The first trailer for Avengers 4 has finally arrived, delivering both a title--Avengers: Endgame--and a look at where many of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's characters stand after the devastating ending of Infinity War. For a trailer that runs nearly two and a half minutes long, it manages to not reveal a whole lot about the movie's plot. Instead, it's just left us with some big questions about where things are going.
Things will undoubtedly be kept somewhat vague until the movie's release, and we've still got the release of another film, Captain Marvel, before Endgame arrives. That movie will likely address some things, like where Carol Danvers has been between the events of that movie and current events. It might also establish the possibility of some other explanations (is Hawkeye a Skrull?) for what's going on. But in the meantime, let's have a look at our most pressing questions after this debut Endgame trailer, starting with the most important matter of all.
Why Did Captain America Shave His Beard???
It was one thing to end Infinity War with the gut punch that was Thanos's snap, but the Russo brothers wasted little time in providing another blow: the loss of Steve Rogers' beard. Following Tony Stark's touching message to Pepper Potts, we quickly learn that Cap has done away with his magnificent beard from Infinity War. This was not a mere trimming; the entire thing is just gone as if it never happened, and we can't help but wonder why. Did he think he fought more poorly with it? Does he blame Thanos's victory on the beard? Is he a fool? This will hopefully be addressed head-on in Endgame, perhaps with a pre-title, Star Wars crawl-esque recap.
How Much Time Has Passed Since Infinity War?
We get to see many of the surviving characters from Infinity War, but there's very little sense for how long it's been since the events of that movie. Tony is running out of resources on the ship he's on, but we don't know how long he's been floating there. Cap had time for a shave, but did that only come after another year with it on? Thanos has abandoned his armor, perhaps to serve as a scarecrow for his garden, but did he do so right away? Natasha recapping what Thanos did and Bruce reviewing survivors would presumably happen pretty soon after the last movie, but that's still not particularly helpful. Meanwhile, you'd expect Hawkeye's apparent transition into Ronin (more on that in a moment) to take some time, so just where does that leave us in the timeline?
Why Has Hawkeye (Seemingly) Turned Into Ronin?
A brief moment in the trailer revealed a new look for Clint Barton, who has seemingly abandoned his bow and Hawkeye name in favor of something new. Based on what we know from the comics, it seems likely he's adopted the name Ronin and picked up a sword as his new weapon. Assuming the MCU sticks with that name, the big question becomes what prompted Clint's change. We know he cut a deal after Civil War that allowed him to go home to his family, but were they victims of Thanos?
How Did Scott Get Out of the Quantum Realm?
We knew to expect both Hawkeye and Ant-Man in the fourth Avengers film after their Infinity War absence, but the events of Ant-Man and the Wasp left the latter in a precarious situation. When we last left him, he was stuck in the Quantum Realm, working with Hank Pym, Hope Van Dyne, and Janet Van Dyne, harvesting energy to cure Ava's affliction. In the Endgame trailer, he walks up to Avengers HQ as if nothing happened. That scene looks to be a comedic beat in the movie, but hopefully there's some attempt to address just how he got there.
So, What's the Plan?
Natasha and Cap talk about having some plan, which we can safely assume is meant to undo what Thanos has accomplished. But there's zero sense given of what that plan is. Do the two of them somehow become aware of Nick Fury's attempt to contact Captain Marvel? Did she leave on bad terms and they're concerned that reaching out to her is a mistake? We know she's set to play a part in the movie, but whether she's key to the big plan or someone who happens to show up to save the day, we'll have to continue waiting for answers.
What's Going on With Thor? Is He in a Cell?
Thor is surely upset with himself after failing to kill or stop Thanos when he had the chance, but we get only a single, brief glimpse of him in the trailer. You could be forgiven for thinking he's ended up in some kind of prison cell, perhaps to contain his rage after his Infinity War failure. We've got no evidence of this one way or the other, but it might be reassuring to know your brain isn't just playing tricks on you; the background of the room he's in does bear some resemblance to the cells we see on The Raft in Civil War. We don't think he's there, but it explains the jump some have made. He may not be in prison, but the isolated shot does suggest he might have broken off contact with the Avengers.
Was Shuri Dusted?
The trailer shows Bruce reviewing the status of various characters, specifically Scott Lang, Shuri, and Peter Parker. Scott is clearly labeled as "missing," and that appears to also be the case for the other two. We know Lang is just fine, but Parker was among the many characters to be dusted. Given that Shuri was in Wakanda with so many of the surviving Avengers, they presumably would know if she was alive and well. Does that mean Shuri was another of Thanos's victims?
Where Is Korg?
There are numerous characters to wonder about the fate of, but one closest to our hearts is Korg (he's made of rocks, but don't let that intimidate you). Taika Waititi's delightful performance as him in Thor: Ragnarok made him a fan-favorite along with his buddy Meek, and while things certainly did not look good for Ragnarok's survivors in Infinity War, we've got our fingers crossed he will ultimately make it out alive. Here's hoping we don't have to wait all the way until Endgame's release to be reassured.
As part of GameSpot's year-end coverage, we're looking at different aspects of the game industry and pointing out any significant changes we noticed in 2018, such as the effect of microtransactions in video games. One of the more interesting changes we noticed this year is Nintendo Switch's game library, which looks a lot different this year than it did in 2017.
In 2018, Switch delivered the same type of bite-sized experiences that 3DS used to, but it also still has those major first-party titles that Nintendo fans crave. As 2018 comes to a close, the console feels like a haven for top-tier indies. We saw a bit of this in 2017 with Golf Story and Battle Chef Brigade, but the Switch really seemed to embrace this identity in 2018.
In comparison, 2018 hasn't seen nearly as many of Nintendo's noteworthy franchises get releases. Kirby Star Allies released in March, but Switch saw no more major properties get a sequel until June with Mario Tennis Aces. Switch got a new RPG though--Octopath Traveler--and more Wii U games were remastered for Switch. Most of these games were fairly well received, but none of them matched the popularity of what came out in 2017. Switch had to wait until the end of the year for its biggest hitters--Super Mario Party, Pokemon: Let's Go, Pikachu! / Let's Go, Eevee!, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate--to release.
None of this is to say that the Switch had a bad year, or that people turned to this year's indies because they had nothing better to do. Quite the opposite in fact. 2018 saw dozens of indie titles release on Switch, and plenty of them are really good. Most are ports of games that released in 2017 or earlier, but there were some new ones too--11 of which stand out and are listed below.
Not every one of these 10 games started on Switch either. Several launched in the first half of the year on Xbox One, PS4, PC, or mobile and then were ported to Switch at a later date, and they found a better home. For games that were already popular and critically acclaimed, like Iconoclasts and Into the Breach, porting to Switch allowed them to reach a brand new audience of players. However, this move mostly seemed to help games that didn't garner much traction upon their original release, like Full Metal Furies and Forgotton Anne, find new life on a system that is increasingly becoming the best way to play smaller games. It certainly seems like developers are beginning to notice that indie games tend to have a much better track record on Switch than Xbox One and PS4, and it wouldn't be surprising at all to see the number of indies on Nintendo's console in 2019 be even higher than this year.
As 2018 comes to a close, the Switch feels even less like a direct competitor to the powerhouse Xbox One X and first-party-exclusive-heavy PS4 Pro, and more like what the PlayStation Vita strove to be. We didn't see many grand adventures, like Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey, this year. Instead, the strongest stories told on Switch were small and personal, or experimental in how their gameplay directly related to the plot of the story.
Into the Breach, a turn-based strategy game that released on PC in February and ported to Switch in August, best exemplifies this. The mechanics for Into the Breach are very simple and easy to learn, but they're used to make one of the most complex and challenging games of 2018. Into the Breach packs a fairly heavy emotional punch too, relying on small text bubbles to convey the fears and doubts of the mech pilots you command and citizens you're responsible for protecting.
As the game relies on tiny pixelated sprites that are more difficult to discern at a distance, it works on Switch because you can play the console in handheld mode close to your face. It's possible Into the Breach could work on Xbox One or PS4, but considering the game feels better suited in the Switch's handheld mode as opposed to docked, those versions may require further tweaking, if they materialize.
There have been some emotionally powerful indie games this year too--Celeste uses the act of climbing a mountain to metaphorically describe the hardships of living with depression and The Missing: J.J. Macfield and the Island of Memories uses body horror to convey the struggles of growing up both gay and transgender--these two, and many others, found their way onto Nintendo Switch. These games aren't very long, making them ideal for playing in 20- to 30-minute chunks, which you can do almost anywhere with Switch.
The promise of a system geared specifically for indie games has been realized in the Switch. Going into 2018, it would have been fair to have been worried about Nintendo's console, what with so many major first-party titles scheduled for October or later. Yet the Switch didn't falter, even surpassing Nintendo's popular Wii console in sales this year. People are looking for a way to play games in small chunks throughout their day or between larger triple-A releases, and Switch's indie-filled 2018 has proven that it's the console best suited to fill that void. Nintendo will undoubtedly continue to produce sequels for franchises like The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Super Mario, and Pokemon, but 2018 has proven that players are content with using the Switch solely for indie games--both old and new--for extended periods of time.
11 Games That Launched In 2018 And Helped Define Switch As A Haven For Indies
Celeste
In our Celeste review, Oscar Dayus gave the game a 9/10, writing, "It's a testament to convincing writing and ingenious design that after playing Celeste I felt like I'd been on the same journey as Madeline. Her struggle is one made easy to empathize with, her low points painful to watch, and her high notes exhilarating to experience. Her tale is delicately told and beautifully illustrated, confidently coalescing with the satisfying, empowering game it lies within. Not bad for a game about climbing a mountain."
Chasm
In our Chasm review, Tom Mc Shea gave the game an 8/10, writing, "...Chasm is a well-crafted adventure, and during the more than 12 hours I spent playing through my first time, I got lost only once. That's a huge bonus in a genre where getting lost is often the most frustrating aspect. Even after I finished, I was eager to venture forth on a new adventure, to test my combat mettle against harder foes and find the one secret that eluded me the first time through."
Dead Cells
In our Dead Cells review, Daniel Starkey gave the game a 9/10, writing, "Dead Cells is a phenomenal effort to blend together some very disparate genres into a tight, cohesive whole. It's one of the better examples of how to remix ideas without losing their individual strengths."
Forgotton Anne
Beautifully animated and featuring an incredible musical score, Forgotton Anne is an emotional tale about a young woman learning that her world is not as black and white as she was led to believe. You'll have to navigate tough dialogue choices if you want the best possible ending for Anne and the characters she encounters, but you can also be merciless if you prefer and end the lives of all who oppose you. Regardless of how the story plays out for you, the ending's gut-wrenching impact will stick with you long after you've seen the credits roll.
Full Metal Furies
In our Full Metal Furies review, I gave the game an 8/10, writing, "So yes, Full Metal Furies is primarily a brawler, and a good one that promotes teamwork instead of button-mashing. But it's also a very hard puzzle game, one that challenges you to perceive each level, as well as the game's mechanics and characters, in new ways."
The Gardens Between
In our The Gardens Between review, Peter Brown gave the game an 8/10, writing, "It may only take two to three hours to see everything The Gardens Between has to offer, but the warm and fuzzy feelings from start to finish ensure that your memories of playing it will live on. The expressive faces of the two teens and the relatable memories they share will speak to anyone who's ever had a close childhood friend, and while the puzzles won't go down as the most ingenious or demanding, they nevertheless give you more time to spend frolicking in a nostalgic and heartwarming world where friendship is all that matters."
Iconoclasts
In our Iconoclasts review, Matt Espineli gave the game a 9/10, writing, "After solving every puzzle and witnessing the finale of its poignant narrative, you can't help but reflect on the growth of [Iconoclasts'] characters and your impact onto the world. The game will shock and surprise you with how gripping its story is, and it's likely to do so again in subsequent playthroughs of New Game+ with your expanded knowledge of character histories and events."
Into the Breach
In our Into the Breach review, Edmond Tran gave the game a 9/10, writing, "Into The Breach's focus on foresight makes its turn-based encounters an action-packed, risk-free puzzle, and the remarkable diversity of playstyles afforded by unique units keeps each new run interesting. It's a pleasure to see what kind of life-threatening predicaments await for you to creatively resolve in every new turn, every new battle, and every new campaign."
The Messenger
In our The Messenger review, Alexander Pan gave the game an 8/10, writing, "The Messenger takes the best parts of the action-platformers it takes influence from and reinterprets them well. With clever writing, well-designed levels, and balanced difficulty curve, the game continuously hooks you with enticing skill-based challenges and satisfying payoffs.
Minit
In our Minit review, Alessandro Barbosa gave the game an 8/10, writing, "[Minit is] a slickly presented adventure that continually manages to surprise you with every new area you uncover or item you procure, pushing you to pick away at its seams to uncover every drop of what it has to offer. With a delightful ending and more promised after its first run of credits, Minit is far more than just a collection of seconds."
The Missing: J.J. Macfield and the Island of Memories
In our The Missing: J.J. Macfield and the Island of Memories review, David Wildgoose gave the game an 8/10, writing, "The Missing is smaller and more mechanically conventional than Deadly Premonition or D4, but its components remain focused on distinctly a Swery game: a dark, idiosyncratic experience that tells a deeply personal story that's as confronting as it is sincere."
Pokemon Let's Go, Eevee and Let's Go, Pikachu might have only just recently launched, but Nintendo Switch owners have another Pokemon game to look forward to in the coming months. The currently untitled "core RPG" for Switch is scheduled to launch next year, but what else do we know about it? Read on to find out.
What Is Pokemon For Switch?
The new Pokemon game for Nintendo Switch was announced at E3 2017. Tsunekazu Ishihara, president and CEO of The Pokemon Company, appeared during Nintendo's presentation to tease the game. He called it "a core RPG Pokemon title" developed by Game Freak for Nintendo Switch, saying it might not release for over a year. Game Freak has developed all the main Pokemon RPGs; the spinoff games are made by other studios.
When Will Pokemon For Switch Launch?
The Pokemon Company has confirmed that the core Pokemon RPG for Nintendo Switch is set to come out in the latter half of 2019. The announcement came alongside the reveals of Let's Go Pikachu, Let's Go Eevee, and Pokemon Quest, all of which have now been released.
What Happens To My Old Pokemon?
Asked whether Game Freak was looking at allowing Pokemon to move between Let's Go and the next core entry, Pokemon director Junichi Masuda assures that the development team is working to make that possible.
"We're definitely always thinking of that kind of forward-moving functionality, especially since we've introduced [Pokemon transfer service] Pokemon Bank," Masuda told GameSpot. "Now, up to Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, you're able to store your Pokemon, and we know they're very important to everyone. I mean, obviously, people would be very sad if they couldn't use their Pokemon in a future game. So, it does get complicated when you talk about the details and we're still figuring it out, but we do have plans to find ways to let players use their Pokemon in the next game."
Will It Signal A New Generation?
Neither The Pokemon Company nor Game Freak have stated whether the new Pokemon game will be a brand-new entry--or entries--in the series, signaling the start of generation eight, or if it will simply be a remake or "upper version" of a previous game. However, since Let's Go Eevee and Let's Go Pikachu are themselves remakes of sorts of Pokemon Yellow, and the previous games, Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon for 3DS, are upper versions of Sun and Moon, it would be a surprise if the upcoming RPG was not a totally new game. With any luck, that means we'll get to explore a new region with all-new creatures in less than a year! Roll on 2019.
Mobile gaming often gets a bad rap, but your phone is actually home to a wide variety of great games that are, of course, perfect for playing on the go. This includes the smaller, more self-contained games you're used to seeing on phones as well as games heavily inspired by (or even direct ports of) ones on consoles and PC. Some are even games you might sit down with and play for longer stretches, just because. While we're still playing Pokemon Go, the games eligible for this list were all released in the 2018 calendar year. In no particular order, these are the five best mobile games of 2018.
Florence takes less than an hour to play from start to finish, but its story stayed with us all year. Its beauty is in its simplicity; Florence tells the story of an average relationship, with all its ups and downs, and relies on gorgeous art and music instead of tons of dialogue or complex mechanics to do it. In fact, one of its simplest gameplay elements is its most powerful: speech bubbles are broken into puzzle pieces, and you have to fit them together to progress a wordless conversation. At first, the bubbles are broken up into multiple pieces, but as the relationship develops, it becomes easier and easier to put the pieces together. While Florence's story is about one couple in particular, the intense emotion contained within is universal, and it hits you incredibly hard when the brief, beautiful tale is over.
Though it came out on PS4 and PC as well, Donut County is at its best on mobile. Its laidback puzzle gameplay is well-suited to playing in short bursts--you control a hole in the ground that grows as more things fall into it, and all you have to do is move it around an area until everything has fallen in. You might clean up a beach, including the lifeguard tower, or swallow up an entire mountain after figuring out how to break it into pieces. The art is colorful and cartoony, and its star character is a delightful garbage fire of a raccoon who's easy to love despite his terrible judgment. Donut County also has some of the best-written "internet speak" we've ever seen in games, with plenty of humorous quips throughout to keep you smiling.
Reigns: Game of Thrones is both a great use of A Song of Ice and Fire's world and a fun choose-your-own adventure in its own right. Like Reigns and Reigns: Her Majesty, you're put in the role of a ruler--this time, the king or queen of Westeros--and tasked with making binary decisions by swiping left or right on card prompts. These decisions carry a lot of weight, as you can and will die and you have no way of saving in order to reload after a risky choice goes south. The game's clever writing doesn't overly rely on references to the HBO series while still giving characters distinct personalities, and despite the serious nature of Game of Thrones, the Reigns adaptation still has a lighthearted air. Interesting, branching stories let you play out what-if scenarios, and improvements to the Reigns formula help Reigns: Game of Thrones stand out even if you aren't a big fan of the series.
Pocket City
The city-building genre can be difficult to scale down to mobile, as the many interconnected parts you need to manage can result in a busy UI (or at least a lot of menus and inputs). Pocket City is impressive not just because it's intuitive to play but because it has all the features you'd want in a city-builder--you manage power and water, fire and police departments, housing and job demands, natural disasters, and the struggles of expansion, with new buildings and features steadily unlocking as you improve your city and level up. There are also no microtransactions, so you can settle in and get building to your heart's content. Pocket City is the perfect way to unwind on the go, but it's also hard to stop playing once you've reached your destination.
Part Time UFO
Best known for the Kirby, Smash Bros., and Mother series, HAL Laboratory made a great mobile game in 2018: Part Time UFO. As the name implies, you play as a cute UFO--both in the alien sense and in the claw machine sense--and you take on odd jobs. The actual gameplay is very much inspired by crane games, both in its simplicity and the trickiness involved in trying to get a handle of its physics. To complete missions, the little UFO is asked to do things like pick up cargo that has fallen off a truck and put it back on--much harder than you might think when you're running out of time and those darned boxes keep swinging around--use the claw to grab up some fish to help a fisherman out, or stack cheerleaders into a winning pose. Part Time UFO is exactly the kind of charming game you'd expect from HAL Laboratory: easy to pick up, devilishly difficult to put down.
GameSpot will be unveiling our picks for the best games and entertainment of 2018 throughout December. Head to our Best of 2018 hub to see all the winners so far.
It's the weekend, and in Destiny 2 that means it's time to make the weekly trip out to find Xur, the seller of Exotic wares. While players this week have been struggling to dig into the fresh content that comes with Destiny 2's latest expansion, The Black Armory, Xur's arrival means you can at least get a shiny new Exotic weapon or piece of armor. Here's what you need to know about where to find Xur and what he's selling this week.
The arrival of The Black Armory might have added new ground to the Tower in the form of the Annex, but you'll find Xur this week in one of his old haunts. He's on the Tower on the Hangar side, down behind the Dead Orbit faction area.
As usual, Xur is packing Exotics from the Year One collection--sorry, still no Forsaken Exotics for sale. His Exotic weapon this week is Suros Regime, along with one piece of Exotic armor for each of the three classes. Suros, a powerful auto rifle, packs two rates of fire. The first is a super-fast rate for firing from the hip, which increases the longer you hold down the trigger. Aim down the sights and you'll get a slower firing rate, but the gun will deal more damage, making it versatile in a lot of situations.
Ophidia Spathe is Xur's armor offering for Hunters this week. The chest armor gives Hunters running the Gunslinger subclass a second throwing knife charge, which is especially cool with Way of a Thousand Cuts and its Playing With Fire cooldown perk. For Warlocks, there's the Crown of Tempests helmet, which increases the cooldown rate of your Arc abilities every time you get a kill with one of those Arc abilities--pretty great with Attunement of Control's Ionic Traces, which also reduce your ability cooldowns. Finally, Hunters get the ACD/0 Feedback Fence gauntlets, which is great for Titans who love melee attacks. Racking up melee kills builds up energy in the gauntlets, so when someone finally hits you with a melee attack, the collected energy explodes.
Xur's arrival on December 7 also corresponds with two big changes to The Black Armory--first, the second of the four forges is now available. The first, the Volundr Forge, was a source of derision in the Destiny 2 community, as the Power level requirement for the three-player horde mode activity was too high for players to jump into at launch. Bungie lowered the Power requirement to make it a bit easier, but with the second forge available today, the grind in The Black Armory is in full swing.
The second major development is The Black Armory's new Raid, Scourge of the Past. If it's anything like past raids, it'll be quite a few hours before the first team manages to work its way through it, and even longer for players to discover all its secrets.
It's official, Mortal Kombat 11 is scheduled to launch on April 23 for PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC. We don't know much about it yet aside from the game's retail description and the above trailer featuring Scorpion fighting Raiden. NetherRealm Studios is planning to pull back the curtain further in a reveal event on January 17.
We do know it will have a roster filled with new and returning fighters, and it's based on a new graphics engine "showcasing every skull-shattering, eye-popping moment." Also touted are Custom Character Variations, which will give players "unprecedented control to customize the fighters and make them your own."
Whether you're a longtime fan of the series or you simply want to give this one a try, you might be wondering what you get for pre-ordering. We have all that information below, along with where it's available now, what comes in each edition, and how much it costs.
Pre-Order Bonus
If you pre-order any version of Mortal Kombat 11, you'll receive Shao Kahn as a playable character. Pre-order the game on PS4 or Xbox One, and you'll get access to a beta that's scheduled for March on those platforms.
Mortal Kombat 11 Standard Edition
The standard edition of Mortal Kombat 11 just comes with the game itself, plus whatever pre-order bonuses you're eligible to receive.
The premium edition of Mortal Kombat 11 comes with the base game, plus the Kombat Pack. The Kombat Pack hasn't been detailed yet, but it will give you access to fighters and skins released post-launch.
All six of MCU Clint Barton's fans can rest easy today, having seen their favorite archer finally return to the big screen in the Avengers: Endgametrailer--but it seems like his time away from the spotlight has left him a changed man. Gone are the days of the bow and arrow and the purple(-ish) costume. Hawkeye is gone. Meet Ronin.
We've known Clint was going to get a codename change up for a while now, thanks to some leaked set photos featuring Jeremy Renner in a new costume, but the trailer provided all the confirmation we could hope for: a dramatic scene in the rain on the streets of Tokyo, Clint wielding a katana, not an arrow to be found. It's all pretty on the nose, and something the MCU is lifting directly from the source material.
Clint's transition from Hawkeye to Ronin over in the comics actually happened following Clint's death and resurrection around the House of M and Civil War events in the early 2000s. It's all a little messy (and involves Scarlet Witch literally deleting Clint from existence more than once--don't worry too much about it) but the end result of his brushes with morality and non existence were, unsurprisingly, a bit of an existential crisis. Rather than jumping back into the fray as if nothing had changed, Clint took on a new identity and went off on his own for a while, adopting the name and costume Ronin from the original Ronin, a woman named Maya Lopez, who had since started going by Echo.
Clint operated as Ronin with the New Avengers, keeping his identity secret from most everyone for a not insignificant amount of time, before he eventually came clean, unmasked himself, and allowed Kate Bishop to take over as the new Hawkeye officially--think of it as a sort of codename musical chairs game, if that helps. He stuck with the Ronin identity through the Dark Reign and Siege events, before finally returning to his old archery-themed self during The Heroic Age, circa 2010.
So what does that mean for the MCU? Well, possibly a couple major things.
Clint's Ronin-shift in the comics is pretty contingent on issues involving death, rebirth, and memory. Having no real idea what, exactly, Clint's been up to since Captain America: Civil War, it's hard to say how those big concepts could come into play, but given Clint's history--and connection to the Infinity Stones (remember Loki used the Mind Stone to control him back in The Avengers) it's not totally out of line to say that Thanos's snap could have affected him differently than the other heroes in the mix. He may not have literally died and came back, and he may not literally be suffering from amnesia, but there's the potential for some problems there, any of which could have lead him to question his own role and identity.
Of course, it's probably worth noting that there is a pointed bit of voice over in the trailer about losing "parts of ourselves" when Clint is revealed so there's also the chance that Clint literally is just suffering some sort of Stone-related mental breakdown and doesn't actually recognize Nat after she tracks him down. That would certainly explain why he's off fighting thugs on the streets of Tokyo on his own rather than working with the survivors.
Though, with Captain Marvel about to introduce the shape shifting alien Skrulls into the mix, it's probably worth mentioning that we could be well on our way to an even more shocking reveal. After all, who can really say that the real Clint Barton hasn't been Ronin this entire time? The person we've known as Hawkeye since 2012 could, honestly, have been an imposter all along.
It's definitely best not to count anything out just yet--and to keep your eyes peeled for more Ronin/Hawkeye clues in the future. There's definitely more to this story, but the puzzle pieces have yet to be totally revealed. For more, check out our Avengers: Endgame trailer breakdown.
The first trailer for Avengers: Endgame is with us. It has left fans with lots of questions and inevitably there will be much speculation about certain moments. But it also seems to confirm a couple of things too. We know that Hawkeye survived the devastating end of Infinity War, and that tragically Steve Rogers' beard did not. But the trailer also suggests that fan-favorite Shuri was one of Thanos's victims.
During the montage of the surviving Avengers looking very sad about the death of their friends, we see Bruce Banner looking at a series of holographic screens of the missing heroes. Among them is Shuri. She was last seen towards the end of Infinity War, trying to extract the Mind Stone from Vision's head. Shortly after this, the action switched to the forest where the rest of the Wakanda sequence plays out, and we never return to her.
Given 50% of every living creature in the universe is now gone, there was always a good chance that Shuri might be one of the victims. But with her brother T'Challa having also disappeared at the end of Infinity War, fans were hoping that the same fate didn't await her. Of course, Scott Lang is also on the missing list, and we now know he survived, so maybe there is still hope.
Avengers: Endgame releases on April 26, 2019 and is directed once more by Joe and Anthony Russo. Virtually all the major actors from the MCU are set to return, so that means Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Benedict Cumberbatch, Mark Ruffalo, Elizabeth Olsen, Sebastian Stan, Scarlett Johansson, and so on. It had been rumored that this might be the last Marvel movie for some of the MCU's longest-running stars--in particular Evans--but nothing has been confirmed about their future in the franchise.
For more, check out the first Endgame poster, and read GameSpot's full breakdown of everything we learned about the movie from the trailer.
The trailer for Avengers 4--now dubbed Avengers: Endgame--has finally released, and with it Marvel announced a new US release date for the upcoming film. It's now due in April, not May, seemingly to match the European release dates.
According to a Marvel Studios tweet, the movie is coming on April 26, 2019. It had previously been set for May 3 in the United States, and for April in France, Germany, and the UK. This appears to bring all the territories in-line.
We had received word that this could happen over the summer, when IMAX released its schedule of upcoming films for 2019. That showed Avengers in the April spot, alongside other films showing their US release date. IMAX said at the time that it was simply showing the first available showing across all territories.
This isn't unprecedented. When Marvel was preparing to release Avengers: Infinity War, it staged a social media stunt to announce the changed release date. This announcement is a bit less flashy, but likely made for the same reason. Avengers: Endgame will be the culmination of a story arc ten years in the making, and a simultaneous worldwide release means Americans don't need to worry about having important plot points spoiled from across the pond before they even have a chance to see it.
This puts it just under two months after the release of Captain Marvel on March 8, 2019. That film will likely lead neatly into Endgame, since a post-credits sequence in Infinity War implied that the Captain Marvel character is being called into action. While you count the days until then, check out our in-depth trailer breakdown.
Here's some good news for fans of open-world shooters: a new Far Cry game is in the works. And while the setting might not be a surprise to anyone who finished Far Cry 5, the release date and price might be unexpected. Far Cry New Dawn is a post-apocalyptic shooter that's set to launch February 15 for $40.
The canonical ending of Far Cry 5 saw nukes dropping from the sky, wiping out nearly all life in Hope County, Montana. New Dawn jumps forward 17 years, when human and animal life has returned. That said, this is still a Far Cry game, so you know any peace and tranquility will be short-lived.
New Dawn takes place in a colorful post-apocalyptic version of Far Cry 5's map and puts you up against a pair of power-hungry twins. You'll find a lot more details in our Far Cry New Dawn preview, and you'll also be pleased to know that New Dawn fixes Far Cry 5's greatest flaw.
If you're ready to lock in New Dawn your pre-order, you'll probably want to know what comes in the various editions, where you can buy it, and how much each version costs. Read on for the goods.
Far Cry New Dawn Pre-Order Bonus
Pre-order either version of Far Cry New Dawn, and you'll get the colorful (and deadly) Unicorn Trike vehicle.
Far Cry: New Dawn Standard Edition
This version simply comes with the game itself and the pre-order bonus.
The digital deluxe edition of Far Cry: New Dawn comes with additional sets of in-game items, including the Knight Pack (SVD Claymore and Sidecar Motorbike), Hurk Legacy Pack (Wrath M249, Legacy Offroader, and Hurkling Outfits), M133M Shotgun, and RAT4 Rocket Launcher.
After months of build-up and speculation, the title of next year's follow-up to Avengers: Infinity War has been revealed. The movie is titled Avengers: Endgame and the first trailer is with us. Now the first poster has also been released.
The poster is simple yet highly effective--it's simply a giant 'A', with the words 'Endgame' set inside. The big addition is that the logo is slowly disappearing in exactly the same way that the many victims of Thanos' snap did at the end of Infinity War. Check it out below:
This latest poster follows a similar design as the posters for the previous Avengers movies, which also include The Avengers (2012) and Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015). We're certain to get a poster featuring the characters from the film nearer to release date, but this one is a striking way to set the tone for the movie.
Avengers: Endgame releases on April 26, 2019, and is directed once more by Joe and Anthony Russo. Virtually all the major actors from the MCU are set to return, so that means Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Benedict Cumberbatch, Mark Ruffalo, Elizabeth Olsen, Sebastian Stan, Scarlett Johansson, and so on. It had been rumored that this might be the last Marvel movie for some of the MCU's longest-running stars--in particular Evans--but nothing has been confirmed about their future in the franchise.
In related news, the second trailer for Captain Marvel was also released this week. This is the first MCU movie to arrive in 2019, and it releases on March 8. It stars Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, and Jude Law, and is the first Marvel movie with a female superhero as the central character.
You know how, when playing any of the 3D Fallout games, the camera will sometimes kick out during combat for a slow-motion cinematic view of a killshot? Count that as one of the many reasons why Obsidian's new game, The Outer Worlds, looks a lot like Bethesda's now contentious post-apocalyptic series. It's a sporadic and superficial detail, but if you're familiar with Fallout it's an unmistakable flourish that will immediately catch your eye and cause memories of exploring irradiated wastelands to come rushing back--especially when you catch a glimpse of the attacker's deadpan expression.
This example is merely scratching the surface. Fallout was in the air during a recent visit to Obsidian Entertainment before the announcement at The Game Awards; many of the people we met had worked on the early games in the series, and the gameplay we saw of The Outer Worlds led from one familiar moment to the next. Obsidian isn't making a game that lives under the Fallout banner, but if you look at branding as a formality, you could say Obsidian is making the most informal Fallout game to date.
At the front of the room presenting the game, Fallout co-creators Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarsky were poised, seemingly confident in what they were about to show the group. This was their first game together since their studio, Troika Games (Arcanum, Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines), shut down in 2005. Leonard had gone on to Blizzard to work on Diablo III; Cain spent some time at Carbine Studios before landing at Obsidian in 2011 as senior programmer on Pillars of Eternity. The duo were instrumental to the creation of the first two Fallout games before the ailing Interplay Entertainment licensed the rights for Fallout 3 to Bethesda. At the time Cain had already formulated a piece of what he wanted the next sequel to be, and he's quoted in 2002 as saying: "My idea is to explore more of the world and more of the ethics of a post-nuclear world, not to make a better plasma gun." Is this the chance he's been waiting for?
The Outer Worlds is set in a distant solar system where corporations are king, so much so that people practically define themselves by the brand they represent--it's just a fact of life for them. Because it's second nature, the overall tone is more casual than sinister, which is the perfect canvas for Obsidian's brand of subtle humor to seep through.
Neither Cain nor Boyarsky would say why the colonists in The Outer Worlds left Earth, but with their previous games in mind it's not difficult to imagine a plausible scenario. Regardless, the jumping off point was suspiciously familiar. At the start of the game, you are woken up from a multi-year slumber in a human-sized capsule--your own personal vault, if you will. The crazed scientist who jolted you out of hypersleep has a mission for you, but we were told you could freely ignore his wishes and embark on a questline of your choosing.
The Outer Worlds is being designed around freedom of choice, which often manifests during verbal exchanges. You have free agency to lie, play dumb, betray allies, or align with would-be enemies. These concepts aren't limited to Fallout games, but it's--again--hard to deny the similarities at play when even the amount of camera zoom during dialogue brings Fallout 3 to mind.
Whether The Outer Worlds is intentionally built to remind us of Fallout is a question we'll likely never get answered by Obsidian, but odds are it's not a coincidence. Obsidian's work on Fallout: New Vegas is cited by many fans to be the best thing to happen to the series in recent years. You could argue that any similarities between The Outer Worlds and Fallout are due to the fact that there are so many ex-Fallout devs working on the game, but there are elements that go beyond mere creative tendencies.
You dictate your characters' growth by investing in a stat system with categories dictated by a six-letter acronym, not unlike Fallout's S.P.E.C.I.A.L. system. Despite these and the many other similarities, The Outer Worlds isn't devoid of originality. Cain smirked before saying that he couldn't tell us what the stat acronym in The Outer Worlds is, but he was amped to share the other side of character customization, which sounds like it will usher in a brand-new form of player choice.
The Outer Worlds, we're told, keeps track of your interactions, mistakes, and tendencies. When the background computations identify that you've experienced a specific event repeatedly, it will give you a chance to incorporate that experience into your character's mental state. If, for example, you are attacked five times by a specific type of wild animal, the game will ask you if you'd like to accept a phobia of said creature. This opportunity is two-fold: accepting the phobia will result in a debuff of specific stats when you come near that species in the future, but by accepting it, you will get the chance to pick up an extra advantage too.
"If people have liked our previous RPGs they're going to like this one in terms of how we make reactive worlds and especially our style of humor."
- Tim Cain
In the example we saw, signing up for a fear of Raptidons afforded you an extra perk. While it was confirmed that you will be able to respec your character at any time, flaws are permanent. You could decide to take on a fear of the dark, fear of ledges, and a fear of fire, and wind up in an unexpectedly sticky situation further down the road. It's the sort of thing you want to think twice about before making a call, but the potential for personal playthroughs feeds into the role-playing experience and may be difficult to ignore.
Thankfully, your companions are able to support you when the going gets tough. It looks as though you'll have half a dozen companions to choose from during your adventures, but you are only allowed to explore and fight with two by your side at any time. Party members relieved of duty will reside on your spaceship, which acts like more of a small base of operations, rather than a vehicle you can actually control--it moves on fixed paths when you pick your next destination. Also on board is Ada, the ship's AI represented by a female avatar on a monitor in the control room. Ada is supposed to grow and change depending on your actions, though we didn't get a look at this firsthand.
Back on terra firma, your companions will fight according to their AI and the class you've assigned to them. Each character in your party can carry a small selection of both melee and ranged weaponry, of which we're told there's a great variety to discover during your adventures. If there's one aspect of The Outer Worlds that looks a bit underwhelming, it's combat. Enemies and allies alike lack energy, exhibiting basic and straightforward animations. I got the sense that victory has more to do with how you craft your party rather than how you handle them during a fight.
While Fallout's V.A.T.S. system isn't replicated in an immediate and obvious fashion like other aspects of The Outer Worlds, there is a time-dilation mechanic that serves a similar purpose. Triggering this ability slows down time and lets you target specific body parts. Whether to maintain a stealthy run or slow down a hectic fight in order to gain an advantage, this system still feels like it serves a similar purpose to V.A.T.S. in the long run--just without the damage and success percentages guiding your aim.
Cain told us that he writes a post-mortem on every Fallout game, including those he had no part in. He also posited that "If people have liked our previous RPGs they're going to like this one in terms of how we make reactive worlds and especially our style of humor." After watching nearly 45 minutes of The Outer Worlds play out in front of me, I recognized both the ideals of Cain and Boyarsky and the habits of Obsidian on screen.
Regardless of what The Outer Worlds is called, the pedigree behind it and the apparent results of the team's vision feels like it's aimed squarely at the Fallout fanbase. Obsidian never could have predicted Fallout 76 nor the reaction to it, but for this game to arrive at this time feels like serendipity. Cain and Boyarsky never got their chance to make their version of Fallout 3, but more than a decade after they left their most famous work behind, they have reunited for their "dream project." For the disenchanted fans of older Fallout games, they may finally get the game they've been asking for all along.
Editor's note: GameSpot was flown to Obsidian Entertainment at Private Division's expense.
The end of Avengers: Infinity was brutal. With just a click of his fingers, Thanos wiped out half the population of the universe. Characters we loved, that we have emotionally invested in for years, just turned to ash in front of our very eyes. Peter Parker, gone! Bucky Barnes, gone! T'Challa, gone! But they were just a few of the casualties, millions and millions of lives across all of existence were extinguished. The implications are, to this day, difficult to come to terms with.
And yet, it gets worse. Today, the trailer for the next part in the story, Avengers: Endgame, was released, and it reveals that the extent of Thanos's heinous crimes go much further than we could have ever imagined. As the saying goes, "You never know what you've got until it's gone," and today we learned that we've lost something truly special: Steve Rogers' beard.
At the end of Captain America: Civil War, Captain America was deemed a fugitive, having defied superiors to help his childhood friend Bucky Barnes. Life on the run was no doubt rough for Steve, but he fought. When he re-emerged in Infinity War to save Vision and Scarlet Witch, he was Nomad, a slicker, stealthier, more stern version of Steve and Cap. He's always had the power to rally people to his cause, but now he was different, there was a more compelling kind of gravitas to him, a more driven air about him. He wasn't just the purehearted patriot doing the government's bidding anymore, he was choosing his own path, fighting for who he wanted to fight for.
And this new Steve commanded respect in a whole new way. That beard ... that perfectly even, meticulously groomed, golden face helmet was awe-inspiring. When Steve appears in Scotland during the events of Infinity War, he emerges from the shadows, forcing Proxima Midnight to stop her assault, and in that moment, it's clearly visible in her eyes that she knows things are about to go south for her. In that same fashion, the camera zooms into Vision and Scarlet Witch, and if you look at their eyes... they're looking at Steve's beard. It commands attention, and demands respect. Such is its power.
But now, it's gone. In the trailer for Endgame, Steve Rogers' face is smoother than an egg. The beard is no more, and we can only assume it was a casualty of the Thanos snap. In one short clip during the trailer, Steve is shown mourning, a single tear trickling down his cheek. While the voiceover talks about the loss of friends and family, we all know what Steve cries for: the beard that would have caught that tear for him.
So once again, we mourn. Rest in peace, Steve's beard, you will be missed.
The first trailer for the fourth Avengers movie is here. The sequel to this year's hugely successful Avengers: Infinity War has been shrouded in secrecy--the movie's title hadn't even been revealed until now. But we now know the movie is titled Avengers: Endgame and this first teaser gives us a hint of what to expect when it hits theaters in April next year.
The trailer opens with a voiceover from Tony Stark, who is stranded in space with oxygen about to run out. Back on Earth, we see various desolate shots of the Avengers building, while Steve, Natasha, Bruce, and Thor mourn the loss of their friends after Thanos snapped his fingers. But it seems that Steve has a plan. There's also the return of two big characters who were absent from Infinity War--check it about above, and then head over to our Endgame trailer breakdown.
Avengers: Endgame releases on April 26, 2019 and is directed once more by Joe and Anthony Russo. Unsurprisingly, virtually all the major actors from the MCU are set to return, so that means Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Benedict Cumberbatch, Mark Ruffalo, Elizabeth Olsen, Sebastian Stan, Scarlett Johansson, and so on. It had been rumored that this might be the last Marvel movie for some of the MCU's longest-running stars--in particular Evans--but nothing has been confirmed about their future in the franchise.
In related news, the second trailer for Captain Marvel was also released this week. This is the first MCU movie to arrive in 2019, and it releases on March 8. It stars Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, and Jude Law, and is the first Marvel movie with a female superhero as the central character.
Alita: Battle Angel is the long-awaited live action adaptation of the classic manga, and it has been a dream project for writer/producer James Cameron for many years. The movie finally arrives in February 2019, and a first clip has now been released.
The clip was shown at The Game Awards in LA. It shows a confrontation between cybernetic fighting machine Alita (Rosa Salazar) and a trio of deadly assassins who have ambushed her and Dr. Ido (Christoph Waltz). It definitely captures the wild cyberpunk action of the source material--check it out above.
This clip follows the latest trailer, which recapped much of the basic plot and was released in October. Alita: Battle Angel also stars Jennifer Connelly (Hulk), Mahershala Ali (Moonlight, Luke Cage), Ed Skrein (Deadpool), and Jackie Earle Haley (Watchmen). It's directed by Sin City's Robert Rodriguez.
The movie was originally set for release in July this year, but was delayed a couple of times and now hits theaters on February 14, 2019.
When the first trailer debuted last year, the movie attracted some controversy for the look of the title character--specifically, her large, unnatural eyes. Rodriguez explained at San Diego Comic Con in July that he wanted a realistic depiction of the source material, echoing James Cameron's wishes to bring the manga to life.
We're giving away the Nintendo Switch Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Bundle to one (1) lucky fan! Reply to the tweet below directly on Twitter with your favorite Nintendo memories for a chance to win.
Nintendo Switch Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Bundle Giveaway
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The final moments of Far Cry 5 were pretty intense for anyone who made it all the way to the game's end. Making a particular choice triggered an ending in which The Father, the cult leader villain of that game, forced the player character into a bunker just as nuclear bombs started falling all over the world. The Father's prophecy about the end times turned out to be right, and the apocalypse came for Hope County--and the rest of the world.
That's not the end of the story, though. Ubisoft Montreal is picking up the thread with Far Cry New Dawn, which is both a sequel to and a spin-off game from Far Cry 5. Ubisoft Montreal officially revealed New Dawn at The Game Awards but gave GameSpot an early look at the title at its studio. It takes place in Far Cry 5's Hope County 17 years after the bombs fell,, long after a devastating nuclear winter nearly wiped out all life in the place. But life found a way, including some human life, and after six years of nuclear winter, that too subsided. The environment has stabilized in Hope County, and with it, plants and animals have returned. The survivors are restarting civilization on a transformed version of Far Cry 5's map, and it's going pretty well.
Or it was, anyway. Before the start of the game, a tough-as-nails group of scavengers called the Highwaymen showed up in the county and took over. That's where you come in--as a survivor from elsewhere (and a fresh character, rather than a holdover from Far Cry 5), you take it upon yourself to bring down the Highwaymen and rebuild the settlements of Hope County.
"Bringing Far Cry to a post-apocalypse setting is something we really wanted to do for a long time," art director Isaac Papismado told GameSpot. "It's something that really excites us. And this is an opportunity for us to really do the Far Cry take. We really want to have something that's unique and refreshing for the player. Everybody has their own opinions and ideas of what a post-apocalyptic setting should look like, but we really wanted to bring the player somewhere that's really refreshing for him."
Just because the world has seen nuclear war doesn't mean everything's been destroyed, though. As Papismado put it, Ubisoft Montreal wasn't interested in building the end of the world, but something else.
"We really want to focus on building the beginning of this new world," he said. "And so from the beginning we knew we wanted something super colorful and inviting."
That's what led to the idea of the Super Bloom, something that happens in deserts. The team talked to experts and did research on how nuclear war might actually affect the environment, and one possible effect is desertification, the changing of certain biomes into deserts. While Far Cry New Dawn's ideas aren't strictly scientific--the developers took liberties with some of the ideas, they said, such as animals who've been changed by the nuclear war--the landscape players will encounter is rooted in reality.
New Dawn is connected to Far Cry 5 in that both games take place in the same location, but the world has been greatly transformed between the two experiences. The spin-off title also focuses on a few different ideas, like scavenging and surviving in the Wasteland, and offering greater combat challenges, both playing alone and cooperatively with a second player like in Far Cry 5. New Dawn is its own story and its own package, but links between the two games still exist. You'll encounter a few characters from Far Cry 5, director Jean-Sebastien Decant explained--and the teaser for the game at The Game Awards revealed that The Father has managed to survive the end of the world, as well, although we don't know how he'll factor into the proceedings.
Apex Predators
Far Cry games are almost always defined by their villains, and in New Dawn, there are two: Mickey and Joe, murderous twin sisters who control the Highwaymen. The young women dominate a culture that's based on taking things from others, so they're pretty tough--and Ubisoft revealed that their backstory included taking over the Highwaymen from their father, who they murdered after he "became a problem" and apparently killed one of his own.
All of the characters have been fundamentally shaped by what they experienced after the bombs fell, scriptwriter Olivia Alexander explained, and in the case of the twins, it's given them a view of the world that's fundamentally opposed to the survivors of Hope County.
"They're incredibly shaped by the world that they had to grow up in," Alexander said. "It was a world of scarcity and lawlessness, and any good villain always think that they're doing the right thing and that's exactly the case with twins. They're here for a good time, not a long time. The Survivor philosophy is to plan for tomorrow. These guys live for today. They are very much the product of a world of, like, nihilism. They're very much rather than oh, you know, God is dead, let's be sad, it's hey, nothing matters--let's have a party and enjoy yourselves. Even if having a party hurts people around."
The idea of two villains rather than one means that Ubisoft Montreal is trying to flesh out both characters, and Alexander said having twin antagonists creates an interesting dynamic. It's one that players should be able to see first-hand, at least in the case of how the twins' leadership filters down through the ranks of the Highwaymen. Ubisoft Montreal showed the beginnings of one mission during its briefing, in which the player character infiltrates the Highwaymen as a fighter in its gladiator-style fight pits.
The plan is to climb the ranks of the Highwaymen and disrupt the organization from within, but that also gives a look into their culture. The Highwaymen are fundamentally rougher and meaner than the Survivors, but one of the more surprising aspects of an early walk to the fight pits is that they have children around, as well--just like the Survivors. The Highwaymen are a civilization unto themselves, and while they're predatory, they still have certain values. They work for each other, even if they're kind of awful about it. Like the twins, the Highwaymen are a response to the circumstances as people struggle to survive a new world.
Alexander said a big theme running through Far Cry New Dawn is the idea of people looking after each other. The Survivors and the Highwaymen are fundamentally opposed, but each takes care of its own, in its way.
You'll still need to take out a whole bunch of Highwaymen, though, as is typical for a Far Cry game. This time around, though, you'll find the ranks of the enemy comprising different tiers of enemies, each with their own difficulty level and combat capabilities. They're best identified by their armor, which is mostly scavenged from motocross gear, with the bones of animals mixed in to give the Highwaymen an apex predator look.
Enemies have varying levels of armor and toughness, and the worst baddies to deal with are the Enforcers: heavily armed and armored Highwaymen who'll be dispatched to chase you and take you out. You won't just be randomly encountering enemies in the world or battling them as you try to take down their outposts--some Highwaymen will be on your trail, too.
Rebuilding Civilization
Ubisoft Montreal's post-apocalypse is a colorful one, but it's also one that acknowledges a way of life that relies on scavenging the remains of the old world. Much of the game carries a makeshift, ramshackle aesthetic--which will apply to your gear throughout the game. Attachments for weapons such as scopes or bayonets are created from items like pipes or kitchen knives, for instance.
The signature weapon of New Dawn, and a perfect reflection of the makeshift style, is the Saw Launcher. At its simplest, it's a motorized crossbow that flings radial saw blades at enemies, but it's easy to see how it's constructed from scavenged motorcycle parts and other junk. In keeping with Ubisoft Montreal's attempts to make its post-apocalypse feel believable even if it's not realistic, Decant said the developers are trying to build a real-world version of the Saw Launcher to see if they can get it working. In the digital world, the gun at least looks like something you might build out of stuff you found scattered in the ruins, with moving bike chains and chunks of handlebars serving as vital components.
The makeshift look is not just an aesthetic choice, though. Decant said the team has put a greater emphasis on scavenging and crafting in New Dawn, to reflect a post-apocalyptic lifestyle. And the post-apocalyptic lifestyle is a big part of the game, as one might expect. Survivors in Hope County are rebuilding their community, and as you work to take back the area from the Highwaymen, you'll also be contributing to their settlement, Prosperity. It's not exactly clear yet what that will involve, although it does sound like you'll be bringing any survivors you encounter in Hope County back to the safe haven of Prosperity. The effort you put in will be reflected aesthetically as the community expands, morale improves, and more and more people start showing up.
Fixing up Prosperity will also afford you some tangible benefits. The expanding place and the new people will mean specialists who can help you create and repair gear, for instance.
Eventually, improvements to the settlement will offer you new opportunities, such as one of the new additions to the franchise in New Dawn: Expeditions.
Cooperative Challenge
Expeditions are special missions that let you take on the Highwaymen in entirely new locations outside of Hope County, giving you a chance to explore more of the country in the wake of nuclear war. Decant called them "smash-and-grab" missions, and they're somewhat similar to the outposts that players clear and take over in much of the Far Cry series. They're also challenges that can encourage you to team up with a friend, thanks to New Dawn's cooperative multiplayer support.
On an Expedition mission, you'll be looking to claim a bag of valuable supplies from a Highwaymen base, which will be larger and better-defended than many of the outposts you might encounter in Hope County. Those supplies can be used to upgrade the Survivors' base, which makes them pretty valuable.
Your options, as always in Far Cry, are to shoot your way in, or take a sneakier approach. With a second person, coordination can be key to survival and to remaining undetected. Once you get to the bag's location and grab it, however, the Highwaymen become alerted to your presence regardless thanks to a GPS tracker in their goods. From there, the operation becomes a running firefight as you try to hold off reinforcements until your extraction, the Survivors' helicopter, can swoop in and save you.
While Expeditions seem built for two, you don't need a friend in order to enjoy those missions. Back from Far Cry 5 is the Guns For Hire system that lets you bring along allies you meet in the game world. Those include two animal friends: Timber, a faithful dog that can scare away other, larger animals. He can also jump through car windows to more easily ride along with you, Decant said, thanks to community feedback from Far Cry 5. There's also Horatio, a giant boar who can take on five Highwaymen at a time and smash cars.
You can issue those characters orders as you play, like sending them to a location or asking them to snipe an adversary, making them pretty useful for the mission.
The Expedition shown to journalists at Ubisoft Montreal took place in a ruined amusement park, complete with Highwaymen using rollercoaster tracks for their lookout posts. The quick mission started stealthy, with the AI-controlled Gun for Hire Nana, a slightly grizzled elderly sharpshooter, joining the player character. That didn't last, though, as despite her best efforts, Nana's silenced sniping couldn't keep the Highwaymen from discovering the player.
Grabbing the bag, the pair worked their way through the park toward its edges, fighting off enemies carrying RPGs, sniping from towers, and riding in on four-wheelers. Before long, the helicopter set down, allowing the player and Nana to escape the onslaught with the goods they game for--but only just barely.
Decant noted that each of the Expeditions feels a bit different. One takes players to the West Coast and onto a beached aircraft carrier, for instance, which makes for a more vertical experience. Another, set on a canyon-spanning bridge in Arizona, will have the added layer of trying not to fall to your death as you fight your way through it.
Something For Everybody
Generally, Far Cry New Dawn feels like a normal Far Cry game married with something of a more arcade approach. Decant explained during the briefing that the franchise's outposts, a mainstay players clear out and take over throughout the game, have been tweaked to offer more challenge. You'll still take over outposts and turn them for your faction, but now you can abandon captured outposts if you so choose. When you do, the Highwaymen will move back in and retake them--and then fortify them, to make them tougher. The hope is that the increased challenge will be a perfect excuse for players to take on outposts with a friend.
Outposts go up three levels for added challenge, but only if you want them to. The same is true of Expeditions, which are meant to be tougher missions, but it seems you only have to partake in them if they're your thing. In fact, Decant said the hope is New Dawn will provide a little something for all kinds of Far Cry fans--a story-driven traditional experience if that's what you're into, opportunities for tougher combat challenges and cooperative play if that's what you prefer, and a big world to explore with lots of treasures and secrets to discover if that's more your speed.
"The offer is slightly smaller than what you get in Far Cry 5, but it's still pretty huge," Decant said. "Our take on it was, it's the year after Far Cry 5, we wanted something that's going to be perceived as generous."
Far Cry New Dawn launches for $40 on February 15 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
Editor's note: GameSpot's travel and accommodation during the preview event was provided by Ubisoft.
Kevin Hart will not host the 91st Academy Awards. The comedian and actor confirmed in a statement that he has withdrawn from hosting duties following the discovery of his old tweets where he used homophobic slurs and other loaded language.
The confirmation of his departure from the show comes after he posted a video on Instagram earlier today in which he said he says the Academy gave him an ultimatum: apologize for the tweets or step down. He refused to apologize, and now he's out.
In an earlier Instagram post today, Hart addressed the controversy and said, "I'm almost 40 years old and I'm in love with the man that I am becoming. You live and you learn and you grow and you mature." He added: "I live to love ... please take your negative energy and put it into something constructive."
The 91st Academy Awards take place in February, so the Academy will have to move quickly to find a replacement host. Keep checking back with GameSpot for the latest.
I have made the choice to step down from hosting this year's Oscar's....this is because I do not want to be a distraction on a night that should be celebrated by so many amazing talented artists. I sincerely apologize to the LGBTQ community for my insensitive words from my past.
I'm sorry that I hurt people.. I am evolving and want to continue to do so. My goal is to bring people together not tear us apart. Much love & appreciation to the Academy. I hope we can meet again.
This is just the latest round of controversy for the Oscars. In 2011, Oscars producer Brett Ratner stepped down after making controversial, homophobic comments, while that year's host, Eddie Murphy, decided to step back as well.
The 91st Academy Awards take place on February 24, 2019. The show was originally set to add a "Popular Film" category, but the Academy decided to scrap it in the wake of some amount of public backlash.
The 2018 Awards ceremony saw the viewership lowest in history, with only 26.5 million people tuning in. That's almost a 20 percent decline from the 32.9 million who tuned in to 2017's show.
In an exciting, unexpected moment at The Game Awards, the first of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's DLC characters was revealed. Joker, the protagonist of Atlus' Persona 5, will be playable in the new fighting game in the future.
During a segment where Geoff Keighley was on stage, the lights cut out and led to a trailer featuring dialogue with various characters from Persona 5. That in turn revealed Joker as a playable character, although we unfortunately didn't see any actual gameplay or learn anything about how he'll play.
Joker will be the first DLC character released for the game (outside of Piranha Plant) and will come included in Challenge Pack 1. Each DLC pack will be solid individually and includes a character, stage, and music. Alternatively, you can buy the Fighters Pass to get them all.
Reggie Fils-Aime came on-stage after the reveal to talk a little about the new, and he teased that all five DLC characters to come between now and February 2020 will be newcomers to the series. He also noted they will be ones "who you wouldn't anticipate" being included in Smash.
After relative radio silence from developer Double Fine, we finally got to see a new trailer for the upcoming Psychonauts 2. While the trailer--which you can watch above--featured a smattering of gameplay, it was mostly packed with story. Protagonist Rasputin stood front and center as he jumped to and fro on what we have to assume to be a mission as an officially sanctioned Psychonaut.
Other characters from the original appear. OG Psychonaut Ford Cruller appears to give Rasputin a lecture about the importance of being a Psychonaut. There's some fun comedy and glimpses of other familiar faces set in-between some action-packed platforming. But the most intriguing part of it all was the mysterious figure that appears at the end, whom we can only assume is the main antagonist of the game. If that intrigues you, then be sure to check out the trailer and see it all yourself.
Psychonauts is expected to launched in 2019 on PS4, Xbox One, and PC. It was actually first announced at The Game Awards in 2015 and was successfully crowdfunded on Fig, with more than 24,000 people contributing nearly $4 million to the project. Publisher Starbreeze will publish the game, while allowing Double Fine to retain the rights to the IP.
The original Psychonauts was released in 2005. Double Fine re-released the game on PS4, while the standalone VR adventure Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin launched for Sony's PSVR.
Rage 2, the long-awaited sequel from Id Software and Avalanche, finally has a release date. At The Game Awards 2018, publisher Bethesda officially confirmed that the single-player post-apocalyptic shooter is launching on May 14 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
Bethesda also released a new trailer for the game showing off some of the crazy things you'll be able to do in the open-world. Check it out in the embed above.
The game is set 30 years after the events of the first Rage, which was released in 2011 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. The Earth has started to recover after being ravaged by a global catastrophe, and plant and animal life have begun springing up around the planet.
Rage 2 is in development at Just Cause studio Avalanche Studios, while original developer id Software is also contributing to the project.
For more on all the big announcements from The Game Awards, check out GameSpot's roundup here.
NetherRealm Studios has announced Mortal Kombat 11, the latest entry in its much loved fighting series. The announcement was made during The Game Awards, where series co-creator Ed Boon appeared to introduce an awards for sports/racing game. Except, this was a fakeout that led to a trailer for the game, which showed Scorpion fighting Raiden; we've since gotten more details and screenshots courtesy of a Steam listing.
As you can probably guess, the trailer for Mortal Kombat 11 was typically brutal. With heads being removed from bodies and blood flowing freely. Interestingly, there was a significant amount of weapon usage during the video, and it's not the typical stuff we expect from the characters. Raiden, for example, was wielding red lightning.
There was also multiple Scorpions. While the first one got taken out by Raiden, the second turned into a being of fire and flew threw Raiden, decimating him. It unclear what the presence of two Scorpion means yet, but it could be that Mortal Kombat 11 has some multi-universe shenanigans of some sort going.
Most excitingly, Mortal Kombat 11 got a release date of April 23, and it's a global launch on PS4, Xbox One, PC, and--perhaps surprisingly--Nintendo Switch. NetherRealm will also be hosting a community reveal event on January 17, no doubt giving us a much longer look at the game.
The Steam page for the game offered up the screenshots embedded above. Some of these appear to be shots from the trailer, while others are not. It also notes that you'll be able to play as Shao Kahn by pre-ordering. Additionally, it teases a key feature, Custom Character Variations, which allow you to have "unprecedented control to customize the fighters and make them your own." MK11 also boasts a "new graphics engine showcasing every skull-shattering, eye-popping moment, brings you so close to the fight you can feel it. And featuring a roster of new and returning Klassic Fighters, Mortal Kombat's best in class cinematic story mode continues the epic saga over 25 years in the making."
The Game Awards 2018 has had plenty of reveals, including brand new gameplay footage of Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey. It's an open-world survival single-player game from former Assassin's Creed designer Patrice Desilets and the team at Panache Digital Games which tells the story of millions of years of evolutionary history in Africa. You'll be seeing the evolution of apes that led to humankind as you play through the Earth's past.
Environmental diversity is one of the big features as you explore the jungles and savannahs of Africa while surviving the harsh ecosystems and fighting off predators. You'll take part in multiple generations of human ancestry from the early apes to Lucy, the closest and earliest relative of humans.
Panache was started in 2014 and Ancestors is the team's first project. It first surfaced in 2015 and had more revealed in 2017, and now its set for a 2019 release. In the video above, you can see the gameplay trailer shown at The Game Awards. Here on GameSpot, we'll have an exclusive extended look at the game in which you can see it in action following the conclusion of The Game Awards.
After teasing an announcement coming sometime in December, BioWare took the wraps off of its next Dragon Age game during The Game Awards. A brief teaser trailer showed some slow pans across artifacts, and a hashtag that likely hints at a central story figure. It said, "The Dread Wolf Rises."
The teaser was so brief it's hard to glean much more from it, but with the announcement official, BioWare is likely to be starting up the promotional cycle and sharing more details. The last Dragon Age game, Dragon Age Inquisition, won the top honor of Game of the Year at 2014's Game Awards. The tagline "The Dread Wolf Rises" is likely a reference to Fen'Harel the elven god of betrayal in the Dragon Age universe.
BioWare had been teasing a Dragon Age related announcement in the lead up to the show and, as of late, had been hinting at the future of the franchises that many of its fans have come to love. Along with Dragon Age, the studio has said it is working on the future of Mass Effect.
In a blog post, executive producer Mark Darrah confirms the new Dragon Age game has been in the works for "quite a while." He said BioWare won't share more details now, but he did confirm the game is being made by some "core" Dragon Age veterans who also worked on Jade Empire and Baldur's Gate. Darrah teased that the team is "hard at work exploring ways to push BioWare's storytelling to the next level."
Game director Matthew Goldman, meanwhile, said in his own statement that BioWare has put together its "strongest team yet" to work on the new Dragon Age. He called it the "most epic quest ever."
"Making players into heroes of their own stories has been my real-life quest since Baldur's Gate," he said. "Over the years I've taken on increasing challenges: building vast living worlds, devising fun party-based combat and illustrating fantastic stories. Now, I'm honored and excited to continue BioWare's rich legacy of colorful companions, romance and epic choices in my favorite fantasy franchise."
BioWare's next major release is Anthem, a sci-fi action RPG in which players take control of Freelancers, equipped with mech suits called Javelins. Anthem is set for release on PS4, Xbox One, and PC on February 22, 2019, but there will be two opportunities to play a demo of the game before then. You can find out more about Anthem's upcoming demos here.
There have been a number of other big announcements from the show. You can get caught up on everything by reading our full roundup of all The Game Awards news.
Ashen is now available for download. The Xbox console exclusive is a part of Game Pass, so members can download the indie title for free.
First announced at E3 2015, no news for the game came out until its E3 2017 trailer. We saw the game at E3 2018 and enjoyed our time with it. The game's developers, A44, promised the game would release prior to the end of 2018, but with only a few weeks left in the year, many thought the game might be delayed to 2019.
The indie action RPG takes inspiration from both Dark Souls and Journey to create a challenging combat experience that's also relationship driven. Fans of Soulsborne games will feel right at home with Ashen's stamina-focused combat, and the in-game world is inhabited by NPCs and players alike in a shared world, much like Journey.
You can commune with other players nonverbally in Ashen to get to out-of-reach areas and explore the world, as well as work together to take on the game's difficult bosses. The launch of Ashen adds another console exclusive to Xbox One's game library in a year that didn't see all that many. The title is X-enhanced for Xbox One.
The Game Awards are going on right now, and there are plenty of announcements to go with the awards being handed out. You can watch the show right now, and be sure to stay tuned to GameSpot for our coverage of the event. We'll be compiling all the announcements in one place at the end of the show, so if you happen to miss anything, we have you covered.
Tonight at The Game Awards, Ark: Survival Evolved developer Studio Wildcard announced a new game. Atlas, as it's called, is an open-world survival MMO. It's launching next week on PC, with a console version coming in 2019 through the Xbox One Game Preview program.
Atlas reportedly supports 40,000 concurrent players; and in terms of map size, it's 1,200 times the size of an Ark server, the developers said. There are numerous different biomes in Atlas, including desert, tundra, and polar regions. You'll encounter a series of animals ranging from regular livestock as well as mythological creatures.
Atlas will offer naval battles. The overall aim in Atlas is to build an armada, claim territory, and dominate the world. You can check out the announcement trailer above.
A new trailer for PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds newest map has been revealed. The reveal occurred during this year's Game Awards.
The trailer doesn't reveal what the new map might look like, as it was entirely cinematic. However, the end of the trailer announced that the map is now playable in test servers on PC and coming to Xbox One and PS4 in January 2019. The map was first teased at E3 2018 and originally scheduled to come to both PC and Xbox One in Winter 2018.
As opposed to the traditional 100-player free-for-all, PUBG's new snow map, called Vikendi, pits two teams of six against each other. The map adds a new snowmobile vehicle, and players will leave traceable footprints in the snow. This means it will be easy to track your enemy, but you can also be easily led into a trap as well. The map is 6x6 squares, making it smaller than Erangel and Miramar but larger than Sanhok.
In our PUBG review, Michael Higham gave the game an 8/10, writing, "PUBG's technical shortcomings can undermine its broader achievements on rare occasions, but they don't override your desire to continue playing. Each phase of a match presents a different type of tension that is equal parts thrilling and terrifying, driven by the insatiable desire to be the last person (or squad) standing. Whether you play solo or in a group, successfully executing adaptive tactics to win intense, high-stakes firefights makes for an incredibly rewarding experience."
Dauntless, the Monster Hunter-like RPG that is currently available for PC, is making its way to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, developer Phoenix Labs announced during The Game Awards. It is expected to arrive as a free download on these platforms in April 2019, when it will also become available through Epic Games' newly announced store on PC. Phoenix Labs has also said Dauntless is coming to mobile and Nintendo Switch later in 2019.
The studio said Dauntless' arrival on new platforms brings it closer to the team's "One Dauntless" vision, which will allow players to connect through seamless cross-platform play, and have their progression and account management carry across all platforms, worldwide.
"At Phoenix Labs we define ourselves through a transparent development relationship with our community and strong focus on inclusivity, both at the studio and in our game," said studio co-founder Jesse Houston. "With our upcoming platform launches in April and One Dauntless, we will soon be able to welcome and connect players worldwide like never before. The journey of Dauntless is just beginning in the ever-evolving online world of the Shattered Isles, and we're excited to share many more years of experiences with our players."
Dauntless will support cross-platform play between PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and mobile devices, with progression, customization, and purchases reflected in all versions.
Phoenix Labs also announced Frostfall, a new expansion that will be available on December 6. "The new update ushers in brand new seasonal content as a deep freeze descends on Ramsgate, and Slayers will also have a chilling challenge on their hands with the introduction of a new Behemoth: Valomyr," it said in a press release detailing the update.
Additionally, the Dauntless Hunt Pass will be available on December 6, and will give new challenges to undertake with big reward payouts for completing them. The pass will cost $10 and provide "in-game activities and challenges, a collection of exclusive items, emotes, cosmetics, and more."
There was plenty of other big announcements at the show, and you can see it all in our The Game Awards news roundup.
For as much as The Game Awards is about recognizing the success of the video game industry's previous year, it's also a venue for new game announcements--did you catch the Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 reveal? There were more than a few at this year's event, but for longtime fans of Obsidian Entertainment, particularly its work on the Fallout series, its announcement came as a somewhat unexpected surprise--all we knew heading into the event was that Obsidian had something to announce.
The Outer Worlds is a single-player, open-world RPG set on distant planets where player choice and dialogue play two very important roles. It's typical Obsidian, which for the past few years has been embedded in the world of isometric CRPGs such as Pillars of Eternity, its sequel Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire, and Tyranny. Though Obsidian was recently acquired by Microsoft, this project remains under Take-Two's Private Division publishing label.
Coming off the heels of the recent PS1-era remakes Spyro Reignited Trilogy and Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, publisher Activision is prepping the comeback for another classic game from the 32-bit age. Making its debut at The Game Awards 2018, Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled is a remake of the original PS1 kart racer, originally developed by Naughty Dog. Now developed by Beenox and set for release on PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch, Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled brings one of the more remarkable kart racing games that isn't called Mario Kart into the HD era, showing off more of the Crash series' brand of style and humor.
Launching on June 21, 2019, the developers wanted to give the original a modern look with the remake, while also keeping the core gameplay of drifting along tight tracks as you fire off powerful weapons against other racers intact. With all the tracks and characters from the original making a return, Nitro-Fueled also introduces some additional features including online gameplay, new character and kart customization options, and expanded co-op features. In an interview with Beenox' Co-Studio Head Thomas Wilson prior to the reveal, he talked about his respect for the Crash series, and how the developers sought to remain faithful for this remake.
"I was a big fan of the Crash series, so you can imagine that I thought it was super exciting to come back to this," said Wilson. "I would definitely say that Crash Team Racing deserved to be remastered, and I think that that's what makes it so exciting when you're thinking about it. It's been 20 years, so we'll be celebrating the 20th anniversary of Crash Team Racing when Nitro-Fueled comes out, which I think is the best moment to release it."
Built from the ground up, the remake plans to continue the same level of vibrancy and respect that's been a constant from the previous Activision remakes. Instead of platforming, the action moves to fast-paced and hectic races across several tracks modeled after different levels from the Crash Bandicoot series. Though the original CTR was undeniably influenced by Mario Kart, it also featured a full-fledged story mode, taking your chosen character to battle against other racers and bosses--including the big bad Nitrous Oxide--across several challenging tracks.
At launch, Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled will go for $40. However, there will also be a deluxe release with the Nitros Oxide Edition, going for $60. In addition to the full game, the Nitros Oxide Edition will unlock the titular boss character and his unusual kart at the beginning of the game--the standard version requires normal progression through the game to unlock. Moreover, there will be added character and kart skins for Crash, Coco, Cortex, and other characters to use.
"I can't wait for people to see it, play it, because it's a work of passion, right?" said Wilson. "We put our heart and soul into making these games. And for me, it's not just a remaster, it needs to be a true love letter to what Crash Team Racing was. What I mean by that is with so much improvement that's coming with the Nitro-Fueled, by having the upgraded graphics, upgraded animations, and upgraded visual fidelity, we'll also bring it online for everybody as well, and that's what makes me so excited."
There's much more to see from The Game Awards 2018. Be sure to keep track of all the latest news and trailers that have been revealed at the show by visiting our roundup.
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