Centralityjournal

Blizzard’s reveal of Hearthstone’s Mercenaries mode in September 2021 was, as we put it not too delicately, “a masterclass in how not to announce a game.” Despite that inauspicious beginning, it actually turned out to have real potential: Hearthstone streamer and podcaster Ben “RidiculousHat” Goodman said that after a few days with it, “I feel the pull of the couch and just one more run.”

Unfortunately, it looks like his longer-term concerns about competition and economics were prophetic. Blizzard announced today that Mercenaries is getting one more big update in patch 25.4, after which there will be no further new content released.

The patch will add six new Mercenaries to the mode, described by Blizzard as “some of our most interesting Mercs yet,” which will push the total number of Mercenaries in the mode to more than 120. Mercenaries will also be able to have two different types following the update, like Human-Undead or Celestial-Beasts.

Many Mercenaries will also be getting factions indicators that will make it easier to tell how a Treasure or Ability will impact the party. The two factions in the game will be expanded to seven: Alliance and Horde will be…

Valorant, a competitive FPS that I’ve often criticized for being too conservative with character abilities, is cooking up something weird for its next agent. Iso, Valorant’s eleventh post-launch agent, is a Chinese mercenary who “reconfigures ambient energy into bulletproof protection.” Pretty useful skills for the aggressive pointman of the team, but pedestrian compared to his ultimate ability that is so strange it’s unlike anything I’ve seen in an FPS before.

Called Kill Contract, Iso can literally kidnap the nearest enemy and transport both of them to an “interdimensional arena” where the two duke it out until someone dies. It’s sorta like earning back a second life in Call of Duty: Warzone’s Gulag, except if your normal round of Valorant could be suddenly interrupted by some guy who wants you to 1v1 him on Rust.

Iso’s pocket dimension doesn’t look like Rust, sadly; it actually looks like a Star Trek Holodeck that just sorta gave up on rendering textures. The arena seems to be a flat piece of ground no matter where on the map you trigger it. There are walls hiding both players when you first arrive, presumably so you can’t just line up a headshot then shoot immedi…

Capcom has added a disclaimer to both volumes of The Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection, a re-release of ten games in the spin-off strategy series, which warns players of “insensitive cultural depictions” at the start of the game. It does not specify what these are but, as soon as the warning was spotted on gaming forum Resetera, users began posting examples of what the game includes that probably falls under this description. The games’ content has not been altered.

The full disclaimer reads: “Capcom values diversity and inclusivity within its games and its community. Please be aware the games in this collection may contain some cases of insensitive cultural depictions that are presented as originally created to preserve their authenticity.” The comparison to the message that Warner Bros. now shows in front of its older cartoons is obvious.

The specific examples highlighted by Battle Network players include black characters that rap, an instance where protagonist Lan goes to Netopia (an approximation of America) and is immediately robbed by a black man, and another character in that city who tells you he prays to “my God, and the chicken he provides.” …

Watch On

Bethesda popped up at Gamescom Opening Night Live to reveal that the Rev-8, a vehicle for traversing Starfield’s giant planets in bumpy style, is “available tonight” for free. I gotta say I’m getting big Mass Effect Mako vibes from this thing, but in a charming way—it looks bouncy, seemingly has the ability to hover to help you clear large gaps, and yeah, of course it’s got a gun on it.

The bigger news, though, is that Starfield’s first expansion, Shattered Space, has a release date. As teased at the end of the trailer above, it’s out on September 30. You can read more about the surprise patch on Bethesda’s website, which includes details on a number of bug fixes and details how to get ahold of your own Rev-8 (okay, it’s pretty simple: just talk to your ship technician).

Today’s ground vehicle DLC release answers what may be Starfield’s most-requested feature. Almost immediately upon release last year, Todd Howard was fielding questions about why there were no vehicles in Starfield to drive around despite its scale. (His answer, that you had a jetpack, didn’t quite satisfy). We were disappointed in Starfield’s exploration, but Shattered Space may well …