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Demiplane releases a massive patch and two huge releases

by admin August 19, 2025

The August Patch Update is here! While we normally direct people to our Patch Updates on social media, Demiplane Discord, and forums, this one is massive and warrants an email to our fantastic community.

We also have two BIG releases for Daggerheart + Vampire: the Masquerade fans listed below!

Read the patch notes on the blog!

Daggerheart: Motherboard Campaign Frame

At launch, Demiplane supported the Witherwild and Age of Umbra campaign frame custom rules, with the plan to support additional frames afterwards. The first of those is now available!

The Motherboard campaign frame includes numerous special features and functions that will change how you experience the Daggerheart sheet, including the Clank being restricted, characters having a customizable Ikonis, and your currency being swapped for Quantum. You can even track and roll for scrap, and use that scrap to craft upgrades for your Ikonis.

We hope you enjoy using this new update! We’re already starting work on the next campaign frame, and can’t wait to share it with you.

Unlock the core and experience Motherboard!

Vampire: the Masquerade: In Memoriam

Embrace the mantle of the noveaux elders, the ancillae who have seized power in the absence of the true elders, who’ve now fallen or been beckoned away. Become a Kindred of 100, 150, or even 200 years. Detail your backstory and relive the formative trials and tribulations that forged you into the monster you are today. Command the night with the power of centuries behind you with In Memoriam for Vampire: The Masquerade:

Dive into and take part in Kindred history through flashback with expanded Memoriam rules.
Craft Ancilla Characters with enriched rules designed for advanced play — includes an optional setting in the Nexus character builder to use these alternate rules
Consolidated and Streamlined Memoriam Rules featuring new variations and advanced rules for deeper character development.
New Lore, Resources & Plotlines surrounding 11 mortal eras and 8 pivotal Kindred events.
Six New Loresheets that link characters to significant historical moments.
Learn more about integrating Memoriam rules into your existing stories and how to tie your characters to older events
Try to escape the past!

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August 19, 2025 0 comments

Game Reviews

Palia Botanical Bliss update patch notes

by admin August 19, 2025

Screenshot via Singularity 6

Published: Aug 18, 2025 12:30 pm

Palia‘s next big update, Botanical Bliss, is now live on all available platforms, and there’s plenty in-store for the players to enjoy and explore.

The latest update gives us new ways to explore the magical world and deck out our housing plots. Additionally, 1st and 2nd Anniversary Plushies are also available to all as part of a limited-time login campaign.

All major Palia Botanical Bliss features

The new update has plenty of events to engage in. Completing the events will allow us to win special rewards.

Flower Bloom Event

This event will be available to all players at 12pm game time in Palia. You will have to take part in a co-op-focused flower-filled challenge to complete the tasks and unlock the rewards. You can also attempt to go solo, but it could be slightly tricky.

The event will be available to beginners and veterans alike. If you’re just starting in Palia, complete the tutorial to gain access to the event. You might be missing the watering can, but you can still enjoy the remaining content that the event has to offer.

To make matters easier, a new Bulletin Board is available for all. You can use the board to explore seasonal themes, take part in limited-time activities, and win various rewards. You can also find mini narrative-driven objectives to win even more rewards.

New decor items

If you’re looking to add more color and style to your house in Palia, make sure to explore the eight flower-themed nameplates. The nameplates are available from Flower Bloom Event rewards and Bulletin Board quests.

You can find more options in the Premium Store, which also gets new updates. Fresh items like the Beastslayer and Yacht Club outfit collections, Torocat Pet and Glider, and the Beastslayer Tool Skin will be available as part of Botanical Bliss.

You can also find new Plushes like the Floatfish Toadstool, Piksii, and Floatfish Midnight during the event.

New flora

Sticking true to the theme of the event, you will find ten new floras to explore, combined with nine stylish planters.

Here’s the complete list of all flora items/recipes and how to acquire them.

Item How to AcquireGreenhome Clay PotPotential Drop from Kilima Dynamic EventGreenhome BasketPotential Drop from Kilima Dynamic EventGreenhome Wall PotPotential Drop from Kilima Dynamic EventGreenhome Stone UrnPotential Drop from Kilima Dynamic EventGreenhome Wood PotPotential Drop from Kilima Dynamic EventGreenhome Terracotta PotPotential Drop from Kilima Dynamic EventGreenhome Burlap SackPotential Drop from Kilima Dynamic EventGreenhome Metal PotPotential Drop from Kilima Dynamic EventGreenhome Flower BoxPotential Drop from Kilima Dynamic EventFlowering Orange BushPotential Drop from Kilima Dynamic EventFlowering Pink BushPotential Drop from Kilima Dynamic EventFlowering Black BushPotential Drop from Kilima Dynamic EventFlowering Blue BushPotential Drop from Kilima Dynamic EventFlowering Yellow BushPotential Drop from Kilima Dynamic EventFlowering Red BushPotential Drop from Kilima Dynamic EventFlowering Purple BushPotential Drop from Kilima Dynamic EventCoastal BushPotential Drop from Kilima Dynamic EventCypress TreePotential Drop from Kilima Dynamic EventFernPotential Drop from Kilima Dynamic Event

Additionally, the update continues to bring plenty of bug fixes and solutions to some pesky glitches that have been found in Palia so far.

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August 19, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Wuchang: Fallen Feathers mod “rollbacks” Patch 1.5’s controversial changes

by admin August 17, 2025

In news unlikely to surprise you, modders have already rolled back the “downgraded game experience” introduced with Wuchang: Fallen Feathers’ latest patch, 1.5, for PC players.

While the Steam rating was already ‘mixed’, players have wasted no time sharing their dismay, complaining in Steam reviews that the developers “sacrificed the original game’s vision to appeal to a loud, nationalist minority” and made “plot change[s that make] the story completely different, and even make some of the characters motivation pointless”.

Wuchang: Fallen Feathers Review.Watch on YouTube

These changes include revising boss fights so that you no longer kill them, but merely “exhaust” them, which some say “breaks the whole plot of the game”.

For its part, developer Leenzee didn’t note any significant changes were coming with the latest patch, only detailed some balancing and bug fixes, saying the patch “added some ‘Wuchang’ voice to complete the story, and added some NPC dialogues”.

Now, as noted by TheGamer, a mod for Wuchang: Fallen Feathers entitled “Rollback censorship patch – STEAM” seeks to undo those very changes.

“Wuchang 1.5 massively downgrades the game experience,” the mod developer wrote. “Most late game bosses, NPCs and enemies now get exhausted instead of dying and give you meaningless banter instead of story advancing dialogue from the original game. Basically patch 1.5 has ruined the game’s story and immersion.”

Uploaded on Friday, 15th August, the mod is already fast approaching 1000 downloads, with one user writing: “Thank you. Hate seeing artistic integrity being sacrificed on the altar of politics again”.

Ed thought Wuchang: Fallen Feathers’ new PC patch offered “improved performance and much-needed balance adjustments to tweak some of its infuriatingly cheap difficulty”.

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August 17, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Wuchang: Fallen Feathers bosses made unkillable in latest patch, seemingly to appease Chinese outcry

by admin August 17, 2025

Wuchang: Fallen Feathers got its 1.5 Patch this week, bringing multiple quality-of-life improvements to the Soulslike, but also story and boss adjustments which appear to have been made to appease Chinese netizens.

The patch notes list all the details, which include features like faster healing animations and adjustments to invincibility frames when Wuchang stands up. But buried in the margins is the nebulous line: “Added dialogs for some NPCs to complete some plots. We will further optimize the exhaustion animations in the future to improve the plot performance.”

As reported by Kotaku and pointed out by YouTuber Lance McDonald, in practice this means that several key bosses, notably those associated with the Ming dynasty, no longer die after their bloodthirsty battles with Wuchang. Instead, they fall down in exhaustion and remain in the boss arena, occasionally offering up further dialogue if Wuchang speaks with them. In the case of famous general Zhao Yun, who existed during China’s Three Kingdoms period hundreds of years before the Ming dynasty and shows up as a surprise NPC and boss, the fight is reframed as a “trial” by his immortal soul designed to test Wuchang.

With this change comes the additional fact that certain enemies associated with the Ming dynasty, such as peasant loyalists and imperial guards, are no longer hostile. This significantly alters the game’s fourth region, Worship’s Rise in Ruins, which was full of these guys. Suddenly, the vast majority of that level’s foes are friendly, making it a cakewalk in comparison to its original stressful form.

These changes appear to have been made by developers Leenzee Games in response to critical voices from the Chinese internet which have lambasted the game since its release. According to these voices, the game paints the Ming dynasty (1368-1644 AD) in a poor light.

The Ming dynasty was the last to be led by ethnic Han Chinese, and the following Qing dynasty (1644-1912 AD) was ruled by the Manchu people. Wuchang: Fallen Feathers features a distinct lack of Manchu enemies, and instead several of the game’s 24 bosses include prominent real-world persons such as Zhu Youjian, the 17th and final ruler of the Ming who was known as the Chongzhen (meaning “auspicious”) Emperor. In-game, Zhu Youjian shows up as a mutated draconic version of himself obsessed with immortality and maintaining the Ming dynasty at all cost. As of Patch 1.5, Wuchang can no longer permanently kill Zhu Youjian, and he’s reframed as having been corrupted. Upon defeating him, it’s hinted that he goes off into seclusion with his consort instead of dying permanently.

Player response to Patch 1.5 on the English-speaking internet has largely been negative, with commentators on one of Wuchang’s two Subreddits reacting in surprise to still-alive bosses and pointing out the fact that their post-battle “exhausted” states seem unfinished (to be fair, the patch notes do state that these animations will be improved).

Amongst Chinese players, reception to Patch 1.5 has been mixed. Chinese-language Steam threads include discussions that Lenzee caved to an overly vocal minority, and suggestions that the game should give players the choice of battling Ming enemies rather than turning them into friendly NPCs.

Others have stressed that these alterations dilute the plot of Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, which is rooted in the Buddhist concept of samsara, or cyclical change – a theme that is demonstrated by both the titular heroine’s motivations and the historical backdrop of the falling Ming dynasty. The second response in this thread puts it succinctly, stressing that the plot is about Wuchang letting go of her obsession with resurrecting her sister – a theme that is rendered moot by Zhu Youjian escaping death simply by virtue of being a Chinese emperor.

Personally, as someone who put 90 hours into Wuchang: Fallen Feathers for guides purposes and is half-Chinese (Taiwanese actually, but I won’t get into that here), I feel that the original outcry was unjustified and came from a select group of players who subscribe to ideas of Han Chinese supremacy. That said, I’m not surprised that Leenzee made these changes. Entities in Mainland China need to be more beholden to social pressure and patriotism to survive, and Leenzee Games invited scrutiny by featuring real-world figures and literally making the game’s Chinese title 明末, which can be translated as “Last days of the Ming”. I suspect they had a particular vision in mind, and they’ve now deemed it necessary to compromise on that vision in order to survive. It’s a shame, since the news of these tweaks has covered up the quality-of-life patch improvements that will make the game more enjoyable.

That said, if anyone wants to watch me stomp the immortal Zhao Yun with an fire axe build in only a little over two minutes, check out my boss guide.

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August 17, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Dune: Awakening’s first major patch has entered public testing, so you can give some Deep Desert PvE a go

by admin June 25, 2025

A work-in-progress version of Dune: Awakening’s first big post-release patch is now testable on Steam, so you can hop in and check out the changes Funcom’s making early doors before it rolls out for everyone in a few weeks.

A bunch of the changes the game’s devs teased or confirmed during their recent AMA and letter to players haven’t found their way into the patch, or at least this early version. Though, you’ll at least be able to try out PvE in the Deep Desert, something folks have demanded en-masse.

Alongside pointing folks to the freshly launch Dune: Awakening Public Test Client on Steam, where you can now test out patch 1.1.10.0, Funcom have released the notes outlining what’s in it.

Among the highlights is the news that “the PvE area near the shield wall has been expanded to cover row A, B, C, D and half of E within the Deep Desert.” So, you’ll be able to check out some Deep Desert PvE, which folks had been calling for to avoid being forced into PvP during Awakening’s endgame, when you’re hunting for the best gear and resources.

Sleepers, we have news!

Patch 1.1.10.0 is now live on the new Public Test Client. Be among the first to experience the changes, and help us hunt down technical issues.

🔽 Read more about the Public Test Client and get the patch notes here: https://t.co/b504leiKl6 pic.twitter.com/TZn6ntZrHy

— Dune: Awakening (@DuneAwakening) June 25, 2025

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I have noticed a few folks on the social arguing that this PvE expansion is too big an adjustment – we’ll have to see what the consensus is. Outside of that, Funcom have “reduced the frequency of Harkonnen attacks on certain Atreides bases (and vice versa) in Hagga Basin”, set up the main menu’s play now button to filter out private servers, and made sure “sandworms now linger for a bit around spicefields that have been recently harvested from”.

Meanwhile, you can now use, claim and list items straight to and from the inventory of your Ornithopter in the exchange. There are a bunch of handy minor tweaks to everything from base building to vehicles, combat and the UI. However, if you’re hungry for the big PvP changes that the devs have teased, adjustments to the Landsraad, or just the ability to deposit all of your stuff at once, you’ll have to keep waiting.

In the meantime, why not listen to the radio and read our DA review?

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June 25, 2025 0 comments

Game Reviews

Stalker 2’s latest patch finally fixes A-Life, arrives alongside 700GB of official modding tools

by admin June 25, 2025

It’s taken a while to get it sorted, but developer GSC Game World has finally managed to fix Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl’s wonky A-Life system as part of the post-apocalyptic shooter’s latest massive update, meaning players can now expect a bit more life to their wasteland adventure as NPCs pursue their own goals and live their lives. Oh, and official modding tools have arrived too, but you might need to delete a game or two to install them.

Starting with A-Life, it’s been the beating heart (or possibly the brain) of the Stalker series since its debut in 2007, creating a more dynamic, and more emergent, post-apocalyptic landscape by simulating NPCs – including stalkers, bandits, and mutants – that would move around the world, hunt, fight, and interact even when offscreen. Stalker 2’s version of A-Life was supposed to take things even further, but like much of the game at launch, was pretty broken.

GSC previously explained much of Stalker 2’s A-Life weirdness was down to optimisation hurdles, with the studio ultimately having to significantly reduce the size of the area around players that A-Life worked in order improve performance. Some initial fixes arrived shortly after release, but it’s only now, some seven months later, the system is finally working as intended.

Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl — Guns & Looting Showcase.Watch on YouTube

As per the studio’s latest patch notes, today’s huge 1.5 update – AKA the Guns & Looting update – now simulates life for all characters, and not just those in the player’s view. NPCs will “continue to live their lives and pursue their goals in the Zone until they meet their end”, and can be encountered resting or interacting in different locations. Additionally, players can also meet the same stalkers after some time.

There’s a lot more besides A-Life, though; patch 1.5 introduces new features – players can now experience the Water Electric Tornado anomaly out in the Zone, for instance, and acquire the Kora handgun and Three-Line Rifle – as well as AI and combat improvements, balance adjustments and bug fixes, plus various quality of life additions. That’s alongside the release of official modding tools for Stalker 2, which are currently available via the Epic Games Store. Interested parties might want to brace themselves, though; you’ll need somewhere in the region of 700GB free harddrive space to install them.

Eurogamer, if you’re wondering, gave Stalker 2 three stars, calling it a “mess of bugs and jank that nonetheless stays faithful to the open world survival shooter of yesteryear.”

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June 25, 2025 0 comments

Game Reviews

Overwatch 2 season 17 patch notes

by admin June 25, 2025

Image via Blizzard Entertainment

Power up and beat the heat with OW2 this summer.

Scott Duwe

and

Madison Benson

Published: Jun 24, 2025 01:01 pm

Overwatch 2 is powering up once again with a new season for summer 2025.

Season 17 of OW2 is called “Powered Up!” and although there isn’t a new hero this time around (the next hero will be playable in a test later this summer, though), there’s plenty of other quality of life changes and updates coming to the game when the new season begins on June 24.

Here’s everything new and different coming to OW2 season 17.

Overwatch 2 patch notes – Season 17

Image via Blizzard Entertainment

Season 17, Powered Up!, is all about the maps. There are new ones coming along, map voting, and some being added to the Stadium pool.

Alongside new maps, skins, and hero balance changes, we’re also getting limited-time events, changes to Stadium, and more. Let’s look at what’s new and different in OW2’s latest season.

Map voting

A long-requested addition, Map Voting, arrives in season 17 in both Quick Play and Competitive Play.

“After role queue locks, you’ll get three randomized map options to choose from,” Blizzard said. “Every vote adds a 1-in-10 chance to that map’s odds, and the winner is selected using a roulette style roll. To keep things chill, team chat, battle tags, and individual votes are hidden, so there’s no pressure—just a better chance at playing on maps you love. And leaver penalties kick in as soon as voting starts, so stick around and make it count.”

The more votes a map has, the higher its odds of being chosen. After voting for each map, OW2 will “roll” to see which one is selected. If everyone votes for the same map, the game will automatically select it.

New maps

Image via Blizzard Entertainment

A new Flashpoint map joins the Core experience in Season 17. Aatlis is based in Morocco and features lush gardens to luxury resort spaces. It’s a map that’s “built for tighter fights, cleaner rotations, and fast-paced momentum,” according to the developer.

In Stadium, Esperança and Samoa join the map pool.

New Stadium heroes

Image via Blizzard Entertainment

Sigma, Junkrat, and Zenyatta are the new playable heroes in Stadium for season 17, all with their own unique Powers to build ridiculous and powerful variants in the competitive game type.

Hero buffs and nerfs

Multiple heroes are getting updates this time around. Here’s a breakdown of each change:

General

Damage role passive healing reduction increased from 25% to 30%
Base health regeneration timer increased from 5 to 6 seconds

Tank

Junker Queen

Commanding Shout
- Junker Queen overhealth increased from 175 to 200.
- Allied overhealth increased from 50 to 75.
- Duration for self-reduced from 5 to 4 seconds.
- Allied duration increased from 3 to 4 seconds.
Developer Comments: Commanding Shout has been updated to provide stronger team utility and improve its overall impact. The adjustments reward well-timed use by increasing survivability for both Junker Queen and her allies. The reduced duration for Junker Queen is a double-edged
sword—she doesn’t have the speed boost for as long, but the cooldown rotation is quicker since the cooldown begins once the effect ends.

Mauga

Berserker Passive
- Overhealth conversion rate increased from 40% to 50%
Developer Comments: Berserker’s overhealth conversion has been reverted to restore some of Mauga’s durability to a more balanced state following previous changes.

Ramattra

Nanite Repair perk
- Healing per second increased from 50 to 75.
Developer Comments: Nanite Repair’s healing per second has been
increased to enhance its consistency and overall effectiveness during the
short duration of Ravenous Vortex.

Zarya

Spotter perk
- Movement speed increased from 15% to 25%.
Graviton Crush perk
- Damage dealt over time increased from 30% to 40% of maximum health.
Developer Comments: Spotter and Graviton Crush receive targeted buffs to improve their effectiveness and ensure they remain viable choices alongside their counterpart perks.

Damage

Bastion

Model and hit volume size reduced by 10%.
Developer Comments: Bastion’s survivability is impacted by the large size
of his model despite his high health and armor pool. Reducing his model
and hit volume size by 10% improves his ability to avoid damage and overall
balance.

Echo

Tri-Shot
- Spread decreased from 1.4 to 1.1 degrees
Developer Comments: Reducing the spread of Echo’s Tri-Shot improves its effectiveness at range, making it a more consistent option for a highly mobile hero.

Pharah

Helix Shields perk
- Shield health regeneration triggers when landing direct hits with
  rockets
Developer Comments: Helix Shields now offer a survivability boost by triggering health regeneration upon landing direct hits with rockets, rewarding player accuracy.

Reaper

Hellfire Shotguns
- Damage per pellet increased from 5.4 to 5.75 (108 to 115 per volley)
Developer Comments: Part of the reason heroes like Reaper and Tracer had their damage reduced in the past was due to the shift to the 5v5 format—solo tanking and less frequent peeling made flanking heroes more effective, along with their strong performance on certain maps and game modes like Push and Flashpoint. This is now less of a concern with the introduction of map voting and hero bans, which help limit overperformance, so we’re restoring some of their damage potency.

Soldier: 76

Pulse Pistol
- Damage increased from 5.5 to 6
Developer Comments: Similar to Reaper, Tracer is getting back some of the damage she lost due to past format and map concerns. Looks like she’s recalled back to stronger bullets—again.

Venture

Smart Excavator
- Recovery time reduced from 0.7 to 0.6 seconds
Developer Comments: This change improves Venture’s damage output by increasing fire rate, enhancing weapon consistency without increasing the lethality of their combo.

Support

Lifeweaver

Cleansing Grasp perk
- Life Grip cooldown reduced by 4 seconds if a debuff is cleansed
Developer Comments: Successfully cleansing a debuff now reduces Life Grip’s cooldown, improving the usefulness of Cleansing Grasp when timed well.

Lúcio

Crossfade
- Base healing increased from 16 to 20 health per second
Developer Comments: Lúcio plays a unique role within the support lineup, offering strong mobility and team utility. However, his healing output has been lagging behind other supports, especially with the increase in hero health pools. This change makes his passive healing more impactful and
better aligned with other support heroes.

Moira

Biotic Grasp
- Healing per second increased from 70 to 80.
Developer Comments: We wanted to boost Moira’s overall healing output, as she doesn’t offer as much direct utility compared to other Support heroes, and we’re reducing some healing impact in this patch through the Damage role passive. We’re happy with the cadence of managing her healing
resource and swapping to damage to restore it, so we opted to adjust the direct healing rather than the resource availability or a similar mechanic.

Zenyatta

Duality perk
- Increased converted damage from 30% to 40%.
Developer Comments: Duality has struggled due to the number of conditions required for activation. Increasing the converted damage improves its effectiveness when those conditions are met.

Two Mythics at launch

For the first time in OW2, two Mythics are available at the launch of a season, for D.Va and Reaper.

D.Va Mythic: Horang

Image via Blizzard Entertainment

Level 1: Tiger armor and a hat with sleek, fierce white styling.
Level 2: Bun hairstyle with upgraded visuals in a cinnabar red colorway.
Level 3: Flex braids and a wild tiger mask in a pink-tinted colorway.
Level 4: Hit full tiger mode with ambient spirit energy, glowing effects, and flourishes that radiate power.

Reaper Mythic weapon: Steel Death

Image via Blizzard Entertainment

Level 1 Base: Brutal, sharp, soulfire-infused shotguns built for lethal precision.
Level 2 Reactivity: Weapons flare with dark energy as you deal damage.
Level 3 Flourish: Intricate glowing details surround your shotguns.
Level 4 Kill FX: Finish foes with haunting swirled shadows and sound effects that embody Reaper’s fury.

Limited-time events

Season 17 has two limited-time events announced over its first month, including Powered Up (June 24 to 30) and Hacks & Hijinx (July 15 to 28), both of which include challenges and free items to earn.

Hacks & Hijinx features rotating match modifiers, from low-gravity jumps to Ultimate charge-granting health packs. Here’s a complete list of every modifier you’ll find:

Mini Maxing: All heroes are 50 percent smaller and have a 30 percent health reduction.
Lie Low: Heroes can become invisible while crouching.
Fired Up: On Fire heroes have decreased cooldowns and deal more damage or healing at the cost of being visible to everyone.
Charge Pack: Health packs also give Ultimate charge.
Power Punch: Quick melee attacks knock back enemies.
Vampiric Healing: Heroes don’t passively regenerate HP. Instead, you get the Vampiric passive.
Aerial Combat: Heroes deal and receive 50 percent more damage while airborne. There’s also less gravity.
Back in action: Respawn timers decrease.
Berserkers: Heroes don’t passively regenerate HP. Instead, for each 10 percent of total HP lost, your attack speed will increase by six percent, and cooldowns are reduced by six percent.
Super Jump: Everyone jumps 200 percent higher.
Motion Detection: Moving enemies within 25 meters are visible through walls. Crouching enemies stay invisible.
Explosive: Everyone explodes on death.
Hyper Speed: Movement speed increases by 20 percent for everyone.
Buff Hunt: Every minute, a random hero has increased HP, deals more damage, and generates Ultimate charge faster. Defeating this hero grants you the buff.
Damage Pack: Health packs increase damage dealt by 20 percent for 10 to 20 seconds or until death.
Fallen Comrade: Heroes drop a globe on death that increases damage, armor, and movement speed when picked up by a teammate.

New battle pass

Image via Blizzard Entertainment

There are five new skins in the battle pass, along with two more in the Ultimate bundle:

8-Bit Sombra
8-Bit Genji
8-Bit Reinhardt
Professor Fawkes Junkrat
Professor de Kuiper Sigma (Ultimate Battle Pass Bundle)
Principal Lacroix Widowmaker (Ultimate Battle Pass Bundle)
Delinquent Cole Cassidy

G.I. Joe collab

In the road map for season 17, OW2 confirmed that G.I. Joe would be the next collab for the game. In the reveal trailer for the season, players spotted Genji in a Snake Eyes skin, and that’s just the beginning. More will be revealed in the coming weeks.

New shop skins

Image via Blizzard Entertainment

Season 17’s new shop skins include (from left to right) Lifeweaver, Mercy, Kiriko, Soldier: 76, Juno, Venture, and Reaper. More info about these skins, like pricing and release date, will arrive soon.

New hero trial

Image via Blizzard Entertainment

Season 17 will close out with a new trial for the latest hero, the support hero Wuyang, towards the end of the season later this summer. To view the full patch notes, visit Overwatch 2’s official website.

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June 25, 2025 0 comments

Viper from Valorant coming out of a a Vipers Pit

Esports

Valorant 11.00 patch notes bring massive agent buffs, nerfs & Corrode map

by admin June 24, 2025

Valorant’s massive 11.00 update is finally here, and it is chock-full of buffs and nerfs to Agents. So, lets get into the patch notes.

This summer marks the fifth anniversary for Valorant, and Riot Games have been celebrating that milestone in a pretty big way.

There have been new capsules in-game, they’ve launched a new map in the form of Corrode, revealed there will be a switch to Unreal Engine 5, and confirmed that we’ll finally be getting replays in the not-too-distant future.

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The 11.00 update is another continuation of those big changes, with a big focus on buffs and nerfs, as well as new animations for picking up the spike so it is a bit more obvious to other players, and a new rank in the form of Ascendant 3.

Agent buffs and nerfs in update 11.00

That’s right, the big changes in this set of patch notes comes in the form of agent buffs and nerfs. Waylay, Reyna, Neon, and Phoenix are all seeing game-changing tweaks.

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Waylay is the biggest of those as their Refract, Lightspeed, and Saturate abilties are being adjusted. The minimum and maximum time in Refract have been lowered, the unequip delay for Lightspeed has been knocked down to 0.8s, and Saturate will now cover 12m instead of 10m.

Breach, Brimstone, Clove, Cypher, Killjoy, Omen, and Sova are all getting updates to make select abilities a bit more consistent and clear too.

Riot Games

Corrode joins the map pool

As noted, this patch also sees the arrival of Corrode to the map pool, meaning changes on that front.

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The new map will join Bind in replacing Pearl and Split in the competitive and deathmatch playlists. Corrode will also have it’s own dedicated queue for five days, as well as being a part of Premier, Unrated, Swiftplay, Spike Rush, and Escalation.

Riot GamesThe newest map to join the pool.

You can find the full patch notes for 11.00 below.

Valorant update 11.00 patch notes

ALL PLATFORMS

GENERAL UPDATES

Suppression visual effects have been updated to be more visible on opponents to improve clarity of the debuff
We’ve added new UI/UX animations around picking up the spike to hopefully make it more obvious when players have picked it up.

AGENT UPDATES

Waylay
- Waylay has shown a steep mastery curve since her release, where her win rate significantly improves the more games you play. That said, she is still slightly weak at all skill levels. These buffs aim to sharpen her ability to take fights right after exiting Lightspeed and make her Refract loop easier to play around, as well as improve Waylay’s flow and gameplay feel. Saturate does not land at a comparable rate to other abilities, so we’re increasing its power to justify its 300 credit cost.
- Refract
  - Refract is faster and smoother, reducing total travel time
    - Minimum time in refract decreased 0.5s >>> 0.35s
    - Maximum time in refract decreased 3s >>> 2s
  - Unequip time decreased 1.0s >>> 0.8s
  - Refract delay after reactivation decreased 0.1s >>> 0.05s
- Lightspeed
  - Unequip delay decreased 0.8s >>> 0.6s
- Saturate
  - Windup before explosion decreased 0.75s >>> 0.6s
  - Size increased 10m total size >>> 12m total size

As we continue to tune ability strength for consistency, there’s opportunity for a couple of small changes with a few of our Agents so there’s more room for counterplay and opportunities for clutch moments like flicking to turn flashes.

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Reyna
- Leer is tankier than many of our other comparable shootable objects, and can feel especially so when it’s unclear if you are successfully shooting Leer after it has formed.
- Leer
- Audio and visual hit confirm feedback has been added to shots that land on Leer.

We’re also adjusting Neon’s Relay Bolt and Phoenix’s Curveball to have room for some additional counterplay. These abilities are meant to create strong combat advantages, but their fast activation left little time for opponents to respond. These changes aim to increase moment-to-moment counterplay without removing the need to anticipate and position against them.

Neon
- Relay Bolt Windup increased 0.8s >>> 1.0s
Phoenix
- Curveball Windup increased 0.5s >>> 0.6s

CLARITY AND CONSISTENCY UPDATES

These below changes are part of our ongoing effort to improve gameplay consistency & combat clarity similar to our updates to Neon’s Overdrive visual effects and Deadlock’s Barrier Mesh health states.

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Breach
- Aftershock
  - Visual effects around the windup and explosions resolve slightly more quickly and block less gameplay space
Sova
- Recon Bolt
  - Increased volume of Recon Bolt’s projectile loop and improved how the arrow’s sound travels through the air to make it easier to track
  - Audio priority and attenuation adjusted so that you can more reliably hear the arrow when multiple audio cues are present
  - Audio tech updated to make it easier understand the trajectory of the arrow, point of impact, and reveal radius
- Owl Drone
  - Enemies now hear a light warning audio loop when they are spotted by Sova’s drone
  - Audio hit confirm feedback has been added when shooting the drone successfully
Clove
- Pick-Me-Up
  - Pick-Me-Up visuals updated to show when Clove’s speed boost is active
Killjoy
- Lockdown
  - Lockdown’s detain pulse delay: 0.5s >>> 0.15s
    - Lockdown’s visual effects have been updated to match this new behavior
Cypher
- Spycam
  - Spycam’s dart visuals have been updated so that is easier to understand the dart’s directionality
Omen
- Given no other dome smoke controllers reveal their own location on smoking, we’ve removed this opponent counterplay specific to Omen.
- Dark Cover no longer plays audio in third person within 12.5 meters for opponents. This audio will still play for Allies.
Brimstone
- Sky Smoke will now play cast audio within 12.5 meters for allies

MAP UPDATES

NEW MAP: CORRODE
- A 5v5 spike mode map featuring layered defenses and strategic depth across its medieval fortress setting. Navigate through contrasting castle fortifications and village structures, battling across multi-level positions in this salt-crystallized stronghold shaped by radianite storms.
- Corrode features three lanes and two sites.
MAP POOL UPDATES
- BIND and CORRODE are IN the COMPETITIVE and DEATHMATCH queues.
- PEARL and SPLIT are OUT of the COMPETITIVE and DEATHMATCH queues.
- CORRODE is now also available to play in Premier, Unrated, Swiftplay, Spike Rush, and Escalation.

MODES UPDATES

CORRODE QUEUE
- Corrode Only queue will be available for 5 days.
- Corrode Only games will use the Swiftplay mode format.
ESCALATION
- Escalation will be temporarily disabled during the 5-day Corrode-only queue period.
Icebox has been reenabled in Deathmatch and Escalation game modes after addressing spawn-related issues that emerged in patch 10.09.

COMPETITIVE UPDATES

Ranked Gun Buddy has arrived!
- Act IV starts today so you’ll be receiving your ranked buddy this patch. Remember that it’s based on the highest rank you achieved throughout the first three acts of Season 2025.
Corrode Launch Event
- Corrode will be available to play in Competitive queue on the first day of the patch!
- RR losses on Corrode will be 50% reduced for the first two weeks, but don’t worry, you will still receive 100% of the RR for any wins on Corrode
We’ve made some adjustments to rank resets. Hop back into Competitive and see where you land!
- Players may see less of a drop in rank after completing placements for this midseason reset.
- The maximum rank you can place is now Ascendant 3.

BUG FIXES

General
- Fixed a bug with all Vulnerables/Fragiles where the visual effects could linger on a target longer than the gameplay debuff duration
- Fixed a bug where destructible deployables like Tejo’s Stealth Drone and Fade’s Prowlers could keep teleporter doors open on Bind
Agents
- KAY/O
  - Fixed an issue where KAYO’s ultimate sometimes did not apply the suppression visuals to opponents
- Raze
  - Fixed an issue where Raze’s Paint Shells VFX would persist across rounds
- Omen
  - Fixed an issue where targeting views could be inconsistently applied during Dark Cover if Shadowstep was spammed during Dark Cover’s ability equip flow.
- Skye
  - Fixed inconsistent spacing in ability tooltips
- Cypher
  - Fixed inconsistent spacing in ability tooltips
- Breach
  - Fixed an issue where Breach’s Fault Line could rarely fail to apply its debuff to targets around varying elevations on specific charge levels
- Astra
  - Fixed an issue where disconnecting and reconnecting within Astral World could result in Astral World’s visuals persisting for the round despite the player not being in Astral World.

PC ONLY

PREMIER UPDATES

Welcome to Stage V25A4! Participate in Premier to earn new team recognition!

As soon as you join a team, your social hover card now shows your Premier team name, what division you’re in, and your team’s current Premier Score.
Play two Weekly matches (or one Playoff match) with your team to earn your Team Tag and basic Plating.
- Team Tags show up all throughout the client – in the social panel, in lobby, in game (like the killfeed), and on the Competitive Leaderboards!
- Plating shows up on your player card in the social panel, in lobby, and in game.
Qualify for playoffs to evolve your Plating, and win playoffs to unlock the Champion’s Aura – a new player card effect that sticks with you for the entire Act after your playoff win!
You can check out everything that’s available in the new Awards tab of the Premier hub.

PLAYER BEHAVIOR UPDATES

You can now report inappropriate Premier team names from Standings and Match History in the Premier Hub and also from the end of game screens.
- If your team name is found inappropriate, you may be forced to rename.
- Repeatedly choosing offensive names will result in Premier restrictions.

CONSOLE ONLY

ESPORTS FEATURES

The Esports Hub is coming to Console!
- Check out the VCT overview page that provides a concise snapshot of where we are on the year long VCT journey, dive into the brackets for the International League Stage 2 which starts on July 12, and get familiar with our VCT teams and players!

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June 24, 2025 0 comments

Esports

Remedy drops first patch for FBC: Firebreak

by admin June 22, 2025

FBC: Firebreak is out now, but the team at Remedy is still hard at work. That’s to be expected for online-based games. Today, a new patch arrived with plenty of fixes, but also a few extra tweaks. One of the main ones is an adjustment to progression to allow for players to get certain items a bit quicker. Hopefully it will help, check out the details along with our review below.

FBC: Firebreak review — Going down in Hiss-tory

Bringing your friends along is Firebreak at its best

Update from the FBC: Firebreak team It’s been exciting (and nerve-wracking) to see our first multiplayer game out in the wild. Launching FBC: Firebreak is a significant milestone for us, not just because it’s our first online co-op game, but because we’ve self-published it as well. Several things have gone well. Clearly, not everything has. We’ve been reading all the reviews, comments, and feedback from the community across social platforms, Discord, and our Steam forums, as well as the analytics we are getting. It’s clear there are features that need to improve. And they will improve. Thank you for the feedback. We hear you loudly and clearly. Please keep the feedback coming. We are improving some features starting now. While we can improve some features today and in the near term, some others will take longer and require more thinking from us. We will keep you informed every step of the way. But you’re not here for platitudes. You want to know how we will improve your player experience in FBC: Firebreak, so let’s get into it. Here are some of the things we are looking to address, and some are already available in the patch coming out at the same time as this blog post. (For the full patch notes, you can go here:)

Steam :: FBC: Firebreak :: Patch Notes v1.2

Patch v1.2 of FBC: Firebreak makes progression faster and more rewarding and economy changes to improve earning and spending currencies among many other things.

Improving the First Hour Experience The game’s first hours do not provide a great experience due to a combination of things. Some of this is down to a lack of onboarding (more about that in a bit), explaining the game’s systems, how to take advantage of the tools at your disposal, and a lack of clarity as to what to do in the Jobs and how to do the work effectively. In addition, the power fantasy isn’t great in the first hours of the game as starting (tier 1) weapons feel weak, and unlocking higher-tier weapons requires a bit too much grinding. We can see from the data and are seeing feedback that players who stick around and unlock more powerful tier 3 weapons and Perks, playing on higher Threat levels and Full three zone Job runs, are having a better time. It’s getting to that point, which is proving to be a struggle for many players. We are not naïve and think this is all there is to it, but getting you to the fun faster, giving you the nice toys quicker, is critical. We are making changes in today’s patch to improve the progression. So, about all that…Better Onboarding and User-interface Clarity Right now, we throw you into the deep end with little explanation on a variety of things from the systems in the game to what you are doing in the Jobs to status effects. We’re working on better communicating the synergies between Crisis Kits and giving players much better information on what to do in the Jobs and how to be more effective in doing the work that Firebreakers must do. This includes better readability on things like harmful conditions, like being on fire, and the flashing blue effect, which indicates that you entered or exited the range of your crewmates to have Resonance and a shared shield. Objective markers are not clear enough or don’t give a good enough idea of what to do. Lost Assets is an example of a critical thing that is too easy to miss. The latter issue has been improved in today’s patch. We are taking a look at all of this, and have ideas on how to improve, but will need a bit of time to properly plan and execute. Making Jobs Easier to Access Our current progression flow is that new players must play the first Zone of each Job, which was meant to gradually onboard you to the Job. This clearly isn’t working. It is neither tutorializing players, helping matchmaking, nor players’ perception of the full extent of the Jobs. We can see that when players experience the entire Job, more fun is had. So, we will give players much easier access to the full Jobs. We are changing the following in today’s patch: You are no longer required to play the first two Clearance Levels of each Job. New players start their experience with a full three-zone Hot Fix Job run (Clearance Level 3). Completing the full Job unlocks the next full Job, and so on. Completing a full Job also unlocks the Corruption option for that Job. Speeding Up Progression and Gear Unlocks We hear you: the grind is too slow. You want to try different builds, equip stronger weapons, use Altered Augments and experiment with Perks. Right now, getting to that takes too long. There are a few things at play here: According to our data, a whopping 90% of our players have never picked up a single Lost Asset (the currency used to unlock items from Requisitions and Perks) during missions, because they’re too easy to miss (they can be found in Shelters and in random locations in the levels, and they are dropped when defeating a Powerful Enemy). The upgrade economy was balanced with players finding a good amount of Lost Assets currency during Jobs, but as the currency (the folders on the ground) does not particularly stand out from the environments, players completely ignore them and are thus earning Lost Assets roughly 3x slower than hoped. Then, players do not earn Lost Assets unless they finish a job. If you exit a job midway or disconnect, you’ll get nothing. That’s frustrating. We are looking into what we could do about this, but there are no changes to announce yet. All of that leads to players being unable to unlock new Perks or better gear from the Operational Requisitions at a pace that feels good and prepares you for higher Threat (difficulty) Levels. We are addressing this in a few ways in today’s patch. Lost Assets and Research Samples are now clearly visually highlighted, making it harder to miss them Rebalancing the cost of all unlockables We have split the Operational Requisitions into two: All cosmetics (sprays, armor sets) are placed in a new Requisitions page called “Expressions”. Operational Requisitions is renamed to “Essentials” and as the name implies, contains weapons, gear, and equipment. Making essentials like Altered Augments, Improvised Devices, and powerful weapons easier to access. The end result of these changes is that you can unlock and buy gear significantly faster than before. No more needing to unlock gloves just to get to a better revolver. What’s next? Today’s patch is just the beginning. These are some of the most immediate changes, but we are actively discussing and planning broader improvements to the game based on what we are hearing and seeing. We’ll continue listening, improving, and evolving the game together with our community. More updates soon.The FBC: Firebreak Team

Stay tuned to GamingTrend for more FBC: Firebreak news and info!

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June 22, 2025 0 comments

Esports

League of Legends update 25.13 patch notes

by admin June 21, 2025

League of Legends patch 25.13 is going to be relatively light due to it being the MSI 2025 patch, with changes mainly targeting pro play relevant champions. But that doesn’t mean that it won’t impact you at all.

LoL patches tend to slow down a bit ahead of big internationals to really dial balance in and give pros the opportunity to get their read on the meta and refine it, and 25.13 is that patch.

With Yunara coming right around the corner on 25.14, we’ll be right back into big changes next time around. For now, though it’s just some some light adjustments to try and hit popular champs at a high level of play and boost lesser played champs to give them a shot of showing up at these events.

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Here are the patch notes for update 25.13, the MSI 2025 patch.

LoL 25.13 patch notes

Champion Changes

Riot Games

Briar

W: Blood Frenzy

Attacks can no longer be cancelled (this is a buff)

R: Certain Death

Post cast time: .25 seconds scaling with attack speed >>> .15 seconds

Fiddlesticks

W: Bountiful Harvest

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AP scaling increased: 80% >>> 90%

Gangplank

Q: Parrrley

Mana cost: 55-35 >>> 50-30

R: Cannon Barrage

Cooldown decreased: 170-130 seconds >>> 160-120 seconds

Irelia

Passive: Ionian Fervor

Attack speed per stack increased: 7.5-25% >>> 10-25%

Kindred

R: Lamb’s Respite

Cooldown decreased: 180-120 seconds >>> 160-120 seconds

Nidalee

Q: Javelin Toss

Range damage scaling increased: 100-300% >>> 100-325%

Rammus

Base Stats

HP growth per level increased: 94 >>> 100

W: Defensive Ball Curl

Base resistances increased: 27 >>> 27-47

Ryze

W: Rune Prison

Base damage decreased: 70-190 >>> 60-180
Mana cost adjusted: 40-100 >>> 50-90

Twisted Fate

R: Destiny

Cooldown increased: 160-100 seconds >>> 170-110 seconds

Vi

Passive: Blast Shield

Shield amount decreased: 14% max HP >>> 12% max HP

Yorick

Base Stats

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June 21, 2025 0 comments