World of Warcraft is about to die—by which I of course mean that its next expansion, Shadowlands, is sending everybody to Azeroth’s afterlife for another day in the fantastical, boar-filled office of questing and looting. But while life after death is probably the most standout new feature, the expansion will also add a suite of…
Nearly a month after Hearthstone pro Chung “Blitzchung” Ng Wai wassuspended for his vocal support of Hong Kong protesters during a Blizzard-hosted competitive Hearthstone stream, the ensuing controversy still looms heavy over Blizzard’s every move. Protesters gathered outside BlizzCon over the weekend and were largely met with support from convention attendees. The situation has left…
Far and away the most impressive piece of cosplay I’ve seen at BlizzCon is this wildly elaborate take on World of Warcraft raid boss Ragnaros, aka “the big angry fire boy from Molten Core.” Cosplayer Holly “Kaleidoscope Costumes” Cowie has wanted to make it for a decade. Surrounded by a horde of gawking BlizzCon attendees…
Since day one, Overwatch’s existence has been marked by refinement. Balance changes, new heroes, player-made modes, events, role queue, and other additions have indelibly altered the game’s fabric, or at least switched up its stitching. Now it’s getting a sequel, an opportunity for truly foundation-rattling change. So far, however, Overwatch 2 feels like another refinement.…
When this year’s BlizzCon in Anaheim, California kicked off this morning, a crowd of more than 30 protesters gathered outside the convention center to show support for Hong Kong in the wake of Blizzard’s recent suspension of Hearthstone pro Chung “Blitzchung” Ng Wai. Update, 9:30 PM ET: This story has been updated since its original…
It is Halloween. The seance of shadows, the raucous cavort of a thousand ghouls, the spooky day. This means you need a costume. Generally, a Halloween costume should accomplish a couple goals: First, it should impress or at least vaguely amuse the people around you. Second, it should prove you’re a gamer. It can be…
There are plenty of reasons to distrust any given individual Steam review. It might be obsessively hyper-focused on a relatively slight issue or, god forbid, a game taking a political stance. It might be part of a review bomb. It might be a meme. Now, though, Valve has taken aim at one of its system’s…
Death Trash is a post-apocalyptic action-RPG set in an intriguing world. And by intriguing, I mean kinda gross. There are fleshworms, fleshkraken, and locations with names like the Puke Bar. But the game seems intent on marrying gross-out pulp appeal with smart design and player freedom; you can exit dialogue whenever you want, and you…
The equation underlying Sophia “Djarii” White’s Twitch stream is really pretty simple. She loves video games, art, and makeup, so she combines those things to express herself, resulting in intricate paintings where her body is the canvas. White’s talent is immediately clear, and yet, she has courted no small amount of controversy for simply doing…
Track: Old Wounds | Artist: PVRIS | Album: Hallucinations EP
The Drifter is a “pulp adventure thriller” from the makers of multiplayer dungeon bonanza Crawl It sports a similarly expressive, chunky pixel style, but otherwise, it looks totally different. An adventure game inspired by classics but drawing on the pacing and narrative focus of more recent genre standouts, it stars a murdered drifter who proceeds…
Today, Valve’s ever-evolving auto-battler received its long-awaited “Big Update,” aka the one that finally adds Underlords to Dota Underlords. But while I’m still figuring out how I feel about having a howling, fire-haired general accompanying my tiny troops into battle, I’m already certain I’m in love with another new feature: jail. In real life, jail…
Destiny 2 is getting an update that will improve accessibility for subtitles. Later this month, you’ll have five different sizes and a multitude of colors and background styles to choose from. The goal, said Bungie, is to make Destiny’s UI “accessible to the widest range of possible players as we can.”
Dungeons & Dragons may have dungeons and dragons, but its real secret sauce is other people. Dungeon masters and party members make campaigns fun and unpredictable, forcing players into high-stakes games of dice-fueled improv. What do you do, though, when you want to get in on the action, but you also have a bad, dumb…
While it’s possible to split hairs all day over which metrics definitively determine whether someone is the top streamer on Twitch, there’s no denying that Michael “Shroud” Grzesiek is one of the platform’s biggest stars. Or, he was. Now he’s moving to Mixer. Grzesiek has a Twitch follower count of over seven million and a…
Last year during E3, streaming megastar Tyler “Ninja” Blevins took two days off from his regular schedule. A blip on the radar in the grand scheme of things. It cost him 40,000 paying subscribers. This seemed to issue a grim warning to other streamers: Take time off at your own peril. Recently, though, it’s begun…
ArtFormer is a Prince of Persia-inspired action-platformer about the history of art. Each section of the game is in a completely different style, beginning with cave drawings and then progressing into Egyptian papyrus, Greek pottery, and Roman mosaics. They each come with their own stories and themes, too. It’ll be out in early access next…
Before WWE 2K20‘s release this week, fans were already feeling antsy. Behind-the-scenes tumult and some unflattering early footage left them with a gnawing fear that this year’s professional wrestling game wouldn’t be up to snuff—or even on the same level as the not-exactly-beloved series entries from the past few years. Those concerns turned out to…
Track: Filth Castle | Artist: Caustic Casanova | Album: God How I Envy The Deaf
Unpacking is a puzzle game about moving your possessions into a new home. And by “your,” I mean “somebody else’s.” By unpacking and arranging objects—all of which click and clack oh-so-satisfyingly—you’ll gain “a sense of intimacy with a character you never see and a story you’re never told.” I, personally, was not a big fan…
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