Latest articles by Austin Wood
My next Metroidvania kick is an ingenious mix of Zelda-like exploration, twin-stick combat, and pitch-perfect controls – with 97% positive Steam user reviews
news Minishoot' Adventures absolutely nails an odd combination
Stellar Blade keeps fixing things that bothered me when I reviewed it – now including "input time for basic attacks, as well as the timing of blocking and parrying"
news Stellar Blade's day-one update is a pretty big deal, it turns out
Hades 2 technical test "winding down" in a few days, but don't be too sad – Supergiant says the roguelike's early access launch is "relatively soon after that"
news Hades 2's technical test will "start winding down on Monday"
After 10,000+ hours grinding, MapleStory's first level 300 player slams the brakes at 299.99 to rant about the MMO and then quit, all on a dev-promoted stream
news He's now playing The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time on stream
Destiny 2 is un-sunsetting every gun in the MMO with The Final Shape's massive Power changes – but Bungie says "we have no recovery mechanism" for deleted ones
news Legacy gear will be brought up, and widely re-released in the future
In a rare extreme for monetization, Escape from Tarkov dev doubles down on locking new PvE mode behind $250 edition as players chant "this cannot be tolerated"
news Tarkov's new Unheard Edition has not gone down well
I wish Stellar Blade's New Game+ was added before my first playthrough, because it sounds like a whole new action RPG with 34 new outfits and a bigger skill tree
news New Game+ is starting to look like the second half of the game
Against all odds, Helldivers 2 community notches a historic win in grueling Major Order many thought impossible – defending 10 planets amid communication breakdowns
news They actually did it
"Please restrain yourself": Dev of Steam-topping city builder Manor Lords asks players to hold back on game-breaking town walls until a "proper" tool is added later
news There's no stopping early access ingenuity
Oh good, Stellar Blade's day-one update adds the one feature I really wanted after finishing it: New Game+
news I think I'd enjoy Stellar Blade a lot more the second time through
Stellar Blade puts Eve in some incredibly stupid sexy outfits that hurt the game's story, but despite the forced sex appeal I actually love her detailed design
Features Opinion | Sex appeal doesn't have to be a random bikini
Hades 2 gets a huge gameplay stream out of nowhere: devs reveal new features, characters, Boons, and more in the roguelike sequel ahead of its technical test
news Hades 2 dev Supergiant abruptly shares a boatload of live gameplay
As it goes gold, Stellar Blade dev says "many people felt we were out of our mind" for trying to make a full-fat action RPG in Korea's mobile-dominated market
news "Getting to work on a AAA game in Korea is quite a rare feat," says one developer
This Metroidvania had my curiosity after boasting of an Elden Ring-sized map, now it has my attention after showing off some slick JRPG and Soulslike elements
news Fallen Tear: The Ascension looks like a whole bunch of stuff that I love
The Helldivers 2 dev asked players about its new Warbond and worst guns, and after 25,000 responses folks overwhelmingly agree that they both need a little something
news The first Helldivers 2 Discord player poll sends a clear message after a few hours
"I may need your help": Japanese visual novel publisher goofs too close to the sun by saying one anime girl plushie made more money in 28 hours than its past 28 years of games
news JAST is not actually rebranding to Dave's Fumo Emporium, though it is tempting
After EA kicked it down Steam out of nowhere, indie crafting game finds success despite being "a terrible idea for a profit-generating game" according to its own dev
Features Interview | Potions: A Curious Tale is out of the red despite unforeseen launch struggles
Are we sure Star Wars Outlaws is a Ubisoft game? Its director says there are no map towers to climb out in the open world
news It sounds like we'll just, you know, explore instead
The "infinite ammo, never reload" Helldivers 2 loadout has made fighting the Automatons so much more fun that I can never go back
Features Opinion | Have you met our lord and savior LAS-16?
Destiny 2: The Final Shape suddenly looks like the coolest thing to ever happen to the MMO thanks to a new Prismatic subclass and Exotics designed to break the game
Features Opinion | Bungie is taking the kid gloves off once and for all
One of 2018's greatest roguelikes is finally getting a sequel, and its expanded 4-player online co-op looks fantastic
news Wizard of Legend 2 is back with more magic dungeon-crawling
