself first to a fight, especially if it’s about respect for his family. Bright, yet not engaged with traditional schooling, Jackson discovered his love for speed at the age of 16 through an afterschool repair club. He and his friends often took the vehicles at the shop for joyrides on the newly opened Interboro Parkway, where he would be the only daredevil able to tame the road’s dangerous curves at high speeds.

His newfound rigor for adrenaline paid off after high school, when he was accepted into the Navy’s enlisted aviation cadet program and earned his pilot’s wings in a dive bomber. Since then, he has become a true force in the Pacific.

Charismatic and enthusiastic, Wade enjoys a challenge and relishes the prospect of showing off his natural talents in the spotlight to prove he’s the best. He is egotistical and considers himself special, believing he can fix every problem through bold action.

As the daring hotshot of the group, Wade would rather be a lone wolf, but welcomes competent team members if they don’t get in his way.

Sergeant Richard Webb (Simon Quarterman)

Although he shares the same rank as his squad mate, Arthur Kingsley, Sergeant Richard Webb is Kingsley’s right-hand man, friend, and confidant.

Webb grew up in a family of academics, following in his parent’s footsteps in pursuing a professorship track at the university where they worked. In doing so, he had no intention of fighting in World War II; he felt secure that his graduate work would make him exempt from service. However, the draft called for him and he reluctantly joined the army.

He knows his country needs him for the war, but he sees no honor in the duty. Rather, he sees soldiering as a job that must be done if there is any hope of life returning to normalcy.

With no illusions of glory nor passion to volunteer for a high-risk assignment, Webb often takes a cautious and calculated approach to every conflict, using his intelligence based in realism to come to a correct decision. Indeed, Webb believes his choice is always right, and his stubbornness derails discussions just as much as his perceived pessimism for how a situation could go wrong.

Webb’s defining moment is during Operation Tonga, where his style of leadership and that of Arthur Kingsley reaches a breaking point. What happens then – and Webb’s ultimate decision to join Task Force One – is up to you to discover in Vanguard’s Campaign.

SS Oberst-Gruppenführer Hermann Wenzel Friesinger (Dan Donohue)

The main antagonist of Vanguard’s Campaign, Freisinger is an ambitious and arrogant Nazi Officer, working at the Gestapo’s Berlin Headquarters. He is chief interrogator of the SS and the secret architect of the mysterious Project Phoenix.

Born as an only child to a wealthy family with a long history of military service, Freisinger served as a courier and information analyst during the later years of the Great War. Following that, he served in the military police and then the Gestapo, rising quickly through the Nazi Party through his cunning and tactical wit.

Ruthless and charismatic, Freisinger makes everyone in the room feel special, but uses this charisma to manipulate people into telling him what he needs to know. He is always trying to maximize what he can gain out of an individual, be it a colleague or an enemy, analyzing and remembering every tiny detail about them to get what he needs.

Freisinger’s goal is to live up to his family reputation within the military and continue the great lineage of his namesake. He does not see much value in winning individual battles, as he understands that to win the war, you must outsmart and outmaneuver your opponents.

Ultimately, Freisinger is willing to sacrifice anything – and anyone – to ensure that Project Phoenix is realized.

Alongside this new information, Activision also released a behind-the-scenes for the story trailer released earlier. Check it out below.

What do you think? Are the characters of COD Vanguard interesting enough to keep you invested? Let us know in the comments below!

Source: Call of Duty

MP1st Staff

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Dying Light 2 Behind the Scenes Showcase the Making of Its Main Theme

While the game may be a few months more from its release, Techland has started to roll out its Dying Light 2 behind the scenes promotionals, and this latest one showcases the making of its main theme and soundtrack. Behind the compositions is none other than Olivier Derivière, one of the most prolific video game composers today. Check out the full making of video for the Dying Light 2 theme below.

BAFTA-nominated French composer and music designer Olivier Derivière is best known for his work in A Plague Tale: Innocence, Remember Me, and Alone In The Dark, among others. His work in this game is his latest, alongside his contribution to 2020’s Streets of Rage 4.

The first game in the series, Dying Light, owed its music work to composer Paweł Błaszczak. Dying Light’s opening theme has been highly praised and is considered to be one of the main highlights when it came to the composition.

Dying Light 2 will be released for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PC on February 22, 2022.

MP1st Staff

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Rust Update 1.08 Patch Notes; Hotfix Patch Out This October 11

Double Eleven has released the Rust update 1.08 patch this October 11, and this brings a small yet important batch of fixes for the open-world survival shooter. Head on down below for the complete patch notes for Rust update 1.08.

Rust Update 1.08 Patch Notes for October 11

  • Fixed Garage door collisions. Players should be able to use jump ups again.

  • Crafting UI, Map UI and Inventory UI now contain the same button prompt. “Close” and “Back”.

  • Fixed a missing frame in the aiming animation for the crossbow.

  • Fixed the stuttering animation of jackhammer while holding it.

  • Fixed a bug causing the skin bundle Preview to show incorrect logos, this is now [store] instead of [locker].

  • Fixed a bug stopping players from purchasing the bundle until they have as many Rustcoins as the original price (Non-discounted).

  • Fixed a crash with Skin store scrolling.

  • Added more debugging into the skin store to track issues with Australia.

That’s about it for the patch.

Source: Rust

MP1st Staff

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COD Vanguard PlayStation Exclusive Benefits Confirmed

In case you missed it, Activision dropped a small bomb of a reveal today, as it appears that Call of Duty (COD) Vanguard PlayStation exclusive benefits have been confirmed. This tidbit dropped alongside the latest Call of Duty Vanguard story trailer, where it was shown briefly at the end of the teaser. It’s important to note that this information was made available through the story trailer dropped on the official PlayStation YouTube channel, and not the one from the official Call of Duty channel.

cod vanguard playstation exclusive

As you can see in the image above, the COD Vanguard PlayStation exclusive benefits will be rolled out on both the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5, and players can expect these benefits to be exclusive to the platform until November 1 of next year. That said, we still don’t know what these exclusive benefits are yet, as Sony and Activision have not yet revealed them.

This is not the first time Activision has rollled out extra goodies for players on the PlayStation, as the previous iteration, Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War, also had several exclusive benefits for players on the platform. This included Zombies Onslaught mode, Zombies Onslaught: Containment, exclusive Zombies intel, exclusive Blueprints, update pre-loads, and other numerous multiplayer benefits.

Stay tuned here on MP1st for the complete list of exclusive benefits once Activision reveals them.

MP1st Staff

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Call of Duty Vanguard Story Trailer Introduces the Birth of the Special Ops

With its release date less than a month, Activision and Sledgehammer Games have released the Call of Duty Vanguard story trailer which officially introduces its main characters and the overall story progression. For those who are avid fans of the series’ campaign mode, check out the official story trailer below.

Activision is going all out in this new iteration for the Call of Duty series, as detailed in their brief descritpion for the Vanguard campaign, spanning several fronts of war and jumping through various characters.

The award-winning Call of Duty® series returns with Call of Duty®: Vanguard, in which players will experience influential battles of World War II as they fight for victory across the Eastern and Western Fronts of Europe, the Pacific, and North Africa.

Call of Duty Vanguard is releasing this November 5 for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.

MP1st Staff

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Rainbow Six Siege Doktor’s Curse 2021 Starts Tomorrow, Here’s What’s Coming

Ubisoft has another Halloween event planned for Rainbow Six Siege, and it’s via the limited-time event from Year 4! The Rainbow Six Siege Doktor’s Curse 2021 schedule has been revealed, and it starts tomorrow, October 12, and will run until November 2, which is perfect for a spooktacular good time for Siege players.

Check out the trailer alongside what to expect from this limited-time mode for Halloween!

Per the official press release:

In this new version of the 5v5 Monster Hunt mode, some Monsters (Lion and Jackal) have joined the side of the Exterminators. The Sledges are back and again, they only wield Sledge hammers as weapons and one gadget from a selection of three, each attached to a unique operator skin – Eyenox Model III (Jackal), Heartbeat Sensor (Pulse) and EE-ONE-D (Lion). They will face five other Monsters: a cast composed of Lesion, Frost, Kapkan, Smoke, and Ela, with new additions of Aruni and Melusi. The defending Monsters have no weapons but can use traps and a unique ability created for this mode: become momentarily invisible and run faster to escape. The attacking Monsters’ goal is to kill all the opponents, while the defending Monsters must try to survive the round.

Players can expect bundles for Smoke, Kapkan, Frost, Lesion, Doc, Bandit and Ela, in addition to that, there will be new bundles for Monsters: Jackal, Lion, Aruni, Melusi, and Kaid. Each bundle will cost 1680 R6 Credits each or via the collection packs for 300 R6 Credits each. For those who don’t want to spend, each player that logs in from tomorrow until the November 2 event end date will get a Doktor’s Curse pack for free, and can also get three other packs by completing Ubisoft Challenges.

Changes are, there’s no patch that will coincide with this event, but if there is one, we’ll be sure to let our readers know.

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Alex Co

Father, gamer, games media vet, writer of words, killer of noobs.

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Knockout City Update 3.01 Smashes Out This October 11 (Update)

Velan Studios has released the Knockout City update 3.01 patch this October 11, and we’re not expecting any major content in this one given we just got the big Season 3 patch last week.

Knockout City Update 3.01 Patch Notes:

Update: Velan Studios has revealed the changes made in today’s patch.

For now, the studio has not announced any new changes just yet, though we expect that to change within the day. The lastet update from the official Knockout City Twitter account is about cryptic messages on flavors and whatnot, which ties into this season’s hack theme.

While the offiical patch notes aren’t out yet, here are the new content and features included in the Season 3 patch:

NEW AND IMPROVED FEATURES

  • Brawl Pass
    • Dev Note: This was a tough one to implement in time, but we’re thrilled to bring you a fully operational Brawl Pass, complete with Deep Space Dispatches with lore about the DJ and Z3R0. We’re really excited to share this with all of you.
  • Crew Horns, New Player Voices and Crew Motorcycles
    • Dev Note: It feels strange just listing these features as bullet points, because there’s so much that went into each one of them, from creation to implementation. My favorite is pairing the Z3R0 voice with the [REDACTED] motorcycle. Let us know what you think!
  • The Brawl Shop now has even more new items up for sale. Now, where players once saw empty store slots in Daily Items, they will now see XP Boosts, Energy Drinks, and Style Chips. Go spend those hard-earned Holobux. The Brawl Shop will also no longer try to sell items that players had already purchased in Bundles.
    • Dev note: Z3R0 must have hacked the Bundle store’s records and made them available to the Daily Items. Change your passwords regularly, brawlers.
  • We want our Diamond brawlers to enjoy the experience of climbing the leaderboards and not be confused by why their Skill Rating goes up or down. An improved Skill Rating system for Leaderboard placement makes this more predictable based on wins and losses; wins always makes Skill Rating go up, and losses always make Skill Rating go down. The highest Skill Rating is now 5000. You can read more about this here.
    • Dev note: With Season 2 we introduced Leaderboards, a highly requested feature from our top players who wanted to see how they stacked up against other top players. Once players reached the top tier, Diamond, we used their Skill Rating to rank them within that tier. But we got a lot of feedback about how Skill Rating was calculated and changed after matches. Now, Skill Rating will always go up for wins and down for losses, adjusted by how well-matched the game was for each team. We will be watching how Season 3 progresses and tweaking some values behind the scenes, so please continue to give us your feedback.
  • Improved visibility of the Danger Zone in Face-Off mode by making it taller.
  • Players can now sort Voices in Customize Brawler.

Once we know the official details on today’s update, we’ll let our readers know.

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Alex Co

Father, gamer, games media vet, writer of words, killer of noobs.

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Diablo 2 Resurrected Down Reports Surface for the Third Straight Day This October 11 (Update #3)

If you’re trying to play Diablo 2 Resurrected but can’t connect, don’t fret, it’s not you, but rather, the game is experiencing issues once again. Diablo 2 Resurrected down reports are surfacing once again, which makes this the third day in a row that the action-RPG has experienced server issues!

Update (October 12, 2021): If you’re experiencing server issues once more, it’s not you, but the game is down yet again! Read up on the updates for today’s server issues here.

Diablo 2 Resurrected Down Reports – October 11:

Update #3 (4:11PM): Blizzard has announced that login issues have been resolved!

Update #2 (10:57AM): Blizzard has said that they are still looking to resolve the login issues…so expect more updates throughout the day.

Update: Blizzard has finally acknowledged the connection issues for October 11!

We’ll be monitoring the situation and will update the post as more announcements are made by the studio.


Multiple reports on the game’s subreddit have surfaced with players from all platforms confirming the server outage:

i just want to play.
byu/JohnGnarbuckle inDiablo

Is this an out of season april fools joke?
byu/The_Sleazy1 inDiablo

[deleted by user]
by inDiablo

For now, Blizzard’s official customer service account has not acknowledged the downtime, which isn’t surprising given the time. That said, the studio acknowledged yesterday’s downtime an hour or two after the servers were out.

Same as always, we’ll be updating the post with Blizzard’s updates up top, so make sure to refresh the post from time to time. Chime in down in the comments on whether the game’s servers are working for you! Share which platform you’re on, as well as region, so other players will know whether there are countries where the game’s online component can be played.

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Alex Co

Father, gamer, games media vet, writer of words, killer of noobs.

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Call of Duty Vanguard Is Getting a Comic Book, Here’s a Sneak Peek

Excited to learn more about the story of Call of Duty Vanguard before its November release? Well, do we have some exciting news for you, as Sledgehammer Games have announced a comic book tie-in during this year’s New York Comic Con.

Down below you’ll find some freshly released images for the upcoming Call of Duty Vanguard comic series that is schedule to release right before the official game release, with weekly issues to follow.

Call of Duty Vanguard Comic Book Preview

Additionally, Sledgehammer had revealed a number of new details around the comic during their NYCC panel, which they have organized in a nifty Q&A that you can find below.

What’s the biggest difference between telling a Vanguard story in comics versus games?

SM: One of the biggest differences between writing for a comic and a video game is that you don’t have the interactive elements to consider in the comic medium. Comics allow us to explore more deeply who our characters are. The game is about action, but the comics give us a quieter space to focus more on emotion, and on understanding who these people are so that the reader can develop a real connection to them before they even turn the game on. Of course, you don’t need to read the comics before playing the game—but if you are the kind of person who always wants to know more about your playable characters, then these comics are definitely for you.

BF: The other thing that is important about these comics is they focus on the biggest character-defining choices that lead up to the story we tell in Vanguard.  The choices our characters make in the game are that of life and death, important but spontaneous decisions. The stories we get to tell in the comic are more personal and intimate and they’re revealing about our characters.

What was the inspiration to create a Call of Duty: Vanguard comic?

SR: We have this really great story in the Vanguard campaign about these characters on their first mission together. But while we were writing the main story, we realized that the backstory of how they get pulled together is also important. Luckily there was this desire from all of us to explore the character’s stories. That’s when the comic was suggested. Looking at all the material we had on the characters, it made a lot of sense to explore the origin story of how they all came together to form Task Force One, and that is where Captain Carver Butcher came in.

Butcher made his appearance in 2017 in a WWII DLC. He was a quartermaster in the Headquarters, and he was fun and witty. Was it planned in 2017 that he would be such an integral character?

SR: He’s one of the best side-character-to-hero stories in a video game. I don’t think any other side character in any game has ever gone on to become the Nick Fury of an entire game. But our Butcher has. I don’t think anyone in 2017 thought he would go on to do these things. But when we were putting the story of Vanguard together and putting the team together, the question came up, “who do they work for?” At the same time, we were developing the plot around the birth of the Special Forces and we were looking for a character to be at the helm of that initiative. Butcher started out as a somewhat minor character and then suddenly he was running this whole global initiative and recruiting people from behind his bandana. It was a great chance to dive into him as a character and sort of show him off a little bit. We asked ourselves, “what can he do when he’s not supplying players with gear?” And we did some pretty wild things with him in the comics.

How many of the characters were inspired by real people?

BF: Every one of the main characters was inspired by real-life heroes from WWII. We have taken some liberties with personality and backstory and other fictional elements, but the battles, heroics, and stories of soldiers all played an important role in inspiring how we built our characters and the narrative.

What are these stories ultimately about?

TO: These stories are a fictional take on the formation of the Special Forces during WWII. But beyond that, they’re a celebration of diversity. One of the ideas that we get into with the game, but particularly with the comic, is that difference can be a real strength.  Whether those differences be skills or personality or culture, when those differences are put together, people can achieve great things.

What was the dynamic like among the writers? 

TO: We [the writers] really are a team of misfits, all coming from different backgrounds in media with different expertise from games, movies, comics, and TV, so we really got to have fun on this project. That variety in talent, and our closeness to the game’s development, really helped this comic come together as seamlessly as it did.

What were the challenges of writing and producing in a pandemic?

BF: The creative process had an evolution to it. Initially, and I think a lot of people can relate to this, as the world moved to video calls, it was awkward, and it felt really distancing. What helped us a lot was how much we loved these characters. The more we talked about them and the more we got into their worlds, the more comfortable we became with each other and those digital barriers started to break down.

Are there any Easter Eggs hidden in these comics?

SR: Yes. The people who read the comic and then play the game will find a lot of interesting connections.

The Call of Duty Vanguard comic book series will be releasing right before the official game launch, with weeklies to follow after. If you are wanting to get the full collection, Sledgehammer Games have also confirmed that a full physical bind-up will arrive early 2022. More details on that to come soon. You can read our impressions of the Vanguard beta right here.

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James Lara

A gamer at heart, James has been working for MP1st for the last decade to do exactly what he loves, writing about video games and having fun doing it. Growing up in the 90's gaming has been in his DNA since the days of NES. One day he hopes to develop his own game.

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Lost Judgement Review (PS5) – A Perfect Partner in Justice

You know, a true marking of a great developer is one that is always listening to their community, and making changes all for the best of them, while not sacrificing what made fans love them in the first place. They produce games for the fans, all while still maintaining that very same passion and love that got them started making games. Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio (RGG) fits that bill splendidly, and with over 16 years of working on the Yakuza franchise, they have yet to disappoint in their mainline offerings. Of course, this isn’t about Yakuza, but instead their new spin-off series, Judgement.

Having released earlier this year for the PS4, my original review of Judgment held nothing but high praise. Sure, it did play to the same beats that the Yakuza franchise has been known for, but as a first entry in what hopefully is a long running one, it was a solid, new and exciting venture for RGG. With Lost Judgment now finally upon us, it’s once again time to hop into the shoes of hotshot detective Takayuki Yagami for yet another twist filled, emotional, head turning murder case.

True Detective

The story of Lost Judgment begins under some rather odd circumstances. Reaching the conclusion of a court case, Genda Law Office, the agency previously focused on in the last title, is representing a man named Akihiro Ehara. With clear evidence stacked against him for groping a women in public, the verdict of Ehara is all but sealed. However, during the closing statement Ehara makes a startling reveal by identifying a mutilated corpse discovered by firefighters a few days earlier.

The body is revealed to be Hiro Mikoshiba, who was reported missing two months earlier. Akihiro Ehara has a history with Hiro, as he holds him fully responsible for the suicide of his own son. With Ehara having information of the mysterious murder, suspicions quickly falls on him, though it doesn’t hold as he has an established alibi of sexual battery. The representatives at Genda Law Office know better, and thus once again find their paths crossing with the private eye detective, Takayuki Yagami and company.

Coincidentally, Yagami just so happens to be on a case at Seiryo High School, the very same school that Ehara’s son went to and Hiro Mikoshiba taught at. What started out as a case to help weed out bullying at a school, quickly turns into a web of conspiracies — one that Yagami has to unravel.

As interesting as the premise of the story to Lost Judgment may be, I will say that it does take a bit of a backseat compared to the first game.

There’s far more filler sections, with the story feeling like a slow burn rather than a constant rush. However, because of this I do feel that RGG Studio is able to better craft the identity of Judgement than just being a “Yakuza spin-off.”

Take the detective side of the game. While the first game had plenty of it, it never felt fully realized. In Lost Judgment, there are tons of side activities that have a bigger focus on the detective lifestyle rather than the  beat-’em-up one from Yakuza. An array of gadgets can be used by Yagami to help solve cases, in plenty of instances without ever needing to raise a fist.

It helps that a lot of the story offered from these cases are delightfully amusing. There’s one case in the school of a reported body model coming to life. Upon investigation of the school you soon find yourself in chase of this body double as it throws their organs at you in attempt to escape. It doesn’t take long before you do catch this person and learn of the reason why they’re roaming the school late night in an anatomy outfit, which is just even more puzzling to begin with.

It’s that kind of silliness that made people fall in love with the Yakuza series, and Lost Judgement doesn’t anything back.

And as with every RGG title, the voice cast does a phenomenal job at portraying these characters. Never a missed beat, nothing phoned in, everyone gives it their all for one stellar performance. This is being said for both the English and Japanese voice overs, as every cast has a rich range of emotions that they unfolds throughout the campaign.

For me, Lost Judgement is more of the detective game we thought of in the first entry, thus cementing itself with its own unique experience. Newcomers will no doubt want to play the first before diving into Lost Judgement, but for the fans who wanted something a bit more personal with the detective side you’ll be glad to know Lost Judgment follows through. Of course, that’s just one side of the coin with the other being it’s high action pack combat that follows through with what previous Yakuza titles had to offer.

Kung-Fu Skateboarding Hero

With the detective side of the game improved in the sequel, you may be wondering if RGG has made any other changes or additions in other aspects as well. First let’s talk about the combat. If you were someone who was disappointed with Yakuza: Like a Dragon being turn-based, you’ll be glad to know that Lost Judgement continues with the classic combat offered from previous Yakuza games.

However, like Judgment, Lost Judgement combat is more versatile when it comes to the environment. Yagami for example can wall jump from any flat surface, which comes in handy when you find yourself getting backed into a corner. Other moves sees him jumping over enemies with ease, and making use of whatever else is in the environment. Yagmi is after all younger than Kiryu (Yakuza franchise) so it makes a lot of sense that he is more agile and flexible.

That of course translates into the three available fighting styles, which are all so satisfying to use. They all have their own unique move sets that players can upgrade to unlock new combos. Not only that, but it’s extremely easy to switch between the three styles, adding a kind of depth to the combat that encourages you to explore it.

It’s definitely a more refined combat than what was offered in Judgement, though that was already excellent.

As for something new, Lost Judgement introduces sneaking, parkour, and skateboarding, though admittedly, these all feel lacking. Sneaking isn’t all that special as you’ll often toss a coin here and there for brief distraction.

For the parkour you’ll often find main objectives blocked off, requiring you to find an alternative route. These are predetermined routes, so the freedom you would expect from it isn’t entirely there. The inclusion of parkour is a nice one, and fits with the character, but it has a bit of a clunkiness to it. It’s not awful per se, and I would love to see more of it in future installments, as long as it gets improvements.

The Skateboarding on the other hand feels like a missed opportunity. It serves as a way to travel quickly, but comes off more of a trouble than it should be. Yagami can only skateboard while he’s on the street, and the moment he gets near a sidewalk, he’ll immediately hop off and go into a running state. This happened a lot, to the point that I found just running to be more efficient, or using the fast travel taxi system.

There are also lots of railings and still vehicles scattered throughout the city, but unfortunately you can’t grind off these objects. Now I’m not asking for a full blown Tony Hawk Pro Skater experience, but I feel if you are going to add skateboarding to a game, then it should allow you to interact with many of the world objects. Instead Yagami will just awkwardly bounce around as he hits or jumps on things.

Despite the criticism around the three new gameplay mechanics, they’re still welcomed additions to the series. I just hope that rather than scrapping them altogether, RGG takes the issues with them and improves if there is a ever a third Judgment installment.

Closing Statement

Lost Judgment is exactly the kind of sequel that fans could hope for. While the story is undoubtedly toned down, its varied filled side activities and general gameplay improvements and additions helps cater the series into being its own unique identity outside of the Yakuza franchise. Taking everything that everyone loved about the first game, and learning from all the criticisms, Studio RGG has crafted (despite some faults) one exceptionally well played title that would make any fan of theirs excited to play. Like I said it in my previous review, the Judgment series is looking to shoulder the classic Yakuza experience in a new, and exciting direction and Lost Judgment just further proves that.

Score: 9/10

Pros:

  • Although the story is less focused compared to the first, there is plenty to keep you engaged, especially with the cast’s performances.
  • Combat is improved and feels like one of the best offered from the studio thus far.
  • Variety of side missions that really lean into the detective side.
  • Mini-games are some of the best from RGG

Cons:

  • Pacing can be slow, with lots of fillers in-between stories.
  • The new gameplay additions such as skateboarding and parkour and welcomed, but aren’t where they should be mechanically.

A Lost Judgment review code was provided by the publisher. Game tested primarily on PS5. You can read SP1st and MP1st’s review and scoring policy right here

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James Lara

A gamer at heart, James has been working for MP1st for the last decade to do exactly what he loves, writing about video games and having fun doing it. Growing up in the 90's gaming has been in his DNA since the days of NES. One day he hopes to develop his own game.

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Gotham Knights Media Kits Sent Out by WB; Included Newspaper Teases Villians

DC Fandome is debuting in less than two weeks, and Warner Bros. Games Interactive has started to send out Gotham Knights media kits to the press ahead of DC’s biggest event. The media kit has sparked a ton of speculation online, with some key pieces of information leaking out with regards to the incoming villains for this next title from WB Games Montreal.

Several influencers from Twitter shared the Gotham Knights media kits, and they show some very interesting tidbits for the game. Check some of them out below:

The media kit includes a newspaper with the headline reading, “BRUCE WAYNE DEAD,” a key piece of information given that Gotham Knights will be set at a time when the Dark Crusader has seemingly passed away alongside Commisioner Jim Gordon. Alongside the newspaper is an invitation to a Masquerade Ball, one which celebrates the life of Bruce Wayne. The last item inside the box is a mask, and avid comic book readers and DC enthusiasts will recognize this from the Court of Owls, the rogue group who is confirmed to be one of the antagonists of Gotham Knights.

Some users on the official Gotham Knight subreddit also investigated the newspaper clipping in closer detail, and the fake ads posted inside share some insights as to more of the game’s characters, specifically the villains. This image was also posted by the official Gotham Knights Twitter account, although its burn marks made some details harder to read.

New teases at characters? (more in comments)
byu/picklesallsoldout inGothamKnights

Here’s the text in the newspaper clipping (via Reddit user throwaway28012801):

JOBS -PRIVATE SECURITY – PRIVATE ENTREPRENEUR – Wealthy(?) entrepreneur seeking able-bodied security (?). Must be willing to work nights, weekends and holidays. Must have no aversion to flightless birds and prefer the cold. Negotiable salary, (?) benefits.

BARTENDER – ICEBERG LOUNGE – Last bartender left without giving notice, need replacement ASAP for opening. REQUIREMENTS: Understands creative mixology, At least 2 years of experience, Discrete(?)

ENGINEERING INTERN – WAYNE ENTERPRISES – Seeking young bright minds pursuing real world experience at one of the most cutting edge companies in the world. Interested parties inquire directly at Wayne Enterprises HQ between the hours of 8AM and 5PM Monday-Friday.

PERSONAL ASSISTANT – FALCONE ENTERPRISES – Looking for a business-minded go-getter who is highly discrete(?), professional and most of all, loyal.

SEEKING SEVICES -LOOKING FOR VOLUNTEERS – SK(?) ANIMAL SHELTER – In search of passionate animal lovers who want to fight for the underdog (pun intended). REQUIREMENTS: Love for ALL animals (especially cats), Willing to take payment in cash OR goods, Can look the other way

TIRED OF OLD TECH? – Group of rebels looking for (?) individuals who love tech and ((want to(?)) shake up Gotham City. (?) (?) a must, flavor for rebellion required and distate(?) for authority encouraged.

(all possible spelling errors my own)

 

As noted in the thread, references to Penguin, the Falcone crime family, Catwoman (Selina Kyle), Anarky, Poison Ivy, Hush (Thomas Elliot, and Lucius Fox were prominent in the clipping. That said, even if this newspaper made mentions to their characters, take this one with a grain of salt until they’re officially confirmed.

What do you think? Are you excited to see more of Gotham Knights at DC Fandome? Is the Batman really dead? Let us know your thoughts in the comments down below!

Thanks, picklesallsoldout !

MP1st Staff

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Battlefield 2042 Spawns in Beta Affected by Bugs; Visual Artifacting Acknowledged by DICE

With the Battlefield 2042 beta now officially over, some might have felt that the spawns weren’t really exactly great given you oftentimes spawned right in middle of firefights and so on. It seems, the Battlefield 2042 spawns issue we experienced in the beta was due to a bug!

This was confirmed by DICE Level Design Director Peter Vesti Frendrup over on Twitter:

Frendrup also confirmed that players won’t spawn in swimming in a particular section of the Orbital map!

More on the beta, DICE has also updated the EA Answers page to include “visual artifacting” as one of the top issues! This was confirmed by DICE Lead Community Manager Adam Freeman.

Visual Artifacting which has the potential to trigger those with Photosensitivity Conditions

We’re aware of rare instances of a visual issue which can cause effects in the game to display as full screen flashes of white light. This is unintended and is being investigated by our teams as a matter of priority to uncover its root cause. We are not anticipating that fixes can be developed and released prior to the end of our Open Beta. Warnings relating to those with Photosensitive conditions are not present in our Open Beta, and we encourage those managing photosensitive conditions exercise caution when playing, and to

I’ve experienced this visual artifacting multiple times, and I have to admit, it is one of the worst visual bugs I’ve seen, as it can literally make you dizzy.

Outside of the spawns, DICE has also confirmed that the UI, and even rate of XP has been changed for the better in the final version of the game. Make sure to read our article on what we liked about the beta, and what we thought needed changing right here.

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Alex Co

Father, gamer, games media vet, writer of words, killer of noobs.

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Techland Using Dying Light 2 Delay to “Double Check” Everything, Might Add More Easter Eggs

While the news of Dying Light 2 being delayed to February 2022 is a bit disappointing one, the team over at Techland has assured its fans that the extra time won’t be wasted as they will be using it to double-check everything in the game.

What Kind of Work IsTechland Doing During the Dying Light 2 Delay?

Speaking in the latest issue of EDGE Magazine, Lead Designer of Dying Light 2, Tymon Smektała spoke briefly about the game’s recent delay, stating that the team had plans to use the extra two months to fix some the problems they’ve found, along with some further game testing and even hinting at additional Easter Eggs being added.

“[The game] is full of complex, intersecting systems created by hundreds of people – at some point in the production they all really click and start working together, but you also start discovering various edge cases where maybe they don’t, and you want to fix that. Those are usually simple fixes, but you want to make sure you test and catch as many of those as possible. Those extra two months will be spent exactly on this. And maybe we’ll also squeeze in an Easter egg or two…”
Smektała goes on to say that the team is “double-checking” everything in the entire game, and describes the delay situation to a plane landing (Smektala has been playing a lot of Microsoft Flight Simulator hence why).
It’s a case of needing a little bit more runway, or maybe even the control tower suggesting another approach to make the landing more clean. You have to think about the crew the same way you think about the passengers, you know.”
Not a bad way to think about it, and hopefully the release ends up being what they hope for it to be.
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James Lara

A gamer at heart, James has been working for MP1st for the last decade to do exactly what he loves, writing about video games and having fun doing it. Growing up in the 90's gaming has been in his DNA since the days of NES. One day he hopes to develop his own game.

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Diablo 2 Resurrected Down and Offline Again This Weekend October 10 (Update #3)

Following yesterday’s Diablo 2 Resurrected server outage, it seems players are running into issues again! Multiple Diablo 2 Resurrected down reports have surfaced this October 10, which makes this the second consecutive day that the action-RPG’s servers are acting up.

Update (October 11, 2021): If you’re seeing server errors, it’s not you, but the game is experiencing downtime once again! Check out this post, as it’ll be updated with the server status throughout the day.

Diablo 2 Resurrected Down Reports This October 10:

Update #3 (4:14PM): Blizzard said that the login issues have been resolved! Hopefully, that’s the case for you. We’ll be monitoring the situation and will update if more news develops.

Update #2 (2:20PM): Blizzard has apologized for the outages, and said they are working to resolve it as quick as possible.

Update: Blizzard has acknowledged that there are issues affecting authentication servers.

We’ll be updating the post as more news develops.

For now, the official Blizzard Customer Support Twitter account has not touched on any downtime just yet, though we expect that to chnage given the influx of reports coming in.

Over on the game’s subreddit, multiple gamers have confirmed the server outage:

[deleted by user]
by inDiablo

Same as in yesterday, we’ll be updating the post throughout the day as more reports from Blizzard are released. So make sure to constantly refresh the page for the latest update. We’ll be posting updates up top, and in the headline, so people will know whether new developments are out.

Like in yesterday’s post, please share if the game is working for you (or not), and what platform you’re on, and where you’re located. This is so we know if the game is down for a specific part of the world, or for everyone.

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Alex Co

Father, gamer, games media vet, writer of words, killer of noobs.

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MLB The Show 21 Update 1.18 Slides Out This October 10

San Diego Studio has released the MLB The Show 21 update 1.18 (PS5 version 1.018) this October 10, and this for a short list of fixes. Check out the complete patch notes below courtesy of the studio.

MLB The Show 21 Update 1.18 Patch Notes:

Here’s the announcement from San Diego Studio:

We will be deploying Game Update 18 soon. This should address the connectivity issues and there are no other changes to note.

We will let you know when it is available to download. Thank you for your continued patience throughout the day.

The studio has confirmed that this patch is out for PS4, PS5 and Xbox consoles.

That’s about it, as there doesn’t seem to be any gameplay-related changes in this title update. If there are other changes, leave a comment below to let us know what you find.

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Alex Co

Father, gamer, games media vet, writer of words, killer of noobs.

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Splitgate Ideas That Were Put on Hold Now Being “Revived,” Scope Now 10x Bigger Says Studio Boss

In the December issue of Edge Magazine, 1047 Games CEO and co-founder Ian Proulx shared his thoughts on the recent successful funding of the company’s first title, Splitgate, as well as the many ideas and plans that are up for revival now that the studio has the capacity to do so. It would appear that Splitgate 1.0’s horizon is looking much more ambitious, and there’s a lot to be learned from this issue, with some insightful tidbits below.

Proulx notes that the additional funding received from investors will help with the game’s overall focus, with Splitgate’s direction, ideas, and plans being taken “to a new level that is far beyond anything we’d ever thought of.” He also adds that the scope of the project is now a whopping “10 times bigger,” with so many things now possible thanks the additional cash flow for 1047 Games.

However, despite the additional funding, Proulx states that they’re aiming for the opposite in terms of scaling upwards, 1047 Games and Splitgate will be scaling back in a way:

“Instead of focusing on what do we need to do tomorrow, what’s in the next update, it’s much more about taking a step back. We don’t need to be Fortnite tomorrow. We now have the firepower to take this small team and turn it into a large-scale studio, and just take it from borderline triple-A to quadruple-A.”

It will be interesting to see how Proulx and 1047 Games follows up on their plans for Splitgate as it moves forward in the future. With the game now backed by $100 million in funding, everything’s set for Splitgate to go all-in for its continued success and popularity.

Source: Edge Magazine December 2021

MP1st Staff

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Battlefield 2042: DICE Explains Beta Build Process; Hostility Mentioned as Part of Why Devs Don’t Interact More

With the Battlefield 2042 beta now officially in the hands of everyone, many are wondering why, with the game being so close to release, has this many bugs. While DICE has confirmed that the beta build is already a “few months old,” there’s more to it than just the studio giving gamers everywhere the latest game build. Curious why that’s the case? Well, as it turns out, there is a very good reason for this that not only pertains to DICE, but as a industry as a whole and how betas/demos are created.

Taking to Reddit, DICE Producer Ben Walke has shared details on how beta builds are handled, how they are separate from the retail launch version and more.

This is a super simplistic version, and doesn’t do justice to the work involved.

It’s the nature of software development. We work in branches, so while we have our launch day branch any spin-offs (betas, demo, E3, gamescom etc) all get created from it.

The beta was taken a few months ago from our main build, and from there you then go into hardening mode. This is where you focus on bugs, stability and no further work should get checked in. With each check-in, comes the risk of new issues coming up (as is the case with Software Development). We’re making so many changes to the build so you have to make a call between locking the build or stopping active development.

We don’t want to stop development of our launch build, so you have to ‘cap’ the branched build (in this case the beta) at a specific time.

This won’t be unique to us, this is how the industry will operate as a whole.

The same thing will happen to release builds the closer a studio gets to launch, it gets locked down and then the hardening process can begin.

Worth noting as well that with dates changing, it just makes the build older etc

Being on the subject of the Battlefield 2042 beta, on a separate Reddit discussion, Walke also took the time to address how players are giving feedback, responding to some of the criticism concerning Battlefield 2042 UI and noting the hostility being a reason why devs don’t interact more with their fanbase.

Day 1 of the beta and we’re already in the territory of people losing their jobs. Have you ever asked yourself why you don’t have more devs interacting with players across the industry?

There’s a valid way to give feedback, I don’t think anyone on the team is against receiving it when it’s done in a constructive way. But the amount of personal attacks I’ve seen in just a few hours since it went live is disappointing.

Everyone that contributes to our UI are fantastic people, super colleagues and talented developers.

As we mentioned before in our Crystal Dynamics harassment story regarding Marvel’s Avengers, it is never okay to attack a developer or issue threats, even if you are not happy about the decisions made. We as a community have the right to criticize, however that does not make it acceptable to use toxic behavior.

For more on the Battlefield 2042 beta, we wrote an extensive article on what we want changed, and what we think worked in our playtest.

Battlefield 2042 is set for release this November 19 on the PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.

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James Lara

A gamer at heart, James has been working for MP1st for the last decade to do exactly what he loves, writing about video games and having fun doing it. Growing up in the 90's gaming has been in his DNA since the days of NES. One day he hopes to develop his own game.

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Crystal Dynamics Addresses Marvel’s Avengers Community Concerning Harassment and Abuse From Recent Microtransaction

In case you missed the news, Marvel’s Avengers has added paid XP boosters despite Crystal Dynamics’ previous statement of paid content being cosmetics only. As expected, the community has since been in an uproar, as not only were they lied too about it, but the communication — or lack of — has many leading to believe the studio intended for this to go unnoticed.  Of course it wdidn’t go unnoticed as expected, leading to the game’s official Reddit and Twitter accounts being flooded with complaints. Sadly, as upsetting as this news may be, it seems that some are taking things a bit too far, as Crystal Dynamics has finally broken its silence to issue a statement concerning harassment, and threats made to their employees.

Taking to Reddit, Crystal Dynamics issued the following statement concerning some of the harassment the team has received since the paid booster news broke out.

To our community:

We appreciate the Marvel’s Avengers community and want to foster an open and healthy dialogue with you (for both criticism and praise). However, harassment is not tolerated.

Decisions at the studio are not made by one person, they’re made by a group of studio leaders. We welcome feedback, but it’s not appropriate to target, threaten, or personally attack our community team. They are here to champion your concerns and give voice to them.

Help us keep conversations civil and productive while we continue to work toward making Marvel’s Avengers an entertaining and fun experience for you.

Thank you from everyone here at Crystal Dynamics.

We have to agree with Crystal Dynamics here that this type of behavior should not be tolerated. It’s okay to criticize, to be upset (rightfully so,) and even be vocal about it, but not once is it ever OK to personally attack a person — especially with threats. This isn’t to excuse the decision made regarding paid boosters, but we should all be civil about this. and communicate this in a more respectable manner.

Remember: this is just a video game. If you don’t approve of what changes were made, just don’t play it. Attacking or harassing developers or anyone connected to the game, and being personal about it is never the right thing to do.

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James Lara

A gamer at heart, James has been working for MP1st for the last decade to do exactly what he loves, writing about video games and having fun doing it. Growing up in the 90's gaming has been in his DNA since the days of NES. One day he hopes to develop his own game.

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Diablo 2 Resurrected Down Reports Surfacing This October 9 (Update #3)

Hellspawn killers, multiple Diablo 2 Resurrected down reports are surfacing now stating that servers just died, or people just can’t connect, which is something that has happened before. Note that this is not scheduled maintenance

Update (October 10, 2021): For those here on Sunday, October 10, yes, the servers are out yet again! You can keep track of today’s server outage right here, where it will be updated throughout the day.

Diablo 2 Resurrected Down for October 9:

Update #3 (October 9, 1:10PM): Blizzard says the maintenance is complete, though the studio hasn’t mentioned whether this means everyone can log back in.

Update #2 October 9, 9:35 AM: Blizzard will be performing an emergency maintenance. Diablo 2 Resurrected servers will be completely down during this time. Hopefully once they are done, the issues will be resolved.

Update: Blizzard has confirmed that there are some ongoing login issues and that they are investigating it.

Over on the franchise’s subreddit, multiple players have reported of the outage:

Um rune on run servers went down
byu/Nystora inDiablo

asia server down..
byu/timx88 inDiablo

For those wondering whether this is planned maintenance by Blizzard, it doesn’t seem to be, as the official Blizzard Customer Service Twitter account has mentioned a maintenance happening on October 6.

To date, the studio has not acknowledged the outage, and if this server outage continues, expect the studio to make an announcement. We’ll be monitoring the situation, so make sure to update the post frequently if servers still aren’t back up. For those able or unable to log in, leave a comment down below to let other gamers know which platform you’re on, and where in the world you are, so other people are aware of the situation.

Our review of Diablo 2 Resurrected is hitting the site soon, so watch out for that.

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Alex Co

Father, gamer, games media vet, writer of words, killer of noobs.

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Returnal Gets 6GB Update for Developer Build

While we haven’t seen a Returnal game update since July, it seems the same can’t be said for the game’s developer build, as it recently got a 6GB patch which brings it to version 2.000! Note that this is for the developer build, and the retail one (which we’re all playing), is still at version 1.004.001.

PS5 database Prosperopatches was triggered with the update, which means it’s been uploaded on the PlayStation Network, and reliable PlayStation file size scraper PlayStation Game Size also mentioned it, too.

Could this mean that a big title update is incoming? Maybe, maybe not. That said, it is intriguing to see the developers update their game, and one that’s quite a large jump in terms of version naming. Usually, game versions jump incrementally for patches, unless it’s a huge jump (almost always with new content) where we see versions jump to version 2.0 and the like.

In case you haven’t played Returnal yet, you might want to check out our review, where we gave it an impressive 8.5/10 score, and said, “Returnal is a great game and showcase for the PS5. It reminds me of what I have aways loved about video games; gameplay that hooks you and keeps you invested in that “one more quarter” kind of way that so relatively few games do these days. Housemarque largely succeeds with their first AAA outing in a big way and have released what I feel is the first true Game of the Year contender for 2021.”

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Alex Co

Father, gamer, games media vet, writer of words, killer of noobs.

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