Mortal Kombat 11 has plenty of systems at play whether you’re fighting in close matches, learning all of its intricacies, or navigating its web of menus and customization options. In-game explanations do a good job of showing players most of the elements, but there are a few things beginners will want to keep in mind when jumping into Mortal Kombat 11. We aren’t necessarily here to lay out expert-level combo strings and professional-level strategies to get you rising in the online ranks, but we’re here to help guide you through the game’s plethora of features and acquaint yourself with more advanced concepts.
We have Mortal Kombat 11 covered from almost every angle. If you’re into the gruesome, gory nature of the game’s history, you should be happy (I guess) to know that we compiled every single Fatality and every Fatal Blow from the 25-character roster–we also managed to capture most of the match-ending Brutalities. Klassic Towers feature character-specific endings, and you can see all of them here. If you want all the details on the ridiculous, but deep lore of the franchise, read through our feature on the story so far in Mortal Kombat. And lastly, if you’re thinking about getting into this latest entry, check out our Mortal Kombat 11 review-in-progress.
If there is one thing all Marvel Cinematic Universe movies have in common, it’s that you can enjoy a little something extra after the main story is done. Every movie has a mid-credit or post-credit sequence, and many times, the films feature both of them. That all changes with Avengers: Endgame.
Don’t worry, there are no Endgame spoilers here.
Avengers: Endgame marks the 22nd movie in the MCU and the first time in the shared film universe that will not have a visual sequence tacked on to the end, teasing what’s next for Marvel. However, there may be a reason to stick around as there is an audio stinger at the end, when the Marvel logo appears. The metal hitting metal sound is open to interpretation, but it’s been suggested it sounds like Tony Stark forging his first Iron Man armor. So as soon as the credits begin to roll, the choice is yours. You can leave the theater or stay through the credits to hear a noise.
Endgame is the end of Phase 3 of the MCU, and as we learned last month, those 22 films will be known as The Infinity Saga. As far as recent mid-credits and post-credit sequences go, Infinity War ended with Nick Fury contacting Captain Marvel on a pager, Ant-Man and the Wasp left Scott Lang trapped in the Quantum Realm with his friends snapped to dust, and Captain Marvel showed us Carol Danvers answering the pager’s call in the present, meeting the Avengers. Additionally, there were a couple of comedic post-credit moments as well.
These sequences always give the audience a hint as to what’s coming next. But with Endgame being the end of the 22-film journey, there’s nothing left to tease before Phase 4 begins. Stay tuned to GameSpot later in the day for a review of the film, but for now, enjoy our predictions of who will die in the video above, the latest teaser for the film, and the best ways to avoid spoilers for Endgame, which hits theaters on April 26.
The PlayStation Store adds new PS4 game deals on a weekly basis, but this week, the best discounts are limited to PlayStation Plus members, who can get some game titles for up to 80% off until Tuesday, April 30 at 8 AM PT / 11 AM ET.
Ubisoft has announced a new Hero for For Honor, who is scheduled to release at the start of the game’s Year 3, Season 2. For Honor’s Year 3, Season 2 starts May 2 on Xbox One, PS4, and PC.
Each season for Year 3 brings a new Hero to For Honor. Season 1 added the new Knight Hero, Vortiger. A new Samurai Hero, named Hitokiri, is coming in Season 2, with a Viking Hero scheduled for Season 3 and Wu Lin for Season 4. Hitokiri is a fearsome warrior who possesses both a male and female version. The female version, Sakura, has a new trailer, which can be watched below. She’s very creepy and sounds like she’d fit a lot more as a boss in From Software’s Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.
“The Hitokiri are ghostly warriors who have lost all faith in humanity,” Ubisoft wrote in a press release. “They wander the land clutching their Masakari, the mighty axes they used to sentence criminals, their presence on the battlefield spreading a black cloud that can terrify all enemies.” Both versions of Hitokiri will be automatically unlocked for Year 3 pass owners on May 2. On May 9, Hitokiri will become available for everyone else, but you’ll need to purchase them for 15,000 Steel–For Honor’s in-game currency.
Like Year 3’s first season, Season 2 also adds a special limited-time event to For Honor. A first look at what that event might be, as well as a few more details for Year 3, Season 2, will be announced during a For Honor Twitch livestream on April 25. The new season also contains balancing changes for Lawbringer and Raider, and adds a new map, Canopy.
In our For Honor review, Matt Espineli wrote, “After slaying countless foes, it’s clear the impact For Honor’s combat has had; its fundamental tenets of discipline and restraint are bestowed upon you permanently, forever changing the way you perceive a melee-combat encounter in a game. In its highest moments, For Honor is difficult to put down. Its slow combat pace and narrative shortcomings might turn off those unwilling to take the time to dive deep into what it has to offer. However, make no mistake–those who do will be rewarded with some of the most satisfying multiplayer melee fighting conceived in recent years.”
When Dragon’s Dogma first came out, many people treated it as an amalgamation of all kinds of games, ranging from Shadow of the Colossus to Dark Souls, with hints of Monster Hunter and hues of The Elder Scrolls. Despite seeming to be a mish-mash of gameplay ideas and fantasy tropes, Dragon’s Dogma asserted an unwaveringly confident sense of self that people became enamored with. At the same time, some of its most ambitious efforts only proved successful at the expense of more standard details; characters were considered flat and it was plagued with technical issues.
Despite this, back in 2012, Dragon’s Dogma was a game that received a great deal of praise. GameSpot gave it an 8/10 score almost seven years ago. You can read our original review here.
The Switch port for Dragon’s Dogma is derived from the Dark Arisen version of the game, which has since become the standard form, and it performs spectacularly. It’s a magnificent world filled with goblins and griffins, prairies and palaces. Sometimes the road dissipates into forests and over precipices, out of foliage and under edifices. At all times, it’s alive, its beating heart pulsating in every creek and creeper dotted across its boundless landscape.
The controls are clean and intuitive, with combat wheels mapped to the bumpers. The left set of buttons commands ally pawns, whereas the right set triggers abilities. The game wonderfully juxtaposes real-time combat with tactical squad play, and runs smoothly throughout the entire experience. Perhaps the only issues that date the game are how stiff the characters are in certain cutscenes, and how lifeless some of the secondary voice acting is. It’s a world where everything seems awry, largely thanks to its diverse well of influences, so the voice acting does have a curious way of making things seem even more obscure. However, on occasion it uproots your sense of immersion. One second you’ll be traversing the wilds of the Witchwood, utterly encapsulated by the game’s charm; the next, you’ll remember that you’re not really in Gransys, but sitting on your sofa, listening to deadpan voice acting.
Dragon’s Dogma’s iconic and idiosyncratic opening sequence looks better than ever on Switch. The gargantuan dragon that plucks your heart from your chest does so in vivid color, and the sharp visuals make this extraordinary episode even more enchanting. In a way, this asserts the Switch port’s relevance to the contemporary circuit, as if it’s immediately attempting to make a case for why it deserves another look in 2019.
Another common critique of Dragon’s Dogma in the past was to do with its grey, earthy palette. Cassardis–the first town you come across on your adventures across the land of Gransys–was always considered the worst offender, its stone buildings standing amid a wish-wash of brown and green. However, as I walked the winding paths around the town’s outskirts in handheld mode, I became lost in a world of wonder.
On one occasion, I was playing before bed with the lights off. As the moon rose in the game and visibility was swallowed by the encroaching night, I drew my lantern, illuminating both my room in real life and the path ahead in Dragon’s Dogma. This begot a peculiar phenomenon that couldn’t ever be experienced on anything other than a handheld console. There’s a strange solemnity endowed in playing handheld, huddled up with the Switch close to your face, the sound turned down to conjure a quietness seamlessly locking with the surrounding atmosphere. In a way, it almost summons a sense of borrowed nostalgia for the handheld consoles of the 90s, playing with the lights out and sound off, lest you wake up your parents three hours after you feigned sleep to continue playing.
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Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen – Nintendo Switch Announcement Trailer
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Dragon’s Dogma performs brilliantly in docked mode too. Technically, it’s a vast improvement from the original versions of the game, being closer to the performance of the newer, Dark Arisen re-releases. The aesthetic disparity between this version and older ones was immediately striking when it launched six years ago, and the Switch port follows suit spectacularly.
However, there’s something experiential about making the most of the Switch’s portable capabilities. Maybe it’s because Dragon’s Dogma is a slow-burner that prioritizes exploration over gratification, or maybe it’s due to the intimacy created by its vivid soundscapes and arresting visuals, but it’s easier to get lost in the small screen than a bigger one. When I played handheld, Dragon’s Dogma received my undivided attention–in fact, it demanded it. This is the first time Capcom’s iconic RPG has ever been condensed to a small screen, but it seems as if even the 2012 game was made for this exact purpose.
However, there’s more to it than that. When you consider Dragon’s Dogma’s vast array of influences, it becomes abundantly clear that several of them haven’t had the Switch treatment either. I named my main pawn Geralt, gave him white hair and yellow eyes, one of which was scarred, and had him specialize in sword fighting. However, it wasn’t until I saw him tangoing around the thrusts of a cyclops that I truly noticed how well-suited this kind of immersive RPG is to a handheld console. Switch porting is a phenomenon that’s still working out its own kinks, but large-scale open worlds previously considered incompatible with handheld consoles have found a welcome home on Switch, unfurling beautifully on the small screen. Games like Breath of the Wild and Skyrim already tested the Switch’s mettle, and now the ability to undertake odysseys across the worlds of Gransys and The Continent whilst sat on a train is another compelling option for those looking to immerse themselves in fantasy worlds. The Switch’s capacity to persuade you into utter immersion goes hand-in-hand with what fantasy is all about.
As for its mechanics, Dragon’s Dogma’s control mapping is refined and intuitive on the Switch. The Joy-Con layout allows for clean combinations and instinctive reactions, to the extent that action can be spontaneously taken instead of being the result of a measured calculation. You’re never pulled out to consider your next move–you just know what to do. Whether you’re a majestic mage or a belligerent brawler, even the most boisterous battles are uncluttered in makeup and meticulous in execution.
Dragon’s Dogma’s iconic pawn system functions in much the same way as it always did, which is a bit of a missed opportunity. Despite their intuitive AI in combat and world traversal, their occasionally endearing chatter is often overbearing. It’s intriguing hearing your main pawn describe a nearby encampment as a “bulwark against the forces of evil” early on, but when they mention it for the tenth time in 10 minutes, Dragon’s Dogma’s age betrays its appearance.
Unfortunately, the weakest aspects of Dragon’s Dogma are the same as they were seven years ago: its dialogue and voice acting. At times the cutscenes are at odds with how fresh the rest of the game looks, as characters make unnatural gestures that rarely match the tone of their words, and the secondary voice cast sounds dull and lifeless. It’s as if someone mapped voice lines to a control pad and simply pressed the relevant buttons in sequence, without respect for intonation, emotion, or expression. Luckily, this is only the case for the minor cutscenes–the major ones look phenomenal, and the writing is at its best in these short, sporadic bursts of tension.
In 2012, Dragon’s Dogma was considered an excellent game that made some questionable decisions. The Dark Arisen re-release rectified the majority of the issues the original game faced, mostly in terms of technical performance, but the Switch port continues to build on the game’s legacy because of how well-suited it is to handheld experience. However, even with its revamped graphics, updated mechanics, and improved functionality, it’s somehow managed to retain that same sense of weirdness that both complements it and stunts it, depending on the occasion. In the Witchwood, for instance, the sparse, disconcerting conversations affect the atmosphere in a wonderful way, playing upon the mysterious enchantments at work in this curious forest. However, in scenes with more urgency, it’s difficult to take characters seriously because of the deadpan delivery of the voice acting, and even with subtitles enabled it’s easy to miss what’s going on. The gameplay is fantastic, but the narrative is lackluster at crucial points in the story. Despite this, Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen on Switch is a drastically improved version of a game already recognized as great, mostly thanks to the fact that you can hold the game’s wonderful world right in the palms of your hands.
As reported yesterday, a new update introduces a new difficulty mode to Kingdom Hearts III. The update, a set of two patches, will also implement a host of quality-of-life additions to enhance the game’s playability. They will be available later today.
Patch 1.04 will see Critical Mode–a new, higher difficulty setting–make its way to the game. In a tweet, director Tetsuya Nomura teased adjustments to the mode, saying, “We’ve changed things up from the previous games, so I hope you enjoy.”
The second patch, 1.05, will add 100 more photo slots–upping the total to 200–and introduce item carryover (such as Keyblades) to New Game+. Both patches will implement various fixes, but there are no specific details about what these fixes are.
Additionally, certain enemies have had changes made to their behavior, but again, no specifics were mentioned. Additionally, when at the Moogle Shop, you’ll be able to see which Synthesis items you’ve already synthesized; these will be designated by a checkmark.
According to the official Kingdom Hearts Twitter account, at least one of the patches will be released today at 7 PM PT / 10 PM ET (3 AM BST on April 24).
BioWare has launched a new update for Anthem–introducing several balancing changes and features. Called Patch 1.1.0, the update adds The Sunken Cell stronghold, which becomes available once you’ve completed Anthem’s main campaign. Many of the new features introduced in the update add long-requested features to the game, such as the ability to change Javelin gear loadout during a mission.
Patch 1.1.0 allows you to select contracts from the start of any expedition, as opposed to needing to pick contracts from their corresponding boards in Fort Tarsis. You can also now immediately launch new missions after completing an expedition instead of having to return to Fort Tarsis and climb back into your Javelin. Patch 1.1.0 allows you to access the Forge during missions, strongholds, and freeplay too, so you can experiment with new gear loadouts without needing to return to Fort Tarsis first.
Several general changes have been made to Anthem as well. A new cortex entry has been added to the game that explains exactly how combo, detonator, and primer abilities work. Three new Masterwork components have been added to the game as well–an extended sniper rifle magazine, rapid hollow point ammo for machine pistols and autocannons, and extended special arms magazines for heavy pistols and grenade launchers.
The remaining changes are bug fixes and minor changes. For example, the bug causing the Arcanist Loyalty 3 trophy to remain locked on PS4 has been resolved, as has the issue causing challenge notifications to not appear correctly. New primer and detonator icons have been added in the cortex next to gear entries as well.
The full patch notes for Anthem’s latest update can be found on the game’s main website. Below, we’ve outlined the major gameplay balance adjustments now live in Anthem. Anthem is available for Xbox One, PS4, and PC.
Anthem Patch 1.1.0 Gameplay Balancing Changes
Masterwork Weapons
Retaliation of Garretus – Trajector Machine Pistol
Increased bonus from 200% to 400%
Rolling Carnage – Vengeance Shotgun
Increased bonus from 50% stacking 3 times, to 83.33% stacking 3 times.
The Last Stand – Mauler Autocannon
Increased bonus from 200% to 225%
Fist of Stral – Cloudburst Autocannon
Increased bonus from 10% stacking 10 times, to 16% stacking 10 times.
Unending Battle – Fulcrum Machine Pistol
Increased bonus from 110% to 135%
Death From Above – Guardian Marksman Rifle
Increased bonus from 65% to 235%
Wyvern Blitz – Deadeye Sniper Rifle
Increased bonus from 40% to 185%
Masterwork Gear
Colossus
Final Judgment – HE Mortar
Increased bonus from 35% to 55%
Fist of the Crucible – Flamethrower
Increased bonus from 12% *10 to 24% *10
Interceptor
Serpent’s Veil – Venom Bomb
Increased bonus from 100% to 202.5%
Ruthless Stalker – Searching Glaive
Increased bonus from 60% to 110%
Bitter Harvest – Cluster Mine
Increased bonus from 60% to 110%
Ranger
Cold Blooded – Frost Grenade
Increased bonus from 235% to 270%
Avenger’s Boon – Pulse Blast
Increased bonus from 210 % to 220%
Storm
Ponder Infinity – Lightning Strike
Increased bonus from 60% to 165%
Chaotic Rime – Frost Shards
Increased bonus from 125% to 250%
Gear
Friendly player projectiles should now be able to pass through Javelins in your squad.
Colossus’ Firewall Mortar should now more reliably spawn the Firewall effect when directly hitting enemies, sloped surfaces, or next to walls.
Status Effects / Combos
Delay between when players and creatures are frozen and when the visual effect is applied has been reduced to improve readability of the status effect.
If a player applies a status effect that already exists on a target, but the new status effect has a higher damage than the existing one, the damage will now scale to that higher value.
Players who prime targets for combos will now also see the “Combo” text when detonated by another player.
Increased the damage of the Electric status effect when applied to creatures.
The games industry has been grappling with crunch as companies rush to complete projects by their release date, but staff at Epic Games have reportedly complained of similar conditions due to the explosive success of Fortnite.
Polygon reports that several current and former staff members spoke under the condition of anonymity about the crunch culture at the studio. While Epic had always needed to pull long hours at some points, developers felt they knew when the periods were coming and could prepare themselves. Fortnite was different because the wild popularity of its battle royale mode was so sudden and unexpected.
The result was reportedly long work weeks, some as much as 70-100 hours, with employees complaining of stress and unhealthy behaviors. While it wasn’t strictly required, they said, some employees were fired for missing deadlines after choosing not to work weekends. That helped create a culture of expectation for the long hours.
The studio was said to be impacted in other ways as well. One was a sudden influx of contract workers, who needed training to catch up with the rest of the work force. One source in customer service said the support requests went from 20-40 per day to 3,000, and so the company added 50 more contractors. The other was turnover, as some employees would quit. This period was punctuated with large bonuses, roughly three times their salary, and so some employees would stay to earn a few bonus checks before leaving.
A representative for Epic conceded many of the major points of the story to Polygon.
“People are working very hard on Fortnite and other Epic efforts,” a spokesperson said. “Extreme situations such as 100-hour work weeks are incredibly rare, and in those instances, we seek to immediately remedy them to avoid recurrence.”
The spokesperson also said that Fortnite “achieved a far higher level of success than we had ever anticipated” and that the team “rapidly expanded the game to grow the audience.”
Epic has taken some steps to remedy the situation, including mandatory break periods twice per year. One source said younger employees are still especially vulnerable to working long weeks, as the competition for promotions is fierce. The spike in long hours was a natural outcome of Epic shifting its infrastructure to support a live global service, but now that it has gotten there the workload is still heavy. The game’s seasonal nature requires Epic to put out substantial updates on a fixed schedule. One source described the current workload as “just endless.”
GameSpot contacted Epic Games, which declined further comment.
April continues to charge forward, which means we’ve got another exclusive look at Rage 2 as part of this month’s IGN First! This time, I sat down with id Software Studio Director Tim Willits as he goes deep into how its skill trees and upgrade systems work. Watch the video above for a first look at all the customization it offers.
Despite being full of cards, SteamWorld Quest doesn’t feel like a card game. As the first RPG in the SteamWorld series (the excellent SteamWorld Dig 2 being the previous entry), it bears far more resemblance to a game like Final Fantasy than Hearthstone or Gwent. Instead of letting its deck-building mechanics take over entirely, they instead give SteamWorld Quest one of the most flexible and fun turn-based RPG combat systems I’ve played with in a long time.
Steam World Quest tells the charming tale of a group of ragtag fantasy robots out to save the world from an evil army, rising to the threat before them despite their inexperience. It’s not exactly a unique premise (except for the robot part, I suppose), but the twists and turns it takes along the way make it stand out in interesting ways, and the big bad behind it all is a compelling one to fight. The story digs into larger themes about heroism and growing up with some nicely written dialogue that’s never long enough to drag the action down, and can even be genuinely funny or touching at times.
