Category: Video Gaming

Rare released the first Sea of Thieves news bulletin (opens in new tab) of 2023 on January 18, showing off the first bit of new content added to the game this year. There’s a new PvE adventure, The Secret Wilds, which will run until February 2, as well as a host of cosmetics and some welcome PvP changes.

The Secret Wilds continues where Sea of Thieves’ previous live event, The Rogue’s Legacy, left off, and further elaborates on the backstory of the undead Captain Briggsy. The trailer only showed a few fleeting glimpses of the adventure itself, but it looks like players can visit some manner of otherworldly red dreamscape until the event runs its course two weeks from now.

CD Projekt Red is working to bring a patch for the next-gen version of The Witcher 3 to PC as soon as possible.

The company is also releasing a physical copy of this version of the game to retail next week.

According to the studio’s global community director Marcin Momot, the next-gen patch for PC is “at the final stages,” and it “shouldn’t be long until it comes out.”

“We’ll share more info the moment we can,” said Momot. “In the meantime, we really appreciate your patience.”

As far as the physical version of the game for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S is concerned, it will be made available at retail on January 26.

This is of course the Complete Edition version which includes all previously released DLC and expansions, along with all quality of life improvements, and lots more.

Last week, we asked you to share epic moments from Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, available as a PlayStation Plus Monthly Game for January. Here are this week’s highlights:

AreeLyBadPun shares The Second Sister reaches out sinisterly

Defalt368 shares Cal walking in the grass with a moon at his back

call_me_xavii shares Cal posing with a dual-sided lightsaber in a canyon

Ag_Beaver shares a Stormtrooper standing in the darkness

Retsu_Zankoku shares Cal leaping with his lightsaber drawn

RyoppyGamePhoto shares Cal standing in the opening of a massive round structure

Search #PSshare #PSBlog on Twitter or Instagram to see more entries to this week’s theme. Want to be featured in the next Share of the Week? 

THEME: Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order – Lightsabers
SUBMIT BY: 11:59 PM PT on January 25, 2023

Next week, it’s all about Lightsabers. Share an epic moment with Cal or an enemy’s Lightsaber in Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order using #PSshare #PSBlog for a chance to be featured.

With all the Sad Dad™ games that have cropped up in recent years, many have rightfully been asking: “Where are all the video game mums at?”. Well, what if I told you that Swedish indie studio Might and Delight have been putting mums at the centre of their games since 2013? Yup, elephant mums in Shelter 3, Lynx mums in Shelter 2, and the OG badass badger mum in Shelter 1. Sure it’s kinda terrible that the only major rep mums are getting in video games is in the form of Might and Delight’s animal tales, but I’ll honestly take any story about motherhood I can get my paws on.

As much as I love Shelter 2 (less so Shelter 3, unfortunately), Shelter 1 holds a special place in my heart, mostly because no other animal-focused survival game has come even remotely close to claiming the coveted title of “most brutal animal sim that made me ugly cry.”

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The day has finally come! Monster Hunter Rise is out now for Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Windows 10/11, and with Xbox Game Pass – with Xbox Cloud Gaming offered with a Game Pass subscription. Whether you’re an experienced hunter with hundreds of hours logged in the New World, or are checking out what the fuss is all about, welcome!

With Game Pass, Monster Hunter Rise has become accessible to even more players than before. We’ve been thrilled to see the excitement from everyone online, especially those who have never played a Monster Hunter game before. With that said, allow us over at Capcom to share a few things you should know!

How does Monster Hunter Rise differ on Xbox, Windows PC and Cloud Gaming?

As Monster Hunter Rise makes its debut on Xbox and Windows PC, it’s been tweaked and improved for those new platforms. Speaking to Xbox Wire Japan, Capcom Producer Hiroyuki Minamitani said, “the team didn’t really struggle with porting the game itself. The Xbox Series X offered great performance levels, and we only needed to harness it. Overall, the porting process was very smooth.”

Those ported Xbox and PC versions bring a ton of performance improvements to the game, including 4K resolution, high frame rates, spatial audio, and super-fast loading times, which makes Monster Hunter Rise look and feel even greater than before. Minamitani said that: “Loading into the field map after accepting a quest has never been faster, and took a mere few seconds when doing so, and that felt amazing.”

“With Xbox running the game at 4K resolution, you will be able to observe the game through a high-fidelity lens,” Minamitani added. “Weapon designs, background objects, and as well as the monster’s scales will look so much more in detail.”

Thanks to Xbox’s console, PC, and cloud ecosystem, you’ll also be able to play the same game on multiple devices, no matter where you are. “Monster Hunter Rise will be available on Xbox and Windows PCs, with crossplay and cross platform progression,” Minamitani explained. “This means you will get to join the hunt with many others using a variety of platforms from the get-go. The Xbox platform also offers flexible gameplay where you can play on your console at home and jump right back into the hunt on your laptop even when outside.”

The battles can even continue on mobile with the use of Cloud Gaming through an Xbox Game Pass subscription – and Capcom has accounted for how the game will look on a mobile screen: “We also have custom UIs prepared for gameplay on smartphones,” said Minamitani. “That means you will get to play Monster Hunter Rise with a new set of controls, as well as with optimization for gameplay on smartphones.”

Why Play Monster Hunter?

Fighting big monsters is fun.

We could leave it at that, but there’s a lot to the Monster Hunter experience that has helped it endure as a unique series for nearly 20 years.

At the heart of Monster Hunter is the feeling of overcoming a challenge with the skills you develop as a hunter. While Monster Hunter Rise isn’t a punishing game, the experience of learning your weapon, understanding a monster’s quirks and move set, and finally taking it down is core to the hunting journey.

While that feeling of personal progression is key, the progression that happens with your gear and hunting rank is a huge part of that. Each time you slay or capture a monster, you’ll earn new materials that allow you to craft stronger armor and weapons. You may also find yourself going back to hunt the same monster in a new locale or with different circumstances around the quest. Mastering a particular fight and getting better at it each time is a satisfying feeling!

As you keep improving your gear and improving your rank, new monsters will continually be introduced as well. At the start you’ll be battling threatening, but smaller monsters like the Great Izuchi. But over time you’ll progress to powerful threats like the familiar flying wyvern Rathalos, and the game’s flagship monster Magnamalo.

Hunting? Isn’t that a little mean?

In the Monster Hunter series, hunters aren’t simply hunting monsters for sport. The story of Monster Hunter Rise involves a calamity called The Rampage that took place fifty years ago. During this calamity, a huge pack of frenzied monsters attacked Kamura Village – the town the player and their friends call home – and nearly wiped it out. Hunting is a matter of survival for the people of Kamura!

Throughout the story of Monster Hunter Rise, you’ll take down monsters that threaten the peaceful village and encounter some powerful beasts that threaten the very balance of nature itself.

Choose Your Weapon!

At the start of your journey as a hunter you have immediate access to all 14 weapon types in the game – no need to unlock them over time. While this can feel a bit overwhelming, keep in mind that there’s no right or wrong way to choose one. Think of it like choosing a character in a fighting game. Each weapon has its own unique move set with unique mechanics, strength and weaknesses, and playstyle.

Want to bonk monsters on the head with a giant hammer? How about vaulting through the air and attacking foes with the greatest of each with the Insect Glaive? Like in a fighting game, sometimes choosing the one you think looks the coolest is a great place to start. Over time and with more hunts under your belt, you’ll feel yourself getting more and more proficient with your weapon of choice. Growing your skills and getting better as the game introduces tougher challenges is a great feeling and one of the best parts of the Monster Hunter experience.

If you played Monster Hunter World and Iceborne and perhaps didn’t click with a weapon there, give it a try again in Rise! Each weapon has seen adjustments and changes, plus the addition of Switch Skills. These are special moves specific to each weapon and can change up the feel of each weapon significantly.

A Few Words of Advice

If the above breakdown has you onboard, great! Here’s a few more essential tips to make your hunting life a bit smoother.

Don’t forget to eat

Grabbing a meal before every hunt is an essential step in Monster Hunter Rise. Before leaving for a hunt, take a seat and grab some Dango to eat at the canteen. At the start of your journey, you’ll start out with a decent selection of Dango to give you helpful buffs for your quest. Regardless of the buff or if the Dango effect is activated, you’ll get a big boost to your health and stamina. Every little bit counts!

Brew some potions!

Chugging a bunch of potions during a hunt is never something to be ashamed of, and is essential even for the most experienced hunters. Always be sure to stock up on Potions and Mega Potions before a hunt, with the latter being necessary to making sure your health is topped off. Mega Potions can be crafted by combining a standard potion with Honey, so be sure to grab some while traversing the map.

Before every hunt, double check to make sure you’re stocked back up. If you’re in the middle of a hunt, you can head back to camp to stock back up before heading out once more.

Speaking of camp, at the start of most hunts you’ll see a supply box stocked with a few helpful items, such as First-Aid Meds and EZ Rations. These items are useable only in the quest instance, so don’t be afraid to make good use of them! If you’re playing in multiplayer though, remember that the Supply Box is shared, so make sure to leave some for your fellow hunters.

Spiribirds Spotting

You might notice that at the start of a hunt, your health and stamina will fall short of the maximum. Before heading over to the monster’s location, collect a few of the flying Spiribirds around the locale. These buffs last for the duration of the hunt, with different colors imbuing bonuses to health, stamina, attack, and defense. These are a must for making sure you’re ready to take on the monster ahead!

Stay Sharp!

Keeping your weapon sharp is one of the most important factors in a successful hunt. If your weapon loses sharpness, it might bounce off a monster or deal significantly decreased damage. Use your whetstone to maintain the sharpness of your weapon, but do so from a safe distance or while riding your Palamute.

These are just a few helpful tips to get you started, but there’s plenty to learn while playing. At the end of the day, don’t worry about getting intimidated and focus on having fun and enjoying the journey ahead!

Here’s a Little Something…

For our new hunters out there, we’ve deployed a few helpful bonuses to get you started. The new Guild Cross armor series and Novice Talisman are great beginner equipment to give you a bit of help as you get a grip of the basics. “We’ll be launching a new armor set named the “Guild Cross” series,” explains Minamitani, “and it will give you an advantage during the early stages of the game with its high defense stats. The talisman also complements the Guild Cross series, and will help when gathering materials, as well as give you even more defensive stats.”

Also, thanks to the combined efforts of the global Monster Hunter community, we’re giving all new players on Xbox platforms and Windows 100 free Honey! You can never have enough of it as it’s crucial for crafting healing items like Mega Potions. Visit Senri the Mailman to claim it as part of Kamura Village Welcome Set 1, which includes some other helpful items as well. 

On To The Hunt!

That about wraps it up for our quick intro the Monster Hunter Rise! It’s out now on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Windows 10/11, and Xbox Game Pass. We can’t wait to welcome many new hunters to the fold! Remember to have fun and enjoy the ride!

Stay up to date with everything about Monster Hunter Rise with the official Monster Hunter Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

In an act of true betrayal, I have turned my back on Playstation, toward the seductive allure of the Xbox Series S. I’ve long believed that the weapon for generations moving forward are no longer individual exclusives, but a veritable feast of games available to download and play instantly – and right now, Xbox Game Pass is a mighty tool in Microsoft’s belt. There are classic collections like the Gears and Halo series, alongside a deep variety of library titles, but there was a game I’d been itching to play ever since it was announced, and that game was Obsidian’s Grounded.

I’m a huge survival games fan – I grew up on Minecraft (who didn’t, really?) and Endnight Games’ The Forest is undoubtedly one of my favourites of the last generation. What first appears as a simple survival game soon unravels into this complex web of intelligent AI, Lovecraftian storytelling and environmental mystery. And for a long time, I hadn’t found another game that had me glued to my sofa, playing into the early hours. Until now.

Much like The Forest, Grounded’s initial opening leads you to believe you understand the environment you’re in, before pulling the rug out from under to reveal a sprawling cornucopia of mysteries, questions and challenges. The garden is a gigantic landscape, and it takes hours to even begin reaching its outer edges, demonstrating the processing power that shows next-gen can meet the lofty ambitions of survival games better than ever. Even three months in, I’m still discovering new dungeons to plunder and areas to excavate, which surprises me considering how many hours I’ve already sunk into the game.

An issue I’ve found with a lot of survival games like Rust, DayZ, Ark: Survival Evolved is that they have a limited time frame of enjoyment before you hit the peak of your potential within the game, and there’s nowhere left to go but down. Their mission statement is simple: ‘Build, Survive, Dominate.’ That is a successful and lucrative model for some as seen with Rust’s immense community, but for many others, it leads to a stagnation.

TBy comprison, Grounded feels more innovative. Its mantra to the player feeds back into its own core narrative: ‘Discover, Investigate, Analyze.’ Your investigation in the disappearance of the scientist Dr. Tully leads you and your friends to become scientists yourselves – chopping down strange pieces of wood, harvesting flowers, taking them back to your Research Station to analyse them; you become innately immersed into Grounded’s world out of this active desire to understand, rather than conquer.

It perfects a formula laid out by Subnautica and Subnautica: Below Zero – albeit in a more suburban, macro setting. Some of your greatest and longest expeditions won’t even be to make armour or weapons, but instead to find that last crow feather on the edge of the map so you can finally make those cool-looking beds. It’s player-directed, emergent gameplay at its finest.

Initially, Grounded’s combat is hard. Actually, it’s really hard. You can’t just slash-slash-slash, overwhelming your foe until they drop. Every element of Obsidian’s game design thoughtfully feeds back into its core concept; that human/nature dynamic that’s become inverted, with the bugs on top and you firmly on the bottom. You could make the most powerful weapon in the game, but even a ladybug is still going to kick your ass if you don’t know how to tango with it. You can’t just run in axes blazing – believe me, I’ve tried.

Instead, Obsidian pushes to you to learn every enemy’s battle tactics and movement pattern, from the smallest mites to the behemoths like Wolf Spiders and Black Widows. It’s all about encouraging a deeper appreciation of the complexities of each bug’s AI, figuring out how they interact together, and understanding how Grounded’s combat system and mechanics can lead to some immensely rewarding moments. I remember the rush of adrenaline at soloing my first spider after training my blocks and my parries on smaller fry. Even just sitting back and watching a horde of ants fight a Wolf Spider can be fascinating. It’s a field experiement, and you scribble down mental notes, extrapolating who is going to win the fight, and why.

While it’s far from a perfect game, Obsidian’s continual support for the Grounded community has been impressive. Perhaps the biggest sign that the developer is listening to fan feedback comes in the form of its consideration of Arachnophobes: the studio implemented a sliding scale of Spider-ness, allowing to reduce them to blocky sprites rather than blood-curdling, octo-eyed monstrosities.

However, it’s Obsidian’s most recent Winter update that proved the studio is taking on the concerns of its players and implementing their suggestions. Alongside the typical holiday trimmings like funky Christmas lights and other Winter-y apparel, several minor quality-of-life adjustments, such as the ability to ascend zip wires, completely transformed how players can traverse this labyrinth of grass and dirt.

We often gravitate toward survival games because they’re ambitious. Whether it’s the scope of their environments, or the attractive allure of epic base-building, you can feel something tugging you in, tempting you to try them out. But their combination of so many mechanics can often lead to numerous bugs, glitches, and errors that can take a long time to fix.

That’s why Grounded feels like a new benchmark for survival games. Its multi-layered design feels carefully considered, and feeds back into its narrative core – creating this virtual ecosystem where everything works together not just to inform, but to encourage players to thrive.

It takes that unbridled creativity that Mojang captured with Minecraft and smashes it together with the environmental mystery and complex AI mechanics of The Forest to deliver something worthy of its new-gen status. You feel encouraged to try and interact with everything you discover, challenged through the subversion of typical survival mechanics and aims. Grounded creates an adventure that makes you want to stay up far too late to see how your next mission plays out. And there’s a very special kind of magic in games that manage to achieve that.

League of Legends is one of the biggest games on the planet, with a massive roster of champions, big-budget esports tournaments, and regular balance patches. But even this mammoth game is prone to stumbles, and one of these played out in the public eye recently. Riot Games released its annual cinematic trailer for the game, and instead of the usual champion showcase, the star of the video was an empty version of the game’s map. Fans’ disappointed response was so loud and sustained that Riot had to pull a very public mea culpa.

Riot has set a tempo for League of Legends that fans have come to count on. The year starts with a preseason, during which the developer makes experimental changes. Throughout the year, Riot polishes these changes and tries to create a stable competitive environment for the eventual Worlds tournament. The preseason also historically starts with a cinematic that shows off players’ favorite champions getting into all sorts of epic battles and struggles.

he 2023 cinematic, “The Brink of Infinity,” was an exception. This year, Riot released a video of a butterfly flitting through the Rift, with a voice-over composed of various champion quotes. The fan response was immediate, overwhelming, and viscerally negative. Fans’ fury led them to bring up long-standing grudges that weren’t even related to the cinematic, like the slow pace of visual updates for old champions, a lack of new game modes, and the conspiracy that League was entering a maintenance mode.

On Jan. 13, Riot responded to fans’ feedback with an eight-minute video. The video’s main promises included a 2024 “champion-led” cinematic, new game modes and events, and continued investment in League’s tech. One of these game modes, a 2v2v2v2, is already in development. But the quagmire Riot finds itself in is far more complicated than just one cinematic, and the boiling frustrations that led to this particular explosion haven’t been fully resolved.

League of Legends is, at this point, more than just a game; it’s the backbone of an entire entertainment franchise. It’s sprawled out into other games — Legends of Runeterra, the upcoming fighting game dubbed Project L, an in-development MMO, Riot Forge projects, in-client visual novels, and mobile port Wild Rift — as well as other mediums, like Netflix adaptation Arcane and the novel Ruination, and live events based around the above.

Image: Riot Games

It is, in and of itself, not a big deal for a company to miss a date on an elaborate project — especially in these COVID times. For many Riot fans, the sin comes from a perceived abandonment of League’s foundation: League of Legends itself. Champions like Shaco and Corki still prance around the Rift with no canon lore and desperately dated graphics. Ashe, a prominent character in League and its marketing materials, received a total overhaul to her graphics back in 2015 — and now she needs another one, standing next to contemporary champions.

League’s massive roster pool is a strength because of the sheer variety and depth it offers, but it’s also a huge drawback, since sub-communities form around each of the 150-plus champions, and their resentment quickly festers. If you’re a fan of Quinn, Jarvan IV, Shaco, or Anivia, you could be years out from ever seeing them updated. Many of the fans disappointed by the cinematic have mentioned that they were hype for their boy Aatrox to show up — and he was due to do so in an earlier version of the cinematic that didn’t ship. Now, these Aatrox aficionados feel like they have to go back in the queue for a chance at some crumbs.

Riot wants the League IP to continue to grow at the rapid pace it currently enjoys thanks to the success of spinoffs like Arcane and Riot Forge. League is a monumentally difficult game to get into on PC, and the mobile port Wild Rift is still fairly complex. League of Legends is also a famously toxic game, stuffed to the brim with salt and fury. On the other hand, my mom both watched and enjoyed Arcane.

But can Riot keep this outreach going while also maintaining League as its core product? The Universe site, a promising place full of fantastic lore, is out of date and seemingly forgotten. League fans clearly want more effort put into League of Legends, judging by the intense and disappointed response to “The Brink of Infinity.” Riot wants to have it all — both the rapid growth and also the investment in League’s core narrative, lore, and fandom. So far, the juggling act has fallen short, and Riot is at risk of further outcry if it can’t serve its core audience while searching for new fans.

We’re approaching the end of 2022, and we’re concluding the year by going back to our Super Replay roots by tackling an old-school survival horror game. In this case, we’re replaying one of the greatest games of the PS1 era, Silent Hill! Join us live on Twitch today at 10 a.m. Central as we endure two hours of nostalgic, hair-raising scares. If you can’t catch us live, each episode will be available to watch on Saturdays on the Game Informer Shows YouTube channel. 

In 1999, Konami put the fear of fog in a generation of players with the release of Silent Hill. The eerie title eschewed the more bombastic horror of its main rival at the time, Resident Evil, in favor of more psychological frights. Protagonist Harry Mason must embark on a terrifying search for his missing daughter, Cheryl, within the eerie town of Silent Hill. What unfolds is a descent into madness that kickstarted a franchise that’s (finally) returning to the limelight after years of dormancy. Join me, Marcus Stewart, along with Kyle Hilliard, as we survive Silent Hill’s debut adventure and see how its scares stack up 23 years later.

If you enjoy our livestreams but haven’t subscribed to our Twitch channel, know that doing so not only gives you notifications and access to special emotes. You’ll also be granted entry to the official Game Informer Discord channel, where our welcoming community members, moderators, and staff gather to talk games, entertainment, food, and organize hangouts!

The Wall Street Journal reports that WWE Chairman Vince McMahon has agreed to a multimillion-dollar legal settlement with Rita Chatterton, the former wrestling referee who accused him of raping her in 1986. The settlement happened last month, according to people close to the situation.

“Mr. McMahon denies and always has denied raping Ms. Chatterton. And he settled the case solely to avoid the cost of litigation,” said Jerry McDevitt, a lawyer for Mr. McMahon. Chatterton’s lawyer, John Clune, also declined to comment.

WWE didn’t respond to requests for comment to the WSJ, but had previously said they were taking each allegation seriously.

Chatteron’s settlement was able to be procured due to a New York law recently opening a one-year window that allows victims of sex crimes to file lawsuits that expanded the statute of limitations. Chatterton’s attorney sought $11.75 million in damages weeks before the window opened stating that the damage done was hard to overstate.

“[She] has suffered years of ongoing depression, substance abuse, disordered eating, lost income, and overall a decreased quality of life,” Clune wrote at the time. Chatterton agreed to a lesser amount in the millions of dollars, one of the people familiar with the matter said, but the exact amount is unconfirmed.

The news of the settlement follows McMahon’s recent return and subsequent pursuit of a sale of the wrestling company. McMahon stepped down as chairman back in July of last year, only to reinstate himself in a move that was something out of HBO’s Succession earlier this month. His daughter Stephanie McMahon, co-CEO at the time, resigned on the same day. McMahon initially stepped down after it was revealed he had paid millions in hush money to four women.

Baldur’s Gate 3 will not be affected by the Dungeons and Dragons Open Gaming License changes, Larian has confirmed.

Responding to our request for comment on the situation, Larian would not comment on the ongoing debate surrounding the leaked changes to the Dungeon and Dragons Open Gaming License (OGL) nor their thoughts on those changes. However, they did confirmed that Baldur’s Gate 3 would not be affected by them.

Ever since the OGL leak by io9, as well as the reported closure of several studios creating licensed Dungeons and Dragons games, a portion of the fanbase has been concerned whether or not Larian, Baldur’s Gate 3, or any future titles would catch any strays from these changes.

The updated OGL featured several changes that stirred the ire of DnD players and creators. For one, Wizard of the Coast would be able to claim royalties from work based on their systems reference document (containing their classes, items, spells, etc). In addition, it would deauthorize all prior versions of the OGL, meaning companies would be forced to shift over to the new rules.

These leaked OGL changes have lead to significant backlash from the online tabletop RPG community, who have come together to voice their frustrations with these changes via the OpenDnD movement, a mass departure from Wizards of the Coast’s DnD app, DnD Beyond, as well as tabletop competitor Paizo (creators of Pathfinder) creating their own new OGL.

Wizard and the Coast has since responded to this backlash and the leaked OGL (you can read a great breakdown of that on Dicebreaker), but it’s currently unclear what impact this has had on the future of Dungeons and Dragons games. Will developers like Larian continue to create games set in that universe? Or will they look elsewhere for source material? Only time will tell.

Keep your win streak soaring with all the Wordle tips, clues, and guides you ever wish for, all in one helpful place. A little stuck? Take a look at today’s clue, created to help you find the answer. On your last guess and all out of ideas? No problem, the answer to the January 20 (580) Wordle is just below.

I had all the right letters, but I didn’t have any of them in the right order. It’s a confusing situation to be in, seeing four yellows up on the screen, but still not quite seeing how to arrange them. Luckily a long swig of coffee gave me the flash of inspiration (or possibly caffeine) needed to see today’s Wordle through to a successful finish.

Wordle hint

A Wordle hint for Friday, January 20