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Slowly but surely, the list of things that gamers know about Mass Effect 4 is getting longer. Previously, BioWare confirmed that the Mako, Mass Effect’s much maligned all-terrain vehicle, will return in a new and improved form. The game won’t star Commander Shepherd, but it’ll be set during the same time period as her (or his) adventures. Mass Effect 4 will feature a renewed focus on exploration, but won’t copy the open-world structure of Dragon Age: Inquisiton....

It’s not always easy to make your voice heard in the storm of explosions, bone-rattling bass, and world-ending stakes of most games showcased at E3 2014. But buried within the blockbusters shown during Microsoft’s press conference, a short trailer managed to leave the audience in silence, wondering just what to expect from Ori and the Blind Forest. An unknown, unadvertised arthouse project getting the spotlight alongside Xbox One juggernauts seemed too strange to be real, and even after playing it for ourselves, it’s difficult to tell just what to make of it....

After coming off an incredibly successful Kickstarter campaign that raised nearly $8.6 million in August 2012, the Ouya has yet to find much success. Several missteps have hampered the Android-based console since its launch, and its run so far prevented the Ouya from becoming the proverbial David versus the industry’s Goliaths that company CEO Julie Uhrman had hoped for. Shipping problems and controller issues left many with a bad taste in their mouths when the Ouya first released in June 2013....

The polar opposite of Grand Theft Auto’s gritty, hard-hitting realism, the Saints Row series has shined an odd light at gang culture across four games. From sewage-spraying mini-games to earn money and respect to car thievery and all-out supernatural gang battles, the four Saints Row games have embraced the ridiculous, which is exactly why they’ve been so popular. Last year’s Saints Row 4 sold phenomenally well as The 3rd Street Saints upgraded from a popular gang (with merchandise and a handful of businesses) to a spot in the White House, defending the country from an alien invasion....

Financial support for developer Cloud Imperium Games’ space combat sim Star Citizen has continued to pull in millions of dollars after the game earned the crown of most successful crowd-funded project ever four months ago. Since that milestone this past June, the game that is poised to resurrect the space sim genre went on to double its funding and hit its $20 million goal. That heap of dough is enough to fully cover Star Citizen’s expected budget....

Fans of comic books and action gaming are likely already keeping track of news surrounding The Amazing Spider-Man, and the development team is already opening up about some of the changes they are planning on making to the existing formula. The name of their game is giving players more combat and traversal options than they’re used to, which will hopefully be enough to bring a breath of fresh air to Beenox’s time with the franchise....

The wait continues for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, as the developers at CD Projekt Red are hedging their bets - now setting release for May 19, 2015. Yet the studio remains adamant that not only will the finished game deliver a satisfying end to hero Geralt of Rivia’s story, but also offer newcomers a welcome entry point into the series without overwhelming them with lore or mythology. Given what we know about the story of The Witcher 3, it’s likely there will still be characters and personal history that flies over the heads of new players....

The Carmen Sandiego franchise has been around for a long time, and not just in video game form. The character and basic storyline of Carmen Sandiego have been ported to various movie and television properties, including a game show that aired on Nickelodeon in the 1990s. There’s currently an animated series airing on Netflix that serializes her adventures and includes a lot of interesting backstory information that viewers haven’t seen previously....

Xbox Game Pass has been on fire as of late, and that trend continues with the addition of Minecraft Dungeons, the new hack and slash from Mojang, the minds behind the insanely popular sandbox game Minecraft. Since its release in 2011, it has amassed a huge following of die-hard fans from around the world. The game is crammed full of awesome secrets and callbacks that most keen-eyed fans would be able to spot in a heartbeat....

A bald derivative of James Bond who kills people with a garrote doesn’t exactly sound as interesting as a British spy who has a hidden gun in a pen, but here we are with the 12th Hitman game in existence, Hitman 3. It’s the third in the newest episodic trilogy of the famous stealth puzzle game and it’s as grand and wacky as ever in equal doses. Still, Hitman 3 is both a sad and happy thing....

Rockstar Game’s sequel to their highly-beloved Red Dead Redemption came with over 35 hours of engaging playing time. The game was jam-packed with main storylines, side quests, treasure hunts, hunting and fishing quests, and more. Players were given so many quests and activities to partake in, it’s no surprise that some hilarious, spooky, and entertaining plotlines remained hidden to a lot of gamers. Some of the best storylines might have slipped under most fans noses, calling for a replay of Red Dead Redemption 2 to find them the second time around....

There was a lot riding on Pokémon Gold, Silver and Crystal. Generation one quickly proved to be a world-conquering smash hit, after all, and the follow-up had to prove that this success wasn’t just a flash in the pan. A tall order whichever way you slice it. How did Gold and Silver accomplish this? By rejigging some of the original’s questionable mechanics and adding in so much more of its own....

At the time of Horizon Zero Dawn’s release, it provided you with a vast, post-apocalyptic, open world, where exploration was made pivotal to the immersive gameplay experience it provided. Piloting Aloy as she discovered her past while simultaneously battling cybernetic dinosaurs was truly an unforgettable experience. While Horizon Zero Dawn, unfortunately, meets its end after about thirty-ish hours, this list of open-world games will provide you with a slew of existential issues, larger-than-life monstrosities, and an expansive open-world, much akin to Horizon Zero Dawn....

Pokemon has remained at the top of its game for over 20 years at this point and there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight. Between the super-popular video games and long-standing television anime, the franchise is gaining more new fans than it is losing in any given year. With all of this turnover, as well as the ever-expanding roster of Pokemon, which creatures are getting lost along the way?...

Religion is quite a big part of the Pathfinder system, just like in Dungeons and Dragons. It is important to worldbuilding, character creation, and many of the stories that players hack and slash and seduce their way through. Some classes require belief to use some of their features, and sometimes piety is needed to access certain traits. With such a heavy focus on this aspect of the game, it should come as no surprise that Paizo has come up with an extensive and exhaustive list of gods that players can get to know....

As many fans know, there has always been an astonishingly wide variety of differences between the Pokémon games and anime. Rather than the turn-based battles of the games that revolve around careful thought and deep strategy, the anime often breaks the rules of what Pokémon are capable of, making for more exciting and fast-paced battles. This can often result in certain moves being used in ridiculous ways, while other Pokémon use moves that they could never normally learn in the mainline games....

Some of the greatest stories ever told have come from mythology and folklore. Their heroes are larger than life whilst the villains and monsters they strive to defeat are truly terrifying. From Odysseus’ adventures across the seven seas to Beowulf’s liberation of Scandinavia, that these tales have survived through the centuries is a true testament to the quality of their storytelling. Although Westerners are likely well-versed with much of the European mythology, many remain unaware of the fantastic collection of folk-tales that Japan and China have to offer....

Pokémon Sword & Shield added a ton of new gameplay elements to the game that make it a really unique and engaging game in the Pokémon franchise. Among them is the fact that there are now different weather events. The weather in most places is locked until the post-game and some weather events won’t happen until the player completes the story, but the Wild Area is constantly having different weather events in different parts of the area....

EA’s UFC 4 has been out for a few days and has been quite well-received by critics and fans alike. However, even though it’s available as part of a 10 hour trial through EA Access/EA Play some gamers may still be on the fence about whether or not they want to invest in another edition of EA’s mixed martial arts series. On the surface, it doesn’t look as though much has changed in UFC 4 compared to its predecessors, but those that dive into the game’s mechanics will see and even feel some significant improvements and changes....

There’s no getting around the fact that the NES era isn’t generally considered to be the best time for horror games. While the popular narrative that horror gaming didn’t properly begin until Resident Evil was released in 1996 obviously isn’t accurate, it’s safe to say that the ’80s and early ’90s were a strange time for the genre. In a way, though, that makes it that much more interesting to look back at the NES era of horror games and try to find the gems....