Do You Need to Play the First Game Before Playing Dead Island 2?

Dead Island 2is a title that has captivated fans in many different ways, with the game recently releasing on April 21. Not only does the game offer a bombastic experience via a more eccentric portrayal of the survival horror genre, but it has also revived a franchise that first laid its roots over a decade ago. As a long-awaited sequel,Dead Island 2maintains a lot of the core motifs and gameplay beats of its 2011 predecessor, with fans having waited an uncharacteristically long 12 years between the franchise’s only two mainline releases....

July 17, 2025 · 3 min · 588 words · Eric Ramirez

Final Fantasy 7: The 10 Strongest Non-Playable Characters

The party is less thanFinal Fantasy VI’sdiverse cast, but Final Fantasy VII has more of a quality over quantity situation. It allowed for Square to develop a deeper story with only a set amount of characters. Two of which were optional which sort of created some plot hole elements, but that is neither here nor there. RELATED:10 Best Combat Systems In Final Fantasy Games, Ranked From the main game to the spinoffs to the film adaptations, these characters are some of the most beloved in the franchise....

July 17, 2025 · 5 min · 897 words · Maria Hernandez

Friday the 13th: The Game Resurrected Hit With Cease and Desist

Summary A cease and desist letter forFriday the 13th Resurrectedhas been served to its developer, ending the campaign to bring the fan-made game to Steam. WithFriday the 13th: The Gameno longer available to download either, fans will need to continue getting their Jason Voorhees fix elsewhere. Just one week afterannouncingFriday the 13th Resurrectedcoming to Steam, the game has now been shelved pending legal action from Horror, Inc., owner of theFriday the 13thIP....

July 17, 2025 · 2 min · 365 words · Timothy Miller

Honkai: Star Rail Version 1.1 Makes Useful Quality of Life Change

Version 1.1 ofHonkai: Star Railcomes with a useful quality-of-life change that will improve the user experience when farming for some materials. Similar toGenshin Impact,Honkai: Star Railfans need to spend a lot of time farming for materials to improve their characters and their abilities. There are a bunch of different ways for gamers to upgrade their party members, with each character requiring some different sets of materials depending upon their damage type andPath inHonkai: Star Rail....

July 17, 2025 · 2 min · 396 words · Heidi Rodgers

How Elden Ring and Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Revolutionize Open-World Game Design

Perhaps no two titles have done more to advance the state of open-world game design thanElden Ringand the recently releasedThe Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. While the former showcased how the density of open-world spaces was more valuable than sheer size,Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomhas now established that open-world games can embrace verticality and start considering traversal in a much more interpretive way. It’s now hard to imagine a future where open-world games don’t borrow heavily from each of these titles in terms of the design and scope of their game spaces....

July 17, 2025 · 3 min · 621 words · Zachary Patterson

How to Craft a Workbench in Enshrouded

Embervale was once a vibrant land but had its joy stolen by the evil Shroud. Now, the Shroud has plagued the beautiful land, and there is one hope left: you. In the game, you step into the shoes of the Flameborn, and your goal is to save the world from the menacing Shroud. Enshroudedis filled with intense battles with deadly creatures and evil bosses. Expectedly then, you will need manytools and weaponsin your journey, some of which need to be crafted....

July 17, 2025 · 2 min · 401 words · Linda Gordon

How to Get Pump Action Shotgun in Alan Wake 2

Given the survival horror style and feel ofAlan Wake 2, players will be acquiring a number ofpowerful weaponsto help them battle the shadowy Taken foes that stalk its world. No true survival horror title would be complete without a selection of shotguns and accompanying puzzles that often guard them, andAlan Wake 2does not disappoint in this department. While players can grab a sawed-off version of the iconic firearm for Saga early on, they will need to progress a bit further in her story to find the superior pump-action model....

July 17, 2025 · 3 min · 546 words · Rebecca Morris

Is It Fair To Compare Every Anime Anti-Hero To Vegeta?

Dragon BallZis the progenitor of so many character archetypes in anime, as well as brilliant examples of the heroes, villains, and especially the progression from villain to anti-hero in the form of Vegeta. Many fans of the show are not unfamiliar with his character, especially those who grew up watching Vegeta’s development from planet-destroyer to warrior with pride and something to care for. As a result of this, his influence on anime as the anti-hero has shown many fans the best example of one, although with that many comparisons followed as more anti-heroes popped up over the years....

July 17, 2025 · 5 min · 913 words · Richard Cook

LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga Startup Screen Leaked Online

LEGO is celebrating Nintendo’s history with 35th-anniversary sets including an interactiveSuper Mariotoy and aLEGO NES withSuper Mario Bros.Easter eggs. However, in the realm of video games,LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Sagais in the works as a celebration of all nine mainline movies in the over 40-year-old franchise, and a leaked startup menu screen suggests developer TT Games will be leaning into that. The menu is a supposedly animated splash screen of major characters from all three trilogies on a generic rocky terrain, but what makes it special is seeing how they intersperse: Kylo Ren stands with Boba Fett, Rose Tico and Captain Phasma are hanging out with Yoda and Lando Calrissian, and the original trilogy heroes are near the top with Rey and Mace Windu....

July 17, 2025 · 2 min · 410 words · Laurie Andrews

Lupita Nyong'o To Star In A Quiet Place: Day One Prequel Movie

John Krasinski’sA Quiet Placelooks to be adding a notable star to the horrific Paramount universe.Black Panther: Wakanda Foreverstar Lupita Nyong’o looks to be in final negotiations to star inA Quiet Place: Day One. Michael Sarnoski will direct the film, which draws its inspiration from an original idea by Krasinski. TheParamountfilm will serve as a spinoff to 2018’sA Quiet Placeand 2020’sA Quiet Place: Part II, both written and directed by Krasinski.A Quiet Place: Day Onewill be a brand-new installment to the horror franchise but will focus on the events before the Krasinski films....

July 17, 2025 · 2 min · 396 words · Amanda Stevenson

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe: How to Play as Birdo

A fan-favorite dinosaur is joiningMario Kart 8 Deluxeand bringing some style. Players owning the Booster Course Pass will be able to play as Birdo in the now-released Wave 4 update of this racing game’s massive expansion. First joining theMario Kartcast in the GameCubeDouble Dashtitle as Yoshi’s partner, Birdo returned inMario Kart Wiias a standalone racer, but wasoddly absent from the Wii U’sMario Kart 8roster. The injustice has finally been corrected in Wave 4 ofMario Kart 8 Deluxe’s Booster Course Pass DLC, which not only brings back the egg-spewing dino, but spruces her up with a fresh coat of paint....

July 17, 2025 · 3 min · 483 words · Kimberly Owens

Marvel: Saddest X-Men Character Deaths

Summary TheX-Menstoriesacross various mediafocus on a group of mutant superheroes that come together under the care of Professor Charles Xavier, be it at the Academy or on the battlefield. Sometimes, they team up to fight common enemies, but other times, the mutants have no choice but to hide and retreat from the world around them. TheX-Menmovies show that many people despise mutants and are prejudiced towards them, making their lives particularly dangerous....

July 17, 2025 · 6 min · 1097 words · Crystal Brown

Microsoft Denies Reports That Xbox Controllers Use Batteries Because Of Duracell Deal

A few hours ago, the Gfinity blog Steal Operational conducted an interview with Duracell UK’s marketing manager Luke Anderson. In this interview, Anderson made comments concerning Duracell and Microsoft’s partnership, stating that Duracell supplies the batteries forXbox consolesand controllers. Since then, reports have surfaced online claiming that the deal between Microsoft and Duracell forces Microsoft to use Duracell batteries in their Xbox products. These reports are incorrect.Microsofthas recently responded to the Duracell claims in an interview with Eurogamer and outright denied them....

July 17, 2025 · 2 min · 401 words · Christina Mclaughlin