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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTDISoH5o44 Neverwinter is a free-to-play Dungeons & Dragons fantasy action MMORPG by Cryptic Studios and Perfect World Entertainment. It released in 2013 and has had 21 modules added over the years, as well as featuring some fantastic action-oriented combat. Every attack, ability and dodge requires manual planning and execution by the player. Today, module 22 will launch on PC titled Neverwinter: Dragonbone Vale, with console content launching on February 8. It’s a great time to get back into this MMORPG, or start fresh with the redesigned tutorial and story-rich levelling experience. The most recent major update to Neverwinter was in…

Pagan: Control is a fantastic look into the mind and history of Far Cry 4’s villain, Pagan Min. You certainly see how events from his past has shaped him into who he was. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jApILgm0wiE Far Cry 6 Pagan: Control releases tomorrow, January 11 and it was a pleasure to play through, though I had minor issues with the roguelike nature of the gameplay loop. The graphics of Far Cry 6 are just so good, so to be able to play in a world inspired by Kyrat from Far Cry 4 is more of an awesome thing. Secondly, Pagan Min is…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtUq-XSv3w0 Far Cry 6 released in October last year and it’s first DLC, Vaas: Insanity, started us on the path of exploring a trilogy of villain-focused content. Vaas: Insanity explored the mind of Vaas Montenegro, portrayed by Michael Mando, who was the villain in Far Cry 3. Our reviewer, Royce Wilson said, “Vaas: Insanity is a surprisingly insightful and worthwhile addition to the Far Cry universe.” The second DLC, Pagan: Control, will be releasing on January 11 as part of the Far Cry 6 Season Pass and takes us into the troubled mind of Pagan Min from Far Cry 4. https://twitter.com/FarCrygame/status/1478773372330946561?s=20 This brand…

Riders Republic is a big step up from Steep in many ways and is a whole lot of fun with multiple disciplines and biomes to keep your interest at an all time high. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5T6A-53FwY Riders Republic is the latest extreme sports game from Ubisoft that released on October 28, 2021 for PC, Xbox and PlayStation. It follows 2016’s Steep which was my most played Xbox game in 2017 according to the Xbox Museum. While Steep was amazingly good fun for a long time, it eventually got stale for me when solely played on snowy ski slopes. Being from Western Australia…

Yesterday we were given a tease from The Elder Scrolls Online socials simply stating, “A storm is on the horizon. Keep your eyes here tomorrow!” Well overnight we were given an awesome teaser trailer showing ships sailing on stormy seas, characters wearing armour and in the distance looks to be a cove with a city built into a cliffside. It all looks very intriguing, and no doubt hardcore Elder Scrolls fans will be able to take information from things such as the character’s belt buckle style, the colours of the ships flags and the landmarks to make some guesses as…

**Spoilers alert – I will be mentioning some key plot points so back away now if you haven’t completed the Halo Infinite campaign. I felt the game dragged out in certain points and ammo was a pain like previous Halo games, but the open world exploration was a great addition to the series. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyMlV5_HRWk&t=14s Back in 2019, before Covid took over the world, I was fortunate enough to get a ticket to the E3 Gre3n Carpet which was a special live screening of the Microsoft/Xbox E3 2019 showcase. You’re breathtaking! We were in a local cinema here in Perth, Western…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXWlgP5hZzc Over the holiday break, and with two daughters under 4 years of age, I was browsing Xbox Game Pass for some non-violent games that I could chill on the couch and play while my girls are in the room. I came across a game called Firewatch by Campo Santo which I have heard of but never really looked at. How interesting could a game be where you’re in a tower looking for fires? Pretty bloody interesting now that I have finished the game. Firewatch originally released in February 2016 but has only recently landed on Xbox Game Pass as…

The H3PRO Hybrid headset is the latest release from EPOS and at RRP $399, it’s certainly an investment for the multi-platform gamer. Stepping up from the H3 Hybrid reviewed by our Tech Editor Royce Wilson in October, the H3PRO Hybrid brings with it both wired and wireless options, detachable mic boom arm, and versatility to be used across multiple gaming devices. However, the H3PRO Hybrid features step up in the form of multi-device simultaneous connectivity and the addition of active noise cancelling (ANC) which eliminates ambient room noise. The headset ships with all the cables you’ll need for all situations.…

The amazing people at Bethesda ANZ yesterday announced a special partnership with Game on Cancer™, an initiative of the Australian Charity, Cure Cancer. We love stories where gamers are doing good for their community, and what better time than in the lead up to the festive season. The event will see Bethesda ANZ staff team up with a variety of local and global talent, including UFC middleweight Rob Whittaker and Rich Lambert, Creative Director of The Elder Scrolls Online. The Bethesda Holiday Special stream will commence from 10am AEDT on December 16th over at the official Bethesda Twitch channel where…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyMlV5_HRWk Halo Infinite is the 6th main entry in the Halo franchise developed by 343 Industries and published by Xbox Game Studios. It’s set for release in the early hours of December 9 for us here in Australia on PC and Xbox, and the campaign is such an amazing experience. When I started playing, I had this feeling of elation and realisation that I was playing something big. I also had this feeling that I am experiencing the end of an era. I didn’t know this until doing some reading after my first play session, but Halo Infinite will be…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3Huy2cdih0 Early in November, Bandai Namco Australia sent Pete and I an Xbox Series X key to the Closed Network Test for upcoming fantasy action RPG, Elden Ring. Pete is a massive souls games fan, and I am willing to give them a try but usually they’re too hard for me. Dark Souls 1, Lords of the Fallen and the recent Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order have been my limits in the genre. I managed to get through Jedi Fallen Order after dropping the difficulty level (and, it’s Star Wars!). The others I played for a few hours each, but…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzpl6ufm-Xk Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun – Aiko’s Choice is a standalone expansion to the 2016 original game. Developed by Mimimi Games and published by Daedalic Entertainment, this expansion is set for release on the game’s 5th anniversary, December 6, 2021 on Steam. Unfortunately Mac and console fans miss out this time around after having been able to play the base game. Mimimi Games explains their reasoning in full here: “The technical effort that it would take to develop this standalone expansion for all platforms is more complex than you might initially think. In order to support non-PC platforms we…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d14zHL9agPU Chorus is a third person space-combat shooter developed by Deep Silver Fishlabs. The game released on December 3, 2021 for Xbox, PlayStation and PC via Epic Games Store and Steam. You take control of Nara in the Chorus universe, travelling in some amazingly detailed semi-open world space systems, completing primary story missions as well as side quests and random encounters. It runs smooth, feels great even with mouse and keyboard, and the fast-paced action combat is backed up by an awesome soundtrack composed by Pedro Camacho (Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus and World of Warcraft: Shadowlands). Once the Circle’s…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAo7HworFt4 My Friend Peppa Pig is an interactive story game developed by Petoon Studios and published by Outright Games. Based on the globally recognised TV series Peppa Pig, this sandbox game released on October 22, 2021 on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation, Xbox and Steam. You play as one of Peppa’s new friends and can customise the look and clothes for your character and then play with Peppa starting at her house with Daddy Pig and her brother George. The narration and music make it feel like you’re playing inside an episode of the show, and there’s a few things to do…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQxoHLT3B8c PJ Masks: Heroes of the Night is a 3D action sidescroller developed by Petoon Studios and published by Outright Games. The game released on October 29, 2021 on PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch and Steam. Aimed at children aged between 3-7 years old, this is the first console game where we are able to play as Amaya, Connor and Greg from the PJ Masks TV series. Living ordinary school lives during the day, at night the children become superheroes Catboy, Owlette, and Gekko as they look to clean up and protect eight familiar locations such as PJ Masks HQ, the…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2I-9CXaEj3w Blaze and the Monster Machines: Axle City Racers is a racing game based on the popular kids TV show, developed by 3DClouds and published by Outright Games. The game released on October 16, 2021 on PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch and Steam and allows players to race as their favourite characters like Blaze, Pickle, Crusher, Zeg, Starla and more. From Axle City and Eagle Rock to the Monster Dome, there are ten different tracks we can explore in standard quick races, co-op races with up to four players in couch co-op or championship cups. To connect the game with the…

The WD_Black SN850 NVMe 1TB SSD with Heatsink is a highly recommended addition to your PS5 or PC and very easy to plug and play. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MI1BxJv9q0Y Ever since at least the mid-2000’s, I’ve been using Western Digital Black hard drives. I tried various brands prior to discovering them and many didn’t last more than a year or two. Since then, I’ve never had an issue with a WD drive and will always recommend them to friends. With Sony recently enabling the addition of SSDs to the PlayStation 5, WD has launched the WD_Black SN850 NVMe 1TB SSD with Heatsink for…

Battlefield 2042 has moments of brilliance in the base game and Battlefield Portal certainly hits all my nostalgia strings, but I can’t help but feel this needed another six months of refinement, especially with cross-play. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbKJ_S6kqr8 Ever since those early days in 2002 when my Dad bought home Battlefield 1942 from one of his Singapore business trips, I’ve been a huge fan of the Battlefield series. That iconic music gives me nostalgia every time I hear it and my favourites of the series are Bad Company 2 and Battlefield 3. When I played the intro mission for Battlefield V, I…

Back in mid-September, Sony released an update that enabled PS5 gamers to add a NVMe (Non-Volatile Memory Express) M.2 SSD (solid state drive) to their PS5 console and PS5 Digital consoles. For comparison, PS4 and PS4 Pro consoles only used SATA SSDs and NVMe is said to be up to 25x faster, so they’re worth investing in. This was welcome news as avid gamers were no doubt already maxing the 667GB of usable internal storage with their epic game collections. At the end of October 2021, Samsung came to the table with an M.2 SSD drive with a heatsink to…

Tails of Iron is a fantastic action RPG with great hand-drawn art and challenging souls-like combat. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMJF8hH8RGE Tails of Iron is a hand-drawn souls-like action RPG developed by Odd Bug Studio and published by United Label/CI Games. The game released on September 17, 2021, on PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch and PC and is narrated by Doug Cockle, and really, I’ll play anything that features Doug’s voice. The more I played, the more I appreciated the effort put in by the developers in this frustratingly hard but equally as rewarding game where you play as rat, Redgi defending your kingdom against…