Powerful Women Rule The New Rainbow Six DLC

New, powerful women characters are at the heart of the latest update to Rainbow Six Siege The new “Operation Blood Orchid” DLC released on September 6 makes a ton of tweaks to improve Ubisoft’s tactical shooter, but the main draw is the three new Operators. All three characters are currently available for Year 2 Season…

Final Fantasy XV‘s Wild Secret Dungeon Was Designed By One Man

If, like me, your favorite part of Final Fantasy XV was the mind-boggling Pitioss Ruins, here is a fun fact: It was designed by one person, according to director Hajime Tabata. Speaking with me in Seattle at PAX West last weekend, Tabata said he was surprised when I told him that I loved the Pitioss…

Hands On With Nintendo Switch’s Big Holiday RPGs

The Switch is such a familiar part of the gaming landscape now that it’s strange to consider that Nintendo’s hybrid device is about to head into its first holiday season. What’s even stranger is that for Baby’s First Christmas, Nintendo’s lineup is overloaded with deep single-player fantasy adventures: role-playing games Skyrim and Xenoblade Chronicles, and…

Battlegrounds Streamer’s Audience Loves His Loud, Obnoxious Stream Snipers

People. People everywhere. Screams like nothing you’ve ever heard, as though ripped from the endless throat of some Eldritch Leviathan. Unsolicited K-pop beats from the dankest corners of the Internet. There’s stream sniping, and then there’s whatever the hell Forsen endures on a daily basis playing PUBG Forsen is a moderately popular streamer who became…

My Liner Notes For Mother, EarthBound Beginnings‘ Vinyl Soundtrack

In 2015, the indie record press Ship To Shore Phono Co. put out an officially-licensed pressing of the soundtrack to Nintendo’s beloved RPG Mother, which had just been released that year in the U.S. as EarthBound Beginnings I backed it on Kickstarter (obviously!) and a representative from the company then reached out to ask if…

Monster Hunter Stories Is The Best Pokémon Game I’ve Ever Played

Monster Hunter Stories takes the popular hunting series and mixes it up into an adorable roleplaying game all about hatching cool critters. Players take the role of a “rider” who befriends monsters instead of chopping them into bits. The main Monster Hunter games focus on sprawling locales and multiplayer monster hunts. Monster Hunter Stories is…

Don’t let the shoddy console-grabbed screenshot fool you. Lego Worlds is out on Nintendo Switch this week, and it looks and plays as well as the other console versions, with the added benefit of portability. Exploring is great on the go, but I’d recommend TV mode for precision building.

Horror Game Takes You Through A Murder Mystery In Tokyo

Tokyo Dark is a game about a cursed mask and ritualistic murder, but under the surface, it’s also a game about hurt people hurting people. Its complex writing and unique take on a sanity meter make it easy to care about the characters trapped in its tragic, bloody world. Tokyo Dark is an adventure game…

Fighting Game Players Find The Best Combos For Jesus And Buddha

Fight of Gods is an independent fighting game currently in early access on Steam. Players pit deities like Buddha, Odin, and Jesus against each other on a virtual battlefield. The game’s tongue-in-cheek nature has quickly endeared it to the fighting game community, who are embracing the in-development title and learning what makes it tick. Fight…

New South Park Game Gets Harder If You Play A Black Character

South Park: The Fractured But Wholes’ difficulty slider will change players’ skin color. As reported by Eurogamer, the game’s character creator will have an effect on gameplay, altering how NPCs respond and affecting how much money characters will make. Gameplay captured at a preview event shows that creating a South Park character with lighter skin…

Hellblade’s Design Captures The Trauma Of Loss

Focusing on themes of grief and trauma, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice employs a number of level design and mechanical tricks to help players empathize with the main character’s struggle. We take a closer look in this critical video. SPOILERS AHEAD Transcript: Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice tells the story of a warrior on a quest to revive her dead…

Life Is Strange: Before The Storm, As Told By Steam Reviews

Life Is Strange is back with a prequel, Before The Storm. It hasn’t disappointed fans, who are documenting the feels it gave them all over the Steam reviews. I was a little worried about Before The Storm. I didn’t think we needed a prequel, Chloe’s new voice actor sounded a little off, and I was…

Destiny 2 Players Fume Over One-Time-Use Shaders (And Microtransactions) [UPDATE]

Destiny 2, a video game apology for all the time we wasted in Destiny 1, is excellent in many ways. But the game has one new quirk that’s infuriated players across the world: Shaders can now only be used once. Shaders, in Destiny parlance, are special items that change the coloring of your gear. In…

Rockstar Announces L.A. Noire For Switch, PS4, Xbox One, VR

The detective game L.A. Noire is coming to Switch, Rockstar said today, blowing the minds of Nintendo fans everywhere. Also, it’s coming to PS4, Xbox One, and HTC Vive. This new version of the game will be out on November 14. The HTC Vive version will feature only seven of the game’s cases, while the…

One Piece Spoiler Websites Lead To Arrests 

In what’s being called a “first” for Japan, several individuals have been arrested for allegedly uploading One Piece spoilers before the manga officially went on sale. According to ANN, NHK and Sankei (via Anime News Network and Tokyo Reporter), 30 year-old Yo Uehara, 23 year-old Shizuka Nagaya, and 31 year-old Ryoji Hottai were arrested for allegedly…