This year promises to be a particularly strong one for games, with a huge number of releases across all platforms. We’re expecting exciting new installments in popular series, innovative independent games, and continued support for ongoing live service titles.
Disney CEO Bob Iger recently caused a stir by revealing plans to add short videos created by users to their streaming platform, powered by artificial intelligence.
After the tutorial and initial boss battle in Where Winds Meet, you’ll get to fully customize your character – there are a lot of options, so it might take a while! Once you’re happy with how they look, you can name them and then pick one of two Aspiration Talents. These talents are permanent boosts that help you during minigames.
Trade routes are managed in a dedicated tab on the left side of the screen. Think of them as automated delivery systems: you select a ship and the islands it will travel between, and it will continuously transport the resources you specify. Ships with more cargo space can carry more goods. Trade routes are especially useful for balancing production – if one island is missing a resource, you can simply import it from another island that has it. For instance, if an island lacks metal, you can have it delivered from an island with metal deposits.
The story changes considerably depending on whether you choose to play as Marcia or Marcus. While certain events stay the same, the overall plot explores very different ideas. Marcus’s story is a classic tale of a new, unprepared politician getting caught up in a web of conspiracies and conflicts he can’t control. Marcia’s campaign, however, focuses on her efforts to overcome gender barriers and rise through the ranks of Roman society by skillfully navigating the existing power structures. Playing as the other character offers a fresh perspective on the story, though the ultimate outcome remains largely the same.
The newest Call of Duty game, Black Ops 7, had a peak of 100,332 players on Steam during its launch weekend. This is significantly lower than the peak for Arc Raiders, which reached over 400,000 players. While it’s not a perfect comparison – Black Ops 7 is available on multiple platforms like Battle.net, the Microsoft Store, and PC Game Pass, while Arc Raiders is limited to Steam and the Epic Games Store – Black Ops 7 still launched with fewer players on Steam than previous Call of Duty titles.
The update is now available on all platforms, after launching on Steam. If you don’t own the game yet, you can find a review by Scott here, a handheld comparison here, and all of our game guides here. I also wrote a detailed article about every version of Final Fantasy Tactics, which you can read here.
Ahead of Friday’s release, several Magic: The Gathering and Avatar: The Last Airbender items are now available, such as the Beginner Box, Play Booster Box, and Jumpstart Booster Box.
The latest episode of the horror series didn’t hold back, featuring a shocking scene where young Marge Trueman (Matilda Lawler) used a chisel on her own eye. She mistakenly believed her eyes were growing like those of snails, after seeing a documentary about them at school. This disturbing moment is likely to be one of the show’s most talked-about scenes.
The gameplay is surprisingly disappointing. It’s either just okay, or completely confusing. Honestly, I’ve reached a point where I’m just hoping the game will somehow become enjoyable, and that it will at least manage to keep me engaged.