I rise and study the land before me. The waves of the ocean behind are a soundtrack, a salty rhythm accompanying my own heavy breathing. Running was not on my agenda today.

The wind sticks to the sweat on my forehead, cooling my face and tussling my hair like a breezy aunt. Looking down, I see the tatters of the clothes I'm wearing. I don't know how I escaped death. I don't know when my luck will run dry. All I know is the long road ahead, winding round the coast and disappearing behind a crest.

Then, a surprise sight fills my heart with glee. A small cabin, open and inviting. Its dilapidation a thing of beauty. Its broken roof, a veritable stronghold.

Yes, I really am this pretentious

So, I've been replaying DayZ recently. Perhaps because of the latest update. Perhaps because I was starting to miss the baffling sensation of being able to hold a virtual potato in my hand but also not being able to eat it for some reason (it's not raw, it's rustic).

The introduction at the top represents an average experience for me in fictional Chernarus, though typically with more cholera. Bohemia Interactive's decision to lean more towards realistic survival elements in this zombie survival game makes DayZ one of the more challenging releases ?in the gen?re.

But it says so much more than its surface narrative, which? thrusts players into an abandoned world of apocalyptic collaps??e. The undead stalk the ghost towns and streets of this post-Soviet republic. No, I think the game is (unintentionally) holding a mirror up to my own real existence.

For example:

Which direction should I go in?

When starting a new playthrough in DayZ, it's diffic??ult to know where to head. Now, I've died and s?tarted over many times, yet I still don't know the correct thing to do in the beginning. Do I immediately look for the nearest building to seek food and other items, knowing the outskirts are less yielding? Do I somehow attempt to book it for the major towns where supplies are plentiful, but so are the zombies?

In any case, what I typically end up doing is leisurely jogging along an empty road like I'm in a nutritional breakfast ad. Eventually, I'll happen upon a branching path. The main road will continue, almost certain to lead to a more populated area. However, the lure of the side road is hard to resist. What's up there? Will this tak??e me to food or weapons any quicker?

There are many forks in life, but it's hard to know which is the best one to take. No doubt there are some I should have gone down when given the chance, but ended up somewhere else. There are many choices, but all will lead one way: forward. However, invariably, many of them will end with a sense of existential regret and/or a zombie bite to the face (metaphorica??lly...maybe).

Everyone is out to get ya

Business rivals, vengeful neighbors, salespeople, politicians so morally twisted you could repurpose them as fusilli pasta...we all encounter those who don't have our best interests at heart. DayZ gives those pe?ople guns. Or at least the option to scavenge them. Which they do. With ??gusto, it seems.

Now, this isn't really anything new in a survival game. Rust is notorious for having players that are a little too trigger-happy. I also stopped playing 7 Days to Die on multiplayer because in a zombie apocalypse, the zombies should be the bigges?t threat (unless it's trying to be a scathing takedown on humanity's violent nature).

I'm always a little bewildered that a world torn apart at the seams and everyone resetting to zero doesn't result in more atte??mpts to work together. What??ever happened to community spirit?

Am I reading too much into this? I'm sure there are people out there who have bonded with others and are taking on zombies (and others) as the unstoppable u??nit they are. But I don't know where these people are...because I'm busy dodging the frantic bullets of a random human who seemingly doesn't know the meaning of "no, I don't want an extended warranty, thank you!"

Small victories are actually big victories

There's a saying about how some people know the price of everything and the value of nothing. I know how much a tin of tuna costs, but it's only when I see it in DayZ as my hunger ??m??eter flashes red that I truly appreciate tuna's worth.

When my character is starving, I'm surprise?d by my own desperation. I'd eat tree bark if the game let me. Fuck it. I'd eat at a Wetherspoons [pause for gasps from readers]. So let me tell you that when I find a small can of brisket spread or some floor zucchini, it's no small feat. Or...it's a testament to how bad I am at the game.

Either way, I quickly learned to celebrate the small things in DayZ. Whether it's finding a hat that offers more warmth or five bullets for that worn out pistol I've been carrying arou?nd for two days, there is no sweeter feeling than being given a tiny leg up. The tiny leg I fracture as I drop from a relatively short height.

I lack even the most basic of survival skills

What's likely become apparent to many of you reading this is that I'm not very good at DayZ. I'm not in the community, so I don't know ho??w common it is to suck at a zombie game this hard. But this is just a reflection of how I am as a person outside this crazy world we call gaming. I am, for want of a better word, inept when it comes to survival.

Now, I live in the countryside. We're not exactly isolated, but it's been quite the shift from central urban environments with plenty of amenities around. Though I've adjusted quite well t?o living far away, I still quite miss shops,? pubs, accessible public transport, and my friends.

But were you to leave me in the wilderness �à la DayZ-style �I would find myself unbearably out of my comfort zone. I'm sure I'm not alone in that thinking, but it?? doesn't take long to realize that, should an outbreak of the undead occur, I would have no idea how to sustain myself without the conveniences I depend on every day.

In the game, it's possible to repair a car, build a base, craft weapons and items, and stave off hunger? with all manner of found sustenance (I can cook, but not live-chicken-to-tab?le cook). With these essential survival skills lacking, it's obvious I would not fare well were society to collapse. You know what I can do? I can write vaguely entertaining articles. Handy that in a world that's experiencing disaster.

I'm hungry

I mean...this is just me in general.

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The Overwatch 2 team is taking PvE in a seasonal direction

Blizzard is changing its plans for the long-awaited Overwatch 2 PvE mode. In a developer update today,?? the company confirms that it's scrapping its original plans for the mode, pivoting its PvE side into the seasonal content structure of the game.

Back in 2019, Blizzard Entertainment officially unveiled Overwatch 2, a follow-up to its 2016 hero shooter. Alongside updates to the PvP multiplayer side, there was a PvE mode shown off. Players would choose a hero, squad up, and t?ackle missions where they could l??evel up talents and maintain some level of long-term progress.

This mode felt like a big reason for the "2" in Overwatch 2, but it eventually fell by the wayside. Overwatch 2 launched last year without its new PvE mode, and the question of when it would ar??rive has floated?? around until now.

In today's Overwatch 2 Dev Chat, executive producer Jared Neuss says it seemed like there was "no ??end in sight" and the team faced a difficult choice: leaving the original vision for the PvE mode behind.

"With everything we've learned about what it takes to operate this game ??at the level that you deserve, it's clear that we can't deliver on that original vision of PvE that was shown in 2019," said Neuss. "What that means is that we won't be delivering that dedicated hero mode, the talent trees, that long-term power progression. Those things just aren't in our plans anymore."

Neuss says it's "been dif?ficult" for the team, as many "poured their heart and soul" ??into the mode.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=G43vVavNl1w&t=2500s

PvE goes seasonal

There are? still plans for some amount of PvE, though, as game director Aaron Keller outlines.

"Going forward though, rather than doing a b??ig, one-time PvE release, and rather than pouring all of our efforts into these singular releases, we're planning to make co-op gameplay and co-op experiences just part of our regular live roadmap," said Keller. "So we want you to be able to experience it more often, and with more variety than we had originally announced.

"We're going to be releasing our first major story-based event, featuring a new set of missions, and it'll kick off a brand new story arc for Overwatch," Keller continues. "And beyond that, we have a lot more co-op features planned. Some canon, and some very-not canon. We just want to give ourselves flexibility to explore the universe of Overwatch and its cast of heroes and villains, as ??well as just try new things. We're going to continue to find the most exciting ways of bringing new experiences to the running game on a frequent and cons??istent basis."

In an interview with GameSpot, Keller elaborates on some of these plans. The Overwatch 2 team plans to roll out story content starting in Season 6 (we're currently on Season ?4, heading into 5) with the "start" of a big narrative. The team is also planning for multiple cinematics to arrive this year, either setting up the story for Season 6 or to "further some of those characters" that they're working on.

The road ahead for Overwatch 2

Blizzard outlined a roadmap for the year ahead, with new limited-time events, heroes, maps, and more. According to Blizzard, the PvE Story Missions will have in-game cinematics that "push the narrative arc of Overwatch forward" for the first time since the original Overwatch's release.

[caption id="attachment_379943" align="alignnone" width="640"] Graphic via Blizzard[/caption]

While it sounds like pieces of what was developed for PvE will still be incorporated back into Overwatch 2 and its new designs for co-op, it's hard not to be disappointed in this. Overwatch 2 has had PvE events before. The hope for Overwatch 2's new PvE mode was that might take those ideas forward and expand them alongside its story. With this change, we're still ge??tting some movement on the narrative front, but the 2019 vision of talents and Hero Missions are not coming along for the ride.

Overwatch 2 ??Season 6 and its new ??vision for PvE will go live later this summer.

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Not quite time to embark

ARC Raiders, the debut effort from Embark Studios, is taking a little extra time to come together. The developer announced today that it has delayed ARC Raiders to 2023.

In a statement, the team says it appreciates support so far. "ARC Raiders is an ambitious game, and we will be using this extra time to expand the experience, and allow it to reach?? its fullest potential," reads the post on social media.

//twitter.com/AR?CRaidersGame/status/155665680326560972??8

The studio says it will be going into more details about ARC Raiders as soon as it starts to mo?re extensively test the game wit?h players.

Invaders from outer space

First teased and then officially shown off at The Game Awards 2021, ARC Raiders is a co-op PvE?? shooter. Players will have to band together to fight off kill?er enemies from outer space.

It has a big retro-future vibe, in the same vein as Deathloop and the upcoming Rollerdrome. It's also ?got som??e notable industry names attached to its developer, Embark Studios.

Embark is headed up by former DICE CEO Patrick Söderlund, so it could have some similar ideas. And honestly, a co-op PvE game with a mix of outer-space and tinge of Battlefield sounds pretty alright to me.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BKASgkxK1g

We haven't seen too much of ARC Raiders yet though, aside from what was shown at last year's Game Awards. It's third-person, and seems to have a pretty hefty amount of gunfire and explosions, as well as some fearsome and massive robots to take down. It's some borderline Earth Defense Force vibes, which I'll be honest, I'm here for! Big robots versus small soldiers sounds ??like a good time.

We'll see how the project comes together as Embark continues to work on it and show off more. Until then, we'll have to wait for the new year to see more of ARC Raiders.

The post Embark’s co-op shooter ARC Raiders has been delayed to 2023 appeared first on Destructoid.

More terrors lurk in the world of Back 4 Blood

Back 4 Blood is getting its next expansion at the end of this month. Children of the Worm, the second DLC expansion for Back 4 Blood, goes live on August 30, 2022.

The Children of the Worm will have a new story campaign, adding an ?Act 5 to the action. New enemies threaten to cause a bunch of prob?lems for the Cleaner crew.

But the survivors will have some back-up, too. A new playable Cleaner, ?"Prophet" Dan, is also joining the action. A previous preacher of the end times, he'll probably make for a wacky addition to the roster of playable characters.

The expansion will also include some new weapons, cards, and skins. Anyone who picked up the Back 4 Blood Annual Pass, or the Deluxe or Ultimate Edition, gets Children of the Worm as part of that. Otherwise, Children of the Worm will be available as a standalone purchase.

The ongoing apocalypse

This new entry marks Back 4 Blood's second expansion, following after the Tunnels of Terror DLC expansion that went live in April. The Tunnels added some new Cleaners and special v?ariations of the Ridden to deal with, alongside the Ridden Hives.

With an Act 5 on the way and even more stuff to do, it's nice to see that Back 4 Blood seems to be getting a steady cadence of post-launch support. It was a pretty good time for co-op at launch, and I really grew to like the card system that Turtle Rock created for this new variation on the co-op PvE survival game. Even if it hit some stumbles out of the gate, Back 4 Blood has kept on rolling on.

And if you like Turtle Rock's particular brand of PvE, well, it's a good time. Not only is Back 4 Blood getting some more content, but apparently the servers for Evolve have popped on and players have been dipping a toe back in.

As for the Children of the Worm, the?? new DLC expansion arrives on August 30 for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Serie??s X|S, and PC.

The post Back 4 Blood get?s its next expansion, Children of th?e Worm, at the end of August appeared first on Destructoid.

PC will get it in November, while Xbox owners will wait a while longer

Co-op first-person horde game Warhammer 40,000: Darktide is taking a little extra time for development. Developer Fatshark announced today that the PC version has been pushed to November?? 30, while Xbox Series X|S will arrive later.

Previously set to arrive in September, the multiplayer PvE game is now splitting out its console and PC launches. In a statement, Fatshark says the Xb?ox version will arrive "shortly after" PC, with a specific date to be announc?ed.

Fatshark also says that delaying a game is a difficult decision. But it's also one the team hopes shows its commitment to making Darktide come together.

"While we have been humbled b??y the great feedback on the game so far, we also need more time to improve stability, performance, and to mature key systems," the studio says. "Each is critical to making sure ??we have the best possible experience for you, the players."

//twit?ter.com/Darktide40K/status/155268563??5219210240

Squad-based test fire

If you're still eager to get in, there will be a chance before November 30. The team will be hosting a series of technical tests ahead of launch, in order to kick the tires on Warhammer 40K: Darktide.

The playtest sign-up page is live on Fatshark's site here, and appears to have sign-ups open fo??r both Xbox and PC. Seems like a decent way to get in early if you can't wait to fight the Chaos horde.

Fatshark has built a pretty solid reputation with its work on the Vermintide series, creating some stellar co-op PvE games over the years. Safe to say, Darktide has some lofty heights to reach. So a little e?xtra time for the studio to buckle down and work on fine-tuning things to be just right sounds good for the whole squad.

Warhammer 40K: Darktide hits PC on November 30, with Xbox Series X|S arrivi?ng sometime later.

The post Warhammer 40K: Darktide has been delayed appeared first on Destructoid.

I hope the free-to-play hooks are kept in check

In an unexpected turn of events, one of my favorite game reveals last night at The Game Awards 2021 was ARC Raiders, a PvE sci-fi shooter with a bit of underdog? flair to its band of resistance fighters and som??e big droids that look like they'll be fun to bring down.

This debut game from Embark Studios �a team led by fo??rmer DICE CEO and EA chief design officer Patrick Söderlund �is coming to PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S in?? 2022.

//youtu.be/3BKASgkxK1g

I'll admit, I thought the music choice for this an?nouncement trailer was pretty unusual last night during the live show, but Robyn hasn't left my mind, so the track did its job. Anything a new IP can do to get (and keep) our attention in a? sea of other trailers and adverts.

Other than that, what stood out? For me, and this might be reading way too much into the gameplay snippets, ARC Raiders gave me a sort of glossy, high-budget Earth Defense Force vibe �albeit with a more focused?? threat. The way the characters scramb??le speaks to me.

There's also the free-to-play factor �and speaking of, it'??s owned by Nexon �which could help or hurt it depending on all of the usual factors. Not having ??to pay upfront is a way to get curious folks in the door, especially with a PvE squad format, but if the monetization is too heavy-handed, will most players just move on? That's the concern.

Based on the first few raiders, including Lance, a cool (?) droid man, ARC Raiders will be leaning hard into its characterization. I'm calling dibs (until someone better shows u?p).

"With this reveal, we want to celebrate gameplay and give players more than a hint of how ARC Raiders looks ??and what it feels like to play," Söderlund said in a press statement. "We look forward to sharing more ??about the game in the coming months."

The Steam and Epic Games Store listings talk about using tools, gadgets, and physics to outplay the space-invader droids, who drop in from orbit an??d clap back "with ever-increasing destruction." Embark also detailed snap hooks �grapple guns that also work on smaller foes, as shown in the trailer �and the howitzer, which is a "three-raider job."

"When ARC is around, lone wolves never?? make it very far."

I'm intrigued by this concept, and I hope the team dyn?amics are ??genuinely important.

The post ARC Raiders is a PvE shooter about stopping killer droids from outer ??space, and it has high-budget EDF ?vibes appeared first on Destructoid.

Kick things off with an Arcane tie-in

Legends of Runeterra, a card game that shares its world of Runeterra with League of Legends, has officially revealed its new single-player mode. The Path of Champions is a new way to play PvE in Legends of Runeterra, and the key difference between this and other single-player offerings from LoR is all in the story.

The mode goes live on Nov. 10, but we got a chance to check out some of? the content ahead of time. Taking place in the world of Runeterra, the Path of Champions functio?ns like many other single-player deckbuilders. You progress along a path of branching nodes, choosing different routes that might offer upgrades, boons, or unique encounters.

As part of the launch, Riot is celebrating the release of the Arcane series on Netflix with a story-based narrative set in Piltover and Zaun. ??This was the area we got to check out, as I piloted a Jinx deck through the underworld and up into Piltover.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQ3wkCknT5I

One big takeaway from this special campaign was the incorporation of story, which made it stand out not just from Runterra's other offerings like the Lab of Legends, but many other run-based deckbuilders. If you like the world of League of Legends and R??uneterra in general, Path of Champions really showcases? it all in a new light with animated comics and voiceovers.

There are even branching narrative choices, which can result in different endings for your run depending on what you choose. As a fan of the Jinx and Vi-focused narrative that Arcane is zooming in on, it worked pretty well for me.

It may be contingent on whether you enjoy playing the base game of Legends of Runeterra, but the nice part is that Riot's card game is free-to-play. If the idea of a branching run-based mode with lots of League of Legends lore sounds appealing, it's fre??e to download and try out.

A bevy of new content arrives alongside Path of Champions, including a new Mega Event Pass with emotes, guardians, and card backs, as well as some Gilded skins for Arcane-related cards ?like Vi, Jinx, Caitlyn, Ekko, and Jayce.

Legends of Runeterra will launch its Pa??th of Champions mode on Nov. 10, 2021.

The post Legends of Runeterra’s new Path of Champions mode puts single-player story at the fore appeared first on Destructoid.