WarCraft-Like RTS A Year of Rain Enters Early Access
A Year of Rain, a new RTS that calls back memories of old-school RTS games like WarCraft 3, is now available on PC in early access.
A fantasy RTS with base building, cinematic cut-scenes, and a “strong focus” on hero units, A Year of Rain seems to be building on the elements that PC gamers of a certain age will fondly remember from WarCraft 3 and its expansion, The Frozen Throne. While other games such as StarCraft II and the Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War series have used these elements, this style of RTS seems to have been largely dormant for several years. As such, A Year of Rain feels a bit like a dose of nostalgia.
Alongside these old-school elements and the multi-faction campaign are more modern-day ideas such as a fully cooperative story and 2v2 multiplayer modes, including the upcoming asymmetric “Against All Odds” mode which pits two heroes against two entire armies.
Stranger Things: Title Revealed for Fourth Season’s First Episode
While we still don't have a date for the fourth season of Stranger Things, we now know the first episode will be titled "Chapter One: The Hellfire Club."
Stranger Things on Instagram revealed the title via an image of the script for the first episode.
Alongside the title "Chapter One: The Hellfire Club," the post also said "We're starting a club. Wanna join? #StrangerThings4 #StrangerThingsDay"
According to Wikipedia, Hellfire Club was "a name for several exclusive clubs for high society rakes established in Britain and Ireland in the 18th century... Such clubs were rumored to be the meeting places of 'persons of quality' who wished to take part in socially perceived immoral acts, and the members were often involved in politics."
Overwatch: The Story So Far
Since it launched back in 2016, Overwatch has been incrementally expanding its universe, adding new characters and locations over the years, expanding the lore with each update. Blizzard refers to these past events as the Overwatch Archives.
Periodically, Blizzard drops new cinematics and comics, focusing on one (or a few) characters, adding context to who they are and what they’re fighting for in Blizzard’s unique world of heroes and villains. That said, while Overwatch 2 will feature story missions to tie things together, Blizzard has never outright given players a proper timeline of events. Sure, they might have released a short “previously on” trailer when OW2 was announced at BlizzCon 2019, but that glossed over a lot. To give you the fullest picture possible, here’s a look at the story of Overwatch (so far) prior to the events of the upcoming Overwatch 2.
Rick and Morty Season 4 Won’t Air in the UK Until 2020
Despite a November 2019 release date in North America, Rick and Morty Season 4 won't come to the UK until January 2020. Since the new season is airing exclusively on Channel 4, those in the UK will have to wait two months longer than those in North America to see the first five episodes of Rick and Morty's fourth season.
Rick and Morty Season 4 will be split into two parts, with the first half of the season premiering in the UK in early 2020 and the second half coming a few months later. It has been more than 2 years since Season 3 came to a close, which is a long enough wait for Rick and Morty fans.
Did Joker Kill His Neighbor Sophie? Director Todd Phillips Answers
As Joker continues to break box office records, one of the biggest unresolved mysteries of the movie left viewers unsure of a certain characters fate.
Possible spoilers ahead for Joker.
As many of weighed whether Joker killed his neighbor Sophie, several creatives behind the film have spoken up. Lawrence Sher, cinematographer, for The Joker confirmed to IGN last month that Sophie was still alive. Todd Phillips, the film's director, however, has spoken on the fate of Sophie. And according to him, no, the Arthur did not kill Sophie.
Horizon Zero Dawn 2: What We Want From a Horizon Sequel
On this week's episode of IGN's weekly PlayStation show, Podcast Beyond!, host Jonathon Dornbush is joined by Lucy O'Brien and Brian Altano to discuss what we would like to see from a Horizon Zero Dawn 2. With job listings that suggest Guerrilla Games is working on a Horizon sequel, the cast hypothesizes on what we might see, what we hope changes and stays the same, and factors in some of your suggestions.
Plus, the cast also discusses some of the latest PlayStation news, like Nioh 2's beta, the PlayStation Plus games for November, and much more before taking a look back at the launch of the PS4 in a new recurring segment.
Yooka-Laylee Devs Deny Rumors They’re Working on a New Banjo-Kazooie Game
Yooka-Laylee developers Playtonic Games issued a statement today that flat-out denied that the company was acquired by Microsoft, or that it’s working on a new Banjo-Kazooie game. The statement was issued following a day of online rumors suggesting such.
“Hey everyone! We wanted to address the speculation currently swarming our mentions. We hate to be the bearers of news that isn’t what you want to hear, but we thought it best to come out and say – we aren’t working on a new Banjo-Kazooie game and we remain an independent studio,” Playtonic wrote on Twitter.
A statement from us! pic.twitter.com/nZHqI5GaYe
Shocking X-Men “Death” Puts Mutantkind’s Immortality to the Test
The X-Force franchise has always explored the darker side of mutant life in the Marvel Universe. This is the team that gets its hands dirty so the X-Men don't have to. And that much remains true even as Marvel's Dawn of X relaunch ushers in a very different version of X-Force.
Read on to find out how the first issues of the new series challenges the very notion of death in a world where Charles Xavier has managed to make the X-Men immortal. Beware of full spoilers for X-Force #1 ahead!
Captain Pike Returns in Star Trek: Short Treks First Look
Anson Mount's Captain Pike proved to be one of the most popular aspects of Star Trek: Discovery in its second season, so much so that fans have been very vocal about their desire for a full-on Captain Pike series featuring Mount, Ethan Peck as Spock, and Rebecca Romijn as Number One, adventuring onboard the USS Enterprise. And while such a show has yet to be announced, we are getting more mini-adventures featuring those characters in this year's batch of Star Trek: Short Treks, including next week's installment, "Ask Not."
In "Ask Not," Mount returns to the captain's chair, this time joined by Trek newcomer Amrit Kaur. Here's the official logline for the short:
"When an attack on Starbase 28 leaves a surprise prisoner under Cadet Thira Sidhu’s (Amrit Kaur) watch, she is faced with making a decision that may threaten her standing in Starfleet."
Left 4 Dead and Portal Writer Is Developing a Unique, Network-focused FPS
Chet Faliszek, the writer of games such as Portal 1 and 2, Left 4 Dead 1 and 2, and episodes of Half-Life, has announced that he is working on a unique, co-op network first-person shooter.
Speaking at the Reboot Develop conference in Canada (thanks, VG247) Faliszek told the audience about his Unreal Engine FPS. He’s developing the game at his new studio Stray Bombay which he co-founded with Riot Games designer Kimberly Voll.
The unnamed shooter will leverage both of their strengths, Faliszek’s history of writing some of the most innovate FPS games of the decade, and Voll’s work as an AI and player psychology expert from her time at Riot and working on VR games like Fantastic Contraption.