Category: Games

Developer Techland is still adding new content to its zombie sandbox Dying Light, and this week sees the release of two new in-game updates: The Viking: Raiders of Harran Bundle, which adds Nordic-themed weapons, shields, and, skins, and a free Ox Warrior bundle in celebration of the Chinese New Year.

Players can join two new characters–Björn the Warrior and Björn the Berserker–in the Raiders of Harran DLC, earning new gear for their arsenals such as the Ragnarok heavy double-axe, the Aesir one-handed sword, and the Asgard’s Protector shield in the $4 DLC. Each weapon and shield will come in two variants, one applying fire damage and a standard version with craftable mods.

You’ll even be able to customize your buggy with two skins, one of which will allow you to use your “Earth boat” to spew deadly flames at the undead hordes.

With Chinese New Year being celebrated this week, Dying Light is joining in on the festivities with the in-game Lunar Event that offers a new Gold Dao sword weapon, King mods, Ox Cannon weapon, and the Ox Warrior character skin. This content will be free and is available in the in-game shop on PC, Xbox One and PS4.

Techland’s support of Dying Light has resulted in some interesting DLC that has kept the game alive for multiple years. In addition to the studio reviving one of its old titles as DLC with the Hellraid add-on, a Left 4 Dead crossover has also been a popular feature for two years running. As for Dying Light 2, that sequel’s current status is still a mystery.

Originally scheduled to release in Spring 2020, the game was delayed indefinitely last year, with Techland writing, “We need more development time to fulfill our vision.” Techland cut ties with freelance writer Chris Avellone after accusations of sexual assault and harassment surfaced, which also resulted in the writer being removed from Paradox Interactive’s Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2.

Love is in the air, and almost all of the new challenges for Fortnite’s Season 5 Week 11 are focused on Valentine’s Day. Some are fairly straightforward, but a few, like the one we’ll help you with here, can be a little trickier to complete. One mission asks you to find and deliver love potions, requiring you to make a trek halfway across the map. If you know where to go, it’s not that tough, however, and we’ll show you exactly what to do with this guide.

Love potion locations

You can find a love potion at three different locations on the Fortnite map: Coral Cove, Stealth Stronghold, or Fort Crumpet. It doesn’t matter which one you pick, but we found the Coral Cove location to be a super easy one. All three are marked on the map below.

Just parachute right down to the location you’ve selected and you will be able to find the love potion quickly. It’s purple and in a large jar, and all you have to do is pick it up to complete the first half of this quest. Don’t worry if you get killed, as you won’t have to repeat this step in the next match.

Where to deliver the love potion

There are two possible locations you can visit to deliver the love potion. As with the first half of this mission, you only need to go to one of them to complete it: either Slurpy Swamp or Shanty Town.

Shanty Town may end up being a little less populated, as it’s near the very edge of the map. Go to the big house near the end of the town and head upstairs, where you’ll find a big teddy bear. In front of it is a spot to deliver the potion.

Challenge rewards

You get 20,000 XP for collecting the love potion as well as another 20,000 XP for delivering it.

If you’re interested in the newest content coming to Fortnite, the game is teasing a Tron crossover. A skin based on the franchise should be available soon.

The PlayStation Store has brought back one of its best sales. The Big in Japan sale features hundreds of games for PS5 and PS4 developed at Japanese studios, including Dark Souls, Kingdom Hearts, Danganronpa, and more. You can also pick up the excellent Yakuza spinoff Judgment, which we rarely see discounts on, for only $20. The Big in Japan sale runs until February 25, so you have a couple of weeks to make your picks.

The Dark Souls franchise is up for grabs for cheap. Dark Souls: Remastered is down to $20, Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin is $10, and Dark Souls 3 is $15. Getting the entire From Software franchise for less than $50 is a steal.

The Big in Japan sale also presents a good opportunity to snag some fighting games at huge discounts. Jump Force is down to $15, Tekken 7 is $10, and SoulCalibur VI is $15.

Visual novel fans have a bunch of incredible games to choose from in the sale. 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim flew under the radar last year, but it’s absolutely worth scooping up for $30 if you’re into science fiction. Danganronpa 1.2 Reload, which comes with the first two games in Spike Chunsoft series, is slashed to only $10. Meanwhile, Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony is discounted to $16.

If you’re looking for value, the Kingdom Hearts All-In-One Package is a wonderful deal at only $25. The collection comes with 10 Kingdom Hearts “experiences,” including all three mainline games and a handful of other titles in the series.

We’ve rounded up some of the best deals in the sale below, but make sure to check out the PlayStation Store for yourself, too.

Best deals on PlayStation Store

• 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim — $30 ($60)
• AI: The Somnium Files — $24 ($60)
• Code Vein — $19.79 ($60)
• Danganronpa 1.2 Reload — $10 ($40)
• Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony — $16 ($40)
• Dark Souls: Remastered — $20 ($40)
• Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin — $10 ($40)
• Dark Souls 3 — $15 ($60)
• Devil May Cry 4 – Special edition — $7.49 ($25)
• DmC Devil May Cry: Definitive edition — $10 ($40)
• Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot — $24 ($60)
• Judgment — $20 ($40)
• Jump Force — $15 ($60)
• Kingdom Hearts All-In-One Package — $25 ($100)
• Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 Remix — $12.49 ($50)
• Kingdom Hearts 3 — $18 ($60)
• The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II — $24 ($40)
• The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III — $36 ($60)
• The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV — $45 ($60)
• Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite — $10 ($40)
• Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 — $30 ($40)
• SoulCalibur VI — $15 ($60)
• Tekken 7 — $10 ($50)
• Zero Escape: The Nonary Games — $15 ($50)

Pokemon Go developer Niantic has launched a new game development fund called the Black Developers Initiative through which the company aims to fund and support the development of games made by Black creators.

“Our intention is to empower Black game/AR developers and provide access, resources, and support so they can build amazing game experiences that inspire people to explore the world together,” reads a line from the announcement.

Teams who are chosen for the fund will receive five months of funding, executive mentorship, and development support to create a playable prototype.

The first participant in the program is a studio called W!CKED SAiNTS, which is developing a prototype for a game called World Reborn. The title is described as “Game of Thrones meets Riverdale with a little dash of Black Mirror.” You can learn more about this game and the developers behind it in the video below.

To qualify for Niantic’s Black Developers Initiative, teams must meet at least one of the following criteria:

• Black team member(s) have a direct line to the profits of the game.
• The company/studio is at least 51 percent Black-owned operated and controlled as based on the NMSDC requirements defined here under “Certification Criteria” used by the Small Business Administration.
  • Eligibility is established via a combination of screenings, interviews, and site visits (post-covid). Ownership, in the case of a publicly-owned business, means that at least 51 percent of the stock is owned by one or more Black members.
• Black people driving game vision via a leadership position. Leadership is defined as:
  • Creative Director/Lead Designer
  • Technical Director/Lead Programmer
  • Art Director/Lead Artist
• The studio team is at least 50 percent Black.

You can visit Niantic’s website to learn more about Niantic’s Black Developers Initiative.

I just want to thank fan sites and fan wikis everywhere. Not just for being fans, but for helping us find information about our own games. I wonder if you know how often game developers pull from your sites to make presentations about their own games. I know I do it A LOT.

— TimOfLegend (@TimOfLegend) February 4, 2021

And not just presentations. When you’re making a sequel, and you want to make sure something matches the original, it’s faster to get the information from a fan site than from my musty, disorganized, and possibly-on-a-zip-drive archive. 🙂

— TimOfLegend (@TimOfLegend) February 4, 2021

In the course of testing the notorious GeForce GT 710 ultra-budget graphics card, YouTuber Kryzzp of zWORMz Gaming has shown just how low-spec Horizon Zero Dawn can be pushed on its PC port. A section of the video shows the game running at an eye-straining 128×72–which can be selected from the game’s visual settings without mods or any extra tinkering.

While Kryzzp’s channel often showcases high-end graphics cards pushing games to their limit, a few videos do the exact opposite. The Horizon Zero Dawn video is framed as a test for the GT 710, with the start of the video showing the low-end card outputting just 3fps when the game is played on Ultra settings at 1080p. The test goes through 720p, 360p, 144p, then 72p, with the card only briefly managing 30fps at the ultra-low resolution.

While the YouTuber refers to it as “Game Boy Advance edition,” an article by The Verge points out that even the 20-year-old handheld console had a higher screen resolution of 240×160. The low-quality Horizon Zero Dawn graphics end up with an almost appealing, retro-game quality–though the lack of any readable text would make it difficult to actually play the game.

Kryzzp has tested ultra-low 144p and 72p resolutions in other games as well, including Far Cry 5, Fortnite, GTA 5, and even Witcher 3. Those videos are worth checking out just to see how differently each game renders low-res settings.

Well, this is surprising. The Mandalorian star Pedro Pascal has nabbed another high-profile role in a completely different universe. As first reported by Deadline, he will play the leading role of Joel in HBO’s adaptation of the video game The Last of Us. The news of Pascal’s casting comes hot on the heels of Game of Thrones alum Bella Ramsey being revealed as taking on the co-leading role of Ellie.

Pascal’s casting was confirmed by Neil Druckmann, who wrote the video game and is also serving as a writer on the series. “Aaaaand there’s the other half,” he wrote of Pascal in a tweet. “Stoked to have Pedro aboard our show!”

What’s interesting about Pascal’s casting is that, per Deadline, The Last of Us has first position. That means HBO essentially has first dibs on scheduling the actor. However, given that his character on The Mandalorian stays masked nearly all of the time he’s on-screen, chances are that won’t be too difficult.

Thus far, a release date for HBO’s take on The Last of Us has not been announced. With the announcement of the two leading cast members, though, clearly production is moving closer and closer to launching. As for how the show will compare to the game, executive producer Craig Mazin has said the plan is to introduce characters and events fans of the game series have yet to experience.

Don’t worry about it skewing too far from the story told in the games, though. “I think fans of something worry that, when the property gets licensed to someone else, those people don’t really understand it, or are going to change it,” Mazin previously said. “In this case, I’m doing [the series] with the guy who [created the game], and so the changes that we’re making are designed to fill things out and expand, not to undo, but rather to enhance [the source material].”

Image credit: Getty Images/Toni Anne Barson/Contributor