In this guide, I will discuss all the events that will take place across two in-game weeks.

Probably Stolen Week 1 walkthrough

The first week is where you begin your trade and set up your shop. First, pick a Specialization from the complete list of options available. Easiest one is Apprentice if you want things to begin smoothly.

Next, pick the starting Perks that you’ll want to shape your save. Similarly, you can pick from between three different difficulty modifier options. The game will give you a quick tutorial of the overlay, and you’re all set then for your first piece of business.

Day 1

There will be five customers to attend, and you can call them using the green button near the recorder. At first, you’ll find your mentor who guides you about the basics. The customers who appear will be randomized, so the ones I encountered will be different from the ones you do.

Ideally, I looked to buy all types of food items since they can be sold for a profit. You’ll also be provided with a list of criminals; if one of them appears, make sure to inform the authorities. This specific encounter is fixed for all players.

Day 2

Again the same pattern follows, and you will have four customers to attend to. Once again, I looked to purchase any food item they had, or discounted stuff they looked to sell for cheap. Do note that not every discounted item will be profitable, but you ultimately go green eventually.

After the second day, you’ll be able to visit the Dumping Ground. Once you exhaust all attempts, pick the most valuable item and return.

Day 3

On the third day, you’ll have six customers to attend. However, one of them will be your mentor, and you’ll learn about how to check discrepancies. You can use your magnifying glass to inspect closely whether the product you’re about to buy has any defects or not.

Day 4

On the fourth day, you’ll come across the labeler. The labeler allows you to fix counterfeit items that raise their values. I also came across one of the six criminals notified on day, and decided to call the authority.

Day 5

On the fifth day, you’ll get to establish your display case. You can keep an assorted list of items in this case. Do note that the types of items will keep will attract different kind of customers to your shop. On my run, a second bounty target appeared, and I once again decided to call the authority on them.

Day 6

The sixth day didn’t have anything worthwhile happening on my run. By now, you’ll find some really valuable items to purchase from few customers. If you have the credits, don’t hesitate to buy.

Day 7

The final day of the first week has the highest number of clients to meet. Moreover, you’ll get to encounter someone named Wild, and you’ll learn about upgrades. Known as Wild’s Favours, you can pick from a wide variety of upgrades.

Your picks will largely depend on how your run is proceeding, and what kind of items you need.

Stay tuned for the walkthrough for the second week and all its days.

The post Complete Probably Stolen walkthrough: Week 1 appeared first on Destructoid.

You’ll find all the details of every weapon that can be found in the game.

Disclaimer: Work in progress.

How to find all weapons in Queen’s Domain

There are two ways to get weapons in the game. You can either find them on the maps, or you can purchase them from the shop. The table below has the special abilities and location of every weapon I have found so far.

The post All weapons in Queen’s Domain and how to find them appeared first on Destructoid.

In this guide, I will explain what each status effect means and how to know if you’re affected by one of them.

All Status Effects in Queen’s Domain

The following table has complete explanation of every Status Effect.

Thankfully for Queen’s Domain players, most Status Effects resolve automatically over time. You can also find dedicated cure items to instantly heal yourself from the negative effects, however.

The post All Status Effects in Queen’s Domain explained appeared first on Destructoid.

This week, Bungie detailed all it aims to bring back to the game after being cut in the past years. It’s certainly ambitious, and the studio doesn’t seem too daunted by that prospect—though having the backing of millions of players can’t hurt.

The return of the missing content by itself isn’t the key takeaway, though. For the first time in years, Bungie’s new leadership seems finally at liberty to communicate openly and sincerely with the Destiny 2 community. No half-concealed words or conveniently ignoring difficult topics, instead embracing the tough questions and finally building momentum.

Adopting this stance earlier could have meant Destiny 2 wouldn’t need awe-inspiring support from hundreds of thousands of fans to be saved. Maybe it wouldn’t need saving at all.

It’s refreshing to see the new decision-makers at Bungie being so candid, in particular about hard topics. Of course, saving the game from death through community support earns heaps of goodwill to your fans. But for the first time in a couple of years, the relationship doesn’t feel transactional, dismissive, or outright antagonistic.

Bungie’s new leadership certainly deserves credit for steering the ship during this comeback. They’re bound to run into some colossal challenges, especially once you look at the extent of everything they plan on reinstating.

But let’s face it: it wasn’t that hard to do the right thing in the first place.

I’m not saying this to hate on the new leadership (and I’m using this term broadly to define the people with decision-making power). Head of product Josh Deane, new studio head Poria Torkan, and others have absolutely been doing a great job fostering goodwill, being transparent about its big-picture plans, and sharing timelines, in no small part with the help of community manager Dylan Gafner.

Because of this new direction, I finally have faith in Bungie for the first time since The Final Shape in mid-2024. Not just because they’re doing the right things, but because, unlike the previous leaders, they’re not doing the wrong things—and for Bungie, that’s often just as important.

When you look at it, a lot of the studio’s shortcomings were self-inflicted. Siphoning resources from Destiny 2 for an uncertain bet on the nascent Marathon caused a schism that might be irreparable to the community, and the eldest of the two titles undoubtedly suffered for it. The vision for The Edge of Fate seemed borderline sadistic, cranking the power grind back to 11 and branding it as content.

Read what’s behind the latest news in gaming (with a bit of snark) by subscribing to the Destructoid Checkpoint newsletter!

Complaints about obvious pain points would go unanswered, particularly after The Edge of Fate. Players were begging for any change, but Bungie’s inaction seemed to show it was unable—or worse, unwilling—to put out fires, instead letting the house burn down. The studio appeared to either not understand or not care about the overwhelming feedback, which feels like a special skill all on its own. It’d clean house at the “worst superpower” contest, that’s for sure.

Compare it to now. One end-of-service announcement, a killer update, and millions of displays of support later, Deane told Destiny 2 fans not to buy Marathon as a donation to keep the developer afloat because “It’s our job to show up for you.” If I saw a certain CEO writing that a couple of years ago, I would’ve assumed they were either hacked, under duress, or aiming for gold at the World Series of Saying Things They Don’t Mean.

Fans sent the message loud and clear that the previous approach was unsustainable, which is why Destiny 2 is back from the dead and equipped with new people at the helm. We’ve spent years telling Bungie what not to do, and the new leadership is finally listening and taking it to heart. That’s another skill on its own, of course, especially in a community as varied as Destiny 2‘s.

Comms are cautious yet candid. The old Bungie might have blurred dates with vague “in a future update,” but the latest announcement is clear: don’t expect the unvaulting until at least early 2028. It’s imperfect and far off and difficult and not what some may have hoped to hear. But it’s real.

I’m unabashedly excited for new content for Destiny 2 again, which I haven’t been since Heresy. I don’t mind that I’ll have to wait a year and change for it. I know this time, at least it will be done right. There’s also the possible Destiny remaster and whatever’s in the future of the franchise.

It’s hard not to wonder what would have happened if maybe leadership had changed sooner, before apathy became the norm. It would have been a lot easier to wait two years if the process had started two years ago, so we’d be reaping the benefits of it now—and, as a bonus, we wouldn’t have had to watch Destiny 2 agonize.

I wish the good news hadn’t come at the cost of the game dying, but I’m glad we’re getting anything, even if it’s a bit far off. Until then, I’m confident Bungie will surprise me along the way, and I don’t even remember the last time I felt that.

The post Bungie’s new leadership finally understands what Destiny fans want—after we spent years shouting it at them appeared first on Destructoid.

Let’s find out the best contenders to include in this evolution based on the requirements and offered upgrades.

FC 27 Two Faces of Fear Evolution requirements

Here are the requirements for the Two Faces of Fear Evolution in FC 27.

• Overall: Max 80
• Pace: Max 86
• Dribbling: Max 82
• PlayStyle: Max 7
• PlayStyle+: Max 0
• Position: ST

FC 27 Two Faces of Fear Evolution upgrades

The evolution has three upgrade levels, each with specific conditions to meet.

Level one upgrades

• Overall: +5|81
• Finishing: +8|82
• Reactions: +7|80
• Sprint Speed: +4|82
• Volleys: +6|80
• Composure: +7|80

Level two upgrades

• Acceleration: +4|82
• Ball control: +6|80
• Penalties: +6|80
• Positioning: +8|82
• Shot Power: +7|82
• Stamina: +7|78

Level three upgrades (Two Options)

Option A

• Aggression: +6|78
• Heading Acc.: +8|82
• Jumping: +8|82
• Strength: +8|85
• PlayStyles: Precision Header|3
• Roles: Target Forward++

Option B

• Agility: +6|80
• Dribbling: +6|81
• Short Passing: +8|80
• Vision: +8|80
• PlayStyles: Incisive Pass|3
• Roles: False 9++

Level one upgrade requirements

• Play a match in Squad Battles at least on Semi-Pro difficulty (or Rush/Rivals/Champions/Live Events) using your active EVO player in the game.

Level two upgrade requirements

• Play a match in Squad Battles at minimum on Semi-Pro difficulty (or Rush/Rivals/Champions/Live Events) using your active EVO player in the game.

Level three upgrade requirements

• Play two matches in Squad Battles on minimum Semi-Pro difficulty (or Rush/Rivals/Champions/Live Events) using your active EVO Player in the game.

Best players to use in Two Faces of Fear Evolution

Here are some of my best recommendations to include in the evolution.

• Rutter
• Bouanga
• Kroupi
• Soule
• Madjo
• Ayoze Perez
• Castelle
• Pablo Rodriguez TOTW
• Meerdink TOTW
• Nakamura
• Kendry Paez
• Gouri

The post Best players for FC 27’s Two Faces of Fear Evolution appeared first on Destructoid.

The Skyborne race was my faction of choice, aligned with the Alliance of course. I was a Rogue, like most of my characters in WoW, except in post-WOTLK expansions where I would pick anything, level it to 55, and then go and make a blood Death Knight.

This new race’s starting zone was refreshing. It had a plethora of different areas clearly drawing inspiration from other locations in Vanilla WoW, and moving from one place to another gave you a sense of progression through its environmental storytelling alone. It boasted a lot of cool ancient temples, alongside dark forests shrouded in mist and mystery and strange cities attuned to the very world and the powers of the wind.

The leveling in general was fine. The quests mostly followed the usual MMORPG formula of go there, kill that many creatures, and by chance loot them to bring me their unique items. That’s the overall gist, but some of the quests did have narrative grounding, and the writing in the quests themselves was actually better than I had expected of modern WoW. However, the structure of the zone meant a lot of players skipped most of its content and never saw the ultimate showdown, i.e., the zone’s narrative conclusion.

This is both good and bad. The game does not force you to stay in this zone for much longer than you want to, and as soon as you’re fed up and done, you can go to one of the ships and reach Dalaran, Stormwind, or any other faction capital you want to visit. Once there, you get quests that take you across the world and allow you to pick up leveling from areas in regular Vanilla WoW, but staying in the starting Skyborne zone is an option.

Read what’s behind the latest news in gaming (with a bit of snark) by subscribing to the Destructoid Checkpoint newsletter!

It starts to drag after level 10 or so, though, so leaving for Stormwind was actually what I did around level 13 and started my journey across the Eastern Kingdoms using boats and trains and walking on foot.

It was an adventure of sorts—I hadn’t played World of Warcraft for a long time now, and had not set foot in Vanilla for literally 15 years. This solemn odyssey across the world, to Teldrassil and the Ironforge and into Westfall and through Stormwind, was a trip down memory lane into a time that longer exists, a childhood I was born into, of which remain unseen fragments that only the mind’s eye can glimpse.

The overall experience, significantly boosted by the unprecedented amount of other players achieved both through nostalgia and the new no-realm system, was one that slingshot me back to the good old days, and I’m glad I got to play it.

I recommend checking WoW: Forever out if you liked old WoW but wanted something new added to the mix. The Vanilla is intact if you want to ignore all the novelties, but you always keep the option to try them out.

The post WoW: Forever ultimate impressions—Vanilla Plus approach makes Classic an exciting adventure once more appeared first on Destructoid.

While nothing is official yet, we could be seeing the epic finish to Respawn’s fresh take on the franchise. The next Star Wars: Jedi would then be followed up by the recently-confirmed Battlefront 3.

This is according to Schreier, who said “Jedi 3 is far in development” whereas “Battlefront 3 hasn’t even started yet.” These replies followed up his recent report for Bloomberg, in which he claimed EA canned BioWare and its Mass Effect 5 project because a new Battlefront was seen as a safer, less risky sci-fi investment.

Read what’s behind the latest news in gaming (with a bit of snark) by subscribing to the Destructoid Checkpoint newsletter!

“They chose to invest in Star Wars and shut down BioWare as a result,” Schreier reported based on sources from EA.

These details are scarce, but they build on leaks and rumors from the past few months that a new Jedi game is coming soon. Since it is “far in development,” it could be a safe bet to assume it’ll be officially unveiled during The Game Awards on Dec. 10. A lot of big games are saving their revelations for that event, so why wouldn’t a giant like EA?

Furthermore, it seems EA is going to stick to broadly popular IPs going forward, axing its own in favor of licensed deals and only focusing on what’s worked immediately leading up to the Saudi takeover. BioWare was naturally let go after a series of horribly-performing games like Anthem, Mass Effect Andromeda, and Dragon Age: The Veilguard, none of which had any major acclaim or pop cultural impact.

With the conclusion to the Jedi trilogy, EA could immediately pick up work on Battlefront 3, especially since the second game had a massive resurgence last year and continues to be incredibly popular despite its age and controversies that led to the most disliked Reddit comment in the site’s history.

The post Third Star Wars Jedi game is reportedly ‘far in development’ at EA with Battlefront 3 still in the earliest stages appeared first on Destructoid.

I spent most of my time playing as Castille, looking to proclaim the Spanish Monarchy after uniting the crown of Aragon with my own, following the historical path that led to the eventual rise (and fall) of the Spanish Empire. The DLC opens the game up with a unique situation, the Battle for the Strait, in which Morocco and Castille vie for control over the last remnants of Al-Andalus—the Emirate of Granada. Castille, aka myself, wants to conquer and integrate it into the later Spain, while Morocco has its own agenda and seeks to either expand itself or reclaim the glory of the Umayyads in Iberia.

It took several tries, but I eventually conquered Granada fully. It declared an independence war, which I had trouble containing long enough for Morocco to sweep in, proclaim Granada its subject, and take over as the war leader. The independence war no longer being the main CB, I was allowed to conquer Granada’s territories. It was rather easy since I had total continental dominance compared to Morocco, even if they held the upper hand on the sea at the time.

But to my surprise the situation just… ended? The events leading up to it were cool and flavored, but the situation itself simply had very few decisions you could make as Castille. For example, I could only dismantle Granada’s forts, reduce its sovereignty, and demand Muslim scholars from it and convert them to Christianity. That was about it, though I could also pressure its court to gain greater control over the country. Furthermore, Granada simply wants to be independent from you, and nothing really helped. Even at +150 relations, Granada was severely disloyal and declared numerous independence wars against me.

Read what’s behind the latest news in gaming (with a bit of snark) by subscribing to the Destructoid Checkpoint newsletter!

Morocco and Tlemcen also were super warlike and kept declaring wars, disrupting my gameplay, for no particular reason. They couldn’t take any territories, seldom had naval supremacy, and never, and I mean never, had any upper hand on land. The Battle for the Strait thus devolves into a waiting game whereby you actually want to give Granada over to Morocco and then conquer it willy-nilly, since Granada’s countless independence wars do not allow you to do basically anything against it in a peace deal, forcing white peace.

A much stronger side of the DLC are the new expeditions, which all tie into your historical status as a colonial nation searching far and wide for mythical cities and locations. These expeditions are a much better way of exploring than simply sending out exploration missions as they come with a ton of flavor and unique events and can lead to some incredible finds and rapid expansion into the New World. As someone who absolutely adores colonial gameplay in every EU game, I found this to be the strongest and most interesting part of the DLC.

The Iberian Union did not work out well for me since for some reason Aragon kept taking it over despite my ruler being the only son of the king and queen who formed it. I eventually gained control somehow and started integrating the Catalonians into the ultimate Spanish state. A few of my runs fell through because of France, whose levy-spam strategy still works in the game, and because I am completely dumb in economics.

Overall, though, I think this DLC definitely improves the state of affairs in Iberia. It’s better than not having it, even if the main situation is a bit dry. The DLC spans hundreds of in-game years, through many different eras and ages, and it will keep you engaged and entertained for a very long time indeed.

The post Europa Universalis 5’s Across the Pillars DLC adds nice Iberian flavors but lacks a little spice appeared first on Destructoid.

In this guide, I will discuss how you can trigger all the endings in Probably Stolen.

How to unlock all endings in Probably Stolen

So far, I have encountered 17 different endings in the game, but just two of them can be considered happy endings. Both involve a buyout where you purchase the store.

The post All endings in Probably Stolen and how to unlock them appeared first on Destructoid.

Most efficient factory setup in Moon Sweepers

For this guide, you need to have access to all the endgame features. Until then, it’s best to do everything manually. For this setup, we will be using Capsule Catchers, Pressure Chambers, and Stone Presses. However, the aim is to maximize the efficiency of Conveyor Belts since you can connect at most 12 of them.

For our optimal setup, we will use two Capsule Catchers, four Pressure Chambers, and eight Stone Presses. However, let’s first understand how the method works by breaking down the setup.

First, place the Capsule Catcher. For maximum efficiency, you want to use four bots for a singe catcher. Next, there will be two sets of Conveyor Belts from the Capsule Catcher.

Place two Pressure Chambers. As I said, there are two sets of Conveyor Belts from the Capsule Catcher: One for Dust, and one for Sand.

Put a Splitter at one of the two Conveyor Belts connected to the Capsule Catcher. Draw two more belts from the Splitter and connect each to the Pressure Chambers. Now, the Capsule Catcher will send Dust to the Pressure Chambers and produce Moon Sand. We have one of our two key ingredients.

Next, place four Stone Presses. We will connect two Stone Presses with one Pressure Chamber. To do so, put a Splitter at the end of the Conveyor Belt that connects the two.

If I name my Pressure Chambers as PC1 and PC2 (suppose), Stone Press 1 and Stone Press 2 will be connected to PC1, and Stone Press 3 and 4 will be connected to PC2. Make sure that they’re connected to the correct paths (Sand must go to the terminals that accept Sand).

Now, put Splitters at the end of the Conveyor Belts that will deliver the Dust from the Capsule Catchers. Put the first Splitter to break the path into two paths, and one more on each to further split the two paths into four.

Each of these four belt paths will be connected to the Dust terminal of your Stone Presses. Now, your Stone Presses have Sand and Dust, and they can produce Moon Stone. This has the best rate of returns in terms of profits.

Finally, use Mergers to combine the output of all four Presses into a single Conveyor Belt that will be connected to your base.

For maximum efficiency, you’ll want to do this setup with two Capsule Catchers, four Pressure Chambers and eight Stone Presses. The method remains the same, but the design is just going to be more complex.

An alternate way to do the same setup is by using the garage. This applies if you are carrying most of the dust in your vehicles. In that case, you’ll want to replace the Capsule Catches with Garages. When you unload the dust, it will kickstart the same process that’s shown in the method above. However, this method is less optimum in my books as it isn’t fully automated.

The post Best factory layout in Moon Sweepers appeared first on Destructoid.

In this guide, I will go through the teams with the highest transfer budgets across all the different leagues in Football Manager 27.

Teams with the highest transfer budgets in Football Manager 27

I have considered the default budgets you get for every team when beginning a new save and put them in the table below, which has all the information you need.

Read what’s behind the latest news in gaming (with a bit of snark) by subscribing to the Destructoid Checkpoint newsletter!

The list is heavily dominated by clubs from the Premier League, which isn’t a big surprise. That league is the richest one in club football, and that also reflects in the budgets of the clubs in Football Manager 27. Clubs like Arsenal, who won the Premier League last season and lost in the finals of the Champions League, provide one of the easiest save starts.

That said, you can always begin with a team with a smaller budget if you want to take on a challenge.

The post Football Manager 27 clubs with the highest transfer budgets appeared first on Destructoid.

In this guide, I will go through all the questions and correct answers so that you don’t make any silly mistakes.

BA 2K27 Episode 8 answers

Episode 8 went live earlier today on Oct. 31.

• Limited Time Modes
• MyTeam
• Daily Login
• Premier Exchange
• Grizzlies
• Rebounding
• 3rd
• Bulls
• Any
• 24
• Season Rewards

You can get a total of 2,200 VC.

NBA 2K27 Episode 7 answers

Episode 7 went live earlier today on Oct. 16.

• 3
• Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
• 3
• Any Answer
• 0
• Anthony Edwards
• GOAT builds
• 1st
• Wizards
• Young Wayne
• Karl-Anthony Towns
• Any

You can get a total of 2,200 VC.

NBA 2K27 Episode 6 answers

Episode 6 went live earlier today on Oct. 9.

• 2026
• Jazz
• Darrell Griffith
• Difficulty
• Any
• True
• Event Center
• Casual Corner
• 6
• Any
• Leaderboards

You can get a total of 2,200 VC.

NBA 2K27 Episode 5 answers

Episode 5 went live earlier today on Oct. 2.

• Dribble Emote
• Art of Shooting
• Normal Pass
• Point Guard
• B. Otripletrey
• Euro Step
• Left Trigger
• Go-To Shot
• 5v5
• True

You can get a total of 2,000 VC.

NBA 2K27 Episode 4 answers

Episode 4 went live earlier today on Sept. 25.

• 3x
• Fever
• 2025
• Aces
• True
• True
• Wembanyama
• Post Lockdown
• Daily
• Any answer
• Gatorade Facility
• 5v5

You can get a total of 2,200 VC from all the answers.

NBA 2K27 Episode 3 answers

Episode 3 went live earlier today on Sept. 18.

• 1v1
• 23
• Any Answer
• Cam
• Fire and Concrete
• All of Them!
• Cousins
• True
• Proving Grounds
• Mini Marksman
• Limitless Range
• Any Answer
• Caitlin Clark

You can get a total of 2,400 VC from all the answers.

NBA 2K27 Episode 2 answers

Episode 2 went live earlier today on Sept. 11.

NBA 2K27 Episode 1 answers

Episode 1 went live shortly before the start NBA 2K27‘s early access. This also marks the start of Season 13 of MyTEAM. Here’s a rundown of all the questions appearing on the episode, along with their correct answers.

You can get a grand total of 2600 VC if you manage to answer all the questions correctly. It’s a nice quantity to get for free at the very start of the season.

How to watch 2KTV episodes in NBA 2K27

Once you’re at the main screen, go to the 2KTV section, and you’ll find all the available episodes. Each episode is broken down into smaller parts to make it easy for you to earn your rewards.

Parts that show VC on top of them will have quiz questions popping up, and answering them correctly will fetch you your rewards. This section will also feature all future episodes when they appear. Last year, 2K dropped the episodes in late Friday evenings. It remains to be seen if they will follow the same schedule.

The post All NBA 2K27 2KTV answers: Episode 1-8 appeared first on Destructoid.

Not all of them are built equal, however, and this guide will help you figure out the best ones.

Complete Monster Hunter Outlanders weapons tier list

To separate all available weapon options in the game, I have used three different tiers.

• S-tier weapons are the best options to have due to their sheer in-game power.
• A-tier weapons are suitable alternatives, but you’ll need to support them with the correct build.
• B-tier weapons can do well in niche situations.

S-tier

A-tier

B-tier

The only weapon that falls in this tier is the Lance, which is good if you want something defensive. However, its attacking potential is extremely limited, making it a challenge to use in most situations.

The post Monster Hunter Outlanders weapons tier list appeared first on Destructoid.

Now, if you were ever involved in modding circles, you know how many ambitious projects can sprout in a community, many of which will never make the finish line—and the bigger the project and the longer the development cycle grows, life inevitably tends to get in the way. So the folks behind Fate of the Galaxy deserve a massive, massive round of applause for getting this past the finish line.

To underline how ridiculous this timeline is: FreeSpace 2 itself was released eight years prior, and Fate of the Galaxy was not even the first attempt at making such a mod for the game. (I see you, Star Wars Conversion Project! I was there!)

As the total conversion’s page explains, the “goal is to deliver starfighter combat that captures the look and feel of the movies.” It certainly got the look and the sound right, based on the trailer:

Eagle-eyed readers are likely flabbergasted by the fact that this nifty little thing is running on the engine of a space sim first released in 1999. I will for sure revisit the story of this incredible title and the community that it sparked someday, but the short version is that Volition made what is still considered to be the best game of its kind, but Interplay’s poor marketing decisions led to poor sales, the developers were spun off to THQ while they kept the franchise rights, and their subsequent financial collapse left the series in limbo, with studio itself closing its doors in 2023.

However, the game’s source code was released for noncommercial use, and the FreeSpace Open project that emerged from the ashes of a fantastic game that would never get another sequel has kept polishing and upgrading the underlying engine, producing absolutely incredible content to this day. The total conversion is completely free, ready for you to take to the stars after just a few clicks on its ModDB page: you don’t even need a copy of FreeSpace 2 itself, though I would strenuously recommend that you give that a try too. It’s a treasure trove of great sci-fi.

I don’t think we can ever have enough Star Wars space games, and Fate of the Galaxy is filling a surprisingly large hole. I never really got the hang of Star Wars: SQUADRONS, precisely because it didn’t have the  FreeSpace physics I grew up with, so I’m going to be all over this one once I have a bit of free time.

Poignantly, the work is dedicated to a team member who “tragically passed away in 2023:” to my shock, it was a fellow traveler—and fellow countryman, even—from my own FreeSpace modding days, and we even worked together on a campaign-that-ballooned-into-something-like-a-TC for a long while.

So I really hope the Force is strong with this one.

The post Fanmade Star Wars game 19 years in the making is finally here, and it’s based on the greatest space sim ever made appeared first on Destructoid.

After several tech companies reported on subpar earnings, and some even on how AI seems to have ruined their revenue streams, a massive stock selloff was triggered, taking hardware producer Intel down by over 30 percent and putting it on track to go below its 1971 IPO levels. The Nasdaq-100 is down 10 percent since Oct. 6, and just about every single company related to AI took a hit, big or small.

Google (Alphabet) dropped 12.49 percent in the last five days following an earnings report that allegedly indicated AI overviews butchered its main revenue stream. It is now sitting lower than in October 2025 and is down 27 percent compared to six months ago.

Nvidia’s stock price went down almost 20 bucks, or about 10 percent, in five days, but it has since regained a bit of its lost value. AMD, its main competitor, lost 10 percent of its stock value during today alone.

Micron, one of the main producers of DRAM in the industry and an absolutely vital part of the current AI boom, also saw a reduction, with 5.5 percent of its stock wiped out on Oct. 30. SK Hynix, its brother-in-arms in RAM production, went down around eight percent. Across the board, shareholders are panicking and selling off their stock, driving stock prices down.

China’s stock market is also seeing a huge dip, also primarily involving AI-focused corporations.

Whether this is a blatant short or market manipulation meant to devalue these supergiants so big investors could buy the dip and make untold amounts of money is unknown, but I would not be surprised. The AI market is propped up by fictional cash, incredible losses, and trillions of dollars going around in circles, passed around between Nvidia, AMD, RAM producers, data center builders, and cloud computing companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, and others.

Eventually, though, the snake will eat its own tail, and that, my friends, will be a sight to behold.

The post AI companies flew too close to the sun: tech sector stock selloff sees Intel take the biggest hit appeared first on Destructoid.

In this guide, I will explain what the Human Adventure Cable does and how to use it effectively.

How does the Human Adventure Cable work in R.E.P.O.

The Human Adventure Cable is essentially a whip that you can use against enemies. Once you pick it up from the store, you have to equip the item. Then, aim towards and enemy to bind them with the rope.

Once bound, you can then carry the enemy to a decent distance and throw them. So far, the whip seems to work against all types of enemies, so that’s a bonus. The distance you can cover varies. It also works better against enemies that are slower because they’re easier targets.

To throw the enemy, you need to catch it with your whip first. Then, carry it to the point where you want to dispose of the enemy. Do note that you cannot do much damage with it, which is the only negative aspect of this otherwise useful tool. However, it’s perfect for managing your map.

The Human Adventure Cable isn’t the only new thing in R.E.P.O., as you can also please the moon in the Halloween event to get bonus rewards.

The post How to use the Human Adventure Cable in R.E.P.O. appeared first on Destructoid.

This followed 2025’s large-scale update that added things like Perks and Stadium mode, and is quickly becoming a pattern of things to come: a big update at the beginning of every year to keep things fresh and reinvigorate the community. And according to OW devs I spoke to in a recent group interview, it’s worked and will continue.

“I think our launch this year was huge for Overwatch,” game director Aaron Keller said. “If you look at the trajectory that we’ve had over the past few years, you can really see players getting excited for the game. And even sentiment for Overwatch as a game and as a franchise really turned around, not just for our players, but I think for a lot of the gaming community in general.”

Looking back on 2025’s launch, Keller said Blizzard “wanted to have this big moment where people could sit up and take notice of what Overwatch was doing,” and Perks were a big part of that. Keller said that “perks is probably one of the most successful gameplay systems that we’ve introduced in the game,” but lamented that “our lesson from [2025] was that we hadn’t gone big enough.”

“We were doing everything we could to really focus on the core game for our players, but we thought that we could do more,” he said. “We thought that we could make the start of the year more impactful, more exciting. And that’s what really drove us to do everything that we did this year, and I think that it was successful.”

When I asked if the changes had made an impact on the game’s revenue or the business, Keller said that it’s not something they talk about publicly. But “in every instance of player excitement, player sentiment, seeing the results with the broader gaming community, I think it was a really successful strategy and a really successful launch.”

The biggest shift this year, other than quality-of-life updates and the largest hero release cadence the company has ever had on the game, has been a renewed focus on the game’s storyline and narrative.

“Part of those two years wasn’t just the plans on the team and making sure different pistons on the team are getting activated and firing as best we can,” associate game director Alec Dawson said. “It was also regaining trust with the community broadly. I think for a while there, we knew we needed to over-communicate, making sure we were taking the right direction with basically every single element of Overwatch. And a lot of that was being humble, listening.”

“When you look back at some of the things that we’ve delivered in the past few years, it’s really what a lot of things players were asking for,” Dawson continued. “I think every single survey we’ve had the players, they’re like, we want more narrative, we want more narrative. And we wanted to bring it back in a really good way and tell a compelling story throughout the year, and what you’ve seen with Vendetta and Doomfist Arc this year.”

This year’s Reign of Talon story arc closed out with Doomfist returning to defeat Vendetta, and setting up one final season to close out 2026, including one final hero whose trailer will serve as a “prologue” to 2027’s narrative, followed by what Keller thinks “is the best cinematic we’ve ever made” coming early next year.

“We’ve been so excited to return to narrative this year, and it’s the first time that Overwatch has told, like, a linear, comprehensive story over the course of a year, you know?” Keller said. “And we have seen a lot of, like, really great reaction from our players as we’ve done this. And we do have the intention to continue doing it. I’m so excited for the 2027 story that’s going to be coming out.”

Keller said that the team has learned lessons on how to better deliver narrative and hopes to improve upon it, including its bombastic cinematics, hero trailers, “micro stories,” but there’s still room for improvement.

“I think that it can be easy to miss some of this stuff when we release it,” Keller said. “Like, just yesterday, we released a cinematic that was the wrap-up to the 2026 story. It was our finale. It’s this really amazing piece of this fight between Vendetta and Doomfist with Overwatch present. And sometimes I feel like unless you’re really following along, it might be easy to miss some of those pieces. So I think one of the things that we’re talking about, just, how do we get the story out in front of players to where it’s not only, a can’t-miss moment, but it’s also something that they can’t miss because they also know about it, you know?”

Read what’s behind the latest news in gaming (with a bit of snark) by subscribing to the Destructoid Checkpoint newsletter!

Dawson mentioned that they want to improve at storytelling in other ways, like for example, “maybe the story before the previous one affects the world state in some way that leaves room for other stories to have their time in the sun.”

“So I think there’s, making sure the connective tissue, not just within the year itself, but from arc to arc, feels like something that is cohesive to the world of Overwatch,” Dawson said. “And it’s like going through, the whole thing changes in a way that makes this next thing possible. So, you know, some of those stakes I think we’re looking at and how your relationship can change with Overwatch, but also with the heroes themselves.”

The post Overwatch game directors are pleased with ‘huge’ 2026 and ‘so excited’ for 2027’s new story appeared first on Destructoid.

I loved Stadium when it first came out, as it felt like a whole new experience within the game. On top of it being round-based and allowing third-person perspective, it included buffs and abilities that evolved over the course of a match, supporting different builds and play styles, offering a more competitive and unique way to enjoy the game and its heroes.

In the end, Overwatch devs at Blizzard were reallocated to other projects as the player population in Stadium struggled to retain players compared to the other core six-vs-six and five-vs-five modes. Naturally, as a fan of the mode given the chance to speak with Overwatch’s leaders in a recent group interview, I asked about it and what the team had learned from the experience, and if there’d be a change in strategy for yearly content updates pivoting away from modes like Stadium to re-focus on the core game experience instead given how it all shook out.

“I think there’s a lot of things in Stadium that were, when it was first launched, like, something a lot of players just haven’t seen, you know?” associate game director Alec Dawson said. “The way they’re building up characters, making them play different play styles, and for Overwatch, it was a wild experience, right? But I think some of the lessons from Stadium are very apparent in [new limited time mode] Mystery Madness. I think the way we’re running Mystery Madness, in terms of the hero roster, in terms of how that can expand over the event itself, but also, this isn’t just going to be our first Mystery Madness. We’re looking at how we can bring that back, you know, a few seasons later, and then improve the experience itself. So I think a lot of the lessons from Stadium that you’re going to see in Mystery Madness over time are about how we were running Stadium and being on all the time, rather than being this experience where maybe it should have been active for the first half of the season, you come back to it later on, and there’s a bunch of improvements every time you see it.”

With its launch, Stadium was popular with players, but the population apparently tapered off to a point where Blizzard felt it wasn’t conducive to continue adding new content to it. But now, Mystery Madness appears to be where some of Stadium’s DNA is headed, bringing in a number of the latter’s ideas and mechanics into the fold.

“I think some of that novelty over time may have worn off [in Stadium], but I think we’re going to take a lot of those lessons, and a lot of the amazing gameplay and decisions you got to make in Stadium, and Mystery Madness and see how we kind of run with that as this new sort of arcade mode that can come back and come in and out of Overwatch over time,” Dawson said.

“I think one of the things that we heard from our players as Stadium continued to run was that it felt like some of the original parts of Stadium where it just felt like it didn’t just feel new, but it always just felt like almost anything could happen in there,” game director Aaron Keller added. “That as we evolved the mode, it started to become more competitive, more sweaty, people really had to do almost like the homework to figure out what the right builds were going to be in that mode. It did start taking, for a lot of our players, not all of them, but for a lot of our players, it did start diminishing the satisfaction that they were getting out of the mode. We added a lot to Stadium. It wasn’t just content like new heroes, but we started adding new systems to it. We saw such a big response from players that we wanted to put more into that particular mode.”

Looking back, however, Keller says that “sometimes we feel like we went too far with some of those systems,” and “we took what was already a fairly complex mode, and we added additional complications to it.”

Read what’s behind the latest news in gaming (with a bit of snark) by subscribing to the Destructoid Checkpoint newsletter!

“I think that while some players, like some really core connected players of Stadium, actually liked a lot of that stuff, I think for the larger community, it just turned it into something that was almost too hard to follow,” Keller said. “Then as Alec was saying, we’re taking some of those lessons, and we’re putting them into some of the other game modes that we’re making, like Mystery Madness, the one that we’re running for the Halloween event this year. You asked about whether there was a change in strategy, and I think that’s what you’re looking at right now.”

Thankfully, though, it sounds like Blizzard will continue to work on ancillary things like Stadium or Mystery Madness alongside mastering the core competitive experience, so those looking for more to do outside of Quick Play and Ranked modes should take heed.

“We do want to continue to develop new experiences for players,” Keller continued. “We think that an Overwatch player wants some sense of variety and novelty, but within this very competitive framework. We will always be focusing, first and foremost, on that core competitive side of the game, but we do want to find new experiences for players.”

Keller described Mystery Madness as “an event that starts with a kernel of something that we think is really fun, and then we’ll continue to build on that over time”, but added that “if it ever gets to the point where it’s like, a year or years from now, it just feels like this is the way that a big part of our players want to engage with the game, we can always turn something like that into a permanent mode.”

There was a fair amount of disappointment from Stadium players when the mode went quiet with new hero releases and maps a few months ago, but the devs seem clear on the intent to keep its inspirations in the game to create more fun new ways to play. But in the end, the competitive FPS will continue to be the focus.

“For any players that are listening, I just want them to know that it’s like, yes, we do want to push Overwatch forward, and we do want to do it with these fun, variety modes and give them a different way of playing and have that variety there,” Keller said. “But it never comes at the cost of us really focusing on the core FPS hero shooter that we’ve got right now and continuing to make that experience more refined and better and, I think, more competitively fair and balanced over time.”

The post Overwatch’s Stadium mode may now be dormant, but its ‘lessons’ will help shape new experiences, devs say appeared first on Destructoid.

As spotted by Tom’s Hardware, Sam Altman, the chief executive of OpenAI (the company behind ChatGPT), said on the Cheeky Pint YouTube channel that RAM sitting in so many personal machines around the world, oftentimes at low or no utilization, is “quite terrible” and that AI data centers would make better use of it.

“From a global allocation perspective, actually, it’s quite terrible to have everybody have a bunch of the world’s limited supply of DRAM sitting in their own computer,” Altman said. To combat the constrained supply of DRAM, which his own company caused through mass purchases of undiced wafers, you would need “maximum utilization,” meaning your PC’s 5 percent RAM usage is, put simply, a waste.

“You want maximum utilization in the cloud if you’re trying to deal with this very supply-constrained environment. And somehow many people’s intuition is the opposite of that,” he said.

As Tom’s Hardware points out, Altman’s OpenAI makes the most of its money through closed-source software which, surprise surprise, needs a ton of AI data-center horsepower to run. With RAM being generally unavailable to everyone, now even to AI companies since there are so many of them, Altman seems to want to put his hand in your pocket too. Or rather, wants to dig into your PC and grab all the memory he can find, because why would you, the limited, aging, feeble human, ever want to use personal machines when the infinite ethereal CLOUD can do it for you?

What? GLaDOS comes to mind? And Skynet? Pff, those are just stories for little children. Sam Altman and OpenAI would never ever build something that’s inadvertently destroying the planet by siphoning resources, poisoning the Earth, and causing your home state to depopulate rapidly to make more room for RAM utilization.

I can’t wait for the crash. And it might be happening as we speak.

The post Shocking: OpenAI head honcho Sam Altman thinks your gaming rig’s RAM would be better off with him appeared first on Destructoid.

The game is set in the Korean Peninsula, and real-world footage of several events is shown in the opening cutscene as a means to ground its narrative in reality.

Among the videos are scenes of the 2022 Seoul crush incident, which happened during a Halloween celebration on Oct. 29 in Itaewon, when a crowd suddenly surged and began to trample or crush those within it. Around 160 deaths were confirmed, most of whom were young adults, making it one of the deadliest events in South Korean history.

Families of those who perished or were injured in the incident issued a statement yesterday condemning the inclusion of this footage, telling the BBC they were “appalled.”

“We cannot help but be appalled that the chaotic and desperate scene, in which many citizens at the site performed CPR to save one another and victims lay on the freezing street, was used to create a scene in a game,” they said.

“Using such an event as material for a game made for entertainment is in itself highly inappropriate and senseless,” they added.

Read what’s behind the latest news in gaming (with a bit of snark) by subscribing to the Destructoid Checkpoint newsletter!

Activision has since responded to the backlash, promising to cut the scenes entirely in the game’s next update on Nov. 12. The company told the BBC it never “intended to reference or trivialize the Itaewon disaster or any other real-world tragedy in any way, shape or form,” but merely used real-world footage to frame the game’s fictional story.

The Modern Warfare franchise, both the original trilogy and these new games, is well known for its shocking and mortifying scenes. However, the difference here is that, while the most horrific moments in the games were all fictional, Infinity Ward used real footage of a tragedy. We can debate whether showing it here was distasteful or dehumanizing or reductive, but I can see where these families are coming from.

If we start drawing lines in the sand too much, though, art will have no way to push forward, and addressing reality will become impossible. Someone somewhere is going to be inevitably offended by your story, your characters, and what you’re saying, or rather, what they’re saying about the state of the world, but I think that is ultimately a fair price to pay.

The post Modern Warfare 4 is cutting real-world footage of the 2022 Seoul crush from its opening cutscene after backlash from the bereaved appeared first on Destructoid.

Let’s find out how to complete the SBC first.

FC 27 Freaky Zombie SBC tasks and solutions

The Freaky Zombie SBC has just one task to complete, but there are certain requirements.

• Same nation: Min. 4 players
• Same league: Max. 5 players
• Leagues: Min. 2
• Quality: Min. 4 Gold players
• Quality: Min. Silver
• Chemistry: Min. 20
• Players: 7

Ideally, you’ll want to use cards from your own Ultimate Team squad. It allows you to save coins and raise the valuation of your rewards. However, you also need to meet the requirements, and that’s where you might get stuck. If that happens, you can always use the following solution.

• Oude Kotte CDM 72
• Noordman CDM 73
• Oosterwolde LB 76
• Ake CB 80
• Koopmeiners CAM 78
• Kalulu CB 81
• Grabara GK 81

You get a Tradeable Large Gold Pack by completing the challenge. The pack includes 12 Gold items, with three guaranteed to be player cards. While two cards will be rated at or below 82, the other one can be a promo item/walkout. You can always sell the items to make a fortune on the market. Hence, don’t miss out on this evolution while it’s available on Ultimate Team.

The post FC 27 Freaky Zombie SBC solutions and rewards appeared first on Destructoid.

FC 27 False Seven Evolution requirements

Here are the requirements for False Seven Evolution in FC 27.

• Overall: Max 80
• Pace: Max 86
• PlayStyle: Max 7
• PlayStyle+: Max 0
• Position: LM or LW
• Not Position: CDM

FC 27 False Seven Evolution upgrades

The evolution has three upgrade levels, each with specific conditions to meet.

Level one upgrades

• Overall: +6|81
• Acceleration: +7|82
• Agility: +10|82
• Dribbling: +10|82
• Reactions: +10|81

Level two upgrades

• Balance: +10|81
• Ball control: +10|82
• Sprint Speed: +7|82
• Composure: +10|80
• PlayStyles: First Touch|3

Level three upgrades (Three Options)

Option A

• Finishing: +8|81
• Long Shots: +8|79
• Positioning: +8|80
• Shot Power: +8|80
• Volleys: +8|79
• PlayStyles: Power Shot|3

Option B

• Crossing: +8|82
• Long Passing: +8|80
• Short Passing: +8|82
• Free Kick: +8|81
• Vision: +8|81
• PlayStyles: Tiki Taka|3

Option C

• Aggression: +8|80
• Heading Acc.: +8|80
• Jumping: +8|80
• Stamina: +8|81
• Strength: +8|80
• PlayStyles: Enforcer|3

Level one upgrade requirements

• Play a match in Squad Battles at least on Semi-Pro difficulty (or Rush/Rivals/Champions/Live Events) using your active EVO player in game.

Level two upgrade requirements

• Play a match in Squad Battles at minimum on Semi-Pro difficulty (or Rush/Rivals/Champions/Live Events) using your active EVO player in game.

Level three upgrade requirements

• Play a match in Squad Battles at least on Semi-Pro difficulty (or Rush/Rivals/Champions/Live Events) using your active EVO player in game.

Best players to use in False Seven Evolution

Here are some of my best recommendations to include in the evolution.

• Ayoze
• Nakamura
• Parris
• Nunez
• Duran
• Plea
• Correa
• Dorgu
• Raspadori
• Schmid
• Sullivan TOTW
• Sonis TOTW
• Dahl TOTW
• Cecilia Marcos TOTW
• Ocampos
• Felix Correia

The post Best players for FC 27 False Seven Evolution appeared first on Destructoid.

The trailer came out last night, confirming a 2027 release on Disney+. Death Stranding: Isolations is the full title, and is being produced by Kojima’s studio in collaboration with E&H, a Japanese animation company founded by former MAPPA director Sunghoo Park. It previously worked on the ONA Bullet/Bullet, as well as Ninja Kanui and Red Cat Ramen.

The trailer opens up with a courier standing on the outer rim of a crater caused by a Beached Thing (BT) explosion, which, if you are not aware, happens when a BT entity swallows a living creature. The event is known as a voidout and is equivalent to several thermonuclear bombs going off at once. It’s a core part of the Death Stranding universe and the story of Sam Porter, the protagonist, who seems to be present in this initial scene. It could be any other courier wearing the Bridges uniform, however.

Later on, the trailer shifts to the perspective of a young girl who seems to be using a VR headset to help her sleep, and is then approached by a strange entity. Whether this is a BT, as she seems to be dreaming of them, is unclear. She wakes up, startled, and that’s where the trailer ends. It’s all rather ominous and mysterious, but that’s par for the course.

Death Stranding is one of my favorite games of all time, and that includes its direct sequel, On the Beach. Both are set in our own world where the veil between the living and the dead is completely broken and passage is freely allowed between them. Of course, some things were never meant to mix, and just like Dan Brown’s antimatter in Angels and Demons, so do the dead cause catastrophic damage to those still drawing breath.

The story is emotional, packed with fantastic characters and actors, and writing that, even if a bit over-the-top at times, is seldom outmatched by any other game currently available. It’s definitely a masterclass in game design, but unfortunately for its sales and status, a lot of people have been sharing fake information about it, calling it a walking simulator and being very reductive about what the game actually is.

And I hope this anime, whenever it does air, will bring a bigger audience into this amazing world and inspire them to play the game and see that all they’ve been hearing is, well, complete bulls**t.

The post Death Stranding anime’s first trailer is so epic it might finally help people grasp it isn’t a walking simulator at all appeared first on Destructoid.

New Xbox CEO Asha Sharma’s “reset,” including a return to console exclusivity for Gears, “seems to be getting Twitter likes from the most passionate part of their fan base,” according to Circana’s Mat Piscatella in a recent video for The Game Business, “but other than that, in terms of actual results, I’m not seeing anything right now.”

While E-Day is critically acclaimed with an 87 Metacritic rating (I scored it a 9 for Destructoid myself), it likely hasn’t translated to the sales Microsoft was hoping for. According to The Verge, it’s sold over 400,000 copies while being available on Game Pass. And none of that has made a dent when it comes to selling consoles, either.

“Saying Gears is going to be exclusive hasn’t made any difference in terms of the hardware trend,” Piscatella said. “In fact, it keeps getting worse. And Gears is a gorgeous game. That is a Gears-ass Gears of War game. But by making it exclusive, you chop the legs out from under its potential as an individual title in order to boost your platform, and at least in the short term, it hasn’t made a difference.”

So far, Xbox’s “exclusivity as a selling point” after years of its confusing “This is an Xbox” marketing hasn’t done much when it comes to getting Xbox hardware off shelves, which is also understandable given we’re approaching the end of this generation. But on the other side of the aisle, a PS5 exclusive in Marvel’s Wolverine has been paying off for the competitor despite its mixed reviews (75 on Metacritic), according to Piscatella.

“If you look at the weekly sales cadence of accessories and hardware, the Wolverine DualSense was the bestselling accessory of the month,” Piscatella said. “The [console] bundle sold out. There weren’t huge quantities, but that really helped boost PlayStation 5 sales that particular week. In terms of an old-school, ‘here’s an exclusive game and we’re going to sell some consoles and some accessories with it,’ I think it’s about as good as you could hope from an IP that isn’t the level of Spider-Man.”

There’s no doubt that the upcoming Grand Theft Auto 6 release is also helping to sell consoles for PlayStation, which is being marketed as the “best” place to play the highly anticipated sequel. The game is also available on Xbox, though, and hardware sales fell 14 percent year-over-year last quarter, according to Microsoft itself, but Sharma said it has to do with not being able to meet demand.

I’m bored of console wars in general and wish that all games were multiplatform. But if you’re using exclusivity as a selling point and it’s not working, at what point do you pivot again?

The post A tale of 2 exclusives in the multiplatform era: Wolverine helps sell PS5s, but Gears doesn’t move the needle for Xbox appeared first on Destructoid.

In a recent interview with ex-BioWare producer Mark Darrah for Eldorado.gg, we learned about the many tribulations EA forced the studio through to release Dragon Age: Veilguard.

Darrah explained that EA decided to push BioWare into restructuring the already in-development Veilguard into a live-service game, then re-restructuring it into a more normal Dragon Age experience before release, without ever awarding the devs the time required to get rid of the live-service mechanics still rotting the game from its core.

Most of Veilguard’s infamous elements, like the overly simple dialogue, the lack of drama between the team, and the more action-oriented gameplay, are all leftovers from the Dragon Age that only EA ever wanted to make, the one that Darrah and the team tried to fix many times over.

The Saudi fund killed BioWare, but did EA kill BioWare’s love for the game?

We now know that under Saudi Arabia’s private ownership, EA forced BioWare to make all sorts of ridiculous compromises while developing the canceled Mass Effect sequel. Even Greg Zeschuk, BioWare co-founder who’d originally sold BioWare to EA, points to Saudi Arabia’s acquisition of EA as the real turning point, but is that really the case? Fans say it has always been EA.

While BioWare released its most popular title ever, Mass Effect 2, after the acquisition, I agree that signs really did start to show shortly after that. Drew Karpyshyn, lead writer of the original two Mass Effect games, who had a plan to end the trilogy that EA scrapped, would leave the company before starting work on Mass Effect 3, citing an ever-more corporate environment that killed the enthusiasm he had for his dream job. Karpyshyn’s departure was just the first of an exodus of creative forces in the studio.

Mass Effect Andromeda might be king in terms of hostile fan reception because it came out featuring countless bugs, but Mass Effect 3 is likely more deserving of that honor. Though it features the most technically refined gameplay in the trilogy and was a marvel to play even on the 360, it also had so many issues uncharacteristic of BioWare that I see it as a cry for help we shouldn’t have ignored.

Many point to all things Kai Leng, the Deus Ex Machina McGuffin that held the solution to the whole Reaper ordeal the entire time, or its incredibly disappointing ending(s?) as the series’ lowest point. I started having problems with the narrative much earlier on: the upload of Normandy’s consciousness into a robot with big boobs that the team had just conveniently encountered because Joker had been wanting to bone that ship for a while.

Shipping a guy and a literal ship is certainly not something a lonely man should aspire to—but you don’t need me to tell you that in 2026. While this was ass-tier storytelling, at least it inoculated me against any AI optimism.

Before EA, Mass Effect was something even established IP like Star Trek drew inspiration from. Then, at some point, the studio was left with writing fan fiction of its own work and taking inspiration from greats like DeviantArt and Getty Images.

The point is not to hate on Mass Effect 3, or any specific BioWare game. It’s to realize how most of their shortcomings originated from bad management. If that’s the case, Mass Effect 3 and Andromeda succeeded in spreading anti-capitalist sentiment—even if only accidentally—and that’s what all great sci-fi should strive for.

So thanks, BioWare. You made some of the best games ever in your heyday, some really bizarre ones under terrible management, and always deserving of attention.

The post It sure looks like EA had been trying to end BioWare for a while appeared first on Destructoid.

BioWare’s doom had been spelled out over the past decade after multiple failed releases (Mass Effect Andromeda, Anthem, and Dragon Age: The Veilguard), but according to Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, it was the development price tag that really sealed the deal…and a galaxy far, far away was involved in the decision-making process, too.

“Financial pressures” mounting as part of the $55 billion purchase of EA led by Saudi Arabia’s investment fund that left the publisher $18 billion in debt meant that cuts were coming, and some cuts are easier to make than others, especially considering when it comes to two similar spacefaring sci-fi franchises: Star Wars and Mass Effect.

With both games set to cost “hundreds of millions of dollars,” EA and its executives chose the iconic film franchise over BioWare’s RPG series (this really kind of feels like a no-brainer in hindsight, unfortunately for me and many other Mass Effect fans), and decided to also shut down the erstwhile studio as a part of its cost-cutting measures.

“Star Wars Battlefront 3 has not even begun development yet, but EA executives saw it as a less risky, more predictable bet than a new Mass Effect — and the publisher behind Battlefield has always been more comfortable with shooters than RPGs,” Schreier said.

There’s no debating that many factors went into BioWare’s closure, but the biggest has to be the fact that the studio hasn’t made a game reflective of its past successes in quite some time. It starts and ends there. But I do find it interesting and a little bit sad that Star Wars was also a factor in Mass Effect’s demise, given that they are two of the most beloved sci-fi franchises ever made.

This feels especially tough to swallow considering that EA decided to go with a live-service FPS over a singleplayer narrative-driven RPG, because that’s the least surprising part of all of this.

The post Star Wars Battlefront 3 was reportedly the final nail in the coffin for BioWare and Mass Effect appeared first on Destructoid.

R.E.P.O. Pleasing the Moon explained

To please the moon, you must meet certain requirements when submitting your loot: you will find a beam of laser lights right at the top. If your loot manages to intercept these, the screen will announce that you have managed to please the moon. This will make you eligible for the rewards.

To qualify for rewards, make sure your loot items are stable. At first, the laser beams will not be very high, so it’s pretty easy to intercept them. As you keep leveling up, the towers will increase in length.

All items qualify for the rewards as long as you manage to stack them. However, it’s better to get loot that is taller once you level up the tower sufficiently. This makes it easier to hit the laser at the top. That said, also look for flat loot items, since they can form a stable base when you stack multiple items together.

If you manage to place the bomb, you will find golden pumpkins spawning as your rewards. These pumpkins are worth about 35% of the loot you submitted. They are really cool collectibles that allow you to increase the value of your runs. I certainly wish this mechanism were added permanently because I am in love with it, but you can make the most of this special event during Halloween.

The post How to please the moon in R.E.P.O. Sunstone Update (Halloween Event) appeared first on Destructoid.

Below, we’ll tell you how to find a sturdy vessel to set sail and all the prerequisites to build a ship in Crimson Desert.

How to unlock shipbuilding in Crimson Desert

The game has various prerequisites before you get to build your ship. First you must do the following:

• Complete the A Call from Beyond the Horizon quest. It’s part of the Wider World questline.
• Once you begin the quest, follow the objective marker.
• You’ll come across Greymanes who will discuss “seeking new horizons”.
• Complete the conversation to unlock shipbuilding.

You can now start to build your ship, but it takes a bit more work to get your vessel ready for travel.

Read what’s behind the latest news in gaming (with a bit of snark) by subscribing to the Destructoid Checkpoint newsletter!

How to build your ship in Crimson Desert

To build your ship, you’ll need to complete a few more steps.

• Open the in-game map.
• Locate the available parts on the map. You can pick any port you want since there’s no mandatory one.
• Select the port and go to details.
• You’ll find Shipbuilding from Missions.
• Spend the required currency and assign comrades to complete building the ship.

When you choose to build a ship, you’ll find the requirements on the same screen. You need to meet these criteria before assigning your workers to complete the construction process.

Once construction is done, head to the Harbor Notice Board. Speak with your comrades, and you’ll get to know more about the bounties. Next, collect the supplies and speak with your Ship Manager at the docks. Finally, you’re all set to sail on your adventures.

The post How to get your ship in Crimson Desert appeared first on Destructoid.

Anime Galaxies Unit Tier List

More detailed ranking reasons and best traits coming soon

⇓ Meta DPS Units ⇓

S

Freezo (Golden)

Roger (Pirate King)

Ultra Gowko

Best Hybrid

Demon King

⇓ Alternative Sub-Meta DPS Units ⇓

A

Sokonu (King)

Hybrid

Zid (Atomic)

Hybrid

Tango (Flamboyant)

Itoshi (Awakened)

⇓ Viable Mid-Game Units and Situationally Good Alternatives for Some Modes ⇓

B

Ishgo (Perfect Mask)

Zenith (Awakened)

Stork (Resurrection)

Hybrid

Goju (Six Eyes)

Hybrid

⇓ Weak DPS Units ⇓

C

Joren (Unlimited)

Hybrid

Rocket

Megomu (Shadows)

⇓ Best Support Units (Buffs/Debuffs/CC-Stalling) ⇓

Supp

Itoshi (Awakened)

Megomu (Shadows)

Foji

Tango (Flamboyant)

Roger (Pirate King)

Goju (Six Eyes)

Joren (Unlimited)

Freezo (Golden)

Zenith (Awakened)

⇓ Economy/Farm Units ⇓

Eco

Spedwag

There’s two categories when it comes to the best units in Anime Galaxies which are DPS and Support. The best DPS units are found in the S and A-Tiers of the tier list while the best supports are currently Megomu and Itoshi. I’ve marked the Hybrid units but if you’re looking for beginner units that can hit fliers go for Foji and Kizaru which are Legendaries.

How to Get Freezo: Farm Portals – They gradually upgrade and you have a 2% chance to get Freezo from the Secret tier Portal with a 100 Pity. You can buy Portals from the Event Shop or get them as a 1% drop from Infinite every 5 Waves.

How to Get Gowko: He drops from capsules at a 0.5% drop rate with a 200 guaranteed Pity.

How to Get Demon King: Farm Endless to get an Invitation at 1% drop rate every 5 waves. Then, once you have it reach Wave 49 and you’ll get a prompt to use it and fight Demon King on Wave 50 with a chance to unlock him at 20% drop rate +5% per co-ops that also have an Invitation.

How to Farm Stars: Stars are drops from every game mode or from doing event quests. I recommend farming the first Story Act 2 on nightmare to get 10 per stage.

That’s it for my Anime Galaxies tier list for units and traits. Check out our Anime Galaxies codes for free goodies.

The post Anime Galaxies Tier List – Best Units & Traits [UPD 0] appeared first on Destructoid.

Even if you know the residents of the valley fairly well, figuring out who each duty is about can be tough, as there are lots of small details you may have forgotten or never learned. If you’re unsure who this one is about, here’s how to take a selfie with the youngest of seven sisters from the sea in Disney Dreamlight Valley.

Youngest of seven sisters from the sea in Disney Dreamlight Valley

The youngest of seven sisters from the sea is Ariel from The Little Mermaid in DDV. Early on in this film, when she’s first being introduced, her other sisters are all named and introduced. After this, though, they’re barely part of the movie, so it’s quite a small and easy detail to overlook.

Ariel doesn’t talk much about her family in the valley either, so recalling that she’s one of seven sisters can be tricky. There are also lots of other villagers with big families or ties to the sea, like Mirabel and Moana, but for the purposes of this clue, only Ariel fits.

Read what’s behind the latest news in gaming (with a bit of snark) by subscribing to the Destructoid Checkpoint newsletter!

Take a selfie with the youngest of seven sisters from the sea in Disney Dreamlight Valley

To complete the take a selfie with the youngest of seven sisters from the sea duty for the Seafaring Star Path event, you need to take one picture with Ariel. To do so, track her down around the valley, equip your Phone from the Royal Tool wheel, and snap a photo with her.

Since this task specifically calls for a selfie, make sure you take a picture in the first camera mode. This is the only one that’s truly a selfie, and since photo tasks are notoriously finicky, it’s a good idea to stick with only this mode to get this quest done.

You only get five Tokens for successfully completing this quest. This is the least amount of Tokens you can get from a single task, so you’ll likely need to stock up on quite a bit more to purchase whichever prizes you have your eye on.

Some other duties included in this Star Path event you might want to tackle next are giving a seafaring prince his favorite gift, crafting a Helm Bookshelf for your nautical charts, giving a boy who never grows up his favorite gift, and feeding Sea Turtles their favorite food.

The post How to take a selfie with the youngest of seven sisters from the sea in Disney Dreamlight Valley appeared first on Destructoid.