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FromSoftware’s expansion,Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, not only introduces challenging new bosses but also expands the world with an entirely new map, the Land of Shadow. This landscape has many new areas to explore. The art direction of FromSoftware games have always been some of the best in the industry, and they blow us away with consistently beautiful areas in their games, like Anor Londo in the Souls series or Siofra River in Elden Ring....

Summary While dungeons play a big role inDungeons & Dragons, sometimes Dungeon Masters (DMs) find themselves drawn back into using the same bag of tricks when it comes time to prepare one for a group of players to explore through. Mimics, traps, puzzles. They are some of the more used options in a dungeon. However, sometimes you need to think, in this instance, a little more inside the box. A dungeon can hold many natural hazards that slow parties down or halt them altogether....

Quick Links There are several factions inZenless Zone Zero, and each faction has multiple characters that can be assembled in your squad to fight the Ethereals and explore the Hollows of New Eridu. Each character has a similar set of skills to upgrade, but all are used differently in combat to maximize damage and efficiency. One such character is Luciana de Montefio – Lucy, for short. As a member of the Sons of Calydon, Lucy is bold and intimidating at first glance....

Summary Diablo 4’scoveted selection of extremely rare Uniques, commonly referred to as ‘Uber Uniques,’ have received a proper classification and stat overhaul with Season of the Infernal Hordes. Now called Mythic Uniques, these items offer so much power that they teeter on game-breaking status, but that level of power is why they’re so sought after. If you can kill some of the game’s toughest bosses, you’ll walk away with weapons and armor that are unfathomably strong....

The Simsformula is pretty tried and true: make a sim, plonk them down, build them a kinda bad house, send them to work so they can get a better house, meet somebody special, have a couple of kids,die in a freak pool accident. This has been the routine since the Sims made its debut in 2000. But! What if there was something else? Something different? The Sims Stories was an experimental series in many ways....

Summary You’ve likely gotten your galactic kicks time and time again from classicStar Warsgames like Super Star Wars or more contemporary hits like the Star Wars Jedi series. There’s nothing at all wrong with that. These games are beloved for a reason. But you might have also overlooked something truly special. There exist a great many Star Wars games, most definitely more than you even knew about. So it’s natural that a good chunk of them fall by the wayside in casual conversations....

Quick Links The First Descendanthas over a dozen playable characters and hundreds of weapons to choose from. Each item you level awards Mastery Rank XP, which is needed to increase your inventory space and overall account power. Needless to say, leveling all of these items is critical to maximizing your arsenal. Leveling in this game is quite slow compared to most looter shooters, but there are a few dedicated farms you’re able to use to speed up the process....

Summary The First Descendantonly launched yesterday, and players are already “done” with the game based on its “scandalous” monetization options. Korean developers Nexon, who are no strangers to the free-to-play market, are already facing what seems like an uphill battle when it comes to player goodwill. The game’s reviews are currently “mixed” on Steam, with only a 46% recommendation rate and there’s clear discontent within a large contingent of the game’s fledgling community....

I’ve been covering live service games long enough that it’s gotten easy to tell when one is in decline. They tend to start out strong with frequent updates and balance changes, good communication, and a steady stream of new features to keep people invested. They’ll usually present a roadmap for events and content updates so players have something to look forward to and some assurance that the game is going to be around for a long, long time....

Summary With every new edition ofDungeons & Dragons, debates will spark about whether or not the new edition actually improves upon older content. In some cases it might, and in some cases, it doesn’t. However, Dungeons & Dragons has been around for a while and has garnered a much larger base of players than when it was first released. Each new edition is a reflection of its time and its current player base’s expectations and desires....

Summary For a statement that undoubtedly went through many hands before being released to the public,Ubisoft’s recent defence of Assassin’s Creed Shadowssure was messy. Maybe all those hands are even the reason why. And as my colleague Tessa Kaur points out,yes, it was a defence. Not an apology. But it also didn’t say anything… at all, really, and that’s the big issue statements like these always have, and why major studios feel so toothless in the face of Gamergate....

Confession time: I have an unhealthy relationship with Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares. I watch Kitchen Nightmares while I do badgeless trial pit runs in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. I watch it while I cook dinner every night. I watch it while Ieatdinner every night. Worst of all, I occasionally even watch it while writing my articles. Is that too much Gordon Ramsay? Probably, yeah, but it did give me an idea....

Summary Tim Burton movies are enchanting, and fans of his will re-watch his work over and over again. Some have fallen in love with the music, and prefer movies like Nightmare Before Christmas and The Corpse Bride. Others lean into the horror elements in movies like Coraline and Sweeney Todd. Most people can spot Tim Burton’s work from a mile away. It’s a little kooky, a lot spooky, and uniquely his....