Category: Games

While there are plenty of good sales floating around this week just in time for Labor Day, nothing beats free, and there are two Free Play events kicking off for PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Starting today, August 27, The Elder Scrolls Online is free to play until Tuesday, September 3. Meanwhile, starting tomorrow, August 28, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege will also be free to play until Wednesday, September 4. On Xbox One, this round of games is available to both Xbox Live Gold and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members. On PS4, you must have PlayStation Plus.

The base game for The Elder Scrolls Online includes four character classes, 23 zones, the main story questline, the Morrowind chapter, and the Elsweyr Prologue quest. Any new ESO accounts made during the free play event will receive 500 crowns for the in-game Crown Store. You can learn more about the ESO free play event at the game’s official website.

Meanwhile, anyone who jumps into Rainbow Six Siege during the free play event will be able to experience the game with access to all maps, modes, and 20 Legacy operators. The tactical shooter has received continual updates in the years since its release and is now considered one of the best multiplayer experiences in modern gaming. During the free play week, you can play with anyone who already owns the game or with friends also taking advantage of the week-long offer. You can read more about the Rainbow Six Siege event at Ubisoft.

Both games are also on sale so you can purchase them at a discount and continue playing while retaining any progress or achievements earned. You can check out those deals, as well as detailed times for the event, below.

Free Play Days: Dates and deals

The Elder Scrolls Online

Live now; ends Sept. 3 at 7 AM PT / 10 AM ET

• Standard edition — $10 (50% off)
  • Elsweyr upgrade — $24 (40% off)
  • Elsweyr Collector’s Edition upgrade — $30 (40% off)
• Elsweyr — $36 (40% off)
• Elsweyr Collector’s Edition — $48 (40% off)

Xbox One:

See deals at Microsoft Store

PS4:

See deals at PlayStation Store

PC:

See deals at Steam

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege

• Standard edition (PC only) — $8 (60% off)
• Deluxe Edition — $12 (70% off)
• Gold Edition — $28 (60% off)
• Ultimate Edition — $44 (60% off)
• Year 4 Pass — $24 (20% off)

Xbox One

Begins Aug. 28 at midnight PT / 3 AM ET; ends Sept. 4 at midnight PT / 3 AM ET

See deals at Microsoft Store

PS4

Begins Aug. 28 at 6 AM PT / 9 AM ET; ends Sept. 4 at 6 AM PT / 9 AM ET

See deals at PlayStation Store

PC

Begins Aug. 28 at 6 AM PT / 9 AM ET; ends Sept. 4 at 1 PM PT / 4 PM ET

See deals at Steam

See deals at Uplay

Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed Odyssey has graced Xbox One players with some free content. From now until September 1, you can grab the action-RPG’s first DLC chapter, the Fields of Elysium, for free.

Part of the Fate of Atlantis expansion pack–which also includes two additional DLC chapters–the Fields of Elysium sends Kassandra on a quest to Elysium to face off against Persephone and uncover a mystery surrounding the city of Atlantis. While the other two DLC chapters–Torment of Hades and Judgment of Atlantis–are not sold separately, the entire Fate of Atlantis expansion pack is 50 percent off on Xbox One, slashing the cost to $12.50 USD.

Target is also having a huge sale on Xbox One digital games, with a handful of titles seeing a 20 percent discount. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and its season pass are both part of the sale, as well as other Xbox One exclusives like Forza Horizon 4, Halo: The Master Chief Collection, Sea of Thieves, and State of Decay 2.

In our Assassin’s Creed Odyssey review, we said, “While its large-scale campaign–clocking in at over 50 hours–can occasionally be tiresome, and some features don’t quite make the impact they should, Odyssey makes great strides in its massive and dynamic world, and it’s a joy to venture out and leave your mark on its ever-changing setting.”

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Astral Chain is the latest from developer Platinum Games and it brings a fresh take on stylish action exclusively to the Nintendo Switch. Now that some of us have played through the entire game, we can share just how long it takes to finish. Of course, your mileage may vary since time to completion depends on your playstyle and the amount of optional content you engage with, but here we can give a general range.

As the reviewer of Astral Chain for GameSpot, I spent a total of 35 hours with the game to roll credits. This included a full playthrough on the Platinum Standard difficulty, an earnest effort to find and finish every side quest possible, and plenty of time spent exploring for leftover hidden missions–side quests also factor into your overall mission grade. I spent an extra five hours in an attempt to find the remaining content within the story chapters, and try out the hardest difficulty (Platinum Ultimate).

You may want to rescue all the cats as well, which might be hard, but it’ll warm your heart.

Astral Chain features an achievement list called “Orders” which act as challenges to complete throughout the game. There are 185 of them, and while they’re not essential, they grant you rewards like upgrade materials, items, or new cosmetic options for your character. Clearing out that list will add an inordinate amount of time to your playtime as some challenges require story completion on the hardest difficulty, S+ ranks on everything, among other things.

The game would be much shorter if you simply go through the main story questline without looking at anything else, to which I would estimate to around 15 hours–you would be doing the bare minimum, however.

As for install size, Astral Chain requires 9.8 GB of storage space on your Switch or SD card if you plan on purchasing the digital version of the game.

Astral Chain launches this Friday, August 30 exclusively on Nintendo Switch. To get up to speed on it, be sure to read my Astral Chain review in which I say, “Astral Chain’s shortcomings don’t overshadow what it does best. It’s an incredible execution of a fresh take on Platinum Games’ foundation, standing among the stylish-action greats. And its own anime-inspired swagger makes fights all the more exhilarating.”

Hopefully, you’re ready to get terrified again, because Midsommar–one of the best horror films of the year so far–is heading back to theaters. This time around, though, there’s even more of it. An unrated director’s cut of Midsommar opens in select theaters nationwide on Friday, August 30.

According to a press release, the new cut of the film includes additional scenes plus extended versions of scenes already in the movie. While no other details are given, GameSpot previously spoke with Midsommar and Hereditary director Ari Aster about a deleted scene he was sad to cut. “There [was] a very big argument between Dani and Christian in the middle. That was the only time that we see Dani fight back and argue with Christian, and that was a big debate in the edit room, about whether we keep that or lose that,” he explained. “If you told me that I would have cut that scene before we went into production, I would have told you that you were crazy.”

Thankfully, with the director’s cut, Aster has the chance to address that regret and work it back into the movie. Still, that’s merely one of the scenes that was cut from the film–which had a first cut running time of 3 hours, 45 minutes–and there’s no telling what else he’s added back in. Whatever winds up being added, the trailer for the film sure makes it look absolutely disturbing.

In his review of Midsommar, which initially released in July, GameSpot’s Michael Rougeau called the film, “an incredibly strong follow-up to Hereditary.” He concluded that, “for those who don’t mind a strange and terrifying trip, Midsommar is a movie to watch again and again and again.”

Now, thanks to the new cut, you’re going to have that chance before the film comes to Blu-ray. Midsommar: The Director’s Cut hits select theaters on August 30.

Epic has kicked off a Borderlands 3 crossover event in Fortnite: Battle Royale. Not only are there new Borderlands cosmetics to purchase from the in-game store, there’s a variety of special, limited-time challenges to complete and Borderlands-inspired rewards to unlock–and unlike the standard weekly challenges, these are available to everyone, even if you don’t own a Season X Battle Pass.

Most of the challenges are fairly straightforward and involve searching for loot or eliminating opponents within the Pandora Rift Zone, but one of the trickier tasks asks you to search different Vault Symbols. If you’re not sure where those can be found, we’ve put together this map and guide to help you out.

Where To Find Vault Symbol Locations

The Pandora Rift Zone is located in the desert, to the south of Paradise Palms, so you’ll first need to head there to take on this challenge. The Vault Symbols you need to search for are the Borderlands logo, and they can be found spraypainted on various objects around the area. There are several scattered around the Rift Zone, but you only need to find three of them to complete the challenge. We’ve marked down a few of the ones we’ve found on the map below.

How To Complete The Challenge

Once you know where to look, all you need to do is track down three of the Vault Symbols and interact with them. You don’t need to find all three within the same match, but you do need to search different symbols in order for your progress to count, so you can’t return to the same one in different matches. Once you’ve searched all three symbols, you’ll unlock a Vault Symbol banner.

The Borderlands crossover event is running until September 10, so you have until then to complete all of these special Borderlands challenges. If you manage to complete all six before the end of the event, you’ll earn a special wrap for your troubles. The event kicked off as part of Fortnite’s 10.20 update, which also introduced the new Shield Bubble item to the game. If you need help completing any other challenges from this season, be sure to check out our ongoing Season X challenges roundup for more tips and guides.

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