Mai: Child of Ages from developer Chubby Pixel launched recently, and an update has added official Native Linux support.
Launched originally on September 18th, the developer added Native Linux support in the update from October 3rd. The game is also Steam Deck Verified, although currently by default the Steam Deck uses Proton but this may check if Valve re-check it.
More about it:
Follow Mai on her journey through a shattered world as she searches for her identity and the origin of the mysterious creatures that threaten the balance of the universe.
Venture through past and future, exploring Zelda-like dungeons, and uncover the bond that ties Mai to the enigmatic figure who will guide her throughout the adventure, teaching her the mastery of the arcane Uroboro Stone.
The gameplay mechanics evolve seamlessly, shifting from precision platforming to hack and slash combat, adapting to the era you explore.
Check out the launch trailer below:
Game Highlights:
Play as Mai in the different stages of her life, harnessing the unique abilities in childhood and adolescence to face the challenges ahead.
Experience a natural progression of gameplay mechanics, from precision platforming to hack and slash combat, while unlocking new abilities for Mai through Metroidvania-style progression, expanding her exploration and combat possibilities.
Over 20 hours of gameplay, featuring ancient caves to investigate, abandoned factories to discover and submerged worlds to explore.
Gather hidden clues with Mai to unravel the past, uncovering the events that led to humanity’s extinction, and discover what fate awaits the world after their disappearance.
Looking through itch io for some awesome ZX Spectrum games to play, and I’ve come across a high-tier game called ‘S1NCLA1R C1TY’ by Javier Fopiani and Furillo Productions for the ZX Spectrum. What makes this game high-tier, is not only does it look very good graphically, but the game is pretty unique as you’ll be talking to characters, exploring a cyberpunk city, and blasting away mafia gangs controlling every part of this city. If this sounds like your sort of game, make sure to check out the latest footage and screenies provided below.
And here’s the latest from the website. You are Zeta, a former inhabitant of S1NCLA1R C1TY, who has returned to support the cause of the 8-bit resistance. The story will unfold before you, piece by piece! Search the city for characters to talk to, who will guide you towards your objectives. Make sure to explore the entire city through its decaying suburbs, the old port, and if you’re able, infiltrate the CPC Corporation building. Wipe out deadly mafia gangs and while your at it look for dealers in the streets to buy energy or upgrades for your weapon. Good luck, Zeta. The future of S1NCLA1R C1TY is in your hands!
Jaime Tugayev is the News Editor for DualShockers with over a decade of experience, and a much longer love for fantasy, shooters and strategy games.
The road to 2XKO might have been long, but the wait is nearly over. Riot Games’ 2-on-2 fighting game has been enjoying a pretty lively closed beta, with household names like SonicFox charging to the top of the ranked leaderboards.
If you happen to be in the majority who didn’t get access to the closed beta though, you’ll finally be able to jump into the game starting October 7th. The release date was announced just shy of two weeks ago, along with an explanation of why Riot is pursuing an early access model versus a later full release.
Initially, 2XKO will only be available on PC, and it appears that will remain the case during the early access period. A PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S version is planned for the full release.
If you did participate on the open beta, the good news is that your hard work won’t go to waste—Riot Games has confirmed that there will be no resets, so you get to keep all of the unlocks you grinded for.
When Can You Play 2XKO: Global Release Times
The official early access launch of 2XKO is scheduled for October 7th, though some parts of Asia and Oceania won’t get to taste fighting greatness until the next day has rolled in. Here are the global release times for the game in major timezones (thanks to Destructoid, who also added a handy countdown to the page):
After watching the first episode of Critical Role Campaign 4, it’s clear to me that the “West Marches-style” moniker used to describe this latest endeavor of the multimedia franchise was a little inaccurate. The new Dungeons & Dragons campaign set in the world of Aramán created by Brennan Lee Mulligan promises to be an epic and entertaining tale, but the first episode makes it evident that this will not be a West Marches campaign.
Campaign 4 features an extended cast of 13 players, and they will take turns at the gaming table by splitting up into three rotating groups. Having rotating players is the premise of a West Marches campaign, and the reason why game designer Ben Robbins created this play style. The actual gameplay and execution, however, are a far cry from what Critical Role will deliver in this latest campaign. But don’t worry, if you are intrigued by West Marches and want to know why it could be a good idea to run a similar campaign at your table, I’ve got you covered.
West Marches was originally the setting of a campaign run by Ben Robbins (who also created the games Microscope and Kingdom). As a way to offset the most common issue arising at a gaming table, the varying and unreliable availability of players, Robbins came up with the idea of not having a fixed group. As he could draw from a large pool of players, he let them schedule the sessions freely. Once enough players agreed on a date, the game would run ad hoc.
Image: Wizards of the Coast
Having a rotating “cast” is great for players: It doesn’t matter if you can play once a week or once a month, you will always have a spot at the table. For a DM, however, it requires a very specific mindset in constructing the campaign. West Marches is, at its heart, a sandbox campaign where players explore the world without being tied up by an overall plot. At the end of each session, they go back to town to rest and plan their next foray. This is a necessary requirement to let DMs run a game with rotating players and ad hoc scheduling. Imagine crafting a big, sweeping narrative, ripe with villains, factions, and plot milestones to get through, but without knowing who the protagonists will be at any given time.
I’m sure every DM has had a session end on a massive cliffhanger involving a specific character, only to find out that the player in question could not attend the following session. It’s like if Frodo had to slip out of Mount Doom for a bit before tossing the Ring in it. West Marches avoids that by essentially getting rid of the plot. However, that doesn’t mean a West Marches-style campaign has no story. According to Robbins: “There was history and interconnected details. Tidbits found in one place could shed light elsewhere. Instead of just being an interesting detail, these clues lead to concrete discoveries.”
Initially, I thought something similar would happen with Critical Role Campaign 4, with the lore of the world emerging organically and slowly through players’ actions in each episode, but I couldn’t be more wrong. Episode 1 is heavily charged with pre-existing lore, and there is a strong, overwhelming plot that drives the characters. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but West Marches offers a pretty different experience from many D&D campaigns, one that is worth trying at least once.
That’s what an Owlbear looked like in the old daysImage: Jim Roslof/Wizards of the Coast
For my first, extended homebrew D&D campaign, I started from a premise similar to the classic The Keep on the Borderlands D&D module (which in turn inspired Robbins’ original West Marches). After an intro, the players found themselves in a frontier town, a classic “last outpost of civilization” setting. From there, they get the chance to explore the surrounding wilderness, either prompted by quests gathered in town or by their own curiosity. This style of play is heavily location-based, so if you’re going to try it, make sure to stock up your wilderness with interesting places to explore. The last thing you want to happen is your players saying “Today we want to check out the mysterious ruins in the Swamp of the Dead,” and having nothing prepared.
Personally, I like having a strong plot in my campaigns, so I also disseminated several hooks for an overall narrative, both in town and in the wilderness. I think that pure sandboxing and purposeless dungeon crawling can grow tiresome after a while, but Robbins raised an important point in this regard when he explained the genesis of West Marches: “My motivation in setting things up this way was to overcome player apathy and mindless ‘plot following’ by putting the players in charge of both scheduling and what they did in-game.”
The lesson here is that regardless of the style of campaign you’re playing, it’s important to find a balance between your role as a DM in steering the narrative and players’ agency. Whether you’re designing a complex death maze for a classic dungeon crawl or you’re shaping the fate of the world in a Critical Role-style campaign, always consider what your players may want to do. You set up the table, but they decide what to eat.
Graphic: Polygon I Source images: Wizards of the Coast
This could be the best time ever to start a West Marches-style campaign. D&D’s latest starter set, Heroes of the Borderlands, is a return to the Keep on the Borderlands, offering the perfect setup to pull new players into this style. The following add-on (inspired by Polygon’s review, nonetheless!) suggests how to better connect the different quests in the set, but you can also run this as the core of a sandbox campaign and expand it as it goes.
In fact, the coolest element of the original West Marches is the interaction between the rotating players. The town tavern had a map of the surrounding areas carved into a table, where adventuring parties added information and sketched new areas as they discovered them. This not only meant that players could help each other even while not being at the table at the same time, but also that the world of West Marches grew organically as the players explored it. If you’re a DM who is trying to build a homebrew campaign or world for the first time, West Marches could be just what you need.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is running its first beta, and we’ve had the chance to go hands-on over the last couple of days. While it feels like another incredible addition to the FPS genre, there will be those COD fans who are once again starting to feel that familiar sense of fatigue.
For the past several years, Activision and its cadre of development studios have managed to pump out back-to-back blockbuster instalments while juggling the behemoth success of Warzone. Under the hood, these teams have continued to tweak and refine the COD formula. While some experimental changes haven’t gone down too well with the community, other features—like weapon mounting and Black Ops 6’s omnidirectional movement—are now woven into the template.
From what we’ve played of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7’s multiplayer, it feels like an advanced version of last year’s instalment. The big changes this year are “overclocked” loadout options, high-tech killstreaks, and the return of wall-running. Let’s start with the latter first, which is more akin to a wall bounce rather than the kind of parkour-like movement systems we’ve previously seen in Black Ops III and Infinite Warfare. It’s more subtle, allowing players to quickly and easily reach higher points of a map without drastically changing the pace of COD’s trademark shooting gameplay.
Speaking of maps, the arenas on show during the beta suit the evolved omnidirectional movement introduced in Black Ops 6, most of them consisting of two lanes that intersect with plenty of ledges and vantage points, but very few places for campers to entrench themselves. With the game taking place in a near-future timeline of the 2030s, nothing about the map or operator aesthetics are out of this world – there’s nothing we haven’t really seen before but then again, anything too trippy or cyberpunk-esque would likely add too much noise.
What most players come to Call of Duty for is the tried and tested, ultra-smooth gunplay. Black Ops 7 doesn’t disappoint and has a diverse enough arsenal of weapons to suit every kind of player, from crafty snipers to kamikaze shotgunners. As always, there are plenty of weapon modifications and perks to help further customise your playstyle, with some interesting quirks this time around.
First, we have the new “overclock” feature that allows players to level up and augment gear such as scorestreaks and equipment. For example, when overclocking the UAV you can either lower its score cost or equip it with a flare to counter the first rocket fired at it by an enemy player. Similarly, the Stim Shot can be overclocked to remove debuffs or grant a temporary speed buff upon use.
In true COD fashion, just about everything you do earns you XP and almost every part of your loadout can be customised or levelled up in some way. Perks, a Call of Duty multiplayer mainstay, now have an advanced feature where equipping a certain perk colour combination will bestow extra “Combat Speciality” bonuses. Equipping three blue Recon perks will allow you to see the direction of the closest enemy on the minimap each time you respawn.
Despite being a snapshot of next month’s full release, the Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 beta is definitive proof that Activision is still on a hot streak with its flagship series. Small factions within the community will always find a bone to pick but there’s no arguing with how well the sequel’s multiplayer offering has been put together, even if it’s a bit overfamiliar in places. Unless the singleplayer campaign or Zombies modes truly drop the ball, Black Ops 7 will mark another triumphant triple threat for Activision.
This remixed take on the iconic board game features characters, locations, and artwork from the Harry Potter books and movies. It supports 2-6 players and is recommended for kids 8 and up. The six metal player tokens include the Hogwarts Express, Hagrid’s Motorbike, The Knight Bus, Hippogriff, Thestral, and Firebolt.
Harry Potter Monopoly retains the core premise and progression of the classic game with some Wizarding World-themed modifications. Instead of paper money, players vie for points for their Hogwarts House: Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, or Hufflepuff.
As players make their way around the board, they can use House Points to acquire familiar locations from around Hogwarts Castle, Hogsmeade Village, Diagon Alley, and other notable spots such as Malfoy Manor and the Dursley home on Privet Drive. House Crests can be added to properties to increase rent. Hogwarts House Common Rooms serve as railroads, but surprisingly the jail isn’t named Azkaban.
Owl Post cards replace both Chance and Community Chest cards. Each card is designed to look like a letter sent from Hogwarts by owl. The cards are held on a custom stand with a Hedwig figurine.
We’re sure you’re already aware of this, but the next three months are basically one huge shopageddon. Halloween candy, costumes, and decorations lead straight into the biggest food shopping week of the year before Thanksgiving, following immediately by Black Friday and Cyber Week. Normally that would mean either a long, grueling trek of in-person shopping, or online shopping with so many tabs open your laptop cries uncle.
Or, you could do it all in one location, either online or in any of over 600 location nationwide, when you get a Sam’s Club membership. Getting access to the all-in-one warehouse giant should come at a premium cost just for the convenience and amazing prices, but right now at StackSocial you can get a one-year Club membership for just $15. That even less than the usual discounted price offered by StackSocial, and you’ll easily recoup that $15 just in the gas you’d burn through hitting all those shopping stops if you weren’t a Sam’s Club member.
See at StackSocial
It’s All at Sam’s
Run down that three-month shopping marathon we just discussed. Halloween candy, costumes, and decoration? Check — Sam’s Club has it. Everything you need for a Thanksgiving feast, from the turkey to the fresh vegetables, desserts, and beverages? Check — Sam’s Club has it. Everything on your Black Friday and Cyber Week lists — the latest tech gear, home goods, clothes, toys, even the tree and decorations? Again, check. All you need is a membership to have in-person or online access to it all, and that’s just $15 right now at StackSocial.
You would think that was a comprehensive enough list to get anyone to sign up, but it’s just scratching the surface of what a Sam’s Club membership gives you access to. Sam’s Club has amazing services like auto tire replacement, pharmacy, vision and hearing services, travel, custom cakes and cupcakes, even home installations and warranties, and all at amazing members-only prices.
Rewards Await
Sam’s Club pricing and utterly incredible inventory and range of goods and services create the ultimate one-stop shopping destination, and the more you use your membership, the more you get back in the form of Sam’s Cash. Each Sam’s Club purchase earns you 2% back in Sam’s Cash, which adds up quickly to cut down on your next shopping excursion or membership renewal in a big way.
This $15 offer for a year of Club membership at Sam’s Club is good for new members and anyone who has joined within the past 6 months, and there is a 1 membership purchase limit per person. You also sign up to auto-renew your membership at regular price. But once you see for yourself the incredible range of groceries, goods, tools, clothes, services, and more that this $15 StackSocial deal gets you, you’ll be happy to keep your Sam’s Club membership for years to come.
Following on from Microsoft raising the price of Game Pass Ultimate by 50% – a move that feels like an admission that the subscription service is losing money – a new report has come out that claims putting Call of Duty on the service cost $300m in lost sales.
That’s according to Cecilia D’Anastasio of Bloomberg, who talked to seven current and former employees of Microsoft. One of them informed Bloomberg that Microsoft estimated it had lost more than $300m in sales across console and PC by putting Call of Duty on to Game Pass last year. For those wondering, that’s around 4.2 million copies, assuming each was sold for $70, and you don’t count any special editions and such.
However, we don’t know how many people subscribed to Game Pass in order to play the newest CoD or upgraded to the highest tier, making it hard to judge whether Microsoft deems those lost sales worthwhile or not. All we know is that they are sticking with the strategy, because CoD is scheduled to release on Game Pass Ultimate again this year.
The purchase of Activision-Blizzard and subsequent move to put Call of Duty on to Game Pass was widely seen as a way to significantly boost subscriber numbers, which had been slowing down for years. Microsoft don’t provide any official subscriber numbers or reveal copies of games sold these days, so we cannot know for sure, but the massive price hike of Ultimate seems like another tacit admission that Game Pass is still bleeding money. Which is hardly surprising – we all knew this must be the case, and Microsoft has been very careful to never state that the service is making money.
It begs the question, where does Game Pass go from here? Xbox has built itself around the service and the idea that all of its first-party games release straight onto it, so they can’t back down now, hence the price increase. But if the recent surge of people looking to cancel is anything to go by, their numbers might take such a big hit that something will need to be done.
Even more Amiga games to keep you occupied, as thanks to Saberman letting me know through Facebook, I’ve been told that the legendry Dungeon Crawler fan of Zooperdan, has created another Commodore Amiga game called ‘YEET’. While I’m still hopeful of a decent crawler from this developer, this game however, is a small but challenging puzzle game, a game whereby you have to move and push runes off the edge of a screen until only one remains.
And here’s the latest. “In Nornheim, conflicts are not settled by sword or shield, but by the game of runes. Only a true Runemaster can guide and protect the people – and to earn that title, you must walk the path of the Rune Trial. You’ll travel across the region, visiting villages and other locations where Runemasters have prepared their challenges. Each puzzle grows more complex, testing your ability to think ahead and find the correct sequence of moves. To complete a puzzle runes must be pushed off the edge until only one rune remain. At first, it feels simple – but every step must be planned. One wrong push, and the board may trap you”.
Minimum system requirements: Amiga 500 OCS KS1.3 + 512 Kb
Running like Clockwork is the first Friendship Quest for Cogsworth in Disney Dreamlight Valley. Players will be able to pursue this quest after unlocking Cogsworth as a villager. Cogsworth has a lot in mind and wants to improve the Valley. In this guide, we will walk you through the Running like Clockwork quest in Disney Dreamlight Valley.
How to Complete the Running like Clockwork Quest in Disney Dreamlight Valley
Starting the Quest
To initiate the Running like Clockwork quest in Disney Dreamlight Valley, players will have to reach Friendship Level 2 with Cogsworth. In addition to that, players must have unlocked the following characters for the quest to be triggered.
Upon fulfilling all the requirements, the Running like Clockwork quest will become available. Go and speak with Cogsworth to start the quest.
Gather the Material to Craft Harmonious Screens
After speaking with Cogsworth, you need to gather the following materials.
25x Hardwood: Spawn near the trees in the Forest of Valor, Glade of Trust, Sunlit Plateau, and Frosted Heights biomes.
10x Green Passion Lily: Spawn in the Frosted Heights biome, maximum 6 at a time.
Upon gathering all of the materials, go to any crafting station to craft 6 Harmonious Screens. Navigate to the Furniture tab to find the recipe.
Place the Harmonious Screens Around Vanellope’s House
After crafting the Harmonious Screens, place them around Vanellope’s House. Once done, speak with Cogsworth. It looks like Vanellope does not like her house hidden behind screens. Remove all of the Harmonious Screens around Vanellope’s House. After fixing Vanellope’s House, speak with Cogsworth and Vanellope.
Talk to Moana and Find Broken Pieces of a Tropical Lifeguard Chair
Now, find Moana and speak with her. Once done, go to the Dazzle Beach biome and look for the 6 broken pieces of a Tropical Lifeguard Chair. Some of the pieces will be buried in sand, and some of them will be in the water. Dig out the pieces from the sand using the Royal Shovel, and fish out the rest using the Royal Fishing Rod.
NOTE: Fish in the Golden Ripples to fish out the pieces of the Tropical Lifeguard Chair.
Craft and Place the Tropical Lifeguard Chair
After finding all six pieces of the Tropical Lifeguard Chair at Dazzle Beach, go to any crafting station to craft the chair. Navigate to the Furniture Tab to find its recipe. Once done, go into the building mode and place the Tropical Lifeguard Chair anywhere on Dazzle Beach.
After that, speak with Moana, and then Cogsworth. There is something strange happening with Cogsworth’s Gears in the Valley.
Catch Cogsworth’s Gears in the Valley
Speak with Stitch, and then you need to catch the three Cogsworth’s Gears flying around the Valley. Chase after the gears by gliding or flying to catch them easily. Moreover, each gear will be in a different biome. You need to go to the following biomes and catch the respective gear inside it.
Plaza
Dazzle Beach
Forest of Valor
Once you have caught all Cogsworth’s Gears, bring them to Cogsworth. Go through the dialogues and the Running Like Clockwork quest will conclude.
