Friday news, part two:
Hitman's latest update frees a whole bonus campaign from PS4 purgatory after 7 years and intentionally restores an old exploit
https://www.pcgamer.com/hitmans-latest-patch-frees-a-whole-bonus-campaign-from-ps4-purgatory-after-7-years-and-intentionally-restores-an-old-exploit/
Thank you, PS4 players, but we'll take it from here. Hitman: World of Assassination (née Hitman 3) has gotten its August patch, and it's bringing back some, well, pretty unfamiliar faces, actually. Alongside the usual bevy of updates, tweaks, removals and enhancements, it's also accompanied by a couple of new pieces of DLC.
Believe it or not, Ubisoft is doing another Skull and Bones closed beta later this month
https://www.pcgamer.com/believe-it-or-not-ubisoft-is-doing-another-skull-and-bones-closed-beta-later-this-month/
You have to give credit to Ubisoft for persistence: Another developer might've scuttled Skull and Bones ages ago, but Yves Guillemot and co. keep blowing into its sails, trying to propel it forward, and so it is that another Skull and Bones closed beta is coming next week.
'I don't think players expect this': Warhammer 40K: Darktide is adding RPG-style skill trees full of new abilities to its 4 classes
https://www.pcgamer.com/i-dont-think-players-expect-this-warhammer-40k-darktide-is-adding-rpg-style-skill-trees-full-of-new-abilities-to-its-4-classes/
Nine months since launch, Warhammer 40K: Darktide sits on Steam with a "Mixed" review score, both in recent and all-time reviews. There were more than a few criticisms of Darktide at launch—the unfinished crafting system, the cosmetics store, crashes and performance issues—but one of the most common and consistent I've seen is that Darktide has only four character classes, compared to its predecessor Vermintide 2's five characters (with multiple subclasses apiece). Though Darktide does offer some nicely varied skills as you level up and weapons that dramatically change your play style, it was hard not to look at the class system as a downgrade from what Vermintide 2 players were used to.
In October, developer Fatshark is addressing that criticism in a big way by rolling out a complete revamp of Darktide's class system with full RPG-style skill trees for each class, leapfrogging the Vermintide-caliber specializations players have been asking for.
You'll finally have a chance to try Sega's extraction shooter Hyenas for yourself at the end of August
https://www.pcgamer.com/youll-finally-have-a-chance-to-try-segas-extraction-shooter-hyenas-for-yourself-at-the-end-of-august/
If you've been waiting for a chance to try your hand at Hyenas, Creative Assembly's upcoming team-based zero-G extraction shooter, here it is: A closed beta is coming at the end of August, and you can sign up to take part now on Steam.
This free Vampire Survivors clone has one thing nobody knew it needed: Vtubers
https://www.pcgamer.com/this-free-vampire-survivors-clone-has-one-thing-nobody-knew-it-needed-vtubers/
Out of all the action roguelikes that ape Vampire Survivors' style, HoloCure is the only one to infuse it with vtubers, the streamers who use 2D anime avatars you've probably seen all over Twitch and YouTube. But even if you aren't familiar with the vtuber agency that employs these ones, Hololive, HoloCure is surprisingly slick to play–and it's completely free.
'We owe them a huge debt': Baldur's Gate 3 lead writer hopes they did '90s BioWare proud
https://www.pcgamer.com/we-owe-them-a-huge-debt-baldurs-gate-3-lead-writer-hopes-they-did-90s-bioware-proud/
There's no doubt in my mind that Baldur's Gate 3 will have its own legacy, especially as we've just awarded it an extremely rare 97% in our review. But it's also part of an existing lineage as the third game in a BioWare series dear to many longtime PC gamers. Baldur's Gate 3's lead writer Adam Smith tells us today during the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast that Larian never lost sight of the long shadow it was stepping into.
>> It's quite ironic, and sad, because I don't think today's Bioware would be able to make a game like this.
Baldur's Gate 3 minmaxer finds terrifying 240 damage-per-turn Monk build, carrying on D&D's long tradition of rules-based ultraviolence
https://www.pcgamer.com/baldurs-gate-3-minmaxer-finds-terrifying-240-damage-per-turn-monk-build-carrying-on-dandds-long-tradition-of-rules-based-ultraviolence/
It was only a matter of time, right? While technical tricks like stacking a thousand explosive barrels or leveraging fall damage for Owlbear elbow drops are impressive in their own way, I've yet to see anything truly representing Dungeons & Dragons' frightening powergaming underbelly from Baldur's Gate 3's community. That is, until now.
In a thread titled "I Think I Broke Unarmed Strike on Monk. 168-320 DMG per turn", Reddit user OrkoTheMage has shown their working and—yeah. It all checks out. This is due to how Bonus Actions work in Baldur's Gate 3, and how they interact with the Monk feature Flurry of Blows.
>> Oh, and the Dark Urge origin may be the most heroic playthrough.
Starfield's preload files suggest there is no sign of DLSS or XeSS support amid AMD sponsorship
https://www.pcgamer.com/starfield-no-dlss-support-at-launch/
And lo it has come to pass, Starfield looks like it will definitely not be supporting either Nvidia's DLSS or XeSS upscalers. At least not at launch anyways. We kinda thought that would be the case the instant it was announced the Bethesda space cowboy-em-up was partnering with AMD on the PC side, but a dig into the preload files for the game has seemingly confirmed it.
>> As expected, sadly.
Total War: Warhammer 3 DLC is getting more expensive and the community is rebelling: 'Remember they need us more than we need them'
https://www.pcgamer.com/total-war-warhammer-3-dlc-is-getting-more-expensive-and-the-community-is-rebelling-remember-they-need-us-more-than-we-need-them/
Total War: Warhammer 3's latest slice of DLC, Shadows of Change, is coming soon, on August 31, but among the game's community this has not been cause for celebration; rather, it's being treated as a threat thanks to a price increase and an explanation from Creative Assembly's Chief Product Officer, Rob Bartholomew. It looks like this means waaagh!
Baldur's Gate 3 Collector's Editions are so in demand resale prices are now exceeding $2,000
https://www.pcgamer.com/baldurs-gate-3-collectors-editions-are-so-in-demand-resale-prices-are-now-exceeding-dollar2000/
Collector's Editions of Baldur's Gate 3 are now being resold for significantly more money than their original retail cost. As spotted by GamesRadar, listings on eBay for the Baldur's Gate 3 Collector's Editions on PC have now climbed to, in some cases, over seven times its official retail price, which is $269.99.
Before we part ways, let's take a look to the weekend deals at GOG and Steam:
+GOG
- As has been the case the last weeks, GOG doesn't have a weekend sale, only four Deals of the Day that will last 70 hours, until Monday:
+Steam
And just like that, we've reached the end of the news. Until next time, I wish you a happy and gaming weekend.
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