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Helldivers 2’s Next Update Plunges Players Into Terminid Territory

by admin August 26, 2025

Helldivers 2‘s next big content drop is right around the corner and it’s taking players into the depths of the chemical fog-infested Terminid home worlds. Revealed on Tuesday, Into the Unjust arrives in September alongside a new Devil’s Dust Warbond just a week after the hot PlayStation extraction shooter launches on Xbox Series X/S.

After spending the summer fending off Illuminate invasions and jetpack-toting Automatons, Into the Unjust will send players back into the alien bug breach, tasking them with missions deep in Terminid territory that will include blowing up giant bug towers and navigating deep underground through their tunnel systems. New objective types will include escorting a giant moving oil rig as it gets attacked. We are so back.

Fans will also have access to a bunch of new equipment coming in the Devil’s Dust Warbond. Here’s a breakdown from the PlayStation Blog:

AR-2 Coyote
You can hunt in packs or go by your lonesome with this assault rifle that features incendiary ammunition. But be warned: this coyote is wild.

G-7 Pineapple
This cluster frag grenade might look like a cute and unassuming fruit, but it’ll have the bugs in absolute pieces.

S-11 Speargun
A true big game hunter’s companion. The S-11 fires heavy-duty projectiles that release a cloud of gas on impact.

EAT-700 Expendable Napalm
Heat up the planet with this single-use missile that contains napalm cluster bombs.

MS-11 Solo Silo
The long-range power of a missile in a new convenient package. Calls down a Hellpod-sized missile silo with a single, ultra-powerful missile and a handheld targeting remote.

The Warbond will also include new armor that boosts resistance to toxins and other hazards players are likely to face in the thick of the Terminid fog. Combined with the new Strategems coming in the update, it should give lapsed players some fun new toys worth unlocking.

But it’ll be baptism by fire for all of the players picking up Helldivers 2 for the first time on Xbox this week. Live today roughly 18 months after launching on PS5 and PC, the Xbox release should bring about an influx of players that tips the scales back in Super Democracy’s favor amid the game’s ongoing D&D-style Galactic War meta game. It’ll also indicate just how much of a market there is for PS5 console exclusives on Microsoft’s rival platform.

A successful campaign against the bugs won’t just unlock the next chapter in Helldivers 2‘s story, it could also usher in the next phase of cross-platform ports from Sony’s first-party portfolio. But fans will have to survive untold new alien horrors first.

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August 26, 2025 0 comments

An in-development screenshot of World of Warcraft's player housing, which is coming in the Midnight expansion. A blue-roofed cottage covered in vines and lights sits in a valley.

Product Reviews

World of Warcraft’s player housing won’t lock out casual players: ‘We’re not gonna put a beautiful bookcase behind killing a raid boss’

by admin August 25, 2025

When I heard player housing is coming to World of Warcraft, I immediately thought of the sheer amount of stuff in the game that could find its way into your home. Blizzard could reward housing items like they do rare mounts for achieving some of the most grindy or challenging things in the game. It could be a real time sink.

But thankfully that doesn’t seem like that’s the direction Blizzard wants to go in when it comes to collecting decorations. Speaking to IGN at Gamescom, game director Ion Hazzikostas said they won’t be locked behind “content that is too hardcore.”

“There may be distinct trophies or things that you can earn for being the best raider on your server or being one of the best dungeon players in the game,” he said, “but we’re not gonna put a beautiful bookcase behind killing a raid boss.”

I for one am glad that Blizzard has drawn this line: You shouldn’t have to be good at raiding at the highest levels to have a fancy pad. Limiting high-level rewards to trophies is a smart way to let players celebrate their achievements without forcing people to play the game in ways they might not enjoy.

This theme of unrestrained creativity with WoW’s player housing is what has me and a lot of other people pretty excited for it to drop (in an early form) with the upcoming Midnight expansion. Decorations can be dyed, scaled up or down in size, rotated, and clipped into other objects in any way you want. You can take your entire house and save the blueprint to share with other players too. Other games with housing, like Final Fantasy 14, aren’t nearly as customizable.

Blizzard has spent the last year hyping playing housing up and we’ll finally get to try it with the launch of the final patch for the current expansion, The War Within. Anyone who buys Midnight will have access to it, and Blizzard says it will be updating it and adding new items to it for the foreseeable future.

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August 25, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

Overwatch 2 will allow KBM on console, but you’ll be up against PC players

by admin August 24, 2025

Overwatch 2 console players will officially be able to use a keyboard and mouse starting with the release of Season 18. In patch notes posted ahead of the new season, the Overwatch 2 team says matchmaking pools will be tweaked slightly so players are sorted into a Mouse and Keyboard Pool and a Controller Pool. Those playing on a console using keyboard and mouse (KBM) inputs will be paired with PC players and other KBM console players, while the Controller Pool will be reserved only for console players using a controller. Season 18 arrives on August 26.

For players who switch to the Mouse and Keyboard Pool, “your internal MMR, skill ratings and ranks for all game modes will be separate from your statistics in the Controller Pool,” according to the patch notes. This group won’t have access to aim assist, as has been the case and will continue to be for PC players using a controller. KBM players will have to accept the prompt to switch to that pool in order to play, or manually switch in the Gameplay Options menu.

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August 24, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

NBA 2K26’s Highest-Rating Players Revealed, New MyGM And MyNBA Features Detailed

by admin August 23, 2025

NBA 2K26 is right around the corner, and as is often tradition for sports games before launch, developer Visual Concepts is continuing to share what’s new with this year’s entry. A couple of weeks ago, we learned about a host of presentation upgrades coming to NBA 2K26, and today, 2K released a new post detailing the changes arriving in MyGM and MyNBA, the series’ long-term franchise mode. On top of that, we learned who the top-rated players in this year’s game at the start of the season will be.

This year, GMs have a wider array of scenarios that can play out in the 2025 offseason. Once you pick a team, you can choose between three goals that are distinct to that team’s roster and history. The tasks can include picking draft picks, signing free agents, or leading your team to the NBA Finals. Some of the scenarios involve building around a number-one draft pick, while others force you to choose between trying to make one more run with your aging superstars or holding a fire sale and starting the rebuild process.

As you play through MyGM and MyNBA, your achievements will be chronicled through dynamic banners that accurately update based on when you win championships. The experience is also highly customizable, thanks to Unranked MyGM, which lets you edit players, use custom rosters, import custom draft classes, and adjust sliders however you want. With MyPlayer DNA integration, you can even bring your MyPlayer into your franchise experience regardless of your Era.

If you’re more on the managerial side, the simulation mechanics have received various improvements based on player feedback, including giving players greater control over strategic decisions. As GM, you also start each season by meeting with your team’s governor to set the budget, goals, and core directives for the upcoming season. These will shape how secure your job is, as well as influence top free agents’ decision-making processes. Updating your team facilities can also go a long way to attracting top talent, and you can allocate Facility Points to update team training and recovery facilities, luxury box amenities, and perform arena renovations. Budgets have also been updated to accurately reflect the budgets of specific eras of teams.

On top of these announcements, we also got a list of the top 10-rated players in NBA 2K26 at the season’s start.

Nikola Jokić, Denver Nuggets – 98 OVR
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City Thunder – 98 OVR
Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks – 97 OVR
Luka Dončić, Los Angeles Lakers – 95 OVR
Anthony Edwards, Minnesota Timberwolves – 95 OVR
Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors – 94 OVR
LeBron James, Los Angeles Lakers – 94 OVR
Jayson Tatum, Boston Celtics – 94 OVR
Victor Wembanyama, San Antonio Spurs – 94 OVR
Kevin Durant, Houston Rockets – 93 OVR

NBA 2K26 arrives on September 4. To read our review of last year’s game, head here.

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August 23, 2025 0 comments

Marvel Rivals Season 3: Phoenix gritting her teeth as she's pinned to the ground by Hela, who's out of frame.

Gaming Gear

Marvel Rivals dev’s transparent, 18-minute breakdown of how ranked isn’t rigged fails to placate players who hate losing

by admin August 22, 2025

To prove to the growing number of players who think Marvel Rivals’ ranked mode is rigged or somehow unfair, the official X account dropped a video that reveals a surprising amount of detail about why that’s totes not the case.

Lead combat designer Zhiyong spends a packed 18 minutes explaining the math that determines how high you climb based on ranked wins and how the matchmaking system tries to create fair games. The gist is that Marvel Rivals works like a lot of other competitive games, but because there are six-player teams and a roster of wildly different heroes it has to do some guesswork that won’t always lead to perfectly balanced matches.

It’s true that you might be put on a team with people who aren’t as good as you, but the system takes that into account when calculating how much a win or loss is worth. A player who performs much better than their team and still loses won’t be punished as hard, for example. But as you go up in ranks, personal performance isn’t weighted as heavily in the calculation.

Your individual performance on a hero is compared to every other player on the same hero at the same rank. The system then combines the averages for all your teammates and determines your team’s total average skill level. In a match where your team’s level is higher than the enemy team’s, you’ll gain fewer competitive points for winning and drop more points for losing.

The matchmaking system tries to match teams with the closest skill levels and will do its best to pit groups of players against other groups rather than people playing solo. But because of the number of variables with server regions and fluctuating skill levels, the teams are rarely perfectly even.

We’ve heard your feedback on matchmaking and ranking in Marvel Rivals, and your voices matter! Check out our Lead Combat Designer, Zhiyong, as he shares our developer insights on the matchmaking and ranking system. Watch the full video to see the systems behind the game! pic.twitter.com/OmErw2WMgU August 21, 2025

Anyone who has heard Blizzard talk about Overwatch’s ranked system will be familiar with a lot of this. Marvel Rivals isn’t very different apart from the fact that it doesn’t have a way to queue for a specific role you want to play, which Zhiyong says wouldn’t actually fix the problem of unbalanced matches.

However, Zhiyong doesn’t address what would happen if Marvel Rivals introduced placement matches to calibrate your skill level up front instead of gradually over time. Many players believe that this would make matches fairer when ranks are reset every season. It sounds like the studio has considered it, according to a reply from executive producer Danny Koo on X where he said he’s “on the placement side of things.”

There aren’t any huge revelations in the video if you’re familiar with competitive games. Zhiyong lays out what looks to be a fairly standard system for hero shooters, and he re-confirms that the game doesn’t use Engagement Optimized Matchmaking (EOMM) that ignores your skill level and feeds you wins to keep you hooked.

Even with the surprisingly in-depth explanation, not everyone is happy. Such is the curse of competitive games, I guess. There will always be players who believe the system is built to punish you with idiot teammates and loss streaks and not that probability plays a larger role than they’d think. Not that there isn’t room for improvement, but assuming there’s a way to achieve perfectly balanced matches for every single player is wishful thinking.

Best gaming rigs 2025

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August 22, 2025 0 comments

Game Reviews

Creator of Stardew Valley doesn’t charge for collabs with other games, does it to please players

by admin August 22, 2025

The creator of Stardew Valley – Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone – has revealed he’s never made any money directly from in-game crossovers. Instead, Barone agreed to implement these updates because he’s a fan of the games, or thought players would like them.

Barone shared a statement on X (formerly Twitter) soon after the announcement of a crossover event with Infinity Nikki, in which a Junimo can be seen landing in Infinity Nikki. This makes sense, Junimo’s being adorable little spirits that fit quite well within the cute aesthetic of Infinity Nikki, but the collaboration was met with surprise and criticism from some Stardew players.

Stardew Valley crossovers are quite rare! Back in 2022 there was a Terraria crossover, and relatively recently Stardew Valley made an appearance in Balatro. But aside from that, the farming simulator has been happy staying in its own lane.

Check out the crossover trailer for Infinity Nikki x Stardew Valley here!Watch on YouTube

In response to Concerned Ape’s post on the matter, the official Infinity Nikki account shared the team’s view of working on this collaboration. It reads: “We really appreciate you sharing your feelings on this. Any unintended stress was the last thing we wanted. It was our way of saying thanks – a free love letter to Stardew Valley from our team and for the community. Working on it felt like we were all tending a little farm together. The care and detail you pour into your world is exactly why we want to make cosy games too. We’re still learning from you every day.”

Should Barone be making some money off these crossovers? Probably, yeah. Though it is his choice ultimately whether he wants to financially benefit off such endeavors. It’s not as though Stardew Valley has been hurting for sales after all. As of December 2024 it has sold over 41m copies. I should hope Barone isn’t too concerned about the money.

This is a news-in-brief story. This is part of our vision to bring you all the big news as part of a daily live report.

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August 22, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Game Science reveal Black Myth: Zhong Kui, a new action-RPG that aims to catch Wukong players “off guard”

by admin August 20, 2025

Black Myth: Wukong developers Game Science have revealed Black Myth: Zhong Kui, another single-player action-RPG steeped in Chinese mythology. It casts you as a ghost-hunting god who wanders between hell and Earth. Here’s a CG short from Gamescom’s Open Night Live 2025, which shows the fearsomely bearded Zhong Kui himself riding an extravagantly sized tiger.

Watch on YouTube

In a Q&A on the official site, the developers call the game a “tentative first step – to build more distinct game experiences, to challenge ourselves with bolder features, and to bring fresh ideas to our world and narrative design”. They want Wukong players to feel “right at home” while “catching them off guard in the best way”. That said, for now the new game remains “little more than an empty folder”, with no release date and little sense in the CG trailer of how Zhong Kui fights, compared to Wukong. I’m guessing that tiger is a useful ally, though.

We quite liked the original Black Myth, with bygone reviews editor Ed Thorn (RPS in peace) calling it “a refreshing adventure after Elden Ring’s knotty DLC”. We were less keen on the mildly draconian PR messages to certain streamers, cautioning them to avoid “feminist propaganda”, “politics” and discussion of the Chinese games industry.

These gamergatory memos followed a lengthy report from IGN about alleged workplace sexism at Game Science. The devs refused to say anything to Ed about this when he asked at a preview event. If we’re invited to preview Zhong Kui, we’ll give it another shot.

Check out our Gamescom 2025 event hub for all the PC game announcements and preview coverage from Cologne.

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August 20, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Black Ops 7’s co-op campaign culminates in a DMZ-like ‘Endgame’ activity for 32 players in an open-world map, plus it has unlockable weapon camos

by admin August 20, 2025

Call of Duty is aiming for its next campaign to be a part of the “connected” experience of the overall live-service game, starting with Black Ops 7.

During a media briefing event last week, Treyarch revealed that the BO7 campaign is playable for up to four players in co-op, played over 11 standard, explosive set-piece missions. Not only that, but you will be able to unlock campaign-specific weapon camos (including four Mastery camos), reticles, player cards, and other cosmetics, all while earning XP to progress your overall level and even individual battle passes. There will even be daily and weekly challenges to complete.

Image via Activision

The campaign stars David Mason and his Spectre One team, including Mike Harper, Eric Samuels, and newcomer Leilani Tupuola, with support from BO6 character Troy Marshall who is now several decades older in this story. Some sort of red, hallucinogenic gas seems to be the main catalyst for weird visions and trippy missions, given what little gameplay I was shown.

Once that story’s 11 standard missions are completed, however, a new “Endgame” experience will unlock, featuring an open-world Avalon map for up to 32 players to explore and fight enemies in. Gamers will be able to fly into the battle royale map-like zone to fight AI soldiers and robots, complete missions, and rank up their operators with new abilities and a level-up system called Combat Rating.

Increasing your Combat Rating (max level 60) will give players access to higher-tier areas of the map, but here’s the catch: if you die, you wipe and have to start all over again, similar to games like Modern Warfare II’s DMZ mode or Escape From Tarkov. That’s right, wiping as a squad will reset your progress for that operator.

Each individual, playable operator also has their own abilities and skill specializations that can be unlocked and leveled up, such as a Grapple Hook, Mega Jump, or Drone Charmer that spawns quad-rotor drones to take down enemies.

Treyarch says that Endgame will be the “final proving ground where all of your campaign progress is tested in a new environment.” Progress is tied to “shutting down Guild activities” as you “move into the hardest regions.”

Image via Activision

A lot about Endgame is still being kept secret for now, but players looking to expand their BO7 experience and unlock everything it has to offer may find some real fun in this new co-op experience to play alongside multiplayer and Zombies modes.

BO7 launches for PlayStation, Xbox, and PC later this year.

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August 20, 2025 0 comments

Game Reviews

‘Stop with the advertising c***:’ The First Descendant dev apologizes for blatant AI ripoff ad, and players express their honest thoughts

by admin August 19, 2025

Screenshot by Destructoid

Published: Aug 19, 2025 10:25 am

The First Descendant devs admitted issues in their advertising strategy on TikTok after community backlash over AI-generated videos flooding the platform last week. The issue went to the extreme of a content creator being impersonated without his permission, as if he were endorsing the game.

Developer Nexon explained it didn’t create any of the videos shown in the reported TikTok ads. They used TikTok’s Creative Challenge system to allow other creators to make videos “voluntarily” for The First Descendant, which were automatically used as ads for the game on the platform. Nexon apologized and wrote:

“After confirming with TikTok, we learned that no system currently exists to verify potential copyright infringement, and TikTok is now conducting further investigations to identify any additional cases. One confirmed case involved unauthorized use of DanieltheDemon’s content by another creator. TikTok identified this as a violation of its guidelines and has already blocked the creator’s account.”

The company added that “We are taking the TikTok advertisement issue very seriously, recognizing that we failed to uphold the authenticity of our marketing content and to respect the efforts of our creators and community.” It promised “additional review steps” when publishing promotional material online for The First Descendant.

DanieltheDemon’s case was the most problematic one. Players spotted what seemed to be him robotically talking over The First Descendant gameplay in an ad on TikTok, but the creator later said it was not him in the video, and he didn’t authorize the use of his likeness in any of the published content. While Nexon didn’t make the video, the company still benefited temporarily from it with the TikTok ad.

The First Descendant community was unmoved by Nexon’s apology. On Steam, most players asked the developer to stop focusing on ads and fix game issues instead.

“Stop with the advertising c***, and make a FUN GAME. Fix the crap you broke, and make it more player-friendly,” an angry player wrote. “The best ads for a game are the people who play it,” a second one added.

Nexon’s reply has yet to make the game’s Reddit community care, but one player, while recognizing the company’s effort, echoed the sentiment that The First Descendant needs improvements first. “Their priorities are off at times, and the game’s balance is a f****** joke to the point where I don’t even play anymore […] but that doesn’t mean I don’t see the effort and care put into the game.”

The First Descendant has a new patch scheduled to release on Aug. 21, with content still to be confirmed. If players are to be heard, the game update will have balance changes and bug fixes that will make them want to advertise The First Descendant to their friends.

Destructoid is supported by our audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn a small affiliate commission. Learn more about our Affiliate Policy

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August 19, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Capcom asks PC Monster Hunter Wilds players to wait until Title Update 4 this winter for “CPU and GPU related optimizations”

by admin August 19, 2025

PC gamers who are hoping Capcom updates Monster Hunter Wilds to improve performance will have to wait a little longer. A statement made on X.com via the official Monster Hunter account has told players that improvements are coming, but not until this winter.

To our hunters playing #MHWilds on PC, we’re committed to listening to your feedback and improving both performance and stability of the game.

Although we will continue to implement gradual improvements in the weeks ahead, we are targeting Free Title Update 4 this winter to implement a multifaceted plan, including CPU and GPU related optimizations, followed by a second stage of mitigation measures afterwards.

We’ll share more information on the specifics in the future.

The news comes alongside the release of Hotfix patch Ver.1.021.02.00, which has dropped on PS5, Xbox, and PC.

Hotfix patch Ver.1.021.02.00 details:

Bug Fixes and Balance Adjustments

Fixed an issue that reduced the invulnerability window upon successfully performing the long sword’s Iai Spirit Slash against monster attacks that have long hit detection durations.
Fixed an issue where, when the Item Bar Display option is set to Type 1, if you select an item using the Item Bar while in Aim/Focus Mode and then release Aim/Focus Mode, the selected item would revert to an empty slot.

This is a news-in-brief story. This is part of our vision to bring you all the big news as part of a daily live report.

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August 19, 2025 0 comments