In case you didn’t know, XDefiant goes live today! However, it seems players aren’t able to enter matches, as multiple reports of XDefiant’s servers being down have surfaced this May 21, and we are seeing Delta-01 and Delta-04 errors show up.
Update 2: Ubisoft has released a series of tweets acknowledging the issues and that they are still working on solving the matchmaking problems.
Update: We are all focused on the matchmaking issue and are continuously investigating. We will continue to provide updates as possible.
Update: XDefiant Executive Producer Mark Rubin has acknowledged that matchmaking servers are being worked on. Based on our experience, we are seeing “Unable to find match” on every game mode so far (on PS5).
Players have reported on not just being able to connect to servers, but queuing taking forever. We chalk this up to the servers getting hammered rather than no one loading or playing the game.
Based on my own experience, after multiple attempts, I am still seeing the Delta-04 error show up which states, “Network failed during loading, likely due to poor local network quality. Please check your internet connection.” I don’t know with the game, but my ‘net works just fine. One of our fellow MP1st writers also can’t connect after playing a match, which means the server issues is happening to everyone.
So far, Ubisoft hasn’t commented on the server situation, but we gather that will change soon. Once we know more, expect an update to be added to the article.
We’ve got loads of XDefiant coverage headed your way, so keep an eye out on the site.
Blizzard Entertainment has released Diablo 2 Resurrected update 1.29 (Will show up as version 1.029 on current-gen consoles), and this is for patch 2.7.3! This brings the Ladder Season 7 data before the event starts on May 23 alongside a host of improvements, which are listed in the patch notes below.
Patch Notes:
Ladder Season 7 will begin on May 23, ushering in a new opportunity for brave adventurers to race to Level 99 and amass powerful loot along the way. We cannot wait to see which determined souls carve their name into the Leaderboard this time.
Ladder Season 7 Launch Timing:
North America
May 23, 05:00 p.m. PDT
Europe
May 24, 02:00 a.m. CEST
Asia
May 24, 09:00 a.m. KST
As with previous seasons, Ladder Season 7 will feature different modes:
Version
Description
Pre-Expansion Ladder
The standard version of Ladder play that encompasses playing only with the original four acts.
Pre-Expansion Hardcore Ladder
The hardcore (only one life) version of Ladder play that encompasses playing only with the original four acts.
Ladder
The standard version of Ladder play that encompasses playing five acts, as it includes the “Lord of Destruction” expansion content.
Hardcore Ladder
The hardcore (only one life) version of Ladder play that encompasses playing five acts, as it includes the “Lord of Destruction” expansion content.
For those new to Ladder Seasons, you might be wondering what happens to your Shared Stash loot once the current season ends.
Once Ladder Season 6 ends, all Ladder characters will be transferred to their respective non-ladder group. All items in that character group’s Shared Stash go into a new Withdraw Only set of Shared Stash tabs, denoted by a check marked Past box. Any items from Ladder Season 5 stored in the Withdraw Only tabs will be lost at this time. You will have all of Ladder Season 7 to withdraw any items you would like to keep from Season 6. When Ladder Season 7 ends, this withdraw only set of Stash Tabs will be overridden with any items in the Ladder Season 7 Shared Stash. Be sure to get any items out before then or they will be forever lost!
PATCH 2.7.3
On May 21, at 10:00 a.m. PDT, a change to the age restriction in Korea goes live with Patch 2.7.3.
Gameplay
Access to Diablo II: Resurrected in Korea has been updated to allow access at 19 years of age.
Yep, that’s about it. Don’t expect a lot of changes given the game has hit its balance threshold after a lot of balance changes by Blizzard in the past few years.
As Xur and his wares take their leave from Destiny until next Friday, a new set of weekly activities and Eververse offerings have been pushed out to keep players busy. The new Destiny 2 weekly reset May 21, 2024 refresh of activities is now live, detailed in full below along with the new Eververse inventory.
Omeda Studios has pushed out Predecessor update 1.32 and this is the biggest update to the MOBA game to date! Called the v0.18 patch, this brings a new game mode called Brawl, a new hero in Aurora, over 20 new items and more. Read on for the complete patch notes for Predecessor’s May 21 update.
A New Hero Appears
Put your enemies on ice, with Aurora!
The undisputed crystalline queen of the cold, Aurora, is making her icy Predecessor debut
Aurora is a cool-headed crowd-control master, able to skate around her enemies and sail through the air thanks to her unrivalled arctic agility. Capable of freezing the battlefield and encasing her foes in deadly, bone-chilling ice, you’ll want to wrap up warm if you find yourself facing her down in the midlane!
Abilities:
Frozen Simulacrum [Passive]:
Effect: Damaging an Enemy Hero or Monster 4 times will summon a Frost Storm around Aurora for 3s, refreshing on additional damage dealt. The Storm deals 5 (+30% Magical Power) + 1% (+0.06% per level) Enemy Max Health magical damage per second.
Additionally if Aurora jumps whilst already airborne she will leap in the direction she is moving, leaving behind a frozen replica of herself!
This replica has (+20% Maximum Health)(+150% Magical Power) Health, draws aggression from enemy towers, and lasts for 8s.
CD: 26/24/22/20/18 Cost: 80 Effect: Aurora dashes forward, leaving behind a trail of ice that other Heroes can walk on for the next 5s.
Allied Heroes gain 20/25/30/35/40% increased movement speed when walking on the ice.
Hoarfrost [Secondary]:
CD: 14/13/12/11/10 Cost: 50 Effect: Aurora creates a ring of frost on the ground around her. Enemies that touch the ring take 100/125/150/175/200 (+70% Magical Power) magical damage and are Rooted for 1.25s.
The ring remains in the world for 2.5s.
Boreal Sweep [Alternate]:
CD: 12/11/10/9/8 Cost: 40/45/50/55/60
Effect: Aurora summons a wave of frost in a cone dealing 45/60/75/90/105 (+25% Magical Power) magical damage and Slowing enemy targets hit by 35% for 1s.
After 1s the wave erupts, dealing an additional 75/110/145/180/215 (+60% Magical Power) magical damage and reapplying the Slow.
Cryoseism [Ultimate]:
CD: 120/110/100 Cost: 100 Effect: Aurora freezes an area, applying a 50% Slow to all enemies for 1.5s. After 1.5s, the ice freezes, Stunning the target for 1s. After the Stun the target explodes, dealing 130/250/370 (+50% Magical Power) magical damage to them and all nearby enemies.
Enemies damaged by Cryoseism will be Slowed by 50% for 0.5s before exploding, dealing 65/125/185 (+25% Magical Power) magical damage to them and nearby enemies. Targets can only be slowed this way once per Cryoseism.
Brawl Mode
Predecessor’s first new game mode, Brawl, is finally here!
It’s casual, it’s crazy, and it’s sure to stir things up. You can check out everything you need to know about it in the video below, or keep reading for the full breakdown of how it works!
Overview
Brawl Mode is a brand-new, quickfire game mode coming to Predecessor on May 21st, where two teams of 5 battle it out in an action-packed skirmish featuring faster gold and more XP, all on a brand new, single lane map.
Points
Each team starts the game with 400 points. Killing enemy minions and taking down opposing Heroes takes points from the other team. Each minion killed is worth one point, each Hero slain is worth five points. But securing takedowns is just one way to build your lead.
At each end of the map, both teams have a portal to defend from enemy minions and… other monsters… Your portal is located just in front of your spawn point. If an enemy minion reaches it, your team will lose one point. So if a whole wave of minions comes crashing down your lane, consider playing defensively and intercept them before you start losing too many points.
Now about those other monsters…
Once your team has killed five enemy Heroes you’ll gain the aid of a mighty Fangtooth! This destructive dinosaur will rampage down the lane on your behalf, devastating minions and Heroes alike as it charges towards the enemy portal! Escort your Fangtooth successfully to the enemy portal, and they’ll lose a massive 15 points.
The best part? There’s no limit to the number of Fangteeth you or your opponents can spawn during a game. Successfully escorted a Fangtooth? Simply wrack up another five kills and watch the slaughter start all over again!
Takedowns, defense and wave management are the keys to success in Brawl Mode!
Objectives
While the central lane will see most of the action, flanking your enemies and exploring the sides of the map will reveal a number of monsters that will grant you various buffs. Here you’ll find the Orange buff for more damage and increased jump height, the purple buff providing extra health and tenacity, and the River buffs, all spawning on a timer throughout the match to provide a range of effects for players to take advantage of. Killing these monsters won’t reduce your enemy’s points, but it could give you the boost you need to turn the battle in your favor.
Likewise, you may notice health packs dotted around the map too. When collected these heal you and any allies within a short radius. You can use them to instantly recover your health during a fight, or maybe you’ll be grabbing them to deny heals for your opponents!
Later on in the match Orb Prime will spawn in the middle of the map for either team to try and take advantage of. This is a huge objective that neither team will want to give up easily, as it grants the team who secures the takedown a buff to their minions as well as health and mana regen, while also deducting a huge 50 points from the enemy team.
Victory
The game ends when one team is reduced to zero points, leaving the other side victorious and the losers as food for Fangtooth!
Find Brawl Mode in the Game Modes menu and strap in for more carnage than ever before!
Audio Improvements
V0.18 also sees a complete redesign of Predecessor’s sound system!
Perhaps the first thing you’ll notice when booting the game up is a brand new announcer! This new voice of Predecessor is primed and ready to commentate your battles, highlighting every epic multikill with clearer audio and a richer presence.
As the battle begins you’ll also be able to pick up on more audible details than ever before. We’ve flooded the game with brand-new sound effects for the UI, game interactions and ambient moments. Enjoy walking down midlane to the sounds of distant explosions, or the sounds of minions clinking as they spawn and march to their inevitable demise.
As the match heats up and you let loose your epic abilities don’t be surprised to hear many new voice lines coming from your favorite Heroes! We’ve upped the chattiness of every character in the game, so expect to hear your Hero react more dynamically to the match around them with more personality than ever before!
Beyond these new additions we’ve overhauled the entire audio system, rebalancing everything you hear in game and rebuilding our audio implementation from the ground up. Predecessor should feel fresh, exciting and alive, and we’re excited to hear your thoughts on these improvements.
Performance Improvements
Not only will Predecessor sound better than ever, but it’ll now run more smoothly than ever before too!
We’ve identified and fixed a number of memory leaks and performance issues, such as the leading cause of performance troughs and spikes during gameplay and in the main menus. Median FPS remains roughly the same, but if you experienced random slow downs before this update you should now find that they’re mostly fixed or improved.
On top of this we’ve also reduced Predecessor’s overall memory consumption, improving performance on lower-end machines and making it easier for everyone to run the game while other intensive programs run in the background.
We’ve identified more potential improvements too, so look out for more fixes and optimisations in future patches.
Console Localisation
We’ve been hard at work expanding and improving our in game translations, ever-dedicated to our mission of making Predecessor more accessible to more people.
We’re almost ready to release the localisation options that PC users have been enjoying recently on console, with this V0.18 update being the original target.
Unfortunately due to the sheer scale of this update we’ve made the decision to delay console localisation until a future update.
Matchmaking
We’ve identified an edge case with our Matchmaking Rating (MMR) calculations affecting players frequently partying up with friends that are naturally a much higher or lower MMR. Our system previously did not account well for players in matches with an average rating well above or below their own MMR, improperly boosting up the rating of lower-MMR players and dragging down the rating for high-MMR players frequently playing in mixed-skill parties. While these effects were relatively minor for the vast majority of the player base, players who played many games in parties with very widely-ranging skill saw their ratings skewed by dozens or even hundreds of MMR rating points from other players with a similar career win/loss ratio, and meant that their solo-queued games often placed them in lobbies that otherwise wouldn’t be a good fit.
We’ll be rolling out a fix for these wonky party adjustments alongside 0.18, and to facilitate this change we’ll also be condensing everyone’s MMR proportionally closer to the internal average of 1000, and temporarily increasing the amount of MMR gained or lost for each match. This “squeeze” towards the middle and increased rating volatility might result in some more variable matchmaking for a short while so please bear with us as the system rebalances, but we expect players to settle back towards their natural skill point relatively quickly while “resetting” those outlier players affected by the mixed-party issue.
Gameplay Balance Changes
Six Items
As requested by many in the Community we’re pleased to finally introduce the highly-anticipated 6th Item Slot, allowing for more creativity and unique builds than ever before!
To account for this game-changing new addition and the need for more Gold in order to complete a full build, we’ve carried out a substantial balance pass on almost every aspect of the game.
While the overall goal with the addition of 6 Items may have been for the match-to-match experience to remain recognisable as the Predecessor we all know and love, the introduction of any new system or re-balance of this scale will naturally lead to emergent balance issues. While there is a risk of it being a bumpy road, with the help of community feedback we will continue to address pain points as they come up in follow-up balance patches now that we are able to put the baseline through its paces in a live environment.
Additionally, due to the sheer volume of balance changes that have occurred in this update, we’ve decided to provide you here with a brief overview of the changes to keep things digestible.
Editor’s note: Seriously, the full list of notes is absurdly long and in depth. Game Design gave us over 90 pages of changes all in bullet points. If you’re having a particularly boring day and want to go through it all feel free, but just know that we tried to warn you. Link to the full changelog HERE.
So, what’s changed?
Sixth Item Slot
As of the V0.18 Predecessor will feature an exciting new sixth item slot, allowing players to further customize their builds and experiment with previously impossible combinations!
Mass Game Re-Balance
The addition of the sixth item slot brings with it several balance requirements to ensure that things run smoothly and gameplay continues to work as intended, with damage output and Hero durability all remaining relative to the new baseline we’ve created.
While things should feel largely the same, everything from the amount of Gold and Experience you earn in a match, to Heroes, Items, Minions and Monsters have all received comprehensive balance adjustments to ensure that the overall pace and feel of Predecessor remains intact.
Summary of overall balance changes:
◆Gold pacing increased by approximately 15%.
◆Total XP required for Level 18 decreased by approximately 10%.
◆Kill XP and Kill Comeback XP modifiers adjusted.
◆Hero Stat Growths on Level-up normalized to 80-120%.
◆Hero Base Stats adjusted.
◆Hero Base Ability Damage and/or Scalings adjusted.
◆Minions, Monsters, Gold, XP, Durability and Damage adjusted across the board.
◆Stacking items such as Azure Core now gain additional Stacks when killing Monster Camp Leaders.
◆Structure Durability and Damage adjusted.
◆Almost all items have been completely re-balanced and/or adjusted.
◆Carry T3 Items Critical Strike Chance decreased from 25% to 20%,
◆Base Critical Strike Damage decreased from 160% to 150%.
◆50~ existing items heavily adjusted (Statlines, Recipes, or Passives).
9 items removed:
◆Fenix [Crest]
◆Abyssal Bracers [T2]
◆Hallowed Braid [T2]
◆Breach [Carry]
◆Viper [Carry]
◆Boneseeker [Fighter]
◆Tectonic Mallet [Fighter]
◆Wellspring [Support]
◆Requiem [Support]
22 new items added:
◆1 new Warrior Crest Evolution .
◆1 new T1.
◆5 new T2s.
◆15 new T3s.
Faster Gold Gain
More Item Slots means a more expensive full build!
Rather than aggressively compressing Stats and Gold Costs, we’ve opted to increase the passive Gold Drip and the Gold gained from Minions & Monsters. As a result we have re-balanced all Heroes and items with this new Gold Pacing in mind. As mentioned, Gold gain is now roughly 15% faster across the board.
Faster XP
Along with these Gold changes the amount of XP required to level up has been decreased, and XP values from their respective sources have been changed.
While the Early game Pacing is largely unaffected, achieving Level 18 now requires roughly 1500 less total XP, meaning the endgame can now be approached a few minutes faster.
The reason for this? With Gold pacing increasing and Hero Stat Growths becoming normalized, Time To Kill would become quicker in isolation due to items being acquired faster. To combat this, experience pacing must be faster to ensure important Hero Base Stats such as Health and Armor keeps up while general durability remains relative.
Hero Rebalance
All Heroes have had their Base Stats adjusted.
The goal here is to provide a new Hero Stat Baseline that can keep pace with and work within a six item economy. This can be seen through Hero Stats such as Health increasing and allowing them to match up to the quicker Stat gain offered by items, while simultaneously allowing us to keep our general item statline ceilings roughly the same.
Granted, there was the easier option of aggressively reducing all item strengths and costs across the board now that we have introduced a sixth item slot, but by opting for a full re-balance it allows Predecessor to retain its balance levers moving forward and provides us with a healthier item stat baseline to work with in the long-term – after all, bigger numbers are easier to differentiate and work with!
Though individual Heroes received Balance Adjustments on a case-by-case basis, a general summary of what’s changed is as follows.
General Rebalance Changes:
◆Recommended items have been updated.
◆S Factor Growth Ratios have been normalized.
◆All Heroes now Scale at the same Growth rate of 80%-120%, over Levels 1-18.
◆The following notable stats have been changed for all Heroes (on average):
◆Health is 25% higher.
◆Physical Armor is 15-20% lower to offset some Effective Health gains.
◆Magical Armor is 15-20% lower to offset some Effective Health gains.
◆Base Health Regeneration is 50% higher.
◆Base Physical Power is 15-20% higher.
◆Attack Speed Growths are 20% lower.
◆Damage on Rank 1 Abilities is 15-20% higher.
◆Ability Scalings have been selectively adjusted in places due to increased stat gain pacing.
◆Mana Costs and Mana Regen values are largely unchanged.
Item Rebalance
Under the new pacing and stat baseline, practically all items have received a complete re-balance, be that stat changes such as Critical Strike Chance Tier 3’s now offering the stat at a 20% rate instead, or more generally buffs and nerfs.
While the majority of items will be recognisable from their previous forms and continue to function as you might expect, roughly 50 items have had their statlines and/or passive effects completely adjusted or revised in more extreme ways with the goal of improving the gameplay they offer.
For example, Fire Blossom now ramps up its Burn Damage over time rather than when a target is Immobilized; Mutilator no longer steals Health from your opponent; and Mindrazor’s Mana stacking passive has moved over to Resolution.
As mentioned, the full list of changes can be found in the Supporting Blog here
New Items
Alongside the other item changes we’ve also introduced 22 brand new items in their place!
Crests:
Judgement
12 Physical Power
100 Health
4% Omnivamp
Recipe: Warrior Crest
Active – Thunder Cleaver: Unleash a whirlwind of energy around you, dealing (+120% Total Physical Power) to all nearby Enemy Units. Hitting Enemy Heroes Heals you for (+35% Total Physical Power)(+8% Missing Health). Subsequent Hero hits Heal for 50% effectiveness.
T1:
Pendant
Cost: 350g
5 Ability Haste
T2:
Gilded Pendant
Cost: 1000
20 Physical Armor
8 Ability Haste
Recipe: Tunic + Pendant
Life Ring
Cost: 900
60% Base Health Regen
15 Physical Armor
Recipe: Life Stream + Tunic
Mystic Cane
Cost: 1050
20 Magical Power
75% Base Mana Regen
Recipe: Codex + Energy Stream
Nether Shard
Cost: 1250
35 Magical Power
8 Ability Haste
Recipe: Codex + Pendant
Monster Slayer: Abilities deal 8% more damage to Monsters
Essence Reaper – On Takedown, reduce your Non-Ultimate Cooldowns by 4s.
Tainted Trident
Cost: 2900
40 Physical Power
8 Physical Penetration
10 Ability Haste
Recipe: Serrated Blade + Pendant + Honed Kris
Blighted Strikes – On dealing physical damage, reduce the Target’s Healing by 40% for 3s.
Woundseeker – Your Abilities deal 4 (+15% Physical Penetration)% bonus true damage to Blighted Units.
Fighter:
Earthshaker
Cost: 3000
30 Physical Power
30% Attack Speed
300 Health
Recipe: Ironwood Warbow + Banded Emerald
Battleborn – Upon dealing damage to an Enemy Hero or Monster, increase your Ability Damage dealt by 1% for 3s, stacking up to 15 times. Melee Heroes gain Stacks twice as fast.
Gaia Greaves
Cost: 2900
350 Health
30 Physical Armor
15 Ability Haste
20% Tenacity
Recipe: Gilded Pendant + Tenacious Drape
Tremor – Move to generate up to 100 stacks of Tremor. Each stack grants 0.7 bonus Movement Speed, up to 70. Your next Basic Attack expends all current stacks, dealing up to 50 (+120% Base Physical Power) bonus physical damage. Lose 50 stacks per second while Slowed or Immobilized.
Unburden – Increase your Jump Height by 75%.
Mistmeadow Buckler
Cost: 3000
40 Physical Power
30 Magical Armor
5% Omnivamp
Recipe: Bloodletter + Sabre + Nullifying Mask
Mistwood Guard – Gain 100 Mistwood charges; regenerate 5 charges per second. While at 100 charges, gain 15 bonus Magical Armor.
Bark Skin – Upon receiving Magical Damage, consume Mistwood charges based on the amount of damage taken. Each charge consumed blocks 1 damage. Bark Skin can block up to 50% of the incoming damage based on available charges.
Mage:
Noxia
Cost: 3050
85 Magical Power
20 Ability Haste
Recipe: Chronomatic Wand + Potent Staff
Evil Eye – Damaging an Enemy Hero with an Ability marks them for 3s. Dealing damage to a Marked Hero with a separate ability activates Dark Matter.
Dark Matter – Deal 5% of the Target’s Maximum Health as bonus magical damage – 8s CD.
Souldblinder
Cost: 3000
75 Magical Power
400 Mana
15 Ability Haste
Recipe: Dusk Stave + Chronomatic Wand
Arcane Salvo – Deal 8% additional true damage to Enemy Heroes that are at least 1,500+ units away. With each activation of Arcane Salvo, permanently gain 1 Magical Power – 12 CD.
Support:
Crescelia
Cost: 2700
45 Magical Power
100% Base Mana Regen
15 Ability Haste
Recipe: Mystic Cane + Spell Slasher + codex
Moonblade – Upon casting an Ability, empower your next Basic Attack within 4s to deal (+20% Magical Power)(+80% Base Physical Power) magical damage on-hit and reduce your Current Non-Ultimate cooldowns by 15% – 1.5s CD.
Dawnstar
Cost: 2600
250 Health
75% Base Health Regen
20 Physical Armor
10 Ability Haste
Recipe: Violet Brooch + Life Ring
Debilitating Strikes – Your Basic attacks reduce Enemy Hero’s damage dealt by 2% for 3s, stacking up to 5 times. Melee Basic Attacks apply 2 stacks.
Crusader – On Immobilizing Enemy Heroes, gain 20% Attack Speed for 2.5s.
Everbloom
Cost: 2650
45 Magical Power
200 Health
8% Heal & Shield Power
Recipe: Divine Wreath + Chaotic Core
Divine Protection – Your Heals and Shields grant Yourself and Ally Heroes 5% Damage Mitigation and 15% Tenacity for 2s.
Lunaria
Cost: 2650
55 Magical Power
10 Ability Haste
8% Heal & Shield Power
Recipe: Divine Wreath + Chronomatic Wand
Incandescence – Gain charges of Incandescence equal to 30% of damage dealt to Enemy Heroes. 100-360 charges Max (based on Level).
Mending – On Healing or Shielding an Ally Hero, consume all Incandescence charges and Heal the Ally for an additional amount based on the charges consumed. Prioritizes the Lowest Health Target.
Tank:
Fist of Razuul
Cost: 3100
450 Health
25 Physical Armor
10 Ability Haste
Recipe: Banded Emerald + Gilded Pendant + Vitality Beads
Razuul’s Might – Upon dealing or receiving damage, gain a stack of Might each second for 3s. Upon reaching 5 stacks, empower your next Basic Attack to deal (+3% Max Health) bonus magical damage, increased by 2x for Heroes. Heal for 50% of the damage dealt by this Effect.
Minion Crusher – Deal 30% more damage to Minions.
Removed Items
Alongside the new additions we’ve also removed 9 existing items (farewell, Fenix!).
Bug Fixes
Fixed a bug where Grim.exe would jitter after his Strong Man emote finishes.
Fixed a bug where Argus would blend his movement incorrectly when rotating.
Fixed a bug where Child restricted Accounts would not send Parental blocking requests correctly to the Parent Account.
Fixed a bug where the Lighting in the Main Menu would distort shadows.
Fixed a bug where the in-game Lighting would darken aggressively while walking through the River.
Fixed a bug where the Midlane River Fog Walls could hide Heroes incorrectly when standing below it.
Fixed a bug where Wards could not be placed near the Dusk Midlane Minion spawner.
Fixed a bug where the Lock Icon on Hero Skin Variants lacked visibility.in the Main Menu.
Fixed a bug where Custom Game Info Text could cut off incorrectly on certain languages.
Fixed a bug where Hero Unlock Prompts could Jitter when navigating their options.
Fixed a bug where Grim.exe would not play SFX from his Ultimate for far away Target’s.
Fixed a bug where Friend Requests send via the Post-match screen would fail to go through.
Fixed a bug where Menu Focus Highlighting could randomly appear for unselected elements when equipping Cosmetics.
Fixed a bug where Murodck and Argus’ SFX could become distorted for spectators in Death Cam.
Fixed a bug where Howitzer’s Slow Grenades could visually duplicate on explosion.
Fixed a bug where current Buff Effects could display incorrect duration values when reconnecting to a match.
Fixed a bug where Party Members could get sent back to the Main Menu when another member disconnects from the Match Loading screen.
Fixed a bug where disconnected players could appear invisible and become soft-locked upon reconnecting.
Fixed a bug where Kira’s Mercy would not deal its bonus damage to Minions correctly.
Fixed a bug where Zarus’ Barricade would not display its damage increase correctly on Level-up.
Fixed a bug where TwinBlast’s Basic Attack would state the incorrect damage in his Main Menu Description.
Fixed a bug where Grim.exe’s Pulsefire Main Menu Description
Fixed a bug where Grim.exe’s Main Menu Ability descriptions would display the incorrect Colors for Scalings
Fixed a bug where Grim.exe’s Ultimate would not state its cooldown reduction on Level-up.
Fixed a bug where Keeper Crest would not deal its bonus damage correctly.
Fixed a bug where Crunch’s Right Crunch Main Menu Description would state the incorrect cooldown.
Fixed a bug where Khaimera’s Ultimate would not state its Slow effects in its Description.
Fixed a bug where various Items would display their Scaling Icons outside of the brackets.
Fixed a bug where Obelisk’s Scaling Icon would appear small in the Main Menu.
Fixed a bug where Wild Hunt would state the incorrect damage amount for its Slay Effect.
Fixed a bug where Iceskorn Talons would incorrectly state 15% damage increase instead of Physical Power.
Fixed a bug where Phase’s Ultimate would display an additional HUD Notifier.
Fixed a bug where Drongo’s Old Rusty and Rad Rounds would not state their cooldown reduction on Level-Up.
Fixed a bug where Murdock’s Hot Pursuit would not show a HUD Notifier correctly.
Fixed a bug where Riktor’s Old Saint Skin would not display its Chains correctly to other Users.
Fixed a bug where Sprays could appear pixelated in-game for PS5 Users.
Fixed a bug where Grim.exe’s descriptions would not display the correct Localisation text.
Fixed a bug where a variety of in-game text elements would not display the correct Localisation text.
Fixed a bug where Items Tab Descriptions would not display the correct Localisation text.
Fixed a bug where Howitzer could cancel his own Ultimate.
Fixed a bug where Serath’s Heaven’s Fury could incorrectly lock onto Explosive Flowers.
Fixed a bug where Kallari’s Shadow Walk would not deal its damage to Towers.
Fixed a bug where Zarus’ Ultimate VFX could appear the incorrect color.
Fixed a bug where Feng Mao could cancel his ultimate when using a Spray.
Fixed a bug where Grim.exe Basic Attacks would not gain bonus damage from Flux Matrix’s effect.
Fixed a bug where Steel’s Shield Wall would incorrectly lose its cooldown when its cast is interrupted.
Fixed a bug where Crunch’s Forward Crunch would do less damage than intended when using his Ultimate variant.
Fixed a bug where Iceskorn Talons’ Buff could be stacked.
Fixed a bug where Greystone could be launched by Explosive Flowers during his Ultimate.
Fixed a bug where Iggy’s Flame Turret could shoot through Emerald’s Ether Crystal.
Fixed a bug where Zarus’ Barricade could incorrectly register false-hits on Enemies.
Fixed a bug where Zarus’ Passive Stacks would consume at the incorrect rate on the HUD.
Fixed a bug where Countess could target Enemies in Stasis.
Fixed a bug where Phase could Link to two Allies while they are close together.
Fixed a bug where Kira could Cleanse her Ultimate’s self-slow.
Fixed a bug where Lt.Belica’s Seismic Assault hitbox would linger.
Fixed a bug where Dusk Team’s Blink and Ultimate indicators would not update correctly in Spectator Mode.
Fixed a bug where Emotes would become unusable for Heroes.
Fixed a bug where Ability Casts and Autobuy could reset to Default Settings upon reconnecting to a match.
Fixed a bug where Users’ Platform Icons could be overridden incorrectly when accepting Party Invites
Fixed a bug where Argus’s Dread Nova would not play sound when damaging a Hero out of Vision.
Fixed a bug where the Dusk Grey Camp (3) could spawn underground.
Fixed a bug where disconnected Heroes would stop running back to base when Stunned.
Fixed a bug where Belica’s Void Drone would display the incorrect Skin variants when it explodes.
Fixed a bug where Countess’ Shogun Skin would cause VFX to misalign during her Ultimate.
Fixed a bug where Users could be prevented from Queuing for a Match during minor Matchmaking server updates.
Fixed a bug where Jungle Camps could update on the Minimap when killed without Vision.
Bandai Namco Entertainment has released a new story trailer for Elden Ring’s upcoming Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, and while this is light on gameplay, it does give us a look at what to expect from a narrative aspect.
Watch the three-minute footage where we learn more about the DLC:
Impressive, right? Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree will be released on June 21, 2024, and will be priced at $40 for the DLC. There’s a Collector’s Edition too for $250.
Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree Key Features:
A New Story
Guided by Empyrean Miquella, players are beckoned to the Land of Shadow, a place obscured by the Erdtree where the goddess Marika first set foot.
In these strange new lands, players discover the dark secrets of the world as they meet others who follow in Miquella’s footsteps with ulterior motives.
Exploring a Familiar World Full of New Secrets
ELDEN RING Shadow of the Erdtree takes players beyond the Lands Between to explore the Land of Shadow, a completely new world from ELDEN RING.
Players can seamlessly travel back and forth between its vast maps interspersed with diverse situations and meticulous dungeons where menacing enemies roam
A Further-deepened RPG
Shadow of the Erdtree adds new weapons, equipment, weapon skills and magic not found in the base game ELDEN RING, along with new enemies, boss encounters and plotlines to further increase players’ RPG freedom.
Take on these threats with the new powers you can acquire
Destiny 2 servers have been brought down for maintenance this morning of May 21 in preparation for patch 7.3.6.6. This patch will go live across all platforms once maintenance is finished.
Update: Check out the patch notes for Update 7.3.6.6. here.
Destiny Servers Down for Maintenance Schedule for May 21:
Tuesday, May 21 – Maintenance
6:00 AM PDT
-7 UTC
Destiny 2 will undergo maintenance.
Sign-on and game integration features will be unavailable on web, mobile, third-party apps, and the Bungie Store.
Players who observe issues should report to the #Help forum.
6:45AM PDT
-7 UTC
Destiny 2 will be brought offline for expected maintenance.
Players will be removed from activities and won’t be able to log back in until 10 AM PDT.
Ongoing Destiny maintenance is expected to conclude at 12 PM PDT.
10:00 AM PDT
-7 UTC
The latest Destiny 2 update will be available across all platforms and regions.
Players will be able to log back into Destiny 2.
Players logging into the game may be placed in a queue and may experience sign-on issues as background maintenance is still ongoing.
Clan features may remain offline until maintenance is complete.
12:00 PM PDT
-7 UTC
Destiny 2 maintenance is expected to conclude.
Console players who encounter issues updating should restart their console and try downloading the update.
Players who observe issues should report to the #Help forum.
Once the patch notes are available, we’ll provide a link to it within the article. If anything changes regarding today’s Destiny 2 server outage, we’ll update the article with the info.
A new set of Battlefield 2042 weekly missions and store bundles is now live! MP1st’s Battlefield 2042 Season 7 Week 10 weekly missions, store bundles, and Portal Modes post details this week’s new missions, modes, and store items down below.
No new bundles have been added to the store this week; however, the New Leaf bundle can be purchased for a heavily discounted price until tomorrow, and the Prehistoric King bundle remains available.
That’s all for Week 10. We’ll post Week 11’s rotation of missions, Portal Modes, and store bundles next week, so watch this space for further updates!
Those trying to get their gore and dismemberment on but can’t in the latest Mortal Kombat game, it’s not just you, as NetherRealm Studios has taken the Mortal Kombat 1 servers down this May 21, and this is for planned maintenance.
Mortal Kombat 1 Down for Server Maintenance Status and Schedule for May 21:
According to NetherRealm, the servers will be offline this May 21 at 6 am CT/4 am PT/7 am ET/7pm HKT. However, no duration was given, so this could last for an hour or even 2-4 hours if past maintenance work is to be used as a reference.
Will we see a new MK1 patch be released during maintenance for May 21?
NetherRealm hasn’t said anything, but don’t be surprised if we do see one. While it won’t be as significant as the patch that brings in Homelander to the roster, we’re expecting bugs to be fixed at the very least.
Criterion has released Need for Speed Unbound update 1.000.021 today for what they’re calling the Vol. 7 Drift & Drag update. This includes a Drag mode and a Drift mode as well as two new vehicles Check out the NFS Unbound May 21 patch notes down below.
Need for Speed Unbound Update 1.000.021 Patch Notes for May 21:
Discover new feels for classic skills in Vol. 7: Drift & Drag* (inspired by NFS Underground), as we continue on the journey to deliver the ultimate NFS experience in one place for the first time.
This volume reintroduces Drift and Drag modes along with League progression, all updated for the modern era, and is complemented by the arrival of the fully customizable Ford Mustang Dark Horse ’24 and BMW M3 Competition Touring ’23.
New Drift mode comes with improved handling for Drift builds, while Drag mode revives manual gear shifting and lane switching skills. The League, a revamped progression system that’s intended to enrich the single player experience in Free Roam, has players challenging new Rival Racers throughout the volume in head-to-head competition to win their cars.
As always, a new Speed Pass and optional Premium track offers 75 total tiers of unlockable customization content.
FEATURES
DRIFT MODE
Elevate your street racing experience with the new Drift Mode in Vol. 7. Crafted for those who speak in curves and think in throttle, this mode updates drifting to the classic ways with an overhauled handling model for drift builds – delivering unparalleled control and deeper levels of mastery in the drift. Drift playlists are also now added to PVP and Free Roam.
DRAG MODE
This mode redefines racing in NFS Unbound with a fresh approach when you need to take a break from the circuits. It’s a deep dive into the essence of street racing, where the thrill comes from manual gear shifts, strategic lane changes to dodge obstacles, and perfectly timed nitrous boosts. Offering a challenge for up to four players, it’s not just about the fastest car but the sharpest driver. Drag playlists are also now added to PVP and Free Roam.
LEAGUE
In NFS Unbound, The League revitalizes the competitive spirit of NFS Underground, offering a richer single player experience in Free Roam. Challenge new Rival Racers in head-to-head battles throughout the volume to win their unique rides. This feature also introduces a community challenge, requiring collective effort to unlock the final boss and claim a new custom. With rivals showing up regularly and with new leagues on the way, this is where strategy, skill, and community converge, pushing players to earn their place among street racing legends.
NEW RIDES
Two drift and drag superstars make their grand entrance in Vol. 7, the BMW M3 Competition Touring ’23 with its agility and the Ford Mustang Dark Horse ’24 with its pure, raw power. Ready for both drag and drift builds, these vehicles are fully customizable and come with multiple unlockable body kit options. Two sets of Rare Customs for these cars feature designs inspired by NFS Underground plus a special Speedhunters collaboration.
NFS LEGENDS
New NFS Legends content arrives in this volume, featuring Underground-inspired PVP playlists starring Eddie’s Skyline and Rachel’s 350Z. Melissa’s Eclipse will also be available to unlock in the Premium Speed Pass.
SPEED PASS
A new volume means a new Speed Pass and we’ve got another one packed with customization content across 45 tiers of unlocks. Headlining the Vol. 7 Speed Pass is the BMW M3 Competition Touring ‘23 with multiple bodykits to fully customize the new ride. There are even XP Boosts to be unlocked that’ll accelerate your Rank and Speed Pass progression.
CAR: BMW M3 Competition Touring ‘23
BODYKITS: BMW M3 Competition Touring ‘23
CUSTOM: Underground-Dragster BMW M3 Competition Touring ‘23
CHARACTER SKIN FOR MP: Anechka, Boost, and Waru
COSMETICS: Rims from Equip, Rotiform, and more
And more, 45 Total Tiers to Unlock
PREMIUM SPEED PASS**
The Vol. 7 Premium Speed Pass immediately grants the new Ford Mustang Dark Horse ‘24 and opens up access to its three bodykits, alongside an additional three Rare Custom versions of the new cars arriving in this volume, including two original Speedhunters designs. You’ll also gain access to unlocking sick, new customization options, including LED and LCD rims and plates, music-reactive customization parts, individual tire smoke customization, signature style options, and more. There are 30 total tiers of content to unlock in this premium track.
CAR: Ford Mustang Dark Horse ‘24
BODYKITS: Ford Mustang Dark Horse ‘24
CUSTOM: Ford Mustang Dark Horse ‘24 – Speedhunters Edition (Drag)
CUSTOM: BMW M3 Competition Touring ‘23 – Speedhunters Edition (Drift)
CUSTOM: Underground-Drifter Ford Mustang Dark Horse ‘24
SNK has released King of Fighters 15 update 2.31 (PS5 version 2.003.002) today for several small gameplay adjustments. Check out the King of Fighters 15 May 21 patch notes down below.
King of Fighters 15 Update 2.32 Patch Notes:
PS5 version 2.003.002
■ KUKRI
Guard Cancel Blow Back
Shatter Strike
Advance Strike
・Expanded pushbox backward.
* Adjusted to resolve issues where these would pass through opponents under
certain circumstances.
■ KIM KAPHWAN
Houou Hiten Kyaku (Normal Ver.)
Houou Hiten Kyaku (MAX Ver.)
・Reduced combo scaling value.
* Adjusted to resolve issues where values were higher than intended.
These are the only changes that have been made for today. We will be sure to update you in the near future when more KOF 15 patches are released in the near future. The game is continually being updated with balance patches and character DLC always being released.
Senua is back for her second round of a journey where all the odds are stacked against her. She is not only facing a series of trials involving a few giants that are deemed immortal and only soothed through human sacrifices, the voices in her head are going to break her down and make her doubt herself in more painful ways than the piercing of a sharp blade. Ninja Theory’s follow-up to Senua’s Sacrifice doesn’t reinvent the Viking Iceland wheel of brutality, instead offering more of what made the first game receive such acclaim: even more beautiful, deeper lore, raw combat, and some narrative developments that will hit you right in the guts. But how much off Hellblade 2: Senua’s Saga is an actual game?
A Journey of Sacrifices
Anyone who has played the first game should know by now that Hellblade 2 is not quite about gameplay depth. Instead, it’s a cinematic experience with a strong narrative focus, sometimes bordering on a walking simulator or interactive movie with plenty of exposition moments, at times as interactive as the worst of Quantic Dreams’ often brilliant but QTE-riddled adventures.
But that’s a direction that is made clear from the start, as Senua seeks to exact revenge on the slavers who have decimated her community. It’s intentionally slow-paced to make the other aspects of this epic shine through, with breathtaking sights and incessant whispers from the voices in your head, the narrator, other characters nearby, and the like. It’s a visual and aural masterpiece in that sense, voice work is remarkable across all characters, but Senua is the obvious highlight of the game.
Melina Juergens’ work as Senua, both in motion capture and voice acting, is once again outstanding. The way she delivers her lines with feeling and grit, grinding her teeth at times, looking completely lost and frightened on other occasions…it’s a performance worthy of the best ever seen in a videogame. This is bolstered by her acting for the combat scenes, as Senua screams, shouts and breathes heavily, taking every hit with audible languishing pain, almost piercing our ears with her honesty and raw talent, as real as can be.
Hellblade 2 regularly shows you in many ways that it isn’t your average game. One of them is the extremely cinematic and creative use of camera angles, with slow panning and intense face closeups that highlight the fantastic facial work of Senua and the other few protagonists, players gazing into her profound blue eyes as they have this magnetizing quality. During many of the cinematics, courtesy of Unreal Engine 5, we feel like the cameraman, slowly traveling around the actors and focusing on details that most videogames ignore and to their loss. This is one of the few games where secondary characters have almost the same level of facial quality as the protagonist, and although it’s not quite an uncanny valley, it’s some of the best work you’ll be able to see for a few years.
This Iceland is based on the real one, with some stunning sights and enough diversity to appreciate, but you’ll be in heaven if you’re a fan of rocks, boulders, and more stone, with a bit of river and lakes for good measure. It’s postcard quality, with the weather making it all feel more real than reality, gorgeous thunderstorms, wind effects, and brash waves crashing into the rocks with noticeable strength. The downside of all this is the rigidity of every aspect of the flora, each branch, leaf, and blade of grass immobile at your passage, sturdy as a rock, inadvertently keeping with the theme.
Hellblade 2 does without any sort of HUD; the screen is entirely free of anything that would clutter and clash with the gritty beauty in front of you. At times, this may stump you due to the need to interact with something that isn’t a regular action, such as lighting a fire, but these will be rare occasions as you learn the ropes.
Fighting With My Voices
The gameplay swings between long walks across the majestic but desolate landscapes of 10th century Iceland, solving some simple rune puzzles where you must find the right perspective just like in the first game, and relatively simple combat. Fighting has slightly evolved since the original, but it felt to me like there’s a lesser focus on it throughout the campaign, and these remain divisive – they are extremely limited in terms of depth and skill, resembling a timing mini-game where perfect dodges will allow you to strike, repeating this until the enemy falls. You can build your focus through your handy mirror to unleash a devastating combo, but apart from that, it’s all very basic and straightforward.
That doesn’t mean there isn’t a spark in these fights, though. They may be repetitive, but the choreography can sometimes be marvelous to watch as enemies jump on you out of nowhere, deliver unexpected blows, and the like. Scripted, certainly—and it’s definitely all planned down to the slightest detail, just like the most elaborate of dances—but it remains very effective as a cinematic piece, delivering impactful moments that more than makeup for the lack of an involved and deep combat system.
Boss battles are an aspect where the game falls somewhat short, again not due to the lack of grandeur, but because these clashes against giants take the path of the scripted visual panache by means of very simple gameplay artifacts. Instead of this epic confrontation, and without reaching too much into spoiler territory, Senua will be playing hide and seek in one and running for her life, barely having time to catch her breath and throw a few spears in the other. It’s fantastic as an interactive spectacle, but it doesn’t offer enough depth to challenge or involve you, the player, in a colossal battle of wits.
With a story that is entirely linear, apart from the occasional detour to find a point of interest that rewards you additional lore, which is great for completionists, Hellblade 2 still manages to feel a little stretched out during the eight hours that will take you to reach the end. Exposition for the slow walks along other characters is a recurrent theme but an understandable one; however, a certain cave descent with a few light and dark puzzles thrown in ends up tiresome, section after section of the same thing, feeling like an endless repetition of the same processes, making us yearn for some sunlight that will take us out of this wretched darkness.
A Journey of Much Grit But Little Skill
Hellblade 2 is more of a good thing, a thing that started with the first game and doesn’t change a winning formula. Admittedly, it’s not a formula that is going to win over everyone, but the limited gameplay is offset by the stunning visual and aural work, the entrancing journey into psychosis with the voices constantly messing with Senua’s ambitions and insecurities, and an overall cinematic feel that very few games manage to rival.
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.
Score: 8.5/10
Pros:
Gorgeous presentation, both for characters and environments
Voice acting is remarkably good
A big narrative focus that just doesn’t let go
Combat has quite some punch and grit, visually speaking
Bandai Namco Entertainment has pulled the Tekken 8 servers down this May 21, and this is to conduct scheduled maintenance for the game. Read on for the official schedule to know when the servers will be back up.
Tekken 8 Server Status for May 21:
Here’s the announcement from Bandai Namco:
Updates and maintenance are scheduled for the following times:
While Bandai Namco mentioned “updates” in the tweet, so far, there’s nothing to download at least on PS5. It’s still at version 1.04, though there is a chance the patch could be released much later. If so, we’ll update the article to provide the proper info about it.
Expect a shop refresh at the very least. If there are any technical changes or gameplay fixes (be it as a client download or server-side update), we’ll be sure to let our readers know.
It seems Stellar Blade has done quite well for Korean developer Shift Up, as the studio has revealed that they are working on a Stellar Blade PC port, and not only that, but also considering developing the sequel (Stellar Blade 2).
This was revealed in a public filing by the company where the studio also talked about upcoming updates to Stellar Blade. According to Shift Up (translated by DeepL), they have plans to introduce “new playthroughs, including the release of DLC, the release of the PC version, and new IP collaborations. In the document, Shift Up shared that they have about 5-10 people working as “patch staff” for Stellar Blade, while the overall number of people working on it is at 98 people.
While Sony hasn’t released sales numbers for Stellar Blade, Shift Up has mentioned that it is “exceeding expectations,” which is definitely good news since it’s never easy to release a new AAA game, much less one that’s based on a new IP.
Just last month, Shift Up confirmed that we’ll be getting new outfits for Eve as part of its post-release support, but confirmation of IP collaborations is definitely something new.
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown update 1.20 is now out on all platforms, and this is tagged as dev version 1.2.0, and brings Boss Attack mode, quality of life additions, new outfits and more. Those on next-gen, this will show up as PoP: The Lost Crown update version 1.002. Read on for the complete patch notes straight from Ubisoft.
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown Update 1.20 Patch Notes | PoP The Lost Crown Version 1.2.0 Patch Notes:
Patch size
Nintendo Switch: 526 MB
PlayStation®5: 1.84 GB
PlayStation®4: 3.7 GB
Xbox One: 3.7 GB
Xbox Series X|S: 11.12 GB
PC: 1.25 GB
Luna: 1.25 GB
NEW FEATURES
Learn more about the new game modes added with 1.2.0, how to activate the Wak-Wak fast travel and how to unlock the new outfits here.
New game mode: Boss Revenge
New game mode: Boss Rush
Wak-Wak tree fast travel
2 new outfits for Sargon
QUALITY OF LIFE UPDATES
Addressed:
Several issues that can cause the game to crash on PlayStation ®5 & PlayStation®4.
GAMEPLAY
Improved:
Hadayan’s Might Athra Surge can now be triggered from the air. ²
Addressed:
A cinematic in the Prologue will not trigger in high custom difficulty.
A case where the Tower of Silence’s Boss door opens after completing only 2 gongs. ²
Players can get stuck in an underground room in Upper City, when dealing with batteries captured with the Dimensional Claw.
QUESTS
Addressed:
Motherly Love – The Amulet reward of the side quest can disappear, if the final enemy is defeated in a specific way.
ACCESSIBILITY AND OPTIONS
Better attack readability through improvements to High contrast mode (yellow vs red attacks).
Alongside the patch notes, the studio has also shared the new content details.
Boss Revenge
With Boss Revenge, you will be able to fight Bosses previously encountered, but with your current Simurgh powers.
Gradual unlock: After beating each Boss, they are unlocked in the Boss Revenge menu. In this challenge, you will enter each Boss Battle with a preset (Life / Weapon Upgrades / Time Powers) but have access to all current Athra Surges and Amulets at your disposal.
Pick your level of challenge: For each Boss, you can choose the difficulty you want to play them against: Rookie/Warrior/Hero/Immortal or No Hit. This choice is independent from the current game difficulty.
Prove your skills and beat your own records: A seal is displayed once you’ve beaten a Boss in a set difficulty. The look of the seal (Bronze/Silver/Gold) depends on your time.
Boss Rush
The greatest challenge awaits the bravest: the Boss Rush. This is an endgame challenge where you test your abilities and skills by defeating all the main bosses in a row. Two new outfits can be unlocked by beating this challenge at different difficulty levels.
Endgame challenge: The Rush gets unlocked after finishing the main story. In this challenge, you will enter with your current life/Amulets/Time Powers/Weapon Upgrades and Athra surges.
Fight all Bosses in order: The fights unroll in the same order as in the main story.
Pick your level of challenge: For each Rush, you can choose the difficulty you want to play against: Rookie/Warrior/Hero/Immortal or No Hit. This choice is independent from the current game difficulty.
Manage your resources: The amount of Life / Potions / Arrows or Athra gauge left is kept from one battle to the next. You’ll need to plan your rush, and use the possibility to change your Amulets & Athra Surges loadout between each fight wisely. Some Amulets are not active in Boss Rush to keep the experience balanced.
Prove your skills and beat your own records: A seal is displayed once you’ve beaten the complete Boss Rush in any difficulty, alongside the time taken to do so. Beating the challenge on a high difficulty setting also unlocks the seal for the lower difficulty ones. Theres a possibility there’s a secret seal…
You unlock a new outfit for completing the Boss rush the first time, and another new outfit for completing the Boss Rush in “No Hit” difficulty.
Quality of Life
New options were added to the game.
Wak-Wak trees fast travel: Instantly travel from one Wak-Wak tree to another, without the need to use Fast travel Altars. This ability must be purchased in the Magi Emporium in the Haven (Mage shop) and is unlocked after obtaining the Fabric of Time power.
High contrast mode accessibility improvement: improvement on attack readability (yellow vs red enemy attacks)
The next update for the game via the roadmap is the Divine Trials which is due in Summer 2024. Once we know more about that, we’ll let our readers know.
Modern Warfare 3 and Warzone season 4 has been officially confirmed to launch on May 29! With the new season comes new guns, multiplayer maps, battle royale modes, and, as always, crossover content. Fans of the world’s most popular FPS franchise will have plenty to dive into.
You can watch the trailer for the new season here:
Here’s all the big bullet points for new content coming to each mode:
Modern Warfare 3 and Warzone Season 4 Details:
Modern Warfare 3 (Multiplayer)
Modern Warfare 3 will introduce four new maps, six new modes, and new perks and killstreaks in Season 4:
Going Global – Tokyo and Paris are the new 6v6 maps getting introduced when the season launches. Incline and Das Gross, a variant map, will arrive later on in the season, further expanding the game’s extensive map pool.
Demolition Returns – Demolition will see a return in Season 4 alongside Hyper Cranked and Cache. These modes will be accompanied by Mutation, Headshots Only, and Havoc later on. Most of these modes aim to bring a more chaotic energy to the core PVP experience, which is always welcome.
New Ranked Rewards – MW3 Ranked will feature new rewards for committed players, including new Weapon Stickers, Blueprints, and Animated Calling Cards and Emblems. This refresh will hit in the launch window of the new season.
Perked Up – The Mission Control Vest and Compression Plate are the new perks for this season. The Vest makes getting killstreaks easier and the Compression Plate enables immediate health regen after kills or objective captures.
Killstreaks Expand – The Intelligent Munitions System (I.M.S.) is a sort of minefield with explosives that target and launch at enemies. The Loitering Munition is a more potent variation of the Predator Missile, the Missile Drone is a piloted missile-launching drone, and the DNA Bomb is a version of the MGB that wipes the enemy team out without ending the match.
Warzone
Warzone is getting some map updates and Gulag variants, as well as a new mode and various equipment changes. Here’s what to expect:
Enter the Bunker – New Bunker interiors have started opening around Urzikstan, containing high-level loot. These locations will likely be hot zones, so make sure you and your squad are prepared before entering.
Gulag Updates – Season 4 brings four new Gulag layout variants, each with their own quirks. The sooner you can learn these, the sooner you can master them to overcome your enemies.
Buy Back Solos Returns – This returning mode disables the Gulag and allows players to buy themselves back into the game if they had enough cash when they died.
New Warzone Rewards System – A new Rewards system will stack on the existing Daily and Weekly rewards to allow players to earn more XP for playing Warzone-specific matches.
Additions to Urzikstan – Beginning in Season 4, the Specialist Perk Package, Tactical Sprint Boots, and Polaris RZR vehicle will all begin appearing in Urzikstan to allow full-map players to up their game.
Ranked Play Resurgence Rewards – Ranked Play Resurgence will introduce new rewards, including Bluepritns, Emblems, Operator Skins, and more.
Modern Warfare Zombies
Modern Warfare Zombies is getting a new Mid-Season event in Season 4:
Operation: Deadbolt Continues – Sometime Mid-Season, a new Unstable Rift will be accessible in MWZ, continuing the ever-evolving saga of Zombies and immediately refreshing weapon and schematic cooldowns upon completion.
Across All Modes
In every game mode, players can get their hands on four new weapons, eight more aftermarket parts, multiple new Operators, and more:
Guns, Guns, Guns – The Superi 46 SMG, Kar98k Marksman Rifle, Reclaimer 18 Shotgun, and Sledgehammer Melee Weapon will all make appearances this season. We’ve gotten mostly Assault Rifles, so it’s nice to see a good variety, and of course we can’t wait to use the Kar again.
Aftermarket Parts, Aftermarket Prices – New Aftermarket Parts for the FJX Horus, Lachmann Shroud, RGL-80 Launcher, Kastov 762, and even the M4 will be introduced in Season 4. These always transform the game’s guns in interesting ways, so we’re looking forward to seeing if any of these enter the meta.
Battle Pass Content – Season 4’s Battle Pass includes two new weapons, two new Operators, and a handful of new Operator Skins, including the return of fan-favorite Soap. The Blackcell skins look pretty nice this time around, as well.
Store Offerings – Mobile Suit Gundam is crossing over with Call of Duty to bring three new Operator Bundles with new Skins, Tracers, Blueprints, Weapon Charms, and all you can typically expect from these packages. There will also be new non-branded Operator Bundles arriving throughout the season.
Challenges and Events – With Season 4 comes new Prestige Camos and Weekly Challenges. There will also be new limited-time events, including one centered around the introduction of Mobile Suit Gundam.
As always, the COD team is bringing a whole boatload of content in with this new season! We’ll be sure to post the patch notes as soon as they drop, but for now, stay tuned in to us here at MP1st.
Hopoo Games has released Risk of Rain 2 update 1.10 on all platforms, and this is for the big “Devotion” update! Players can expect the Dead Cells collab content, a new map, the Artifact of Delusion and more! Read on for the complete Risk of Rain 2 Devotion update patch notes, which will show up as version 1.10 on PC.
Risk of Rain 2 Update 1.10 Patch Notes | RoR2 Version 1.10 Patch Notes | Risk of Rain 2 Devotion Update Patch Notes:
Here’s the tl;dr version:
Verdant Falls: This stage is a biodiverse area of Petrichor V full of lush vegetation, billowing waterfalls, and galactic wreckage.
Artifact of Devotion: Cultivate your own personal army of Lemurians! This artifact replaces drones with eggs. Players can hatch the eggs by surrendering an item, releasing a Lemurian to fight alongside them. The sacrificed items imbue their effects on the Lemurians, who grow and evolve as they feast on your foes!
Artifact of Delusion: This artifact closes all chests after a teleporter event, allowing them to be later re-opened by players. But there’s a twist: you have to correctly identify which item previously came out of the chest. Guess correctly, and new riches are yours! Guess wrong, and you’ll lose the item.
Collab Skin: Dead Cells’protagonist, The Prisoner, joins the rank of the Survivors as a free Alt Skin for the Mercenary
New Content
Artifact of Delusion
Artifact of Delusion resets all chests once the teleporter event is finished and provides players the chance to receive additional items if they interact with the reset chests.
Whenever Players buy a chest before the teleporter event, the chest will remember what pickup was generated from it. After the teleporter event is finished Players can interact with chests that were previously bought (and have been reset). When the player interacts with the chest a small window will open up with three pickup options to choose from – one being the correct pickup generated from the chest, and two fake options will be mimicked from the Player’s inventory. If the Player selects the pickup option that was originally generated from the chest, the Player will be given that item as a reward, making it so the Player has gained two items from that chest. If the Player selects the wrong pickup option, they will lose the item selected.
Artifact of Devotion
Replaces drones with interactive eggs that spawn Lemurian companions.
When interacting with an egg, a prompt pops up requiring a sacrifice of one item to spawn a Lemurian companion. The sacrificed item is given and applied to the recently spawned Lemurian. If multiple Lemurians are present in the party, items are shared between all Lemurians. Every teleport event survived by Lemurian companions triggers an evolution that gives them new attributes, makes them grow stronger, and gives an additional stack of the item they started with.
Devoted Lemurians start out with damage and health buffs equal to that of a normal elite to help them stay alive as well as scale according to the difficulty timer as other monsters. Each time a Lemurian evolves, they gain another stack of damage and defense buff to help their survival rate and incentivize players to stay ahead of the difficulty curve.
When Lemurians die, they drop a scrap of the same tier of item that they were given and their item is removed from the item pool.
New map: Verdant Falls
Verdant Falls is one of the lost regions players can explore in this new update. It’s a stunning map with a lush environment and allows players a lot of room to explore. We dive into more detail regarding this map and the other six maps coming to Seekers of the Storm in the Dev Diary here.
Crossover event with Dead Cells
A lot of you had the chance to play some Risk of Rain inspired content in Dead Cells a year ago so we decided it’s time to return the favor. Starting today a very special Mercenary skin has arrived in Risk of Rain 2 for all players. Drop in and take a look at it today. We think it will remind you of someone
Minor Bug Fixes
Forgive Me Please equipment no longer triggers on kill effect continuously
Artifact of Command no longer prevents Lunar Coins from spawning
Chest, Firework and Squid Turret exploit fixed
Demons and Crabs challenge unlocks normally
That’s about it. If another Risk of Rain 2 patch is released to fix any bugs that surface from this major update, well let our readers know.
XDefiant is launching tomorrow! With a day before the big launch, Ubisoft has revealed the complete XDefiant pre-season day one update patch notes! Alongside that, we also got the pre-season Battle Pass showcase, giving us a look at some of the items set to be available for players.
XDefiant Pre-Season Day One Update Patch Notes:
Gameplay
FACTIONS
The Echelon faction is back. We fixed the issue with agents turning invisible in a bad way versus the good and intended way (using the Digital Ghillie Suit ability).
DedSec’s Spiderbot ability has returned. Prepare your face for hugging.
DEVICES
Devices (aka grenades) are less likely to fall at your feet if used immediately after respawning, but it can still happen. We’re working on it! Grenades are inherently risky.
Netcode
Occasionally after you died, you could still run around in the world for a few seconds. Now when you die you stay fully dead, as your opponent intended.
Reduced the range between the highest ping and lowest ping in matchmaking, so now you’ll be grouped with players who have a more similar ping to your own.
Audio
Fixed an issue with killstreak VO lines playing at the beginning of every match and when you died, which was particularly insulting. Turn the announcer volume back up in the Settings menu (Dialogue Volume)!
Audio improvements, many.
Social
Xbox Series X/S players now see their Xbox friends list as the primary friends list in game.
Fixed an Xbox-specific issue where if you suspended the game, then accessed the in-game Social menu and selected “Invite to Party” or “View Party Invites”, Ubisoft Connect wouldn’t open properly.
Fixed an issue on Xbox where if you got an error message while trying to join a full party, key UI elements would disappear.
Localization
On consoles, if you accessed the Ubisoft Connect overlay via the Social menu, the text wasn’t localized for any non-English languages. It is now.
Miscellaneous
Fixed a crash that could occur when accessing the Loadout menu tab.
Updated the word list the Chat Language Filter uses.
Fixed issues with misaligned HUD elements on PlayStation 5.
As you can see, players will get character skins, weapon skins, animations and more as part of the Battle Pass. Remember: the Battle Pass is entirely optional, and players can still unlock stuff just by playing the game. You can read up on the entire monetization plans right here.
XDefiant launches May 21 on PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC.
In case you didn’t know, MultiVersus is gearing up for a re-release next week! Before that happens, WB Games alongside developer Player First Games have released the MultiVersus cinematic trailer, and this confirms two new characters that will be available in the game.
Near the end of the trailer, we see Joker flanked by Jason Vorhees from the Friday the 13th films, and Agent Smith from the Matrix franchise. Jason Vorhees will be part of the free-to-play rumble game’s lineup on May 28, while Agent Smith will be available “later in the season” per WB.
Alongside the two new fighters, DC supervillain The Joker is also headed to the game as part of Season 1: Puns & Villainy.
MultiVersus was initially released in open beta in July 2022. After a successful launch, the game slowly dwindled down to the point that it had less than 1,000 players on Steam. Servers were then pulled in July 2023 to prep for the full game launch this year.
MultiVersus will be available as a free-to-play game on PS4, PS5, Xbox Series One, Xbox Series X|S and pC.
Vampire survival game V Rising is making its way to PlayStation 5! Stunlock Studios has today announced that the open-world fantasy survival action-RPG V Rising PS5 release date is set for June 11!
In addition to the release date, there’s a new trailer, the different editions players can buy and even features of the game for those not familiar with it.
Game Synopsis:
PlayStation 5 owners can finally sink their teeth into V Rising in its final form. Step into the shoes of a newly awakened vampire, construct your gothic castle, and explore an open world teeming with danger with seven regions to explore and 57 bosses to best. Hunt for blood alone or unite with a clan, battling alongside fellow vampires online. Rise in power and face the ancient tyrant Dracula himself in a showdown of epic proportions to rule the night.
Survive as a newly awakened vampire in a world ruled by humans and rise to become the next Dracula. Feed on blood to gain new powers, hide from the scorching sun, and engage in real-time PvE and PvP combat set in a dark fantasy realm. Raise your castle and invite friends to join as you explore a vast open world, pillage villages, skirmish with bandits, and delve into the lairs of supernatural beasts. Attack other players’ castles or become a diplomat in a game of blood, power, and betrayal.
V Rising PS5 Different Editions:
Purchase the Standard Edition for 39.99 EUR/USD (-10% PlayStation®Plus pre-order discount)
Those who pre-order the bundles can also enjoy the ability to play as early as June 6 when purchasing:
Castlevania Edition at 59,99 EUR/USD (-10% PlayStation®Plus pre-order discount)
Complete Edition for 99.99 EUR/USD (-10% PlayStation®Plus pre-order discount)
In the press release sent out, Stunlock has announced their collab with Konami for the Legacy of Castlevania event in V Rising. Players will be able to challenge the legendary vampire hunter Simon Belmont and unlock the whip weapon. Alongside the free Castlevania conetnt, players will also be able to purchase the Legacy of Castlevania Premium Pack cosmetic DLC for $19.00, which allows players to construct their own castles inspired by Castlevania’s classic gothic aesthetic (alongside other customizations). The V Rising Castlevania Edition which is priced at $59.99 gives players all the Castlevania cosmetics as well as five-day early access so they can start playing on June 6.
The Complete Edition includes all the cosmetic packs currently available in the game alongside the five-day early access for $99.99.
V Rising Cosmetic Packs:
Eldest Bloodlines Pack
Dracula’s Relics Pack
Sinister Evolution Pack
Legacy of Castlevania Pack.
V Rising Game Features:
Engage in visceral Action-RPG combat
Survival crafting gameplay: build your castle and forge your arsenal
Hunt for blood and slip between the shadows, or risk getting burned by the sun
A dark fantasy world filled with terrifying creatures from man to beast and beyond
Slay 50+ powerful bosses to absorb their knowledge and power
Choose your style of play! 11 weapon types and 50+ spells
Dress to kill! Swap your armor appearance and choose from a wide variety of color options
Face the ultimate Vampire Rival and slay Dracula himself to claim your place
Ubisoft has released Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown update 1.12 (PS5 version 1.002) today and this is for the “Boss Attack” mode and is considered the second major free update for the game. The devs have tagged this as Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown version 1.2.0, and we have the complete patch notes available below.
(Editor’s Note: We published the wrong patch notes and title update info, and have adjusted the article to reflect the correct info. Apologies for the confusion).
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown Update 1.002 Patch Notes for May 20:
Patch size
Nintendo Switch: 526 MB
PlayStation®5: 1.84 GB
PlayStation®4: 3.7 GB
Xbox One: 3.7 GB
Xbox Series X|S: 11.12 GB
PC: 1.25 GB
Luna: 1.25 GB
NEW FEATURES
Learn more about the new game modes added with 1.2.0, how to activate the Wak-Wak fast travel and how to unlock the new outfits here.
New game mode: Boss Revenge
New game mode: Boss Rush
Wak-Wak tree fast travel
2 new outfits for Sargon
QUALITY OF LIFE UPDATES
Addressed:
Several issues that can cause the game to crash on PlayStation ®5 & PlayStation®4.
GAMEPLAY
Improved:
Hadayan’s Might Athra Surge can now be triggered from the air. ²
Addressed:
A cinematic in the Prologue will not trigger in high custom difficulty.
A case where the Tower of Silence’s Boss door opens after completing only 2 gongs. ²
Players can get stuck in an underground room in Upper City, when dealing with batteries captured with the Dimensional Claw.
QUESTS
Addressed:
Motherly Love – The Amulet reward of the side quest can disappear, if the final enemy is defeated in a specific way.
ACCESSIBILITY AND OPTIONS
Better attack readability through improvements to High contrast mode (yellow vs red attacks).
Alongside the patch notes, the studio has also shared the new content details.
Boss Revenge
With Boss Revenge, you will be able to fight Bosses previously encountered, but with your current Simurgh powers.
Gradual unlock: After beating each Boss, they are unlocked in the Boss Revenge menu. In this challenge, you will enter each Boss Battle with a preset (Life / Weapon Upgrades / Time Powers) but have access to all current Athra Surges and Amulets at your disposal.
Pick your level of challenge: For each Boss, you can choose the difficulty you want to play them against: Rookie/Warrior/Hero/Immortal or No Hit. This choice is independent from the current game difficulty.
Prove your skills and beat your own records: A seal is displayed once you’ve beaten a Boss in a set difficulty. The look of the seal (Bronze/Silver/Gold) depends on your time.
Boss Rush
The greatest challenge awaits the bravest: the Boss Rush. This is an endgame challenge where you test your abilities and skills by defeating all the main bosses in a row. Two new outfits can be unlocked by beating this challenge at different difficulty levels.
Endgame challenge: The Rush gets unlocked after finishing the main story. In this challenge, you will enter with your current life/Amulets/Time Powers/Weapon Upgrades and Athra surges.
Fight all Bosses in order: The fights unroll in the same order as in the main story.
Pick your level of challenge: For each Rush, you can choose the difficulty you want to play against: Rookie/Warrior/Hero/Immortal or No Hit. This choice is independent from the current game difficulty.
Manage your resources: The amount of Life / Potions / Arrows or Athra gauge left is kept from one battle to the next. You’ll need to plan your rush, and use the possibility to change your Amulets & Athra Surges loadout between each fight wisely. Some Amulets are not active in Boss Rush to keep the experience balanced.
Prove your skills and beat your own records: A seal is displayed once you’ve beaten the complete Boss Rush in any difficulty, alongside the time taken to do so. Beating the challenge on a high difficulty setting also unlocks the seal for the lower difficulty ones. Theres a possibility there’s a secret seal…
Quality of Life
New options were added to the game.
Wak-Wak trees fast travel: Instantly travel from one Wak-Wak tree to another, without the need to use Fast travel Altars. This ability must be purchased in the Magi Emporium in the Haven (Mage shop) and is unlocked after obtaining the Fabric of Time power.
High contrast mode accessibility improvement: improvement on attack readability (yellow vs red enemy attacks)
There are also two new outfits added to the game based on the Sands of Time outfit. For more on the game, check out the roadmap right here.
![[PoP] News - Boss Attack Content Update - 2008 skin](https://staticctf.ubisoft.com/J3yJr34U2pZ2Ieem48Dwy9uqj5PNUQTn/3Py9OJOK3fNyPhKt3REsho/02969f08e8bc4c350be5f8d89ff13fd2/2008_PoP_Skin.jpg)
![[PoP] News - Boss Attack Content Update - rashabare outfit](https://staticctf.ubisoft.com/J3yJr34U2pZ2Ieem48Dwy9uqj5PNUQTn/3fHKcCcrQqU2RWnEHisCbA/243c0d3e5cdb162d1d9c104df63e2379/Rashabare_outfit.jpg)
