Helldivers 2 bombs, Shadow of The Erdtree is "the end", XDefiant release...
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Hello friends,
Today is May 7th 2024 and I hope you’ve had a great week 🙌
In today’s news:
🎮 Helldivers 2 faced review bombing after a PSN requirement
🎮 Shadow of The Erdtree marks “the end” for Elden Ring
🎮 XDefiant got a release date
🎮 Resident Evil 9 rumoured release date
🎮 No Rest for the Wicked is all the rage right now!
🎮 Hades 2 starts now!
All of this is brought to you in a 5 min format ⏲️
Let’s dig in!
🎮 Helldivers 2 faced review bombing after a PSN requirement
Last week was quite terrible for Helldivers 2 and for the Arrowhead Studios. On Friday, the game announced that from now on, everybody should log in to a PNS account in order to continue playing. That wasn’t met well at all.
Within a couple of hours, hundreds of thousands of players decided to show their distinct displeasure with such a blindside from Arrowhead by posting horrific negative reviews. All reviews are down to “Mixed” with the most recent reviews “Overwhelmingly Negative”.
It comes as no surprise as firstly, nobody was aware that this kind of a feature will ever be a mandatory requirement. The developers just decided it and assumed that everybody would be ok with that. Secondly, everybody is concerned about their privacy and PlayStation servers have been hacked repeatedly over the course of the decade and nobody wants their personal data to be stolen.
Even though at the start the CEO of Arrowhead Studios said that “it’s warranted”, the rest of his opinions on X don’t suggest that he in any way regrets his decision.
Personally, I’m going to side with the community. I don’t have access to my PSN right now and even if I were, I’m so sick and tired of companies requiring 100 different logins and launchers before you can even play the game. I’m not going to take part in the review bombing, but I understand why it’s happening. 😡
But it seems like fans are victorious on this one. The latest news from Kotaku says that PlayStation reverted this requirement. No PSN login for Helldivers 2. It’s a pity though that corporations only listen to consumers after they start a riot…
🎮 Shadow of The Erdtree marks “the end” for Elden Ring
Kotaku revealed last week that after an interview the Game Director of the Elden Ring, Hidetaka Miyazaki, confirmed that Shadow of the Erdtree is going to be the first and the last DLC for the game.
This may be disappointing news for the fans, but assuming the rumours are correct and the scale of this DLC is massive, this might be a good thing. Considering that for the last two years, the team behind the game was working on a single DLC, it’s probably going to be huge.
He also shared a bunch of interesting stuff about the rumours surrounding the content, so if you are a fan and want to know more, here goes.
And I don’t know about you, but I’d rather wait two years for one great and big DLC and put this to bed than have 10 mediocre DLCs during the same time span.
🎮 XDefiant got a release date
Well, it’s official. Ubisoft is joining the fray of multiplayer shooters with XDefiant on May 21 on the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Ubisoft Connect.
For those of you who don’t know what it is, this is a free-to-play multiplayer FPS “where you compete to be the best in fast-paced online matches”. It’s another take on CS/Overwatch/Valorant/COD with a pinch of Ubisoft.
Essentially, one team competes with the other on a map over a specific objective depending on the mode you play. Either it’s capture the flag, attack/defence (fans of Overwatch will know what it is) or something else that may be available on release. The game features a variety of factions and classes, each with their own unique abilities and weapons (Hi Valorant and Overwatch).
Based on a short research, the game is nothing that we haven’t seen before. Of course, maps feature locations from other Ubisoft titles, the heroes have their own “unique” abilities, factions, backstory and yada yada yada. But it’s not like the gameplay is any different from hundreds of games on the market already.
If you feel any different, let me know if it’s something that I should take a peak at when it actually releases!
If you are enjoying the journey so far, you might as well subscribe to start getting all of this goodness right to your mailbox ✉️
🎮 Resident Evil 9 rumoured release date
Insider Gaming posted last week another interesting rumour related to the next instalment in the RE franchise. A reputable source claimed that RE 9 is planning to be released in January 2025.
According to him, the game should be revealed “soon” and that this is the date that the devs are aiming for. But, game development is quite a complex and unpredictable process sometimes. Even if the team is aiming for this date, doesn’t mean that they actually going to deliver on that promise.
“I have good news/rumours to deliver on Resident Evil 9. The possible delay I had heard murmurs about can be pushed aside. RE9 should be revealed pretty soon and released next year. If what I heard previously holds true, it should be in January. It’ll have had about seven years in dev,” he said.
But it’s ok with me. As long as they continue making top-quality games, I don’t mind waiting as long as needed 🫡
🎮 No Rest for the Wicked is all the rage right now!
This title went below the radar for me and apparently shouldn’t have. The game is from the same guys who developed Ori games and now they are taking the swing on action RPGs.
The game is set in the year 841. The player assumes control of a Cerim, a group of holy warriors imbued with magical abilities, who must purge the "Pestilence", a plague which has transformed the locals of Isola Sacra into dangerous and mindless monsters. Along the way, the Cerim becomes entangled in political conflicts between the rulers of the kingdom, and the rebels who seek to overthrow it.
Released in Early Access last month, the game has received “Mostly Positive” reviews so far and some major news outlets (like Kotaku) has already posted a ton of articles and how-tos related to the game.
The game seems to be quite beautiful from all the perspectives and the devs knows their stuff, so this is definitely going on my wishlist right now 📃
🎮 Hades 2 starts now!
Just yesterday, Hades 2 finally made it to Early Access on Steam.
I’m still waiting for the first reviews to arrive, but I’ve been replaying the first game for several weeks now and I can’t wait to start a new journey with the Princess of the Underworld!
Let me know if you try it first 😃
This is all the news I have for you folks today.
Thanks for making it this far! 🙌
If you are enjoying the journey, you might as well subscribe to start getting all of this goodness right to your mailbox ✉️
Have a great week!
Alex from Gamedev Relay.
Another factor in the Helldivers 2 saga is that Steam allowed players to get refunds even if they've been playing for a while. Maybe Sony was banking on that those players had nowhere to go. This to me shows Steam's somewhat unique place in giving gamers - PC gamers in particular - a voice.