How do you build on a success that took a good part of the gaming world by storm? In theory, it’s the most straightforward of things: by potentially delivering a game of such scope and creativity that it makes the original pale in comparison. Putting that into practice is where the true challenge lies, but our first impressions from The Talos Principle 2 are exceptionally reassuring and exciting, not to mention nerve-wracking and filled with brilliant eureka moments.
A Portal Into a Brave New World
The influences from writers such as Isaac Asimov may not be intentional, but are nonetheless visible in many facets, namely the automatons that star in this mind-bending puzzle adventure where controversial and perpetual subjects go hand in hand, testing both your skills and your ability to question the information around you. It’s a deeper dive into the philosophical aspect brought forward by the first game, with dialogues that are often food for thought, with no right or wrong answers to an endless array of questions and existential doubts.
It’s a finicky balance for sure, creating a puzzle game with such a thoughtful theme and sustained by a narrative driving the game forward and encouraging exploration. The Talos Principle 2 manages to avoid the pitfall of pretentiousness by pacing progress in a way that doesn’t overwhelm you with its themes, nor does it force you into a certain train of thought. You will be taken in this journey of intrigue and mystery, that’s a given, but the way it’s done feels satisfying and almost like a colonist, exploring new and awe-inspiring places and structures.
You begin in this Egyptian-themed tutorial area with minimal context and a succession of puzzles that is nothing but a smoke curtain for what’s to come, deliberately hiding the scope of the game that will expand before your eyes about one hour later, when you awake to a new and surprising reality. As the thousandth and final robot to reach this futuristic settlement, you quickly discover that you in fact harbor the consciousness of a human, created after a plague erased humanity and organic forms as we know them. Known by your new peers as 1K, visiting the city quickly segues into exploring unknown regions, often comprised of stunning sights, jaw-dropping structures, and mind-bending puzzles.
The way your team of explorers discuss their approach and findings is akin to an adventure game, with reasonably sized areas to wander about freely. There’s lore to be found, PDA conversations to have, some of them of intriguing metaphysical depth, but locating the puzzle sectors is your goal, clearly signposted so that you know where to go to put your brain cells to the test. The light beam puzzles are just the entry point for a world of head scratching, now bolstered by the introduction of RGB convertors, where two colored rays will be converted into a differently colored one, a process that needs to be carefully thought out to activate receivers and unlock barriers.
Since colors play a huge role in the puzzles, accessibility options are crucial to help a segment of players who are color-blind and still want to enjoy this experience. Thankfully, there’s a dedicated mode with various settings and strength so that anyone can tweak it to their liking.
This Is Not a Drill
The Talos Principle 2 comes with a lot more options than light beams. Due to the nature of the gameplay and the barriers that you will eventually stumble upon until you finally hit that craved eureka moment, we couldn’t deeply examine all the new possibilities, but they sound fascinating and properly diabolic. We managed to experiment the new driller tool, however, opening holes in walls of a specific type and expanding the possibilities – you can move an object or send a light beam through the hole, but there’s no way for you yourself to pass through it. This goes further into Portal territory, despite the differences, and there are more gadgets waiting for you later on in the adventure.
Puzzles can be challenging when we’re simply playing with light beams and converters, but as soon as drillers and jammers join into the mix, it may descend into intimidating territory. However, there’s a palpable difficulty curve, and it goes without saying that one more advanced puzzle may click with you faster than an earlier trial, as you adjust your mindset, and everything seems to fall into place.
You can use a token to skip a particular puzzle that is giving you a troublesome time, but first you must discover them. Luckily, you’ll come to certain parts where new sites open without forcing you to fully complete the previous one, each featuring eight puzzles, giving the game a less restrained approach and offering players some deserved respite to try new puzzles, instead of pushing them to the point of breaking in a specific trial.
Brain Matters
For a game that requires you to use your brain to its full potential, it’s so obvious that The Talos Principle 2 is a no-brainer. The matter at hand is even more exciting than before to delve into, with amazing presentation and renewed scope, and the puzzles become more complex thanks to the introduction of various new tools.
As far as puzzle games go, they rarely come with such ambition and care, almost an adventure game that just happens to have several enigmas thrown in to test your intellect. There are few things as rewarding as watching all the pieces fall together, and The Talos Principle 2 is the kind of work that not only tests your wits but also makes you question some of your beliefs, and nearly a decade of waiting will surely be worth it in the end.
MP1st was given access to a preview build of The Talos Principle 2 for our hands-on session. The Talos Principle 2 launches on November 2, 2023 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S.
Microsoft aims to complete its $68.7 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard next week. The reports indicate that they plan to make this announcement next Friday on October 13, 2023.
This deal has been going on for more than 20 months, experiencing its fair share of challenges. Microsoft has had to navigate multiplehurdles, but they now believe they have successfully addressed the concerns of the key stakeholders, and are optimistic about the outcome. Just last week, the tech giant indicated their intention to finalize this deal by October 18, 2023.
“We still anticipate that we will close the transaction by October 18, and we have full confidence in our case and the deal’s benefits to gamers and competition.”
The FTC lost their initial appeal against Microsoft-Activision, but they intend to appeal this decision to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. However, should the acquisition proceed as scheduled, then the FTC might attempt to overturn it, though accomplishing this would be a formidable challenge.
For all the latest on Microsoft-Activision deal, stay tuned to MP1st.
EA Sports’ NHL franchise dates back over three decades and has continued to release games annually ever since. The entries for this generation of consoles have yet to quite match the levels of those from the middle to the end of the last generation, but last year’s game was a noticeable improvement of its predecessor and now NHL 24 is looking to build on that foundation even further.
Hitting the Ice
Presentation is always important in sports titles, and last year’s NHL entry really focused on providing an authentic experience that only modern platforms could handle. NHL 24 maintains this level of quality when it comes to the game’s visuals and audio to the point where it feels like you are actually watching an actual hockey match take place sometimes during the breaks between the action. Most of the presentation is very similar to last year’s game, but the one significant new addition is that of Cheryl Pounder as the new color commentator in the broadcast booth. The former gold medalist Olympian has plenty of experience in the broadcasting arena, so she was able to slide right into NHL 24 by bringing a lot of new insight into the booth.
Brand new to NHL 24 is the Exhaust Engine, which consists of two major improvements for the game. The Sustained Pressure System boosts the attacking player’s passing speed and accuracy as you close in on the defense’s goal. While the offense gets this boost, the defense just has to try and survive as best they can by countering effectively. This added a lot of intensity to specific moments in each game, especially when my team was losing at the time.
The Exhaust Engine also introduces the Goalie Fatigue System, which allows you to wear down opposing goalies by utilizing offensive zone pressure and shots. This can lead to enhanced scoring odds from anywhere based on the fatigue level of the goalie, which you have to watch for in the game. If you do not learn the telltale signs of building fatigue, the goalie may be able to prevent what seemed like a good shot.
The Exhaust Engine can make it seem like the offense has much more of an advantage on the defense now, but some changes to the game’s physics system help to balance it back out a little. The NHL series has long offered very realistic physics to emulate that of a real hockey game. NHL 24 continues that trend with true-to-life player animations and even improvements to the physics system.
The game now allows you to decide which type of hit you want to deliver to the opponent with shoves and big hits, including new ragdoll physics built into these improvements to make them look better than ever. Shoves are less risky for the player but also do not have as much of an impact on the player. On the other hand, big hits can completely disrupt the offense and lead to the puck getting knocked far away and, thus, a good chance at turning things around for your team. However, there is a lot more risk with trying a big hit that can leave you more vulnerable on defense if you do not time it correctly. I learned very quickly that I had to not overuse the big hit mechanic, as there were moments where I missed entirely and found myself on my heels trying to recover before giving up a goal. The new smashes into the glass really added a lot to the overall presentation here, too, as a result of these big hits.
NHL 24 features a new Total Control scheme option for players, combining the right stick shooting and hitting with skill move buttons. In the past, you would mostly just use the left stick to move and the right stick to shoot, but now the face buttons come into play by offering you multiple skill moves separate from the right stick. If you are not a fan of this new control scheme, you can always go back to the more classic Skill Stick option and play as you always have in the past.
Regardless of which control scheme you choose, you will also use the game’s all-new Vision Passing system. This allows you to make easy passes to any teammate at any time, giving you many more options on the ice to confuse the defense. While you could obviously pass the puck around before, but it feels much more precise here than in the past.
The Usual Suspects
Sports games in general have a few staple modes that always have to be included, and NHL is no different with the return of Be A Pro and Franchise mode. These are often modes that do not get quite as much love as the others when it comes to new features year after year, and that is sadly once again the case in NHL 24. Be A Pro lets you create your own skater and take them through their career from either the start or once they make it to the NHL. Franchise mode essentially lets you do the same, but with taking control of a team as the GM instead and building them up into a dynasty. These are the types of game modes that I tend to spend a lot of time playing, so it was a bit disappointing to see the minimal changes. That being said, both of these modes still are a ton of fun to play, and you can find yourself sinking countless hours into them offline.
NHL 24 includes the return of the series’ version of Ultimate Team, known as HUT. This mode is always criticized due to the reliance on microtransactions, and those are still ever present in this year’s version. For the most part, the mode is just as it was last year, so you mostly know what you are going to get, except for the addition of a really cool new feature that fans have been asking to see added for a long time.
There are plenty of casual NHL series players, but those who are massive fans of the sport will appreciate the all-new HUT Moments that have been added to the game this year. Starting with more than 50 to choose from, the game allows you to play through some of the greatest moments in NHL history, such as Wayne Gretsky’s hat trick against the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 7 of the Conference Finals in 1993. Not only that, but you also get to replay moments from the ongoing season as more are added. This is something that the NHL series has definitely been missing, as it has become a staple of many other sports franchises over the years, such as MLB The Show and Madden.
HUT also includes a shared marketplace between platforms for the first time ever as the series finally has crossplay. EA Sports games have gradually been adding crossplay into the mix, starting with what is now the FC franchise and just a couple of months ago with Madden. The only stipulation here is that only PS5 and Xbox Series X/S players can play together, and PS4 and Xbox One players can play together, as there is no cross-generational play available in the game. This is something that is for the best, though, to maintain the best experience on each version. Crossplay isn’t just for general matchmaking either, as it also carries over to EASHL with Mixed Clubs and the aforementioned HUT market.
Arguably, the most popular game mode among the more hardcore NHL game players is World of Chel, as it allows you to create your own custom player and team up with others online in 3 v. 3 or 6 v. 6 matchups. When making your skater, you get to create a separate Casual Skater, Casual Goalie, Pro Skater, and Pro Goalie. It was quite annoying to have to go through each of these and set up the name and information for my skater rather than just being able to carry that information across all four, so hopefully, that is something they could make more user-friendly later.
World of Chel is always a ton of fun, especially if you have friend groups to play with. That is thanks to the number of options to choose from, such as the ranked EASHL modes or extra modes like Threes Eliminator. Whether you are going all in with clubs or just playing some quickplay matches, World of Chel provides some of the best experiences that NHL 24 has to offer, just like in past entries.
This year’s big addition to World of Chel is bound to be a controversial one with the inclusion of a Battle Pass for the first time. This isn’t a huge surprise, considering how the majority of sports games have introduced a season-based system of some sort. As you level up throughout the season, you can earn cosmetics like new skates or player celebrations. This causes people to have to grind much more now, knowing they may not have a chance to collect higher-tier items in the Battle Pass after the season ends, at least not without having to pay for them. World of Chel also pushes you to purchase NHL points with real money to spend in the game for the World of Chel store, so microtransactions are starting to infect what has long been one of the best parts of the series. Thankfully, World of Chel still is a ton of fun and isn’t entirely disrupted by the Battle Pass and microtransactions, but it definitely is concerning moving forward.
Verdict
NHL 24 is once again another solid outing in the long-running series. It may be far from revolutionary, but it still provides players with a great hockey experience along with some enjoyable additions like the new Exhaust System and HUT moments, as well as the ability to finally play with friends on the opposing platform. Where it gets a bit concerning, though is the introduction of the Battle Pass and more microtransactions in the fan-favorite World of Chel mode, after mostly being relegated to HUT in the past. The overall experience is very good and gives players plenty of opportunities for pure hockey action across the game’s numerous game modes.
Score: 8/10
Pros:
Crossplay for the first time in the series
The New Exhaust System adds intensity to each game
HUT moments let you replay classic moments in NHL history
Cons:
Nothing groundbreaking added to the majority of the game modes
Battle Pass introduced for World of Chel
Repetitive skater entry information in World of Chel
CD Projekt Red recently shared that Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty cost the company nearly $86 million in production and marketing costs. This comes from a presentation the company gave during a recent Investor Day.
It’s a lengthy video, but around two hours and 15 minutes in, Chief Financial Officer Piotr Nielubowicz stepped up on stage to discuss the game’s sales and the costs that went into making it. He shared that the game cost the company 275 million PLN, or roughly $63.6 million USD, in direct production expenditures. It also cost the company 95 million PLN, or roughly $22 million USD. Doing some quick math, that means the entire release cost the company roughly $85.6 million USD.
Nielubowicz also stated that bringing the 2.0 update to the game and porting it to modern consoles cost the company 178 million PLN, or roughly $41.2 million. That means that all in all, Cyberpunk 2077 has received nearly $127 million USD worth of updates since its initial launch.
All in the investments have clearly paid off for CD Projekt Red. Just earlier this week, they reported that Cyberpunk 2077 had surpassed 25 million downloads, and its new DLC Phantom Liberty had surpassed 3 million downloads in the span of a week. The game has also hit some record high player counts on Steam since the DLC’s release.
We’re looking forward to whatever CD Projekt Red decides to dump millions of dollars into next. To read our review of the Phantom Liberty DLC, click here. We gave it a 9.5/10, so it’s definitely worth a read to find out why.
You can watch the full Investor Day video here, complete with English translation:
Excited for the next Call of Duty? Over the next couple of weekends, Activision is hosting two separate beta weekends for Modern Warfare 3. There’s a lot to keep up with, so we’ve got the rundown on what sort of Modern Warfare 3 beta content to expect, including all the maps and modes you can look forward to, as well as what you can unlock in the beta’s progression system.
Weekend One is available exclusively on PS4 and PS5. Players who pre-ordered the game on PlayStation can play the beta starting Friday, October 6 at 10am PDT/1pm EDT/1am HKT. Starting on Sunday, October 8 at 10am PDT/1pm EDT/1am HKT, the rest of the PlayStation community can begin playing the beta. This first beta comes to a close on Tuesday, October 10 at 10am PDT/1pm EDT/1am HKT.
PlayStation players can download the beta from the PS Store. Players who don’t preorder digitally need a beta code to participate; they’re automatically registered to participate in the Early Access period. If you purchased Modern Warfare 3 through a participating retailer, you should have received a beta code printed on the retail receipt or sent via email on an online receipt.
Weekend One: Maps and Modes
Weekend One kicks off with four maps and four game modes at the start of the Early Access period, with an additional map and mode being added on Sunday when the beta opens up to all PlayStation players
The maps included in Weekend One are:
Favela – Set in beautiful Rio de Janeiro, Favela’s topography gives you a number of options to choose from when engaging enemy Operators. Stick to the perimeter to keep opponents at range along the streets and through the shacks, or head into the central alleys to fight up close. Use the newer movement mechanics to get around the rooftops with more ease than ever before.
Estate – Get ready to infiltrate the great outdoors of Estate. Fight for a spot in the lodge or move through the wooded perimeter to flank opponents. Beware of enemies hanging out in the scattered buildings and be ready to swap to a close-ranged weapon when engaging Operators within.
Skidrow – Roam the streets of Skidrow and utilize the new Tac-Stance to round tight corners in this urban environment. Battle through the central building or take the tunnel and alleys to get around your enemies. Flanking opportunities are abundant here, so keep your head on a swivel.
Rust – Prepare for chaos. Fight for your position at the top of the tower or use the map’s various obstacles to avoid detection on the ground. It’s all about making the most of your angles in this infamous desert environment. Use your full array of Loadout gear to get the advantage on the enemy team.
Popov Power (Ground War) – Break through the defenses of the Popov Power Plant. Watch high and low for snipers, armored vehicles, and enemies emerging from the large concrete buildings. Prepare for every range of combat available in Modern Warfare 3 because in the Power Plant, you can and will experience all of them.
Here are the available game modes in Weekend One:
Team Deathmatch – Use teamwork to eliminate enemy players and reach the score limit.
Domination – Capture and hold up to three flags to gain points for your team.
Hardpoint – Capture and hold the Hardpoint (a zone that shifts to several locations during the match) to earn points for your team.
Kill Confirmed (Open Beta) – Team Deathmatch with a twist. Eliminate enemies and grab the Dog Tags they drop to score for your team. Pick up your teammate’s tags to deny the enemy from scoring.
Ground War – Large-scale conflict featuring vehicles. Capture and hold objectives to score. Capturing objectives opens forward spawning locations for your team. Like Domination, but with more objectives.
Weekend One: Progression
Players can obtain a maximum level of 20 during the first weekend of the Modern Warfare 3 beta. As you earn additional Player Levels, you’ll unlock more Loadout gear to use after hitting the Player Level 4 milestone when Custom Loadouts become available. See below for the items you’ll unlock for each level on the way to 20.
Level 1 – Demolitionist: A Loadout focused on explosives and survivability.
Level 2 – Combat Controller: A close-range, fully silenced Loadout emphasizing stealth and counterintelligence.
Level 3 – Rusher: A mobile Loadout for point-taking and flanking.
Level 4 – Custom Loadouts, New Launcher, and Perk
Custom Loadouts: Player-customized Loadouts that allow you to select Weapons, Equipment, and Perks.
PILA (Launcher): Portable infrared surface-to-air missile with a free-fire option. Self-propelled missiles have a higher speed and moderate explosive yield.
Infantry Vest (Perk): Increases Tactical Sprint duration and reduces its refresh time. Duplicate effects do not stack. If equipped with Running Sneakers, gain the effects of Lightweight Boots instead.
Level 5 – Guardian-SC (Killstreak): A beam-shaped, nonlethal, area-denial weapon. Enemies entering the beam endure similar effects to a stun grenade, such as reduced movement speed, blurred vision, and removed UI.
Level 6 – Comms Scrambler (Field Upgrade): Disables communication with intel within its radius. Enemies will not be able to activate Killstreaks. Enemy UAV and intel systems will not detect you and your teammates. Location of the scrambler is visible in the enemy minimap.
Level 7 – DG-58 LSW (LMG): A lightweight squad weapon for controlling zones and laying down suppressive 5.8 x 42 mm fire.
Level 9 – Remote Turret (Killstreak): Automated turret that scans for nearby enemies and fires incendiary-based rounds. The Operator can also take manual control of the turret.
Level 10 – New Perks
Engineer Vest (Perk): Spot enemy Equipment, Field Upgrades, and Killstreaks through walls. Aiming down sights highlights them for your team. Faster Field Upgrade recharge.
Tac Mask (Perk): Reduces strength of enemy flash, stun, and gas grenades. Immunity to shock, EMP, and Snapshot Grenades.
Level 11 – Mission Control Comlink (Perk): Reduce Killstreak cost by one kill. Reduce Scorestreak cost by 125.
Level 12 – MTZ-556 (Assault Rifle): Boasting an exceptional fire rate for a 5.56 weapon, this closer-quarters Assault Rifle excels at close and midrange.
Level 13 – Battle Rage (Tactical Equipment): Experimental stimulant that gives you an adrenaline rush. Tactical Equipment is resisted and Tactical Sprint is constantly refreshed.
Level 15 – Ordnance Gloves (Perk): Throw Equipment farther. Reset fuse timer on thrown back grenades.
Level 16 – Smoke Grenade (Tactical Equipment): Deploys a smoke screen that blocks vision and automated targeting systems.
Level 17 – BAS-B (Battle Rifle): A highly controllable and powerful Battle Rifle chambered in .277 Fury, designed for all-round reliability and performance.
Level 18 – Scatter Mine (Tactical Equipment): Throw a field of mines across a wide area that detonate when enemies come within range.
Level 19 – Climbing Boots (Perk): Increased climbing and mantling speed. Reduces fall damage.
Level 20 – Gunner Vest (Perk): Deploy with max ammo. Improved reload speed. If equipped with Mag Holster, gain the effects of Mission Comlink.
That’s everything you need to know before hopping into the MW3 beta this weekend. Have fun and stay safe out there on the battlefield!
We covered just about everything that was revealed at yesterday’s COD Next event, including the future of Modern Warfare Zombies. You can check that out here.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 launches on November 10 for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
Lies of P DLC has just been confirmed via a job posting on developer Neowiz’ website. The job posting is for a Lies of P DLC Content Planner and is available on their Korean careers page.
You can see the job posting at this link. Here’s the loosely translated content of the page:
To turn the game upside down by creating a game that will surprise everyone, that is Neowiz’ goal. In addition to publishing competitive IP, we are developing games of various genres on various platforms to provide new surprises and enjoyment that hasn’t been seen before in the world.
We pursue challenges fiercely and with passion, believing that excellent performance and teamwork begins with sufficient information sharing.
The posting also describes Lies of P as “an extreme action RPG project based on Unreal Engine 4” and a “Souls-like genre faithful to sophisticated combat workshops and level design.” These points are shortly followed by a line that reads “DLC to be produced,” seemingly confirming that extra content for the game is in the pipeline. The post also confirms that the DLC will release on both PC and console platforms, which is to be expected.
Lies of P is the one of the better souls-like games we’ve seen from a company that isn’t From Software. In our review, which you can read here, we gave it a 7/10 and said “Lies of P is a solid Soulslike that should keep fans of the genre happy and frustrated for the entire runtime.”
We’ll be sure to keep our readers posted as soon as we learn more about the upcoming DLC. If you’re excited for it, let us know in the comments.
Thanks to Twitter user Okami Games who spotted this job posting to begin with.
It has been nearly three years since 2020’s Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, which represents the largest gap between mainline games in the series’ history. Did that extra time allow Ubisoft to craft a better experience overall, or was all the waiting done in vain? Our Assassin’s Creed Mirage review is ready to settle this question.
Shorter Game, Familiar Feel
Assassin’s Creed Mirage looks pretty damn good. Ubisoft’s Anvil game engine can do vast cityscapes at great scale. The various cities Basim and crew find themselves feel lived-in, with hundreds of citizens going about their daily lives, and thanks to Basim’s thieving past, many targets ripe for the pickpockets. Of course, side missions and activities can be triggered with some exploration, and chests and caches of all kinds are peppered throughout most areas.
Assassin’s Creed Mirage is a single-player-only game, with a campaign playthrough time of around the 15-20 hour mark. While there is a large, open map of about five square miles, it is easy to stay on the main quest. The story is enjoyable and something of a coming-of-age tale involving protagonist Basim Ibn Ishaq, a common street thief who dreams of one day joining the Hidden Ones, as the Assassin Brotherhood was then known. By circumstances beyond his control, his somewhat dangerous but mostly anonymous life is upended by the Caliph, or more specifically, the shadowy organization the Caliph had dealings with. It’s an engaging, well-acted story that is intriguing to watch, with multiple cases for Basim to solve as he attempts to destroy the Order of the Ancients by taking out key members.
Like You Never Even Left
Regarding controls, Assassin’s Creed Mirage feels like riding a new bike. It’s familiar, but with a couple of tweaks your old bicycle didn’t have. Holding down the cross button while running is the easiest way to traverse the city’s many buildings tops, with devices such as hooks and lifts available at key moments to help you up and over obstacles. Basim’s arsenal is small but efficient, and mostly things we have seen before in other installments. He has the hidden blade that he had to pay dearly for in order to use, a dagger, a main sword, and various assassin tools of the trade, such as smoke bombs, throwing knives, poison darts, and more. Some of these weapons are particularly flashy, which is kind of unrealistic in a game centered around stealth, but hey, it’s a video game – some suspension of disbelief is required.
What’s not required this time around is spending extra time buried in menus as you sort through dozens of abilities and compare countless stats between equipment. Assassin’s Creed Mirage is less focused on RPG elements, though they are still present, just to a lesser extent than before. You can upgrade weapons and equipment a couple of times each, and Basim’s skill tree is more of a grid, not too deep in terms of layers, and easily remapped for most abilities. Leveling up happens sparingly, as the game seems to want the player to focus on the simple joys of stealthily killing your enemies instead of overwhelming them with force as could be done in, say, Valhalla.
Slow-Motion Powers, Activate!
Indeed, combat in Assassin’s Creed Mirage is deceptively simple. Tapping R1 performs a light attack while holding it initiates a charged, heavy attack. Pressing L1 will attempt to block, and if it is timed right, it will trigger a parry, where the enemy is stunned for a few seconds. Tapping square will dodge, which is crucial to perform when enemies use unblockable attacks, where they are briefly enveloped in a red aura as a warning sign that such an attack is incoming. Double-tapping dodge will move Basim more quickly out of an area at the cost of some stamina. Finally, a new ability dubbed Assassin Focus is unlocked at a certain point, which makes a sort of Red Dead Redemption-style slow-motion move where Basim can target up to five enemies while time slows down. Once the targets are selected, things resume, and Basim dispatches those chosen targets in quick succession. Of course, this ability must be charged first by defeating enemies the old-fashioned, non-slow-mo way. It’s a bit over-the-top but fun and useful to pull off.
Missions outside of the tutorial are pretty freeform, allowing the player to come up with the opportune time to take out their enemies in order to progress or to simply bypass those they deem unnecessary to take down. It is rewarding to learn the patrol routes of multiple guards and then take them out one by one, with each unaware of their imminent demise. Hiding in the bushes and waiting for the right time to strike may be cliché, but it still feels good.
Not Too Challenging
Maybe it’s because I’m now a veteran of Souls-like games, but on Normal mode, Assassin’s Creed Mirage doesn’t pose much of a challenge. Enemies are quick to lose interest, even when whistled at to the same spot several times, and once the initial shock of seeing their dead comrades passes, so too does their attention. Naturally, the hard difficulty setting helps to rectify some of this, but Assassin’s Creed games are not known for their difficulty, and most players should have no issue finding the right level for their experience with this genre or desire for a challenge. One thing that will seemingly always remain an occasional challenge lies in the Flow-like mechanic that is any Assassin’s Creed traversal scheme. For the most part, the game understands where you are trying to go. But sometimes, and this is usually when the action is the most intense, and you are trying to get away from someone or a group of people, the game gets it wrong, and Basim leaps down the side of the wrong building or hides in a closet despite his pursuers being right behind him, or worse. It’s usually funny when it occurs, but repeated failures of traversal can get annoying.
Basim has an aerial companion, much like in Valhalla. This time around, it’s an Eastern Imperial Eagle named Enkidu, who can help the player pinpoint places of interest or specific targets. Getting too close to city archers can result in the eagle getting shot at, which ends the scouting session temporarily. There are also mounts in the form of camels and horses. While the area of Baghdad depicted in Mirage is smaller than other Assassin’s Creed maps, it is still a large area, and occasionally using a mount or simply fast traveling is your best bet at getting around.
Comfort Soup for the Nostalgic Soul
If there’s one phrase that could describe Assassin’s Creed Mirage, it’s comfort food. There have been so many Assassin’s Creed games since the original in 2007, two whole video game generations ago, that after nearly three years since the last mainline entry, playing Mirage felt comforting. Its shorter length is actually disappointing in that regard – I wanted to have more new things to discover, enemies to tackle, or conflicts to arise in this recreation of 9th-century Baghdad, and knowing the ending is never too far away will be bittersweet to some.
Assassin’s Creed Mirage is a great return to form for a series that had sort of lost its way. A concise, single-player campaign with a story that has its share of twists and turns, a sprawling desert and surrounding wilds to play in, and even a new ability helps to return Assassin’s Creed to its roots while adding to the core feature set in a meaningful way. Fans, new and old, will want to check out Assassin’s Creed Mirage.
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.
Arkane Studios has released Redfall Update 2 for October 6, and this brings various fixes to the beleaguered game. Read on for the complete patch notes that touch on multiplayer, UI and loads more.
Improved PC performance and stability across a wide range of hardware configurations.
Addressed several edge-case memory crashes.
Addressed graphical corruption issue with changing resolution with AMD GPUs.
Fixed an issue with resetting Game Settings to their default values while in Windowed display on a second monitor.
The anti-aliasing setting is now hidden in Video Settings while AMD FSR 2.1 upscaling is enabled.
Various performance improvements made to Hero abilities, weapons, and general game systems.
Various fixes to support Hero abilities triggering properly despite environmental factors like ladders, death mist, electrocution, and more.
Improvements to player navigation and collision across both Redfall Commons and Burial Point.
USER INTERFACE
Weapons with silencers, or silenced muzzle attachments, now reflect their “silent” state in tooltips. – Silenced weapons generate less noise, and are less likely to alert nearby enemies.
Vault and Mantle indicators now display in the HUD when a surface can be vaulted over, or mantled.
The Mission Briefing Table now better delineates between Main Missions and Optional Missions.
Functional improvements to compass markers and objective search areas to behave more consistently.
Historical Markers now display on the Map in their locked state once players complete the introductory missions in Redfall Commons and Burial Point.
Improved the readability of ammo purchasing.
Added an off-screen indicator when Bribón is downed.
Fixed an issue where objective search areas were blocking fast travel actions while using the Map.
The Text-to-Speech hotkey now displays at all times when active.
Player reporting now shows a loading indicator when submitting.
Clarified the achievement description for Rum Runner.
ACCESSIBILITY
Improvements to Screen Narration:
Narration updates when a Multiplayer Lobby state changes between Ready and Unready.
Support when the text entry field is open. Narration updates every seven seconds if the field remains open.
Narrates “Back” and “Friends” menu controls on all pages of the Settings menu.
Support within the Username input field for the “Add Crossplay Friends” sub-menu.
Fixed an issue where players would be prompted to “Press Enter” when focused on the Username input field in the “Add Bethesda.net Friends” sub-menu.
Support for navigation control in Hero Select and System Select menus.
Narrates game invites and friend request notifications.
When selecting a locked difficulty, the screen describes the difficulty type as “Locked”.
When selecting an unlocked difficulty, the screen narrator will narrate “Difficulty Selected”.
Main Menu’s System tooltip displays “System” only, and will narrate “System” in both Main and System menus.
Hover support for all buttons and links, both digital and analog inputs.
Narration support when pings are placed or removed from the world.
Fixed several issues with screen narration in Bethesda.Net modals.
Removed incorrect prompt to “Press Enter” to input email address, username, and/or password when logging in.
Bethesda.net account Help menu now supports proper narration.
Narration Support in the Bethesda.Net Updated Agreement.
Exiting a Multiplayer Lobby now properly reads “Close”, instead of “Quit” or “Leave Lobby” when the Friends List is open.
Lobby labeling now visually and audibly differentiates between Singleplayer and Multiplayer.
Added a secondary sensory method in the Archive to indicate focus on the scroll bar.
Improved photosensitivity work in the following areas:
Firing the Clacker Unrivaled weapon in ADS near a red emergency light.
Flashing environment light bloom caused by weapon fire.
Vampire death and disintegration.
Remi’s Cluster Bomb C4 explosions detonating in rapid succession
Summoning Layla’s Lift with other players standing nearby.
GAMEPLAY
Numerous improvements to default Aim-Assist and Dead Zone tuning, and more options for players to customize these settings for both Controller and Keyboard/Mouse.
Arkane Recommendations:
For fast paced multiplayer FPS fans – Check out Medium, High, or Linear Input Response Presets as they tend to feel faster and more responsive overall.
For slower single player FPS fans – Check out Default, Low, or Medium Input Response Presets as the slower response curves tend to feel like you have a little more precision over your aim.
Increasing/decreasing your Controller Sensitivity from the Input Response Presets default value will directly increase/decrease your overall left/right turning speeds.
For players who turn up their Controller Sensitivity, consider trying out Default/Strong/Very Strong Aim Assist Strength and ADS Snap Strength if you would like that assistance.
For players who turn down their Controller Sensitivity, try Very Weak/Weak/Default Aim Assist Strength and ADS Snap Strength presets to prevent it from feeling like you are fighting for control over your aim.
Tinkering with the Input Response Preset setting is a great first step to help you find the controller settings that work best for you.
During the Settling In mission, Anna Creelman will now fill the player’s pistol, shotgun, and assault rifle ammunition.
Added new Vampire Nest spawns to Old Town and Sedgewick neighborhoods.
Added a tutorial blade and Archive entry for Psychic Residue.
Remi’s C4 no longer remains in the world after exploding.
Various fixes for mission objective persistence.
Added mission dialogue for Fall Like Lightning.
COMBAT
Players can now sneak up and take down unaware Cultists & Bellwether enemies with staked weapons.
Increased open world enemy population and mission encounter balancing.
Added unique open world enemy encounters in Redfall Commons.
Added elements of light or reflective clothing to vampire and human NPCs to aid in visibility during the night.
Increased ammo pickups in areas surrounding the Fire Station to help new players maintain early-game resources.
Enemies now reposition to avoid friendly fire.
Bribón is now guaranteed to shock nearby enemies while using Siren with the Robot Rock skill activated.
Remi will now be alerted when–and where–Bribón is downed.
Fixed several scenarios where enemies could become stuck in an idle state and stop engaging with the player.
Sights and silencer barrels have been updated to improve reticle visibility.
Sights using a green emissive have been tuned so they aren’t as bright at night.
Scale and positioning of magazines has been improved to prevent clipping and other animation issues.
Improved Rook combat behavior in the Black Sun boss arena.
ENVIRONMENT
References to the Burial Point district have been added into the Map, and other locations in the Redfall Commons district.
Improved the lighting presentation in the Black Sun boss arena.
Improved visual fidelity for psychic space butterflies, fog pockets, the Black Sun’s glowing sigil, and various water effects.
MULTIPLAYER
Added visually distinct player indicators and markers for Multiplayer sessions, and unique co-op ping color for each player in the squad.
Improved player ping visibility.
The Light’s Out achievement will now be awarded in multiplayer only if the Lost in the Fog mission is active.
Given the game’s not-so-stellar performance critically and commercially, don’t expect a lot more patches from the Arkane, though we’d love to be proven wrong.
Destiny‘s Trials of Osiris weekly PvP mode is back this Friday with a new map and rewards. If you’re wondering about the current rotation, we’ve got you covered: MP1st’s new Destiny 2Trials of Osiris rewards and map this week October 6, 2023post lists down all that information in full below.
New Destiny 2 Trials of Osiris Rewards This Week October 6, 2023:
Reputation System, Trials Engrams, and Adept Farming
Win individual rounds within each match to gain Trials reputation. The amount of reputation you gain increases with each round you’ve won on your card. Earn enough reputation, and you’ll be able to claim a Trials Engram from Saint-14! This engram can be focused into any currently available trials loot you have previously obtained, or it can be taken to Master Rahool for a random Trials drop. Your reputation increases after every match completion, based on the number of round-wins on your card, regardless of the result of that match itself (win or lose, 0-5 or 5-4).
Once you have gone Flawless, keep playing! Every win you achieve while at the 7-win level, even if you lose your Flawless, has a chance to drop bonus Trials Engrams, adept weapons, prisms, and even Ascendant Shards. There is no penalty for losing once you’ve made it to the Lighthouse!
When you’re done, you can cash in your 7-win passage for one additional adept drop, granted you have gone Flawless that week. This resets your card so you can start anew.
Passages
Name
Perk
Cost
Passage of Ferocity
Your third match win grants a bonus win.
15 Legendary Shards
Passage of Mercy
Forgives one loss per run. Forgives a second loss if you have not yet been flawless this week.
Xur has returned to Destiny this Friday with a fresh selection of Exotics, Engrams, and Legendary gear on sale only in exchange for Legendary Shards. For those seeking information about his current hideout and wares, here you go: MP1st’s new Destiny 2 Xur location today, October 6, 2023 post details both his location and full inventory until the next Weekly Reset.
New Destiny 2 Xur Location Today October 6, 2023 (And What Xur Is Selling):
Complete Vanguard playlist activities, or win matches in Crucible or Gambit. Extra progress is awarded for more challenging activities and for succeeding with clanmates.
Engrams
Name
Description
Cost
Exotic Engram
An engram with a predestined outcome. Contains a new Exotic if any of the possible rewards remain to be collected. Preview contents for possible rewards.
Xûr, Agent of the Nine, is a strange vendor who randomly appears in a Public Sector on one of the Worlds. Xûr sells Exotic equipment and only takes Legendary Shards in exchange for them.
TL;DR: He’s the Santa Claus of Destiny and every weekend is Christmas. Sometimes he brings you what you want, sometimes he brings you coal. Mostly it’s coal.
When does Xûr visit?
Xûr visits every Friday at 17:00 UTC and departs at Weekly Reset (Tuesday 17:00 UTC). If you would like to see all the live conversions of Time Zones, please follow this link here.
Ahead of Battlefield 2042 Season 6: Dark Creations’ release on October 10, DICE has revealed the official changelog! In it, we see the new additions, as well as the complete list of changes made. Read on for the Battlefield 2042 Season 6 patch notes, which DICE tags as Update 6.0.
Here is an overview of the new content, alongside highlights for changes and improvements:
New Map: Redacted
New Weapons: G428, L9CZ and VHX D3
New Gadgets: Ammo & Medical Pouches
New Vehicle: YUV-2 “Pondhawk”
New Battle Pass featuring all-new cosmetics for Specialists, Weapons, Vehicles and more.
Quality of Life Improvements: Aim Assist Improvements for Controllers, Vehicle Handling Improvements, Recon Balancing and more.
When can I play?
Update 6.0.0 deploys at 08:00 UTC on Tuesday, October 10. Season 6: Dark Creations and its Battle Pass progression starts at 12:00 UTC on the same day.
With the deployment of the 6.0.0 Update, 24/7 playlists for Redacted will immediately be available on both Conquest and Breakthrough.
WHAT’S NEW?
New Map: Redacted
Inspired by fan-favorite maps from Battlefield’s past like Operation Locker (Battlefield™ 4) and Operation Metro (Battlefield™ 3). This claustrophobic, close-quarters combat focused map takes place in the Scottish Hebrides where an “incident” has revealed a hidden tech-research facility performing classified experiments.
Located within an underground subterranean environment, this is our first map in the Battlefield franchise that offers no outdoor environment. You’ll need to use the tight corridors and elevated areas to play the enemy into your hand – or risk falling into a trap yourself.
This facility – with its biodomes and laboratories – hides more than its fair share of secrets for you to discover as you seek out your prey. Just be sure not to get distracted as the enemy will use any chance to turn the tables and ambush you.
Boreas Laboratory
The laboratory area is Boreas’ crown jewel and where the bulk of the forbidden research is happening. The lab is divided into two large rooms, split down the middle by a trench-like corridor with racks of servers on either side. Inside the laboratory rooms, large 3D printers are producing prosthetic parts, which you can also see scattered across the level. The laboratory offers close to mid-distance combat, where the looming printers offer excellent cover if you want to get up close and personal with your opponent.
Field testing
After you’ve passed through the laboratory, you enter the Field Testing area, where small, make-shift houses, provide cover and gives further hints as to what has happened in this facility. The lighting and atmosphere is due to send shivers down your spine, but you better stay alert, as the protruding rocks give both you, and your enemy, ample opportunity to flank.
Stress testing
If you’ve survived long enough to make it to the next biodome, you’ll soon notice the difference in both layout and atmosphere that the Stress Testing area has to offer. While it might feel less claustrophobic it does make vulnerable to enemy sniper fire, as this biodome opens up to long-range combat as well. If you prefer the high-ground, the stacked containers can offer you relative safety, but that means you have to get smack in the middle of the biodome, which means you’ll have to constantly watch your six.
Maintenance tunnel
If at any time you want to leave the frantic combat near the flags and enjoy a moment of peace and quiet, the maintenance tunnels can at least offer you the former. The dimly lit tunnels allow you to flank and run directly to any of the flags, but you better stay frosty, as your enemy might have already had the same idea.
New Weapons:G428, L9CZ and VHX D3
The weapons arsenal is expanding this Season with not only new weapons, but also further much community requested improvements to Vault Weapons.
G428
An all new DMR offering exceptional accuracy and substantial penetration power that can help you turn your enemies into prey.
L9CZ
This semi-automatic, highly accurate sidearm is your new best friend in close quarters situations when your primary weapon runs dry.
VHX D3
This unique and futuristic assault rifle features optimized portability and performance, making it a valuable asset for close and medium-range combat. Portable. Powerful. And pulverizing to any enemy that comes out of the shadows.
New Gadgets: Ammo & Medical Pouches
Ammo & Medical Pouches – Support your squad by throwing them pouches that will let them replenish their ammo or health. A valuable lifeline when you find death creeping on you and your team.
New Vehicle: YUV-2 “Pondhawk”
A dynamic two-person transport featuring flight capabilities, letting you and a buddy quickly provide support and rush objectives.
New Battle Pass
Season 6: Dark Creations will include an all new Battle Pass with over 100 tiers of rewards. As always, our gameplay-affecting items – weapons, vehicles, gadgets – are earnable without purchasing the Premium version of the Battle Pass.
We’re also introducing the Battle Pass Ultimate Pack, a new option for the Battle Pass that will allow you faster progress through tier skips while also granting you exclusive skins.
QUALITY OF LIFE IMPROVEMENTS
Dev Notes: Aim Assist Improvements for Controllers
With this update we set out to improve the experience of aiming and aim assist for controller peripherals with a high degree of customizability.
Our goal with aim assist on Battlefield is to make controller aim more accurate while retaining the challenge and skill required of aiming within a First Person Shooter. Aim assist is not only about the process of helping you aim but also about tuning and customizing the feel of input to your personal taste.
We have made multiple systemic improvements, while also ensuring we don’t obstruct the player.
Alongside code and design changes, we are including a new, carefully tuned Default Aim Input Response Curve with an emphasis on customizability. You will now be able to select between many different Response Curves from previous Battlefield titles. These curves can be found within the options and will alter the feel of your aim stick input. There are also legacy acceleration presets and a new slider for tuning slow down separately from other assist features.
Dev Notes: Vehicle Handling Improvements
One of our key focus areas for Update 6.0 was to improve the Vehicle Handling of Ground Vehicles and how they interact on a mobility level in comparison to the general gameplay pace that Battlefield 2042 offers.
Ground vehicles have received a wide range of changes in relation to their Tank Track Friction, Engine Power Curves, and Vehicle Gravity to allow for more weight and more. Additionally, we have made further changes to Jet Afterburners, Tor Tank balancing and Gunships to further realign and improve ground vehicular combat in cohesion with air and infantry Combat.
Dev Notes: Recon Balancing
Rao’s Cyberwarfare Suite will now trigger all damage states on targeted vehicles, as well as no longer blocking firing on vehicles. Additionally, Rao no longer reveals players around an enemy he has recently hacked and killed. Instead Rao will now reveal enemies in the target’s area when he hacks a target.
This will reveal all information in that area, such as all enemy soldiers, vehicles and gadgets within 10m of the hacked target for a very brief period of time.
We have also made adjustments to the EMP Grenade and Casper’s OV-P Recon Drone to align with this new hacking behavior.
OTHER AREAS OF IMPROVEMENT
Subsonic Ammo & Suppressors
The first update is a minor design change regarding Subsonic Ammo, and how it works in combination with Suppressors.
Previously, this combination would hide the directional indicator in the hitmarkers on the receiving end, hiding the orientation of the attacker.
We have decided to update this following our hitmarkers update and to improve the synergy with Suppressors in a way that minimizes frustration for the receiving end and promotes weapon build variety.
Previously:
Heavy Silencers = No self-spotting on minimap at any distance
Light Silencers = No self-spotting over 20 meters
Subsonic Ammo had no impact on this
Update 6.0:
Light Silencer = No self-spotting over 40 meters
Light Silencer + Subsonic = No self-spotting over 20 meters
Heavy Silencer = No self-spotting over 20 meters
Heavy Silencer + Subsonic = No self-spotting at any distance
Camera Recoil
Through Community Feedback we became aware of an issue where the crosshair of a weapon could deviate too much from the center of the screen and was affecting certain weapons a lot more than some others.
This resulted in a lack of consistency between weapons and could make controlling recoil more difficult particularly when it came to quick bursts on higher recoil weapons. We have done a pass on every All-Out Warfare weapon to resolve this issue and improve gunplay.
With the new settings, the weapons will still have some minor movement to transmit the feeling of the recoil but recoil control and bursting should feel more responsive and consistent.
We have additionally taken the chance to do some further small tweaks to the way bolt action recoil works with the camera which should also improve the feel of the weapons and help you keep your aim in follow up shots.
LMG Balance Update
Looking at the recent Update 5.2 release where we updated Vault LMGs Attachments, recoil and other stats, a dispersion change was also done to bring them to where we thought they should be when compared to Assault Rifles and the rest of the roster.
We believe we didn’t quite hit our intended goal with those changes and that we had pushed them a bit too far, where the gunplay when using LMGs didn’t feel quite right.
We decided to do an extra tweaking pass on the entire LMG category, take a look at the changelog below to learn more about the detailed changes coming as part of this update.
DMR Balance Update
DMRs have also received tweaks, but to a much lesser extent. The intention here was not really to do any significant blanket nerfing or buffing, but to review the state of the weapons and make sure they performed as intended. Take a look at the changelog below to learn more about the detailed changes coming as part of this update.
Boris & Crawford Improvements
In response to Engineer feedback, we are taking steps to improve the experience of playing as Boris and Crawford with Update 6.0. As we outlined many months ago as part of the Class Rework, the role of an Engineer is both as an anti-vehicle Specialist and one able to hold down a position and we feel this aspect of Engineer gameplay needed further balance improvements to make the available choices within the class more interesting.
As such, Boris will now have further emphasis on ensuring the uptime of his Sentry Turret in order to have optimal damage output of that Turret, while Crawford will have a completely new Specialist Trait called Deep Pockets which provides an extra rocket to shoulder-fired launchers.
We will continue to assess Engineer feedback, and all the other topics listed above as we begin to hear your thoughts once all these changes are live!
CHANGELOG
AI, Soldier and General Improvements
Added a new option that allows players to auto throw Ammo/Medical Crates upon button press, similar to the auto throw grenades option. This option can be found under Mouse & Keyboard or Controller > On Foot.
When a squad mate attempts to deploy onto a person who is in combat, that person will receive a notification informing them a squad mate is attempting to deploy onto them and that they should seek cover to let the squad spawn happen. Both visually and audibly.
Fixed the directional arrow on some world icons sometimes showing when the icon is not sticking to an edge.
Fixed an issue that caused the Nightstick Melee Weapon to fire an invisible projectile that’d create impacts on the world and geometry. Sorry about that, Penguin secret technology almost made it out.
Fixed an issue that caused downed players to appear as alive on the big map for a brief moment when playing as a Support Specialist.
Fixed an issue that caused no hand signal animation to play when spotting the Centurion C-RAM.
Improved the UI animation for when a player spots a target to feel more rewarding and snappy.
Improved the enemy health bar experience to be more readable in understanding how much health is remaining from an enemy player as well as how much damage you have recently dealt to that player.
Implemented an additional dark outline that helps visualize the total length of the health bar.
Changing the lost health bar (right side) so it uses an alpha gradient to improve contrast with the remaining health bar (left side), which will lead to better visibility of remaining health.
Added an animated hit event light gradient that sits at the right edge of the remaining health bar.
Darkened the remaining health glow (with the goal to visually coincide better with the player name).
Fixed an issue that would sometimes cause electrical static audio to play when reviving a player. Less zap zap, more pew pew.
Fixed an issue that would cause the same command to repeat itself when re-opening the Commorose for a second time.
Fixed an issue that would cause AI defenders to get stuck in concrete walls under certain fences.
Fixed an issue that would cause the distance to enemies further than 50m to not show up.
Improved performance on Xbox One and PlayStation 4 consoles while navigating Weapons in the Deploy Screen
Fixed an issue where input became throttled while having more than one controller plugged in and using any controller other than controller 1.
Fixed an issue that caused VFX particles to be seen through some objects / materials.
When performing a revive, attempting to Fire or ADS will now cancel the revive action.
Dev Comment: We made this change as we noticed that players were sometimes getting stuck performing a revive action when they’re trying to quickly cancel to kill an enemy. This change is to respect your input given to the game.
Medics inside of vehicles will now be hidden from the nearby reviver list unless they specifically ping the downed player.
Dev Comment: This is to reduce player frustration of medics not reviving when they are playing within vehicles, we acknowledge players within vehicles are less likely to jump out and revive.
Audio
Polished the audio experience when dying from explosions.
Added audio fixes around foliage assets on Hourglass.
Removed tinnitus sound effect from low damage dealing explosions.
Resupplying Med Pens from a Medical Crate now has audio.
The RPG7-V2 now has audio when performing a lock on to a designated target.
Other players can now hear when a jet is doing a close by while boosting.
Fixed an additional issue that caused the SU-57 jet to not have any boost audio.
Improved the obstruction system to minimize cluttered soundscape involving sounds further away and make close sounds more relevant and valid.
Vehicles, explosions and weapon sounds played in an exterior environment, will be more obstructed beyond a certain range if the player is in an interior environment.
Additionally, this same category of sounds when played in an interior environment will be more obstructed on far distances and several rooms away.
Battlefield Portal
Vehicles now spawn at maximum health when the vehicle maximum health multiplier is set to 2.
Fixed an issue that would cause the JU-87 Stuka’s (Battlefield 1942) crosshair to disappear when in ADS/Zoom
Fixed an issue that caused the Dynamite (Battlefield 1942) to switch to another weapon when trying to detonate all 5 sticks at once.
Fixed an issue that caused XP restrictions to not correctly update when changing PvP AI settings in the Portal Web Builder.
Fixed an issue that caused Armored Transports (Battlefield 3) to have the incorrect world iconography.
Fixed an issue where the Input Restriction blocks were not affecting AI Soldiers.
Fixed an issue where the OnPlayerUndeploy and OnPlayerDeployed events would sometimes not trigger for AI Soldiers.
Enable controls while rearview camera is active on Battlefield Portal planes
Class Changes
Recon
The Recon Class now has a Weapon Proficiency to Secondary Weapons alongside their Sniper Rifle Proficiency. This new Secondary Weapons Proficiency enables them to deploy and undeploy their Secondary Weapon at a faster rate.
This combination will function on all weapon combinations as Recon, such as hitting an enemy with a Sniper Rifle to quickly swap to a pistol, or SMG to quickly swap to a pistol.
Maps and Modes
Hourglass:
Fixed an issue where Vehicles would start shaking if placed on top of sand dunes.
Discarded:
Fixed destruction around A1 flag.
Ensured Tornado does not spawn on HQ at the start of the round.
Reclaimed:
Fixed an issue on Custom Conquest where B1 and B2 points were not working as intended.
Breakthrough:
Deployable gadgets are now destroyed after territory control change on Breakthrough.
Fast Conquest:
Fixed an issue with where teams had the incorrect number of tickets.
Tactical CQ:
Fixed Missing Voice Over during End of Round.
Gadgets & Specialists
Fixed an issue that caused the smoke grenade to allow explosive damage to bleed through walls.
If the EOD Bot falls onto a soldiers head, it will now kill them (It’s-a me, Penguinio)
Fixed an issue that caused passengers of vehicles firing shoulder-fired launchers to push the vehicle.
When attempting to deploy a gadget in the world in an area that it cannot be deployed, it will now present the reason why it is failing to do so, such as Underwater, Not Enough Space, Stolen by Penguins.
Improved the scaling of the out of range lock-on states to be more visible at range
Improved the readability of blocked lock-on states.
Grenades and missiles will now have their minimum damage capped out at 10 to ensure damage reliability.
Fixed an issue that caused a broken sprint animation when swapping to the RPG7-V2 during a tactical sprint.
Fixed an issue that could sometimes cause defibrillators to be in the characters hands while parachuting.
The Ammo Crate is no longer invincible and can now take damage and be destroyed.
The Spawn Beacon now requires slightly more room to be deployed that matches more accurately to its object boundaries.
Dev Comment: This should help alleviate situations where Spawn Beacons can be wedged into incredibly narrow spaces which prevent deploying on the Spawn Beacon from occurring. Sometimes sneaky doesn’t always mean optimal.
Angel
Fixed an issue that caused the parachute to lag behind Angel’s supply drop
Blasco
Increased spotting radius of Blasco’s X6 Infiltration Device by 10%.
Boris
Increased the range at which Boris’ Technician Trait activates from 1.6m to 3.2m
Boris’ Technician Trait will now cause the Sentry Turret to have increased rate of fire by 25%
Dev Comment: The common behaviour we saw with players playing as Boris was to place their turret and then forget it entirely in hopes it’d scoop up a kill or two. With this change we’re seeking to incentivise staying near the turret and to use it as a defensive tool placed with intention. Chokepoints, high reaching balconies and corridors are now Boris’ territory.
Casper
Fixed an issue that allowed the Recon Drone’s thermal sight to see enemies through smoke.
Increased the cooldown for the Recon Drone’s EMP by 5 seconds.
Dev Comment: This change comes as part of the EMP / Hacking gameplay behaviour improvements mentioned within Rao’s section to ensure healthy gameplay balance.
Crawford
Crawford’s Trait has been replaced by Deep Pockets, which provides an extra rocket to shoulder-fired launchers.
Dozer
Dozer will now take damage and flinch when taking direct hits towards his shield.
Fixed an issue that caused the 40mm Kinetic Grenade Pod to spawn a bullet deflection off of Dozer’s shield.
Dozer has also received additional balance improvements regarding his movement:
Rotation Speed decreased from 265 degrees per sec to 240.
Pitch Speed reduced from 190 degrees per sec to 120.
Strafing right/left movement speed reduced from 0.9x to 0.85x.
Walking Backwards speed reduced from 0.9x to 0.85x.
Sprint velocity reduced from 0.9x to 0.8x.
Falck
Fixed an issue that caused the self heal animation on Falck’s Syrette Pistol to sometimes repeat itself.
The Penguins have stolen Falck’s Syrette Pistol charges from the Medic Crate, resulting in her no longer being able to resupply Syrette Pistols from the crate. Pesky Penguins, why would they need Syrette Pistol charges?
Irish
Fixed an issue that caused the health bar of the Shootdown Sentinel (EIDOS) to not appear when repairing it with the Repair Tool.
Fixed an issue that caused Irish”s trait to not resupply the SPH Explosive Launcher.
Fixed an issue where an active friendly Shootdown Sentinel (EIDOS) would incorrectly try to intercept an enemy grenade turned friendly after being thrown back by a friendly soldier.
Fixed an issue where an active friendly Shootdown Sentinel (EIDOS) would fail to show any VFX & SFX upon intercepting a grenade turned hostile after being thrown back by a soldier.
Lis
Fixed an issue where Lis in third-person perspectives wouldn’t aim in the correct direction with her G-84 TGM equipped while in vehicle open-seats.
Mackay
Fixed an issue that caused weapon magazines to clip through Mackays forearm in the pre-round screen of a match.
Reduced maximum range of Mackay’s grappling hook by 17%.
Reduced the speed at which the grapple hook reaches maximum length after being fired by 25%.
Dev Comment: We’ve made these changes to reduce the number of scenarios Mackay could use his grapple hook to get to unintended locations, as well as to reduce what we call the 360 problem which means you can die from 360 degrees of the level around you, which makes it difficult to assess where the danger will come from.
Paik
Improved the visibility of Paik’s EMG-X Scanner which will now be more opaque so characters are more visible against the environment.
We have altered the timings of Paik’s EMG-X Scanner which will result in a longer stay time and a snappier fade out, while still taking the same total time to play her scan.
Improved the audio experience when acquiring targets with her EMG-X Scanner to understand how many enemies have been detected.
Rao
Added visual and audio feedback to vehicles that have been hacked by Rao’s Cyberwarfare Suite.
Rao no longer reveals players around an enemy he has recently hacked and killed, instead Rao will now reveal enemies in the target’s area when he hacks a target. This will reveal all information in that area, such as all enemy soldiers, vehicles and gadgets within 10m of the hacked target for a very brief period of time.
Sparks VFX appear when a vehicle is hacked to give improved player feedback.
Vehicles will now be able to shoot while they are hacked. Vehicles will instead become “damaged” when hacked. Wheel, turret, engine damage states will trigger.
To provide further emphasis on electronic warfare, the EMP Grenade will now behave similar to Rao’s new hacking behaviour.
Explosion Balancing
The following changes are made as our continued efforts to reduce the prevalence of explosions within Battlefield 2042, and ensure that we work towards a more balanced combat field, as intended. We will continue to assess community feedback around this topic.
Frag Grenade
Reduced inner blast radius from 2.25m to 2m.
Reduced blast radius from 7m to 6m.
Scatter Grenade (Not Fragmented)
Reduced inner blast radius from 2.5m to 2m.
Reduced blast radius from 6.5m to 4m.
SPH Launcher
Reduced magazine capacity to 1.
Reduced maximum amount of shells carried from 4 to 2.
Added a movement speed penalty when aiming down sight from 1x to 0.6x.
XM370A
Reduced number of magazines from 2 to 1.
Increased the recharge timer from 15s to 18s.
Adjusted the recharge behaviour to fill missing rounds into the reserve as it only has a singular magazine now, to ensure recharges occur when the weapon is still loaded.
The XM370A’s projectile explosion will now light up the surrounding environment.
C5
Reduced the range at which the C5 explosion will kill a max health soldier.
Adjusted the damage curve to be more readable.
Vehicles
As you may have seen with our recent communications on BattlefieldComms, a large focus for Update 6.0 is to improve the handling and feel of vehicular combat and to move their mobility in line with the pacing of the current state of game.
These changes will ensure that Ground Vehicles remain more grounded, but have the ability to tackle tighter combat scenarios with increased mobility through tank track friction and gravity improvements. We have also taken on board player feedback to address the current power of the EMKV-90 TOR, and taken the opportunity to bring further improvements to Jets.
General
Updated Heat Shell name to match its functionality.
Fixed an issue where directional exit points would not behave as intended when on slopes.
All vehicle open seats will now keep their own aim rotation within their constraints when the vehicle rotates
When your vehicle has been designated by either the SOFLAM or Tracer Dart, it will now display information as part of the locking on warning, such as Incoming, Locked, Locking and Designated.
Dev Comment: This is to provide feedback to pilots and drivers when they have been made vulnerable by the Tracer Dart or SOFLAM.
Fixed an issue that would let thermal scopes on certain vehicles capable of viewing enemies thermal signature through smoke.
Fixed an issue that would cause some vehicle crosshairs to shake after a reload when holding down the fire button.
Fixed an issue that allowed players to control a vehicle while their body remained outside the vehicle after a revive.
Fixed an issue that prevented characters from equipping a pilots helmet when piloting an air vehicle. Safety first!
Fixed an issue that would cause the camera to clip through the ground when entering a vehicle with Dozer’s shield equipped.
MBT
Lowered track friction for better maneuverability.
Increased turning rates when accelerating to allow for more mobility during combat, additionally we have also increased turning rates without acceleration input.
We have made improvements to acceleration and deceleration when in a standstill position, and the ability to turn whilst in this position.
Increased power of braking slightly.
Longer time to reach max speed in MBTs, players can bypass this by using boost
Bolte & LATV4
Lowered max speed when boosting and undergoing normal acceleration.
Steering improvements for all speeds, gear ratios have also been updated in connection to these new settings for the Bolte.
Fixed an issue that caused the systemic damage icon to not be updated when in the second seat of the M5C Bolte.
EBAA Wildcat
Increased power of braking.
Air Vehicles
Lowered impulse of 30mm on Attack Heli.
Players will now be ejected from aircraft when attempting to enter elevators with them.
Fixed an issue that’d cause the Mi-240 Super HIND to continually fly left or right after landing on a surface.
Fixed an issue that allowed attack helicopters to fire before the overheat stage had fully finished.
Ground Vehicles
All ground vehicles will now have an improved sense of gravity that will result in less float.
Suspensions and wheel traction have been tweaked for all ground vehicles to support this extra gravity.
Additionally, we have made further alterations to ensure that heavy tanks are less likely to flip from vehicular collisions.
Polaris RZR
Fixed an issue that caused the camera to not completely follow the Polaris RZR when it would perform a skid.
Gunships
Removed gunships 40mm GL and replaced it with a burst 30mm, please continue to share your thoughts on this as we assess Gunship balancing.
EMKV90 TOR
Minimum damage lowered on both primary weapons and default weapons from 400 to 200 and HHV-EMG Maul from 635 to 400
The HHV-EMG Maul weapon will no longer no longer one shot light air vehicles (Jets, Nightbird, Stealth Heli) beyond 330m, additionally it will also no longer one shot Attack Helicopters beyond 280m.
Fixed an issue that caused the EMKV90 TOR to warp when going up a vehicle elevator as it transitions into siege mode.
Added velocity scaled by pitch for EMKV90 TOR. This starts at 6 degrees and reaches its maximum impact by 12 degrees, weapons will fire roughly half their original speed at 12 degrees.
Dev Comment: These changes are being made to underline that the vehicle is suited for a defensive role on the Battlefield, however it is not a vehicle that is about sniping from afar. Range will now become an important factor if you wish to continue with the EMKV90 TOR.
Jets
Included a Jet Afterburner Meter so players are now able to manage how and when to use afterburners to gain air combat advantage.
Improvements made to first perspective crosshairs.
Weapons
Fixed an issue with the VCARs camera shake being out of proportion
Fixed an issue where Extended Barrel did not affect rate of fire on VCAR
Fixed an issue where you could Hold Breath with the SVD, as this weapon is classed as an DMR this is no longer possible.
Fixed an issue where minimap stealth bonuses from suppressors and subsonic ammo was not consistent with descriptions and in game behavior
Fixed an issue that caused the Assault Weapon Proficiency to grant extra underbarrel ammo on the AEK971.
Fixed inconsistencies between suppressor firing sounds when choosing different magazine types for the AEK971.
Adjusted animation undeploy speed of the MP412 REX and M44 Revolver to be more in line with actual timings of undeploying.
Increased the blast radius of the explosion bolt of the Ghostmaker R10 from 2m to 3m.
Fixed an issue where semi auto dispersion was not calculated correctly on some weapons, causing them to be less accurate
Fixed an issue that caused the 12M Auto to have higher rate of fire in single fire while equipped with the Shortened Barrel
Fixed an issue that would cause the scope glint to sometimes be disabled due to the interaction with some underbarrel attachments
Fixed an issue where the RPK-74M Laser Sight was misaligned with the weapon.
Fixed an issue that caused the SVD’s ejected bullet casings to be misplaced when equipped with any barrel attachment.
Updated the K8 reticle icon in the menus to match the reticule that is present in game.
Updated the NVK-FSN’s reticle icon in the menus to match the reticule that is present ingame.
Fixed an issue that caused certain specialists sleeves to clip through the NVK-P125’s when reloading.
Fixed an issue where some vault weapons did not have the right spread bonuses for different fire modes
Fixed an issue that caused the K30’s subsonic magazine to not have a mesh when selected.
Polished the animation when reloading the AM40 when it has underbarrel attachments equipped.
Fixed an issue that prevented several Vault Weapons from being able to revert to their factory (default) skin
Fixed an issue that caused the GAR45 Suppressor and Warhawk compensator to have a muzzle flash when equipped on the MP443
Fixed an issue that caused an increase in dispersion (bloom) when proning with the M1911
Fixed an issue that caused recoil on hipfire to reset very slowly on the PP-2000
Polished the general alignment of laser underbarrel attachments across weapons.
Fixed an issue that caused the BPF.50’s reload animation to snap when ADSing after having swapped magazine type.
Fixed an issue that caused the NVK-P125’s weapon slide to remain open after swapping magazine type.
Removed headshot multiplier from the 12M Auto and MCS-880 to be in line with other shotguns.
Fixed an issue that caused weapon magazines to clip through Mackays forearm in the pre-round screen of a match.
Fixed an issue where the Aim Assist (crosshair slow down over targets) and Aim Assist Zoom Snap Modifiers in Battlefield Portal weren’t working as intended in some cases
Fixed an issue where Aim Assist would be active on targets occluded by vehicle smoke
P90 dispersion has been increased.
PP29 dispersion while moving has been fixed, it was using incorrect (lower) values.
LMG Balance Update
LCMG
Slower dispersion increase
PKP
Slower dispersion increase
Vertical recoil multiplier decreased by 20% for the first 2 shots to improve bursting capability
Vertical recoil increased by 5%
Avancys
Slower dispersion increase
XM8L
Slower dispersion increase
M240B
Slower dispersion increase
Vertical recoil reduced by 5%
Initial shot recoil multipliers redone from scratch to improve sustained fire stability
Type 88
Slower dispersion increase
RPT-31
Vertical recoil increased by 8%
Slower dispersion increase
Dispersion behavior is now more differentiated between high and low rate of fire builds i.e. dispersion will vary more depending on which attachments are used, where a higher rate of fire will result in lower accuracy and the other way around.
RPK
Slower dispersion increase
M60
Slower dispersion increase
Reduced maximum dispersion
All LMGs
Reduced initial dispersion penalty when moving while standing, crouching and prone
Slightly increased the time it takes for recoil to fully reset overall, where on average it will now take a bit longer than for ARs. The intention is that while LMGs will now be more accurate and reliable over longer distances, their close-quarters agility will be slightly lower.
This is further split into two groups with a very minor difference between the two: Fast – Avancys, RPK and XM8 and Standard – All others.
DMR Balance Update
M39, SVK and SVD
Slightly increased dispersion when firing at maximum fire rate.
VCAR
Slightly decreased dispersion when firing at maximum fire rate.
BSV-M
Horizontal and initial vertical recoil have been increased.
Once the patch is live, we’ll be sure to let our readers know.
With Battlefield 2042’s Season 6: Dark Creations set to start next week on October 10, some might be wondering how the new map will play out. Well, thankfully, you don’t have to wait long, as we have over an hour of Battlefield 2042 Season 6 gameplay to share.
Check out our own James Lara play Conquest, Team Deathmatch on the Redacted map. Don’t forget, this new level is something that was inspired by both Operation Metro and Operation Locker, so expect a close-quarter affair that puts the focus entirely on Specialists.
Battlefield 2042 Season 6: Dark Creations will launch October 10 on all platforms. Check back before then, as we should be getting the patch notes before the new season launches.
EA has released NHL 24 update 1.10 (NHL Update 1.010 on PS5) on all platforms, addressing several bugs surfacing from the early access. Read on for what’s new in the NHL 24 October 6 patch notes.
NHL 24 Update 1.10 Patch Notes | NHL 24 Update 1.010 Patch Notes | NHL 24 Patch Notes for October 6:
Gameplay
Puck Possession Tuned Down 30% – We have lowered the impact that possessing the puck has in the offensive zone with regards to building sustained pressure. The value of possessing the puck has been lowered by 30%. Shots on net and big hits in the offensive zone are now strengthened as the best way to build sustained pressure.
Note: This change was planned to be reflected in a previous patch but had been delayed until Patch 1.1.0
Franchise
Fixed a crash that happened when a generated player born after 2008 was edited.
Fixed an issue where a non-functional button would be displayed when a user tried to hire staff during the offseason
Be A Pro
Fixed a rare crash when on a loading screen going into gameplay
Fixed an issue where smoke effects could be seen during a coach conversation after losing a game in overtime.
World of Chel
Fixed a rare crash when customizing your casual player
Fixed an issue where user would sometimes lose the ability to back out of the World of CHEL Store.
Fixed an issue where in Ones Eliminator the mute functionality was not present in the post-game menu screens
Fixed an issue where if a user goalie quit during a drop in match the game would end for all players
Fixed a crash that would happen if a user created a club and then entered free skate prior to Club Creation Zone appearing
Fixed a crash when entering into Club Customization or Dressing Room screens
Fixed an issue where some drop-in users weren’t able to match up in World of CHEL
Hockey Ultimate Team
Fixed a crash that would happen when selecting Squad Battle Teams
Fixed a rare crash that would happen at the end of HUT Rush games
General
Fixed an issue when reporting players for a terrorist threat you would be taken to the main menu. The game will now report the player properly
NHL 24 is now officially available worldwide. Stay tuned for our full review!
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.
Larian Studios has released Baldur’s Gate 3 update 1.003.003 on PS5 and PC, which is for Hotfix 9! This brings another round of bugs and crash fixes! Read on for the complete BG3 new update patch notes for October 6.
Another hotfix is now live for Baldur’s Gate 3, taking care of multiple bugs, issues and crashes.
Wish your hirelings looked a little more… glamorous? Worry no longer! We’ve given it a kick, and the Magic Mirror will now allow your hirelings to change their appearance! The same restrictions apply as when you edit your Tav, but we hope this enables you to create the party of your dreams. Or, someone else’s nightmares. We can’t wait to see it.
In addition, you can now change your name through the Magic Mirror. We’ll be using this to add Cool in front of every one of our characters, but you do you.
Once again, thank you for playing Baldur’s Gate 3, and for taking the time to report these issues to us.
CHANGES
You can now use the Magic Mirror on hirelings.
You can now change your name through the Magic Mirror.
Fixed a rare crash that could occur when unloading or quickloading a game.
Fixed an issue causing GPU crashes on PS5 Vulkan.
Fixed the Guardian Statue repeatedly falling into a chasm, causing the server to stall.
Fixed a splitscreen issue on PS5 that could cause a black screen when listening in on a dialogue.
Fixed unpreparing spells not removing their buffs if the spell was upcasted.
Fixed buffs being removed by unpreparing spells if the buff came from a different source (e.g. a scroll).
Fixed some character positions and animations breaking if you skip lines in certain dialogues.
Fixed the previews not working correctly in the Accessibility options.
Fixed an issue causing Minthara’s romance to unreliably trigger.
Fixed Minthara’s dialogue after you *****SPOILERS**** Kill Orin ***** END SPOILERS ***** not triggering properly when you talk to her.
Fixed the Adamantine Splint Armour sometimes making your legs transparent.
Fixed a geometry stretching bug introduced in Hotfix 8 on Vulkan.
Fixed characters showing up in their underwear in some intimate scenes even if you have nudity enabled.
Fixed Feign Death causing an infinite leave–join combat loop in certain circumstances.
Fixed prices in dialogues not displaying correctly in savegames that were made while the price was on screen.
Optimised the line-of-sight system for entities with no sight range, like item
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.
Team Ninja has released Wo Long update 1.19 (PS5 version 1.019) and this is for patch version 1.202. This brings various bug fixes, as well as a notice on undocumented patch notes for update version 1.200 that brought in DLC 2. Read on for the Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty update 1.202 patch notes for October 6.
Wo Long Update 1.19 Patch Notes | Wo Long Update 1.019 Patch Notes | Wo Long Update 1.202 Patch Notes:
All Platforms
Major Bug Fixes
Fixed a bug in which the Martial Arts level of weapons already in the player’s possession was incorrectly set to Lv. 1 instead of Lv. 0 upon unlocking Upgrade Martial Arts.
The Martial Arts level of the player’s weapons will not decrease after the update is applied.
Fixed a bug causing the notifications for obtaining Hidden Tomes in the Thousand-Mile Journey to be displayed even when Hidden Tomes had not been obtained.
Fixed a bug preventing the adjustments made to the effectiveness of special effects in Ver. 1.200 from being applied to players’ equipment.
After the update is applied, the values will be corrected while loading.
Fixed a bug preventing premium special effects from being assigned to premium embedding slots for accessories received from Shitieshou.
Fixed a bug that sometimes caused equipment in the storehouse to be salvaged or sold in Auto-Salvage/Auto-Sell Mode.
Fixed a bug causing the game to crash when changing the settings on the Auto-Salvage/Auto-Sell Mode screen under certain conditions.
Fixed a bug preventing players from acquiring accolades upon completing the Thousand-Mile Journey in Recruit sessions.
Notice Regarding Revisions in Ver. 1.200
The following revisions were not listed among the updates in Ver. 1.200.
Weapon Categories
Dual Sabres
Adjusted the transition from normal attacks to Spirit attacks.
Weapons
Halberds of Lady Hao
Decreased the effectiveness of “Spirit Defense (Guarding).”
One of the revisions listed among the updates in Ver. 1.200 was incorrect.
Incorrect Text:
Made adjustments so that players will be able to unleash other attacks more quickly following a Martial Arts or Wizardry Spell attack.
Correction:
Martial Arts & Wizardry Spells
Optimized the timing at which players can perform a different attack after activation.
Increased the delay when chaining the same attack to the Martial Arts or Wizardry Spell activated.
That’s about it. Once a new patch is out, we’ll be sure to let our readers know.
Today, CD PROJEKT RED announced that Cyberpunk 2077 has reached 25 million sales, with its DLC Phantom Liberty reaching 3 million sales in just a few short weeks.
This news arrives via a tweet from CD PROJEKT RED’s Global Community Director Marcin Momot:
Cyberpunk 2077 – 25M copies sold Phantom Liberty – 3M copies sold
What a milestone! Thanks everyone for showing your MASSIVE LOVE for the game and the expansion. We are so incredibly humbled.🥹 pic.twitter.com/WSEET2J32c
Cyberpunk 2077 had a rocky start, but it saw a surge in popularity late last year after the release of the Cyberpunk: Edgerunners anime. The team behind the game has put a lot of effort into fixing its issues and making it a high-quality experience ever since then, and with the latest release of the 2.0 update, the game finally stands where it was supposed to back when it was released in 2020.
The Phantom Liberty DLC also just launched a couple of weeks ago, and it’s phenomenal to see that 3 million copies have already been sold. It’s a great addition to the base game, and the player base seems to agree. Seeing the game reach its full potential is fantastic.
We gave Phantom Liberty a 9.5/10 in our review and called it “one of the best gaming experiences” of the year. Give it a read here.
Fans of the original Warzone Resurgence maps rejoice. Modern Warfare 3 Warzone Resurgence will get Fortune’s Keep and Rebirth Island as playable maps sometime in 2024.
Alongside Vondel and Ashika Island, the two classic maps will arrive in Warzone next year. Fortune’s Keep will come first, followed by Rebirth Island.
Fortune’s Keep
Fortune’s Keep launched alongside Caldera when Warzone came to Call of Duty: Vanguard. It features locations like Town, Smuggler’s Cove, the Keep, and the Winery and is modeled after real-life Mediterranean islands.
Rebirth Island
Rebirth Island is Warzone’s original Resurgence map. Based on the island of Alcatraz, it featured 32 POIs and contained parts of classic zombies map Mob of the Dead.
Are you excited to see the return of the iconic Resurgence maps? Let us know in the comments.
We also got a great look at MW3 Warzone’s big new map: Urzikstan. You can check that out here.
For all sorts of Modern Warfare 3 news, stay tuned to us here at MP1st.
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.
Developer Atmos Games has been silently working away on their latest release, Twisted Tower, which is being published by 3D Realms. While still in early development, they felt confident enough in their progress to invite MP1st to take an early look at it. This was a hands-off demo, but it still managed to impress nonetheless. Take a look at our Twisted Tower preview below.
Take Us Back a Century
The story of Twisted Tower takes place in the very specific year of 1922. Why that year in particular was chosen remains to be seen, though, of course, it could just be a random choice with no implications for the story. Mr. Twister is a world-famous toy maker who also happens to host the world’s most popular brutal game show, called Twisted Tower. Here, contestants engage in fierce combat as they attempt to reach the top of the tower, at which point they will be awarded the princely sum of $10,000,000. Due to inflation, this would be worth around $183 million today, so it’s a world-changing amount of money.
In a nod to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, only those who find a Velvet Ticket within one of Mr. Twister’s famous toys can participate in the deadly game. 18-year-old Tiny is in love with a young woman named Charlotte, who unfortunately has become engaged to a school bully named Preston. Naturally, Tiny hopes to win the contest to get the money and the girl. Something tells me it won’t be so simple, though, and with a dark past he must confront, Tiny certainly has a difficult road ahead of him.
No Big Daddies Here
The inspiration from BioShock is obvious, though not so overdone here as to be boring or same-y. The whole vibe of Twisted Tower can best be described as retro-futuristic as if the world remained stuck with 1920’s aesthetics, but the world still filled up with marvelous inventions that made life better, or at least more entertaining. Even the tower itself has some character. The player will progress through each level, which takes place on a floor of the tower. Within most floors, there are also occasionally branching paths. Pressing one button over the other takes the player through only one half of the floor, and the only way to see what the other half of the level has to offer is to replay the game (or perhaps reload a save just before that point, if the game ends up supporting that functionality). This will no doubt add some replayability to Twisted Tower.
Twisted Tower is a first-person shooter in the style of old-school shooters mixed with more modern sensibilities (though not too many). Enemies are plentiful, health is limited, and items are randomly placed within boxes – during our demo, for instance, hardly any health pickups spawned, resulting in our demo player staying in a near-death state for quite a while until he finished a floor and promptly died at the onset of the next. Death does restart the entire level, which will be a point of contention for those not used to such setbacks in most of the FPS games you can find these days, but this will likely please those looking for a challenge.
The Unity Engine is used for developing Twisted Tower, and for such a small team (Thomas Brush is the coder and founder of Atmos Games), the production values are off-the-charts good. Honestly, at first glance, you could tell me this was produced by a team a dozen or so strong, and I’d believe it. All characters are fully voiced, the levels and character models are well-detailed, the lighting sets a perfectly dark mood, and the sound design is also fittingly violent. Atmos Games has hired some additional help, so now three people are working on Twisted Tower, a number so small I had it confirmed multiple times because it really is impressive what has been done here.
Great Potential
Developing any game is a long process, and while Twisted Tower appeared to have many of its systems ready, Atmos Games was actively tweaking things leading up to our demo. They had just tweaked the jump speed, for instance, slowing it down a bit from its original DOOM-like speed to something that didn’t feel like you were highly caffeinated. This caused one room that was jump-heavy to require much more precise jumps, something our demoer forgot about as he confidently leaped to his death. When a game can still give its developer a challenge, you know you’re in for a treat.
Twisted Tower has a lot of promise. For a small team of three people, the production values are incredible here. Even for much larger teams, this would be a great result. While a release date is not yet ready to be announced for Twisted Tower, it’ll no doubt end up on many wish lists in the meantime. Fans of old-school shooters should feel right at home, and you’ll want to stay tuned for updates as development on this game progresses.
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.
In case you didn’t know, Starbreeze was originally set to drop a Payday 3 patch for October 5, and even said that it included over 200 fixes. Well, it’s October 5 today, so where is it?
Heisters. We’re extremely sorry for this, but we’ve chosen to delay today’s planned patch to ensure its stability. The patch needs some changes that would require us to go through console certification again. We hope to be ready to deliver this one for mid-October.
And yes, this means that the PS5 bonus content will remain unredeemable until this patch is ready.
Hopefully, this means we’ll get a proper roll out next week. At the very least, the servers should hopefully hold up. Once we know more about the update, we’ll be sure to let our readers know.
