Minority Mindset

The release of The Rose Field might be emotional for longtime readers of Philip Pullman. This book not only finishes The Book of Dust trilogy, but also concludes Lyra Belacqua’s story—a character who first appeared in The Golden Compass back in 1995. For the many readers who discovered His Dark Materials as young adults, Lyra is a particularly cherished and unforgettable heroine in the world of fantasy.

In The Outer Worlds 2, you take on the role of “the Commander,” an agent of the Earth Directorate. Unlike the first game where you were just a colonist, this time you start with a position of authority. You’re sent to the Arcadia region, which is facing chaos from warring factions, corporate greed, and strange rifts that are cutting off communication with Earth. From the beginning, you have the tools and a small crew, operating from your spaceship, the Incognito. Naturally, your first mission doesn’t go as planned, and after waking up some time later, you set out to find those responsible while also investigating the growing rift crisis. It’s a compelling start to the game, filled with momentum and mystery, without giving away too much of the story.

Tom, from the Moore’s Law is Dead podcast, recently said the upcoming Xbox Magnus – a device that combines console and PC features – will probably cost between $1000 and $1500. This price estimate is also supported by another leaker, KeplerL2, who usually shares information on the NeoGaf forum. This time, however, KeplerL2 posted on X, referencing earlier comments made by Phil Spencer.

Currently, the Battlefield 6 subreddit is filled with players expressing their disappointment with the new skins. Many are saying the skins are too bright and over-the-top, and don’t fit the game’s overall look and feel.

Playing The Outer Worlds 2 felt like a fresh start, allowing me to truly become my character, rather than just a skilled version of myself. The game’s Flaws system is the real star here – it was the most enjoyable part of the entire experience. When you create your character, you can choose two positive traits, but you also have to select a flaw to balance things out. As you play, you can even unlock more flaws based on your choices. While these flaws are optional, I highly recommend embracing them for a more engaging playthrough, unless you have a specific goal in mind.

Just a quick reminder that Merge Match March first launched as a mobile game for both iPhones and Android devices in September 2024. The console versions are different because they’ve removed all the in-app purchases. Instead of buying gems, you now earn them by completing levels within the game.

In this game, you’ll play as Shizuka, a maid who guides lost souls to salvation in Purgatory. You’ll face over 20 challenging bosses, and you can customize Shizuka’s abilities using a Skill Board system to create your own unique playstyle.

When you first launch The Outer Worlds 2 on PC, it needs to generate shaders, which takes some time. After that initial process, the game will quickly check the shaders each time you start it up – even on handheld devices like the Steam Deck.

You can customize the game’s visuals in the Graphics settings menu. Here, you’ll find options to change the display mode (windowed, fullscreen, etc.), resolution (including support for 16:10 and 800p on the Steam Deck, as well as 21:9), frame rate (with limits from 30 to unlimited), V-Sync, upscaling, and various visual effects like motion blur and gamma. You can also enable or disable hardware ray tracing and HDR, and even calibrate the HDR settings – which work well on the Steam Deck OLED.