What studio doesn't dream of the type of success and longevity that Minecraft has? Not only is it the second-biggest game ever in terms of sales, its rise from a solo indie project to world domination is one of the most noteworthy in all of gaming.

But is this popularity starting to wane a little? I must admit, even as a fan who recently got back into the game (again), I wonder how much life is left in the old girl. However, according to a study conducted back in December 2024, more than a few players think Minecraft's juggernaut is unlikely to slow down any time soon.

The study was conducted by Liquid Web (login required, unfortunately), which asked 1,000 users about their playing habits. Admittedly, that might not seem like many people to survey in the grand scheme of things, but the results are pretty interesting.

A small percentage play the game daily, at least

Perhaps one of my favorite statistics is that around 30% of Minecraft players still have their first-ever save file. Now, I can't imagine how they've managed to keep hold of their maiden world unless they've been playing recently. Do any of you still have your first save? I don't even have my first car, and I only passed my driving test a few years ago.

The study from Liquid Web also shows that players still feel Minecraft has a strong future. For example, four out of five players who are classed as Gen Z think the game will still be popular in a decade's time, while 25% said they would be willing to pay to access new features.

Additionally, around half feel that "player creativity and user-generated content" is the reason they keep playing, while two out of five players say Minecraft mods and/or customer servers are "essential to their enjoyment."

It should be reiterated that this is based on 1,000 users surveyed, so take from that what you will. But if we learn anything from this data, it's that we probably won't be seeing a Minecraft 2 any time soon.

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Even if you don't care about Lego, you likely know it's quite an expensive hobby. We want to help you out by letting you know of a sweet new event that will allow you to expand upon your collection in the most cost-effective way out there.

The time between February 8 and 12 is a great time to buy LEGO, as it's Double Points time. LEGO insiders will gain double insider points with all purchases, and more. If you spend over $150, you'll also get the LEGO Tropical Rainforest Diorama for free — so long as you make your purchases while the stock still lasts.

What is the LEGO Tropical Rainforest Diorama

The LEGO Tropical Rainforest Diorama GWP (40782) is the first of four building kits in a new LEGO series meant to celebrate the wonders of nature and travel. It's compact but incredibly detailed and great to look at.

"This cool decoration for the home highlights the diversity of the rainforest with a waterfall display. Spot vibrant plants, flowers and animals in a setting that also includes a bird, small frog and a decorated butterfly element! This cool LEGO set makes a fun gift for kids aged 12 and up, or anyone who loves traveling, nature or the rich variety of life in the rainforest."

So, for example, getting the spectacular Vincent Van Gogh's LEGO Art Sunflowers (31215) for $199.99, or the surprisingly awesome Cullen manor from the Twilight movies set (21354) for $219.99 in the period between Feb 8 and 12 will get you the Tropical Rainforest diorama as well. Neat combo, right?

If either the Double Points feature or the Diorama is of any interest to you, you should sign up for LEGO's insider program here.

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The power of PC gaming means you can experience the eye-melting crispness of some of the most advanced graphics around. If you have the juice for it, natch. With something like Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, you don't necessarily need a monster rig, but you may still want an enhanced performance.

Say you want to run Warhorse Studios' new game through Steam, but you're not confident in your PC's hardware capabilities, well this is where modding comes to the rescue. Thanks to Nexus Mods user Jindra1403, you can reduce the visuals in Deliverance 2 beyond what the vanilla release ideally wants.

This comes in two flavors: Very Low and Ultra Low, both of which do exactly what you'd expect. The former will allow you to "run the game at acceptable frame rates on systems with much lower specifications than those minimal required by the game."

Who needs textures, anyway?

If, however, you need to be doubly sure Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 will run smoothly, the latter reduces graphical fidelity even more. The images show what can only be described as a "smooth" character, one devoid of any detail. But, crucially, it will allow you to run the game on lower-spec systems.

Also, the overall resolution for both mods has been "brute forced to HD (1280x720)," with V-Sync turned off for Ultra Low settings. You can change this in Notepad if you wish. It's also worth noting that neither of these mods will "interfere with or change DLSS/FSR settings," though Jindra1403 suggests leaving them off. You may also encounter a couple of issues, given that these settings take the game below expectations in terms of visuals.

According to Steam, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 doesn't require anything too beastly if you just want to run it at minimum requirements. It's only once you're aiming for recommended settings that we start to see words like "RTX 4070" crop up.

The post PC can’t quite match Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2’s needs? Try these low graphics mods appeared first on Destructoid.

In all the time I've spent with Henry in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, I've learned that he's quite the charmer. And I'm not just talking about with the ladies or gentlemen; he's a smooth talker to the players themselves, as he boasts about their photography in Photo Mode.

When I first dabbled with this mode, the compliments from Henry completely went over my head. Then, I realized that he was actually talking to me, as the player, telling me how much of a great job I did with my not-so-very-great picture. He'll continue to break the fourth wall every time you exit out of this mode, using flattering remarks like "That's a good one!", "Beautiful!" and "Nice one!"

I've been testing it out more and more to see if there's an object or romance option NPC that Henry reacts differently to, but to no avail. I even attempted it while I was on my way to cure his Drunkenness state, and no such luck either. He seems to always go through a loop of standard dialogue points, no matter where you are on the map. So, even if you take a picture of a bloody corpse with flies swirling around it, he'll still tell you how pretty it looks.

It's a welcome surprise to have a feature like this, which certainly brings a lot more humor and comfort to KCD2's tremendously violent world. However, I do wish we had a bit more to work with due to the basic functionality of the game's Photo Mode. There's only so much you can do with the angles, nor are there any sliders to help with lighting or saturation.

But if there's one thing that the Photo Mode desperately needs, it has to be the implementation of an emote or posture change for Henry. Sometimes, he's not the most photogenic person, standing awkwardly for the picture. It reminds me of all the horrible school pictures I took in my youth, where I didn't know how to smile.

Regardless of Henry's occasional hiccups with photography, it's still nice to even have Photo Mode introduced in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2. It was a feature much desired in the first iteration, and now it's taken a step further with Henry's fourth-wall-breaking moments. Hopefully, we'll get more improvements to it in the near future. But, for the time being, I'm just going to take a bunch of adorable pictures of the dog Mutt.

The post Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2’s Henry breaks the fourth wall with royal compliments in Photo Mode appeared first on Destructoid.

Whether you’ve played Final Fantasy XI previously and are taking a break, or your interest has been piqued by the latest round of Final Fantasy XIVs Alliance Raids, FFXIV players will soon have a chance to enter Vana’diel at a discounted rate thanks to the Echoes of Vana’diel Discount Campaign. 

The campaign was announced at the tail end of the Live Letter from the Producers 85 live stream on January 7, and it offers players a discounted 30 days to explore Vana’diel and learn more about the world that inspired the Echoes of Vana’diel Alliance Raid series currently underway as part of Dawntrail. 

Between February 12 and March 11, FFXIV players who sign up for a new FFXI account or reactivate an existing one can cut their FFXI service fee in half for the first 30 days. This service fee is usually $11.95 (service fee) plus $1 (character fee), totaling $12.95. If you sign up (or reactivate your account) during the campaign period, you’ll only pay $6.95 for your first month. 

If you’re new to FFXI, you will need to purchase a copy of the game itself to play. Currently, you can purchase it via the Square Enix Store or Steam. Either way, the cost of the game is $29.99. On the plus side, purchasing the game also comes with its own 30-day free play period, so you’ll end up with 60 days of game time for half the cost of a usual month.

This is an amazing opportunity to learn more about the characters we’ve already encountered during FFXIVs Echoes of Vana’diel story and those we’ve yet to meet in the two as-yet-unreleased Alliance Raids. The story is more or less understandable even if you’ve never played FFXI, but the additional knowledge would certainly help to make sense of things. 

Once your initial 30 days are over, you’ll then need to pay the full service fee if you want to keep playing FFXI, which you likely will once you’ve immersed yourself in the world for a full month.

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Final Fantasy XIV players still don’t have a set date for patch 7.2 (at best, we know it’s coming at some point in late March), but we do have a preliminary date for patch 7.18. Best of all, the minor patch will come with a cute collaborative emote for all players. 

Patch 7.18 is due to release on February 25, although this is a scheduled date and is liable to change should last-minute adjustments be needed. This final patch of the 7.1x series comes around a month ahead of patch 7.2, which is due to drop at some point in the latter half of March. During LLP 85, in which players were given a ton of details about patch 7.2, we were also told of this fun photo-based collaboration.

As part of the 7.18 update, Final Fantasy XIV has teamed up with FujiFilm to celebrate Instax, an instant camera brand owned by the company. In-game, this will allow all players to get their hands on a special new emote, which sees your character using a virtual version of the Instax camera to get a snapshot. 

Once the photo-taking emote is released, alongside patch 7.18, Final Fantasy XIV will hold a Screenshot Sweepstakes. These Sweepstakes allow players to submit their screenshots via Twitter for a chance to win items such as Modern Aesthetics - Cloud Strife or the Gaelicat Hat. We’ve seen plenty of these competitions in the past, and they always bring fans together across the globe in appreciation of the Group Pose skills on display. 

Unfortunately, exact details of how the emote will be obtained have not yet been revealed and are likely to be given closer to the scheduled release date for the patch. I’m sure I’m not alone in admitting that I’ll do whatever it takes for this cutie because it deserves a place in my vast and ever-growing collection of emotes. 

If you like the camera used in the emote, it closely resembles the Instax Mini 12, which is currently available to purchase in five different colors for $79.75.

The post FFXIV: Patch 7.18 scheduled for February 25, including new Instax collab emote appeared first on Destructoid.

Concern has been building within the Final Fantasy XIV community lately over a worrying third-party tool called PlayerScope, which exploits a weakness in the Blacklist feature to track down players. During LLP 85, Naoki Yoshida took a moment to address concerns. 

Before viewers were informed about what to expect from the upcoming patch 7.2: Seekers of Eternity, Yoshida took a moment to discuss the worrying plugin, with Foxclon (Toshio Murouchi) providing English Translations. 

He began by stating that, regardless of what the plugin can find, it cannot pull personal identifying details about any player. It’s reassuring to know that the plugin isn’t too much of a security risk, but that doesn’t stop it from being problematic.

The plugin works by exploiting the Blacklist feature, which was updated as part of Dawntrail’s release to ensure that if you blacklisted one character on somebody’s account would also add their alternate characters to the blacklist as well, preventing somebody from being able to find you on an alternate character. This was a commonly requested feature and highly celebrated when it was implemented, but the new system has backfired and allowed for PlayerScope to be created and abused. 

After explaining how it works, Yoshida went on to discuss what the development team plans to do about it. He didn’t go into too much detail, stating that they are still actively working on the issue and more details would be given soon. However, he did say that changes would be coming to the system in patch 7.2 when it releases at some point in late March. 

However it changes, Yoshida assured that the changes already made to prevent stalking or harassment would remain in place. There are no plans to return to the old blacklist system, but changes will be coming to counteract this plugin and what it can currently do. 

As always, Yoshida urged viewers to stay away from any third-party tools or plugins, reminding them that they are strictly against FFXIV's terms of service and that players caught using them risk being banned permanently from the game.

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After months of what some within the community have called a “content drought”, Final Fantasy XIV has successfully reignited passion in players with Live Letter from the Producers 85, providing insight into content coming in patch 7.2. 

Patch 7.2, titled “Seekers of Eternity”, will be releasing at some point during late March, and is filled to the brim with new things to unlock and explore. Not only are we getting new MSQ quests and Arcadion Raids to dive into, but also some much anticipated side content is finally set to drop.

As always, translations used to write this round up were supplied by Miuna and Iluna Minori over on the FFXIV Discord server.

Cosmic Exploration screenshots aplenty

After teasing viewers with a very clear image of Cosmic Exploration on the desk in front of them while they discussed possible future FanFest locations and the cuisine in Saudi Arabia, Yoshida and Foxclon finally went into detail about what we can expect from Cosmic Exploration, the new content designed for Crafters and Gatherers. 

According to Yoshida, a new planet will be added with every major patch of the 7.x series (7.2, 7.3, 7.4, and 7.5), each of which will need to be restored and rejuvenated by the community of players. 

We were shown many before and after screenshots, displaying how the setting of the first planet will change over time once goals are met. There will be zip lines to transport players around the surface of the planet, and an ever evolving base of operations. 

It was stated that whereas the previous content of this type, Shadowbringers' Firmament, could only be seen changing and evolving by players who were there at the time, players who dive into Cosmic Exploration later on will still be able to see how it has changed over time.

After being told that more details will be coming during the next Live Letter, we were shown sneak peaks of two things that scream Star Trek more than FFXIV. The uniform shown (above left) will be available for players to earn in some way through Cosmic Exploration, while the teleporters (above right) were shown without too much explanation.

Occult Crescent details revealed

Deep within Shade’s Triangle, the mysterious and unmapped region of Occult Crescent makes up the setting for the third Large Scale Battle Content, spiritual successor to both Eureka and Bozja. 

Like the previous two, Occult’s Crescent will pit players against a myriad of formidable foes, including large scale bosses, and a 48 player raid that will be available to complete from the very beginning. 

Throughout the screenshots, one shared feature are the strange bubbles in the sky. Yoshida mentioned these multiple times, but refused to comment on what they could actually be. It’s likely not the only mysterious thing we’ll come up against when the content goes live. 

Occult Crescent will also include a new mechanic, which will likely work in a similar way to Lost Actions in Bozja, but is altogether more cute — Phantom Jobs. 

Players will be able to equip these Phantom Jobs alongside their main job while inside Occult Crescent, and each job will grant the player buffs or additional actions. Many of the Phantom Jobs are known from previous Final Fantasy titles, and Yoshida commented that while it may be hard to implement them as full Jobs within the MMO, he wanted to include them here and have some fun with their respective skills. 

Relic Weapons are going back to the beginning 

In a move that will either be welcomed or enrage you, the obtainment of Relic Weapons appears to be getting something of an overhaul. With many players commenting that Endwalker’s Relic Weapons were far too easy to obtain, developers have decided that it might be best to return to the beginning and reinstate previously used methods. 

It wasn’t stated clearly whether this will include a similar mechanic to the books of Zodiak Weapon fame (on a personal note, I might cry if this turns out to be the case), but it was revealed that there will be two different ways to obtain Relic Weapons in Dawntrail. 

Players will be able to obtain a Relic Weapon through completing objectives within Occult Crescent, or they will be able to take part in previously existing duties and activities. This sounds very similar to the ways in which players can now obtain Shadowbringers weapons, which require you to either complete objectives within Bozja, or to complete duties outside of it.

New MSQ content

As always with a major patch, new MSQ quests will be added in patch 7.2. Although no details of the plot were provided, Yoshida made comments about characters' facial expressions, urging players to pay close attention to them. He also noted that Sphene reminds him a little of Asahi, and as Yoshida never says anything without a deeper meaning, this is definitely something to look into before the patch drops. 

We were also shown some sneak peaks of the next MSQ dungeon, revealed to be named “The Underkeep”. While showing off a boss arena of this dungeon, Yoshida mentioned that players might be expected to dance in the dance hall, although didn’t detail exactly what he meant by this. 

Arcadion: Bruiserweight Tier

As expected, the next tier of the Arcadion Raids will be coming in patch 7.2. The Cruiserweight tier will feature four new fights of both normal and savage difficulty, although savage will come the usual week after the normal fights are introduced. 

We were given a few screenshots of the upcoming raid storyline, as well as one from one of the fights itself. Not many details were given, but Yoshida did allude to the arena itself and hint that it might be there as more than simply a backdrop. Dancing seems to be a recurring theme in the upcoming patch, with the arena looking very much like a disco, and mechanics described as “high tempo”. 

Trials and tribulations

The next trial to be introduced was revealed to be named “Recollection”, and both a normal and extreme version will be available to take on when patch 7.2 drops. We were only shown two screenshots from this trial, but Yoshida admitted that while testing the normal difficulty fight, it proved too difficult to complete. As such, mechanics are currently being removed to make it a less challenging experience. 

As always, the a new Unreal Trial will be coming as part of patch 7.2. This time, Suzaku and her DDR mechanics are getting an Unreal makeover, pitting players off against the firebird all over again at a much higher difficulty. 

Hildibrand returns

Although the adventures of Hildibrand may not be a universal favorite, it’s still beloved content in FFXIV. 7.2 will see more quests added to Inconceivably Further Hildibrand Adventures story line. With introductions (and memory fixing) having taken place, we can now get into the crime noir plot in a more meaningful way. 

Yoshida noted that the story line is “a bit over the top”, but by this point players would expect nothing less from Hildibrand and Nashu. 

Dawntrail’s second Allied Society makes its debut

With the Pelupelu already featuring as an Allied Society for Combat Jobs, players have been waiting to see who would come next, and what Jobs they would focus on. 

Well, it was revealed during the Live Letter that the next Allied Society will be the Mamool Ja, who will focus on Gathering. If you’ve not yet leveled Botanist, Miner, or Fisher, then this will be the perfect opportunity to do so. 

Frontline (Secure) is making a comeback

Frontline (Secure) has been missing from rotation since patch 6.4, but it’s undergone a pretty impressive redesign and will be making its return as part of patch 7.2. These updates have changed the appearance of the map significantly, and that’s not all that’s changing in PvP. 

Series 8 will also begin when patch 7.2 drops, and job actions will be tweaked, with additional actions being added to select classes. Which Jobs will be getting additional actions wasn’t specified, but we can expect more details during the next Live Letter. 

The Cornservant makes a brief return

One of my personal highlights of Dawntrail so far has been the Cornservant and its heartwarming quests to feed the many peoples of Tural. Because of how popular this little guy proved to be with both players and the dev team alike, it will be making a brief comeback with an additional quest for players to complete. 

Other updates coming in patch 7.2

As with all major patches, there are a whole host of smaller updates that need mentioning. As you might expect, a new Allagan Tomestone of Mathematics will be added into the mix, likely replacing Heliometry, while Allagan Tomestones of Aesthetics will be phased out. 

The Sunken Temple of Qarn is also set to benefit from Duty Support, which will be interesting, considering the number of mechanics at play within the dungeon.

The post FFXIV patch 7.2: Seekers of Eternity due in late March, including long-awaited Occult Crescent and Cosmic Exploration appeared first on Destructoid.

The 25^th Anniversary celebration for The Sims franchise has already been off to a strong start. With the release of the Legacy Collection bundle, which lets you play The Sims and The Sims 2 on modern PCs, the community is already buzzing. Now, EA has revealed the next part of the celebration: the latest expansion pack for The Sims 4, called Businesses & Hobbies, which will be released on March 6, 2025.

The official reveal trailer, which debuted on February 6, 2025, shows off a plethora of new content revolving around your Sims owning small businesses and enjoying hobbies. Long-requested skills such as tattooing and pottery will now not only be available for your Sims to master but also to open their own business about their passion.

The next expansion pack for The Sims 4 is Businesses & Hobbies

The trailer also showed off another long-awaited feature, the ability to run your business from your Sim’s home. You can designate certain rooms to be available to the public and others that are just for the lot’s residents. 

Finally, in another win for the community, tattooing will be given much more freedom. Not only will you be able to layer more tattoos over your Sim instead of one per body slot, you’re also able to freehand and draw tattoos as you like, similar to pet markings. These two gameplay features have been requested for years by Sims 4 players, and finally, we’re getting them added to the game.

The expansion will get a gameplay trailer on February 18, which will likely show off more hobbies that your Sims are able to enjoy. The trailer focused entirely on tattooing and pottery, so hopefully we’ll get to see more available hobbies than just those two. We’re also expecting to see a tutorial on how to use the new room designations, as well as the expanded range of options for small businesses.

We only have a month before the release of the new expansion, so EA is sure to cram in all the information it can about the new pack before the official release. We’re excited to see more about this promising expansion.

The post The Sims 4 shows off its newest expansion: Businesses & Hobbies appeared first on Destructoid.

One of the best features of Blox Fruits, and likely the reason so many players still play it, is the ability to eat different Fruits, which give you special powers, and then change those powers by eating a different fruit. One of the best feelings in the game is finding one of the rarest fruits, eating it, and enjoying a slew of awesome new abilities. But what if you wanted to store those new (or old) powers for a rainy day?

While storing fruits in Blox Fruits is a feature that's been available in the game for a while, it's not something that's very well explained. In this guide, we'll tell you everything you need to know about how to store Fruit in Blox Frutis.

How to Store Fruit

When you receive a new Fruit in Blox Fruits (whether you find it in the wild, get it from a friend, or get it from the Blox Fruit gacha NPC), it will be placed in your Hotbar. A fruit that's just sitting in your hot bar isn't safe! If you die or log out, you will drop it from your inventory and likely lose it for good. Since we obviously don't want that to happen, we can store the fruit in our bag, and here's how:

• Equip the Fruit (you'll know it's equipped when your character is holding it)
• Left Click / RT / R2, to bring out the interact options
• You will get the following options: Eat, Drop, Store, or Nevermind
• Select Store
• The Fruit will get stored in your Items bag and will disappear from your hotbar

Now, even after you die or log out, your Fruit will still be in your Items inventory. If you want to take it out, simply open your Items, select the fruit, and select Take Out. It will get added back to your Hotbar.

Unfortunately, if you get into the habit of collecting and storing Fruits, it won't be long before you realize the limitations of this system.

The Limitations of Storing Fruits in Blox Fruits

By default, you can only store one of each Fruit in your Items. If you try to store one more of the same fruit, you'll get hit with a message asking if you'd like to upgrade your Fruit Storage.

Upgrading your Fruit Storage costs 400 Robux, and it gives you one more slot for each Fruit. The question is: do you need extra storage?

Honestly, that really depends on you. If you're the type of player who likes to trade Fruits with others, then having, at least a +1 Storage Upgrade will definitely help you. However, if have your eye set on a specific fruit and don't care much about trading, you can get by without it. It's ultimately up to you to decide. As for us, we got sick of wasting so many extra Fruits whenever we got a duplicate, so we ponied up and got a Storage Upgrade.

That's all there is to it. Have fun storing your Fruit in Blox Fruits. If you need an XP boost, check out our All Active Blox Fruits codes guide.

The post How to store Fruit in Blox Fruits appeared first on Destructoid.

In an ideal world, players would have been able to play Football Manager 25 on all available platforms in March 2025 after enduring multiple delays. Instead, the project has now officially been canceled.

Developers Sports Interactive announced the unfortunate decision earlier today, February 6, in conjunction with SEGA's quarterly financial report, confirming that the much-delayed title has finally been binned.

Why has Football Manager 25 been canceled?

Football Manager 25, or FM 25 in short, was expected to be the series's biggest technical and visual advancement, as it would have been based on the Unity engine. Unfortunately, the massive shift proved to be too big a challenge for the developers to conquer.

“Due to a variety of challenges that we’ve been open about to date, and many more unforeseen, we currently haven’t achieved what we set out to do in enough areas of the game, despite the phenomenal efforts of our team. Each decision to delay the release was made with the aim of getting the game closer to the desired level but, as we approached critical milestones at the turn of the year, it became unmistakably clear that we would not achieve the standard required, even with the adjusted timeline."

It appears that despite two previous delays, Sports Interactive has been unable to develop a product that will satisfy the players in every area possible.

“Whilst many areas of the game have hit our targets, the overarching player experience and interface is not where we need it to be. As extensive evaluation has demonstrated, including consumer playtesting, we have clear validation for the new direction of the game and are getting close – however, we’re too far away from the standards you deserve."

The developers seem to have been unwilling to launch Football Manager 25 in a state that would have compromised their reputation in the community.

“We could have pressed on, released FM25 in its current state, and fixed things down the line - but that’s not the right thing to do. We were also unwilling to go beyond a March release as it would be too late in the football season to expect players to then buy another game later in the year."

For the time being, players will have to contend themselves with Football Manager 24, albeit without any more updates or new content. But there are always mods to explore as the wait continues.

The post Football Manager 25 has been canceled a month before release appeared first on Destructoid.

Marvel Rivals' new update gave Captain America and Luna Snow some fantastic new costumes, but it also snuck in some bug fixes that ironed out a few hero-specific glitches. Among these was a fix to a pair of crippling issues plaguing everyone's goopy alien antihero, Venom.

Marvel Rivals' new patch fixes crippling glitches affecting Venom

Since launch, Venom has sat comfortably at or near the top of Marvel Rivals' meta, and as a Venom main, I agree with the consensus on this one. Recently, though, I and other Venom players have had issues with Spider-Man's perennial rivals' signature abilities.

The first of these glitches affects Venom's... well, Venom Swing, one of the essential tools in the Symbiote-suited warrior's move set. If you use this in tandem with his wall-climbing ability and his Frenzied Arrival attack, Venom stops being a pretty standard Vanguard and becomes a terrifying ambush hunter. Trust me; dropping on an unsuspecting enemy team like a Xenomorph fresh off a hunger strike is one of Marvel Rivals' greatest pleasures.

Unfortunately, it didn't take long for Marvel Rivals players to notice that Venom Swing doesn't always work how it should. Sometimes, Venom's wing doesn't stop when he hits a wall, which is supposed to end the swing and give him a chance to cling to the wall. This can lead to catastrophic physics failures like the one you see below.

Venom Swing wasn't the only trick in Venom's arsenal that came out of the oven undercooked. Venom's ultimate ability, Feast of the Abyss, can be one of the most devastating in the game. By diving below the earth and re-emerging with a mouth the size of an elephant, Venom can deal massive damage to a group of enemy players AND punch them into the air, leaving them stunned. But if you used the ability as soon as you submerged, you wouldn't inflict any damage or knock anyone off their feet. Which can turn what could have been a glorious group kill into an embarrassing death.

Luckily for Venom lovers, Marvel Rivals' newest patch has fixed both issues. Now that we know he won't end up like Wile E. Coyote after a nasty Acme shopping spree, we can put any fears that Venom might lose his throne at the summit of Marvel Rivals' tier list to bed.

The post Marvel Rivals’ February patch cures Venom glitches appeared first on Destructoid.

Who doesn't love a good roadmap? Rabbit & Bear Studios, the folks behind Suikoden spiritual successor Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, just laid out one of their own with dates for three upcoming story expansions.

Players won't have to wait too long for the updates, each focusing on one of three main characters. It all starts on February 27 with The Chapter of Marisa, a Marisa-centric expansion that spins a yarn about the character's encounter with an enchanted girl. What happens when the pair set out to dig through the secrets of the "Child of the Rune," and what sinister forces are at work behind the scenes?

After that, we have The Chapter of Seign to look forward to on March 13, tasking Seign with handling an issue within the Galdean empire. The Chapter of Markus closes things out on April 3, as Markus, Carrie, and Nowa investigate the strange realm beyond a newly unlocked teleportation gateway.

All three chapters will be available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PC. If you fancy continuing your adventure over the next few months, the story expansions will be priced at $7.99 each.

It's also worth noting that, according to the latest Kickstarter update, these scenarios are the last parts of the game that Suikoden and Eiyuden Chronicles creator Yoshitaka Murayama worked on directly. The industry veteran passed away on February 6, 2024, after dealing with "complications with an ongoing illness." Maruyama was very enthusiastic about the project, so it will no doubt be worth seeing how his final pieces of input shaped the DLC to come. 

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If you've been eagerly looking to play Avowed at 60fps at launch, there is some good news and some bad news.

Obsidian's upcoming project will be able to run at 60fps at launch on the Xbox Series X. That said, the performance you might get could fall way below your expectations if the game's director, Carrie Patel, is to be believed.

Avowed will finally run at 60 fps at launch on Xbox Series X

Talking on the MinnMax podcast, Patel said players can play the game on 60fps.

"You can get up to 60[fps]"

This news will be huge for those who will be playing on the Xbox Series X. Last time, Obsidian made it clear that Avowed will only run at 30fps at launch on the Xbox Series X. This news did disappoint some, as the Series X is the beefier console (compared to Series S).

Back then, the devs claimed that the game had become "a lot juicier" in development. This was cited as the main reason behind the limitation on frames per second. Something has definitely changed since, and players will be able to access higher fps, but there's a catch.

"You gotta accept a little jank to do something fun and creative, I think."

Hence, it's safe to assume that running the game at 60fps might be possible, but it might feel unoptimized. That said, it's still better that Series X users will at least have the feature to try and enjoy Avowed with higher fps. Any optimization issues are likely going to be sorted by Obsidian post-launch.

The upcoming title will be released on February 18 after a long delay (it was originally scheduled to launch towards the end of 2024). If you choose to purchase the Premium Edition, you can start your journey on February 13. The game will also be available from day one on the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.

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Most players would agree: guns are pretty darn important for Destiny 2. It may come as a surprise to some of the newer players, then, that the pinnacle of utility in the game was an Outlaw/Rampage combo for a while. Chris Proctor worked hard to change that, and succeeded.

It's hard to put into words just how straightforward and downright boring the Perk meta was for Destiny 2 earlier on, truly. Up until Shadowkeep or so, the only thing you really wanted on your gun was a potent reload perk and a reasonable damage perk, and that was it. When Chris Proctor took over weapons design and features back in 2019, however, this all changed, and so it's sad to hear that he's leaving Bungie for good. "In two weeks I'll be living in another country, and in four weeks I'll post an update from a new role," said Proctor over on LinkedIn.

Chris Proctor is leaving Bungie, moving to a different country

"Working at Bungie at all is the job of a lifetime, sandbox design even moreso, let alone owning Destiny weapons for 5 years and ending up as Sandbox Craft Lead at a studio with a legendary grasp of core gameplay," said Proctor in his announcement. "It's been a humbling experience, and the time of biggest growth in my career (and I reached 23 years in games, 20 as a designer this year). I can't recommend Bungie highly enough as a place to do amazing work with some of the most skilled game devs in the industry."

Often cited as one of the most personable and beloved Bungie employees among the Destiny 2 community members, Proctor made a name for himself by making guns genuinely interesting and engaging to use. And while it's true enough that you do still want them to reload faster and dish out more damage, it'd be silly to pretend Bungie hadn't made strides over the past couple of years. Predictably, the community is saddened by the fact that Proctor is moving on.

Proctor hasn't provided any information on what his next project might be, but he did say that he's about to embark on a "huge, international [move]," and that "it's an exciting time" for him.

Under Proctor's leadership, Bungie began introducing extremely potent and satisfying crowd control Perks such as Voltshot. To say nothing of Reconstruction, Bait & Switch, or Explosive Light, just to list a few. Though I'm certain Bungie would've improved things to some extent even without Proctor, the man knew his stuff, and it'll be interesting to see how Destiny 2's meta changes now that he's gone.

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Arrowhead Games has delivered the first big patch for Helldivers 2, which reintroduces emoting while flying, addresses the Dog Breath stratagem, and fixes bugs. The patch also secretly added new undocumented items to Helldivers 2, such as a shovel and a bug hole for Bile Titan spawns.

Helldivers 2 patch 01.002.101 brings a host of changes to the game. It increases the amount of starting and spare magazines by one, lets you toss grenades and stratagems from the FRV, and introduces several fixes to the maligned "Guard Dog" Dog Breath stratagem. Arrowhead announced in the patch notes that it's leaving the Siege Ready Armor Passive bug alone, and will merely change the description for it later.

You can check out the entire patch notes for more, but there are some items the update adds that didn't make the list.

Helldivers 2 players are digging the new shovel, but maybe not the Bile Titan bug holes

Following the patch, Helldivers 2 now includes what appears to be a folding shovel you can locate, equip, and definitely use as a weapon. But what else can it do? Why, dig holes, of course! The shovel in Helldivers 2 can be used to unearth buried samples. You can also just dig a hole if the need strikes you. At least one clever diver is already using the shovel to make their own defensive position. Trench warfare has arrived to Helldivers 2.

The patch also added bug holes from which Bile Titans can spawn. As shared by Reddit user KekKeanuReddit100, the new bug holes are massive, large enough for a mighty Bile Titan to crawl out from. Closing them off should be the number one priority for any diver not keen to get stomped on by several freshly spawned titans.

Helldivers 2 certainly isn't new to undocumented patch notes. Arrowhead has surprised players before by shadow-dropping things like flying Terminids and drivable Exosuits before the latter became available as a stratagem. Arrowhead likely won't stop with the latest patch, and there may be even more to discover. If you're keen on helping, there hasn't been a better time to grab a shovel and start digging.

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We've known for some time now that Capcom's next flagship release, Monster Hunter: Wilds, may be a pain in the butt to run. The previous beta wasn't performant at all, and though Capcom has performed some optimizations since the new set of hardware requirements doesn't give me much hope.

I haven't been hiding my annoyance at how hard to run Capcom's more recent RPGs have been, and so I was hoping that the team would manage to do some black magic to make Monster Hunter: Wilds easier to run. Thing is, it doesn't seem like Capcom's been able to do much in this respect after all, because the new set of system requirements is a real disappointment. The bottom line is that we should generally expect it to run more or less the same as Dragon's Dogma 2 did. Poorly, in other words.

Expect to have to use Frame-Gen to get 60 FPS in Monster Hunter: Wilds

Don't get me wrong, the "Recommended" set of PC system requirements for Monster Hunter: Wilds has been reduced by a smidge. Targeting the "Medium" settings preset at 1080P with a goal of maintaining 60 FPS, Capcom now recommends the RX 6600 or the RTX 2060 Super graphics cards (as opposed to the previous requirements' RX 6700XT and 2070 Super GPUs). Solid, right? The problem is that this 60 FPS target is still relying on some manner of frame-gen to actually reach the cap.

I've previously explained why relying on frame generation is a bad, bad time if you're even remotely sensitive to input latency, and Capcom just doesn't understand how frame-gen is supposed to be used in the first place. Broadly, even Nvidia recommends for its own branded, AI-driven DLFG to be used when you already have at least a baseline of 60 native FPS. Otherwise, you're just inviting extreme input latency, and games feel slow and sluggish. To say nothing of the extreme artifacting you're bound to get at such low frame rates.

And heck, if you take a gander at the "Ultra" settings preset for Monster Hunter: Wilds, we see the same exact problem pop up again. To run the game at an upscaled 4K resolution with a 60 FPS target, you'll still want to rely on frame generation to even reach the target in the first place. To accomplish this, Capcom recommends the RTX 4070Ti Super or the RX 7800 XT or higher, and it strikes me as quite ridiculous that these GPUs cannot get a reasonable frame rate without resorting to "fake" frames.

It's a mess, frankly, and this is precisely why AI-generated frames are getting a bad rep. All in all, then, I'm not happy at all with what Capcom is doing here, and if you're hoping for things to get better on launch day, I recommend taking a gander at what kind of performance people with RTX 5090s are getting. Heck, the Steam Deck can only reasonably run Monster Hunter Wilds at a striking 213x132 rendering resolution. I know it's a low-spec device, but good grief. So, in summary, I hope you've got a great rig, because Monster Hunter: Wilds sure does seem like a pain to run.

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After a few years of waiting, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 dropped, and it seems to be doing pretty well for itself. In the midst of thousands of players stepping back into the boots of Henry, developer Warhorse Studios has been getting praise from one of the industry's biggest names.

In a recent post on X, CD Projekt Red posted to its Witcher account to wish congratulations on the release of Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2. The heartfelt message also wishes for your blade to "always be sharp," and is accompanied by a friendly image of Geralt of Rivia embracing young Henry in what I can only describe as something the cool kids may refer to as some sort of "bromance." Correct me if I'm wrong, obviously.

Warhorse itself posted a response under this post, thanking CDPR for the kudos, adding that the team was "raising a glass to you now."

Kingdom Come: Johnny Silverhand edition

Interpret it as some sort of corporate publicity thing if you will, but it is quite nice to see some of gaming's biggest studios giving props when new titles come out. It probably helps that The Witcher and Kingdom Come series both have similar vibes and aesthetics. Watch out for a mod that plops Geralt right into the heart of Bohemia [citation needed].

As mentioned above, Deliverance 2 has been doing pretty well within the last 24 hours. According to recent data from SteamDB – which tracks all things related to Steam – the game peaked at nearly 160,000 players since yesterday. At the time of writing, about 130,000 Henries (plural) are adventuring.

By the way, if it's been a while since you played the original or you're completely new to the series (as I am), the studio very handily put out of Story Recap video recently. That should bring you up to speed before you go diving straight into Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2.

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Having been both bitten and burned by Destiny 2 in the past, I'm not one to judge a seasonal content drop based on my first impressions with it. That said, I have to admit that the new Nether activity feels awesome, and most of the community seems to agree.

There have been hints and murmurs about the potential quality of Destiny 2: Malice, granted. I very nearly fell off the Destiny ride myself a little while back: a decision that was only supported by the fact that Destiny 2: Revenant wasn't all that good. Thankfully, Malice is kicking things off with a bang, and Nether is currently the rather excellent capstone to the whole thing. In the broadest sense possible, The Nether is a kind of a mash-up between the Menagerie and The Coil, with a tiny bit of Onslaught thrown in for good measure. Exciting? Oh, you bet.

Bungie did a good job with Destiny 2: Heresy's Metroidvania Nether activity

While Bungie might've dabbled in Roguelite gameplay mechanics with prior seasonal releases, The Nether takes this concept about as far as Destiny 2 ever did. First things first, the fact that we get to explore the Dreadnaught once again is exciting in its own right, but The Nether combines the regular Patrol gameplay loop with features previously explored in Deep Dive and The Coil activities. The end result is an admittedly punishing, but satisfying and rewarding showcase of just how good Destiny 2 activities actually can be.

Playing my first few runs of The Nether, I was surprised with how much I enjoyed the darned thing, despite the fact that it's quite obtuse in some key ways. Even more surprising, however, was the fact that my experience wasn't a fluke: the Destiny 2 Reddit community seems to adore Nether so far, citing its excellent reward structure and an exciting gameplay loop. That's high praise, alright.

The big question, though, is whether The Nether will remain a high-point of Destiny 2: Heresy as we proceed deeper into the season. Regardless of how good it might be, a single activity is rarely enough to carry a whole seasonal release on its back, and Bungie's Final Shape offerings haven't been all that good so far if we're being honest.

Historically, the Destiny community has also been rather susceptible to enjoying honey-moon phases as Bungie rolls out new content. I'm not saying we'll all suddenly being to feel like The Nether sucks, mind, but I do think Heresy will need to show that it's got what it takes in other areas, too. As for how everything else, other than The Nether might pan out, It's decent stuff so far but it's still way too early to tell. A good showing for now, though, so kudos to Bungie this time around.

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Do you love spreading Managed Democracy so much that you'd sacrifice anything to achieve it? Well, friend, the Servants of Freedom Warbond for Helldivers 2 is what you need. And as you secure freedom for everyone on Super Earth, you can take as many of those undemocratic bastards with you.

The Helldivers 2: Servants of Freedom Warbond is coming this week on February 6, and it should provide plenty of bang for your buck. For the first time, you can choose what strategic target should be dusted by a Hellbomb. The Premium Warbond introduces the B-100 Portable Hellbomb backpack, which you or an ally can activate. Once you do, you have a 10-second countdown before the fireworks begin. You can drop the bomb at any objective or wade into a horde of enemies for one last send-off.

The Integrated Explosives armor passive also grants you one last, ear-splitting goodbye. When equipped with one of the two armors that come in the Warbond, death will cause your body to explode. Remember to practice social distancing with allies.

Everything in the Servants of Freedom Warbond

The Servants of Freedom Warbond comes with two new weapons, two new armor sets, a Raise Weapon victory pose, a new player title, and a seeker grenade. Both armors come with a helmet that mimics a stoic face.

The weapons coming with the Warbond are certainly interesting. The LAS-17 Double-Edge Sickle sounds like it lives up to its name: it's a Sickle that can harm its user. There's a charge meter on the side of the weapon, so I imagine the hotter it gets, the more it hurts to use. The GP-20 Ultimatum is a new secondary grenade pistol that launches a much more powerful shell at close range. Finally, you have the G-50 Seeker, a drone that follows you until an enemy gets close enough for an explosive hug.

Overall, the Helldivers 2: Servants of Freedom Warbond looks like it should really pop off. Look for it to arrive on February 6.

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Stop me if you've heard this one before. It's launch day for some new Destiny 2 content, but irrepressible error codes and server instability make the title impossible to access. That's what's playing out right now for Episode: Heresy, with the final Episode stumbling right out of the gates.

Destiny 2 really needs a win right about now. The live-service game hasn't had a good year, with mediocre, bug-filled Episodes replacing the old Seasonal model. The hope was that Bungie was saving the best for last, that Heresy would re-inspire some faith in players after months of negative press and controversies. However, the launch of Episode: Heresy did not inspire confidence, coming online with a slurry of error codes preventing most players from doing much more than reaching Orbit.

Server maintenance has been extended

While it doesn't seem like the vast majority of players can access the new content Episode: Heresy brings or remain in-game to do much else, Bungie is aware of the situation. Almost immediately after the Episode went live, the studio initially commented on X via its Bungie Help account, noting, "We're currently investigating stability issues and a rise in various errors codes, including PLUM. More information will be provided when available."

It seems that in addition to the instability brought alongside the Heresy update, some other aspects of the game might have been broken, too. The team accidentally turned back on elemental surges in Raids, which had been a previous controversy side-stepped by disabling the modifiers. As of now, it appears as though elemental surges are enabled in most Raids but not all. Unfortunately, a fix will have to go by the wayside while Bungie irons out the stability issues miring Episode: Heresy.

"Note, today's server and stability issues are our top priority to fix," the studio explained. "We appreciate your patience while we continue our investigation." From there, it wasn't too much longer before Bungie officially extended official Destiny 2 downtime. Hopefully, this immediate snafu isn't the first taste of what players can expect from the new Episode. 

Destiny 2 is certainly no stranger to server issues or extended downtime, especially surrounding the launch of new content, but this was not the time to fall back into old habits. Either way, Heresy did not create the best first impressions right out of the gate.

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The trailer for The Fantastic Four: First Steps starring Pedro Pascal and Vanessa Kirby is finally out, and it looks pretty neat. Unfortunately, however, Disney decided to pair that cool Nostalgia trip to Marvel's golden age with this poster:

Catch anything strange? Upon first glance, the poster's only fault is the blandness permeating its every pixel. If you go all CSI on it, though, you'll find a bigger issue. As pointed out by Wayne Talbot on Bluesky, this weak sauce poster was actually the work of what tech bros call a highly advanced AI.

Sadly, Gen AI is already decent enough at generating human fingers most of the time, but that's been the go-to way of spotting whether an image has been generated via AI for a while. The four fingers of the person holding that flag are a dead giveaway. This means Disney not only used AI, it also couldn't be bothered to use the best type of Gen AI — or didn't use it very well.

Even worse, Disney might've tried to correct this mistake by making it dumber. Gen AI is known for creating monstrosities anywhere it goes, but it's not used to repeating people's faces — it usually just steals and clones the faces of two different people! So, this seems to suggest Disney used Gen AI to make the poster, then had some poor artist dig into that crap to cover up some issue by doubling a poor woman's face.

We'll likely never know exactly what transpired behind the scenes to cause this poster to come out the way it did, but we're pretty sure it was stupid.

I never thought I'd say this, but I sure do miss the time when Marvel movies had posters that sucked ass in a completely normal and non-insidious way.

Well, at least the trailer still looks pretty good.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps releases on July 25.

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Atari is digging into its catalog of classics for another revival. This time it's the 1976 arcade game Breakout, which is coming back in style to spare thanks to the folks behind the BIT.TRIP series.

Developer Choice Provisions' take on the arcade block-buster is titled Breakout Beyond, and at a glance, it's reminiscent of a few revivals that have opted for similarly explosive aesthetics. The gameplay itself is built upon the same core concept, but Beyond fires from its unassuming paddle with ricocheting lightning bolts and dynamic bursts of fireworks.

Oh yeah, and Breakout now plays horizontally, so there's that, too. Here's a look at how the colorful means of progression looks in action: 

Movement and destruction looks suitably chaotic despite the simplistic underpinnings, and it's all set to the rhythm of procedural audio and visual effects. As players move across the screen, they'll be tasked with building up combos to break through barriers so they can clear a path to the final goal. Special blocks are scattered throughout the arena, too, providing bonuses like brick-clearing explosions, protective barriers, and a laser cannon. 

Breakout Beyond boasts 72 levels in total, all of which are available to challenge solo or cooperatively with another player. From the short burst we get to see in the above trailer, co-op looks to make the proceedings even more chaotic, with the second player positioned to ricochet side-by-side or strategically placed behind or in front of their partner. 

There's no concrete release date at this time other than being due out "later this year." When Breakout Beyond launches, it'll be available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, PC, and Atari VCS.

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We typically only get to hear the main cast of the original Metal Gear Solid games in one place when we're replaying the classics. Three of the key voice actors are having a bit of a reunion soon, however, thanks to a new Metroidvania called SteamDolls: Order of Chaos.

Appropriately enough, this one is billed as a stealth-action platformer, so we're still technically on a stealth mission. This particular mission is now set to enter Early Access on February 11. The main cast in the latest from French-Belgian studio The Shady Gentleman includes David Hayter as The Whisper alongside Christopher Randolph and Jennifer Hale. Anyone nostalgic for the staccato burst of a patrolling exclamation point will recognize those names as the respective voices behind Solid Snake, Otacon, and Naomi Hunter.

You can hear how their voices sound in the context of the gritty, shadowed world of SteamDolls in the new release date trailer below.

The Shady Gentleman first cooked SteamDolls up with inspiration from a comic book before taking the title to Kickstarter. Its campaign ended back in July 2020 with €94,828 pledged of a €30,000 goal, and the team originally had a projected delivery of May 2021. That didn't happen, but hopefully, the wait will have been worth it once it drops in a matter of days.

According to the announcement, players who dive into Early Access can expect to play through six chapters of the game. That adds up to around five to seven hours of content, and the devs are hoping to use the feedback from this period to further refine everything for the eventual 1.0 launch. A free demo is still available, too, so you can hop in and hear that gravelly Hayter tone you know and love right now.   

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The sequel to 2018's Kingdom Come: Deliverance – conveniently called Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 – will be dropping today. Now, it's been a few years since the first game, so what if you've forgotten the story? Or, what if, like me, you're not familiar with the original?

Well, fear not. Developer Warhorse Studios has evidently taken that into account by providing a handy Story Recap. Whether you're new to the series or just need a reminder, the below 10-minute video will bring you up to speed, just in time for the sequel.

You'll be taken all the way back to the events of the first Kingdom Come: Deliverance, which followed Henry on a quest to avenge the murder of his father. We get to see him join the service of Lord Radzig Kobyla, as he seeks to retrieve his father's sword while fighting in the resistance.

The deliverance of plot

According to Steam, Deliverance 2 is scheduled to release in just a few hours. The sequel follows on directly from the first game, which will see you take on the role of Henry once more, as he, again, embarks on a "journey of epic proportions."

The Story Recap, despite being 10 minutes long, is actually a really handy way to learn all you need to know before diving into the new release. I must admit, having not played Kingdom Come: Deliverance, I find it quite useful – and refreshing – that Warhorse Studios has seen to make sure nobody has to go into the sequel blind.

It also answers the question I had hanging above me about whether you needed to play the first game in the series in order to enjoy this one. If anything, having the story recapped for me in a convenient video format only makes me want to play Deliverance 2 more. The last time I saw a developer doing something like this was for Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. But maybe I've not been paying enough attention to sequels recently.

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It feels like the announcement of the Nintendo Switch 2 was a long time coming. We've been anticipating it for a few years now, especially with the OG Switch now very much reaching the end of its lifecycle.

In fact, sales of the hybrid console suggest everyone's on tenterhooks, just waiting for the arrival of the Switch 2. In a recent financial report, Nintendo said that sales have decreased once more, with net profits down by 31.4% year-on-year.

A further statement in the report says that sales from the company's "game console business decreased by 31.7% year-on-year to 895.5 billion yen." Nintendo even saw a decrease in "mobile and IP related income," which is being blamed on a decrease in sales on the likes of The Super Mario Bros. Movie that was released in April 2023.

Switching over

Despite even sales of the Nintendo Switch OLED edition dropping when compared to the last financial year, it wasn't all bad news. Sure, sales of Nintendo first-party games also dipped somewhat, but the likes of Super Mario Jamboree and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe have now sold 6.17 million and 5.38 million units, respectively.

In fact, according to the report, Jamboree's "cumulative global sell-through" exceeded 5.6 million copies within the first eleven weeks of its release. This means it surpassed the "pace of sales" when compared to other Switch games like Super Mario Party and Mario Party Superstars.

However, the decline in sales overall won't come as a great surprise to many. It seems fairly clear that the gaming industry is just now waiting for the release of the Switch 2.

Nintendo announced the follow-up system recently, but we don't have a release date for it yet. We've been told it's coming sometime this year and that more details are to follow at the next Nintendo Direct, which is scheduled for April. No doubt, sales of the original Switch are only going to decline as we go forward.

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Not all DPS characters are made equal in Genshin Impact, and we have a pretty comprehensive list of who’s strong and who isn’t. But one strange interaction between an ability and a consumable item has elevated a certain Traveler from the bottom of the rankings to the top.

Hydro Traveler’s lantern bomb

Genshin Impact is currently celebrating the lunar new year with its annual Lantern Rite event. As part of the event, players can purchase items called Xiao Lanterns from an NPC in Liyue. Older players might even have some Xiao Lanterns stockpiled from the very first Lantern Rite event in 2021. Xiao Lanterns are consumable items that, when used from the inventory, summon pretty paper lanterns that float gently into the sky. You can summon as many Xiao Lanterns as you like, filling the sky with a cloud of lanterns until they despawn a few seconds later.

Well, if you create several Xiao Lanterns on top of an enemy and then use Hydro Traveler’s Burst, you can deal many instances of Hydro damage in quick succession. The damage is enough to decimate the toughest enemies and possibly crash your game. The sheer number of lanterns can cause massive amounts of lag, too.

How does the Hydro Traveler bug work?

There are two theories for how the Hydro Traveler/Xiao Lantern interaction works. Hydro Traveler’s Burst is usually pretty mediocre. It creates a moving ball of water that, while decently powerful, passes through enemies too quickly to deal meaningful damage. When the ball of water first hits an entity, it triggers one tick of AoE damage. Additional damage is dealt at a fixed rate if the enemy remains within the water bubble as it moves forward.

The first theory is that Xiao Lanterns are coded as unique entities, so when the ball of water hits a lantern, it triggers an instance of damage. Multiply this by several dozen lanterns, and you get lots of damage ticks at once. This explains the rapid rate of damage that outpaces the ability’s normal tick rate.

The second theory is that Xiao Lanterns are physically stopping the ball of water from passing through the enemy. The lanterns have collision, so a wall of lanterns can prevent Hydro Traveler’s Burst from moving forward, forcing the enemy to take repeated ticks of damage. While this interaction may be happening, it doesn’t explain how so much damage happens at once, well beyond the typical tick rate for a Hydro Traveler Burst.

Will Hydro Traveler be patched?

As of writing, Genshin Impact’s developer HoYoverse has not acknowledged any issues with Hydro Traveler or Xiao Lanterns. It’s unclear if this interaction will be patched, since Xiao Lanterns are only available for purchase for a limited time. Items like Xiao Lanterns can’t be used in the Spiral Abyss, either, limiting where this strategy can be used.

I don’t recommend trying to trigger this bug yourself. It’s clearly unintended behavior, and HoYoverse has a history of cracking down on players who exploit bugs to gain an advantage. Your account may face a temporary or permanent ban. In the meantime, let’s just wait and see if we get apologems in the mail.

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The Seafood Salad Disney Dreamlight Valley recipe is a fantastic healthy option for your friends like Donald and Mulan. You'll only need two ingredients to create this dish, thankfully.

Seafood Salad Disney Dreamlight Valley ingredients

To create the two-star meal Seafood Salad, you'll need two ingredients. They include:

• Any Seafood (Squid, Lobster, etc)
• Lettuce

Lettuce is easy to find. You can buy the seeds for 3 Star Coins from Goofy's Stall in the Peaceful Meadow. You may also be lucky and be able to purchase the actual ingredient itself. Thankfully, the seeds don't take long to grow after being planted and watered. The growing process takes just three minutes.

You can use any seafood for this dish. One important thing to note, however, is that fish don't count towards the Seafood Salad. You'll need to catch lobsters, squid, basically anything without fins. Clams, Oysters, and Scallops are the easiest to find as they can be picked up from the sand at Dazzle Beach.

If you want the dish to be more valuable, however, you may want to find Lobsters instead. You can find the crustacean in the Glade of Trust within orange ripples. Use your fishing rod and try to catch the lobster.

By the way, you should hang out with a valley friend who has the fishing specialty on them. Not only will their friendship level progress, but they have a chance to double your catch, so you can get two lobsters with one cast.

Create the dish

Head to any cooking station within Chez Remy or your house and chuck both ingredients in the pot. You'll then have the Seafood Salad ready to eat. If you have Lobster in your dish, you can sell it at Goofy's Stall for 1,245 Star Coins or eat it for 2,865 Energy.

Have spare lobsters in your bag? You can make an awesome Lobster Roll. It probably won't beat the one I had in Boston though!

The post How to make Seafood Salad in Disney Dreamlight Valley appeared first on Destructoid.

I'll be the first to admit that Destiny 2 isn't in the best of states right now, what with all the hubbub around its post-Final Shape seasonal releases. Yet, there's no denying the fact that the fancy new Heresy trailer is every bit as cool as Destiny's very best showpieces.

Seriously, though, Destiny 2: Heresy's launch trailer is an impressive piece of marketing kit. It looks stunning, to begin with, and even if you're a total newcomer to the series, the setup is quite obvious. For the veterans among us, hearing Oryx, the Taken King, speak again is awesome. Somewhat curious, too, as we've been told time and again that Oryx had been killed for good, never to return again. So much for that, eh?

Jump straight into Destiny 2: Heresy on February 4 to help (?) Oryx, somehow

Granted, it's quite unclear as of yet whether Oryx has properly returned, or if this is just an expy of some sort. Regardless, it's not just refreshing to have the old Hive god back, but also to see him in a kind of a support role to the Guardians' efforts. As per the trailer, the Guardians are seemingly going to have to work alongside Oryx to secure his power to Take, as well as ridding the Dreadnaught of his newfound Dread infestation.

One of the things I appreciate the most about the trailer is that the two featured vendor NPCs aren't just standing around, waxing poetic. One of Destiny's biggest problems, as far as cutscenes go, was that the characters would actually do something only on very select occassions, making it all seem very wooden and unconvincing.

Here, we've got Eris being attacked by a major Dread enemy, the Drifter doing a Leap of Fate straight into nothingness, and a whole bevy of other animation goodness. It's not a huge deal for Destiny 2: Heresy's longevity, no, but it sure as heck is neat to see.

Episode: Heresy is set to release on Tuesday, February 4, as part of Destiny 2's new weekly reset. If you, too, are hyped to see Oryx return and want to check out if this is the content drop we've all been waiting for, you know what to do.

The post Destiny 2: Heresy’s launch trailer is here, and it is rad appeared first on Destructoid.

There's something to be said about STALKER's modding community: it perseveres, no matter what. Even when the IP was in limbo, people kept making awesome mods such as the fully open-world and sandbox Call of Chernobyl. Though STALKER 2 hasn't had anything like that up until now, that's all changing.

As strange as it may sound, none of the STALKER games have released with a proper, full-featured sandbox mode. Sure, Call of Pripyat had post-campaign content if you played your cards right, but that was an exception to the rule. In fact, even STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl has an actual point-of-no-return, which came as a big disappointment to yours truly in particular. Thankfully, the STALKER modding scene knows that this game's true value lies in free-form sandbox goodness, and so the first free-play STALKER 2 mod is already here. Courtesy of modder Ekkaia, the aptly titled "New Game Start - A Free Play Mode Attempt" is a highly experimental experience that, nonetheless, made its way straight to the top of my must-have list of mods, among other goodies.

Get the "New Game Start - A Free Play Mode Attempt" mod for STALKER 2 today and unlock its sandbox potential

Ekkaia's New Game Start mod is pretty much a Call of Chernobyl (or GAMMA, or Anomaly, as it were) type experience for GSC Game World's latest and greatest. It's very much a work-in-progress type of thing, mind, though I am happy to report that it's not nearly as janky and broken as, say, Project Zomboid's admittedly awesome Week One mod.

Setting inherent modding jankiness aside for a little bit, Ekkaia's efforts have been directed simply at giving us a proper sandbox survival experience that befits STALKER's Exclusion Zone. To that end, the mod tears out the main story of STALKER 2, its intro missions and tutorials, and Skif himself. Players simply get to choose their starting location, faction, faction rank, loadout, and a few other tidbits before being thrown into the Zone to survive for as long as possible. New Game Start is, of course, designed to work with a host of other mods, but don't expect it to work reliably just yet.

As Ekkaia puts it: "I know there are still many downsides, but I want to publish a "first version" the best I can, like a "proof of concept"," they said. Ekkaia also explains that New Game Start is supposed to be a "wake-up call for community collaboration," which means they're hoping to get more people working on the project as soon as possible.

In summary, then, do expect our very first chance to play STALKER 2 without being constrained by the main story. Do not expect a highly polished and optimized experience at any level, however. Note that it'll get broken often, too, as GSC Game World itself is still patching the game rather heavily.

This is all well and good, of course, but boy howdy does New Game Start - A Free Play Mode Attempt need a different title. How about Call of Chornobyl, perhaps?

The post STALKER 2’s first open-world free-play mod is here appeared first on Destructoid.