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Call of Duty’s Season 3 has been one of the best seasons of content since the integration of Black Ops Cold War. A lackluster Season 2 is in the rearview, and players are currently racking up kills as Rambo and John McClane in the ’80s Action Heroes event. However, as we look to what could come in Season 4 and beyond, we can see there are still some interesting things potentially on the horizon for Warzone.

Map Changes

Even though Season 3 just nuked the modern Verdansk map, introducing the new Cold War-era Verdansk ’84, we’ve already seen some nice map changes with the mid-season Reloaded update. There’s the arrival of Nakatomi Plaza from Die Hard, which has its own unique missions and lootable vault. There are also smaller additions of Rambo’s survival camps and the CIA Outpost, but it’s uncertain if any of these locations will stick around post-Season 3, as Rambo and McClane’s bundles are set to disappear June 18.

Regardless, Activision already gave a subtle tease for future map changes to Warzone in Call of Duty’s blog that arrived with the launch of Verdansk ’84, specifically around the Salt Mines.

The Salt Mines location sits in Verdansk ’84’s northeastern corner of the map, and Activision gave the location this description: This sprawling space has two large (and currently sealed) entrances, numerous old mine conduits, and a large, craggy hillside to explore about the containment ponds and factories.

The wording “currently sealed” suggests that at some point those old mining tunnels are likely to open up. Maybe this adds something like a brand new point of interest for Warzone, and it’s possible that there’s a bunker or some sort of underground facility waiting to be explored.

And speaking of mines, there’s also a teaser mentioned for the tunnels at the Old Mine, which is located in the northwest portion of Verdansk. If you visit Call of Duty’s Warzone official strategy guide, the Tac Map gives a description for the Old Mine a14 location, but the details on how to access the mine’s interior are partially redacted. This looks similar to when the Tac Map listed redacted info for the bunkers used in Warzone’s previous bunker Easter egg. This could mean that something opens up the mines for new underground playable areas, or maybe this is going to lead into a new Easter egg hunt.

It’s all speculation, but maybe this brings back the return of Buried, the underground western town from Black Ops 2’s Zombies mode. Buried was also added in as a map location on Black Ops 4’s Blackout map. We’ll just have to wait and see.

There could also be lighting changes coming to Verdansk ’84 in the near future, as a visual effects artist from Raven Software has said the studio could adjust the unpopular sun lens flare effect in Call of Duty: Warzone. This would be a great visual improvement for Verdansk, as certain areas of Warzone experience blinding rays of sunlight that can instantly impact your game. Warzone’s smaller map Rebirth Island already received a lighting update that was mostly positively received by the community.

Fast Travel

As previously reported by Charlie Intel, Activision sent out a survey on April 28 asking players which parts of the new Verdansk ’84 map that they most enjoyed. The options on the survey mentioned typical features like lighting changes and updated points of interest, but it also referenced a “Red Doors” fast travel system that actually hasn’t been introduced into Warzone.

A subway fast travel system was introduced to Warzone with Modern Warfare’s Season 6, but the trip back to 1984 removed the subway transit from the game. Something like the Red Door could work as a means to fast travel in the Black Ops Cold War-themed Warzone map, as the Red Door serves as a trippy part of the campaign’s storyline. Certain buildings around Verdansk could have these special red doors that could teleport you to a different section of the map.

This could be a feature that got scrapped during planning stages for Verdansk ’84, but the travel system could still be on the table for a future season, as the Red Door was also teased in the Verdansk ’84 cutscene.

Call of Duty 2021 Reveal Event

Earlier this month, Activision confirmed during its earnings call that the next Call of Duty game will be led by Call of Duty: WWII developer Sledgehammer Games. No other details or release date were announced, but leaks suggest it’s going to be a World War II setting called Call of Duty: Vanguard.

It’s possible we’ll see a Warzone event to officially announce the title, similar to the Know Your History reveal event for Black Ops Cold War, especially since Activision’s Call of Duty CEO, Robert Kostich, suggested that a potential Warzone reveal event could happen again.

Next-Gen Update

Developer Raven Software confirmed a PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S update is in development for Call of Duty: Warzone. We don’t know when this update is coming, but it’s set to include support for the console’s SSD to allow for faster load times, along with 120Hz support. This would also likely allow support for the PlayStation 5’s DualSense controller’s adaptive triggers and haptics.

Hopefully we’ll get some official announcements or teasers for Warzone’s Season 4 soon, which according to the end of Season 3’s battle pass, should be sometime in June. Also, expect Black Ops Cold War’s new baseball bat melee weapon to arrive in Warzone for Season 4.

EA’s new “dodgebrawl” game Knockout City is out now, and it’s run into an issue for EA Play and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers. In a social media post, the developers at Velan Studios said not everyone is receiving their promised rewards for taking part in the ongoing Block Party event.

Velan is currently working on a fix, but it might take “another day or two,” or potentially longer for those who haven’t logged in yet. “We’ll get these bonuses added to your account, hang tight!” the studio said.

Additionally, some people who bought the standard or deluxe edition of Knockout City aren’t having the Block Party or deluxe content added to their inventories. This is another known issue that Velan is currently working to address.

“It could take a few days, but everything will be fixed. Thanks for your patience,” the studio said.

Knockout City’s Season 1 kicks off today, May 25, and it adds a new map, Jukebox Junction, as well as more contracts and new playlists. Check out the Season 1 trailer below to learn more about what’s coming to the game today.

Inspired by dodgeball, Knockout City is a multiplayer game where players try to knock out other players using a ball, which can have all different types of special properties. The game is developed by Velan Studios, which is the team that made Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit.

Knockout City is off to a great start, attracting 2 million players. The game is currently free as part of the Block Party event, but the trial period ends May 30. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members can keep playing for free after the Block Party event ends, it seems.

One of the stars of Destiny 2‘s Season of the Splicer has been the new Hunter Exotic boots, Star-Eater Scales. They quickly became a favorite for PvE content and were so powerful that Bungie disabled them for the World’s First competition for the Vault of Glass raid. But apparently, Star-Eater Scales were too powerful, and with its latest update, Bungie has patched the Exotic to bring its perks down to where they were intended to be.

Bungie shared the full patch notes for its new update, Hotfix 3.2.0.2, on its website. The update fixes a bunch of bugs and issues with the way certain elements were interacting and, for the most part, boosting Guardians’ power more than they should have.

Star-Eater Scales is the biggest of these; the new Exotic allows you to gather extra Orbs of Power to overcharge your Super ability, making it do more damage. It also fires off a healing burst when you cast your Super, and if you power it up fully with four extra Orbs, you receive an overshield as well. The trouble was, Star-Eater Scales wasn’t just boosting Super damage, it was also giving a huge boost to regular weapon and grenade damage, essentially making Hunters into damage powerhouses, especially in raids.

Hotfix 3.2.0.2 reels in Star-Eater Scales pretty significantly. First, it removes the damage boost to regular weapons and grenades, which Bungie says the Exotic shouldn’t have had anyway. Next, it also makes powering up the Exotic to its full damage bonus power a little tougher–instead of picking up four extra Orbs of Power, you now need to pick up eight Orbs. That’s going to make Star-Eater Scales significantly less cool than it was a day ago, and although it’s still pretty powerful, it remains to be seen whether this will continue to be the new go-to Exotic for Hunters in PvE activities.

Other changes include Bungie fixing another new damage-boosting element in Season of the Splicer: Energy Accelerant. This mod, found on the Seasonal Artifact, increases the power of perks like Firefly, Chain Reaction, and Dragon Fly–and it had the side effect of making the Exotic fusion rifle Telesto about twice as powerful as it should have been. That mod has been fixed so that Telesto does the right amount of damage.

The release of the new update coincides with the launch of the Destiny 2 cross-play beta. You can read the rest of the patch notes below.

GAMEPLAY AND INVESTMENT

ARMOR

• Fixed an issue where Recovery-focused Umbral Engrams would sometimes not award armor with a sufficiently high Recovery stat.
• Fixed issues where some Common, Uncommon, and Rare armors would provide stat bonuses when used as ornaments as a part of Armor Synthesis.
• Energy Accelerant mod:
  • No longer increases damage against players.
  • No longer increases the base damage of Symmetry, Telesto, Black Talon, and Deathbringer.
    • Telesto has also received another sternly worded lecture.
• Sundering Blast no longer causes Overload champions to exit their stun state when damaged by the explosion created by the mod.
• Fixed an issue where Star-Eater Scales was erroneously applying its damage bonus to weapons and grenades instead of only Supers as intended.
  • Increased the maximum number of stacks required for the full damage bonus from four stacks to eight stacks.
• Fixed an issue where players could spawn too many noble seekers with Boots of the Assembler by stepping in and out of a Rift.
  • When Warlocks wearing Boots of the Assembler are extending the duration of a Rift, class ability regeneration pauses.
  • Design note: The reason for this change was both to prevent game crashes caused by too many rifts being placed in a single activity, and to restore some of the advantage to running Sanguine Alchemy over Boots of the Assembler.

WEAPONS

• Fixed an issue where the catalyst for Cryosthesia 77K was incorrectly accruing progress from energy weapon kills.
• Fixed an issue where the catalyst Triumph for Cryosthesia 77K was being displayed in the wrong weapon category.
• Fixed an issue where Cryosthesia 77K could fire multiple freeze shots without losing the charged shot buff.
• Fixed an issue where existing drops of THE SWARM with Unrelenting switched to Bottomless Grief.
  • This fix only works in cases where players didn’t select the Bottomless Grief node.

ACCESSORIES

• Fixed an issue that prevented the Vie for Glory Sparrow from taking shaders.

POWER AND PROGRESSION

• Fixed an issue where the reward for completing the weekly Vendor Challenge on the Splicer Servitor did not reward Pinnacle gear as advertised.
  • Upon completion, the weekly Vendor Challenge should now reward a Pinnacle piece of Seasonal gear.
• Fixed an issue where completing Presage as a weekly Activity Challenge was not rewarding Pinnacle gear.

UI/UX

• Fixed an issue where the Armor Synthesis ornament creation tutorial does not show up for Titan characters when reaching the armor ornament creation step.

GENERAL

• Players will no longer be able to claim the 150 Synthstrand from Ada-1 during the NUX quest if their inventory is full.
  • This will prevent players from losing the material and they will need to clear out inventory space to claim their Synthstrand.

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Dead By Daylight is getting a Resident Evil crossover to celebrate its fifth anniversary. The asymmetric multiplayer horror game has welcomed characters from other hit horror franchises before, perhaps most notably Silent Hill. However, this is the first time that Resident Evil characters like Jill Valentine and Nemesis (aka The Tyrant) have joined the fray.

Dead By Daylight’s Resident Evil chapter launches on June 15, and it includes many elements that will be familiar to fans of Capcom’s storied horror franchise. Resident Evil stalwarts Jill Valentine and Leon S. Kennedy will be added to the ranks of playable survivors, and the many-tentacled antagonist Nemesis from Resident Evil 3 will join the game’s gallery of horror villains.

The Resident Evil chapter also includes a new map, the Raccoon City Police Station featured heavily in Resident Evil 2. The Police Station map will feature AI-controlled zombies that help the player-controlled killer track down the survivors, which is a first for the franchise. It also includes vaccines that prevent survivors struck by Nemesis’s tentacles from succumbing to the monster’s influence. All-in-all, it sounds like a familiar experience for fans of the series.

Most recently, Dead By Daylight crossed over with Left 4 Dead as part of its latest DLC, which included lore about that game’s survivor Bill. As mentioned above, Dead By Daylight previously included a crossover with the long-dormant Silent Hill series, which caused horror fans to wonder if Konami might announce a new game. So far, no dice. In fact, the company recently announced that it will not be attending E3 2021.

Gwent fans aching for a new set of cards are about to pay the price as the game’s first-ever Expansion Set, The Price of Power, has been officially announced.

The Price of Power is a set of three upcoming story expansions, each coming with its own new cards and features, releasing between June and October 2021. The first expansion–titled Once Upon A Pyre–will bring 26 new cards with new abilities and game mechanics when it releases on June 8.

Expansion Sets are unique to Gwent in that each tells an overarching story across its three expansions, as opposed to previous additions with smaller, more insulated tales. The Price of Power centers around “the main theme of magic and how different factions seek out, fight for, or exploit its power,” according to the official release.

A limited-time Expansion Pass is also available for $60, which will give players access to everything offered in the individual expansions, premium versions of each card, as well as an special in-game coin that can be used immediately after purchase.

Gwent: The Witcher Card Game is the standalone version of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt‘s popular minigame. It was first released in October 2018 for PC and has seen six expansions since the initial launch, with The Price of Power being the seventh. Gwent is available on PC, Mac, and mobile devices, with the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 versions being discontinued in June 2020.

June 23 marks Sonic the Hedgehog‘s 30th anniversary, and Sega will celebrate Sonic’s legacy and the franchise’s multiple spin-offs with a fan appreciation video and a virtual event called Sonic Central.

Taking place on May 27 at 9 AM PT / 12 PM ET, Sonic Central will feature Sega’s Sonic team, special guests, and new announcements about future Sonic projects, partnerships, and more. Viewers can access the stream on the official Sonic the Hedgehog YouTube and Twitch channels. Ahead of Sonic Central, Sega also released a celebratory video titled Unstoppable–a fan appreciation video that takes a trip down memory lane.

From the original 1991 game with the iconic golden rings to the 2020 Sonic the Hedgehog movie, the franchise featuring the super fast blue hedgehog has been going on strong for decades. The Sonic the Hedgehog movie achieved the best opening weekend for any game-to-movie adaptation, surpassing Pokemon: Detective Pikachu’s opening earnings.

The sequel to 2020’s movie, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, is slated to come out in 2022. According to a leaked copyright listing, Knuckles will make a villainous appearance and Sonic’s human friend, Tom (James Marsden), might pretty much be absent for most of the film.

In other recent Sonic the Hedgehog news, the franchise is getting both a card game and an animated Netflix show. Titled Sonic Prime, the Netflix show will be in 3D animation and isn’t coming until 2022. Man of Action, the studio behind Big Hero 6 and Mega Man: Fully Charged, is working on the title in conjunction with Sega and Wild Brain Studio. As of now, details like plot beats are sparse, but it’s likely that we’ll see more information about Sonic Prime in the upcoming Sonic Central showcase.

Details around Sonic the Hedgehog’s card game are also unknown as of this time. Steamforged Games, a company that made Resident Evil 2, Devil May Cry: The Bloody Palace, and both a card game and board game for Dark Souls, is in charge of producing Sonic the Hedgehog’s card game.