An early side-quest in Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade‘s Intermission DLC called The Happy Envoy tasks you with finding six flyers scattered all around the Sector 7 Slums. All you have to go off of are vague hints alluding to their locations, which might stump you if it’s been a while since you’ve played the original Final Fantasy 7 Remake. To help you complete this side-quest, we’ve detailed the location of every flyer. It’s worth noting that flyers are found near music boxes, so if you’re stumped at any point even while using this guide, follow the tune, and you’ll find the flyer in no time.
Click the image above for a closer look at each screenshot.
You’ll find this one on the south side of the Residential Area in the children’s playground. There are some boxes stacked in a corner. Run through them to reveal the Turtle flyer.
2. Floating Through the Air
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Click the image above for a closer look at each screenshot.
At the southmost point of the Residential Area (where Wedge lives), you’ll find some kids marveling at a turtle balloon floating up in the air that has a flyer attached to it. You can’t pop the balloon with your kunai from where they’re standing, so you’ll need to find a better vantage point. Move past the children, and hop over the crates to get right beside the balloon with no obstructions in the way. Look up at it and press triangle to throw your kunai. The flyer should drop to the ground nearby.
3. Near Old Snapper’s Friend’s Apartment Building
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Click the image above for a closer look at each screenshot.
As the Old Snapper’s hint indicates, you’ll find this flyer at Marle’s apartment building located at the west end of the Residential Area. You’ll need to sneak past a dog to get to the flyer, though. Keep yourself low up against the boxes for cover and move from one to the next when the dog puts its head down to sleep for a moment. When making the final approach, be wary of the bucket and broom leaning against the wall and get to the flyer quickly before the dog wakes back up.
4. A Cat Took One On Culvert Street
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Click the image above for a closer look at each screenshot.
You can find the cat who took a flyer on Culvert Street located at the northmost point of the Residential Area. You’ll spot a cat with the flyer in its mouth, but it’ll run off into a secluded area. Follow the cat, but ignore the ones immediately in front of you and go to the item chest at the northmost side of the room. You’ll find the cat there with the flyer beside it.
5. On The Town Bulletin Board
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Click the image above for a closer look at each screenshot.
This flyer is located on the east side of the Sector 7 Slums at the Pillar Plaza. Go past Roche, and you’ll some folks looking at bulletin boards. The flyer is attached to the bulletin board on the left.
6. Near The Old Talagger Factory
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Click the image above for a closer look at each screenshot.
The final flyer is located in a room on the eastern side of the Abandoned Talagger Factory. Be careful; this area is guarded by two Venomantises, who can make short work of you if you’re not careful. They’re weak to Blizzard magic, but you can take them out without any if you keep your wits about you and steadily increase their Stagger meters. Take them out, and you should find the flyer behind some boxes on the wall to the left. You can also find a First Strike materia near the wall to the right.
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Kevin Bacon is no stranger to cinematic villainy, and he’ll be playing the bad guy once again in the upcoming Toxic Avenger film, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
No other information for the role is available just yet, but if it’s a Toxic Avenger character you can bet it’ll be an over-the-top performance.
Bacon joins previously cast Peter Dinklage, who will play the titular character as well as Jacob Tremblay (Good Boys). The original Toxic Avenger is a cult classic; the film bombed at initial release, but captured a huge following on the midnight movie circuit that allowed it to spawn sequels, a cartoon, toys, and even video games, and helped turn its low-budget but gory visuals into a trademark of Troma Entertainment. The original film explored environmental themes through the lens of a super-gory superhero comic.
Bacon‘s other villainous roles include X-Men: First Class, R.I.P.D., James Gunn‘s Super, Hollow Man, and more. Macon Blair is set to direct this new take on the Toxic Avenger, while Troma founders Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz are producing. Legendary has not yet set a release window for Toxic Avenger.
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Doki Doki Literature Club Plus, an updated and expanded version of the original visual novel, has been announced for Xbox One, Xbox Series X, PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, and PC. The new version includes brand-new story content and sees the game come to consoles for the first time.
Doki Doki Literature Club Plus features six new side stories that take place outside the main timeline from the original game. The stories feature different pairs of the main characters, telling the stories of how they became friends. The game also features a built-in music player featuring 26 tracks: 13 from the original game, as well as songs from the new side stories and guest tracks, including music by Jason Hayes, who worked on the World of Warcraft soundtrack.
The main game also received a graphical update, giving the visuals an HD update, without changing the story and gameplay of the original story. There is also a picture gallery containing over 100 pictures of game art, wallpapers, and concept sketches, which can be unlocked by seeing everything Doki Doki Literature Club Plus has to offer.
A limited physical edition of the game is also being released for Nintendo Switch, PS4, and PS5. That edition comes with a set of two-inch physical standees, a download code for the soundtrack, a vinyl sticker sheet, a Doki Doki Literature Club membership card, and an exclusive poem written by Monika, one of the characters in the game.
Doki Doki Literature Club Plus releases on June 30 for Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, PS4, PS5, and PC for $15 USD. The physical edition costs $30 USD.
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The women of Marvel Studios’ Black Widow–Natasha Romanoff and Yelena Belova–are among the most elite human warriors of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But the actresses behind them are next-level, too, with both Scarlett Johansson and Florence Pugh having done many of their own stunts, according to director Cate Shortland in a new interview with Fandango.
The interview comes along with the release of a new clip from the upcoming movie released today by Marvel Studios, featuring a chase reminiscent more of a Bond or Bourne flick than a Marvel movie.
“We were on rooftops shooting that [scene] in Budapest,” Shortland said. “We worked with this legion of amazing stunt women. But Scarlett and Florence did a lot of their own stunts. Scarlett does as much as she can. And then Florence–say, when Florence went to Morocco, and she shot for two days–she did 90% of her own stunts. So they were both really into it. And I think because Florence was watching Scarlett and seeing how much Scarlett tries to do, it influenced her. It’s pretty cool. Scarlett does quite a lot.”
It wasn’t just about Johansson and Pugh, but all the Windows featured in the film.
“I looked at a lot of combat films and a lot of stuff where we were looking at armies and militia. And then, I put females in those roles,” Shortland continued. “So we weren’t necessarily used to seeing women in those roles. And it was really exciting. And it was exciting too because we had women from all over the world. And we had women who were African, American, French Norwegian, who not only were our stunt women, but also our widows. Because most widows had an accompany stuntwoman that looks like them. So if we’ve got 15 widows or 20 widows, we’ve got 20 stuntwomen.”
The interview talks about the film’s other inspirations, frequent delays from its initial 2020 release dates and why the delays might be a blessing in disguise for the film, too; the whole thing is worth a read.
Black Widow hits theaters and Disney+ Premiere Access on July 9. If you’re looking for a Marvel fix right now, though, the first episode of Loki premiered on Disney+ this week. Check out our list of Easter eggs and read up on the history behind the show after you check it out.
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Final Fantasy VII Remake‘s tone often slides between light, funny moments and dark, tragic drama. But from the first moments of Intermission, the DLC mission added to the game with its Intergrade PlayStation 5 upgrade, it’s clear this new episode is mostly a comedy. In jumps Yuffie, one of the original game’s optional characters, and immediately her dangerous espionage mission to infiltrate the evil Shinra Corporation in Midgar is played like a kid goofing off. It’s a vibe that really works for the DLC, trading on the fact that Remake continues to be great about establishing fun, eccentric characters.
Taking place in the middle of Remake’s story, during the portion in which Cloud is separated from his compatriots, it follows Yuffie as she embarks on a mission to steal a secret Shinra weapon on behalf of her homeland, Wutai. Though the mission is dangerous, Yuffie approaches it with all the seriousness of a kid playing pretend–even though she’s on her way to first meet with Midgar’s Shinra resistance movement, Avalanche, and then sneak into the headquarters of a company that recently concluded a full-scale war with her home.
The trouble with Intermission is that this side story doesn’t feel essential to anything going on. Sure, the DLC is providing context and backstory for a character that fans of the original Final Fantasy VII know will show up later in the story, but Yuffie’s mission is largely about her wandering around areas we’ve already seen, floating past but barely interacting with Remake’s cast, and taking part in minigames to waste some time. Yuffie’s a fun character to spend time with, even if you don’t have history with her from the first iteration of Final Fantasy VII, but it all comes off as a tease for something better down the road in FF7 Remake’s next installment. And after the remarkably deep and excellently realized version of the story that is Remake, Intermission feels like exactly that: a half-measure to fill time while we wait for the real show.
That’s not to say Intermission isn’t fun to play more often than not, though. When Yuffie is in combat, which is pretty damn often, she’s a blast to play. Like all the characters of Remake’s main cast, Yuffie has her own unique combat style that distinguishes her from how everyone else has played up to now. As a Wutai ninja, she packs a throwing star that’s good as both a close-range melee weapon and at long ranges. The options allow you to control the distance as you fight enemies–you can get in close to wail on them, bounce back to create a gap, then throw the star for distant damage that Yufife follows up with elementally charged “Ninjutsu” attacks that keep her out of harm’s way. Tap the Triangle button and you can retrieve your thrown star, not by drawing it back to you, but by sending Yuffie to it, allowing you to quickly close gaps and use enemies to maneuver around the battlefield.
Yuffie’s combat is all about controlling space and landing combos, and the string of melee attacks, star throws, and Ninjutsu allow you to absolutely lay into enemies for long barrages that can knock them off their feet and make them easy to dispatch. Once you get a rhythm down, there are times when it can be almost too easy to dismantle foes with all the options Yuffie has on-hand, especially as you add more weapons and materia to the mix. She’s a fast-paced fighter who can be devastating when you string her attacks together, and it’s a lot of fun to deftly mix all of her attacks together to dominate the battlefield.
Partway through the first chapter, Yuffie is joined by Sonon, her partner on the mission and a slightly older Wutai operative. In combat, Sonon acts as another means by which Yuffie can build out combos. You can’t control him, but you can trigger “synergy,” which has Yuffie and Sonon executing ability attacks for big damage and added effects. It’s a cool, if fairly simple, system that provides another tool for combat, while keeping the focus on Yuffie and her specific style.
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It’s in the dynamic between Yuffie and Sonon where we see shades of Remake, and Intermission at its best. Because Yuffie is technically the senior ninja despite her age, Sonon defers to her, while bouncing between exasperation for her overconfident, just-wing-it antics, and trying to give her a little helpful advice. For her part, Yuffie takes it all in stride. She knows how great a ninja she is, but she also never lets go of that air of excitedly performing “cool” for whoever happens to be looking in her direction. She’s a kid of incredible talent who’s still desperate to be taken seriously, while Sonon is a protective older brother type looking for a middle ground between annoying overbearance and risky overindulgence.
While the dynamic between Yuffie and Sonon is an interesting one, it doesn’t get tested or pushed much. That’s because the DLC neither covers an especially long time, nor puts the pair in especially impactful situations (you can wrap up the main story in four or five hours, longer if you decide to do some side content). The first chapter sees Yuffie and Sonon helping an Avalanche member avoid getting captured by Shinra by wandering through a sanitation plant in the undercity; the second has them running around the Shinra building. There aren’t any real twists or turns and there’s not much in the way of conflict except for the mission itself and the robots Shinra dispatches to try to stop you.
The same goes for what the story adds to the overall tale of Remake. Intermission plops you in the middle of Sector 7 during the tumultuous time before the story’s midpoint, but you mostly just get a few lines that flesh out the backstory of the squad of Remake. What’s more interesting are the bits in which Yuffie and Sonon have idle discussions about the political situation in Midgar and the rest of the world, as well as their ideological similarities and differences to Avalanche and its anti-Shinra operations.
Those little tidbits are where what Intermission adds to the story seems useful. It gives these little looks into both Yuffie’s character and the larger political landscape of Final Fantasy VII Remake, in a way that helps you understand the world a little better. But these small items are pretty few and far between, and while the character-building for Yuffie is nice, it’s not super clear why we’re revisiting this point in time or these places, or what revisiting them adds to the game overall.
There’s a big swing in this feeling right at the end of the DLC, where Intermission starts throwing deep-cut FF7 characters into the mix. It seems pretty clear that the idea here is to bring the wider FF7 universe, fleshed out in spin-offs like Crisis Core and Dirge of Cerberus into the main storyline, but the DLC doesn’t provide any context for what’s going on or, crucially, who these people are. Again, it plays into the idea that Intermission feels like a tease for where things are going later on, when we’re likely to get a more complete look at some of these elements. For now, it mostly adds confusion, especially if you’re not overly familiar with all that extra FF7 lore, and makes for some less than satisfying moments as the DLC wraps up.
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Apart from the main story, Intermission also adds some side content to keep you busy, but it mostly seems to exist to pad the runtime. There are a few new combat challenges and minigames, like Whack-A-Box (in which you break boxes by hitting them, earning points before a timer runs out) and Fort Condor, a sort of light strategy game. Fort Condor is the big new item in Intermission, mixing the spirit of chess with the creature summoning of Magic: The Gathering, in the broadest sense. You get a series of characters you can place on the board, who then march toward your opponent’s side and try to destroy their three forts. Your opponent can also drop characters, and who wins a fight depends on a rock-paper-scissors system that determines which types of characters get the upper hand. Its simplicity makes it very easy to pick up and play.
Fort Condor can be fun, especially as you add new pieces and boards to your repertoire, which give you a variety of options for your attacks and defenses, and the ability to use some magic spells during a match. But it’s all pretty simplistic, ultimately. You don’t control the character, you just choose where to put them, and the strategy is all about what pieces you use and when. Boards that let you get pieces out faster and in greater numbers tend to win, and there’s just not a lot of brainy options or strategic thinking that can help you to win out if you happen to have the wrong set of pieces of a particular matchup. With only a handful of matches to play during your first run through the story, it also won’t keep you busy for very long.
Altogether, Fort Condor, the story of Intermission, and all the other content in the DLC suffer from the same problem: They feel exceedingly thin. Not that an add-on chapter to a game needs to be especially enormous, but Intermission is a DLC that mostly takes place in one of the hub areas of FF7 Remake, and yet lacks meaningful character interactions or side quests to flesh out its world. Hanging out with Yuffie and Sonon is fun, but while you have run-ins with a number of important characters in key moments, the whole thing brings little to your understanding of the story of Remake as a whole.
In the end, Intermission is a pit stop, a quick jaunt into the gas station minimart of Final Fantasy VII to refuel, grab a snack, and get ready to wait some more. With its fun combat and quirky character moments, it’ll likely remind you of what you like about FF7 Remake–but it won’t be enough to hold you over.
Amazon Prime Day is coming up fast on June 21 and 22, and it’s sure to bring an absolute avalanche of gaming and tech deals, including some great Prime Day Xbox deals. Whether you’re a new Xbox Series X owner or an Xbox One player who’s not planning to upgrade anytime soon, the nice thing about Xbox is that you can take advantage of pretty much any Xbox game deal or accessory discount no matter what console you own, thanks to backwards compatibility. Just make sure you’ve got a console with a disc drive (i.e. not the Series S) before snagging any physical games on sale.
Microsoft isn’t waiting until Prime Day to kick off some big Xbox deals this month. The Xbox Deals Unlocked sale went live on June 11, bringing a slew of discounts on first-party Xbox games and third-party titles, from Gears 5 and Ori: The Collection to Yakuza: Like a Dragon and Control: Ultimate Edition. The sale (which runs until June 17) has also brought markdowns on Xbox gaming headsets, capture cards, storage devices, and more, offering a chance to take advantage of some great Xbox accessory deals ahead of Prime Day.
We’ve still got about a week to go before Prime Day 2021 officially kicks off, but Amazon has already started dropping early Prime Day deals to drum up hype for the big sale. Though these official deals largely focus on Prime Day TV deals and Amazon-branded smart devices, there are some nice Xbox deals to be had at Amazon and competing retailers right now, and based on previous years, we have a good idea of what Prime Day Xbox deals to expect. Whether you’re a longtime Prime subscriber or considering signing up for the free 30-day free trial to shop the sales, here’s what Xbox owners should look forward to this Prime Day. And if you own other consoles, check out the best Prime Day Nintendo Switch deals and Prime Day PlayStation deals to expect this year.
Prime Day Xbox game deals
A mix of physical and digital Xbox games are seeing steep discounts ahead of Prime Day thanks to Deals Unlocked. Last year’s Prime Day Xbox game deals were somewhat lackluster, and most of the best deals were on third-party titles, so you may see deals that are even better than what’s listed below during Prime Day. For example, Red Dead Redemption 2 for Xbox dropped to $25, while it’s currently discounted to $27 during Deals Unlocked. However, other games are currently much cheaper than they were last Prime Day, including Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, which is just 20 bucks compared to $30 last year. For the most part, first-party Xbox game deals are only worth it for those who aren’t subscribed to Xbox Game Pass–which, in the long term, is a much better deal than buying these games individually. But if you’re someone who likes to own games physically or want to take advantage of some great deals today, check out the best Xbox game deals available right now below.
Digital Xbox game deals
Prime Day Xbox console deals
Xbox console deals likely won’t be featured during Prime Day 2021. The Xbox One X and Xbox One S: All-Digital Edition were discontinued, and the Xbox One S is either out of stock or being sold way above list price at retailers. For those looking to buy the new Xbox Series X or Series S, the most we can really hope for is an Xbox restock on Prime Day rather than any outright discounts on Microsoft’s next-gen consoles.
If the Xbox Series X and S appear at all during Prime Day, what’s most likely is that Amazon–or a competing retailer–will offer a major restock of the consoles. We may see bundles that include the Series X with 3 months of Game Pass Ultimate and an extra controller, for instance–if we’re lucky, these will equal out to some kind of discount, but usually they don’t. Retailers use these bundles to dissuade resellers from snapping up all the stock.
Prime Day Xbox headset deals
Microsoft launched a new first-party headset this year, and like most other new products recently, the Xbox Wireless Headset soon sold out at all major retailers. Thankfully, though, we’re starting to see stock for the new Xbox headset stabilize, so there’s actually a chance we may see a discount during Prime Day. Fortunately, Xbox owners have more great headset options beyond the first-party offering. While some of the best Xbox headsets aren’t on sale just yet, we’ll be keeping an eye out for markdowns on headsets from SteelSeries and Corsair. In the meantime, Xbox Deals Unlocked is bringing nice discounts on headsets from HyperX and Turtle Beach.
Prime Day Xbox controller deals
Prime Day Xbox deals should bring discounts on the new Xbox Wireless Controller, which has already seen markdowns since its November release alongside the Xbox Series X|S. Right now, almost every color is $5 off, but we wouldn’t be surprised to see them drop much lower during Prime Day 2021. Black Friday dropped the Xbox Wireless Controller to $39, so we can only hope Microsoft’s gamepads will fall to at least $40 during Prime Day–especially the newer colors, like Pulse Red, Electric Volt, and Daystrike Camo.
First-party Xbox controller deals will likely be the strongest offers during Prime Day. Right now, the most notable third-party controller deal is on the excellent Razer Wolverine Tournament Edition (on sale for $80), but we’ll be keeping an eye out for discounts on more of the best Xbox controllers, including Microsoft’s Elite Series 2. For mobile players who use Xbox cloud gaming (xCloud), the Xbox version of the Razer Kishi mobile controller for Android is also $10 off right now (that particular version is still full price at Amazon).
Prime Day Xbox Game Pass Ultimate deals
Big sales like Prime Day are always a great opportunity to extend your Xbox Game Pass subscription for cheap, whether it’s time for you to renew or not. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is the best bang for your buck, combining Xbox Live Gold with Xbox Game Pass for PC and console along with EA Play and cloud gaming. Three-month Game Pass Ultimate deals are what you’ll want to keep an eye out for–normally $45, 3-month subscription codes have fallen to as low as $20 during Black Friday. Right now, they’re on sale for $40 ($5 off) at Amazon and Walmart, but we do expect them to drop further for Prime Day.
If you’ve never signed up for Game Pass before, be sure to take advantage of a limited-time offer for new subscribers via Microsoft before you claim any Prime Day Game Pass deals. Right now, new subscribers get their first three months of Game Pass Ultimate for just $1. After you’ve claimed that deal, you can tack on additional time with discounted codes that appear during Prime Day.
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At times it seems like Griftlands is trying to see how many good design ideas it can stuff into itself without exploding. Strategic deck-building combat? Check. An addictive roguelike loop? Yup. Multiple storylines with compelling RPG elements? Uh-huh! Visual-novel goodness with social links? That too! Even more incredibly, this hodgepodge of awesome components crammed together into one game create something utterly unique and enduringly memorable.
Griftlands is a deck-building roguelike in the same vein as genre standouts like Slay the Spire and Monster Train in which you earn random cards battle by battle until you lose and do it all over again. The main way Griftlands distinguishes itself from those games is that each of its campaigns tells a more substantial story – and for the most part they’re all exceptional. Whether I was playing a mercenary on a quest for revenge, a retired soldier turned double agent who’s playing both sides of a rebellion, or a blackout-drunk slacker who’s been disowned by his family, everyone – whether they’re playable or an NPC – is looking out for number one. They might be looking to make a quick buck, plotting revenge, or making a grab for power, but almost no one is innocent or without ulterior motives. As a fellow grifter in the midst of this chaotic hive of ruthlessness and double-crosses, you’ve got to learn quickly or become another mark added to the pile of corpses; it’s a perfect setup for a conflict-heavy roguelike if I’ve ever seen one.
My favorite character, Smith, is an idiotic, carousing, two-legged dumpster fire of a person with practically no redeeming qualities… so I really related with him. His story centers around redeeming himself for a life wasted and the Disco Elysium-esque way in which he couldn’t care less about anyone or anything around him was an ideal backdrop for my heartless plotting. Figuring out a strategy to make the right friends and mitigate (i.e. murder) my enemies continues to bring me no end of joy.
Even after completing all three campaigns, the tongue-in-cheek fantasy world of con artists and thugs, goofy personalities, and hilarious dialogue were all just more reasons to try “just one more run” – even when I got my teeth knocked in at higher difficulties. There was always something pushing me to complete the run or at least get to the next major plot development.
The general outline of each campaign follows the same storyline every time, but the exact missions you’re sent on, the characters involved, and the random encounters you stumble upon are procedurally generated so that no two runs are quite the same. With the exception of Sal’s campaign, which is a pretty bland revenge quest with few surprises, the stories aren’t something you’ll want to skip; even on repeat playthroughs I’ve found that small details change enough to keep it interesting, and it’s all based on the missions generated and the decisions you made.
Adding to the already substantial amount of charm is Griftlands’ hand-drawn Saturday Morning Cartoon style and bizarre-looking anthropomorphic animals and humans who live in its world. Voice acting is done through a Sims-style gibberish language, meaning you’ll be reading a lot of subtitles (which are enhanced by the tone from the voices), but the soundtrack during combat is every bit as catchy as you’d hope from a game you’re expected to spend a lot of time playing through again and again.
What makes Griftlands’ style of adventure especially interesting is that victory is not all about stabbing people in the front. Confrontation comes in two delicious flavors: social encounters, called Negotiations, and turn-based Battles, both of which require you to curate and upgrade their own specific deck of cards. Each mode has in common card-based mechanics and knocking down an opposing health bar before yours is emptied, but that’s more or less where the resemblance ends. The dramatic change of pace from encounter to encounter gives Griftlands a different feel than most of its peers.
Battles tend to be fast, action-packed, and very similar to Slay the Spire (and equally challenging and replayable), where you and any allies or pets you might have knock the snot out of all manner of beasts, robots, or fellow grifters who cross you. Because combat can be brutally challenging on higher difficulties, creating the perfect mixture of defensive cards, offensive cards, status effects, and items is essential for survival. In one playthrough with Sal I stacked up cards that cause bleed damage to drain my opponent’s health, while in another I used Smith’s bizarre ability to regenerate health by getting hammered and hurting himself to create an unstoppable rampaging drunken ogre. And, as is typical of this type of game, I couldn’t replay those the same way even if I wanted to; thanks to the way adventures are procedurally generated and loot is randomized for each playthrough, you have to learn to roll with the punches and find the best strategy by literally using the cards you’re dealt, which is a blast.
Negotiations, on the other hand, are slow, strategic, and complex contests of wits where you use persuasion and coercion cards to whittle down the enemy’s core argument in an almost incomprehensible flurry of status effects. Arguably there’s even more strategy to these encounters than to Battles because of all the different status effects and modifiers that require you to continually re-evaluate your plans – which can be fun or annoying depending on the circumstances. Also, there are multiple approaches for getting your opponent to see things your way. You can focus on “domination” cards, which use threats, insults, and coercion; or you can try “influence” cards, which use swagger, persuasion, and tact.
As you debate your opponent you’ll deal and receive dozens of buffs, debuffs that can be a bit of a headache. In one particularly irritating encounter, the enemy relentlessly spams your deck with cards that cost money to use or deal damage to you unless you pay, and even adds a dollar cost to playing your own cards. Watching your hard-earned cash fly away while a smug cockroach smiles on-screen can be infuriating – but beating them at their own game is almost always worth the effort.
Sometimes the amount of things to consider and juggle in Negotiations can get tiresome, which makes exerting brute force through Battles seem like an ideal alternative. That can create a problem, though, because attacking everything in sight just to avoid talking through your problems tends to make you a lot of enemies, and making lots of enemies usually leads to death. And I mean the bad kind, too. As in, your own death. That said, once I took the time to learn all of the different elements at play in a Negotiation and develop a strategy that let me utterly dominate someone without ever drawing a weapon was an incredibly rewarding loop.
There’s also quite a bit of randomness to deal with that’s mostly outside of your control. As you work your way through the verbal or physical blows of Griftlands, you’ll be forced to make lots of decisions with unknown consequences: side with one faction over another, make judgement calls during random encounters, and choose to draft and upgrade cards and character perks that may have a massive impact on your Battle and Negotiation decks.
But these outcomes can be influenced by the decisions you’ve made around who to become friends with and who to alienate. For example, if you get into a Negotiation against someone you’ve taken the time to build a positive relationship with, the going will be much easier since they like you. Or even if someone who likes you is simply in the room when you get into trouble with someone else, they’ll come to your defense and grant you bonuses to the encounter. Likewise, earning the ire of people around you will saddle you with devastating debuffs and make the going much more difficult. Decisions you make, big and small, tend to have a ripple effect throughout any given run that can come back to bite you or save you down the road. In a world where backstabbing and ruthlessness are a core part of gameplay, things get sticky very fast and the stakes are incredibly high in the best possible way.
Although each campaign is relatively short and can all be beaten in a few hours if you’re good or lucky (and I was neither), the sheer replayability of Griftlands is staggering. There are tons of unlockables, modifiers, increased difficulties, and alternate game modes. Like most deck-building games you’ll unlock prestige difficulties with each new tier you’ve conquered and gain access to new cards that are added to the available pool in the next run. You’ll also get to buy perks that give you slight advantages in the next playthrough, so even if you’re struggling to complete a campaign you’re making progress with each failure – a nifty feature if you find yourself staring at the “game over” screen more often than you’d like to admit (like I may have).
Once you’ve had your fill of the story, an unlockable Brawl mode will let you cut to the chase and skip all the dialogue and decisions to give you back-to-back Battle and Negotiation encounters that simulate what you might find in a given run. This is helpful if you’re like me and sometimes just want a little deck-building combat without all those pesky concerns like nuance or being a moral person. There’s also daily challenges and a boss rush mode that puts you through the paces with the most difficult encounters that Griftlands offers.
There’s plenty of fresh content coming our way for E3, but inarguably the most important piece of information is how to get it into your hands. Below is a list of all confirmed E3 games (as well as a few games that have been announced within the same time frame) that are already up for preorder. PS4, PS5, Xbox, Switch, and PC games are all included here.
Since E3 officially starts on Saturday, there aren’t many games listed at the moment. We’ll update this article as new games from Ubisoft, Xbox, Square-Enix, and more will reveal themselves through E3.
Destiny 2‘s weekend is popping with Crucible challenges. In addition to the Iron Banner this week, it’s also time for the Trials of Osiris, offering you new chances to get some of Destiny 2’s best guns and coolest armor. Check out which map you’ll play on this week and what gear you can earn below.
Each week, the Trials of Osiris map and rewards are randomized when the event launches with Destiny 2’s daily reset at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET on Friday.
Trials of Osiris Map And Rewards (June 11-15)
Map: The Burnout
3 wins — Eye of Sol, Kinetic sniper rifle
5 wins — The Messenger, Kinetic pulse rifle
7 wins — Hunter, Titan, and Warlock Gauntlets – Pyrrhic Ascent Gloves, Gauntlets, and Bond
Flawless run — Igneous Hammer (Adept), Solar hand cannon
You can take on the Trials of Osiris weekly when it runs from Friday to Tuesday to provide some of Destiny 2’s toughest PvP challenges to Crucible players. The goal in Trials is to assemble a team of three–there’s no matchmaking in the mode–and win as many matches as possible before you suffer three total losses. Once you’ve got three L’s to your name, you’re forced to reset your Trials run, or Passage, and try again. You’ll earn loot at certain points as you rack up victories, so minimizing your losses is key to grabbing new gear. But the best rewards in the event come when you go on a winning streak of seven matches in a row–a “Flawless” run.
While the goal in Trials is to hit that flawless run, the reality is that Trials is very tough, and most players may never achieve a flawless run. But the event isn’t just for the very best players in the game. You can still earn Trials rewards, some of the best weapons available, just by playing matches, win or lose. The End Game bounty from Saint-14 awards each week’s three-win reward just for participating.
If you can manage to go Flawless, you’ll visit the Lighthouse and earn exclusive rewards. Opening the chest in the Lighthouse now gets you an “Adept” weapon, which has extra stat boosts you can’t get almost anywhere else. Visit Saint-14 to pick up a Trials Passage and bounties to get started, but remember that you have to spend any Trials tokens you earn for wins with Saint-14 before the weekly reset on Tuesday, June 15. These tokens expire at the end of the weekend you earned them, so get your rewards while you can.
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Little Nightmares II and Control: Ultimate Edition are among the top games receiving big discounts.
With summer fast approaching, you may be looking for a cool new game to play as you avoid the outdoor heat. If you’re looking to pick up some new PC games for cheap, you should head over to GOG, as the GOG Summer Sale has begun with discounts on over 3,400 games across the store.
The event is also running a series of flash sales throughout the month, bringing steep discounts for a limited time. You can check the current flash deals on the GOG homepage.
The GOG Summer Sale runs from now until June 28 at 6 AM PT / 9 AM ET.
