Author: Trafficblast

Microsoft has announced the latest additions to its Free Play Days promotion, which drops games to the low, low price of $0 for a limited time. The latest Free Play Days titles are Microsoft’s own shooter Gears 5 and the racing game F1 2020.

Xbox Live Gold and Game Pass Ultimate members can play both games at no extra cost now through midnight Pacific on Sunday, May 23, so it’s a full weekend of free play. You can download the games from Xbox.com through the Free Play Days hub or by navigating to the Subscriptions tab in the Xbox Store on console to get started.

It’s a good time to jump into Gears 5, as the game’s big Operation 7 update just recently arrived. It adds a new multiplayer map, Ephyra, along with new characters Ukkon and Hana. Gears 5 is also available on Xbox Game Pass.

As for F1 2020, it hasn’t received a major update recently, but the game was praised by critics. The newest game, F1 2021, is scheduled for release in July.

All progress, including Gamerscore and Achievements, carries forward should you decide to buy Gears 5 or F1 2020 after the free weekend. And both games, as well as their premium versions, are on sale.

Xbox Free Play Days Deals (May 20-23):

• Gears 5
• F1 2020

For more games to play on Xbox, check out our guides to the best Xbox One games of all time and the best Xbox Series X games available so far. Plus, Game Pass subscribers should check out the best games available with Xbox Game Pass right now.

In other news, another big Xbox game sale is going on right now, so be sure to check out our roundup to find out how you can save on some of the best games on the platform.

Level-5’s Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom is getting a Nintendo Switch re-release, and this new edition will include all of the released DLC for the 2018 action-JRPG.

Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom – Prince’s Edition will include all the original game’s DLC, including The Lair of the Lost Lord and Tale of a Timeless Tome. The game will be getting a physical release and will also be available on the Switch eShop September 17 for $60.

Players take on the role of Evan, the young ruler of Ding Dong Dell, after he is overthrown in a coup. From there he embarks on an epic adventure to rebuild his kingdom and unite the world, teaming up with a number of supporting characters along the way. Players will also team up with entities known as Higgledies over the course of the game. These are Pokemon-esque creatures which support the party during battle with various offensive and defensive buffs.

The series is well-known for its visual style. Acclaimed Japanese animation studio Studio Ghibli produced the animated cutscenes for the previous game in the series, Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch, in 2013, and both it and its sequel recreate those visuals in-game. Though Studio Ghibli wasn’t technically involved in Ni no Kuni II, the game still uses the signature Ghibli style, with Ghibli character designer Yoshiyuki Momose and composer Joe Hisaishi both involved in the project’s creation.

Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom is currently available on PlayStation 4 and PC. An anime film based on the game series arrived on Netflix last year.

Well, this is an interesting way to find out what a movie is about. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is currently in production, and we know that both Knuckles and Tails will appear in it. Now, though, it looks like we know the plot of the film thanks to a government copyright listing for the project.

The synopsis, which was first noticed by Twitter user @Ninja_Risu, reads, “After settling in Green Hills, Sonic is ready for more freedom, and Tom and Maddie agree to leave him home while they go on vacation. But, no sooner are they gone, when Dr. Robotnik comes back, this time with a new partner, Knuckles, in search for an emerald that has the power to both build and destroy civilizations. Sonic teams up with his own sidekick, Tails, and together they embark on a journey to find the emerald before it falls into the wrong hands.”

What we can take away from this is that Knuckles is a villain, Tails is, of course, Sonic’s friend to the end, and it looks like Chaos Emeralds are being introduced. Also, while Jim Carrey’s Robotnik likely plays a big role, Sonic’s human friend Tom (James Marsden) might be out of town for the majority of the film.

In addition to both Marsden and Carrey returning for the film, Ben Schwartz will once again voice Sonic. Jeff Fowler, who directed the first movie, has also returned for the sequel. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is scheduled to hit theaters in April 2022.

I met Kevin as a very young man in New York City at a screening. “You’re my favorite actor,” I told him, “Along with Mr. Peter Falk.” He told me he took that as a very high compliment. Loved working with him on SUPER & can’t wait till we can work together again. https://t.co/iDvqPTDEN8

— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) May 20, 2021

Call of Duty’s mid-season update for Black Ops Cold War Zombies adds lots of new content, and you’ll likely notice a giant boss encounter for Outbreak mode. This massive creature can be difficult to kill, so here are some tips to help you fight Outbreak’s newest undead beast.

Black Ops Cold War‘s Season 3 Reloaded update adds a new world event for the Zombies Outbreak mode, which comes in the form of Orda, a boss creature so massive it will literally tower over you. Players might already be familiar with this boss if they attempted the Firebase Z Easter egg, as Orda is the final boss fight needed to complete the Easter egg story quest.

Orda can randomly spawn on any map or round within your match of Outbreak, arriving as early as round 2. The creature is actually pretty chill, and you can avoid a fight completely if you prefer. Orda only attacks once you get really close or instigate a fight–shoot a couple bullets its way, and Orda is instantly going to target you. Zombies also spawn with it, so this can be quite an annoying encounter.

Best Orda Field Upgrades, Perks, And Equipment

This fight is difficult even in rounds as early as 5 or 6, so you want to make sure you’re well-equipped before upsetting the zombie giant. For starters, you’ll want to equip the best field upgrade for any potential Orda encounters. Ring of Fire is highly recommended, which activates a ring of ethereal fire that boosts damage for players, and normal enemies who enter the ring gain a burning effect that deals fire damage, and it lasts for 15 seconds. If you’re in a full squad it might be helpful to have one person equip Healing Aura instead, so you have a healer to instantly revive any downed teammates and prevent the loss of all your perks.

Speaking of perks, you obviously want to be perked up with all the essentials like Juggernog, Quick Revive, and Speed Cola. It might be useful to run through some Trials missions to earn perks and get Pack-A-Punched weapons faster. If you get Fury Crystal events, you can use them to earn the Aether Tool, so you can level your gun rarity faster. The ray gun is very useful here, but there are ways to get the D.I.E. Shockwave upgraded fast, if you prefer it.

I also recommend using equipment like monkey bombs or decoys to help with crowd control, as zombies indefinitely spawn during this fight. Scorestreaks are also helpful for either damage to Orda or zombie crowd control.

Orda Boss Fight Strategy

Orda is best attacked from a distance with ranged weapons, otherwise the creature will knock you back with a stomp or club you with his boulder-like fists. There are a few different attacks to avoid here, and this is going to be different from the boss fight on Firebase Z. Orda’s ranged attacks consist of fireballs, swarms of flies, and hellhounds it spits out from its fists. So, just stand back and take out the hounds.

You don’t want to get too far away though, as Orda will regain some health in the downtime. This also seems to create an even more aggressive spawn of zombies, so you really get punished for trying to retreat. Just stay in the fight, and go for critical shots at the head.

Also, watch out for Orda’s health regeneration move. It slams both fists into the ground, creating a purple ring around the creature. During this time you want to shoot at the fists to stop the healing. Otherwise, you’re in for a very long boss fight.

Defeating Orda will earn you a nice drop of rewards. You’ll get a max ammo power-up, but then the rest of the rewards are random and depend on the difficulty of the round. Defeating Orda on round two only gave me epic rarity weapons that weren’t Pack-A-Punched, whereas later rounds grant you items like Pack-A-Punched guns or a Wonder Weapon. I’m not sure what else could be a valuable reward for killing such a powerful creature, but it’s unfortunate because I feel like you already need some hefty firepower to take Orda down in those higher rounds. Maybe you’ll get lucky and get something a little more rare like the RAI K-84 wonder weapon. Or go for an Orda fight in early rounds with a semi-decent weapon in hopes of getting something more powerful for the later rounds.

In a letter to the “Captain” posted on the game’s official Twitter, Frostpunk’s mobile adaptation has received a lengthy update in FAQ form.

Developer NetEase Games ran down a few key features coming to Frostpunk Mobile ranging from microtransactions to the different ways to play. Regarding microtransactions, the letter confirms that only the simpler Serenity mode will have them–with the more difficult Endurance mode foregoing them entirely–but even then the offerings are “mainly architectural appearances” that can also be earned in-game.

The letter also confirms that the game will launch with a single scenario different from the PC version, although the mobile game’s scenario does also feature snow and a single central generator. Outside of that, the team is “working hard to try to optimize and put in more and more interesting features.”

The letter ends with the confirmation of a closed alpha test planned for the near-future, but it does clarify that “testing time[s] in different countries and regions will be different.” The update does not specify what regions will be first to access the alpha.

Frostpunk Mobile is coming to iOS and Android devices later this year and is a partnership between the game’s developer 11-bit Studios and NetEase Games, developers of Crusaders of Light and the upcoming Diablo Immortal. GameSpot’s Frostpunk review called it “among the best overall takes on the survival city builder,” saying its “theming and consistency create a powerful narrative through line that binds your actions around the struggle to hold onto humanity in uncertain times.”

Battle royale and PUBG fans will soon be able to drop into a whole new experience. Krafton Inc. has released a new trailer announcing pre-registrations for upcoming battle royale game PUBG: New State’s closed alpha.

The minute-long trailer confirms that pre-registration for the closed alpha will begin “in just a few days.” The closed alpha will be available only for Android users in the United States, though the trailer does mention that pre-registrations for the full game will begin on iOS “very soon.”

PUBG: New State was first revealed in February 2021 as a “a free-to-play experience on Android and iOS in 2021.” Within a week pre-registrations for the game reached the five million milestone on Android alone, per a press release from publisher Krafton Inc. All pre-registrations at the game’s official website will receive a free vehicle skin that has yet to be unveiled.

PUBG was first released in 2017 and pioneered the battle royale genre further popularized by Fortnite and Call of Duty: Warzone among others. The game has since expanded into a PUBG Universe with multiple new games, including the upcoming survival horror game The Callisto Protocol that was announced at the Game Awards 2020 in December.