Blizzard has announced the global release of World of Warcraft: World Within, along with teasers for upcoming events to celebrate the anniversary and a new trailer for Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred.

Taking the stage at Gamescom 2024, Blizzard unveiled numerous details about the global release of World of Warcraft: World Within, teased anniversary events, and showcased a gameplay trailer for Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred. Before diving into the news, here’s a breakdown of everything that has been announced!

World of Warcraft: World Within and Anniversary Celebration

The first announcement is the global release date for World of Warcraft: World Within, set for August 26, 2024, with early access available on August 22 for die-hard fans. To celebrate Warcraft‘s 30th anniversary, Blizzard will host a special event in October 2024, offering players the chance to earn in-game rewards. More details about the anniversary celebration will be shared later, with the first World of Warcraft Direct scheduled to go live toward the end of the year.

Attendees at Gamescom can also stop by the show floor for a VR experience, where they can enjoy the thrills of skydiving through Dalaran and experiencing the invasion of the fabled city—a thrilling and immersive adventure.

Overwatch joining the fun to celebrate Warcraft’s 30th Anniversary!

Overwatch 2 will be releasing a skin in celebration of the World of Warcraft anniversary. Releasing in September, Blizzard has shown a sneak peek of the upcoming skin for Widowmaker as she will be showing her allegiance to the Hordes as Sylvanas Windrunner.

But alongside the celebration of the World of Warcraft anniversary, Overwatch will be in a joint stand with Porsche to highlight their collaboration with a life-size D.Va statue modelled after the all-electric Macan and a real-life rendition of an iconic map that fans can enter. 

Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred – The Mercenaries reveal trailer

With Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred releasing on October 8th, 2024, Blizzard has shared the Mercenaries trailer to introduce the new characters to fight alongside you and highlight the latest features. 

From the trailer, you fight alongside Guardian, Redemption, Vengeance, and Rage in a group called Pale Hand against the hordes of enemies in a team and never alone. The mercenaries are nothing but ordinary characters with remarkable skills, as they can be hired to fight alongside you in Hell. Not only can you fight alongside a mercenary, but you will be exploring a new multistage dungeon called The Kurast Undercity and a new co-op PvE dungeon called The Dark Citadel. Lastly, those who pre-purchase the expansion pack will instantly unlock the new Demon Wings cosmetic and receive a one-month Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.    

With everything announced from Blizzard at Gamescom 2024, are you excited about the upcoming events and expansions?

Funcom has unveiled Dune: Awakening, showcasing the beloved world and the gameplay players can expect in the survival MMO, which is expected to be released in 2025.

Fans of the Dune franchise can rejoice as more details about Dune: Awakening have been revealed in a new trailer. The release date is set for early 2025, with the console version to follow later. An exclusive five-minute gameplay trailer was showcased at gamescom 2024, featuring characters crash-landing in the desert and fighting to survive the harsh environment.

From the Dune: Awakening trailer, we learn three rules we must follow. The first rule is to survive, as the sun is scorching hot in the desert and avoid being attacked by colossal sandworms. The second rule is to expand your influence from combats, spice flow, building and upgrading bases, crafting vehicles, and trading as you develop your character as the Mentat, Trooper, Planetologist, Swordmaster, or Bene Gesserit. The final rule is to control the spice to hold the powers as guild intrigue and warfare rage, as you will need to join a guild to align with House Harkonnen or Atreides and clash against other guilds involving vehicles, tech, and specialized combatants. 

Funcom is working closely with Herbert Estate and Legendary. Awakening is set in an alternative history where Paul Atreides was never born. As it takes place in its own universe, the players will have the chance to put Arrakis’ future in their own hands. 

With the five-minute gameplay of Dune: Awakening being revealed at gamescom 2024, many content creators, including Sacriel, Alphacast, and Mowky, will livestream an extended 30-minute presentation over the next few days. Alongside the extended presentation, journalists and creators will have the chance to play the Dune: Awakening demo behind closed doors to share their impressions with the public. 

As the exclusive gameplay was showcased during gamescom 2024, the third Dune: Awakening Direct will air on August 29. Soe Gschwind returns as the host and will present more gameplay and details.

 As of now, Dune: Awakening will be launched on PC in early 2025 and will arrive on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S at a later date. In the meantime, be sure to wishlist the game on PC and console, with a chance to enter the closed Beta by signing up on the official website. 

Activision has unveiled a sneak peek into the Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 mission Most Wanted, which features sneaky yet explosive action. 

With Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 releasing in October 2024, Activision has shown a sneak peek of a mission called Most Wanted, showcasing the level playthrough as the characters use stealth before going all out. From the gameplay, we are shown a glimpse of the story as it takes place after the Cold Wars, a bit of the new Omnimovement system, and ends with a bang. 

Right from the start, the character is shown trying to blend in to get closer to the Senator with nothing but his fist to take down his securities and a camera to capture pictures of the Senator to receive sensitive information. Despite being a stealth section, it seems to be quite thrilling and very action-oriented until you reach a section requiring the use of your camera to gain access to a room. At this point, reaching the top from the basement is gun-blazing.

As they move on to the next section of the mission, the characters are shown taking down the enemies and uniting with Adler for more manpower. While progressing to the elevator, an enemy with a machine gun arrived to stop the team from going any further, giving us a glimpse at how the Omnimovent works as the character is shown diving backward and running to the sides before releasing an RCXD to take down the enemy.

Right at this point, the mission progresses normally, with a few hiccups as the elevator explodes, and it fast-forwards to everyone shooting against the enemies as they escape riding on the motorcycle. Quite a thrilling and blood-pumping mission!

For those looking forward to Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, be sure to mark your calendar on August 28th as Call of Duty NEXT will be making a return!

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will be released on October 25th, 2024 for the Xbox One/Series X|S, PlayStation 4|5, and PC! Be sure to keep your eye peeled in the meantime before the release!  

Mindscape has announced the partnership with Dav Pilkey to bring a lovable dog from the best-selling comics to the video game world, Dog Man: Mission Impawsible!

From being the best-selling graphic novel to a video game, Dog Man will be receiving his first game titled Dog Man: Mission Impawsible for the PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam. The game will be a 2D side-scrolling platformer with nothing but fun and engaging puzzles, visiting iconic locations from the Dog Man universe, and plenty of levels to fuel the excitement!

Created by bestselling author and award-winning illustrator Dav Pilkey, the graphic novel series was launched by Scholastic in 2016, selling more than 60 million copies in print and translated into 47 languages. As of March 2024, the latest entry to the beloved series, Dog Man: The Scarlet Shedder, was released with huge success as it became a #1 bestselling book overall in the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, and was the #1 bestselling children’s book in the UK.  With Dog Man: Mission Impawsible, the game will provide another way for the fans to engage with the comic universe as it will soon join the theatrical release from Dreamwork/Universal. 

Dog Man: Mission Impawsible will be a 2D side-scrolling platformer with plenty of fun and engaging puzzle mechanics. As you embark on an adventure across 50 levels spanning five different worlds, you must pursue a thief who stole the key to the city. Players will explore eight iconic locations from the beloved comic universe, including the City Hall, the Giant Marshmellow Factory, and many jails. However, to ensure the gameplay is action-packed and entertaining for the fans, each location will offer unique platforming challenges and puzzle-solving opportunities. 

Are you excited to explore many iconic locations in the Dog Man: Mission Impawsible? If so, be sure to keep your eye peeled for the game release as it will be available on PC via Steam, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox Series X|S!

Behaviour has announced that Dead By Daylight will collaborate with the legendary Castlevania, featuring the legendary Trevor Belmont and Dracula!

Time to get your whip ready, as Dead By Daylight will be collaborating with Castlevania via a public test build on Steam starting today, with an official release on the 27th of August. The upcoming exciting collaboration will feature the first shape-shifting vampire, Dracula, with Trevor Belmont as the survivor.

Originally released by KONAMI on the Famicom Disk System in 1986, the Dead by Daylight team has joined forces with the original Castlevania team to bring 8-bit glory to the survival horror game Dead by Daylight. This time around, Dracula’s powers and his castle are linked, with The Entity bringing both into his realm. Whenever Dracula is a featured killer in a trial with an original map, players will see the castle looming on the horizon of the map.

As Dracula enters Dead By Daylight: Castlevania, he will be the first shapeshifting Killer and a vampire in The Fog. As you embodied Dracula, you can shapeshift as a Vampire to stalk your prey and conjure flames that burn the flesh and render its bone to ash, a Bat to creep around in the shadow and gain ground with a blink, and the Wolf as a relentless hunter for fresh blood.  

Since his first introduction in 1989’s Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse, Trevor Belmont has entered Dead By Daylight: Castlevania to fulfil his Belmont clan history and take on the Entity Realm. Though not the brawniest Belmont, he will have the skills that set him apart from the others, with the ability to seek out allies and use his legendary skills as a vampire hunter to truly honour the Belmont Clan.

Are you excited about the exciting collaboration? If so, Dead By Daylight: Castlevania is currently available as part of the Steam public test build until its official release date, August 27, 2024. 

Fantastic Fest has announced an exciting partnership with Day of the Devs. From September 20 to 22, 2024, Fantastic Games: Presented by Day of the Devs will be hosted by Fantastic Fest!

Fantastic Fest, the largest genre film festival in the U.S. specializing in horror, fantasy, sci-fi, and action, will partner with Day of the Devs, a non-profit that celebrates the creativity, diversity, and magic of video games, to host Fantastic Games: Presented by Day of the Devs. The partnership will feature many exciting video game showcases from September 20 to 22, 2024. 

Fantastic Games: Presented by Day of the Devs is a video game showcase that will be taking place during the 9th edition of Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas. The showcase will feature 12 horror games the attendees can play, with some being playable for the first time. Fans of the exciting festival and horror games can purchase various badges now to access the festival and the video game showcase!  

Game developers interested in submitting their games for consideration to be part of the Day of the Devs showcase will have until today, August 5th, to apply through this form. Developers from diverse backgrounds are encouraged to apply, but only games or projects in the horror, fantasy, sci-fi, and action genres will be considered to fit this year’s Carnival themes. 

As the attendees enjoy the Fantastic Fest and play games at the Fantastic Games: Presented by Day of the Devs, the event will be sponsored by five gaming brands. The sponsorships included are:

• Blumhouse Games – Releasing Fear The Spotlight later this year.
• Devolver – Released the Hotline Miami series, Katana ZERO, Human Fall Flat, and many more. 
• Double Fine – Released the Psychonauts series, Headlander, Grim Fandango Remaster, and many more. 
• Iam8bit – Selling physical copies of games that are digital only such as The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe, Neon White, Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, and many more. 
• Raw Fury – Released Regions of Ruin, Blue Prince, Zet Zillions, and many more. 

Are you looking forward to the Fantastic Fest and Fantastic Games Presented by Day of the Devs? If so, be sure to keep up to date with the Fantastic Fest and purchase your badges by visiting the website!