The Witcheris a special series. I fell in love with it through The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings on the Xbox 360, before picking up every one of Andrzej Sapkowski’s novels. I loved Henry Cavill’s time bringing Geralt of Rivia to life in live-action, and the care he had for presenting a faithful adaptation. But on top of all that, I came home from college when I was 17 and opened up my newly-delivered copy ofThe Witcher 3: Wild Hunt- a game I had been excited about for a while....

Soldiers, file this under “distinctly possible”, rather than “definitely the case”. But wemaynow know the minimum and recommended specs forBattlefield 6on PC. A recent post on EA’sofficial website, which is understandably a cacophony of Battlefield 6 marketing right now, has unveiled the technical mandate for folks running Battlefield Labs. Which, admittedly, is not Battlefield 6. But it’s probably close enough. If you’re participating in Labs, you’re likely there to test-drive Dice’s upcoming juggernaut of a first-person shooter, in which case you’ll need a rig that’s up to par....

Upon the launch of the first Death Stranding, it was clear that Kojima Productions was trying to make a game like no other. However, after an outpouring of constructive feedback following the first game, changes have been made in the sequel -Death Stranding 2: On the Beach- that add some more traditionally game-like features. One of the most obvious examples of this is the APAS Enhancements, which you’ll quickly notice resemble a standard skill tree....

Axesare often the weapon of choice for melee fighters likeBarbariansand Fighters in Baldur’s Gate 3. With many Handaxes, Battleaxes, and Greataxes to choose from, there is no shortage of these kinds of weapons. Each requires a different type of proficiency, but all are deadly when used right. The best axes in the game have special effects, from spells to extra damage. While traversing through Faerun, you’ll come across too many axes to keep track of....

A few years ago, the brilliant engineers over at Beyblade HQ put their heads together and decided to make the fastest, strongest, most exciting Beyblades of all time, and they came up with something no one expected.Beyblade X, the fourth generation of Beyblade, combines the key features of every previous generation with a new “X-celerator Rail” system, which supercharges the Beyblades and sends them flying into each other at speeds that, frankly speaking,kind of scare me....

Back in 2017, just after the launch ofThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild,we got a glimpse at some of the development processes during a conference at GDC. It’s an extensive and interesting deep dive to watch, especially if you’re a big fan of the series or game development in general, but there were a few standout ideas mentioned during the presentation - ones that I can’t help but recall, years later....

Ubisofthasn’t been doing great financially over the last few years. There’s been a lot of corporate drama within the company, including a diverted hostile takeover and a near change of ownership, and in an attempt to calm the waters, Ubisoft has decided tocreate a new subsidiarydedicated toAssassin’s Creed,Far Cry, andRainbow Six, backed by Chinese companyTencent. And the big question of who will head this new subsidiary has finally been answered. Christophe Derennes, one of the co-CEOs, has been with Ubisoft for over 35 years and used to head its flagship Montreal studio, which is the principal developer for the three series the subsidiary focuses on as well asPrince of Persia,Watch Dogs, andSplinter Cell, among others....

Summary Minor spoilers for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 party members ahead. Replacing your character with mods is nothing new. Recently, somebodychanged Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2’s Henry with Shrek and Mutt with Donkey, and last year, somebody else replacedSilent Hill 2’sJames withGrand Theft Auto: San Andreas' CJ and Leon Kennedy from Resident Evil. So, while they’re nothing new, this next effort deserves to be commended, as one player seems utterly committed to replacing all ofClair Obscur: Expedition 33’sparty members with characters fromDigimon....

Last week,Steamrevealed that it may startremoving games that violate rules put forward by third parties, such as banks and internet service providers. Around the same time, it was spotted that some adult games were removed from Steam, marking a huge change in practice for a storefront that typically allows all kinds of controversial material on its platform. Collective Shout, a so-called feminist group that is anti-pornography (with a founder who is anti-abortion), claimed responsibility for this change on Steam and the removal of the games....

We already know thatCyberpunk 2077is getting yet another update.Version 2.3 was supposed to be with us at the end of June, but it was thenpushed backso the devs could spend a little more time on it. Now, it looks like we have a release date for Version 2.3 of Cyberpunk 2077: July 16. This is because CD Projekt Red is hosting a livestream on this date, going over the game’s features....

Death Stranding 2players surprisingly all seem to be in agreement that the first game does one major thing better than the universally praised sequel. As much as it pains Hideo Kojima to hear, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach hasnear-instantly become a universal hit that most consider to be leagues ahead of the original game. That’s not much of a surprise, considering how divisive Death Stranding and its unique mechanics were back in 2019, as On the Beach doesprettymucheverything better....

Summary Digital gaming has dominated the market, as many of us are skipping physical releases altogether. Despite this,physical releases are necessary for game preservation, since digital-only titles can be lost forever if they’re delisted, orthe store that they’re hosted on is taken offline. But increasingly, we’re seeing that even these physical releases are useless. Many major titles release on a disc (or in Nintendo’s case, a cartridge) but don’t include all of the data, meaning you need an internet connection to download the rest, so the game could be rendered unplayable eventually....

Summary Dragon Ball: Sparking Zeroplayers have taken to blaming the recently revealedSwitchandSwitch 2port for what is unarguably the game’s biggest problem. This week’s Nintendo Partner Showcase was a bit of an underwhelming one overall, but there were at least some exciting announcements made. One of the highlights for me was the confirmation thatDragon Ball: Sparking Zero is getting ported to both the Nintendo Switch 2and, shockingly, the original Switch. Sparking Zero’s ports have been rumoured for so long nowthat I figured that their long-awaited reveals would be taken as nothing but good news....