Author: Trafficblast

Animal Crossing: New Horizons arrives on Switch in only a couple of days, but Nintendo will be releasing an update for the game before it’s even out. The company announced on the official Animal Crossing Twitter account that New Horizons’ 1.1.0 update will go live at 6 PM PT / 9 PM ET on March 18.

Nintendo hasn’t shared any further details on what the 1.1.0 does, but those who’ve purchased New Horizons digitally from the Eshop will be able to download the patch starting at the aforementioned time. Those who pick up a physical copy, meanwhile, will need to install the update after the game launches on March 20.

Unlike previous Animal Crossing games, New Horizons begins by shipping you off to a deserted island, which you’ll be able to build into your own village from the ground up. The game introduces a variety of new features, including a photo mode and the ability to terraform your island. Nintendo has also made a swathe of quality-of-life improvements; this time around, you can choose where your animal neighbors live and unlock a tool wheel to let you swap between tools more quickly.

“New Horizons certainly has a slower pace than other Animal Crossing games, partially because you have to work to get things up and running on the island at the start,” Kallie Plagge wrote in GameSpot’s Animal Crossing: New Horizons review-in-progress. “And while I’m impatient to discover what upgrades might be coming my way (and I need to mess around with Island Designer more), I still feel as though I’ve done a lot on my island. I’ve crafted tons of furniture, upgraded my house seven times, picked thousands of weeds, and done far too many drastic outfit changes. I’m as excited to see what random events await me each morning as I am to decorate my island and make it my own, and that’s sure to keep me coming back for the foreseeable future.”

There’s still time to pre-order Animal Crossing: New Horizons ahead of its launch. You can read more about where to get the game and what pre-order bonuses are available in our New Horizons pre-order guide. You can also snag some New Horizons items in the series’ mobile game, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, thanks to the ongoing crossover event.

With most people stuck at home this week, there’s more time than ever to work through your backlog or try a game that’s been on your Steam wishlist forever. Steam tends to offer a ton of deals on a regular basis, but this week’s deals include an Ubisoft publisher sale with steep discounts on series like Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry. In addition, there’s no shortage of excellent indies and other games on sale this week, so we’ve rounded up the very best Steam deals on games you should check out.

The Ubisoft sale includes the entire Assassin’s Creed franchise; notably, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is free to play this weekend and also discounted to $19.79 if you want to buy it and keep playing (we very much doubt you’ll complete the entire game this weekend, but we’d be impressed if you did). You can also snag the Assassin’s Creed bundle, which gets you Black Flag, Unity, Rogue, and Syndicate, for just $28.22; it usually sells for $100.

You’ll also find a collection of Devolver Digital games on sale, including the bullet-hell dungeon-crawler Enter the Gungeon for $7.49 (50% off). This deal is perfectly timed alongside the release of its sequel, Exit the Gungeon, on Nintendo Switch today. Other notable deals include the gorgeous, emotional platformer Gris, which is down to $8.49, and the excellent beat ’em up Ape Out, which is discounted to $7.49.

One hidden gem in the sale is OneShot, one of my personal favorites on Steam. The surreal puzzle-adventure game is like Undertale meets Doki Doki Literature Club. It’s best to go in without knowing much about it, but the basic premise is that you’re guiding a child, Niko, through a mysterious world on a mission to restore its long-dead sun. OneShot is available for 40% off, just $6, in this week’s sale.

There are plenty more deals to be had, so be sure to check out more of our picks below and see all the current deals at Steam. Plus, keep an eye out for the 2020 Spring Game Festival, which kicks off tomorrow, March 18, at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET, offering free-to-play demos, spotlighting new and upcoming games, and more.

Best Steam game deals this week

Cobalion is back in Pokemon Go for a limited time. The Legendary Iron Will Pokemon has returned to the game as part of a special Raid event, which has been extended to run from March 17-23.

This marks Cobalion’s second appearance in Pokemon Go, but even if you’ve previously caught one, there’s a good incentive to get another this week. Not only does the Legendary Pokemon now know a special event-exclusive move–Sacred Sword–but you’ll also have a chance to encounter its Shiny form.

Like other Legendaries, Cobalion is a formidable Pokemon to battle, so you’ll need a good team and some aid from other players to take it down. To help you out, we’ve rounded up some tips on how to battle and catch Cobalion below.

How To Find Cobalion

Cobalion will appear in five-star Raids until 1 PM PT / 4 PM ET on March 23, making this the easiest way to encounter it. Raids can occur at any time, but you’ll receive an in-game notification when one is about to begin nearby, so you shouldn’t have much trouble tracking the Legendary Pokemon down.

Once you find a Gym that’s hosting a Cobalion Raid, you’ll need to redeem a Raid Pass to participate in the battle. You can get one of these for free when you spin the Photo Disc at a Gym, but you can only hold one free pass at a time. You can also purchase them through Pokemon Go’s in-game store for 100 coins.

There’s a second way you can encounter Cobalion in Pokemon Go. Like Thundurus, Cobalion is featured as a reward in the Go Battle League PvP mode. Defeat enough players in online battles and you’ll earn a chance to capture Cobalion outside of Raids. However, the Iron Will Pokemon will only be available as a Go Battle League reward until March 23–the same time it leaves Raids.

Cobalion Weaknesses And Counters

Cobalion is a dual Steel/Fighting Pokemon. Thanks to this unique typing, Psychic, Flying, and Fairy Pokemon (which normally have an advantage over Fighting types) only deal neutral damage to Cobalion. However, its part Steel typing makes Cobalion vulnerable to Ground, Fire, and other Fighting Pokemon, so you’ll want to stack your team with those when you face it.

Other Legendary Pokemon like Groundon will be especially helpful, but if you don’t have one of those, Garchomp, Hippowdon and Mamoswine are good alternatives; the latter, however, also takes super-effective damage from Cobalion, so keep that in mind. Entei is one of your best bets when it comes to Fire Pokemon, although Chandelure and Moltres are also good choices, and you can round out your team with Fighting types like Machamp, Hariyama, and Heracross.

As previously mentioned, you’ll want to avoid using Fairy types, as they take super-effective damage from Steel moves. Ice, Rock, and Normal Pokemon are also poor choices, as all those types are susceptible to Cobalion’s Sacred Sword.

Ubisoft has promised a mode that totally overhauls Ghost Recon Breakpoint for quite a while now, and it’s finally scheduled to arrive on March 24, according to a tweet from the publisher. However, Ubisoft also notes that the coronavirus outlook is still changing, and that there might be a chance that the patch doesn’t come out as scheduled.

“We are currently on track to release TU 2.0.0 on March 24,” the tweet reads. “If anything changes due to the evolving situation with COVID-19, we will let you know as soon as possible.”

This title update 2.0.0 will add the Ghost Experience to the game, the long-awaited “immersive mode” that allows players to customize how difficult or hardcore they want their experience to be, including removing regenerating health, messing with the HUD, and more. The update will also add the Engineer class to the game, as well as quality-of-life upgrades, like better gear sorting options.

Ubisoft isn’t the only studio struggling with the coronavirus. On Tuesday, Mojang announced that the upcoming Minecraft Dungeons might be delayed due to the outbreak. E3 and a host of other gaming events were also cancelled because of the virus.

Mortal Kombat 11‘s sixth DLC character, Spawn, finally arrives on all platforms today for those who own the Kombat Pack expansion.

Spawn is the latest guest character to fight alongside MK mainstays like Liu Kang and Scorpion. He brings his signature hellish powers with him into battle, giving him access to a variety of weapons including his cape, guns, otherworldly demons, and more. Spawn will also be available as an individual purchase on March 24.

MK11’s Kombat Pack retails for $40 USD on most platforms, such as Steam, Switch, and Xbox One. However, the bundle is discounted 30% on PS4 for those with an active PS Plus membership.

Picking up MK11’s Kombat Pack nets you a bunch of extras, including premium and exclusive skins, themed skin packs and gear sets, and more. You also get Spawn and the five other DLC characters: Shang Tsung, Nightwolf, Terminator T-800, Sindel, and Joker.

In the Spawn reveal trailer, above, the heavy metal band Trivium debuted two new songs. The band is signed to Roadrunner Records, a record label owned by Warner Bros., which also owns Mortal Kombat developer NetherRealm Studios.

If you’re eagerly anticipating the release of Minecraft Dungeons, steel yourself for some bad news. The game’s Twitter account recently announced that they may miss their planned release date of April 2020 due to the team behind the game working from home because of coronavirus concerns.

“As we’re working from home to do our part in protecting our community, our workflows will unfortunately be impacted,” the tweet reads. “We’re working hard to deliver Minecraft Dungeons in April, but we’re also re-evaluating our timeline to make sure we bring you the best game possible. Stay tuned!”

Minecraft Dungeons is the latest of the many spin-offs of the epoch-defining survival/building franchise. Dungeons is set to be a co-op dungeon crawler inspired by classics of the genre, such as Diablo. The game previously had an open beta late last year, with gameplay footage emerging a few months later. It features an isometric perspective and twitch-based combat.