*** NEW CONTEST ***

HEXUS EPIC GIVEAWAY Day 33: Win an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti https://hexus.net/tech/features/graphics/124877-day-33-win-nvidia-geforce-rtx-2080-ti/

And this contest is GLOBAL, so everyone can take part in it!

Here come the Friday news:

SALES & DEALS

What Remains of Edith Finch is free on Epic’s store, A Story About My Uncle free on Humble Bundle
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/what-remains-of-edith-finch-is-free-on-epics-store-a-story-about-my-uncle-free-on-humble-bundle/
Epic Games and Humble Bundle are currently offering for free What Remains of Edith Finch and A Story About My Uncle on their stores, respectively. What Remains of Edith Finch is free until January 24th, whereas A Story About My Uncle is free until January 12th.
>> The Humble Store's Winter Sale will last until January 24th, and you can win the games Teslagrad and Desync with your purchases. Check them out: humblebundle.com/store.

Blast Zone! Tournament, a Bomberman-style competitive game, is free to keep on Steam at the moment
https://www.pcgamer.com/blast-zone-tournament-a-bomberman-style-competitive-game-is-free-to-keep-on-steam-at-the-moment/
Blast Zone! Tournament is a Bomberman-style competitive game which, although it does boast a single-player component, makes no secret of its esports aspirations. It's been in Early Access for a while, and the studio Victory Lap Games writes that the stint was designed to help gain feedback "to help us turn Blast Zone! Tournament into the next big esport."
Presumably in aid of that goal, Blast Zone! Tournament is currently free-to-keep on Steam. So long as you add the game to your inventory before January 16, you won't have to pay the US$19.99 asking price. Then, on February 28, the game will exit Early Access. The game will boast crossplay with PS4 and Xbox One (though if I understand correctly, not between all three at the same time – PS4 and Xbox don't play nicely, yet).
>> Here's the Steam page of the game.

At Fanatical, there are a bunch of new deals

• The Star Deal is Injustice 2 - Legendary Edition, 70% off for the next 48 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/injustice-2-legendary-edition
• The star deal is part of a Warner Bros Sale with up to 75% discounts: https://www.fanatical.com/en/publishers/warner-bros.-interactive-entertainment
• Darksiders III is 20% off for the next two days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/darksiders-iii
• Beholder 2 is going to be 30% off for the next 7 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/beholder-2
• Lastly, Quantum Break is 75% off for the next 2 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/quantum-break

SOFTWARE/DRIVERS

AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition 19.1.1 released, improves performance in Fortnite
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/amd-radeon-software-adrenalin-2019-edition-19-1-1-released-improves-performance-in-fortnite/
AMD has released a brand new driver for its graphics cards. According to the release notes, the AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition 19.1.1 driver improves performance in Fortnite by up to 4% on the Radeon RX 580 and by up to 3% on the Radeon RX Vega 64 graphics cards.
This driver also addresses the system lag issues that some gamers have been experiencing when Alt+Tab was used during gameplay, some screen tearing issues with Enhanced Sync enabled on Vulkan API game, a crash issue related to the Radeon Settings when clicking the restart button after a driver installation or while switching between some Radeon WattMan tabs when changing fan settings and more.
>> Available from here.

Unity says licensing change will not affect developers using SpatialOS (Updated)
https://www.pcgamer.com/spatialos-games-on-unity-are-at-risk-because-of-a-licensing-change/
A change to Unity’s terms of service late last year means that SpatialOS, a cloud platform used in MMOs, can no longer be used with the Unity engine, jeopardising any Unity games that rely on the platform. In-development sci-fi MMO Lazarus has already shut down its servers for the time being.
“All existing SpatialOS games using Unity, including production games and in development games of all developers, are now in breach of Unity’s license terms,” SpatialOS developer Improbable said in an announcement today. Unity clarified the change yesterday, making it a breach of terms to operate or make games using SpatialOS in Unity.
This won’t affect developers using SpatialOS in other engines, such as UE4 and the CryEngine, and Improbable says it’s currently working with other engine creators to see if games affected could transition to an alternative engine.
>> The story has been updated 4 times. Check it out to know all what has happened. Well, almost all, because...

After spat with Unity, Improbable teams up with Epic Games for $25m 'transition' fund
https://www.pcgamer.com/after-spat-with-unity-improbable-teams-up-with-epic-games-for-dollar25m-transition-fund/
Improbable and Epic Games have announced a surprise new $25,000,000 fund "to help developers transition to more open engines, services, and ecosystems". The announcement comes just hours after a public war of words between Improbable and Unity, after the former claimed that a recent change in Unity's terms of service rendered its SpatialOS technology in breach of Unity's terms – and thus potentially fatal to SpatialOS / Unity titles including Lazarus and Worlds Adrift.
>> Epic and "more open engines" doesn't add up.

MODS/EMULATORS

-empty-

GAMING NEWS

Multiplayer mode for ACE COMBAT 7: Skies Unknown detailed
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/multiplayer-mode-for-ace-combat-7-skies-unknown-detailed/
Bandai Namco has detailed the multiplayer mode of ACE COMBAT 7: Skies Unknown. According to the press release, ACE COMBAT 7: Skies Unknown’s multiplayer mode will consist of two gameplay variants; the first variant takes on a team death match format featuring 4 vs. 4 dogfights.

Atomic Heart – Real-time RTX Tech Demo CES 2019
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/atomic-heart-real-time-rtx-tech-demo-ces-2019/
At CES 2019, NVIDIA showcased – once again – the real-time ray tracing effects that will be featured in Atomic Heart. Mundfish will be using RTX for real-time ray tracing reflections and refractions, as well as for its dynamic shadows.

Bungie gains the rights of the Destiny IP franchise from Activision, will self-publish all Destiny games
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/bungie-gains-the-rights-of-the-destiny-ip-franchise-from-activision-will-self-publish-all-destiny-games/
Bungie has announced that its Destiny games will no longer be published by Activision. Instead, the development team has gained all the IP rights for this franchise and will self-publish all future Destiny games.
>> flashfire926 made a thread about it yesterday.

Resident Evil 2 – 26-minute video comparison between Remake and Original versions
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/resident-evil-2-26-minute-comparison-video-between-remake-and-original-versions/
YouTube’s ‘Cycu1’ has released a comparison video between the Remake and the Original versions of Resident Evil 2. This video shows the entire 1-Shot Demo (the PC demo will release in around 9 hours on Steam) so I strongly suggest avoiding it in case you want to experience it yourselves.

Assetto Corsa Competizione – In-game versus Reality comparison screenshots
https://www.dsogaming.com/screenshot-news/assetto-corsa-competizione-in-game-versus-reality-comparison-screenshots/
KUNOS Simulazioni will release next week the Circuit Zolder to Assetto Corsa Competizione and in order to celebrate it, the team released some comparison screenshots between the in-game and the real track.

Friday news, part two and last:

Old School RuneScape gets a new frontier in the latest update
https://www.pcgamer.com/old-school-runescape-gets-a-new-frontier-in-the-latest-update/
Old School RuneScape’s sprouted a new region today. The Kebos Lowlands is part of the MMO's first big update since it went multiplatform and launched a mobile edition in October last year. Expect a new town needing help, monsters needing slayed and a new dungeon waiting to be delved into.

An Atlas bug gave NPC ships rapid-fire cannons that obliterated players in seconds
https://www.pcgamer.com/an-atlas-bug-gave-npc-ships-rapid-fire-cannons-that-obliterated-players-in-seconds/
Yesterday evening, Atlas developers Grapeshot Games released their 10.71 patch which contained a few minor tweaks and one very fatal—and hilarious—bug (which is now fixed). Upon logging back into the game, players who engaged the hostile Ships of the Damned quickly realized something was very wrong. Normally, these NPC ships prowl the open sea and are a great target for higher-level players looking for a ship battle. But after patch 10.71, these ghost ships were incidentally equipped with rapid-fire cannons with an infinite ammo supply. Players who got too close were quickly slaughtered in a hail of rapid cannon fire.

THQ Nordic starts the year by acquiring 1999 action-adventure Outcast
https://www.pcgamer.com/thq-nordic-starts-the-year-by-acquiring-1999-action-adventure-outcast/
In its quest to grab every game license under the sun, THQ Nordic has snatched up the rights to classic open-world adventure Outcast, acquiring it from its three original creators. Outcast launched way back in 1999, getting great reviews at the time, though not sales. There have been attempts to bring it back, including a remake, Outcast: Second Contact, and a shelved sequel, Outcast 2: The Lost Paradise.

Return of the Obra Dinn claims six DICE Award nominations
https://www.pcgamer.com/return-of-the-obra-dinn-claims-six-dice-award-nominations/
The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences has announced the nominees for the 22nd Annual DICE Awards, led by (this might sound familiar) God of War with 12 nominations. Following close behind is Marvel's Spider-Man with 11, Red Dead Redemption 2 with eight, and this year's champion of the PC contenders, Return of the Obra Dinn, with six.

Mike Morhaime is leaving Blizzard for good in April
https://www.pcgamer.com/mike-morhaime-is-leaving-blizzard-for-good-in-april/
Blizzard Entertainment co-founder and former president Mike Morhaime announced in October 2018 that he had stepped down from his long-held position, but would remain as a strategic advisor, expressing love and admiration for the company. How long he would remain wasn't made clear at that time, but an Activision Blizzard SEC filing made earlier this week reveals that Morhaime's position as advisor will come to an end in a few months.

Pikuniku, a 'delightfully dystopian' puzzle game, releases later this month
https://www.pcgamer.com/pikuniku-a-delightfully-dystopian-puzzle-game-releases-later-this-month/
Described as a "delightful dystopian adventure", Pikuniku is a vibrantly coloured puzzle game with a cheerful-but-knowing Adult Swim mood about it. Published by Devolver, it'll launch on Steam and GOG on January 24.
>> Since they only list the Steam link, here's the GOG one.

Make weird art for an AI in Art Sqool next month
https://www.pcgamer.com/make-weird-art-for-an-ai-in-art-sqool-next-month/
I’ve always wondered what the art students were up to when I was dozing through ancient history lectures. Art Sqool finally offers some insight into the mysterious lives of burgeoning artists by letting everyone become one. You’ll be able to wander the alien campus, get assignments and then watch as an AI educator and critic grades your great works when Art Sqool launches on February 5. Check out the trailer above.

Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2 trailer digs into the grand strategy campaigns
https://www.pcgamer.com/battlefleet-gothic-armada-2-trailer-digs-into-the-grand-strategy-campaigns/
Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2 seems to have grand strategy ambitions, judging by the new campaign trailer above. Where the first game features a single, Imperium-only campaign that linked the space battles together, Armada 2 boasts three ‘grand’ campaigns for five out of the 12 playable factions, full of systems and worlds waiting to be conquered before fuelling the endless war.

Riot is letting players keep League of Legends skin capsules that were mistakenly given out for free
https://www.pcgamer.com/riot-is-letting-players-keep-league-of-legends-skin-capsules-that-were-mistakenly-given-out-for-free/
An error on the League of Legends store allowed players to get skins effectively for free, and while Riot has now fixed the mistake, it’s letting people who used the exploit keep their purchases. While that’s good news for everyone who took advantage of the fleeting bargain, some players who had to shell out real cash for their skins aren’t pleased.

Total War: Three Kingdoms' new trailer takes us on a scenic tour of China
https://www.pcgamer.com/total-war-three-kingdoms-new-trailer-takes-us-on-a-scenic-tour-of-china/
Total War: Three Kingdoms’ latest cinematic trailer has a noticeable dearth of the series’ key ingredient: war. Instead, it’s a journey through China’s diverse landscape with not a single blood-soaked battlefield in sight. It’s above, so give it a watch if you want to look at pretty mountains and stuff.

Let's check now the deals that GOG and Steam have for us this weekend:

+GOG

• The weekly sale, First of the Year, offers up to 80% discounts: https://www.gog.com/promo/20190107_weekly_sale
• The weekend sale, Player's Digest, is full of adventure games up to 75% off: https://www.gog.com/promo/20190111_weekend_sale
• And the Darksiders franchise is on sale, up to 85% discounts (but the latest game is "only" 20% off) until Monday: https://www.gog.com/promo/20190111_darksiders

+Steam

• The daily deal is a Sonic the Hedgehog franchise sale, with discounts between 75 and 85%: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/sonic/
• The Eaarly Access title Raft is 20% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/648800/Raft/
• Celeste is 25% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/504230/Celeste/
• Disc Jam is free to try, and also 60% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/415880/Disc_Jam/
• And of course, we can't forget about the weeklong deals.

And that's it. Have a happy and gaming weekend.

I'm quoting myself because Steam is offering this same game for free for all of us until January 14th (7 pm., UTC+1).

Something must be going on with this game/developer.

Neat, now I can actually play more of the demo:

https://www.dsogaming.com/news/resident-evil-2-remake-pc-demo-is-available-and-its-30-minute-limitation-has-already-been-cracked/

Apparently, Slightly Mad Studios has decided the final form of its Mad Box console... even though they said that they weren't sure about what hardware they were going to use.

Looks like an expensive case.

That thing has Steam Machines written all over it ...

It looks horrendous. Like some 12yr old was allowed to design it.

Monday has come, so here's another edition of the news:

SALES & DEALS

Steam's Top 10

1. PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS
2. RESIDENT EVIL 2 / BIOHAZARD RE:2
3. Survivor Pass: Vikendi
4. Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition
5. Grand Theft Auto V
6. ATLAS
7. Raft
8. MONSTER HUNTER: WORLD
9. Insurgency: Sandstorm
10. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege - Year 4 Pass

The Jackbox Party Pack is the next free game from the Epic Games Store
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-jackbox-party-pack-is-the-next-free-game-from-the-epic-games-store/
I’ve never played a Jackbox game—I don’t trust mirth—but I do like free things, and Epic will be giving the original Jackbox Party Pack away for free on January 24. You’ll only have until February 7 to pick it up, but all the time in the world to try and find some real human friends to play it with.
Like What Remains of Edith Finch, all you’ll need is an Epic account, which you might already have, and you’ll net yourself the game. It’s a compilation of games, really, and includes You Don’t Know Jack, Drawful, Word Spud, Lie Swatter and Fibbage.

GOG's new weekly sale, called New Year, New Loot, brings up to 75% discounts: https://www.gog.com/promo/20190114_weekly_sale

Steam's daily deal is Not Tonight, 25% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/733790/Not_Tonight/

And at Fanatical, there are 3 new deals:

• The Star Deal is Cyberdimension Neptunia: 4 Goddesses Online, 87% off for the next 48 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/cyberdimension-neptunia-4-goddesses-online
• The above deal is part of the idea factory publisher sale, with up to 90% discounts for the next 7 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/publishers/idea-factory-international
• There's a new bundle, the Deception Bundle featuring 8 games up to 97% discount for the next 14 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/deception-bundle

SOFTWARE/DRIVERS

Reports suggest Amazon is developing a game streaming service
https://www.pcgamer.com/reports-suggest-amazon-is-developing-a-game-streaming-service/
Multiple reports claim Amazon is developing a game streaming service, joining the likes of Microsoft’s Project xCloud and Google’s Project Stream, with the company already in talks with publishers about adding their libraries to the platform. And It could be out as early as next year.
While Amazon has yet to comment, the reports from The Information and Deadline say multiple sources familiar with the project have confirmed its existence, though details are sparse.

Epic Games Store now allows refunds 'for any reason'
https://www.pcgamer.com/epic-games-store-now-allows-refunds-for-any-reason/
Epic Games has updated its store refund policy to bring it in line with Steam's "for any reason" refund policy: If you bought it from the Epic Store, you can claim a refund as long as the request is made within 14 days of purchase, and the game has less than two hours of playtime on it.
"Any game your purchase through the Epic Games Store is eligible for a refund," the updated policy states. "If you receive a refund for a game, you will also receive a refund for all in-app and downloadable content purchases you made through the Epic Games store for that game, so long as that content has not been consumed, modified, or transferred."
>> They've fixed that flaw fast.

Steam now has 30,000 games
https://www.pcgamer.com/steam-now-has-30000-games/
Quietly, softly, some time in the past few weeks, Steam has reached a grand total of over 30,000 games. That sum is just games, mind you, and doesn’t include software, DLC, or videos (That total is about 21,000 more things.) That’s one game for every inhabitant of Kent, Ohio; Hatfield, Hertfordshire; or Dubbo, New South Wales. It’s not an immediately relevant milestone, but it is noteworthy just how much of that total came from releases in the last year or two. According to Steamspy about 9,300 games released in 2018, while about 6,700 released in 2017. That means that over half, roughly 53% of the games on Steam, came out in the two years since the advent of Steam Direct.

MODS/EMULATORS

God of War 3 is almost playable on the PC, sees up to 100% performance boost in latest version of RPCS3
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/god-of-war-3-is-almost-playable-on-the-pc-sees-up-to-100-performance-boost-in-latest-version-of-rpcs3/
The team behind the best Playstation 3 emulator for the PC, RPCS3, has released a new video showcasing the major improvements that have been implemented for God of War 3 in the latest version of the emulator.
According to the team, and thanks to user Nekotekina, games like God of War 3, Sly Cooper Thieves in Time, WipEout and more – which previously broke when using SPU LLVM when the slow “Accurate Xfloat” setting was disabled – have been fixed by approximating xfloat. As such, this resulted in a major performance improvement when using the SPU LLVM Recompiler with a large number of games.
Now while God of War 3 runs better now on the PC – via the emulator of course – than it did before, there are still some slowdowns that need to be addressed. So yeah, while the game is closer to be listed as “playable” right now, it will take a while until we are able to play the game with 60fps.

Red Dead Redemption now runs on the latest version of the Xbox 360 emulator, Xenia
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/red-dead-redemption-now-runs-on-the-latest-version-of-the-xbox-360-emulator-xenia/
For a long time, PC gamers relied on the Playstation 3 emulator, RPCS3, in order to play (or should I say test) Red Dead Redemption. However, things have changed as the Xbox 360 emulator, Xenia, is also able to boot and run Rockstar’s old-gen game.
John GodGames Emus has shared a video, showing the game running with 30fps on an Intel Core i7 8700K @ 5.0 Ghz with 32GB of DDR4 3600MHz RAM, an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 G1 Gaming 8GB GPU and Windows 10 64bit.
From the looks of it, Xenia can actually run the game better than RPCS3. However, the Xbox 360 emulator currently suffers from a lot of graphical glitches. The foliage culling for example is totally messed up, however it’s really cool witnessing the emulator running the game.

Far Cry 2: Redux mod is now available for download
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/far-cry-2-redux-mod-is-now-available-for-download/
BigTinz has released a must-have mod for Far Cry 2, Far Cry 2 Redux. This overhaul mod for Far Cry 2 brings accurate magazine sizes, disables auto reload, fixes the bouncing NPC bug, adds the infamous heal animations and features more dynamic AI.
Furthermore, this mod raises the camera FOV from its default values, improves ironsight FOV, improves weapon ballistics, adds new weapon animations, improves buddy weapon variety, improves sprint stamina, as well as jumping and climbing.
>> Get this mods from ModDB.

Classic Half-Life gets ESRGAN AI-enhanced HD textures, available for download
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/classic-half-life-gets-esrgan-ai-enhanced-hd-textures-available-for-download/
Following the AI-enhanced texture packs for Morrowind, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Doom and Max Payne, here comes another one for Valve’s classic Half-Life game. Cyril Paulus has used ESRGAN and has updated all of the game’s textures, including the ones for the XEN levels. So yeah, while Black Mesa Xen is not available yet, we can get a small idea now of what a remastered version of the Xen levels could look like.
What’s really cool here is that, like in all cases, the updated HD textures are as close to their original versions as possible. Unfortunately, though, some textures like liquids and chrome seem to be corrupted so it’s not perfect yet.
>> Here's the download link.

Demo for Bloom, crossover between Doom and Blood, is available for download
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/demo-for-bloom-crossover-between-doom-and-blood-is-available-for-download/
Modder ‘drugod’ has released a demo for his upcoming crossover between Doom and Blood, called Bloom. The demo currently features one map, however the modder is developing new maps so he can add them as soon as they are finish in it.
The final version of Bloom promises to feature more than 30 kinds of monster, 20 weapons and guns, all of the environmental elements from Blood, all of the original – as well as new – textures from Blood, and will be compatible with both gzdoom and zandronum.
As the modder noted, there are two key features in this demo that need to be pointed out. The first is that Doomguy can throw grenades and the second is that powerups like- berserker and guns of akimbo – have a different behaviour if you pick them up as Caleb or as Doomguy.
>> Get this mod from ModDB.

Special K mod released for Tales of Vesperia Definitive Edition, reduces microstuttering
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/special-k-mod-released-for-tales-of-vesperia-definitive-edition-reduces-microstuttering/
Modder ‘Kaldaien’, best known for his Special K mods for Final Fantasy XV and NieR Automata, has released a mod for Tales of Vesperia Definitive Edition. According to the modder, this initial release fixes some minor microstuttering issues that players have been experiencing with the PC version.
Moreover, the Special K mod for Tales of Vesperia Definitive Edition allows gamers to disable the Depth of Field, Bloom and Blur effects (for which there aren’t any in-game options to enable/disable).
The mod requires Visual C++ 2017 runtime in order to run and those interested can download it from here. You can install it by extracting the file to your game’s install directory (steamappscommonTales of Vesperia Definitive Edition) and you can open its config menu by pressing “Ctrl + Shift + Backspace”.

The Dragonborn takes on Cthulhu in this sprawling Skyrim mod
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-dragonborn-takes-on-cthulhu-in-this-sprawling-skyrim-mod/
Is Skyrim’s existing story not epic enough in scope for you? Need more giant, world-ending cataclysmic monsters for the Dragonborn to fight? Have I got the mods for you: Here There Be Monsters and its sequel Here There Be Monsters—The Call of Cthulhu, in works since 2015, are nearly finished as of this year. It’s a big, post-endgame quest chain that sees you taking on (or joining) the eponymous tentacled world-devourer as it awakens to slurp up the people of Tamriel. It’s also fully voiced, so it won’t be too jarring a transition from the regular game world. The update released on the first of this year finalizes much of the mod, adding the last of the dialogue, craftable weapons, new followers, and debugging the main and side quests for the new locations in the game.
I’m not sure I can convey the ambition of this mod without asking you to take a look. It adds not only new races and models but also large new areas inspired by works of the cosmic horror canon, like the plateau of Leng… and beyond.

This mod brings Final Fantasy XV’s female mercenary, Aranea, to Monster Hunter World
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/this-mod-brings-final-fantasy-xv-female-mercenary-aranea-to-monster-hunter-world/
The DMQW modding group has released a new mod for Monster Hunter World that brings Final Fantasy XV’s female mercenary, Aranea, to Capcom’s monster hunting game. This mod is similar to the NieR Automata mod we shared a while back, meaning that alongside the character model and outfit, it also brings Aranea’s weapon.
All you have to do in order to use Aranea in Monster Hunter World is download the mod from here, extract the file and put nativePC into the root of MonsterHunterWorld, and select the Brigade layer armour.

GAMING NEWS

Resident Evil 2 Remake can look like a PS1 game on its absolute lowest settings
https://www.dsogaming.com/screenshot-news/resident-evil-2-remake-on-its-absolute-lowest-settings-can-look-like-a-ps1-game/
As we’ve already said, the PC version of Resident Evil 2 Remake comes with one hell of graphics settings to tweak. And from the looks of it, gamers can make the game look like a Playstation game by using its absolute lowest settings.
>> God, that looks awful!

New Dead or Alive 6 trailer showcases overall features and combat mechanics
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/new-dead-or-alive-6-trailer-showcases-overall-features-and-combat-mechanics/
KOEI Tecmo and Team Ninja have released a new trailer for Dead or Alive 6. According to its description, this video gives us a quick view of the DOA6 Battle system, modes and many other features upon its release.

New gameplay footage revealed for Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/new-gameplay-footage-revealed-for-sekiro-shadows-die-twice/
GameInformer has released a new video in which Dan Tack and Suriel Vazquez share new gameplay and impressions for From Software’s Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice based on the magazine’s cover story trip.

Here are 8 minutes of new gameplay footage from Anthem
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/here-are-8-minutes-of-new-gameplay-footage-from-anthem/
IGN has shared a new video, giving us an early look at Anthem Freeplay Expeditions where players can explore the world to find world events, lore items, bosses, and more.

Battlefield 5 Chapter 2: Lightning Strikes releases February 17th, full patch release notes revealed
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/battlefield-5-chapter-2-lightning-strikes-releases-february-17th-full-patch-release-notes-revealed/
Electronic Arts and DICE have announced that Battlefield 5 Chapter 2: Lightning Strikes will release on February 17th and have revealed the full release notes of this upcoming patch. According to the release notes, this patch will add a new Squad Conquest mode which is described as an intense version of Conquest that enables more tactical gameplay between two teams of 16 players on the Arras, Rotterdam, and Hamada maps.

Monday news, part two:

Fallout 76 players find human NPC and unreleased items in secret 'dev room'
https://www.pcgamer.com/fallout-76-players-find-human-npc-and-unreleased-items-in-secret-dev-room/
Fallout 4 has a secret room accessible to players by using a console command. The room is filled with footlockers, and those footlockers contain every single item in the game. Skyrim has a room like this, too. And, apparently, Fallout 76 has a similar 'developer room' as well, containing all of the game's weapons, armor, items, plans, and recipes—even some items that haven't been officially released yet. There is also, oddly enough, a human NPC standing in there. Weird.

The next Elder Scrolls: Legends expansion is all about madness and sweetrolls
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-next-elder-scrolls-legends-expansion-is-all-about-madness-and-sweetrolls/
Isle of Madness, the next story expansion to Bethesda's fantasy CCG The Elder Scrolls: Legends, will take players on a journey to the twisted realm of Sheogorath, the Daedric Prince of Madness.

One of Dead Space's scariest sounds is San Francisco's public transportation
https://www.pcgamer.com/one-of-dead-spaces-scariest-sounds-is-san-franciscos-public-transportation/
For all the terrifying scares in Dead Space—necromorph babies, giant tentacles, and ghostly whispers—one of my favorite moments is one that has no monsters at all. A few hours into the game, you navigate a zero-gravity section of the Ishimura on your way to the engine room. During this entire sequence, there's barely any sound—everything is muted by the vacuum of space to the point where even your shotgun sounds like a distant thud. Then, after re-compressing at an airlock, you open the door to one of the most horrifying sounds known to humankind: the ungodly wail of the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system.

Klaus is a platformer about an existential crisis at the office
https://www.pcgamer.com/klaus-is-a-platformer-about-an-existential-crisis-at-the-office/
Klaus is a puzzle-platformer about an office worker who wakes up in a strange basement with no idea who he is, how he got there, or why the word "Klaus" is tattooed on his arm. Despite that, he's determined to be the hero—but he needs a little help. It was originally released for the PlayStation 4 in 2016, and on January 24 it will finally make its way to PC.

Resort Boss: Golf is a twee little management game coming in February
https://www.pcgamer.com/resort-boss-golf-is-a-twee-little-management-game-coming-in-february/
There’s a nice looking new trailer for Resort Boss: Golf that’s just come out, giving us a look at the upcoming tycoon game’s sure to-be-best feature: Playing golf.

Kill burglars as a robotic vacuum in Roombo: First Blood
https://www.pcgamer.com/kill-burglars-as-a-robotic-vacuum-in-roombo-first-blood/
You’re a robotic vacuum, Roombo. The family is out and burglars are breaking in. What do you do? You leverage the full power of your hard plastic shell and access to the home’s smart controls to kill: Every. Single. One. Then you clean up the house before the family gets home, none the wiser to the carnage you inflicted. This is the concept behind stealth action game Roombo: First Blood, a beautifully named game from developer Samurai Punk, the team behind other zany games such as Screencheat and American Dream. It looks a lot like... Hitman if Agent 47 were a robot? Kind of? Hotline Miami with fewer animal masks and more vacuums?

JRPG classic Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition is out now on PC
https://www.pcgamer.com/jrpg-classic-tales-of-vesperia-definitive-edition-is-out-now-on-pc/
After an announcement last summer, Tales of Vesperia is finally available on PC in its newly remastered form. Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition released yesterday on Steam, just over ten years since the original released on PS3. The definitive edition includes all the PS3 content, but is updated with HD graphics, new music, new mini-games, new bosses, unreleased DLC for the original games, and two more playable characters. Tales of Vesperia is a fantastical story about the struggle over a powerful resource created by an ancient race to benefit humanity that's now threatening to destroy it.
>> You probably guessed as much after reading the Special K mod for the game.

All-devouring Tyranid swarms arrive in Warhammer 40k: Gladius this week
https://www.pcgamer.com/all-devouring-tyranid-swarms-arrive-in-warhammer-40k-gladius-this-week/
Every Warhammer fan’s favorite army of biological horrors is coming to Warhammer 40,000: Gladius—Relics of War this week, releasing on January 15th. Tyranids are a swarm of devouring monsters, and play like them, with unique mechanics catered to that theme. Tyranids will apparently build up and expand by stripping biomass from their enemies, their own units, and the environment itself. Tyranid cities will strip their surroundings bare of resources. It sounds like an interesting, mobile play style focused on sprawling and adapting to the situation rather than digging in and building up defenses. They also don’t use the same resources as others, using a flexible biomass pool to build up rather than food and ore.

A Dota 2 custom mode may be 2019’s most popular new game
https://www.pcgamer.com/a-dota-2-custom-mode-may-be-2019s-most-popular-new-game/
A Dota 2 custom game mode designed by China-based Drodo Studio is taking the Dota 2 world by storm, reaching 100,000 concurrent players earlier today and racking up over 670,000 subscribed users. Dota Auto Chess is a strategic, tactically complex mix of board game and Dota custom map. Play is based around drafting hands of heroes, combining them to upgrade them, and then deploying them correctly to win victories over eight other players in a series of one-on-one matches. The game has become wildly popular, with more concurrent players today than, say, Grand Theft Auto 5 or Football Manager 2019. Like Dota 2, Dota Auto Chess is completely free.

More details on Celeste’s free DLC, but no release date yet
https://www.pcgamer.com/more-details-on-celestes-free-dlc-but-no-release-date-yet/
Celeste was one of last year’s standout games, and we’re all surely pretty excited about the fact that it’s getting a free farewell DLC with some ultra hard levels soon, right? Well, not too soon, because according to developer Matt Thorson it won’t be ready for the game’s anniversary on January 25th, as he’d hoped. In a post on Twitter, Thorson did confirm that the coming levels are are a continuous chapter harder than the current hardest levels in the game. The new levels won’t have strawberries, the hard-to-find collectibles that players must hunt down throughout the game in order to change the ending. The DLC levels will, however, have new items and mechanics—and again, they’re free to everyone with the game on every platform.

Resident Evil 2 Remake's demo teases Hunk and Tofu
https://www.pcgamer.com/resident-evil-2-remakes-demo-teases-hunk-and-tofu/
A Resident Evil 2 Remake trailer that plays at the end of the one-shot demo confirms the return of masked mercenary Hunk and a healthy, knife-wielding snack. Watch it above to see Hunk and Tofu in action, briefly, or take the demo for a spin.

Amazon's New World MMO is doing a Choose Your Own Adventure on Twitter
https://www.pcgamer.com/amazons-new-world-mmo-is-doing-a-choose-your-own-adventure-on-twitter/
New World, Amazon’s upcoming MMO, started the year with a Choose Your Own Adventure on Twitter. Someone on the social media team watched Bandersnatch over the holidays. And like Netflix’s recent experiment with interactive fiction, the adventure has taken a grim turn. Twitter has already killed off one character.