At this afternoon’s Opening Night Live show at Gamescom 2024, Grinding Gear Games formally announced that early access for Path of Exile 2 is slated for November 15th. In other words, MOARPG fans will have about a month to finish up Diablo IV’s Vessel of Hatred, which launches October 8th, before moseying on over to […]

Gamescom 2024 in Cologne, Germany, is about to begin with Geoff Keighley’s Opening Night Live spectacle, a two-hour parade of trailers, advertisements, and ideally, new game announcements that kick off the show and set the stage for the event… oh yeah, and give those of us back home some distraction. Thanks to public hints and […]

One of the hallmarks of advancing technology is that power increases while form factor decreases, and now that looks to be true of the original 1997 ARPG Diablo, which can now be played on a web browser or a mobile phone thanks to the efforts of some fans. This web-based port of the game is […]

Diablo 4 Season 5 makes Infernal Horde even more essential as it’s your primary source of various materials. These fundamental things can range from powerful sets to Infernal Compasses. [...]

Living Steel is a special item that will give you access to an endgame boss that is only available in World Tier 3 and 4. In this guide, we’ll [...]

Diablo 4 has a couple of classes to choose from, ranging from the Barbarian, Rogue, Sorcerer, Druid, and Necromancer. Since the balance of power shifts and changes in every [...]

Players tend to focus on farming Infernal Hordes due to how much loot they can get from completing them. These drops can range from high-quality gear to essential summoning [...]

Borderlands 4 is real and coming sometime in 2025. Gearbox Entertainment made the latest sequel to its hit looter shooter franchise official with a teaser at Gamescom Opening Night Live showing a literal collision of worlds. It arrives just in time to give fans something to look forward to after the recent movie bombed…

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It’s now possible to quickly and easily play the original 1997 Diablo on your PC or phone via a simple website. Just load it up on your browser and you can start killing demons and skeletons like it’s the ‘90s all over again.

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After what the internet considered ‘nearly endless patch notes,’ Diablo IV‘s 5th Season of the Infernal Hordes has now been unleashed.

After weeks of teasing and patch notes providing pages of balance changes, the fifth season of Diablo IV, Season of the Infernal Hordes, has gone live. To prep wanderers for their escapades across the hellish landscape of Sanctuary, Blizzard has provided a launch trailer that showcases all of the big changes friends and foes alike will have to contend with when jumping back in. The brief trailer can be seen below.

The latest chapter in Diablo IV brings a new questline for wanderers to contend with while also bringing back the honour system from the Iron Wolve’s Encampment from the previous season. While the new season brings a new mode, the Infernal Horde. Players can earn or craft Infernal Compasses to access the Infernal Hordes, which drop from the various end-game content throughout Diablo IV. Infernal Compasses (like the nightmare dungeon sigils) scale by tier levels to increase Infernal Horde strength. Since the title’s launch, this is the first time the seasonal horde content has also been available to access in the Eternal realm.

Infernal Hordes drop incredible loot called the Spoils of Hell, and these can include notable Masterworking materials to strengthen your character even further. At the end of every Infernal Horde run, the Fell Council will contend to meet with you, and three of the five bosses will attempt to end your life. These Battle Fell Priests have plagued Sanctuary since Diablo II, and each comes with their own abilities and attack patterns to send you to Hell.

And that’s not all. Season of the Infernal Hordes also grants access to over 50 new unique weapons with abilities and strengths to send the hordes of hell back to where they came from. As previously mentioned, the new season comes with a wealth of patch notes, including a list of how unique items will be overhauled this season and general balance changes to Sanctuary. The notes can be found on the official Blizzard website.

Fans looking to dive back into Sanctuary can now do so in the new Season of the Infernal Hordes, it’s live now, waiting for wanderers to contend with Hell.

Thought that Microsoft was going to drop $72 billion on Activision Blizzard and then allow the studio to continue operation with no interference whatsoever? So this is our “we’re not surprised” faces when the news came out that Microsoft is restructuring its expensive new toy to form a smaller team that will focus on creating […]

Title: Victor Vran
Type of Game: Action Role-Playing Game (ARPG)
Developer: Haemimont Games
Publisher: EuroVideo Medien
Released: July 24, 2015
Platforms Available: PC Game, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Mac Game, Linux Game
Platform Reviewed: PC
Level of Maturity: Teen
Reading Time: 14 minutes

Mastering the Combat Dance

Victor Vran is a fast-paced action diablo-like game with RPG mechanics. We control Victor Vran, a demon hunter, navigating through a variety of environments filled with monsters to defeat and loot to collect. The game emphasizes real-time combat, where you must dodge, block, and attack strategically. Weapons, outfits, demon powers, and destiny cards allow for extensive customization of Victor’s abilities and playstyle. Each weapon type (ranging from swords and shotguns to scythes and lightning guns) offers unique attacks and combos, encouraging experimentation with different play styles. The learning curve is balanced, giving an easy start while gradually introducing more complex mechanics and tougher enemies. The game’s approach to character progression, which is tied to gear and cards apart from traditional leveling, adds strategic depth to character building and adaptation.

Crafting Destiny with Cards

A standout feature in Victor Vran is the Destiny Card system. Players earn Destiny Points as they progress, which can be used to equip Destiny Cards. These cards grant various passive abilities and bonuses, such as increased damage, faster healing, or enhanced critical hit chances. This system allows for extensive customization with a non-traditional approach. With a variety of cards to choose from, you can mix and match to adapt to different combat scenarios.

Alchemical Adventures: Gear Transmutation

Another one of the game’s features I must cover is the transmutation system. This system allows us to combine and upgrade the equipment using various transmutation recipes. By sacrificing unwanted gear and materials, I enhanced my favorite weapons and outfits or created entirely new ones. This system helps manage inventory clutter and provides a way for you to obtain powerful and unique equipment. Experimenting with different transmutations to discover potent combinations can be a gamble if you do it randomly, so use the recipe guides in the game!

A Gothic Steampunk Dreamscape

Visually, Victor Vran boasts a Gothic, steampunk aesthetic with detailed environments. The game features diverse locations such as dark dungeons, haunted castles, and cursed towns, each rendered with atmospheric lighting and intricate textures. The environments are not only visually appealing but also interactive, with destructible objects and dynamic lighting. The visual effects during combat, like explosions and magical attacks, are pretty well executed as well and add to the excitement of battles.

Sonic Warfare: Sound and Music

The game’s sound design is something I particularly enjoyed; it is robust, with a compelling soundtrack that creates an intense atmosphere. Voice acting is solid, particularly the protagonist Victor, whose dialogue adds depth to the character, and is, in my opinion, very well narrated. Sound effects, from the clash of weapons to the roars of monsters, are well-executed and enhance the combat experience. The soundtrack, featuring contributions from the legendary band Motörhead in the “Motörhead Through the Ages” expansion, is unique and energetic, so it is a perfect fit for a demon-themed game.

Conquering Alone or Together

Victor Vran offers both single-player and multiplayer modes. In single-player, you can immerse yourself in the story and explore at your own pace. Multiplayer mode allows for cooperative play with up to four players. The multiplayer experience is well put together, with cooperative mechanics that encourage teamwork and strategic planning. I joined friends to tackle challenging dungeons, face tougher enemies, and discover rare loot together, making the multiplayer aspect a significant enhancement to the game’s replayability. Since the game is old, it does get hard to find players to play with, so you might have to join some groups on Steam or recruit some friends.

Dynamic Challenges and Modes

The game introduces new challenges and mechanics across its levels to keep gameplay fresh. You will encounter a range of enemy types, environmental traps, and unique boss battles that require different strategies and sometimes even load-outs, especially in hard mode. Some levels include areas with dynamic weather effects, which definitely adds value.

Diverse Difficulty Modes for Every Player

Victor Vran offers multiple difficulty modes, including Normal (casual), Hard, and eventually Heroic mode. In Normal mode, you can enjoy the story and gameplay at a comfortable pace, with challenges that gradually increase in difficulty. This mode is ideal for newcomers to action RPGs or those looking for a more casual experience. Hard mode, on the other hand, ramps up the difficulty, presenting tougher enemies, more complex combat scenarios, and harsher penalties for failure. This mode is designed for experienced players seeking a more intense and challenging gameplay experience. The difference in difficulty modes adds replayability, as you can start on Normal and later attempt Hard mode for a more rigorous test of your skills. Note: If you start the game on hard mode, you can still change your mind later and switch back to normal mode; it doesn’t work vice versa, though

Heroic mode is an even tougher difficulty setting available after completing the game once. In this mode, enemies are much stronger, have huge health pools, are more aggressive, and have additional abilities, providing the ultimate challenge for those looking to test their skills to the fullest. I still have to complete the heroic mode myself, so do not expect an easy challenge.

Hard and heroic modes also introduce a unique feature called Hexes, my favorite detail in the game, which are modifiers that add disadvantages, increasing the game’s challenge but also the rewards. For example, the “Hex of Time” speeds up all enemy movements and attacks, requiring quicker reflexes and strategic adjustments from time to time. Other Hexes can increase enemy health, cause more frequent critical hits from foes, or even prevent health regeneration. Note that hexes are random from level to level; you can’t choose which ones apply.

Community and Continued Support

Victor Vran has a community, and even though not too active, it is still worth checking out. Online forums and Steam communities are hubs for players to share tips, strategies, and custom builds. While the game doesn’t feature extensive user-generated content tools, the community contributes to its replayability and longevity in a way.

Since its release, Victor Vran has received several updates and expansions, such as the “Fractured Worlds” and “Motörhead Through the Ages” DLCs. These expansions introduce new content, mechanics, and storylines, significantly adding value to the game. The developer, Haemimont Games, has shown responsiveness to player feedback, continuously refining and expanding the game based on community input, from the release all the way up to the 2019-20 patches.

Accessibility and Integration

Victor Vran includes various accessibility options like remappable controls and scalable UI elements. These features helped me make the game more inclusive, accommodating different play styles and preferences. While it lacks some advanced features, the existing options provide a good level of accessibility for most players, including myself.

Victor Vran integrates well with Steam features like cloud saves, achievements, and trading cards, which is important for me, a Steam nerd. Cloud saves ensure progress is synced across devices, while achievements provide additional goals and challenges, which, as we know, can be very important to some of you as well! Although the game doesn’t have extensive mod support, its inclusion of Steam trading cards and achievements enhances overall player engagement. Steam Workshop support could potentially add even more community-driven content, though it is not currently a feature of the game, and probably won’t be as I believe development has halted.

Rock and Roll Meets Demon Hunting

The Motörhead-themed DLC, “Motörhead Through the Ages,” incorporates the band’s music into the game. This adds a rock-and-roll twist to the game, which I find amusing. The expansion was developed with input from Motörhead’s members, adding authenticity to the themed content.

Not Without Its Flaws

Despite its strengths, Victor Vran does have some flaws. The gameplay can sometimes feel repetitive, especially during extended play sessions. Additionally, while the visuals are generally good, some animations and textures could be more polished. These issues are relatively minor and don’t significantly detract from the overall enjoyment of the game, but they are worth noting. Also, I did have some bugs where enemies would not spawn, so I had to restart the map, but yet again, nothing major to be concerned about.

Final Thoughts: A Thrilling Journey

Playing Victor Vran was an interesting experience. The combination of fast-paced combat, deep customization, and a rich, atmospheric world kept me engaged for quite some time, around 32 hours. The game’s cooperative multiplayer mode added another layer of fun, allowing me to play with my friends, which was extremely enjoyable so I urge you to find someone to play with. The possibility of switching between different weapon types and adapting to various combat scenarios and playstyles kept the gameplay dynamic and interesting.

Certain builds can be a bit broken, so my advice is to read some guides on the builds. The hard mode was pretty challenging too, not going to lie, so I am looking forward to the heroic mode! To sum it up, Victor Vran provides a thrilling and immersive action RPG experience with its engaging combat, extensive customization, and atmospheric world. Its community and ongoing developer support enhance its longevity, making it a solid choice For more reviews like this, stay tuned on our page! Game on!

Where You Can Buy Victor Vran

Steam (PC, Mac, Linux): Available for $19.99. You can purchase it directly from the Steam store, and the overkill edition is priced at $39.99.
Xbox Store (Xbox One): Available for $19.99. Check it out on the Xbox Store, overkill edition priced at $39.99.
PlayStation Store (PS4): Available for $19.99. You can find it on the PlayStation Store, and the overkill edition is priced at $39.99.
Nintendo Shop (Switch): Available for $39.99. Purchase the Overkill Edition from the Nintendo Shop.
GOG (PC): Available for roughly $21. Purchase it from GOG; DLCs are separate.

Official Page: Visit the Victor Vran official page for more information.
Subreddit: Join the discussion on the Victor Vran Subreddit.

The post Victor Vran: A Demon Hunter’s Tale appeared first on WePlayGames.net: Home for Top Gamers.

Uber Uniques are supposed to be the rarest, most powerful items in Diablo IV and they’re about to get completely reworked. Blizzard outlined how each item is changing in the upcoming Season of the Infernal Hordes to make the gear stronger across all builds. They’re also getting a new name.

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Diablo IV’s next big update arrives in just a few days and it’s adding another cool mode: Infernal Hordes. It seems aimed at leaning even more into the action RPG’s strengths of letting you blow up a whole screen full of enemies in mere seconds.

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Another week, another round of opinions and spicy takes for you to sift through. Rather than making you search the site and find them yourselves, however, we’ve gathered our best opinion pieces of the week right here. From Diablo IV’s loot game change making it a good game again to a wild Tetris story, we’ve got…

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Diablo IV’s Loot Reborn season isn’t quite a version 2.0 overhaul, but its major changes to the action-RPG’s loot and endgame have players falling back in love with the game and showering it with praise for the first time in several months. “Since the release of this season, I have played more than I slept lol,” wrote…

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Diablo IV is getting a major overhaul on the heels of its one year anniversary. Blizzard recently revealed almost every major change to come in season 4 later this month, and fans are excited for the action-RPG to finally fix some of the biggest complaints players have had since launch.

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Mayors in RPG games are rarely given the spotlight. They're mostly just there to give you an early quest involving goat banditry or windmill rats or some such other domestic drudgery. Or, in the case of Tristram’s mayor in Diablo, to fret behind the scenes about how to properly fit considerable cathedral repairs into this month’s budget. Well, no more must this valuable civil servant hide behind balance sheets, occasionally popping out to cut a big ribbon in celebration of a nearby mausoleum being turned into a Wetherspoons. Tristam is a 72 hour Ludum Dare project where you play as said town’s mayor. And this time: It’s ceremonial!

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Blizzard had a few things happen in the last week or so, which means it is probably time for a quick catch up.

I don’t even have much of a side story for the opener.  It is raining here.  That is something, though it is hardly a Blizzard.  Also, “first Friday” is a thing with some groups, a day to go out and have dinner or just hang around with pals.  Sometimes it is a civic thing.  Not something that I have ever observed, but it was either that or a Groundhog Day reference, so let’s move on.

• A New Blizzard President

After the blood letting of last week Microsoft has announced a new leader over at Blizzard to replace the mediocre Mike Ybarra who either jumped or was pushed, depending on who is telling the tale, from the pinnacle at the company.  Either way, he had a golden parachute to soften the blow considerably and is gamely talking about exciting new opportunities as though his caretaker stewardship of Blizz was a monumental achievement.

Replacing him will be Johanna Faries, who starts in the position on Monday, but who has already sent out an anodyne and artificially upbeat company-wide email heralding her arrival.

Faries previously headed the Call of Duty franchise on the Activision side of the house so, while I know nothing about her, she at least knows how to deliver content more than once every other year, something Blizzard and the WoW team could likely learn from.  There are a bunch of new articles about this, but I was most amused by the Venture Beat entry which breathlessly asks if she can save the studio!  SAVE THE STUDIO that is probably still bringing in close to a billion dollars annually.

Save us Johanna Faries, you’re our only hope!

I for one welcome our new Call of Duty overlord!  Please don’t make me regret that statement.

Also, I do wonder if she is getting the Mike Ybarra or the Jen Oneal compensation package, because Mike’s compensation was high than Jen’s.

• A Pet from Prime Gaming

Blizzard once more has something for you in retail WoW over at Amazon’s Prime Gaming.  This time it is a companion pet.

Once claimed on your account you can summon your new pet and interact with it.

Sail the seas of Azeroth with Cap’n Crackers. Just don’t say anything you wouldn’t want repeated for the next 20 years. Cap’n Crackers is interactable: if you /whistle at this pet, Cap’n Crackers will sit upon your character’s shoulder. This pet is summonable at any level.

Now, is it any good at pet battles?  Or is it just another generic avian?

WoW Instructions page for collecting this pet.

• Season of Discovery Update February 8th

We already knew that phase 2 of WoW Classic Season of Discovery was coming up in February… next Thursday to be exact… and some of the more general information about it, like Gnomeregan being converted to a raid, but Blizz now has a post with much greater details and it is up on PTR which means the data miners are going crazy.

Josh Greenfeld has some words about the data mining over on Twitter:

I wanted to take a moment to talk about datamining and the PTR.

You will see many things in datamining if you seek it out, some of it is real, some of it is experimental things that will never see the light of day. I’d take all of it with many grains of salt. Additionally, any stats or abilities are subject to change at any time.

Re: PTR – The only thing testable normally on the 1.15.1 PTR is non-seasonal Era and Hardcore, and you may be wondering “Why did you put 1.15.1 on the PTR at all?” and that’s a fair question. The full and real answer is that by having no PTR for the SoD content itself, we put a lot of pressure and stress on our live operations and support teams that help us run the game as we may have increased live support requirements around our launch for any issues that may escape to live.

Having no Era PTR for the patch at all compounds this further because then we can’t catch systemic problems such as server issues and crashes that will affect all versions of vanilla classic, and we run the risk of making the launch unstable for many players.

So don’t believe everything you read I guess… or just don’t go digging into that stuff if you don’t want spoilers or disappointment when things seen do not come to pass.

Meanwhile, in emphasizing the raid-centric view of the WoW team, Blizz was all over social media about how phase 2 would not allow GDKP for raids going forward.  That led me to two questions.  First, what is GDKP and, and second, what is Blizz going to do about it?

Google answered the first, at least somewhat generically.  Blizz, on the other hand, has been less than informative.  But there assumption up front seems to be we all know what it means, what they’re on about, and what they’re going to do.

It is one of those things where Blizz reveals what they care about and who they are really communicating with.  If you don’t raid you aren’t on their radar.

Anyway, even once somebody explained it to me in a jargon free way, I was still kind of “so what?”  But PC Gamer, they assert that this change has SET THE COMMUNITY ON FIRE!

Save us Johanna Faries, you’re our only hope!

• Which Diablo is This Diablo?

In a surprisingly low key announcement Blizzard announced that the first two Warcraft titles, Warcraft: Orcs & Humans and Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness, were now available in the Battle.net online store, along with the original Diablo.

And I have questions.  We got versions of those, including the original Diablo from GoG.com a few years back.  Is this the same version of the game as that, including the same issues and limitations?  Is this something new and better, or at least something that has updated compatibility.  But over at the Battle.net store it is as quiet as the Sphinx, posing a riddle it will not answer:  What am I getting for my ten bucks?

If it was improved I might consider it.  If it is the same as the one on GoG.com, I already own it and am not keen to buy yet another copy of the game simply to get one that is tied to Blizz directly.

And the same applies to the two Warcraft titles.  I can’t tell if this is deceit or indifference on the part of Blizz.

Blizzard had a few things happen in the last week or so, which means it is probably time for a quick catch up.

I don’t even have much of a side story for the opener.  It is raining here.  That is something, though it is hardly a Blizzard.  Also, “first Friday” is a thing with some groups, a day to go out and have dinner or just hang around with pals.  Sometimes it is a civic thing.  Not something that I have ever observed, but it was either that or a Groundhog Day reference, so let’s move on.

• A New Blizzard President

After the blood letting of last week Microsoft has announced a new leader over at Blizzard to replace the mediocre Mike Ybarra who either jumped or was pushed, depending on who is telling the tale, from the pinnacle at the company.  Either way, he had a golden parachute to soften the blow considerably and is gamely talking about exciting new opportunities as though his caretaker stewardship of Blizz was a monumental achievement.

Replacing him will be Johanna Faries, who starts in the position on Monday, but who has already sent out an anodyne and artificially upbeat company-wide email heralding her arrival.

Faries previously headed the Call of Duty franchise on the Activision side of the house so, while I know nothing about her, she at least knows how to deliver content more than once every other year, something Blizzard and the WoW team could likely learn from.  There are a bunch of new articles about this, but I was most amused by the Venture Beat entry which breathlessly asks if she can save the studio!  SAVE THE STUDIO that is probably still bringing in close to a billion dollars annually.

Save us Johanna Faries, you’re our only hope!

I for one welcome our new Call of Duty overlord!  Please don’t make me regret that statement.

Also, I do wonder if she is getting the Mike Ybarra or the Jen Oneal compensation package, because Mike’s compensation was high than Jen’s.

• A Pet from Prime Gaming

Blizzard once more has something for you in retail WoW over at Amazon’s Prime Gaming.  This time it is a companion pet.

Once claimed on your account you can summon your new pet and interact with it.

Sail the seas of Azeroth with Cap’n Crackers. Just don’t say anything you wouldn’t want repeated for the next 20 years. Cap’n Crackers is interactable: if you /whistle at this pet, Cap’n Crackers will sit upon your character’s shoulder. This pet is summonable at any level.

Now, is it any good at pet battles?  Or is it just another generic avian?

WoW Instructions page for collecting this pet.

• Season of Discovery Update February 8th

We already knew that phase 2 of WoW Classic Season of Discovery was coming up in February… next Thursday to be exact… and some of the more general information about it, like Gnomeregan being converted to a raid, but Blizz now has a post with much greater details and it is up on PTR which means the data miners are going crazy.

Josh Greenfeld has some words about the data mining over on Twitter:

I wanted to take a moment to talk about datamining and the PTR.

You will see many things in datamining if you seek it out, some of it is real, some of it is experimental things that will never see the light of day. I’d take all of it with many grains of salt. Additionally, any stats or abilities are subject to change at any time.

Re: PTR – The only thing testable normally on the 1.15.1 PTR is non-seasonal Era and Hardcore, and you may be wondering “Why did you put 1.15.1 on the PTR at all?” and that’s a fair question. The full and real answer is that by having no PTR for the SoD content itself, we put a lot of pressure and stress on our live operations and support teams that help us run the game as we may have increased live support requirements around our launch for any issues that may escape to live.

Having no Era PTR for the patch at all compounds this further because then we can’t catch systemic problems such as server issues and crashes that will affect all versions of vanilla classic, and we run the risk of making the launch unstable for many players.

So don’t believe everything you read I guess… or just don’t go digging into that stuff if you don’t want spoilers or disappointment when things seen do not come to pass.

Meanwhile, in emphasizing the raid-centric view of the WoW team, Blizz was all over social media about how phase 2 would not allow GDKP for raids going forward.  That led me to two questions.  First, what is GDKP and, and second, what is Blizz going to do about it?

Google answered the first, at least somewhat generically.  Blizz, on the other hand, has been less than informative.  But there assumption up front seems to be we all know what it means, what they’re on about, and what they’re going to do.

It is one of those things where Blizz reveals what they care about and who they are really communicating with.  If you don’t raid you aren’t on their radar.

Anyway, even once somebody explained it to me in a jargon free way, I was still kind of “so what?”  But PC Gamer, they assert that this change has SET THE COMMUNITY ON FIRE!

Save us Johanna Faries, you’re our only hope!

• Which Diablo is This Diablo?

In a surprisingly low key announcement Blizzard announced that the first two Warcraft titles, Warcraft: Orcs & Humans and Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness, were now available in the Battle.net online store, along with the original Diablo.

And I have questions.  We got versions of those, including the original Diablo from GoG.com a few years back.  Is this the same version of the game as that, including the same issues and limitations?  Is this something new and better, or at least something that has updated compatibility.  But over at the Battle.net store it is as quiet as the Sphinx, posing a riddle it will not answer:  What am I getting for my ten bucks?

If it was improved I might consider it.  If it is the same as the one on GoG.com, I already own it and am not keen to buy yet another copy of the game simply to get one that is tied to Blizz directly.

And the same applies to the two Warcraft titles.  I can’t tell if this is deceit or indifference on the part of Blizz.