The Friday news, the sequel:
Tekken 8 has finally reinstated the time-honoured tradition of deathmatching your foes for hours on end
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fighting/tekken-8-has-finally-reinstated-the-time-honoured-tradition-of-deathmatching-your-foes-for-hours-on-end/
Tekken 8 did some good things with its online matches: It introduced a best-of-three format which, while not mandatory, at least encourages folk to stick it out for a few games and get that true tournament feel.
It also, however, did some not-so-good things. Introducing the best-of-three matches came at the sacrifice of the humble deathmatch. In the year since its release, there's been no option to continue matching your opponent beyond the initial set. (...)
The reinstatement of infinite rematches has easily been one of the most-requested things by players I've seen in the last 12 months, and it seems Bandai Namco has finally listened. It dropped a new patch this week which, among changes like giving Clive Rosfield a much-needed nerf, also contained the following: "After a best-of-three online match concludes, players can rematch from the result screen without returning to the matchmaking standby screen."
9 years after launching his own studio, former World of Warcraft lead designer Rob Pardo finally reveals what he's doing with it
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/9-years-after-launching-his-own-studio-former-world-of-warcraft-lead-designer-rob-pardo-finally-reveals-what-hes-doing-with-it/
In 2016, former World of Warcraft lead designer Rob Pardo announced a new venture called Bonfire Studios, made up of former Blizzard colleagues and ex-Nexon CEO Min Kim. Nine years down the road, he's finally revealed the studio's first project: A team-based PvP game called Arkheron.
Deadlock's ranked play has improved quite a bit since its arrival, but a small quirk has left only 75 people down at the bottom rank to battle it out
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/moba/deadlocks-ranked-play-has-improved-quite-a-bit-since-its-arrival-but-a-small-quirk-has-left-only-75-people-down-at-the-bottom-rank-to-battle-it-out/
When Valve first introduced ranked play to Deadlock the player distribution was a little funky. Seeing that Deadlock was and is still in closed beta, this was to be expected, but still, instead of the normal bell curve, players were spread out across all the ranks. It was a little chaotic to begin with, but over time, things have seemed to settle down, at least for most of us.
Path of Exile 2's first big patch of 2025 is here, bringing new maps, quality of life tweaks, unique item and monster rebalancing, and—let's see—improved visuals for 'Chaos Pustules'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/path-of-exile-2s-first-big-patch-of-2025-is-here-bringing-new-maps-quality-of-life-tweaks-unique-item-and-monster-rebalancing-and-lets-see-improved-visuals-for-chaos-pustules/
Path of Exile 2 is kicking off 2025 with its first major patch—and it's a doozy. As promised in the patch preview released last weekend, Grinding Gear Games has returned from its holiday break to tackle some of the most pressing issues and smooth out some of the friction players have faced in the weeks since PoE 2's early access launch. Patch 0.1.1 delivers a long list of additions and changes, ranging from retuned endgame maps to rebalanced uniques to general quality of life tweaks.
Undaunted by mixed Steam reviews, Hyper Light Breaker dev says it's 'encouraging' to have 'extremely reasonable' early access feedback
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/roguelike/undaunted-by-mixed-steam-reviews-hyper-light-breaker-dev-says-its-encouraging-to-have-extremely-reasonable-early-access-feedback/
After a hands-on preview with Hyper Light Breaker in late 2024, we walked away liking Heart Machine's neon-splashed Drifter follow-up quite a bit. Our Ted Litchfield called it "a great action game that nails the look and feel of Hyper Light Drifter in a 3D open world," which left him hopeful for how the game might shape up in early access. Since its launch on January 14, Hyper Light Breaker's early access reviews haven't been as favorable: At time of writing, it's sitting at a Mixed rating on steam after receiving nearly 1,600 reviews.
Heart Machine, however, has wasted no time in addressing the less-than-stellar reception. In fact, in tweets posted shortly after the early access launch, Heart Machine called the feedback "encouraging."
Jagex outrages the Runescape community yet again, this time with a survey hinting at big price hikes and worse service for those who don't want to pay
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/mmo/jagex-outrages-the-runescape-community-yet-again-this-time-with-a-survey-hinting-at-big-price-hikes-and-worse-service-for-those-who-dont-want-to-pay/
Less than six months after angering its community by hiking the price of Runescape, Jagex has done it again with a new player survey asking players for their thoughts about some potentially very big changes to the game's pricing and feature set. With those thoughts now coming in like cow shit in a hurricane, Jagex has hastened to reassure players that the survey "is not a list of planned changes," but just some research.
>> I like that metaphor. I don’t like publishers/studios that ruin the fun of its players trying to maximize profits.
Chase sticky-fingered dragons across the cosmos (or just fly around, ramming spaceships) in this sci-fi deckbuilder
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/card-games/heres-a-tactical-spaceship-deckbuilder-thats-about-to-leave-early-access/
There's usually at least one game in early access I'm waiting on the full release of before I try. At the moment, I'm holding off on anime finance sim Stonks-9800. But it's easy to miss a release when there are so many games coming in and out of early access all the time, often without advance notice. So let me give you a heads-up on one of them: board game-esque deckbuilder Takara Cards, which leaves early access on January 17.
The Witcher 3's director explains why he had to leave CDPR to make his dream vampire RPG: 'We had crazy ideas'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/the-witcher-3s-director-explains-why-he-had-to-leave-cdpr-to-make-his-dream-vampire-rpg-we-had-crazy-ideas/
For PC Gamer magazine's upcoming The Blood of Dawnwalker issue, I flew out to Warsaw to visit developer Rebel Wolves and speak to a number of its key devs, including founder Konrad Tomaszkiewicz: Best-known for being the director of The Witcher 3, one of gaming's greatest ever fantasy RPG experiences.
Tomaszkiewicz also worked as a co-director on Cyberpunk 2077 before leaving CDPR. The obvious question is why an established and proven director would feel the need to move on from somewhere they'd helped to such success.“I set up Rebel Wolves because I felt that I wanted to make something that is unique with my friends,” says Tomaszkiewicz. “Of course, we have a huge love of RPG games, and what has been done before in the past. [But] I feel that those things, those rules of RPG games, can be expanded and evolved. We had crazy ideas. We knew that, you know, if we wanted to make them, we needed to open our own studio, because it would be hard to convince any big company—you know, with non-IP—to change, and do something new, and do something crazy. Actually, it’s risky, because we’re doing some solutions which are new.
"And the second thing is that we have a studio where we work with the people, and among them, not like at the bigger studios where it’s harder. I felt that a smaller team is capable of doing more, because the communication inside the team, and it’s easier to speak about the vision. It’s easier to feel the creative fire, and to do something special.”
The Silksong hive is buzzing over a dev tweet that sees a chocolate cake, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Imagine Dragons all pointing with red string to the April Switch 2 Nintendo Direct
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/the-silksong-hive-is-buzzing-over-a-dev-tweet-that-sees-a-chocolate-cake-napoleon-bonaparte-and-imagine-dragons-all-pointing-with-red-string-to-the-april-switch-2-nintendo-direct/
I mean this with all the affection in the world—I cannot think of a single gaming community that is as cooked as the Silksong fanbase. (...)
Little bomey/everydruidwaswr on X, formerly known as Wilbop/Wilboooo (a quick google search confirms this at the time of writing) is believed to be the account of William Pellen, co-founder of Team Cherry. On January 16, the account changed their profile picture to that of a chocolate cake and posted the following: "something big is coming. keep your eyes closed tomorrow."
Like deep sea creatures descending on whalefall, the Silksong community immediately began feasting. A reverse image search of the cake in question led to a recipe for Brooklyn Blackout cake on Bon Appétit, posted on April 2, 2024. April 2 is when the "direct", which typically reveals a bunch of games, for the Nintendo Switch 2 is slated for this year.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard game director reportedly departs BioWare after 18 years at EA
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/dragon-age/dragon-age-the-veilguard-game-director-reportedly-departs-bioware-after-18-years-at-ea/
Dragon Age: The Veilguard's game director, Corinne Busche, is said to be leaving BioWare after almost two decades at the company, according to multiple sources.
The first confirmation comes from journalist Jeff Grubb, who wrote in a post to X that "Corrine Busche, director of Dragon Age, really is leaving BioWare. But I don't think EA is closing BioWare Edmonton. Was told there is nothing solid about that part of the rumor." Eurogamer later confirmed the departure in a report, stating that "BioWare itself is otherwise unaffected by any other changes, contrary to rumour." I've also reached out to BioWare for comment, and I'll update this article if I receive a response.
And these are the weekend deals at GOG and Steam:
+GOG
+Steam
That’s all the news. Until the next time, I wish you a happy and gaming weekend.
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