Author: Trafficblast

The year may be winding down, but the video game discounts show no signs of following suit. A flurry of winter and holiday sales is now live, including a big one on PC games at GOG. Between now and January 3, you can save money on a wide assortment of titles, including some you can get for free. Let’s dive in and look at the details.

One game, Full Throttle Remastered, is free for everyone, with no strings attached, through December 15. If you spend even one cent during the sale, you’ll also get a free copy of the turn-based strategy game Fantasy General. Spend $15, and they’ll throw in Everspace for free–a $30 value.

As for what you can spend that money on, you have plenty of choices. One good starting point would be the GameSpot Collection, where you’ll find a list of discounted games that was hand-picked by our editors and producers.

Another place to start would be on some of the best PC games of the year, including the roguelike Metroidvania-style Dead Cells, which is a one of GameSpot top games of the year in addition to being on sale for $20. Into the Breach, also a top game of the year, is a unique strategy game from the makers of FTL (which is also on sale), that’s discounted to $10. Then there’s The Messenger, which bears more than a little resemblance to the Ninja Gaiden NES games, is down to $14.

Anyone who hasn’t picked up the Witcher games yet can scoop up the entire series, DLC and all, for under $30. Speaking of that series, the RPG/card game Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales, is also on sale for $24. Also priced to sell are the CRPGs Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire ($33) and Divinity: Original Sin II ($30), as are Darkest Dungeon ($7.50) and Anno 1404: Gold Edition ($9).

Read on for more of our picks, or head to the site to find all 43 pages’ worth of deals.

Netflix’s Chilling Adventures of Sabrina won’t return for its second season until 2019, but the streaming service has a holiday surprise for fans of the witchy series. “A Midwinter’s Tale,” a special holiday-themed episode of the series arrives on December 13. Unfortunately, for those hoping for a nice and relaxing Christmas with the Spellman family, you’re out of luck.

“Although people think that the holiday season is like, a fun time and all that, but for witches it is kind of a perilous time, because it’s a time when they kind of need extra protection,” Miranda Otto (Zelda) explained during a visit to the show’s set. “They have to keep the yule log burning so to protect themselves from spirits that could come into the house.”

Of course, as Lucy Davis (Hilda) added, there’s still some holiday joy to be found mixed in with the Sabrina creepiness fans have some to love. “It’s really nice, because it’s very–it’s nice and warm, it’s typical Sabrina stuff and some horror stuff, but you also learn a lot about Sabrina’s mom,” she said.

While the episode promises some information about Sabrina’s mother, along with the addition of The Haunting of Hill House alum McKenna Grace playing a young Sabrina, star Kiernan Shipka warned that the special might not have a lot of the answers you’re looking for after the conclusion of Season 1.

“It’s in so many ways, a standalone episode,” Shipka explained. “It doesn’t get too crazy on plot or this or that. It really just kind of focuses in on the characters, and it takes its time. It’s super perfect for the holidays.”

There will be one lingering story that gets some serious attention in the special, though. You might remember that at the conclusion of Season 1, it was revealed that Zelda (Otto) kidnapped a baby. That’s a plot that simply can’t be ignored.

“For Zelda, the story is very much about the baby, and having a baby in the house, and her attachment to the baby,” Otti teased. “And Zelda is particularly worried because of the baby in the house, and indeed someone does come to try to steal the baby.”

As for who’s coming to take the baby, that’s anyone’s guess. When it comes to Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, though, nothing is off the table–especially where evil is concerned.

The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina winter special debuts on Netflix on Friday, December 14. Meanwhile, Season 2 of the series premieres on April 5.

Ring of Honor World Champion Jay Lethal has quite the task ahead of him on Friday, December 14 when he defends his title against The Elite member Cody at the Final Battle PPV. It’s been a crazy year for Lethal. He beat Dalton Castle for the ROH title and defended it at All In, where he, once again, channeled his old character Black Machismo, his version of Macho Man Randy Savage.

What made Lethal’s appearance at the gigantic wrestling event in Chicago so important was that not only did he step back into the role of Black Machismo, but he came to the ring accompanied by Lanny Poffo, Macho Man’s brother. Although the Macho Man passed away in 2011, he still heard Lethal’s spot-on impression of him, and the two spoke over the phone about it.

Photo credit: Ring of Honor

“The first time I spoke with [Macho Man Randy Savage], now I’m gonna be honest, I didn’t believe it was him because I can do a pretty good Macho Man impression, and I’m sure other people could too,” Lethal told GameSpot. “I’m sure that I know a couple people who can do one. So, when I was talking to him on the phone, deep down inside, I thought this could be somebody else playing a trick on me. Until Lanny actually confirmed that it was his brother. But he loved it. He said he didn’t watch it on TV but he did watch some of the stuff, he pulled my stuff up on YouTube and he absolutely loved it.”

When it came to the All In PPV this past summer, Lethal and Lanny Poffo teamed up for Lethal’s title defense against Flip Gordon. And Lanny was a huge fan of Lethal’s work impersonating his late brother. “He loved it so much that at the All In pay-per-view, the days before Starrcast, big signing, there was so much to do,” explained Lethal. “Well I had a signing with Lanny, we were at the same table and he told me, ‘One of the things that I miss the most about my brother is, just sometimes at random times he would just yell at me. So if you could, just at random times throughout this signing just find a reason to yell at me I would love it.’

“And of course, I thought it was hilarious and weird, but brotherly love is always something that’s weird. I just think about the way that I interact with my brother it could be weird to other people. So I got a huge kick out of it. So of course every five minutes or so, if he was talking to a fan I would yell at him, ‘Get back over here! We’re trying to work!’ He absolutely loved it. So I think he enjoys the impression more than anybody.”

You can see more of Lethal at Ring of Honor’s Final Battle, which airs LIVE from New York City on Friday, December 14 at a new start time of 8 PM ET on PPV, free for HonorClub VIP, at a 50% discount for HonorClub Standard, and on FITE TV. Please visit ROHWrestling or the ROH App for more information. Also, the ROH World Champ has some sweet Pokemon Go tips for you to stay competitive.

Forza Horizon 4 has launched its first big expansion, Fortune Island. It’s now available on PC or Xbox One and adds a new area of the northern British Isles with rocky mountain curves and dangerous weather patterns. The extreme weather has its beautiful side too, as you can witness the northern lights while driving through the area.

This being a driving game, it also comes with new cars. The expansion will grant you 10 new cars in all, including the 2019 Lamborghini Urus, 2017 Ram Rebel TRX Concept, and the 2018 BMW M5. Fortune Island is an entirely separate area from the main game, and true to the name it includes clues to hunt down hidden treasures. This expansion is in addition to the steady stream of weekly content that has been adding new cars and season-specific events.

Fortune Island can be purchased separately for $20, or as part of the expansion bundle for $35. If you’re a Game Pass subscriber, you get a 10% discount off the standalone or expansion bundle, and the Game Pass itself entitles you to the base game. If you own the Ultimate Edition, of course, you already have the bundle at no additional cost.

“Everything you do in Horizon feels valuable, no matter how big or small–from the basic thrills of speeding a fast car down a gorgeous mountain highway to spending time tinkering with your favorite ride to manage seasonal road conditions to just hanging out with friends and strangers online and goofing off in friendly games,” critic Edmond Tran wrote in GameSpot’s Forza Horizon 4 review. “The charm of the Horizon series is as palpable as ever, a winning, all-inclusive recipe that celebrates the joy of driving above all else.”

Amazon is running a sale on a nice selection of PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch games. But as usual for the internet megacorp, this isn’t a standard sale with defined start and end dates like you’d find at Best Buy or GameStop. At Amazon, pricing is unpredictable and stock comes and goes seemingly at random. Which is to say that if you find a deal you like, the smart move is to hop on it before it’s gone. Here’s what Amazon has on sale right now.

As usual, let’s start with the biggest, newest games. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey on PS4 is down to $40. In a slight price reduction, Red Dead Redemption 2 on Xbox One is on sale for $55. On both PS4 and Xbox One, you can grab Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 for $48, Fallout 76 or SoulCalibur VI for $40, and Shadow of the Tomb Raider for $30. Nintendo Switch owners can join in on the savings by picking up Diablo III: Eternal Collection for $40.

PS4 owners have a nice selection of console exclusives to choose from, including Game Awards Game of the Year winner God of War for $30, Detroit: Become Human for $35, and Persona 5 for $36. The PSVR boxing game Creed: Rise to Glory is down to $19 as well.

Xbox One owners can pick up the open-world racer Forza Horizon 4 for just $35. Metal Gear Survive is available as an add-on item for $10 (meaning it ships with qualifying orders over $25). RPG-loving Switch owners can pre-order Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age for $40 or grab a digital copy of Octopath Traveler for $50.

You’ll find many more games on sale listed below, or you can head to Amazon directly to hunt for more deals. Best of luck if you do, because Amazon can be a real jungle (ba-dum-tss).

PS4

Xbox One

Switch

The next entry in the large-scale multiplayer FPS series PlanetSide was revealed, and developer Daybreak Games appears to be taking cues from one of its other games while incorporating franchise staples. It’s dubbed PlanetSide Arena, and it’ll launch next month on PC with battle royale modes though it’s slated to have different modes added as post-release updates.

Daybreak (formerly Sony Online Entertainment) has been running PlanetSide 2 on PC and PlayStation 4, but Arena takes the series in a new direction. There will be solo and team-based battle royale with up to 100 players in a single match, and a unique mode called Massive Clash which puts two teams of up to 250 players each (500 total) in the last-person-standing style mode. The game remains class-based as well and will launch with three choices–Medic, Engineer, and Assault–each with their own specific abilities. Daybreak made it clear that each class is viable for solo play since health, weapons, and jetpacks won’t differ between them.

Capture The Flag, Team Deathmatch, Search And Destroy, and Conquest are some of the modes that are going to be added in the future; Daybreak stated that it doesn’t want PlanetSide Arena to strictly be battle royale. It’ll launch with one map, and is said to support the scale the game is aiming for, which will be up to 1,000 players per match. There will also be seasonal battle passes which give you additional cosmetics and blueprints, which are weapons you can purchase at terminals in a match with currency that’s strictly earned during the match itself.

It’s not much of a surprise to see Daybreak bring battle royale to PlanetSide considering the studio’s work on H1Z1: Battle Royale. PlanetSide Arena launches on January 29, 2019 for PC exclusively; it’s available to pre-order now and grants access to the upcoming closed beta. The standard edition goes for $20 and includes the Season 1 battle pass and an Assault class armor set, and there’s a deluxe edition for $40 that comes with the aforementioned items, armor for the other classes, and a hoverbike. Plans for console versions have not been revealed.

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The year may be winding down–and your desire to do anything too taxing along with it–but don’t kick up your feet and call it a year just yet, there’s new Fortnite: Battle Royale challenges to do for Week 2! If you’re among the millions that like to hop into Epic’s battle royale title to get your hands on Battle Stars and cosmetics on the regular, you’ll know how this goes by now, so let’s break down the Week 2 challenges of Fortnite Season 7.

First up are the challenges that are available to everyone, which aren’t very difficult at all. One asks you to search a chest in seven different named locations on the island for five Battle Stars. The second requires you to damage opponents with five different types of weapons–again, for five Battle Stars. The final challenge in the free section is for 10 Battle Stars and, as a result, is a little harder, requiring you to eliminate three enemies in Snobby Shores or Fatal Fields.

Meanwhile, for those that have spent money on a Battle Pass, you’ll need to visit Snobby Shores and Pleasant Park in a single match for five Battle Stars, and eliminate one enemy from at least 50m away for 10 Battle Stars. However, there are two more that are a little more difficult. One involves playing Sheet Music on the pianos near Pleasant Park and Lonely Lodge, while the other involves competing in a Dance Off at an abandoned mansion. We’ve assembled guides through those two links to help you know where these are located and what you need to do when you get there.

Fortnite Week 2 Challenges (Season 7)

Free

• Search a chest in different named locations (7) — 5 Battle Stars
• Damage opponents with different types of weapons (5) — 5 Battle Stars
• Eliminate opponents in Snobby Shores or Fatal Fields (3) — 10 Battle Stars

Battle Pass

• Stage 1: Visit Snobby Shores and Pleasant Park in a single match (2) — 5 Battle Stars
• Play the Sheet Music on the pianos near Pleasant Park and Lonely Lodge (2) — 5 Battle Star
• Compete in a Dance Off at an abandoned mansion (1) — 10 Battle Stars
• Eliminate an opponent from at least 50m away — 10 Battle Stars

Fortnite Season 7 officially began on December 6, when Epic Games detailed what was new and changed in its Season 7 patch notes. Of course, there was an inaugural set of challenges, and you can see our guides on how to complete the harder ones among them in our full Fortnite Season 7 challenge guide. Since then, we’ve already gotten another update to add the controversial Infinity Blade sword.

Unsurprisingly, the Season 7 update introduced a whole bunch of new cosmetics, ranging from new skins and back bling to sprays and contrails. However, Epic also added in a new type of cosmetic called Wraps, which are essentially skins for guns and vehicles. You can see all of that in our Fortnite Season 7 cosmetics gallery.