I don't know why I'm in Washington DC; some lady just told me to be here. But there are civilians in distress, armed gangs roaming the streets, and me, my pals, and the second amendment are apparently the only ones who can actually do anything about it. I have no idea what, if anything, is going on with the seemingly important people I meet. But so long as I'm helping folks, sending (presumably) bad people to bed, walking the pretty streets, and picking up a new pair of gloves every so often, I'm very happy to hang around.In the world of Tom Clancy's The Division 2, the USA has been ravaged by a virus and society has crumbled. While those who remain try to survive by banding together in groups of various dispositions, the Strategic Homeland Division activates highly specialized sleeper agents to try and restore order. It's a setting ripe in potential, perhaps to tell a ripping techno-thriller story that scrutinizes the structures of our modern society and government, or perhaps to make a video game that leverages the chaos that occurs when multiple idealistic groups clash in a vie for power in a lawless city. The Division 2 only does one of these things.It's not the story. Throughout the entirety of The Division 2's main campaign, never did the game spend a satisfactory amount of time on any semblance of an overarching plot, or the predicaments of its supposedly important figures. There are no character arcs, only abrupt setups and consequences. Narrative devices, like audio logs found in the world, add little of consequence. Even the game's biggest macguffins--the President of the United States and his briefcase containing a cure for the virus--have a minimal amount of absolutely forgettable screen time. The opportunity to use The Division 2 to create meaningful fiction is wasted.Instead, The Division 2 focuses its narrative chops into worldbuilding. The city, a ravaged Washington DC, initially feels a little homogenous in the way most Western cities do. But after some time, the personality of the different districts--the buildings, the landmarks, the natural spaces, and the ways they've been repurposed or affected by the cataclysm--begins to shine through. It's this strength of environment which lays a very strong foundation for The Division 2 as a video game, creating an engrossing, believable, and contiguous open world.Moving from your safehouse to the open world and your next mission area is almost entirely seamless. It's something that was also true of the original Division, but that doesn't take away from the fact that the simple act of going from place to place in The Division 2 is one of the game's more rewarding aspects. One road may lead to a skirmish with a rival patrol or an optional activity, another might simply give you another stirring scene of urban decay in the morning sun. An obscured shortcut through an apartment block might turn up some useful items in an abandoned home, which you might decide to donate to the makeshift settlements where civilians have attempted to rebuild their lives.Visiting those settlements--initially as hovels, before they gradually grow and become more charming, vibrant places thanks to your efforts in the world--becomes a strong motivator early on in the absence of a plot to chase. Outside main missions, which are dedicated to the weakening of rival factions and achieving indiscriminate objectives, the game's "Projects" are one of the most lucrative means of earning experience to better your character. Projects ask you to donate resources you find out in the world and participate in side activities, encouraging you to spend more time in the world, see new areas, fight new battles, search for new equipment to use, and find enjoyment in that. The Division 2 is, after all, a game devoted to providing you with a continuous stream of gripping conflicts, valuable rewards, and a perpetual sense of progress and satisfaction from doing these things. It does those things very well.You spend a lot of time hunkered behind cover, popping out to fire at any enemy dumb enough to expose themselves. With the large amount of weapon variety available, this familiar facet of combat is solid in itself. Add to that the ability to equip two special skills from a possible eight--which include tools such as riot shields, drones, and from what I can gather, robot bees of some sort--and combat gets pretty interesting. But the vector that really keeps The Division 2's combat lively for upwards of 60 hours is the behaviour and diversity of its enemy types.That time you spend in cover? The Division 2 doesn't want you to just stay there. You can go down very quickly if you're out in the open, but the game has a dozen ways to always keep you taking those risks and finding better firing positions--aggressive melee units, remote control cars equipped with sawblades, even the regular assault units frequently attempt to outflank you. Those special abilities? You absolutely need to use them to their full potential to survive some encounters, whether by throwing out the seeker mines or the automated turret to keep enemies at bay while you focus on a priority target, or perhaps utilizing the chemical launcher to start a fire and create a zone of denial.The effort needed to take out an adversary is relatively reasonable for a shooter that prioritizes the RPG nature of its combat model, but some of the tougher enemies have additional, visible layers of protection which you need to focus on breaking if you want to land critical hits. On the flip side, some enemies have additional, obtuse weak points which can work to your advantage, but only if you can hit them. The fuel tank on the back of a flamethrower unit might be feasible, but when you start running into the terrifying robotic quadruped in post-campaign activities, whose tiny weak point only reveals itself seconds before it fires its devastating railgun, you have to assess whether you can afford to take on that challenge among all the other things pressuring you. The Division 2 throws a lot of hurdles at you, but also gives you the means to quickly counter and resolve them. Whether you can juggle that many balls at once is what keeps combat continually tense and exciting.What's also exciting is the treasure at the end of these gauntlets. The Washington locations, refashioned into memorable combat arenas, are often rewarding in their own right (a fight in a planetarium is an early standout). But improving your equipment is the vital, tangible part that keeps you feeling like you're making progress. You receive new gear in generous amounts, some dropped by an enemy or looted from a container found in the world, others rewarded for completing a mission, and the next dose always feels in reach. The weapon variety forces you to consider something completely different to take advantage of a power boost, and the armor variety provides an impressive number of different cosmetic looks. The Division 2 incorporates a microtransaction and loot box system for its inconsequential clothing options, though these can be found in the world and earned of your own accord, too.Like combat, gear remains intriguing throughout The Division 2 not just because of the abstract desire to have bigger numbers attached to your person and progress further through the game's challenges, but also through a raft of "talents." These add unique perks that complement particular skills or styles of play, like providing bonuses within a certain range or when enemies are burning or your armor is depleted. The brands of armor also have a part to play, whereby equipping a number of pieces from a single manufacturer provide additional advantages. These bonuses become particularly attractive to obsess over in the endgame, when the world is retaken by a tougher, more merciless enemy faction called Black Tusk, and you need to ensure your ability to fight them is the best it can be.For the hundreds of pieces you will inevitably want to discard, the ability to sell or dismantle them for parts to either purchase or craft pieces you want gives value to everything you pick up. Or you might retain them in order to move their talents to better gear of the same type, And, as a wonderful convenience, The Division 2 implements numerous features to inspect, mark, dismantle, or equip things you find so quickly and elegantly--sometimes without ever having to enter a menu--that it improves the whole experience of being in its world.The same can be said of the game's multiplayer integration, which allows you to easily group up and progress with friends (the game will scale any underpowered players to match the most powerful). You can also start or join a clan, which opens up a variety of weekly challenges, granting valuable rewards, and features integrated game-wide group communication options. Even if you're only interested in playing alone (which is more challenging, but entirely feasible for everything but the most demanding of endgame activities), the ability to matchmake with other players at any time, whether that be in the open world, before you start a mission, or when you're at a final boss, is a very welcome and useful feature.And when you beat that final boss of the game's final mission (though, such is The Division 2's lack of plot framing, I honestly couldn't tell you his name to save my life) and you think you've finally run out of treasure to keep luring you through more fights, the metaphorical table gets flipped. Flipped hard. The Washington DC you spent so long liberating from rival factions becomes completely retaken by the aforementioned Black Tusk. You unlock three unique class specializations, each with their own skill trees to build out. Your focus on growing two-digit numbers on your character (your level) moves to three-digit numbers (the quality of your gear). The wealth of activities available to you once you complete the campaign is enormous, and it capitalizes on your momentum. It motivates you to continue seeing more, doing more, and growing more.More challenging, remixed versions of campaign missions and lengthier stronghold missions featuring Black Tusk become available. These "Invaded" missions often leverage the new enemy types to create terrifying new combat scenarios that maintain the steady ramp-up of challenge, and they give you a fantastic reason to revisit the memorable combat arenas with purpose. Open-world events become more dynamic and riskier--factions clash more frequently for control of territory, and your involvement in certain activities can dramatically increase the danger and rewards in others. Limited-time challenges, which take the form of new Projects, higher difficulty missions, and additional bounty targets found in the world, offer avenues for more lucrative bonuses. There are even more activities beyond that, and the strength of The Division 2's endgame is not just in the wealth of content available, but how viable it all is in improving your standing in the world.The journey to bolstering your Gear Score to qualify for higher tiers of challenges and content is always clear. The game continues to make sure you're always meaningfully rewarded no matter what you do, and that feeling of bettering your character persists throughout.It's remarkable how straightforward the game makes it for you to see the full breadth of its content and maintains that feeling of continual advancement all the way to the bitter end, especially in spite of its unsubstantial plots, characters, and narrative themes. Once I finally hit the game's current soft cap for progression, I was impressed by how much there still was to pursue.The world of The Division 2 also features three separate Dark Zone areas, systematically accessible throughout the campaign, which promise the possibility of high-quality equipment but pose more risks beyond the regular open-world. The power dynamic between you and enemies are normalized, and there's the uncertain element of having other players to interact with. In the Dark Zone, players can choose to cooperate with others in the world to clear out enemy outposts and explore the regions for equipment, but the option to go 'Rogue' and undermine the work of other players provides the opportunity for greater rewards at the risk of greater losses if you fail to get away with it. Exploring the Dark Zone is a fascinating aspect of The Division 2 that adds additional facets of tension, distrust, and dishonesty to a game that already features high-stakes combat. Moreover, it is a completely optional pathway to reaching the game's highest tiers of achievement. The game's similarly optional Conflict activities offer gear incentives for participating in traditional team-based multiplayer modes, which felt serviceable in the few matches I played, but were comparatively underpopulated compared to other avenues of matchmaking at the time of writing.The setting of The Division 2 is ripe for potential, and it's a shame the game doesn't use it to say anything. I have absolutely no clue why I'm here, what anyone's motivations are, and I wish I had a strong narrative driver to fuel a purpose behind my endless hunger for progression. This letdown is hard to ignore for the game's initial hours, but the strength of the systems and design that fuel The Division 2 as a game are compelling enough to keep you captivated for dozens more. The range of enemy types continues to keep combat encounters challenging, the equipment I earn and pick up continues to feel different, valuable, and asks me to consider new ways of play. The ravaged environments continue to intrigue, and sometimes they're so stunning I find myself needing to take screenshots before I move on. It might not have much to say, but The Division 2 is a perpetual cycle of tension, relief, and reward that's difficult to stay away from. Info from Gamespot.com

From Software doesn't skimp on challenging its players, even in the early portions of its games. The developer's latest, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, holds that trend, ratcheting up the difficulty on new players and expecting them to adapt, or die. There are several super-tough mid-boss enemies even early on in Ashina Outskirts, the first area through which players venture once they've gained the Shinobi Prosthetic. Taking on the mid-bosses along the way is especially tough if you haven't found some of the best early game prosthetics.One of the first major enemies you'll have to take down is the Chained Ogre, a red-eyed monster locked into a wooden pillory. Sekiro is good about giving you hints on how to defeat bosses and mid-bosses like the Ogre if you're eavesdropping and paying attention, but knowing what to do and actually doing it are two different things. Defeating the Ogre is the last major hurdle before you reach Gyoubu, and will earn you Prayer Beads, which can make you stronger for the fight ahead.The trick to beating the Ogre is being fast on your feet, and being willing to disengage if you need to. You can also get an edge with the right Shinobi Prosthetic, the Flame Vent, but it's pretty easy to miss. Here's everything you need to know about taking down the Ogre and getting ready for your big fight with Gyoubu.You might also want to read up on how death impacts Sekiro and how to cure Dragonrot, and take a look at our Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice review.Clearing The BattlefieldYou'll find the Ogre in the Ashina Outskirts area, in the Outskirts Wall--Stairway section. Before doing anything else, clear the area at the base of the stairs so that no other enemies are around to interrupt you. Try to get good at taking them out stealthily to keep your health up, and don't be afraid to retreat to the Idol Statue nearby if you need to try again. In fact, keep that opportunity to reset in mind, because it can help you keep your death count down as you learn the fight.Bring The Flame VentRed-eyed enemies like the Ogre are basically berserkers, unfazed by your attacks. That mostly means you'll need to do a lot of dodging and slicing away in between the Ogre's attacks. You can get some breathing room to heal or attack, though, if you have fire. Red-eyed enemies fear flames, and you can find a Shinobi Prosthetic tool early in the game that produces a jet of fire that will briefly stagger the Ogre and give you the upper hand. It's easy to miss, though.You'll need to go to the Hirata Estate level to find the Flame Vent. In the area before the Stairway, the Gate Path, look for an old woman in a blasted-out house. If you talk to her and let her believe you're her son, she'll give you a bell to use as an offering. Take it to the Dilapidated Temple and use it on the Buddha statue near the Sculptor to access the Hirata Estate level. You can use our guide to find the Flame Vent prosthetic--bring it back to the Sculptor to get it fitted for your fight with the Ogre.The Flame Vent isn't essential to beating the Ogre, and it won't do extra damage to it. The tool can be very useful for emergencies, though, like when you need to get the Ogre to back off or when a couple extra hits will bring it down.Get A BackstabYou can't approach the Ogre with stealth, since there's only one way up the stairs toward it, and it'll see you coming. But you can try to get behind it for a quick backstab deathblow, which can reduce the difficulty of the fight by about half right out of the gate. To get there, hold down the dodge button to make the Wolf sprint and try to get up behind the Ogre before he manages to break free of his bonds. It's tough to get there in time, but the backstab is worth it if you can manage it.Dodge The GrabsThe Ogre hits hard with all its abilities, but its grabs attacks are the worst ones. These are marked by the red symbol that denotes an unblockable attack. If you get grabbed, the Ogre will deal a massive amount of damage you can't avoid, and likely will kill you. The only way to avoid the Ogre's grab attacks is to use the Step Dodge ability, and you'll need to keep your distance in general--he'll do a diving grab move that can get you even if you step back, so make sure you're going sideways when possible, and give yourself ample room to escape.The good news is that if you can avoid a grab, you'll get a chance to wail on the Ogre for a few seconds. The bad news is that you'll probably need to get wrecked by this move once or twice to get a feel for the timing.Grapple For Big HitsA lot of the time when the Ogre plows past you, you'll get opportunities for snagging its wooden collar with your grapple. Use those chances--you'll get in close for a few big attacks, and it's good practice for a tactic you're going to use a lot when you fight Gyoubu soon enough. If you can unlock it, you'll should also grab the Grapple Hook Attack ability from the Shinobi Martial Arts skill tree. That'll let you swing in and do some damage before you even hit the ground.Don't Be Afraid To FleeThe area around the Ogre has a bunch of key grapple points for a reason. The game is providing you with a bunch of escape hatches so you can stop the fight, take a second to breathe, and get your bearings. The battle with the Chained Ogre is as much a tutorial as anything else you've faced up to now, giving you the tools to deal with a big, tough enemy, while also teaching you that the tactics you've used in other fights still apply. If you're getting pummeled or just having a hard time, grapple up onto a tree or onto the nearby gate and take a second to reassess the fight. It's also a handy way to get a chance to use a healing item without worrying you're about to get smashed for letting your guard down.Deflect, Deflect, DeflectApart from his big grabs, the Ogre's attacks looks scarier than they actually are--and you can deflect all of them. That includes his big drop kick move, his stompy feet attacks, and his attempts to kick you across the field like a football. Just because the Ogre isn't using a sword doesn't mean you can't block them, and you definitely should be. Keep your guard up to avoid a lot of incoming damage, and to give yourself openings to attack.You can also dodge most or all of the Ogre's attacks to give yourself a chance at getting in close to land some blows. The drop kick move is especially easy to slip around, giving you a chance to cut away and clear out some of the Ogre's vitality. Blocking will help you break its posture sooner, though, so while Souls and Bloodborne players might feel like dodging is the right move, it's actually slowing down your ability to win the fight. Break the Ogre's posture and grab your deathblows for the win. Info from Gamespot.com

The disease appears suddenly, without any warning. Dragonrot is the cost paid for Wolf's immortality. Fortunately for him, it's others who suffer this cursed plague. After resurrecting one too many times in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, Wolf will awaken in the Dilapidated Temple beside the coughing Sculptor. You'll be given a warning, in the form of Rot Essence, that he's caught Dragonrot. If you continue to die, he won't be the last.Understandably, it's a little scary the first time you're told about the disease. Sekiro makes no mention of Dragonrot--or any downside to resurrecting--before this moment, and the game does little to immediately explain exactly what it is or how you can cure it. If you're looking to understand Rot Essence and Dragonrot, you've come to the right place. Below, we discuss exactly what both are, as well as how to cure Dragonrot and why you want to.Dragonrot has the potential to infect almost every character Wolf meets and interacts with on his journey. Although you don't get a cutscene for anyone but The Sculptor, the game will give you another Rot Essence whenever someone else has caught the plague. You can go and try and talk to them if you want, but the only response you'll get from many of them are violent coughing fits.Bing able to talk to people is why you need to cure Dragonrot. Thankfully, as far as we can tell, no matter how many times Wolf resurrects in battle, no one will actually die from disease. So you don't have to worry about that. However, you cannot complete side quests for characters who are infected with Dragonrot, so if you want to experience everything Sekiro has to offer and unlock some of the game's best prosthetics, you'll need to keep people healthy.Even if you don't care about finding everything, fixing Dragonrot assures you can take advantage of one of Sekiro's best features. Upon death, Wolf has the potential of receiving Unseen Aid, which prevents him from losing experience and sen. You need to former to unlock new abilities and the latter to buy items. Your chances of receiving Unseen Aid diminishes with every person who catches the Dragonrot. Refusing to cure the Dragonrot means, eventually, every one of Wolf's deaths will result in loss.Unfortunately, you can't be proactive with finding a cure. You'll need The Sculptor to fall ill to the Dragonrot to open the questline you need. As soon as the game tells you The Sculptor is sick, talk to Emma. She'll tell you about a possible Dragonrot cure, but she'll need two samples of infected blood in order to create the medicine. So you'll need to resurrect a few more times to spread Dragonrot to another person. Shouldn't be too hard to die and resurrect a few more times considering how difficult Sekiro is.When you get the warning about a second infected person, go find them and let them cough their infected blood onto you. Return this to Emma and she'll craft the cure, a Dragon Tear. Using a Dragon Tear at an idol immediately cures all infected individuals of the Dragonrot. But it's only temporary. Resurrecting too many times again will once more cause the Dragonrot to spread amongst the populace. You'll need to buy more Dragon Tears from specific merchants if you want to cure the Dragonrot again--each goes for 180 sen. In our time with the game, we haven't discovered a merchant who sells an infinite number of Dragon Tears, though. So save those Dragon Tears for when you really need them, and just try not to resurrect too many times to prevent the Dragonrot from spreading. There doesn't seem to be a permanent cure for Dragonrot (other than just never resurrecting), so be careful.In our Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice review-in-progress, Tamoor Hussain gave the game a 9/10, writing, "Sekiro marries From Software's unique brand of gameplay with stealth action to deliver an experience that is as challenging as it is gratifying."Info from Gamespot.com

Even early in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, there are some tough boss battles to deal with, but they can be made a lot easier with the right weapons and items. There are a bunch of early prosthetics you shouldn't miss, like the Flame Vent, which can be a huge help fighting the Chained Ogre. Lady Butterfly, a fast-moving boss who uses illusory apparitions to aid her, is another fighter who's a lot easier if you have the right equipment.Dealing with Lady Butterfly is a lot easier if you have Snapseeds, a consumable item that breaks the illusion of the boss's apparitions. You'll get one Snapseed from a samurai just outside the room where you fight Lady Butterfly, but it runs out pretty fast. Snapseeds aren't essential to defeating Lady Butterfly, but they make the fight a whole lot easier. The trouble is, Snapseeds are difficult to come by and only located in certain locations, and you can't buy them from merchants.You can find Snapseeds quickly to fight Lady Butterfly if you know where to look, though. Tracking them down requires you to head back to the Ashina Outskirts and deal with another tough enemy: the White Serpent.To find the Snapseeds, start by heading to the Underbridge Valley area in Ashina Outskirts. You'll find the location soon after beating the Chained Ogre boss. As you head down past the Idol Statue for the location, you'll encounter the giant White Serpent, a massive boss that hunts you for your entire passage through the area.The trick to passing the White Serpent is stealth. Stay low and hidden in the tall grass, wait until the serpent's attention is elsewhere, then leap across the valley and use your grapple to get clear. Repeat the process of sneaking and avoiding the serpent until you reach the wooden palanquin, where you can briefly hide from the snake. When it gets close to try to look inside, you can do a deathblow on its eye, causing it to flail around in horror and pain, giving you a chance to make a run for the exit of the area beyond.Once you're clear of the snake, you'll hit the Ashina Castle Gate Fortress and its corresponding Idol Statue. Don't continue once you get there, though. Instead, double back to where you fought the snake. You should see a glowing item on the hillside right near the palanquin where you stabbed the White Serpent, marking a bush on the mountainside. Head to it and you can grab five Snapseeds from the bush.It's advisable that you spend some time fighting Lady Butterfly before using your Snapseeds, though. The apparitions you don't destroy either with your sword or with the seeds will turn into ethereal butterflies that can damage you, but they're easy to dodge or block with the wooden beams around the area. If you do use Snapseeds, make sure you're close to the apparitions before you activate them--they create a wave around you that dispels the ghosts, but if you're too far away, it won't work.Info from Gamespot.com

In Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, From Software takes a step away from the stamina-focused action RPG gameplay it popularized with Demon's Souls, the Dark Souls trilogy, and Bloodborne. If you think your experience with the Soulsborne games is going to make your journey in Sekiro an easy one, think again.There are plenty of similar themes to be sure. Even though Sekiro takes place in a more realistic setting in comparison to the likes of Lodran or Yharnam, Ashina is still a society on the edge of complete collapse and home to a host of nightmarish monsters and god-like figures. The playable protagonist, Wolf, is also a stoic, undying figure, whose ability to return from the dead is the only reason he's able to overcome the powerful enemies he encounters.The similarities pretty much end there, though. Combat in Sekiro is focused on posture instead of stamina, for example, so now deflecting enemy strikes is the ideal path to success. New attacks are unlocked via experience as opposed to weapons found as well. There are plenty of other differences--you can even swim in Sekiro. From Software has crafted a completely different game, and it can all be a little overwhelming to get a grasp on it all. Especially since, without any co-op multiplayer, you'll have to take on most of the game alone.If you're struggling in your journey across Ashina and need a little help, read through our collection of guides. We've got most of the early game covered, from the prosthetic upgrades you want to find first to the cure for Dragonrot. We'll update this hub of information with additional guides as we create them, so be sure to check back on GameSpot whenever you run into a seemingly insurmountable hurdle in Sekiro.In our Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice review-in-progress, Tamoor Hussain gave the game a 9/10, complementing the game's "exhilarating combat," intricate environments that "reward exploration," and satisfying stealth mechanics "that encourage you to observe and strategize."Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice Boss And Combat GuidesHow To Beat The Chained Ogre MinibossHow To Outsmart Juzou The Drunkard BossSekiro: Shadows Die Twice Death GuidesEssential Tips To Help You Stop Dying So MuchHow Death In Sekiro Impacts Your JourneyDragonrot Guide: Curing Rot EssenceSekiro: Shadows Die Twice Item GuidesEssential Early-Game Shinobi ProstheticsWhere To Find The Shinobi Axe ProstheticWhere To Find The Firecrackers ProstheticWhere To Find The Flame Vent ProstheticWhere To Find Snapseeds Info from Gamespot.com

Shazam isn't the first DCEU movie that's enjoyable, but it's arguably the first one that's truly good. I recognize in retrospect that my positive take on 2017's Justice League put me in the minority, but even if you don't count that big team-up, the DC film universe has been steadily rising in quality, from the decent Wonder Woman to the goofy, fun Aquaman. Director David Sandberg's Shazam is the first movie in this shared cinematic universe with which I honestly have no major gripes--it's just a good movie, whether or not you're a fan of DC's often gritty, dark films, or have any idea who or what Shazam is. Shazam is a movie for everybody, and it's great.Shazam is the story of Billy Batson, a troubled orphan with a heart of gold who's granted magic powers by an ancient wizard. By saying the word "Shazam," Billy (Asher Angel) can transform into a full grown adult (Zachary Levi) with the combined powers of Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury. I won't spoil what those powers are, because several of the movie's best scenes are spent with Billy and his foster brother Freddy (Jack Dylan Grazer) as they experiment to find out exactly what Shazam is capable of. Naturally, because it's 2019, this also involves the hero becoming a YouTube sensation, even as Freddy and Billy struggle to come up with a superhero name that sticks (highlights include "Zaptain America," "Captain Sparklefingers," and "Mr. Philadelphia," among many others).There's been humor in DC movies before, including in Justice League (remember Aquaman sitting on Wonder Woman's lasso?) and Aquaman itself. But Shazam is the DCEU's first full-on comedy, and it's incredibly funny. A lot of the humor comes from Zach Levi's performance as a teenager who suddenly finds himself in an adult body. One of the first things he and Freddy do is buy beer--basically, they act exactly how you'd expect them to, and the movie doesn't shy away from what teenage boys would do in this situation. Comparisons to the 1988 Tom Hanks movie Big aren't just warranted, they're inevitable--but Shazam fully leans into it, making nods to the classic while carving its own path.It takes a ton of inspiration from the comics, as well, and embraces its roots rather than trying to make everything grimly realistic. The wizard is a wizard, with flowing robes and tangled grey beard. It's silly, but the movie also has a 1980s Spielbergian adventure vibe--think Goonies, Labyrinth, or Neverending Story. It owns its campiness so confidently that the significant amount of Shazam mythology it occasionally info-dumps on you goes down fairly easily. It helps that Shazam is occasionally anchored by references to other DC superheroes in the live action universe, most notably Batman and Superman. Shazam definitely exists in the same space as the relative heavy hitters that have come before, but their presence in this world is handled in a natural way that doesn't feel shoehorned in. The other thing anchoring Shazam's often cartoonish world is the diverse cast of characters, all of whom you'll come to love by the end. Billy winds up at a foster home--one in a succession of many--also inhabited by Freddy, as well as Darla (Faithe Herman), Pedro (Jovan Armand), Mary (Grace Fulton), and Eugene (Ian Chen). These foster siblings are fleshed out to various degrees, and by the end you'll be rooting for all of them--not to mention foster parents Rosa (Marta Milans) and Victor (Cooper Andrews), both of whom have some funny and touching moments. Shazam has a great message about family, while also being a dope superhero movie, striking an impressive balance.Mark Strong plays Dr. Sivana, a classic Shazam villain and a great choice for the big screen. The movie very smartly begins with a cold open from Strong's perspective, injecting a small touch of empathy to what could otherwise have been a very black and white villain. He's a jerk, for sure, but throughout the movie you'll at least understand where he's coming from and why he is the way he is. Shazam is insanely packed with references to DC comics, movies, and characters. But the movie seems to genuinely love not just its own source material, but all nerdy corners of pop culture. Eugene is introduced with a gaming headset semi-permanently stuck to his head, and the young character makes tons of video game references, all of which land--at one point he shows up for a fight armed with a PlayStation Move gun controller, and at another he makes a hilarious Watch Dogs joke. It's the kind of thing non-gamers might have to lean over and ask their friends about, but that attention to detail also makes the dialogue and characters ring true, and the gamers in the audience likely won't mind explaining.Shazam is the first DC movie that seems genuinely confident in its world and tone, with no major missteps of which to speak. It's fun, heartfelt, funny, genuine, and surprising, while staying true to its origins and embracing what makes it great. It makes no attempts to be something other than what it is--a goofy, fun superhero coming-of-age story--and as a result it's a movie anyone can enjoy. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come in the DC extended universe.The GoodThe BadZach Levi ably embodies a teenage boyOccasionally verges on cheesyEmbraces its roots as a comic book movie Balances humor, heart, and action Great surprises throughout Lovable cast and characters Info from Gamespot.com

For those of us who already spend our entire waking life tethered to the internet, the concept of Hypnospace will seem like both the logical conclusion to our always-online existence and its literal nightmare scenario. Hypnospace, the titular technology of Hypnospace Outlaw, is a social network you can access while you sleep, thus solving the problem of its users failing to update their status due to having to close their eyes for eight hours a day. It's both ingenious and terrible, and serves as the all-too-horrifyingly-plausible premise of this quite clever, quite funny, simulated '90s web browsing puzzle game.Log on to Hypnospace and you find yourself jolted back to the late '90s internet age where every page belonged to a webring, had a visitor counter, and blared tinny MIDI music on loop every 15 seconds. The Hypnospace web portal is a walled garden, to use the modern term, split into themed zones that play host to whatever it is people make websites about. Or rather, what people used to make websites about.It's 1999, the frontier era of the internet, before it was dominated by corporations, where random people stole some HTML and threw up a page dedicated to whatever random things interested them at the time. There's a kind of ramshackle energy at play--whether it's in Bill Aldrin's House of Sound and his raw music reviews or Gus' Temple of Serenity and his earnest new age-isms--that will make those of a certain generation (i.e. me) nostalgic for the looser, weirder, more experimental, yet more innocent internet that we seem to have lost in the years since.You navigate these sites as a kind of moderator in the employ of Merchantsoft, the startup behind Hypnospace. You're dispatched jobs to track down incidents of content infringement, harassment, illegal activity, and so on, removing the offending text, images, or links from the pages you find them, and issuing warnings to the users who posted them.Initially, you're assigned specific zones to monitor, and early cases are a simple matter of browsing the pages in each zone until you encounter the relevant material. The pages themselves are mostly spot on in terms of their portrayal of late '90s amateur internet culture and reading through each new page becomes a source of constant amusement. What you're being asked to do as a mod in these early cases isn't especially interesting, but that's fine, because the writing across the board is so sharp.Things soon get more complicated, and fulfilling each new task requested by your manager becomes more of a puzzle that you really need to work to solve. These puzzles are mostly satisfying to work through. You'll be plugging in search terms to track down potential leads, cross-referencing data and Hypnospace user IDs, reading blog entries to identify clues that might suggest how you could try to crack someone's password, exploring unlisted zones and installing new kinds of software. It quickly becomes a game of internet detective where you're saving documents to your virtual desktop and bookmarking pages of interest to return to later.Where it suffers is when this sleuthing distracts from the writing. Getting stuck and browsing through the same pages again and again rarely makes any of the jokes funnier. As you progress through the cases, weeks and months pass and you'll see the passage of time reflected as users update their pages--occasionally even in response to your moderating actions--while new pages appear and old ones close. Such updates are welcome, and remarkable given the sheer quantity of pages you're able to browse by the game's end, but you're still going to be looking at the same stuff many times over before you're done.Hypnospace Outlaw loves the internet, warts and all. It loves how the internet is really still all about weird online communities and their rivalries, feuds, and splinter groups, and how one person's ideas--both good and bad--can gather momentum and spin out of control. It also loves how trivial much of the internet really is, and how we should both celebrate all this made-up nonsense and acknowledge how much of our time with the internet is just frittered away on garbage. It also very accurately simulates that "down the rabbit hole" journey where one click leads to another, and before you realize it, you've spent the night chasing links and can't remember whatever it was that prompted the expedition in the first place.There are glimpses of darkness through the nostalgic haze, and it's in these moments that you realize that this isn't really just about the internet of the '90s. The cowboy arrogance and shady dealings of Merchantsoft is analogous to many tech startups of today that promise to liberate but only oppress. And in a frightening near-future vision of the gig economy, you're paid in Hypnocoin, a virtual currency accepted at Hypnospace's commercial partners, and only receive payments for reporting violations of Hypnospace's code of conduct. These elements may feel ahead of their time for a game set in 1999, but they make a fair point about where we've taken the internet in the intervening years.As an exploration of early-ish internet culture, Hypnospace Outlaw demonstrates how far we've travelled online over the past 20 years while at the same time asking whether we've gone anywhere at all. The bandwidth may have improved since 1999 but the content can look all too familiar today. Info from Gamespot.com

The first trailer for the upcoming movie Dora and the Lost City of Gold is here. The live-action film is based on the hugely popular animated Nickelodeon show Dora the Explorer, and stars Transformers: The Last Knight's Isabela Moner as the intrepid teenage adventurer.The trailer reveals that it is a jungle-set adventure that takes its influence from properties such as Tomb Raider, Jumanji, and the Indiana Jones series. Dora is a girl from a small village who is sent to a city high school by her adventurer parents. Of course, she soon finds herself on a dangerous expedition to find the mysterious City of Gold, alongside familiar characters such as her cousin Diego and faithful monkey pal Boots. Check it out below.Dora and the Lost City of Gold also stars Michael Peña (Ant-Man and the Wasp) and Eva Longoria (Desperate Housewives) as Dora's mom and dad, and Jeff Wahlberg as Diego. Danny Trejo (Machete, From Dusk Till Dawn) provides the voice of Boots, while Moner's Sicario 2 co-star Benicio Del Toro voices the evil fox Swiper. We're yet to see Swiper, so expect him to appear in a subsequent trailer. We yet don't know if Dora's map and backpack can also talk, as they do in the TV show.The movie is directed by James Bobin, who is best known for movies such as The Muppets and Alice Through The Looking Glass, plus the musical TV comedy Flight of the Conchords. It releases on August 2. You can also check out the first poster, which was released earlier this week.Dora the Explorer ran on Nickelodeon from 2000 to 2014 for 14 seasons and 172 episodes, and spawned the spin-off shows Dora and Friends: Into the City and Go, Diego, Go. Info from Gamespot.com

Today during Day 2 of the Final Fantasy Fan Event in Tokyo, Square Enix announced a brand-new arrangement album featuring songs from Final Fantasy XIV Online. The album is titled Journeys, and it goes on sale June 10 this year for $39 USD. "We're pleased to announce our third band and piano arrangement album," Square Enix said.The disc also comes with in-game footage alongside the music; there are 18 tracks in all. Some are performed by Final Fantasy veteran Susan Colloway, while there are also "extra bonus tracks."The piano arrangement was performed by Keiko, while the band performance was done by the band The Primals. Those who pick up "first-run" copes of the album will get in-game extras. You can learn more about the Journeys album here on its official website. You can order the album from Square Enix's website or from Sony Music.Perhaps the biggest news from Final Fantasy Fan Fest are all the new details about Shadowbringers, including a new race, Job, raid, trailer, screens, and more.The Final Fantasy Fan Fest continues today, so keep checking back for more. For now, you can check out some recent stories linked below:Final Fantasy TV Show "Dad Of Light" Is Becoming A Movie For JapanFinal Fantasy Dissidia NT Adding Final Fantasy XIV Villain Zenos On PS4 And PCFinal Fantasy XIV Online News From Fan Fest: FF15 Crossover Start Date And More RevealedFinal Fantasy XIV Online Shadowbringers Expansion: New Race, Job, Raid, Trailer, Screens, And More Revealed At Fan FestFinal Fantasy XIV Best Cosplay From Fan Fest GallerySquare Enix paid for GameSpot's flight to Tokyo and accomodation.Info from Gamespot.com

I don't know why I'm in Washington DC; some lady just told me to be here. But there are civilians in distress, armed gangs roaming the streets, and me, my pals, and the second amendment are apparently the only ones who can actually do anything about it. I have no idea what, if anything, is going on with the seemingly important people I meet. But so long as I'm helping folks, sending (presumably) bad people to bed, walking the pretty streets, and picking up a new pair of gloves every so often, I'm very happy to hang around.In the world of Tom Clancy's The Division 2, the USA has been ravaged by a virus and society has crumbled. While those who remain try to survive by banding together in groups of various dispositions, the Strategic Homeland Division activates highly specialized sleeper agents to try and restore order. It's a setting ripe in potential, perhaps to tell a ripping techno-thriller story that scrutinizes the structures of our modern society and government, or perhaps to make a video game that leverages the chaos that occurs when multiple idealistic groups clash in a vie for power in a lawless city. The Division 2 only does one of these things.It's not the story. Throughout the entirety of The Division 2's main campaign, never did the game spend a satisfactory amount of time on any semblance of an overarching plot, or the predicaments of its supposedly important figures. There are no character arcs, only abrupt setups and consequences. Narrative devices, like audio logs found in the world, add little of consequence. Even the game's biggest macguffins--the President of the United States and his briefcase containing a cure for the virus--have a minimal amount of absolutely forgettable screen time. The opportunity to use The Division 2 to create meaningful fiction is wasted.Instead, The Division 2 focuses its narrative chops into worldbuilding. The city, a ravaged Washington DC, initially feels a little homogenous in the way most Western cities do. But after some time, the personality of the different districts--the buildings, the landmarks, the natural spaces, and the ways they've been repurposed or affected by the cataclysm--begins to shine through. It's this strength of environment which lays a very strong foundation for The Division 2 as a video game, creating an engrossing, believable, and contiguous open world.Moving from your safehouse to the open world and your next mission area is almost entirely seamless. It's something that was also true of the original Division, but that doesn't take away from the fact that the simple act of going from place to place in The Division 2 is one of the game's more rewarding aspects. One road may lead to a skirmish with a rival patrol or an optional activity, another might simply give you another stirring scene of urban decay in the morning sun. An obscured shortcut through an apartment block might turn up some useful items in an abandoned home, which you might decide to donate to the makeshift settlements where civilians have attempted to rebuild their lives.Visiting those settlements--initially as hovels, before they gradually grow and become more charming, vibrant places thanks to your efforts in the world--becomes a strong motivator early on in the absence of a plot to chase. Outside main missions, which are dedicated to the weakening of rival factions and achieving indiscriminate objectives, the game's "Projects" are one of the most lucrative means of earning experience to better your character. Projects ask you to donate resources you find out in the world and participate in side activities, encouraging you to spend more time in the world, see new areas, fight new battles, search for new equipment to use, and find enjoyment in that. The Division 2 is, after all, a game devoted to providing you with a continuous stream of gripping conflicts, valuable rewards, and a perpetual sense of progress and satisfaction from doing these things. It does those things very well.You spend a lot of time hunkered behind cover, popping out to fire at any enemy dumb enough to expose themselves. With the large amount of weapon variety available, this familiar facet of combat is solid in itself. Add to that the ability to equip two special skills from a possible eight--which include tools such as riot shields, drones, and from what I can gather, robot bees of some sort--and combat gets pretty interesting. But the vector that really keeps The Division 2's combat lively for upwards of 60 hours is the behaviour and diversity of its enemy types.That time you spend in cover? The Division 2 doesn't want you to just stay there. You can go down very quickly if you're out in the open, but the game has a dozen ways to always keep you taking those risks and finding better firing positions--aggressive melee units, remote control cars equipped with sawblades, even the regular assault units frequently attempt to outflank you. Those special abilities? You absolutely need to use them to their full potential to survive some encounters, whether by throwing out the seeker mines or the automated turret to keep enemies at bay while you focus on a priority target, or perhaps utilizing the chemical launcher to start a fire and create a zone of denial.The effort needed to take out an adversary is relatively reasonable for a shooter that prioritizes the RPG nature of its combat model, but some of the tougher enemies have additional, visible layers of protection which you need to focus on breaking if you want to land critical hits. On the flip side, some enemies have additional, obtuse weak points which can work to your advantage, but only if you can hit them. The fuel tank on the back of a flamethrower unit might be feasible, but when you start running into the terrifying robotic quadruped in post-campaign activities, whose tiny weak point only reveals itself seconds before it fires its devastating railgun, you have to assess whether you can afford to take on that challenge among all the other things pressuring you. The Division 2 throws a lot of hurdles at you, but also gives you the means to quickly counter and resolve them. Whether you can juggle that many balls at once is what keeps combat continually tense and exciting.What's also exciting is the treasure at the end of these gauntlets. The Washington locations, refashioned into memorable combat arenas, are often rewarding in their own right (a fight in a planetarium is an early standout). But improving your equipment is the vital, tangible part that keeps you feeling like you're making progress. You receive new gear in generous amounts, some dropped by an enemy or looted from a container found in the world, others rewarded for completing a mission, and the next dose always feels in reach. The weapon variety forces you to consider something completely different to take advantage of a power boost, and the armor variety provides an impressive number of different cosmetic looks. The Division 2 incorporates a microtransaction and loot box system for its inconsequential clothing options, though these can be found in the world and earned of your own accord, too.Like combat, gear remains intriguing throughout The Division 2 not just because of the abstract desire to have bigger numbers attached to your person and progress further through the game's challenges, but also through a raft of "talents." These add unique perks that complement particular skills or styles of play, like providing bonuses within a certain range or when enemies are burning or your armor is depleted. The brands of armor also have a part to play, whereby equipping a number of pieces from a single manufacturer provide additional advantages. These bonuses become particularly attractive to obsess over in the endgame, when the world is retaken by a tougher, more merciless enemy faction called Black Tusk, and you need to ensure your ability to fight them is the best it can be.For the hundreds of pieces you will inevitably want to discard, the ability to sell or dismantle them for parts to either purchase or craft pieces you want gives value to everything you pick up. Or you might retain them in order to move their talents to better gear of the same type, And, as a wonderful convenience, The Division 2 implements numerous features to inspect, mark, dismantle, or equip things you find so quickly and elegantly--sometimes without ever having to enter a menu--that it improves the whole experience of being in its world.The same can be said of the game's multiplayer integration, which allows you to easily group up and progress with friends (the game will scale any underpowered players to match the most powerful). You can also start or join a clan, which opens up a variety of weekly challenges, granting valuable rewards, and features integrated game-wide group communication options. Even if you're only interested in playing alone (which is more challenging, but entirely feasible for everything but the most demanding of endgame activities), the ability to matchmake with other players at any time, whether that be in the open world, before you start a mission, or when you're at a final boss, is a very welcome and useful feature.And when you beat that final boss of the game's final mission (though, such is The Division 2's lack of plot framing, I honestly couldn't tell you his name to save my life) and you think you've finally run out of treasure to keep luring you through more fights, the metaphorical table gets flipped. Flipped hard. The Washington DC you spent so long liberating from rival factions becomes completely retaken by the aforementioned Black Tusk. You unlock three unique class specializations, each with their own skill trees to build out. Your focus on growing two-digit numbers on your character (your level) moves to three-digit numbers (the quality of your gear). The wealth of activities available to you once you complete the campaign is enormous, and it capitalizes on your momentum. It motivates you to continue seeing more, doing more, and growing more.More challenging, remixed versions of campaign missions and lengthier stronghold missions featuring Black Tusk become available. These "Invaded" missions often leverage the new enemy types to create terrifying new combat scenarios that maintain the steady ramp-up of challenge, and they give you a fantastic reason to revisit the memorable combat arenas with purpose. Open-world events become more dynamic and riskier--factions clash more frequently for control of territory, and your involvement in certain activities can dramatically increase the danger and rewards in others. Limited-time challenges, which take the form of new Projects, higher difficulty missions, and additional bounty targets found in the world, offer avenues for more lucrative bonuses. There are even more activities beyond that, and the strength of The Division 2's endgame is not just in the wealth of content available, but how viable it all is in improving your standing in the world.The journey to bolstering your Gear Score to qualify for higher tiers of challenges and content is always clear. The game continues to make sure you're always meaningfully rewarded no matter what you do, and that feeling of bettering your character persists throughout.It's remarkable how straightforward the game makes it for you to see the full breadth of its content and maintains that feeling of continual advancement all the way to the bitter end, especially in spite of its unsubstantial plots, characters, and narrative themes. Once I finally hit the game's current soft cap for progression, I was impressed by how much there still was to pursue.The world of The Division 2 also features three separate Dark Zone areas, systematically accessible throughout the campaign, which promise the possibility of high-quality equipment but pose more risks beyond the regular open-world. The power dynamic between you and enemies are normalized, and there's the uncertain element of having other players to interact with. In the Dark Zone, players can choose to cooperate with others in the world to clear out enemy outposts and explore the regions for equipment, but the option to go 'Rogue' and undermine the work of other players provides the opportunity for greater rewards at the risk of greater losses if you fail to get away with it. Exploring the Dark Zone is a fascinating aspect of The Division 2 that adds additional facets of tension, distrust, and dishonesty to a game that already features high-stakes combat. Moreover, it is a completely optional pathway to reaching the game's highest tiers of achievement. The game's similarly optional Conflict activities offer gear incentives for participating in traditional team-based multiplayer modes, which felt serviceable in the few matches I played, but were comparatively underpopulated compared to other avenues of matchmaking at the time of writing.The setting of The Division 2 is ripe for potential, and it's a shame the game doesn't use it to say anything. I have absolutely no clue why I'm here, what anyone's motivations are, and I wish I had a strong narrative driver to fuel a purpose behind my endless hunger for progression. This letdown is hard to ignore for the game's initial hours, but the strength of the systems and design that fuel The Division 2 as a game are compelling enough to keep you captivated for dozens more. The range of enemy types continues to keep combat encounters challenging, the equipment I earn and pick up continues to feel different, valuable, and asks me to consider new ways of play. The ravaged environments continue to intrigue, and sometimes they're so stunning I find myself needing to take screenshots before I move on. It might not have much to say, but The Division 2 is a perpetual cycle of tension, relief, and reward that's difficult to stay away from. Info from Gamespot.com

Much as we ride roller coasters because we like to be frightened, we solve puzzles because we like to be challenged--and the more complex the puzzle, the more satisfied we can expect to be when it's finally solved. Baba is You has a prodigious capacity for frustration. This deceptively simple-looking indie puzzle game, by Finnish developer Arvi Teikari, swiftly approaches the heights of difficulty scaled by such vexing modern classics as Stephen’s Sausage Roll and The Witness, and shares with those games an uncompromising attitude that isn’t afraid to alienate newcomers intimidated by a challenge. It’s a puzzle game fan’s puzzle game in other words, as grueling as they come. It’s a sharper mind than mine that can make it through its later puzzles without misery. Whatever Baba is You’s shortcomings are, ease isn’t one of them.Baba is You has an appealing conceit. The basic gameplay resembles an '80s top-down puzzle title like Sokoban or Adventures of Lolo: you control a kind of sheep or rabbit character called Baba, who moves around a fixed environment, pushes objects, and pursues a goal. But many of the rules that govern the game--including what can be traversed, what can be moved, what’s hazardous, what’s the objective, and even what’s under your command--are represented on screen as blocks of text arranged into phrases that work as commands. These blocks can be manipulated and the phrases rearranged, empowering you to eliminate restrictions, neutralize threats, and redefine the conditions of victory. In this way, the solutions for the puzzles in Baba is You are found through rewriting the terms of each problem.Most words refer either to things (such as “wall”, “lava”, or “flag”) or to properties of things (such as “stop”, “push”, or “win”). When a thing is connected to a property with the verb “is,” that thing adopts that property, and can be modified with various conjunctions, prepositions, verbs, and adjectives, all of which follow the logic of a programming language. For example, suppose on a stage “Baba is you,” “flag is win,” and Baba and the flag are on opposite sides of a lake of lava. If “lava is hot” and “Baba is melt,” then Baba can’t pass the lava to reach the flag. But if “lava is push,” you can push the lava out of the way to reach the goal. Better yet, if “lava is you,” you can reach the flag as the lava, leaving Baba behind entirely.Baba is You is never better than in these moments of sudden realization--when it dawns on you that you can rewrite the rules and change, get rid of, or become the obstacle in your path, allowing you to figure out what can be done to solve a challenging puzzle. Most of these moments occur early on, as you familiarize yourself with the game's mechanics and start to understand the way that it wants you to approach its puzzles. Baba is You encourages lateral thinking by the nature of its design, and after 15 or 20 stages, you begin to get a feel for its peculiar problems and the oblique strategies they require. The game’s surprises are genuinely delightful, but they are primarily front loaded.The aesthetic is lo-fi in the extreme, though not without its charms. Its crude lines and simple blocks of color look like a child’s rendition of a NES game in crayon, every letter of the words that make up the commands scrawled in a shaky hand. In later, more complex puzzles, when instructions are crowding the screen and different objects are teeming all around you, scrutinizing this primitive style for clues can feel a bit like looking for codes in an abstract expressionist painting.Less successful is the music, which is bland, simplistic, and incredibly repetitive. Modeled after retro game soundtracks, it sounds like a poor approximation. It had such an adverse effect on my concentration that it wasn’t long before I muted it and listened to my own music.As the game progresses, and especially as the language involved gets more complex, words are ushered in whose meaning seems vague and whose purpose remains hazy, and that can make certain puzzles infuriatingly obscure.Baba is You is lean, stark, and conspicuously light on instruction. New words and conditions are introduced without commentary; what things mean is never explained, and how things function is yours to learn in practice. Such hard-lined rigor makes you feel your intelligence is being respected. It also has the tendency to leave you completely bewildered and confused. The genre’s best games aspire to teach you how to solve their puzzles as they are presented to you, parceling out crucial information elegantly, and subtly, as you proceed from one challenge to the next. The ideal is a kind of unspoken guidance, acquainting you with rules and parameters in a way that feels totally intuitive and clear.Baba is You doesn’t always do this so well. The earliest levels of its overworld map--including a preliminary stage that offers control prompts for how to navigate, undo actions, and reset--show a few simple approaches to the game’s unique brand of problem-solving. But as the game progresses, and especially as the language involved gets more complex, words are ushered in whose meaning seems vague and whose purpose remains hazy, and that can make certain puzzles infuriatingly obscure. It’s one thing to be confounded by a puzzle, and quite another to be uncertain how the puzzle works or what the puzzle wants. Often, I thought I knew what an ambiguous word did only to find that it didn’t actually do what I thought. More than once I solved a puzzle without understanding why.For instance, every level has a “you.” Usually it’s Baba, but it can also be a wall, flag, or a little red avatar called Keke. It’s clear almost immediately that you can assume control of any number of different objects by replacing the noun in the sentence that ends “is you,” and that, what’s more, something has to be defined as you in order to continue playing at all. Less clear to me was that “you” is always a property rather than a thing. This means that, while “Baba is win” can be a condition of victory, “win is you” and “you is win” are not. So much of the vernacular of the game I picked up only in fits and starts. For example, I only know from happening upon it that “crab and Baba is you” will allow you to control both a crab and Baba despite being grammatically incorrect, while something like “Baba is you is win” doesn't work as expected.This matters because you need some sense of why something does or doesn't work in a puzzle game in order to truly own your accomplishments. In one later puzzle, I managed to walk over a body of water unharmed by pushing a pillar into the water and stringing together the phrase “pillar on water is sink.” The property “sink” usually seems to make anything that touches the sinkable object disappear. I have no clue what happened here. Of course, I am sure this does “work out” in the technical sense, and that there is an explanation I’m simply not getting. But I shouldn't have to stumble through a fog of incomprehension in order to find the solution to a logic-based problem. Why does “box has box” clear a path through a lake of water? I couldn’t say, but I gathered it was what I had to do eventually. This feels fundamentally different than merely being stumped, and it doesn’t satisfy in remotely the same way.A-ha moments are precious things. Their relief can feel miraculous--but only so long as you understand what you’ve done and feel you’ve earned the victory. For the most part, Baba is You’s most brutal stages do offer this balance of challenge and reward. By puzzle 50--there are 200 in all--levels are flipping upside down, rules are compounded elaborately, and sentences are sprawling out to command things like “wall and hedge and key and flag is word,” to take one real late example. It can be torture, but of course in a puzzle game such torture is fun. Baba is You is among the most seriously arduous games of its kind I’ve played, and when its rules are clear and its instructions legible, it’s gratifying in a way only hardcore suffering can be. Info from Gamespot.com

Pokemon Go's first Gen 4 Legendary Pokemon, Giratina, is making an encore appearance in the hit mobile game soon. Niantic is bringing the Renegade Pokemon back to Raid Battles for another month beginning March 28, and this time around it'll appear in a different form.From March 28 to April 2, players will have another opportunity to capture Giratina in its Altered Forme (pictured below). After that, the Legendary Pokemon will transform into its Origin Forme--the serpent-like appearance it takes in Pokemon Platinum--until it leaves Raid Battles on April 29.Regardless of what form it takes, Giratina is a dual Ghost/Dragon Pokemon, so the same strategies you used to battle it when it first appeared during last year's Halloween event will apply. What's unique about this combination is that both Ghost and Dragon are susceptible to their own types, so Pokemon like Salamence, Rayquaza, and Gengar will prove to be effective against Giratina. Dark-types such as Tyranitar and Houndoom will also have an edge over it.In the meantime, you still have a few more days to capture Pokemon Go's current Legendary, Dialga. The Temporal Pokemon will only appear in Raid Battles until March 28, meaning this is your last opportunity to add it to your collection before it leaves the game. Dialga is a dual Dragon/Steel-type, making it weak to Fighting and Ground Pokemon like Machamp and Groudon.Pokemon Go is in the midst of its spring equinox event, which makes Grass Pokemon like Oddish and Sunkern easier to find. The game's next Community Day takes place this Saturday, March 23, and it likewise features a Grass Pokemon: the Gen 3 starter Treecko.Info from Gamespot.com

Next week is shaping up to be a busy one for Pokemon Go players. In addition to Giratina's return to Raid Battles, Niantic has announced a new Limited Research event, which will give players their first opportunity to catch two new Shiny Pokemon.The event takes place on Saturday, March 30, and runs from 11 AM to 8 PM local time. During those hours, Pokemon that are affected by weather conditions, such as Castform, will appear more frequently in the wild. You'll also receive special Field Research tasks from Poke Stops, which will culminate in encounters with Lotad.On top of that, the Shiny forms of Lotad and Castform will appear during the event, marking the first time either has been available in Pokemon Go. Niantic is also adding the move Weather Ball for Castform permanently to the game. You can read more details about the new Limited Research event on the official Pokemon Go website.In the meantime, a few more days still remain in Pokemon Go's ongoing spring equinox celebration. Until March 26, Grass Pokemon will appear more frequently in the wild. On top of that, the rare Rock/Psychic Pokemon Lunatone and Solrock have swapped regions, and their Shiny forms have likewise started appearing for the first time.Pokemon Go's next Community Day takes place on March 23. Not long after that, the Legendary Pokemon Giratina will make an encore appearance in Raid Battles. You'll be able to catch it again in its Altered Forme from March 28 to April 2, after which point it'll assume its Origin Forme--the appearance it takes in Pokemon Platinum--for the first time in Pokemon Go until April 29.Info from Gamespot.com

The 2019 Final Fantasy Fan Fest in Tokyo began today with a keynote address from game director Naoki Yoshida, and the 90-minute briefing was packed with news and insight on the new Shadowbringers expansion for Final Fantasy XIV coming out later this year. Perhaps the biggest news was the announcement of a new Job. The new Job is Dancer.As the name suggests, Dancer uses dance moves, in a way, to combat their enemies. Performing dances executes certain abilities, while some specific dances buff nearby party members.Dancer is a ranged DPS Job, and its main arm is used for throwing weapons. It has no associated class, according to Square Enix, and you'll be able to start using Dancer at level 60.Another huge announcement was the next playable race for Final Fantasy XIV--the Hrothgar. Cat-like humanoids, the Hrothgar will be available in male and female variants, and each will have unique heads and customisable features. They also each have two clans.Also during the presentation, Square Enix showed off two new cities, the Crystarium and Eulmore. The Crystarium is a beautiful, expansive place with blue-hued environments. Eulore is also a sight to behold, as it sits atop a massive, ornate, and steampunk-looking structure.Square Enix also used the news-packed keynote to reveal Final Fantasy XIV's latest Beast Tribe--the Dwarves. Not a whole lot of information was shared, but the company confirmed these dwarves always have beards and they always wear helmets--even at the dinner table. They're experts in mining and metallurgy.The new Dancer Another big piece of news was the announcement of the game's next eight-player raid series. It's called Eden, and while little is known about the specifics, Square Enix confirmed that none other than legendary designer Tetsuya Nomura is working as a character and boss designer for it.Shadowbringers launches on July 2, but an Early Access period will start on June 28, Square Enix announced. However, that was only a tentative date, so it is subject to change.An epic new, six-minute trailer for Shadowbringers was shown during the keynote. You can see this trailer above, while a number of brand-new screenshots can be seen embedded in this post.The HrothgarWhile fans have to wait a while longer for Shadowbringers, the next big update for Final Fantasy XIV, update 4.56, launches on March 26. Everything announced today is on top of all the previous Shadowbringers announcements, which include a level cap jump from 70 to 80, as well as the introduction of a new system called the Trust System. There is also more end-game content and more.Here are some further facts and details about today's Shadowbringers news that Square Enix shared after the panel wrapped up (text written by Square Enix):New Job – Dancer: Dancer joins gunbreaker as one of the new jobs in Shadowbringers. This ranged attacker not only unleashes powerful attacks using throwing weapons, but also performs dances to execute abilities and provide beneficial effects to their partyNew Player Race – Hrothgar: The Hrothgar player race compliments the recently announced Viera as the second new playable race in Shadowbringers. The Hrothgar and Viera will both have unique, customizable features specific to their races.New Player Cities – The Crystarium and Eulmore: Located in Norvrandt, the former will serve as a player hub, while the latter—an affluent city ruled by the elite will play a key role in the Shadowbringers main storyline.New Raid – Eden: This new high-end raid content will feature multiple challenging bosses, as well as a new character--both designed specifically for this raid series by Kingdom Hearts Director and Final Fantasy series veteran, Tetsuya Nomura.New Beast Tribe and Primal: The bearded dwarves and the "sin eater," Innocence.New Field Area – LakelandGood luck sleeping tonight As for the Final Fantasy Fan Fest, it runs all weekend long, so keep checking back with GameSpot for more. Disclosure: Square Enix paid for GameSpot's flight to Tokyo and accomodations. Info from Gamespot.com

Microsoft's Xbox One and PC pirate game Sea of Thieves has a big update coming up soon, and it's set to deliver a number of fan-requested features--one of which is fishing. The "Anniversary Update" arrives on April 30, which is about 13 months after the game launched in March 2019.Despite being very much connected to and associated with all manner of water-based fishing activities, Sea of Thieves didn't have a fishing mode--until now. Coming April 30, players will not only be able to cast a line and reel in a big fish, but players will also be able to cook their catch.Executive producer Joe Neate from Rare joked that the developer will remove fishing from Sea of Thieves if people don't live up to their word and fish their hearts out.All everyone has asked for is fishing. I am going to be watching the data on April 30th and if you aren’t all sitting there reeling them in for hours we are taking it straight out again 🧐 https://t.co/kV3A5O1Os2 — Joe "Three Sheets" Neate (@JoeNeate1) March 23, 2019More seriously, the Anniversary update is the biggest content update for Sea of Thieves to date. Fishing comes to the game through the new Hunter's Call Trading Company, which is led by Merrick. In addition to fishing (which you can do from shore or on ship), players can hunt animals and other creatures, and, like fish, cook the flesh for energy. However, some meat may be poisonous. Additionally, players can earn gold and cosmetic rewards for fishing and hunting.The Anniversary Update also adds a new competitive mode, along with a new storyline called Tall Tales: Shores of Gold. "Follow a series of narrative adventures surrounding existing and all-new characters, taking you to undiscovered places and revealing surprising new gameplay features," reads a line from the description. "Fans of the expanded game universe will recognise some of the iconic characters and locations in Shores of Gold, yet this is only the beginning of a series of Tall Tales that will allow players to immerse themselves in the legends of Sea of Thieves."Finally, the Anniversary Update promises a number of improvements to the base game, including a more advanced ship damage system that is capable of damaging specific ship elements."Expanded ship damage means that your beloved vessel can suffer a broken mast, capstan, or even wheel, meaning that sailing and escaping battle could get very tricky indeed," Rare said. "Meanwhile, the arrival of the harpoon means that treasure can be nabbed by a skilled enemy and ships can make some surprising manoeuvres."Being such a large update, Microsoft will hold a series of livestreams to talk about its different content elements. These will be help on April 10, April 16, and April 23 leading up to the update's release on April 30. You can watch the streams on all the usual places: Mixer, Twitch, and YouTube. The full programming schedule can be seen here as written by Microsoft.While you have to wait a bit longer for the Anniversary update, Microsoft has released a series of freebies to celebrate the game's first birthday. This includes various cosmetics, the Captain Bones Original Pirate Cutlass, a set of Gamerpics, and discounts. Visit the Xbox Wire to see a rundown of the freebies.Sea of Thieves is available now for PC and Xbox One; the console edition is in the Xbox Game Pass library, which means subscribers get it at no extra cost. Info from Gamespot.com