Home > Title Updates and Patches

Overwatch 2 Update 3.89 Shoots Out for Widowmaker Gun Sound Fix; Known Issues Listed

With the release of Classic Mode on Overwatch 2 last week, not only did Blizzard roll out a return of the 6v6 gameplay, but it also accidentally snuck in a bug as well. Blizzard has today released Overwatch 2 update 3.89, and as far as we’re aware, this patch is only for last-gen consoles (PS4/Xbox One).

This minor update should fix the issue where Widowmaker’s gun doesn’t make any sound when fired. Alongside that we’ve included the known current issues the dev team is working on at the moment as well.

Overwatch 2 Update 3.89 Widowmaker’s Gun Sound Bug Fixed Per Blizzard

Over on the official Blizzard forums, Game Producer OWMatt made the following announcement in response to a gamer having issues with Widowmaker’s gun audio being bugged,”Hello! I’m sorry this issue happened. If you are playing on PS4, please make sure you’ve installed the latest OW2 client build 132578. That should resolve this issue, but please let me know if you’re still experiencing it after updating to the latest client build.”

As for the known current issues, this is accurate as of November 14, 2024.

Overwatch 2 Known Current Issues

  • We are aware of an issue that has locked the Cassidy and Brigitte hero mastery courses. These courses will return in a future update.
  • We are investigating an issue where weapon sounds will not play for some heroes.

Note that if an issue or bug isn’t mentioned in the list, it doesn’t mean Blizzard isn’t working on it, but these are top priority for the studio for now. Again, the patch isn’t available on PC and current-gen platforms, though if that changes, we’ll be sure to update the article with the info.

Avatar photo

Alex Co

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

Home > News

Report: Dragon’s Dogma 2 Multiplayer Referenced in Datamined Files

While Dragon’s Dogma 2 is a pretty beefy game on its own, could Capcom be expanding the experience with DLC? That might be the case — if info from a recent datamine is to be believed, and it will feature multiplayer.

One investigative individual datamined the pre-release Denuvo-less build of Dragon’s Dogma 2, and it unearthed some fascinating strings of code.

Dragon’s Dogma 2 Datamine Hints at Multiplayer Being Added

thanks, azzlikeMechanic3716!

The text at the bottom says “Multiplayer mode: Tower of the New Moon” which implies that some sort of multiplayer component will be made available to Dragon’s Dogma 2 in the future. Alongside that, there’s also “Boss Rush” mode, which most likely refers to players fighting bosses — and just bosses — in their own separate mode.

Mind, the files datamined could very well be cut content during the development process, though that seems highly unlikely.

Given the data strings and the kind of content they are referring to, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Boss Rush and Multiplayer modes are free updates planned to be released by Capcom in the future. We’ve certainly seen Boss Rush modes added in as free updates in other games. However, there is also the chance that these are premium (read: paid) DLC as well, so don’t quote me on that. Speaking of which, back in September, the game’s files were updated in the backend that referenced to DLC as well, though this time around, a datamine provided more info.

For reference, the first Dragon’s Dogma featured a premium expansion in Dark Arisen, which coincided with the game’s re-release. It featured an entirely new questline, a new dungeon in the Bitterblack Isle, new weapons, armor and more.

If you’ve yet to play Dragon’s Dogma 2, go read our review of it to see why we hold it in high regard, with our reviewer Jimmy Lara stating, “Dragon’s Dogma 2 is an instant classic, the ultimate RPG adventure that fans have been dreaming about, making that long wait well worth it.”

Avatar photo

Alex Co

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

Home > News

Activision Sneakily Lessens Black Ops 6 Battle Pass COD Points Rewards by 300 CP

For those that buy a Battle Pass for every new season of Call of Duty, there’s a slight difference with Black Ops 6’s Battle Pass for Season 1, and we can’t say it’s a good change.

In previous Call of Duty games, completing the Battle Pass awarded you 1400 Call of Duty Points (COD Points), which would then be enough for the player to buy next season’s Battle Pass technically “for free” with some COD Points leftover to buy cosmetics in the in-game shop. Well, that’s not the case anymore with Black Ops 6!

Activision Reduces the Black Ops 6 Battle Pass COD Points Rewards

Without any warning or announcement, Activision has reduced the total number of COD Points players can earn by completing the Battle Pass from the then-standard 1,400, to Black Ops 6’s Season 1 Battle Pass total of just 1,100. This means that completing the Battle Pass this time around will only net you enough COD Points to get the next season’s Battle Pass, and nothing else — unless you buy any currency, of course.

While this might seem like a minor deal to some, it still feels like a predatory move by the publisher in order to sell a wee bit more COD Points. I do think most people won’t even notice this change, which is why it warrants its own article.

This bad news about the Battle Pass is the latest string of bad press connected to Black Ops 6. When Season 1 launched, issues connected to perks and weapons surfaced, which took Treyarch days to fix. Not only that, but even Call of Duty 2XP tokens became an issue, as Treyarch patched out the ability of legacy Call of Duty 2XP tokens from working in Black Ops 6, after accidentally enabling it, though the studio did announce they are working on an update to enable it once more.

With how big Call of Duty is, chances are, Activision won’t care about any article that pops up about this topic. If you want to see change, vote with your wallet, and if enough people do it, someone at Activision will sit up and take notice given.

More MP1st Reading:

[Thanks, 5hrubbery!]

Avatar photo

Alex Co

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

Home > Title Updates and Patches

Pacific Drive Update 1.008.001 Drives Out for “TIps and Treasures” Patch

Ironwood Studios has released what seems to be the game’s last major patch for Pacific Drive this November 18 and it’s titled “Trips and Treasures.” Those on consoles will see this as Pacific Drive update 1.008.001, which is for version 1.8.1.  Players can expect new garage cosmetics, a new activity, and more.

Pacific Drive Update 1.008.001 for Version 1.8.1 Is Most Likely the Game’s Last Major Patch for 2024

Version 1.8.1 Highlights

  • New Garage Cosmetics system – show off your trophies, or make it cozy!
  • New Anomalous Activity – Goldshells, a puzzling source of cosmetics for the garage and car.
  • A incredible new discovery, a REDACTED INFORMATION to be found in the Zone.
  • Upgrade to Unreal Engine 4.27
  • New Paid Cosmetics – the Frozen Pack!

Features and Content

  • 23 Garage Cosmetics for you to discover, bring back, and mount in and around the garage.
    • 23 new posters, signs, and decorative items for the garage
    • 30 locations in the garage to customize
    • Discoverable in multiple locations!
    • More garage cosmetics are being planned for the future

New Zone Activity – Goldshells!

  • Multiple types can be found out in the zone
  • Recommended method for opening is
    REDACTED
  • Something new is stirring out in the Zone there are rumors and sightings of  REDACTED
  • 10 additional Wilderness maps have been added to the deep zone biome
  • Main Menu Button added to show and take player to newest cosmetic DLC at digital store
    • PS5
    • PC
  • New Localized Languages
    • Polish
    • Brazilian Portuguese
    • Turkish
  • Credits Updated
    • Added new team members
    • Added additional localization support
    • Added new co-development partners

Unreal Engine Upgrade – Version 4.27

We’ve updated the Unreal Engine version that Pacific Drive uses to the latest version of Unreal Engine 4 – 4.27!

  • This upgrade comes with significant changes and improvements to DirectX 12, which we have found improves performance and fixes those rare cases of mesh transforms becoming ‘corrupted’.
    • For visual context, this is the glitch that showed massive spikes or broken textures in-game.
    • Ex: (The sky dome being too small, a car part’s mesh physically skewed, or other similar vertex-bending artifacts).
  • This upgrade moves us to the newest, most stable version of Unreal Engine 4, which improves stability of the game across the board.
  • Performance Improvements from the engine update and the result of ongoing work:
    • Foliage & Landscape Optimization (GPU)
    • Improved shader caching to address hitches (GPU)
    • Post Process & Lighting Optimizations (GPU)
    • Multiple UI Optimizations (CPU)
  • For anyone facing issues with this upgrade, it’s recommended to check that your GPU drivers are up to date.
Bugs and UX Fixes
  • Fixed an issue where sometimes meshes would become distorted on load for any location in game.
  • Improved car doors closing on inclines, related to physics and has been adjusted.
  • Player will now receive an impact hammer from the friendly dumpster if they can’t progress in the tutorial after returning from the first trip without one
  • Resources less likely to get stuck in boulders – no longer stuck inside geometry.
  • Fixed UI tabs to update more reliably in the logbook, inventory, and menus
  • The radio will not interrupt music played by quest progression
  • Prybar health meter has been enlarged when the icon is flipped horizontally
  • Fixed an issue where the camera would sometimes move erratically while getting into the car
  • Made payload more noticeable after it lands and fixed issue were interact prompt would not appear when highlighting the payload
  • Fixed an issue where cosmetic items could be duplicated while interacting with the Detailing Station specifically
  • PC ONLY – Fixed an issue where some graphics setting configurations were displaying at higher settings than displayed.
    • Ex: Choosing a low, medium, high setting will no longer leave the setting set higher than displayed and will now be accurate.

There’s still some known issues present with today’s update, so we’re expecting hotfixes to be released for Pacific Drive in the coming weeks.

Avatar photo

Alex Co

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

Home > Features

NetEase Talks Marvel Rivals – Overwatch Comparisons, Hero Picks and More

With our glowing beta impressions of Marvel Rivals, we wanted to chat with NetEase about the upcoming free-to-play hero shooter to see what’s in store for the game’s future and beyond, as well as ask about some important topics as well.

Thankfully, the studio granted our request, and while not all our questions were answered, there’s still quite a fair bit of info that was shared by the NetEase Marvel Rivals team.

Marvel Rivals Interview by MP1st:

(Note: Answers by the studio are from the dev team collectively)

MP1st: First thing off, let’s get it out of the way: Marvel Rivals will forever be compared to Overwatch. How does the dev team take that?

A: We are honored to be compared with some of the best games out there in this genre and we feel we offer an experience that builds on some familiar gameplay elements and creates something unique with the opportunity to play as your favorite Marvel characters. Marvel Rivals will be faster paced and much more accessible to new players. This game features abilities-heavy gameplay and we put the hero in the hero shooter genre. We want Marvel Rivals to be best in class.

MP1st: There’s no escaping that some of the hero abilities are “inspired” from Overwatch, how does the studio decide which ones to implement and which ones to adjust from what’s available out there?

A: The development team considered many factors in designing heroes and implementing them in game. One major difference is that with Marvel we have over 9000 characters to pick from. It’s a good issue to have, but there are considerations to make about who should be part of the roster and who fits both in terms of who they are, how they fit into this world and the lore around Marvel Rivals.

MP1st: We’ve seen the devs ban quite a lot of accounts, which we assume are from PC. How will the devs handle XIM/Cronus users? And what’s the long-term plans for cheaters? Are IP bans considered?

A: We have a zero-tolerance policy towards illegal assistance tools and cheats. We not only invest significant resources to monitor and analyze battle data and suspend suspicious accounts, but we also dedicate substantial effort to robust server and client security. For example, concerning the XIM converters mentioned above, we have designed a system to identify their behavior, and it currently shows promising accuracy. We will continue to follow up on this research in the future. After the game’s launch, we will monitor in-game situations at all times, promptly identifying and addressing any detected cheats.

MP1st: What’s the cadence for new characters and new content? We know there’s a battle pass, but what will be the schedule for new characters, stages etc? Will it be one new hero per season?

A: We have not yet unveiled our plans for content post launch, as our focus is only on the launch of the title. We can confirm that we do plan to offer seasonal content, and we’ll provide more details very soon. However as we’ve mentioned before, all heroes now and in the future will be free to play!

MP1st: Will console gamers have the option to mute players, chat in matches, etc. without needing to bind them to a specific button?

A: This feature is available right now. Simply use the option to enter the settings menu, go to the team section, and you can mute a specific player there.

MP1st: How does the dev team decide which hero is the next one to be released? Does the studio have a lineup that they are going through one by one

A: This is a process that we will carefully consider in conjunction with Marvel Games. We mentioned earlier there are 9000 characters in the Marvel universe, so there is a huge range of potential characters that could join the game. While it’s important to note that no character is off limits, we will focus on characters who are fun to look at, different, fun to play, and that bring something good to the overall roster. We’ll pick characters that are well-known, throw in some curveballs, and even offer some deep cuts!

MP1st: What are the major balancing changes that the dev team notice based on the beta? Which heroes need the most buff and nerf?

A: We’ve made adjustments to most of the roster from the initial alpha phase and through the most recent beta. We’re constantly tweaking each hero’s abilities to create the best gaming experience possible.

MP1st: Possibly the most noticeable thing that I’ve noticed when it comes to melee attacks is how it doesn’t feel “weighty,” like it doesn’t register or have that feel you’d get when someone like Thor bashes someone’s head in with a hammer. Is this something the studio might take a look at?]

A: We have a passionate and vocal Discord group and our community channels are constantly fielding feedback from the players. We are listening, and if we find a topic is getting discussed frequently it’s something we’ll review and try to address in the game. We will continue to make adjustments and updates through launch and beyond.

MP1st: Is there a chance of voice packs being available either as a reward in the Battle Pass or sold individually? I mean, I know a few people who would spend money to have the MCU voice lines in the game.

A: We do not have this plan at the moment and no specific plans for the future.

MP1st: How many servers will be there at launch, and will the studio release the locations of the servers?

A: We are currently still in the planning phase. Please stay tuned for our future announcements.

Marvel Rivals Closed Beta Review

MP1st: This is NetEase’s first major AAA title that’s made primarily for hardcore gamers on PC and consoles, I think there are concerns that NetEase might drop support for the game if it doesn’t meet the monetary expectations? Can NetEase comment on this?

A: We are confident about Marvel Rivals and its potential. To find long-term success with a live service game we think there are a few important points: Give players clear goals, continuously introduce new content and updates, always listen to our player community, and nurture a world class eSports scene.

MP1st: There have been a lot of recent examples of licensed games, Marvel and otherwise, hitting the market with massive skepticism. Was this a consideration during development? What is NetEase’s secret sauce for finding success where so many others have failed?

A: We’ve had the good fortune to work alongside Marvel on other game properties so we are quite comfortable and confident of what we believe this game can deliver. Collectively, we have the talent, technology, and experience to raise the bar for a multiplayer Super Hero game.

Marvel Rivals is a very unique property with narrative content. It is not just an ordinary team competitive game, but an opportunity to tell unique Marvel stories through each season. The overall product affinity is much stronger than those competing products without narrative. Our hero ability design is closely related to the IP itself, which is itself a derivative of the Marvel Universe, not just a competitive shooting game.

Marvel Rivals emphasizes the unique abilities of Super Heroes and presents them in the game in the form of Team-Up skills. We have heroes who emphasize the shooting experience and heroes with different operating experiences, such as action-oriented melee heroes and flight heroes. Each character gives the player a different integrated experience based on their unique history and powers.

MP1st: Will the game feature console-only crossplay? What about cross-progression?

A: Both casual mode and custom rooms will feature  crossplay capability. Competitive mode does not support crossplay and players can only be matched with others using the same device to ensure fair competition. For the topic of Cross Progression, we are exploring options for this but currently there is no timetable for its implementation.

MP1st: In terms of microtransactions, we are already expecting cosmetics and hero skins to be up for sale, is that a fair assumption? Will we see new heroes XP-locked or locked behind the Battle Pass?

A: All our heroes will be available for free after launch, with no payment or extra gameplay time required to unlock them. Our pass will not contain any pay-to-win content. It will mainly include cosmetic items such as character skins, sprays, and name cards, which do not affect the core gameplay experience. Our free pass allows players to earn tokens, so even if regular players do not spend any money, they can still accumulate tokens to purchase the premium pass and earn all the rewards within it.

MP1st: How is the dev team figuring out how to balance between giving players a proper progression balance in terms of free stuff to earn/unlock and those tucked away behind the Battle Pass’ premium track?

A: Same as above

MP1st: You guys teased Moon Knight at the end of the gamescom trailer, will these be the next characters that will be released? Say we get another tease, that means that’s the next character being released?

A: If anything, expect the unexpected when it comes to unveiling new heroes! We’ll have more to share across the board soon.

MP1st: How much freedom does NetEase have to change the hero’s appearance etc? Based on our understanding, Marvel has been quite strict in what developers can and cannot do to their characters (ie: Marvel’s Spider-Man 2).

A : Working with the Marvel Games team is an extraordinary experience. They are incredibly talented and have created characters loved by readers around the world, along with so many compelling stories. They often come up with exciting ideas in game development, and everyone in the team is amazed when we apply those ideas to our games. Working closely with them, we have left many Marvel Easter eggs in the game, waiting to be discovered by the players. Of course, there are challenging and stressful moments during the collaboration as well, but in the end, it all worked out perfectly, resulting in a unique, fun and interesting Marvel game. It was a rewarding and cherished experience.

Marvel Rivals Beta

MP1st: With NetEase being such a huge player in the gaming mobile sector, are there any plans to create Marvel Rivals for mobile?

A: Our focus and attention right now is 100% on making Marvel Rivals an amazing experience on PC, Xbox, and PlayStation.

MP1st: With AI being used more and more in games, are the devs using AI in Marvel Rivals? And if so, in what capacity? If not, are there plans to do it in the future?

A: We are not using AI in any of our development.

MP1st: With the success of Stellar Blade, Lies of P, Delta Force and of course, Black Myth Wukong, and the like, it seems that more and more Asian studios (outside of Japan) are seeing success and are coming out of the shadows, why do you think that’s happening now? Is it easier and/or cheaper to make console games now than before? What does NetEase think of this shift from transitioning from mobiles to AAA console/PC offering

A: We are witnessing significant changes in China game development, with larger scale and globally significant projects coming to the forefront. At NetEase Games, we are continuing to evolve and build our expertise across all platforms, working hard to cater to more of a global audience. A game like Marvel Rivals exemplifies this. Large scale development, a beloved brand partner like Marvel, and a popular genre. We are excited at the prospect of bringing a title like this and others to a wider audience of gamers.


Marvel Rivals launches this December 6 on PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC as a free-to-play game.

Avatar photo

Alex Co

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

Home > News

Battle Aces Preview – Much Quicker RTS Action

Real-time strategy games need a revamp, or so developer and publisher Uncapped Games would have you believe. Their upcoming RTS game Battle Aces promises just that, with quick match times, deck building, NO resource collecting, and other ideas that really turn the genre on its head in some aspects. MP1st went hands-on with this upcoming game, and have our impressions ready now.

Uncapped Potential?

Uncapped Games has a mission to reinvent a stalwart genre of gaming. These days, if you want to play a game but only have 15 minutes or so, you usually opt for something that can be played quickly. RTS games are rarely on any list of potential games you might come up with for such a limited amount of time. But that’s one of the main draws of Battle Aces – it promises to get you into the action quickly, and also guarantees that if you only have 15 minutes or less (including launching the game, configuring settings/units, and matchmaking), then you have enough time to play a full game of Battle Aces.

You see, a match in Battle Aces is, at most, precisely ten minutes long. In case you’re unaware, that’s extremely quick in a genre that tends to have matches that take many times longer to conclude. This is facilitated by having all players automatically earn resources at a fixed rate. An entire phase of the RTS genre has been put out to pasture in Battle Aces, as there are no resources to collect. With supply levels putting everyone on equal footing, each match thus becomes a battle of pure strategy.

I grew up around the same time as Command & Conquer becoming popular. I played the hell out of those games, a bit of StarCraft, and even some Warfare Inc. on my Palm Pilot. All of these games, even the mobile version, pitted players against one another in games that always began with each commander collecting resources as quickly as they could. Occasionally, the location chosen to explore wouldn’t yield as many resources as you’d like, and sometimes it could feel unfair when the opposing army happened to find better resources, usually in higher numbers to boot. So, the removal of this aspect of an RTS keeps things a little bit fairer, and it has the added effect of really speeding things up.

So Many Strategies, Such Little Time

Does it speed things up a bit too much, though? That’s a tough question, one that I don’t think was completely answered during my time with Battle Aces. Some matches were over in perhaps as few as five minutes – if you happen to get paired with a player who knows the optimum strategies, you’ll quickly find yourself on the losing end of the fight. Skill-based match making (SBMM) will obviously be important here, though it was of course not in play during our time with the game.

Do you save up your resources to invest in another operating base? Or do you choose to make more advanced upgrades to your existing strongholds? Perhaps you say nuts to all that, and simply load up on all the basic units you can afford, in an effort to be the first to launch an assault, in the hopes that your enemy has hardly built up much in the way of defenses. Each of these strategies is just as valid as the next, and thanks to the short match length, experimenting with different units and plans is easy to do, with results you can take action on from every match.

Deck building is an aspect of Battle Aces that not very many RTS games feature. Each player can only choose eight units that they can build in a match, across three tiers that get progressively stronger (and progressively costlier, as well), from four categories which are effective against while category while ineffective against another, as is common in many games involving any sort of strategy.

CPU – Can Pwn You (If You’re Not Careful)

During our time with Battle Aces, we managed to play against other people online, but also in the co-operative mode which lets two human players take on the AI. In fact, this was the first mode I tried. My teammate and I got absolutely slaughtered in our first match, as the computer-controlled commander didn’t hold back at all. So, I settled into a couple of 1-vs-1 matches, ready to lose but also learn at the same time. After a couple of matches against other players, I ventured back out into the co-op mode. This time, instead of just building a bunch of low-level units, I put resources into building a secondary base for backup, alongside leveling up my build capabilities to the second tier, which I would follow up with an upgrade to the highest tier as the game reached the end phase. My teammate seemed to have a similar strategy in mind, which felt encouraging. The result was a decisive victory for us, at well under the ten minute mark, too.

One aspect of Battle Aces that is sure to cause differing opinions is its approach to season passes. It’ll have a battle pass, with both free and premium tiers. Unlike a lot of freemium games which only reward cosmetic items to premium season passes in order to avoid becoming pay-to-win, currently some of the game’s 50 unit types appear to be locked behind such a paywall. Uncapped Games says they are open and transparent when it comes to community feedback, so if that’s true, and the concept of functional pieces of the game being locked away to only those who cough up the dough is unappealing to gamers, then it’ll be up to the community to raise those issues with the developer.

Battle Aces is an interesting, fast-paced real-time strategy game that you can play in just a few minutes. It’s also very punishing if you happen to be on the receiving end of a player’s successful strategy. It’s certainly a more approachable version of a classic genre, but is that what fans want? Time will tell when Battle Aces releases sometime next year.

Avatar photo

Paulmichael Contreras

Paulmichael has been writing in the gaming industry since 2008. Living just outside of Los Angeles, he has been lucky enough to attend numerous gaming events around the world, including the last ten E3 shows (RIP)! A thoughtful reviewer, every game you see scored by PmC has been given careful attention. Paulmichael is also an aviation fan and an avid snowboarder. Favorite games include: No Man's Sky, Gran Turismo 7, skate., CloverPit.

Home > Title Updates and Patches

Crusader Kings 3 Update 1.027 Lances Out for Update #14 Tours & Tournaments

Console players can now download Crusader Kings 3 update 1.027, and this is for Update #14 “Tours & Tournaments.” While the expansion is paid, there’s still a significant numbers of features rolling out for all base game owners as well.

Crusader Kings 3 Update 1.027 on Consoles Receive New Premium DLC and Free New Features for All Base Game Owners

Console Edition Update #14 Changelog​

Note: Lines prefaced with a ◈ are Console Edition-specific changes.

Tours & Tournaments Features​

  • Grand Activities: Rulers can now host and participate in large-scale customizable Grand Activities on the map. Tailor them to your liking by choosing Activity Type, Options, Intents, and which Guests to invite from both near and far!
  • Grand Tournaments: The ultimate show of martial prowess; Host them to increase your prestige, renown, and standing in the world – or participate in Contests to win fabulous prizes. Bring your knights to see them increase in skill and grow in glory.
  • Grand Tours: Set out to Impress, Intimidate, or Tax your subjects in epic realm-wide Travels. Enjoy the hospitality of your hopefully-loyal subjects, and experience the life of commoners while traversing your lands.
  • Grand Weddings: Arrange weddings that stand above all else; marry above your station, exercise your diplomatic prowess, or weave plots in the shadows behind the backs of the happy couple…
  • Activity Intents & Options: Hunts, Feasts, and Pilgrimages now have Intents and Options for you to choose from that allow you to host especially spectacular outings. Befriend your Vassal during an extravagant Feast, or Murder an unsuspecting rival during a small and discreet Hunt…
  • Murder Feasts: Follow the Torturer Lifestyle path to gain access to Murder Feasts; expensive but very definite gatherings where you can end several of your problems, all at once!
  • Falconry Hunts: A truly medieval sport in which both men & women were allowed to participate. Extra prestigious, but also more expensive than normal Hunts – falconry is for the true ruling nobility!
  • Accolades: Bestow special attributes upon your knights, depending on their personality and achievements, and have those attributes be passed on through the generations! From Valiant Idealists that help you wrangle Vassals and increase your Armies’ Damage to Stalwart Disciplinarians that bolster your Levies and the Safety of your travels, and many, many more.
  • The ‘Activities’ Dynasty Legacy: Make all activities extraordinary for members of your Dynasty; from increased marriage acceptance from your Grand Weddings, to increased Legendary Animal sightings, to be able to host an entire Grand Activity for free per Dynasty member!
  • New Character Art: Refresh the look of the Western world with new across-eras looks!
  • Evolving Armors: See simple Coifs and Mail make way for Greathelms and Plate!
  • Early/Late Western Clothing: While Carolingians may always be in fashion, their fashion will not always be – the introduction of new Early and Late clothing will set the centuries of play apart!
  • New Music: Over 20 minutes of new medieval tunes, in the form of a new Main Theme, 4 Mood tracks, and 13 contextually-triggered Cue tracks!

Free Features​

  • Added regencies, so that characters unable to rule for a short time (e.g., because they’re traveling) have someone to watch their realm whilst they’re gone
  • Added entrenched regencies, so that characters unable to rule for a long time (e.g., children) can be bullied by regents gone mad with power or sedately supported by regents who just want to do right by them
  • Added a baker’s dozen new mechanical interactions around characters becoming regents or thoroughly abusing their power whilst they are regents
  • Added the Coups feature, allowing regents to, with some effort, overthrow their liege and steal all their shinies at the low, low price of extreme risk of death or imprisonment and an unpleasant nickname
  • Added trilateral interactions where intermediary can veto or allow the interaction before the recipient can accept or decline. This way liege can have a say if diarch wants to (ab)use their powers
  • Added the Travel System so characters now actually move across the map and through individual provinces when traveling to Activities, optionally with an entourage of other characters
  • Added 130+ events that occur while traveling, both dangerous and non-dangerous in nature
  • Added the Caravan Master court position that affects travel stats and organizes the logistics of their liege’s travel
  • Added several Travel Options which allow for customization of travel plans (e.g. hiring specialists to counteract terrain danger)
  • Added travel route editor so that you can place waypoints on the map to adjust your travel route
  • Every character now has a bonafide location on the map
  • Characters Paying Homage, Petitioning their Liege, and going to Meditate in Seclusion now travel to their destination
  • Added Vassal Stances, every vassal now has a stance based on their personality, various opinion modifiers that previously impacted any vassal/feudal vassal now impact only vassals of a given stance
  • Vassal Stances have a preferred heir, when succession happens they get a temporary opinion boost with the new ruler if it was their preferred heir, or an opinion penalty if not.
  • Men-at-Arms can now be stationed in a specific holding, most building modifiers that previously impacted all men-at-arms now only impact the one stationed at that province.
  • Revised the rewards and balance of practically all buildings in the game to account for Men-at-Arms Stationing and other new changes, more details in the ‘Balance’ section.
  • Significantly refined the game’s economy; Building Slots now increase with time, many new Buildings have been added, Building Costs have been completely revised, Domain Limits have been lowered, etc. More details can be found in the Balance section.
  • Adult Count+ Rulers (excluding Mercenaries) now have a chance to passively gain nicknames such as ‘the Able’, ‘the Fat’, or ‘the Terrible’. The chance to gain a nickname goes up with rank, age, and prestige/piety, and the types of nicknames you can get are based in large part on traits, skills, and circumstances. For example, ‘the Careless’ can be gained while in a civil war of your making, if you have low diplomacy and some tyranny. When you get a nickname, an event will tell you which one you got, accompanied by a small reward or penalty.
  • Added 75+ new Nicknames, most of which can be gained passively.
  • Nicknames can now have descriptions, visible when moused over, *finally* allowing the use of ironic nicknames without an immense amount of explaining.
  • Added descriptions for most historic nicknames and all in-game given nicknames.
  • Added a Game Rule to control the frequency of random passive nicknames appearing on rulers
  • Added a Game Rule to tweak the Domain Limit of all rulers; +1, +2, +3, -1, -2, -3
  • You can now offer to Pay Ransom for your courtiers, vassals, close family members, dynasty members, lovers, friends, or anyone who is married to a member of your close family or dynasty
  • Added the Economy Mapmode. It shows income on a per-County basis, allowing you to plan your conquests properly. It also reveals the location of all Special Buildings in the game, whether they are constructed yet or not.
  • Added the Control Mapmode. It reveals the Control levels of all Counties in the world and also shows where Absolute Control is in effect.
  • Added a Destroy Artifact mechanic, which allows you to destroy any Common or Masterwork artifact you no longer want in order to recuperate some of the gold cost. If you are Iconoclast you can destroy Artifacts of any Rarity, and will get Piety for doing so.
  • Significantly updated the Current Situation widget to be more user-friendly and useful for both new and experienced players; we’ve updated several entries with more information, added several new situations, added icons to all entries, etc. More info can be found in the Interface section.
  • When hiring a Physician you can now see what Aptitude they will have directly in the Event Option
  • Canterbury Cathedral has been added as a special building with a set of modifiers, three levels of upgrades, and new on-map 3D models for each stage
  • Traits can now have Tiers with individual xp bars; this is in effect for the new Traveler and Hastiluder traits, but has also been added to all of the older ‘tiered’ traits such as Reveler, Hunter, and Pilgrim.
  • The Barbershop has been updated to be Fullscreen with a host of new tools and settings
  • Legwear is now accessible as a customization option in the barbershop
  • You can now pick your hair color using a color wheel in the barbershop
  • The rules for who you can edit in the Barbershop are now consistent with who you can edit the title/dynasty of, which means that you can now customize your vassals and subjects.
  • Added an event where your Realm Priest riles up your Zealot vassals against you
  • Added 5 Martial lifestyle events
  • Added 1 Wealth lifestyle event
  • Added 5 Dread lifestyle events

Achievements

  • ◈ Fixed an issue preventing some achievements (“Knowledge Itself is Power”, “Way of Life”, etc.) from being unlocked.
  • It is now possible to gain achievements through non-ironman single-player games

Tech

  • ◈ Reworked the save system on PS5 to prefer a more free space efficient quota-based approach instead of the previous slot-based system
    • This means that the users will be able to save the game more frequently without reaching the limits of available slots.
  • ◈ Extended the usability of the save system by showing the current save data sizes and available free space for remaining saves in the save/load UI screens
  • ◈ Improved the save system logic to avoid title crashing/freezing while approaching the end date
  • ◈ Improved stability by reducing peak memory usage
  • ◈ Improved stability by adding more accurate dynamic budgeting for texture streaming
  • ◈ Improved texture quality detail level for characters and portraits
  • ◈ Significantly reduced frame drops and lag in large multiplayer sessions on PS5

Balance​

  • The ‘Gavelkind’ Tribal Era innovation now gives one domain limit
  • The default number of Building Slots have been lowered by 1 for both County Capitals and Baronies
  • The Bailiffs, Guilds, Windmills and Ledger Innovations now unlock one Building Slot for provinces of that culture
  • The Capital Province and Capital Duchy modifiers now provide some Stationed MaA % bonuses to further promote consolidating your domain within one duchy
  • Castles now provide some general Stationed MaA % bonuses
  • Domain Limit is now increased by 1 for every 6 points of Stewardship, up from 5
  • Rebalanced starting innovations so fewer cultures start with Ledger unlocked
  • Indian Rulers will now recruit fewer Paiks MaA
  • The AI will now attempt to group buildings that boost the same MaA types in the same province
  • The AI will now prefer constructing certain building types based on cultural preferences and currently recruited MaA
  • Curtain Walls are now available in Floodplains, replacing Watchtowers as their fortification type
  • Ramparts are now available in Jungle, replacing Watchtowers as their fortification type
  • Royal Armories ranks II and III now reduce army costs by more
  • Pastures now give Supply Limit and a bit more Levies
  • Hunting Grounds no longer give MaA bonuses, instead they give defensive advantage and raid protection
  • Orchards now give a bit of Development Growth %
  • Elephant Pens now give more Tax, but no Heavy Cavalry MaA bonus
  • Outposts now give a little bit of Tax
  • Camel Farms now give a little bit of Tax and Raid protection, but no Knight slots
  • Increased the cost of all buildings at higher tiers. Instead of flat increase for every tier as before, for tier 3 and above they follow geometric progression.
  • Added a new building – Stables, buildable everywhere – which boost Cavalry MaA and grants its holder a little bit of army movement speed, travel speed, and some levies
  • Added a new building – Smiths – which boost Stationed MaA and provides tax % for the holding and grants its holder some knight effectiveness, Levy regain rate and Inspiration quality boosts.
  • Added a new building – Hillside Grazing, buildable in Hills, Mountains and Desert Mountains in certain geographical regions – which boost cavalry significantly and grants some levies
  • Added a new building – Warrior Lodges, buildable in Hills, Mountains and Desert Mountains in certain geographical regions – which boost infantry significantly and grants some levies
  • Added a new building – Horse Pastures, buildable in Steppe, the region ‘Eastern Steppe’, and by characters with the ‘Horse Lords’ Tradition – which boost Horse Archers and Light Cavalry and gives its holder some movement speed and land raid speed
  • Added a new building – Wind Furnaces, unlocked by the Wootz Steel innovation in India, they provide tax and Heavy Infantry/Pikeman/Heavy Cavalry/Elephant bonuses
  • Added a new building – Workshops, unlocked with Advanced Bowmaking, which boosts siege weapons, adds siege speed to stationed units, reduces the cost of Archers and Skirmishers, and also gives tax income
  • Added a new building – Windmills, unlocked with Windmills innovation, buildable in Farmlands, Plains and Hills, or in coastal provinces. These provide Supply Limit, flat and % tax for the Holding and Development Growth, both flat and %, for the whole County.
  • Added a new building – Watermills, unlocked with Windmills innovation, buildable in Mountains, Wetlands, Forests, Taigas and Jungles, or in riverside provinces. These provide flat tax, Supply limit and Construction Cost reduction for holding and Holding taxes % and Development Growth, both flat and %, for the whole County.
  • Added a new building – Caravanserai, unlocked with Guilds innovation, buildable in Drylands, Deserts, Oasis, Floodplains, Steppes or Desert Mountains. These provide: flat tax, Defender Advantage and Hostile Raid Time increase for Holding. Travel Danger reduction, Development Growth, both tax and %, for the County. Sponsored Inspiration Quality, MaA Maintenance cost reduction and Mercenary Hire Cost reduction for the holder.
  • Caravanserai line of buildings can be built in the Iberia region after Detente ending of Iberian Struggle
  • Invasion War types now have a cap of 150% for occupation, up from 100%, this should avoid stalemates
  • The Wootz Steel innovation no longer gives MaA bonuses
  • The Advanced Bowmaking innovation no longer gives MaA bonuses
  • The Windmills innovation no longer gives 5% domain tax
  • All Tier 6 military buildings now require Royal Armory innovation
  • Expanded the Danevirke special building by one province
  • The Danevirke and Offa’s Dyke special buildings now give a little bit of stationed MaA toughness
  • All fortification-style special buildings (i.e. Tower of London, Alhambra) now also give a bit of stationed MaA damage, toughness, and siege speed
  • All Mines (for instance Rammelsberg or the Mali gold mines) now give a lot of Siege Weapon effectiveness for stationed Siege MaA, representing the historical use of miners as sappers and siege workers
  • Several Cultural Traditions, especially the various ‘Terrain Dweller’ or ‘Terrain Warriors’-ones have been updated to ignore Travel Danger in their chosen terrains
  • Removed levy size modifiers from Martial skill and Marshal Organize Armies councilor task.
  • Increased the levy reinforcement offset modifier from Martial skill and Marshal Organize Armies councilor task.
  • Martial skill now gives offset Army Maintenance and MaA toughness bonuses
  • Added 21 additional constructible Universities around the world
  • Added 6 additional already-constructed Universities in India
  • Added 4 Mines in India
  • Added 1 Mine in Anatolia
  • Added 5 mines in Eastern Europe
  • Added 2 mines in Western Europe
  • Added 4 Mines in Africa
  • Added 2 Mines in Persia
  • All Ethos except Egalitarian now reduces the opinion of Different-Culture Minority Vassals
  • The Coastal Warriors and Seafarers cultural tradition now unlocks Tradeport buildings in tribal holdings
  • The Coastal Warriors cultural tradition now gives stationed MaA bonuses to Tradeport line of buildings
  • All Special Mines now boost the quality of metal-based inspirations significantly
  • Alliances can now be proposed to Extended Family, but the Acceptance Chance has been rebalanced to be less permissive; opinion, traits, and ai personality now weighs heavier in the calculations, as do number of existing alliances
  • Barrack line of buildings now gives bonuses to stationed heavy infantry and pikemen MaA
  • Decreased the cost level of Farm Estates line of buildings
  • Increased the tax gain from Tax Offices line of buildings
  • Cynical AI’s will now want to revoke Holy Order leases from orders they are not the patron of
  • Global Vassal Opinion bonuses will now only appear on Illustrious artifacts
  • Harald of Norway will no longer institute Thing succession on England as long as it’s held as a secondary Kingdom, this prevents the Kingdom from immediately falling back into Anglo-Saxon hands via election
  • Hereditary Hierarchy now affects Tyranny Decay by 50%, but the Castle Cost % has been reduced by 10%
  • Inspired wanderers now produce slightly better artifacts
  • It now costs less prestige to designate a Shieldmaiden
  • Leisure Palaces now give more Scheme Success Chance on higher levels
  • Local Artisans spawned by the Commission Artifact decision now have a modifier called ‘Local Artisan’ so that players can tell that they’ll produce worse Inspirations if assigned to the Court Artificer court position.
  • Lowered most sources of Cultural Fascination Progress % Modifiers
  • Lowered the Tax Mult and Build Cost modifiers from being Steward on your liege’s Council
  • Made Genghis Khan always spawn with the Peacemaker perk
  • Made the ‘Flight of Fancy’ event much less likely to happen
  • Made the AI in the Iberian Struggle much more aggressive in the Opportunity and Hostility Phases
  • Marches now give much more Defender Advantage alongside a significant reduction in local Danger
  • Military camps now increase supply, control gain, and reduce MaA maintenance
  • More special buildings now give a Renown % boost
  • Newly-formed Divergent cultures now get a slight culture conversion speed boost against their parent culture for 50 years
  • Pay Ransom now has a stress impact where several traits reduce stress, such as compassionate or generous
  • Practiced Pirates is now restricted to non-tribals of duke tier or below, or else realms no larger than approximately the size of Wales, to prevent the entire HRE taking up piracy on the Emperor’s orders
  • Realm Priests will now tend to learn the language of their Liege, either on appointment, or later via the scheme
  • Reduced the renown effects of Castle Keepers
  • Roughly halved all sources of Build Cost Reduction, terrain-based reductions lowered by 33%
  • Rulers now start the game with 36 months of income rather than 18
  • Same Faith Opinion bonuses will now only appear on Illustrious artifacts
  • Siege Works now give more toughness to stationed Siege Weapons, and also significantly reduces the cost of creating and maintaining them
  • Significantly increased the Hostile Scheme Resistance and Success Chance reduction from the Greatest of Khans trait and modifier, increased the siege ability, and added opinion with minority Vassals
  • Significantly lowered the chance of getting the ‘Getting A Head’ Court Event Chain
  • The ‘A Courtier Scorned’ event will now happen much less frequently, and only for very greedy and vengeful characters
  • The AI should now be a little bit less likely to start schemes during a House Feud
  • The AI will now try and use hooks in marriages if it would sway a good candidate that otherwise refuses.
  • The Commission Artifact decision has been changed so that Local Artisans don’t always produce Common quality artifacts, but instead come with an inherent quality penalty that is difficult to overcome. This makes it possible for them to produce higher-tier artifacts.
  • The Danevirke and Offa’s Dyke Special Buildings now give more defensive advantage
  • The Doge’s Palace special building now gives 5 flat income rather than a 50% county tax bonus
  • The Marches Duchy Building now gives tax % mult in Hills and Mountains
  • The Mines of Mali now gives a bit of development growth
  • The Reichskrone is now considered Illustrious
  • The Theodosian Walls now give 10 flat income rather than a 300% county tax bonus, and the 300% levy bonus has been lowered to 30%, this still leaves Constantinople as the most economically viable county in the world, but it won’t be so brutally overpowered anymore
  • The Walls of Genoa now gives 3 flat income rather than a 10% county tax bonus
  • The al-Taj crown now gives Zealot opinion rather than Same Faith opinion
  • The military Academies Building now increases Man-at-Arms limits and reduces recruitment costs
  • Theocratic Vassals will now often be selected for the position of Realm Priest, preferring high-learning characters and religious heads
  • Universities are no longer founded via Decision, but are now constructible similarly to other special buildings, this was done because the Economy Mapmode now shows where they are located
  • Universities now boost the quality of book inspirations significantly
  • Universities now give 10% lifestyle xp and 5% cultural fascination progress to their holder
  • Updated the old Intrigue and Martial Feast events to have more relevant modifiers and to give lifestyle XP
  • Upped the maximum score from Occupations to 150% from 100% for most CB’s, this should prevent many stalemates
  • Various Vassal Stance opinions will now appear on Artifacts
  • Various Vassal Stance tax and levy contribution % bonuses will now appear on Artifacts
  • When a ruler is vassalized with Religious Protection who can have a Jizya contract too, they now get that contract as well
  • You now gain/lose stress if you’re Greedy/Generous and gifting masterwork+ artifacts, based on the rarity of the gifted artifact
  • You now lose less stress when sending gifts as a Generous character, and don’t lose stress if you’re gifting to your heir
  • Crocodiles can now attack from rivers in crocodile-having areas, even if the province terrain is otherwise not suitable for crocodilians
  • Cultures with Horse Lords now take massively reduced attrition & have greatly increased speed when raiding overland (allowing them to perform raids deep into settled territories as long as they remain tribal)
  • Cultures with Saharan Nomads or Desert Travellers now have decently-reduced attrition and moderately increased speed when raiding (allowing them to raid the feudals of North Africa/the Sahel or the Arabian coast respectively)
  • Added a lil bit of raid speed boost & raiding attrition reduction to Himalayan Settlers (allowing them to raid the foothills around the Himalayas & each other)
  • Escaping from Prison is now a Crime if the imprisoner had legitimate cause to imprison you
  • Meditate in Seclusion no longer uses the activity system and has been updated to use the new location system
  • Rebalanced Pay Homage rewards and scripted values for dynasty prestige, scaling by era
  • Made smith inspirations more common and weaver inspirations a bit less common
  • Cultural traditions now play a bit more of a role when inspired people pick their inspiration type (but this does not affect the number of inspired people of that culture, only the likeliness that they will pick a specific type)
  • Regents are more attractive candidates under elective succession and will prioritize voting for themselves or their liege’s candidate depending on loyalty
  • Regents are more powerful electors under all electives except Ting (where power is derived from calculations about the number of freemen you control)
  • Gaining strife opinion as a regent will now cause characters to want to murder, abduct, torture, castrate, and/or blind you
  • Increased the amount of stress loss for Generous characters sending gifts
  • Progress to Friend will now only make the two characters potential friends if their opinion is above 0
  • Increased chance of recovering from minor illness
  • Increased chance of becoming scarred

AI

  • The AI will now actively propose marriages to the player and the player’s heirs. They will pretend that the player has the acceptance of an AI, meaning that you won’t, for example, get proposals from Counts if you’re a High-tier Ruler.
  • Pious and Warlike AI’s will now use the Ask Pope for Claim Interaction to gain claims on titles that are relevant to their interests
  • Fixed an issue where the AI wouldn’t always go for the Wargoal as an Attacker
  • Loyal AI’s will now want to ransom their friends and lovers
  • Lustful AI’s will now really want to ransom their lovers, unless they’re terribly greedy
  • Made the AI less likely to propose Alliances to significantly smaller rulers, though they might still accept incoming requests if made by someone they care about, such as one of their children
  • The AI is now more inclined to keep sieging/break sieges if it can
  • The AI is now more willing to form stacks exceeding the supply limit of a province if it’s involved in large-scale wars
  • The AI is now slightly more inclined to keep the bonus from Train Commanders until they’re bankrupt
  • The AI now properly gets a discount on feudalizing Tribal Holdings
  • The AI will no longer switch to organize armies in peacetime as the gold saved only applies to raised armies
  • The AI will now check if it should revoke Holy Order leases more often
  • The AI will now ransom their close family or those married to their close family more often, even if they’re not in their court. Very compassionate AI’s will extend this to their entire family.
  • The AI will now try to propose alliances to its Vassals via the interaction
  • The AI is more likely to build Tax Offices duchy building in suitable locations
  • The AI is more likely to pick Organize Armies marshal council task if below 80% of max army strength at peace
  • Very compassionate, generous, and honorable AI’s will now want to ransom their Liege

Interface

  • ◈ Added a second map radial menu wheel to allow more convenient navigation between map mode items
  • ◈ Improved navigation for titles/claims/alliances items on Character window
  • ◈ Expanded the characters modifiers UI via slideouts
  • ◈ Various inventory UI navigation improvements
  • ◈ Improved the activity invite window navigation
  • ◈ Improved UI for holding construction/holding upgrade screens
  • ◈ As long as the player has an opened unfinished event in a Royal Court, a corresponding icon will be shown the Quick Access Menu
  • Added a lot of prefix icons to modifiers, especially those present on various Buildings. This should make it much easier to, at a glance, see what a building or other source of modifiers does.
  • Game Rules are now categorized, and can be filtered by selecting a category via drop-down
  • Map Character Location Pins are now visible whenever someone is selected
  • Prison Bars are now visible on Map Character Location Pins
  • Overlapping map-icons are sorted front-to-back correctly (if in the same map-icon layer)
  • Pastures are now called Cattle Pastures
  • Added Icons to the MaA Game Concepts
  • The Camel and Elephant innovations will now say that they unlock their corresponding building
  • Added Interaction icons to Grant Independence and Join War
  • Added a ‘You can ask the Pope for Claims’ Current Situation item, showing you any Duchies+ that you could get a Claim on
  • Added a Current Situation for when one of your first three Heirs are imprisoned so that you can easily pay their Ransoms
  • Added a Current Situation for when you can Pay Ransom for one of your Vassals and gain a Hook on them
  • Added a Current Situation item for Pardoning Criminals
  • Added a Toast when someone else ransoms someone close to you
  • Added a Toast when someone ransoms you
  • Added icons and updated texts for most Current Situations
  • Assigned icons to all interactions
  • Added the incredibly important missing relation strings cousin-in-law, aunt-in-law, uncle-in-law, grandmother-in-law, grandfather-in-law, great grandmother-in-law, great grandfather-in-law, granddaughter-in-law, grandson-in-law, great granddaughter-in-law, great grandson-in-law, niece-in-law, and nephew-in-law, because the familial relations of this game weren’t complex enough!
  • The attrition icon will now only show if the army will take attrition. Non-raiding armies are assumed to take attrition.
  • Character Names in incoming diplomacy offers will no longer use white text on a light background
  • Clarified the Health game concept
  • Compressed the Character Interaction entries a bit to avoid having scrollbars under most common circumstances
  • Corrected incorrect localization for Renown gain (lost instead of loses/gained instead of gains)
  • Excluded Barons from the ‘Powerful Vassal demands Council Position’ Current Situation as you legitimately don’t have to care that much for them
  • Excluded parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents from the ‘Family can Marry’ Current Situation as marrying away your widowed mother isn’t something we want to motivate the player to do
  • Expanded the ‘Child Needs Guardian’ Current Situation to include valid grandchildren and great-grandchildren
  • Expanded the ‘Low County Control’ Current Situation to trigger when control is at or below 90 Control, and it now shows the Control level directly in the entry
  • Expose Secret is now a sub-menu interaction while Blackmail is a common interaction, as one was used significantly more than the other
  • Extended character tooltips will now show the character background, to give a quick indication if a character is traveling or not
  • Fixed Loading Tips not showing any of the tips following number 69, which isn’t very nice
  • Fixed an issue where entries in the Character Search would become slightly darkened if you scrolled the list
  • Fixed several instances of missing parent concepts in various Game Concepts
  • Improved background and character selection in various pregnancy events
  • Most Current Situation entries that have to do with titles will now state the tier and show an icon of the tier crown to aid in identification
  • Only characters located in the Capital Province will now appear in the Royal Court Scene
  • The ‘Call Ally’, ‘Call House Member’ and ‘Call Dynasty Member’ Current Situation entries will now state their Tier and Troop Count directly in the entry
  • The ‘Declare War’ Current Situation will now show the amount of troops your potential target has
  • The ‘Demand Payment’ Current Situation now states how much gold they have compared to the amount you demand
  • The ‘Family can Marry’ Current Situation has been updated to show what place in the line of succession they hold, to avoid you doing unfavorable marriages
  • The ‘Few Knights’ Current Situation now states how many knights you have, and what’s your maximum
  • The ‘Hire Court Physician’ Current Situation is now marked as dangerous/high prio, as being without one is indeed quite dangerous
  • The ‘In Line of Succession for Title’ Current Situation Item will now only appear for titles outside your realm, as it would in 90% of cases mainly show titles you were about to inherit from newly-created vassals
  • The ‘In line for Title’ Current Situation now states if the title is inside or outside your realm, so you can better plan your nefarious murder schemes
  • The ‘Negotiate Alliance’ Current Situation description now explains that allied vassals can’t join factions if the ally is within your realm, or how many troops you’d get if the ally is outside your realm
  • The ‘Negotiate Alliance’ Current Situation now states if the target is inside or outside your realm, so you can make a better call at a glance if they’ll be able to join your wars or not
  • The ‘Negotiate Alliance’ Current Situation now states the potential targets relation to you (son, brother, etc) and their military strength
  • The ‘Not Endorsed by Realm Priest’ Current Situation now opens the Sway interaction
  • The ‘Not Endorsed by Realm Priest’ Current Situation now shows the opinion your Realm Priest has of you
  • The ‘Powerful Vassal demands Council Position’ Current Situation now shows the opinion the vassal has of you in the entry, so you can easily avoid assigning positions to already-happy vassals if you want
  • The ‘Prisoner can be Ransomed’ Current Situation now shows if they have enough gold to pay their ransom directly in the entry
  • The ‘Propose Alliance’ Current Situation has been expanded to include more valid targets for alliances, such as anyone married to one of your extended family members
  • The ‘Realm will Lose Land if Vassal Inherits Title’ Current Situation will now state exactly which title would cause the damage, along with its tier
  • The ‘Wrong Holding Type’ Current Situation will now state in the entry what type of holding they are
  • There’s now a different background in the Vassal Contract window when modifying a Clan contract
  • There’s now an icon indicating if a vassal’s contract has already been changed when browsing the Vassal list in the Realm view
  • Universities will now say that they unlock the Send Child to University Education Option
  • You can now see who would join the defender against you in Holy Wars
  • Level of Devotion Impact is now a game concept and explains to you what it does
  • Renamed the Courtly cultural Ethos to Ceremonious to avoid confusion with the new Courtly vassal stance
  • Improved the my realm succession tab for primogeniture succession to show more info like traits and a clearer line of succession
  • Overhauled the AI personality tooltip, now contains their personality, vassal stance if a vassal, and economic archetype if a ruler. Raw personality now has explanations for how the vassal is likely to act.
  • Enabled Steam Rich Presence, now your friends can see some fun flavor about what you are doing in game, this can be disabled via game settings.
  • Made Debug AI War Coordinator map mode show gradient based on objective score

Art

  • Coat of arms can now show up on the clothes of characters, in order uses: house if not lowborn, primary title if ruler, court owner’s primary title if not wandering, default fallback.
  • Several existing Animations have been updated with expressive introduction segments, bringing more movement and life into events: Anger (3 variations), Happiness (3 variations), Admiration (2 variations), Shock (2 variations), Disbelief, Disgust, Dismissal, Fear, Sadness, Worry, Stressed, and Schadefreude
  • Added 45+ new animations including but not limited to:
    • Hunt animations: Hunting horn, Hunting knife, Hunting carcass, Hunting Falcon/animated prop, Hunting bow Aim, Hunting bow Rest, Crossbow
    • Tournament animations: Sword victory, Sword yield, Wrestling victory, Wrestling yield
    • Jousting animations with horse and rider: Jockey with lance on horse tilted idle, Jockey with lance couched on horse gallop, Jockey on horse gallop, Jockey on horse victory, Jockey on horse loss, Jockey on horse walk, Jockey on horse Idle
    • Weddings: Bride, Groom, Officiant, Bride Reception, Groom Reception, Happy cry animation, New drunk animation, ‘I object’ animation
    • A brand new ‘Thinking’ animation
  • Added unique Icons for all Schemes
  • Added a lot of new Casus Belli icons, covering almost every CB in the game
  • The Character View Backgrounds now represent the location of the character, should they be leading an army, traveling, or in an activity
  • Updated the clothes and looks of most Bookmark characters
  • Added a Low and High tier of fanciness to all old war nobility assets, and a Royal tier to selected armors.
  • Added 2 sets of male and female armours with variations for: Early and late Western era culture.
  • Added 2 sets of male and female legwears for: Late Western armours.
  • Added 8 male and female war headgears with variations for: Western culture.
  • Added 2 sets of male and female armours with variations for: Carolingian culture.
  • Added 1 set of male and female armours and helmets with variations for: Mena, Steppe, Byzantine and Indian cultures.
  • Added new Coat of arms crest headgear.
  • Added 2 sets of male and female clothing for: Carolingian culture.
  • Added crowns for male and female: Carolingian Culture.
  • Added male common headgear and female, male low/high nobility headgears for: Western culture.
  • Added new patterns for: Carolingian culture.
  • Added new nobility cloaks for: Carolingian culture.
  • Added new pilgrim clothes for: Muslim culture.
  • Added new Travel cloaks for: Western and Mena cultures.
  • Added new wedding specific headgears for: Western, Mena and Byzantine cultures.
  • Added new map units for travel activity.
  • Updated DDE HRE imperial Crown with new textures.
  • Multiple clothing, headgears, hair and beard improvements to fix clipping issues and alleviate texture stretching.
  • Expanded color palettes for war nobility assets.
  • Expanded our library of tile-able textures to include chainmail, scale armors, and leathers. This will help most armors look better overall, especially at lower game resolution settings.
  • Optimized old war nobility assets, to allow for better texture resolution on those armors and headgears.
  • Male children can now have their left hand visibly removed too
  • Fixed an issue where many western women wouldn’t wear any headgear after the year 1300
  • Added 3D model for Canterbury monument, for each level of upgrade.
  • Added hunting props like hunting horns, a felled rabbit, boar spears and hunting blades.
  • Added a variety of bows and crossbows with animation stances for events and as artifacts.
  • Added lances.
  • Added Hnefatafl board, try winning a spelling bee with that one.
  • Added more animal skulls; Hyena, Gazelle
  • Added many animal skin variants, in particular legendary variants.
  • Added additional mine markers to the map, see more under Balance.
  • Fixes to the Indian spear to make it slightly less massive.
  • Fixes and updated positioning of holding positions in a plethora of provinces.
  • Fixes to mediterranean court room textures
  • Fixed critical issue of teleporting American cactus on the Desert Warrior trait, replaced it with a geographically-appropriate Arabian dromedary instead
  • Fixed horrendous 19th-century chocolate chip muffins on the Comfort Eater trait (that have clearly been machine-made), replaced with a temporally-appropriate medieval sambocade cheesecake instead for maximum immersion
  • Added an enormous amount of new background illustrations used in various events (roughly 40)

Localization

  • Added, and this is very exciting, a small piece of custom loc for distinguishing between one and two legged people
  • Triggers will now state that they’re looking for sins/virtues instead of congenital traits

Game Content​

  • Added Feud target house name to House modifiers
  • Added a memory for becoming nemeses
  • Added a mention of the Casus Belli to the war declaration, war end, and war join memories
  • Per user request, added Go as a board game variant for Tibet, & Fidchell as a board game variant for the Celtic world
  • Owners of Royal Court can now commission Urn court artifacts via artisan Inspirations
  • Changed Blot, Grand Rite, and Meet Peers to use the new Activity System
  • You can now select a location to host a Blot or Grand Rite in your realm. Meet Peers is always restricted to your capital
  • Added guest selection functionality for Blot, Grand Rite, and Meet Peers. Guests must now travel to the location of your activity
  • Meditate in Seclusion decision now allowed for characters with the calm trait
  • Updated Pilgrimages, Feasts, & Hunts to use the new Activity System, and added new events
  • New animal types can appear on Hunts, with more regional variety
  • Master of the Hunt court position is now available to all rulers
  • New animal trinket trophy artifacts for hunters without a Royal Court
  • Several buildings now affect Hunt Success chance or Sighting chance
  • New Hunt murder, abduction, seduction, and befriend events
  • Can now attend other character’s Hunts
  • New Hunt Sighting events, which improve Hunt success chance in specific locations
  • Improved old hunting events and tied them into new systems, with Master of the Hunt aptitude affecting chances for positive and negative events
  • Added religious Doctrine relating to Pilgrimages in order to allow them, make them mandatory or forbid them
  • Additional types of Pilgrimages available, such as Pious, Worldly and Hajj
  • Tweaked old and added new events while on a Pilgrimage to a holy site, tying them into new systems
  • New events about spending time at a holy site
  • New events about performing the Hajj at Mecca
  • The Pilgrimage trait is awarded after performing a Pilgrimage and is now updated with several experience tiers
  • Unique activity backgrounds for Jerusalem and Mecca
  • All Activities now have ‘Activity Pulse Actions’: small toast-like events that appear on a timer of 7 days. Examples: The Guest of Honor receiving Prestige during a Feast, or a good Hunter increasing Success Chance during a Hunt.

Databases

  • Fixed an accidental instance of ultra-incest incorrectly attributed to Adelheid of Hohenburg
  • The capital of Nobatia is now Qasr Ibrim
  • Predefined Baldwin V of Flanders’ traits to give him a more consistent personality
  • Predefined Rasad’s (the Shia caliph’s mum) remaining random trait to give her a marginally more consistent personality
  • Bamian and Samarkand are now called the same thing on both a county and a barony level
  • The Rajastani Empire is now spelled Rajasthani Empire.
  • Fixed that two of the Cheraku Reddy spouses in 1066 were erroneously also set up as daughters of the dynasty.
  • Added Ratnapura Gem Mines
  • Added Zawar Zinc Mines
  • Added Takkeda Copper Mines
  • Added Pansjhir Silver Mines
  • Added Trepca Mines
  • Added Taghaza Salt Mines
  • Added Cevennes Silver Mines
  • Added Allaq Gold Mines
  • Added Konasamudram Iron Mines
  • Added Ijil Salt Mines
  • Added Torda Salt Mines
  • Added Rudnik Silver Mines
  • Added Srebrenica Silver Mines
  • Added Khetri Copper Mines
  • Added Phocea Alum Mines
  • Added Verespatak Gold Mines
  • Added Nishapur Turquoise Mines
  • Added Forest of Dean Iron Mines

Bugfixes

  • ◈ Fixed several Out-Of-Sync issues and rare client disconnects when playing longer multiplayer sessions.
  • ◈ Fixed issue regarding the highlighter focusing on the background instead of the Inspirations tutorial pop-up.
  • ◈ Fixed artifact reforge, repair and destroy UI navigation
  • ◈ Restored broken domain limit highlight when granting/revoking titles.
  • ◈ Fixed war objective’s borders not being highlighted on the map when declaring war for courtier’s claims.
  • ◈ Fixed empty tooltips while inspecting the Resources frame in the Character View panel.
  • ◈ Fixed the “Culture” tile not being highlighted in the Character Radial when following the first page of the “Cultures” tutorial.
  • ◈ Fixed the “Next” button being unresponsive after opening the “Cultures” tutorial’s second page.
  • ◈ Fixed the “Innovations” menu not being highlighted when following page four of the “Cultures” tutorial.
  • ◈ Fixed trait icons being misaligned in the tooltip of the “Traits” submenu of the “Character” tab.
  • ◈ Fixed an issue regarding event tooltip information displaying participant information instead of event outcome.
  • ◈ Fixed an issue where players were unable to move the selection cursor in “The Gallant Faris” event at the Royal Court.
  • ◈ Fixed an issue where the newsfeed would not display images correctly.
  • ◈ Removed the redundant “Change Character” buttons on the Contract Assistance window.
  • ◈ Fixed an issue where the “Advice: Struggles” hint doesn’t trigger the tutorial for the Struggle.
  • ◈ Fixed an issue where the character’s tooltip appears when hovering over a choice with the character’s name in the “On the March” event.
  • ◈ Fixed navigation issues in Living Members and Houses buttons.
  • ◈ Fixed activity options icons having uneven borders.
  • ◈ Fixed an issue where players are unable to manipulate with Trait tooltip in Tooltip Mode.
  • ◈ Fixed the ‘Court Positions’ window staying on screen after switching player and blocking the UI.
  • ◈ Fixed achievements indicator in the “Ruler Designer” window
  • ◈ Fixed an issue where the “Find Concubine” menu lacked descriptions.
  • ◈ Fixed court position appoint window portrait navigation.
  • ◈ Fixed issue regarding Character Radial menu is obfuscated for most character interactions and added navigation to the last widget after the radial is closed.
  • ◈ Fixed game crash when joining an invited multiplayer session.
  • ◈ Fixed navigation in the Culture tab.
  • ◈ Fixed issue where the “Link Account” window becomes locked and inoperable.
  • ◈ Fixed issue where “X” for changing character is not mentioned in the context prompt panel.
  • ◈ Fixed loading/switching delays for characters and cloth textures
  • A betrothed no longer counts when determining if a character has enough spouses (according to their faith and standing)
  • Death notification events for close relatives now show the killer if they are known to you
  • Event after revoking titles legitimately no longer states you incurred tyranny when you did not
  • Fix the obese and malnourished icons not showing on the character modifiers; the impact was applied but the modifier hidden.
  • Fixed Up Late inspiration event sometimes forcing intimate relations
  • Fixed alliance formed by Friends with Benefits event invalidating immediately
  • Fixed broken marriage candidate loc in A Notable Guest Arrived message
  • Fixed crash with unlanded characters taking decisions with cooldowns
  • Fixed duchy titles granted in Petition Liege not transferring de jure vassals
  • Fixed some Indian cities not having holding illustrations
  • Infirm characters are now considered to be unhealthy by default
  • Men-at-arms Counter Efficiency now actually improves YOUR counter efficiency
  • Removed option to continue Feud against house with no members left after murdering the last one
  • Reset vassal contracts who are not visible to the default contract option.
  • Revoking titles from vassals held in other’s prisons no longer leads to war, but grants twice as much tyranny if you have no valid reason
  • Add missing modifier of powerful vassals opinion change on offer vassalage
  • Add missing obese modifier
  • Characters with the Halq modifier will now not wear a hat
  • Clergy should now be able to fight when their faith or culture allows it, instead of when BOTH their faith and culture allows it
  • Conquest and Relic wars are no longer incredibly cheap for Tribals due to the discount being applied twice
  • Fix powerful agent court position text as icon
  • Fix tooltip modifiers being green when should be red
  • Fix vassal sorting by opinion of you
  • Fixed Mountaineer Ruralism not being visible for West Slavic cultures
  • Fixed a few instances of the text ‘DESCRIPTION’ appearing in Spymaster feed messages
  • Fixed a lot of memories with the incorrect duration specified
  • Fixed an issue in Varangian events where the wrong character would be added to your court
  • Fixed an issue where Abduct schemes could freeze if the ‘Unwelcome Guests’ method was chosen
  • Fixed an issue where the Fellow Vassal Opinion from the Foreign Affairs council task
  • Fixed an issue where the Viking Longship event picture wasn’t being used
  • Fixed an issue where you could get the ‘forget a language’ event while at the language cap
  • Fixed broken loc in match made memory
  • Fixed gaps in some title histories breaking presentation of previous rulers
  • Fixed incorrect culture reference in Outremer decision
  • Fixed incorrect display value of spymaster secret discovery %
  • Fixed incorrect siege weapons appearing for certain graphical cultures
  • Fixed minor issues with the triggers for Witch event options related to sex
  • Fixed several issues with clergy not wearing the correct clothes at all times
  • Fixed several issues with how the Court Fashion amenity applied clothes to courtiers & guests
  • Fixed several issues with various poems sent via the interaction
  • Fixed several smaller issues in shieldmaiden events and made them respect if martial gender is determined by faith or culture
  • Fixed the Conciliation/Compromise Struggle endings sometimes not working if you held more than one kingdom
  • Fixed the Court Tutor not boosting the education of unlanded children
  • Fixed the Domination ending not always working if you had united the Spanish thrones
  • Fixed the Found the Capital of the Rus decision not granting prestige
  • Fixed the Improve Contract catalyst not always working in the Struggle for Iberia
  • Fixed the Norse Temple event background not showing if you had reformed the faith
  • Fixed the Struggle for Iberia nemesis catalyst triggering twice
  • Fixed the Struggle for Iberia rivalry catalyst not triggering
  • If you’re having extramarital sex with your soulmate and they reveal your secret, they will no longer consider your exclusivity promise to be broken
  • Infants no longer have magnificent eyelashes
  • It’s now possible to get the best House Feud outcome modifier
  • Made sure that Genghis Khan gets the same bonuses no matter what game rules you are using
  • Made sure that the symbol of Muhammad doesn’t wear a turban once and for all
  • Removed misplaced trigger for the Royal custom cloak which prevented non-kings from using it in the barbershop
  • Removed superfluous triggers from the Coterie Dynasty Legacy
  • Removed trigger in Horse Lords which prevented the tradition from being selectable by cultures in the steppe
  • Revealing secrets of Counts now triggers catalysts in the Iberian Struggle as it should
  • Rogue Administration/Beyond Boundaries now give a criminal opinion against the thief, require lower tier rulers, and try to take from rulers likely to be closer
  • Samaritans can now restore the Jewish Priesthood
  • Simplified the triggers for the Decision to revoke a Holy Order lease, this should make them always appear in the list
  • Fixed not being able to revoke Holy Order leases if you weren’t the patron or of another faith
  • The AI will no longer back out of deciding to Hold Court
  • The Artifact murder save event should no longer break when you are traveling over water
  • The Bathhouse rivalry event will no longer grab your spouses or consorts
  • The Commander Trait Teaching effect can now fire from the Train Commanders Marshal Task
  • The Designate Shieldmaiden interaction now looks at Martial Customs instead of Faith Doctrines if you own Royal Court
  • The HRE high nobility clothing is now valid for kings and emperors
  • The Knight Training effects from the Train Commanders Marshal Task now fire as they should
  • The Learn Language struggle catalyst now correctly awards prestige instead of piety
  • The Raid alert will now only appear if your lands or your vassals lands are being raided
  • The Sanctioned War Declaration contract now properly reduces CB cost in internal wars
  • The Tocharian culture now starts with Innovations unlocked
  • Universities will now give their modifiers to their holder
  • Western-style castles that somehow make their way over to India will now use the correct texture
  • When equipping artifacts, actually check the character owns it
  • You can no longer continue House Feuds against Houses with no members
  • You can now grant Head of Faith titles to characters who follow the same Head of Faith as you
  • Per user request, challenges to board game from the AI no longer pop open
  • Children are now eligible to play board games via interaction again
  • Disabled buildings that has some fort level bonus will always provide at least 1 level
  • Female characters obtaining the nickname “Sea-King” will now be correctly gendered “Sea-Queen”
  • Fixed struggle events sometimes firing when inappropriate (imprisoned, incapable, etc)
  • Inverting gender rules now also correctly inverts basic gender preferences (allowing for slightly smoother realm law invalidation and reducing systemic male preference bias in female dominated worlds)
  • Inverting gender rules now catches and deposes more male rulers in favour of female heirs than before
  • Revoking a Holy Order lease via the decision will no longer deduct double piety
  • Two events that said they would give you court grandeur (and didn’t) now actually give the listed reward
  • When inverting gender rules, Nubian Warrior Queens is now replaced with Nubian Warrior Kings
  • When using the inverted gender dominance game rule setting, first-generation HoFs will now be inverted correctly (rather than waiting for the first incumbent to die)
  • When using the inverted gender dominance game rule setting, title laws will now be correctly inverted (e.g., France or the HRE in 1066)
  • Counter Efficiency now give you a benefit, with your MaA being harder to counter by the stated % amount
  • Fixed scoping issues in Hold Court events Personal Matter, Child of the Court, and Public Accusation
  • Fixed issue with the Hold Court event “A Holy Tomb” which could lead to the queue getting stuck forever – locking you out of Holding Court again or attending any other activity
  • Negotiating an Alliance now correctly tells you who you are negotiating an alliance with instead of just saying ‘you’
  • It is now possible to build a Great Temple in Niani
  • Sicilian Culture can now spread in areas with Arabic heritage cultures
  • Independence war, Liberty Faction war and Title Refusal wars can now roll back tribal authority.
  • No longer possible to demand conversion of holy order master when releasing them from prison
  • The Fecund trait should now make characters fertile for 5 more years
  • Vassals imprisoned abroad can no longer refuse title revocation and thus create tyranny wars, but lieges will receive twice as much tyranny for revoking their titles illegitimately
  • Fixed many Royal Court regional weapon models not appearing in normal playthroughs
  • When starting a game and entering the map, a bunch of 2D HUD elements will now no longer flicker in for a couple of frames until they realize they shouldn’t be there.
  • Fixed a bug where the AI would not properly validate if it can send a character interaction before actually sending it.
  • Fixed several rare Out-of-Syncs across the game
  • Artifacts with a low durability no longer warn about low durability when this is not the case.
  • Headlines in credits no longer overlap names in the release above.
  • ‘Too few spouses’ is no longer negated by a betrothal
  • Character interactions are now delivered to the recipient immediately, no need to wait for 1 day

That’s it for this Crusader Kings 3 console patch. Once another one is pushed out, we’ll let our readers know.

[Source: Paradox Plaza]

Avatar photo

Alex Co

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

Home > Title Updates and Patches

Alan Wake 2 Update 1.200.004 Now Lets Players Boost Flashlight While Reloading, Brings DLC Fixes

Remedy has issued a new patch for Alan Wake 2 and this one brings in a community-requested quality-of-life addition to the game alongside fixes to The Lake House DLC. Players can now boost the flashlight while reloading their weapon after applying Alan Wake 2 update 1.200.004 (XSX version 1.2.0.4/PC 1.2.4), which should make combat a bit more fluid.

Alongside that addition, there’s a host of improvements and bug fixes to The Lake House expansion touching no cinematics, adds in more resources before the final boss fight, and other technical touch ups.

Alan Wake 2 Update 1.200.004 Delivers Improvements to The Lake House DLC

General 

  • The Player can now boost the flashlight while reloading the weapon (canceling the reload in the process). YES! 

Fixes 

  • Fixed an issue where the player was not able to shoot after a partial weapon reload 
  • Fixed an issue where the DualSense adaptive triggers kept on rumbling and doing the wrong thing at the wrong time 

The Lake House Fixes and Improvements 

  • Sent in some additional resource boxes that appear right before the final boss fight, as they should in video games. Stock up! 
  • Fixed an issue where the opening cinematic of The Lake House was playing at the wrong time 
  • Fixed some shadow banding on the final The Lake House cinematic 
  • Fixed a rare case where the player would get stuck in the elevator when returning to Sublevel 1. While this is a realistic issue even for the FBC, this has now been deemed not a great idea for the game experience 
  • Added some “missing” paint onto the walls of Sublevel 4, so it no longer seems the Painted attack out of a regular grey wall. (also known as the “good thinking” fix) 
  • Fixed the Portuguese translation for the hint for the second computer puzzle, which gave the player the wrong information. 
  • Various localization fixes 
  • Minor fixes and stability improvements

In other Alan Wake 2 news, Remedy has announced earlier this month that the horror game has recouped most of its development and marketing budget, which is good news.

[Source: Alan Wake]

Avatar photo

Alex Co

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

Home > News

Half-Life 2 Breaks Its Record for Concurrent Players 20 Years After Launch

After 20 years, Half-Life 2 has hit a new record for concurrent players on Steam. This milestone is largely thanks to Valve’s recent initiative to offer the game for free for a limited time in celebration of its anniversary. Beyond that, the special occasion likely inspired many fans, driven by nostalgia, to relive Gordon Freeman’s iconic journey.

According to SteamDB, Half-Life 2 reached an impressive 64,085 concurrent players, far surpassing its previous peak of 16,101 in 2021. This remarkable achievement highlights the enduring appeal of the game, which continues to hold a special place in players’ hearts even after two decades.

Half-Life 2 player count steam
Player surge for Half-Life 2 peaks at 64,085 concurrent players during its 20th anniversary.

Another reason fans are revisiting Valve’s masterpiece is a major update released as part of the anniversary celebrations. The update includes fixes for old bugs, new game content and updated graphic settings, better particle effects, high-resolution lightmaps, improved controller support, and more.

If you haven’t played Half-Life 2 yet, there’s still time to grab it for free on Steam. But don’t wait too long—the promotion ends today at 10:00 AM PT. Download it now and experience this iconic game for yourself.

Additionally, Valve has launched a special sale for Half-Life franchise where you can get the original Half-Life for just $0.99, the expansions Opposing Force and Blue Shift for $0.74 each, and Half-Life: Alyx for $20.39. Don’t miss the chance to take full advantage of this amazing deal!

In related news, reports suggest that Half-Life 3 is “real” and could feature a semi-open world with smart NPCs that can interact with players.

More MP1st Reading:

Avatar photo

Taha

Television kills your vision.

Home > News

U.S. Senator Urges Valve to Tackle “Extremist and Hateful” Content on Steam

U.S. Senator Mark Warner has formally requested Valve to address the spread of extremist and hateful content on Steam, after a report from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) revealed the platform is home to over 1.5 million users and tens of thousands of groups promoting antisemitic, Nazi, white supremacist, and other harmful ideologies. Warner’s letter demands that Valve take immediate action to bring its content moderation policies in line with industry standards and curb the proliferation of hateful rhetoric.

In the letter, Warner expresses concern over the vast scale of extremist content on Steam. The ADL report identified over 1 million unique user accounts and nearly 100,000 user-created groups that glorified hateful ideologies, including white power and Nazi symbols. Additionally, the platform has seen widespread use of disturbing profile pictures and text-based images, contributing to over 1 million hate images across the site.

“My concern is elevated by the fact that Steam is the largest single online gaming digital distribution and social networking platform in the world,” Warner wrote. “Steam is financially successful, with a dominant position in its sector, and makes Valve billions of dollars in annual revenue. Warner explained that Steam has not yet received the same level of scrutiny as traditional social media platforms.

The senator went on to note that lax enforcement of user conduct agreements on other platforms has led to toxic environments and urged Valve to adopt a more robust approach to moderation, ensuring a safer space for all users.

Warner’s letter asks Valve a series of pointed questions about their current content moderation practices and the steps they are taking to address extremist content. He also seeks detailed information on how Valve defines and enforces its policies related to hate speech and harassment.

This marks the third time in the past three years that Congress has intervened to address concerns over Valve’s moderation practices. Despite previous calls for action, Valve has yet to implement substantial changes, prompting Warner to warn of increased federal oversight if the company fails to take meaningful steps. “Absent a change in Valve’s approach to user moderation,” Warner wrote, “Steam is playing a clear role in allowing harmful ideologies to spread and take root among the next generation.”

Valve has until December 13, 2024, to respond to the senator’s inquiries. If there are any updates, we will make sure to keep you informed here at MP1st.

More MP1st Reading:

Avatar photo

Taha

Television kills your vision.

Home > Title Updates and Patches

Sea of Thieves Update 1.354.044 Releases for Hotfix 3.2.0.1 This Nov. 18

Rare has released Sea of Thieves update 1.354.044 which is the delayed November patch. Officially, this is hotfix number 3.2.0.1 and crouching is now available in the game again after being disabled temporarily. Rare has also listed a number of fixed and known issues too. Check out the details down below.

Sea of Thieves Update 1.340.217 Patch Notes:

Pirates of Mischief

As shared in our recent Season 14 update, the team disabled a number of features in order to protect players from high-impact issues and for the team to work on improving the quality bar. With this hotfix, crouching is once again available. The Known Issues section identifies issues that will be addressed in future updates.

Crouching and Stealth

  • Players will once again be able to switch their stance from standing to a low crouch, slowing their movement, hiding them from some nearby enemy threats, concealing their player name and generally making them stealthier for the purposes of sneaking around.
  • Crouched players will be harder to hit as they can duck shots in combat and will be braced against knockback, reducing its effect.

Fixed Issues

Gameplay

  • Players will once again be prevented from walking directly through enemy threats.
  • Players are now prevented from shooting others through solid surfaces on the ship such as the deck.
  • Rowboats discovered washed up on islands or those which become beached are now much easier to push back into the sea, and should no longer become stuck and unusable.
  • All players will now have access to the Burning Blade’s Armoury once the ship is controlled by a crew.

Pirates of Mischief

  • Unlockable disguises will no longer be granted when completing part of the unlock criteria, and will now require the full set of conditions to be met.
  • Players must now complete the Found You Commendation before being awarded the Shadow Tide Tattoo.
  • The Enticing Explosion Commendation now progresses when attaching a Lure Dart to a barrel-wielding Skeleton or directly to the held barrel itself.

Grapple Gun

  • Players attempting to grapple an item while climbing into a cannon will now find the item is placed back on the ground. Players fired out of a cannon, however, are not prevented from grappling a nearby item if they can do so quickly enough. The team will continue to monitor this technique from a game balance perspective and address it in the future if necessary.
  • Players attempting to grapple each other at the same time should no longer find they are flung across the sea.

Crouching

  • Players attempting to crouch after being fired from a cannon will no longer be able to modify their trajectory while in the air.
  • Players attempting to crouch prior to climbing into a cannon will now continue to be damageable when leaving the cannon.
  • Players attempting to crouch after falling from a great height will now be able to crouch much more quickly, but will continue to suffer the hindering effects of fall damage while crouched.

Pirate Emporium

  • The Witch’s Stitches Bundle now grants players the Coral Coven Cat once purchased.

Blowpipe and Darts

  • Firing Lure Darts into a ship prior to migrating across servers will now result in those darts being removed upon arrival at the new location.

Visual and Audio

  • Players equipping the Lodestar Costume will now find it displays correctly on their pirate and will also appear in the Pirate Emporium and Clothing Chest when previewed.

Text and Localisation

  • Improvements have been made to localisation across a range of languages for newly introduced items in Season 14.

Performance and Stability

  • Further improvements have been made to game stability to reduce scenarios where players unexpectedly exit the game or become disconnected from their session.

Known Issues

Stealth Features Temporarily Disabled

  • Some of the new additions to the sandbox announced in the recent Season 14 Content Update Video have been temporarily disabled following the discovery of issues with potentially high player impact. These include disguises, traps and hanging from ledges.

Quick Switching

  • Players can currently use crouching to switch between ranged weapons and fire two shots in quick succession faster than intended. Enforcement is not currently being taken on players using this technique, but it will be removed in a future update.

Download and Installation

Download size:

Xbox Series X: 0.89 GB
Xbox Series S: 0.88 GB
Xbox One X: 0.89 GB
Xbox One: 0.88 GB
Microsoft Store: 0.98 GB
Steam: 1.51 GB
PlayStation®5: 1.37 GB

Our readers will once again be informed when a newer update is released.

[Source: Sea of Thieves]

Damien Seeto

Home > Title Updates and Patches

Yu-Gi-Oh Master Duel Update 2.02 Released for Patch v2.1.1 Changes This Nov. 18

Konami has released Yu-Gi-Oh Master Duel update 2.02 today for patch v2.1.1. If you are playing the game on PS5, this is update number 2.002. Today’s update is a small one to stop the game from force closing as well as preventing the layout fron being distorted. Check out the full and official patch notes down below.

Yu-Gi-Oh Master Duel Update 2.02 Patch Notes:

The following updates have been made
– A bug that occasionally caused the layout appears to be distorted during gameplay has been fixed.
– A bug that occasionally caused the game to forced close during gameplay has been fixed.

That’s all the patch notes that have been released for the game so far today. We will update our readers in the near future when a newer patch for Yu-Gi-Oh Master Duel is out very soon. Yu-Gi-Oh Master Duel is out now and free-to-play on both PC and consoles.

Source: Steam

Damien Seeto

Home > News

Rainbow Six Siege Y9S4 Collision Point Remasters Blackbead, Here’s What to Expect in the Final Season of 2024

And just like that, another year is in the books for Rainbow Six Siege, as. 2024 is coming to an end! Before that happens though, we’re getting one more content drop with Rainbow Six Siege Y9S4: Collision Point. With the upcoming seasno, players will see full crossplay support finally make its way into the game, the introduction of a remastered Blackbeard operator and more.

Rainbow Six Siege Y9S4 Collision Point – What to Expect

Blackbeard Remastered

Blackbeard operator remaster sees the character with his H.U.L.L. adaptive shield gadget, which is capable of expanding and contracting for use on foot and in rappel, This upgraded gadget provides the operator with cover wherever he goes with its impressive ability to breach walls.

Blackbeard is a one-speed, three-health operator whose loadout features a MK17 CQB or SR-25 as a primary weapon and a D-50 as a secondary
weapon.

PC and Console Crossplay Support

Players will now be able to squad up and play with friends from other platforms seamlessly. Console players will have the option to join the PC player pool, and squads including a PC player will be automatically moved to the PC-matchmaking pool. However, PC players will not have the option to join the console matchmaking pool. Console players who play Ranked playlists with crossplay active will maintain a PC rank that is separate from their console rank.

For more on crossplay support incoming with Y9S4, head on over here.

Player Protection and Anti-Cheat Updates

Players can expect improved cheater detection to ensure fairness. With the arrival of PC & console crossplay, players with a Mousetrap Penalty will be forced into the PC-matchmaking pool for 90 days. If crossplay is turned off, these players will be unable to join matchmaking until the option is turned back on. Additionally, matches with a detected cheater will be automatically canceled with no impact on MMR.

Siwge Cup Beta on All Platforms

Available to all players above Clearance Level 50, Siege Cup is our most competitive playlist, where 5-player squads compete in skill-based ladder tournaments for Competitive Coins that can be used to unlock exclusive skin collections every two weeks.

Balancing Updates to Ballistic Shields and Operators Ying and Sens

The number of bullets needed to suppress Shield Operators have been reduced to add value to suppressive fire and improve Shield Operator counterplay. This allows suppression to occur sooner and last for a longer duration. Operators will not take damage from melee attacks while shielded, but guard break intensity from melee attacks will remain the same.

Ying’s rush has been changed to encourage more precise gameplay in addition to Sens’ R.O.U. Projectors update that allows for more flexible and creative play.

Reputation Overhaul and More

Other updates this season include additional player protection changes that bolster the Rainbow Six Siege experience. The Reputation Center has been overhauled to provide a clearer overview of how different actions affect player standing and thresholds for receiving warnings or penalties. Account-related information such as rank, reputation, and match replays will also be concentrated in the new Career hub, with account stats coming soon. Finally, players can now flaunt their accomplishments in-game. Each time a player completes a new set of challenges, they are awarded a badge to honor their skill and dedication, which can be showcased on their Operator Card.

Expect the new season to be released in the next few weeks on December 3 and once it’s live, we’ll be sure to let our readers know.

Avatar photo

Alex Co

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

Home > News

Report: Back 4 Blood 2 in Development Under Codename “Gobi 2”

In 2021 Turtle Rock Studios launched Back 4 Blood, a spiritual successor to the acclaimed zombie franchise Left 4 Dead, created by some of the studio’s original developers.

While the game received mixed reviews, it still attracted a large player base, reaching over six million players within its first month of availability.

At the beginning of 2023, Turtle Rock announced the end of updates for Back 4 Blood to shift development resources to their next project, sparking speculation about what it could be. The most straightforward assumption to make was a sequel to Back 4 Blood, a theory supported by hints found in job listings. Now, we can add more fuel to this theory, as we have found intriguing information that could confirm the existence of this title.

Back 4 Blood 2 – Project… “Gobi 2”?

This information comes from the resume of actor and stuntman Jesse Hutch, who worked on motion capture for the first game. In his resume, alongside other games like Dead by Daylight and Gears of War 4, a project titled “Gobi 2” can be found listed under Turtle Rock Studios, a project that seems to be Back 4 Blood 2.

What leads us to think this is the sequel to Back 4 Blood? The original Back 4 Blood’s codename was “Gobi,” as seen on the game’s SteamDB page, making it logical to assume that Gobi 2 refers to its sequel.

To cement this theory, it’s worth mentioning that in May last year, the domain “back4blood2.com” was registered and remains active.

 

Gobi was also the name of the studio’s mascot, a Bearded Dragon who sadly passed away in 2018. A creature known as Gobi also appeared in studio’s 2015 release of Evolve, though we doubt “Gobi 2” is refers to a sequel to that game, given it’s reception at the time in both reviews and sales. It also had a codename of “Goliath” before it was officially revealed to the public.

While it may still be some time before we can confirm this sequel, we are thrilled at the prospect of the Left 4 Dead formula continuing to thrive, even outside the creative minds at Valve. We will keep you updated with any related news.

More MP1st Reading:

Efrain

Home > News

Rainbow Six Siege Crossplay Support Finally Arriving in Y9S4, Improved Cheater Detection

One of the most requested features for Rainbow Six Siege is finally making its way out, and it’s none other than crossplay! The feature is set to finally roll out in Rainbow Six Siege Year 9 Season 4 “Collision Point” due for release soon.

Outside of the new content incoming for the new season, crossplay will finally have PC players play with console gamers. UX designer Abhishek Agarwal gives more details on how Rainbow Six Siege’s crossplay feature works.

Rainbow Six Siege Full Crossplay Support Coming in Y9S4


Cheating Concerns – Ubisoft confirms Mousetrap V2 will be a part of Siege’s crossplay to keep things balanced. More details about Mouse Trap will be revealed soon.

Matchmaking – There will be three pools to play in: platform-specific pool, consoles-only pool, and the PC crossplay pool, Players will be able to select that in the crossplay matchmaking setting in the options menu,

&

;

Safe Experience – To ensure a safe experience for console players in the PC pool, Ubisoft has made it so that console players will be indistinguishable from other PC players. Players will be able to invite each other seamlessly across PC and console platforms via Ubisoft Connect. Console players will be able to progress with their PC rank, as well as their console rank, by playing directly on consoles in the relevant pools. All players will be able to view their PC rank as well as their console rank using the rank toggle at various rank touch points in the game.

Three-Strike Rule – According to Ubisoft, the Year 9 plans they revealed in Sao Paulo this year, included player protection features, and this season is the culmination of all those plans.

Now that keyboard and mouse players are allowed to play on console with PC players, Ubisoft is re-examining the way they tackle players who try to circumvent that. There will be a new three-strike system that detects if a player is using keyboard and mouse in the wrong player pool. Once a player is on the third strike, they will be moved to the PC pool for 90 days or 100 matches, whichever comes first.


How Ubisoft’s AI Is Improving in Catching Cheaters

So we’re becoming more and more accurate over time. And the fact that we are releasing this now means that we’re confident in the system detecting the right players and making sure that we do not get false positives.  Cheat match cancellation is coming in season four and that means we can react faster to detecting cheaters and getting them out of the game as soon as possible.

If you’re in a match with a cheater and they’re banned you will see the notification pop up and the match will be canceled. The player will be removed from the game and every legitimate player will not be punished for cancelling the match. Throughout Year 9, we’ve worked on the reputation system refresh.

That means we’ve changed everything top to bottom, front to back. And everything starts with the actions that are tracked in game. We reassessed every single action in the system. Removing those that didn’t work, updating and improving ones that are already there, As well as adding new ones. That’s why with the reputation system refresh, we’re introducing a new concept called units, and these are standardized ways of understanding actions and act as the building block for your reputation.

The goal of the reputation system is to catch recurrent and highly toxic players, guide and reward players who are showing positivity. And the way we’re achieving that is looking over a long period of time, To really understand a pattern of players behaviors. Over the past 100 matches in 90 days, what has a player been up to?

This means that a single errant grenade throw that bounces away you didn’t expect isn’t going to send your reputation plummeting. What will, is repeated patterns of disruptions. The standing page is a great one stop shop for everything you need to know. It’ll show your standing, a breakdown of any impacts you have, such as warnings, penalties, or the commendation streak.

Stay tuned for more Rainbow Six Siege coverage here on MP1st.

Avatar photo

Alex Co

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

Home > News

Marvel Rivals to Feature 33 Heroes, 8 Maps at Launch, Roadmap Confirms Season 1 Starts “Early January”

With less than a month before it launches, the marketing hype for free-to-play hero shooter Marvel Rivals is ramping up, with NetEase now outlining the roadmap of content players can expect not only at launch, but also within each new season.

Over on Twitter/X Marvel Rivals Creative Director Guangguang shares details about the game’s roadmap, servers and more.

Marvel Rivals Will Have 33 Heroes Available at Launch/Release Day

If you’d rather get the info straight right now, here’s a list of the important info:

  • 33 characters will be available at launch
  • Eight maps will be available at launch for Quick Play and Competitive, and one Conquest map is planned to be released by end of Season 0, plus a new practice range.
  • Season 0 is titled “Doom’s Rise” and will last for only a month.
  • With Season 0 only lasting a month, the Battle Pass will feature half the content and will cost half the price
  • Season 1 begins in “early January” and each season will last for three months.
  • Players can expect each new season to launch with “new content, heroes, maps, team-up abilities”  and the possibility of new game modes as well.
  • Server tick rate is 60hz
  • There will be three servers set up in North America (Oregon, Dallas, Norther Virginia), with other servers in Europe, Middle East, South America, and Asia-Pacific
  • Dedicated server node site launching soon.
  • Players will be able to freely jump between servers

When it comes to the game’s lore, the timestream entanglement resulted in the creation of four “chronoverses” which are:

  • 2009: Techno-Dystopia
  • Present: Evil Strikes
  • Mosaic Timeline: Unstable Space-Time
  • Collapsing: Even the Gods Die

Marvel Rivals launches December 6 on PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC. You might want to check out our beta impressions to see why we’re looking forward to this game’s launch since we think it’ll be the next big multiplayer game.

More Marvel Rivals Reading:

[Thanks Miller!]

Avatar photo

Alex Co

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

Home > News

Treyarch Finally Fixes Assault Rifle Values in Latest Black Ops 6 Update Released This November 16

In case you didn’t know, Treyarch accidentally reverted the damage and range values of Assault Rifles in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 with the Season 1 patch released a few days ago. This bug has now been resolved with the latest Black Ops 6 update released this November 16 on all platforms.

This is a server-side patch that will automatically be applied to all players once they connect to the game’s servers. Alongside this major change to Assault Rifles, which should now correctly have their Season 1 values, there are also fixes tied to cosmetics, XP earn rates and more.

Black Ops 6’s Update This November 16 Fixes Assault Rifle Damage and Value Ranges

GLOBAL

Cosmetics 

  • Saug Mastercraft – Mecha-Drake
    • Addressed an issue where optic reticles would be misaligned on the Mecha-Drake.

MULTIPLAYER

Maps

  • Babylon
    • Addressed an issue where players could get outside of the intended playspace.
  • Extraction
    • Addressed an issue where players could get outside of the intended playspace.

Weapons   

  • Addressed an issue that applied the incorrect range and damage tunings to Assault Rifles and SMGs. These will now correctly reflect the values in our Season 01 patch notes.
    • This updated was previously released around 6 PM/PT on November 15.

XP Earn Rates 

  • Adjusted Ransack XP earn rates to align with other game modes.

Stability 

  • Numerous stability fixes.

ZOMBIES

Movement 

  • Addressed an issue where players could not reload while Tac-Sprinting.

We have identified multiple issues with reloading and player movement in Zombies. A fix for the player being unable to reload while Tac Sprinting has gone live while a slow down in speed when reloading while sprinting is still being investigated.

Equipment 

  • Addressed an issue where Kazimir skins would not be visible in a match.
  • Addressed an issue where a Kazimir could be equipped in a starting loadout.

UI 

  • Addressed an issue where the prompt to open the GobbleGum menu would disappear after opening for the first time.

Stability 

  • Addressed an issue where reaching 1000 kills on the Time of Death charm would result in low performance while the weapon is held.

Warzone

BUG FIXES

  • Fixed several issues with occlusion, enemy footstep, ascender, and parachute audio.
    – Our teams are hard at work on additional audio updates, and this is just the first of several steps we’re taking to improve the Warzone audio experience.
  • Fixed an issue where the Stim Shot was giving double the desired speed boost for 3 seconds.
    – The stim should now give 15% movement speed for 1 second. The stim ticks up to this speed, holds it for 1 second, then ticks down from this speed.
  • Fixed an issue that prevented freshly downed players from taking damage for a brief moment.
  • Fixed an issue on PlayStation 5 where attempting to install Warzone from Manage Files would result in a Content Not Found error.
  • Fixed an issue causing players to encounter a looping Armor Plate replacement animation.
  • Fixed an issue that allowed players to use the Gulag ascender prior to overtime.
  • Fixed an issue that caused players to gain more experience than intended from Bootcamp.
  • Fixed an issue where dying while attempting to complete Signals Intelligence Contract would result in being unable to use weapons or interact with items.
  • Fixed an issue preventing Weapon XP Boost from appearing in the Post Match Summary.
  • Fixed an issue that was preventing players from accessing Warzone via the main Call of Duty menu.

Hopefully, we also get a patch to enable legacy Call of Duty 2XP tokens to work again after Treyarch patched it out recently.

[Source: Call of Duty (1, 2)]

Avatar photo

Alex Co

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

Home > News

Treyarch Pulls Legacy COD 2XP Tokens From Working in Black Ops 6 and Cites “Stability Risk;” Community Finds Workaround for It

When Season 1 of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 launched last week, players found that the unused Call of Duty 2XP tokens they had stashed away from previous Call of Duty games now can be activated in Black Ops 6! Well, that was until Treyarch patched it out, which understandably did not sit well with the community.

Fortunately, a workaround to have it work was found, though it made it a lot more difficult to have it work. If you have unused legacy COD 2XP tokens and want to use it for Black Ops 6, you can still do so by doing the following steps:

Unused COD 2XP Tokens Can Still Work for Black Ops 6 With a Workaround

  • Download and install Call of Duty: Warzone
  • Enable the legacy COD 2XP token in Warzone
  • Once triggered, switch to the Black Ops 6 client and the 2XP token should continue working for BO6 until the timer runs out

As you can see, this adds the hassle of having to download and install Warzone even if you don’t have any intention of playing the battle royale game just to have your old double XP tokens work!

In response to the backlash, Treyarch cited that a “bug” accidentally activated old COD 2XP tokens to work in Black Ops 6, but that it affected “game stability” which is why they patched it out. They are currently testing a way to implement this change correctly in an upcoming update, the studio claims.

With the start of Season 01, a UI bug allowed players to activate legacy XP tokens in Black Ops 6. Unfortunately, it also introduced some potential risk to game stability, which is why it was patched yesterday.

We realize how much players appreciate being able to redeem legacy XP tokens in both BO6 and Warzone, so we are currently testing a way to implement this change correctly in a future update. This allows us time to ensure stability is maintained before we reintroduce this feature.

This latest snag is one of the many issues that has surfaced in Season 1 of Black Ops 6. Not only did the Ghost perk inaccessible at the start of the season, but even Assault Rifle damage and range values got reverted back to their launch state! As of the time of this publication, the weapons have still not been patched to match their Season 1 values.

The skeptic in me thinks Treyarch is only enabling legacy Call of Duty 2XP tokens to work again due to the backlash from the community, and using “game stability risk” as a reason for pulling it out is just an excuse, but what do I know, right?, Mind,  this was something that should have been enabled right from the game’s launch.

Avatar photo

Alex Co

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

Home > News

Sky Oceans: Wings for Hire Review – These Jets Aren’t Made For Flying

If you’re in the mood for an exciting adventure on land and in the skies, Sky Oceans: Wings for Hire could be the game for you. Unfortunately, the sound premise is undermined by an execution that fails to deliver the thrills in most areas, when the potential was clearly there and the idea of a sprawling odyssey was at our reach. The memories and comparisons to Skies of Arcadia kept quite a few players eager, but the truth is that this airship didn’t take off and the result is a tiresome and unpolished work.

Great Premise, But…

Sky Oceans: Wings for Hire Review

Sky Oceans: Wings for Hire seems to have it all – a group of ragtag adventurers who will make their way through adversities to become legends, a world with quests to complete on foot, sections where you control your airship and enter turn-based aerial battles… It has all the ingredients for an epic adventure, and the beginning is exciting with a nice cutscene, the artwork of the characters shining and making us yearn to start controlling the hero and meet our fellow villagers.

But when the adventure begins, the contrast with the 3D characters and world is shocking, both featuring low detail and lots of emptiness, first impressions deflating as we go from what looked like a wonderful style to a very crude one.

This impression remains for most of the game’s mechanics – while aiming to be an homage to games of old, especially Skies of Arcadia, Sky Oceans ends up being a game stuck in the past, quite far from an update or an actual retro tribute to those years. In the end, it’s a game that didn’t keep up with the times, and doesn’t take full advantage of the technology available nowadays to deliver a polished, engaging, bug-free experience – you will find the exact opposite of these aspects in the game.

Exploring the often barren world is far from fun, with a succession of fetch quests that are straightforward and plain boring. While the story has some interesting beats, it doesn’t feel exciting enough to keep you pushing through the mild dialogues and uncharismatic NPCs. When you get into your plane and start cruising the skies, the feeling is not that exciting either. Controls don’t offer terrific sensations either in standard or simulation mode, and the camera can go regularly awry especially when you’re navigating tight spaces. The appeal in these sections isn’t much, apart from collecting some items and getting closer to enemies and sneak onto them to get an advantage at combat start.

Sky Oceans: Wings for Hire Review

When the turn-based combat begins, there’s room for some tactic opportunities, but even this is lost in some doubtful design decisions, the main one being that we can’t skip attack animations. Since even by fast-forwarding them (if you discover how to) these can last longer than the time it takes for the player to select an action and use it, we’re stuck waiting for them to finish as we watch each crew member doing their move. It ends up encouraging spam action selection and after a while you’re not really feeling invested in this succession of battles that drag on and on for much longer than they should. Each combat takes what seems to be long minutes, and it becomes tedious, something that doesn’t improve when you upgrade your airjets, as even this system is far from intuitive and more cumbersome than anything.

Going Down in Flames

Sky Oceans: Wings for Hire is the kind of unintentional retro homage where this homage itself seems to be something from the past. The cute character artwork is quite a clash with the ancient 3D world, and the tactical combat ends up being too lengthy and far from providing the excitement that these air battles could. There’s ambition for sure, and it seems like the developers are willing on improving the game, but it may be too late for that already. This is an experience that can’t be recommended as it’s clunky and not as enjoyable as the premise would suggest.

Score: 4.5/10

Pros:

  • The artwork looks really cute and appealing
  • The combination of three major gameplay styles had potential…

Cons:

  • … But all of them feel clunky, monotonous, and overall flawed
  • The 3D graphics truly look like being from the past
  • Several bugs and issues

Sky Oceans: Wings for Hire review code was provided by the publisher. You can read MP1st’s review and scoring policy right here.

Vitor Braz

Home > News

Hellblade 2 Is Now Unofficially Available on PlayStation (Sort Of)

No, this isn’t another Xbox console exclusive making the jump to PlayStation — at least not yet — and not officially from Xbox themselves, as a PlayStation hacking and modding scene dev has taken it upon themselves to port over Ninja Theory’s latest title, Senua’s Saga Hellblade II, to a PlayStation platform in a pretty unique way. Don’t get too excited, as it isn’t running natively on the console but rather what the developer calls “simulated gameplay” that uses QTE inputs.

You Can Now Experience the Story of Helldblade 2 in a Unique Gameplay Format on the PS4, Assuming You Own a Hacked Console

They’ve been teasing it for quite some months, but PlayStation homebrew and app maker Lapy has finally released his newest project for the scene. It’s an interesting one that builds upon his previous Edge of Tomorrow game. They took the “simulated gameplay” concept they had there and used it to make a playable port for Hellblade 2 on the PS4. It’s not a native port, as it cleverly uses recorded gameplay that plays as a video file with triggers that allow inputs to play the video. But there’s also more work put into this than just simply being a video, as there are difficulty levels and a checkpoint system, with traversal and combat taking the form of QTE. A “health” system pops up during combat, in that if the meter drains and you aren’t fast enough at pressing the button, it can result in a game over.

Here’s gameplay I recorded, though sadly, it lacks sound.

It’s a very cool concept, and thanks to Lapy, anyone with a hacked PS4 interested in experiencing the sequel can now do so. Only the first two chapters are available, with the other four planned to be released later.

There is no official word about Hellblade 2 coming to PlayStation, though given recent statements by Phil Spencer, the head of Xbox, there is also no “red line” regarding the possibility of any Xbox console exclusives going to other platforms. We aren’t sure if the title performed well enough to warrant a re-release, but we suppose anything is possible now. I mean, if a huge, AAA game like India Jones and the Great Circle can be released on competing platforms, surely any game can, right?

Released in May of this year, you can read our review of Hellblade 2 on Xbox Series X|S here where we state, “Yes, Senua’s Saga may be deliberately slow, combat is heavily scripted and akin to a timing minigame, and you’ll have a hearty dose of yawns to go with the sounds of jaws dropping to the ground, but this is a trip that deserves to be experienced – a trip into a gorgeous but dangerous Iceland, but especially into Senua’s dark and twisted psyche.”

More MP1st Reading:

Avatar photo

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.