The Steam Hardware & Software Survey for July 2026 is out now and going by the current data, Linux has managed to jump back just over 4%.
Here’s the current overall operating system share:
Windows – 93.67%
Linux – 4.01%
macOS – 2.32%
Oddly, some of the comparisons look like they’re against May’s numbers not June, so we may end up seeing some corrections from Valve. We’ll keep an eye on it.
The usual snapshot from our dedicated Steam Tracker page:
And the most popular Linux distributions for July 2026:
SteamOS Holo 64 bit 22.24% -0.59%
CachyOS 64 bit 14.31% +0.28%
Arch Linux 64 bit 8.29% -0.57%
Linux Mint 22.3 64 bit 8.12% +0.22%
Bazzite 64 bit 7.73% +0.45%
Freedesktop SDK 25.08 (Flatpak runtime) 64 bit 5.37% +0.01%
Fedora Linux 44 (KDE Plasma Desktop Edition) 64 bit 2.92% +0.40%
Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 64 bit 2.92% +0.35%
Ubuntu Core 24 64 bit 2.88% -0.20%
Ubuntu 24.04.4 LTS 64 bit 2.78% +0.05%
Debian GNU/Linux 13 (trixie) 64 bit 1.99% +0.03%
EndeavourOS Linux 64 bit 1.69% -0.08%
Fedora Linux 44 (Workstation Edition) 64 bit 1.66% +0.13%
Nobara Linux 43 (KDE Plasma Desktop Edition) 64 bit 1.64% -0.53%
Pop!_OS 24.04 LTS 64 bit 1.53% +0.01%
Other 13.91% +0.02%
The survey shows that 1920 x 1080 is still the top resolution, by quite a wide margin too at 51.10%. The next most popular being 2560 x 1440 at 21.46%. We’re also seeing 32 GB RAM (36.93%) closing in on 16 GB (40.97%).
🌐 External Sources: store.steampowered.com Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Ubisoft’s grand NFT experiment is ending exactly where most people expected it to: with the servers being switched off.
The publisher has announced that Champions Tactics: Grimoria Chronicles will shut down on October 30, bringing the curtain down on a game that launched less than two years ago. In-app purchases have already been disabled, although the game will remain playable until the servers disappear into the great digital void.
And I wouldn’t normally cover something like this, but it’s a slow news day.
“After careful consideration, we have made the decision to sunset the game,” Ubisoft told players. The company thanked the remaining community for its support and said more details and reminders would be shared before the closure.
Champions Tactics launched in October 2024 as what Ubisoft described as a “Web3 competitive turn-based RPG.” Players assembled teams of three fantasy characters and sent them into tactical battles, which sounds perfectly normal until you reach the part where those characters were NFTs.
The champions could be bought, forged and traded through a marketplace using regular money or cryptocurrency. Shortly after launch, some were reportedly listed for more than $63,000, because apparently the natural next step after buying horse armour was remortgaging your house for a pretend wizard.
Ubisoft had already begun dismantling the entire point of the game in May. Wallet functionality was frozen, its marketplace and Forge were closed, and players’ blockchain-linked champions were copied into the game as ordinary digital items. VIP perks were preserved, but the supposedly unique assets had effectively become normal videogame characters stored inside a normal videogame.
Champions Tactics therefore became a conventional game, which raised the fairly obvious question of why any of this needed a blockchain in the first place. The answer, it seems, was that it didn’t.
Removing the NFT systems was not enough to save Champions Tactics. Just a few months later, Ubisoft has decided to shut the whole thing down instead. The company has not publicly revealed how many people were still playing or exactly why it made the decision, but live-service games generally do not get “sunset” because they are overflowing with players and money.
A quick look on SteamDB shows that while the game did get a massive (that’s sarcasm) 1,443 concurrent players on release date, those numbers fell fast. Over the last year, the highest concurrent players was just 37 people. And since mid-April, it hasn’t broken 10.
This was not Ubisoft’s first awkward encounter with blockchain technology. The publisher previously attempted to introduce NFTs, which it called “Digits,” into Ghost Recon Breakpoint through its Ubisoft Quartz platform. The response was overwhelmingly negative, but Ubisoft remained convinced that players simply had not yet understood their genius.
While we’re seemingly beyond the days of payouts hinged on its review scores, the influence of Metacritic on games is hard to overstate. Since the early 2000s, it has composited and averaged review scores for film, music and games, the latter of which it seems to weigh on the most. Most people would not dispute the game sitting at the top spot, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, the beloved 1998 Nintendo classic that sits at a near perfect 99. But Did You Know Gaming, the YouTube compendium for overlooked trivia and newly uncovered history, is not most people.
“The calculation for Ocarina‘s meta-score is deeply flawed,” says the latest DYKG video. “We’re not attributing any of this to malice. We get that hunting down every back issue of every magazine for every game was a tall order back then. Mistakes were made. But hey, we all make mistakes. That said, none of that changes the fact that Ocarina‘s championship belt simply isn’t legitimate. And by extension, some of its Guinness records aren’t either.”
Since 2001, Metacritic aggregates review scores from approved publications and rounds them into a score out of 100 (unlike Rotten Tomatoes, who tally a pass/fail ratio). These ratings come from websites, newspapers, magazines and critics of certain regard. Released in 1998, Ocarina of Time predates Metacritic and most online resources. Still, Metacritic compiled a total of 22 then-contemporary reviews for Link’s first 3D journey across Hyrule. These come from the nascent IGN, the Canadian TV show Electric Playground and Famitsu magazine, which gave it their first and still incredibly rare perfect score.
While compiling a new video, DYKG’s fact finding discovered that Metacritic’s score is out of sync. The dispute isn’t based on remeasuring the critical consensus through any modern lens, but scrutinizing Metacritic’s own standards and protocols. This comes down to two key factors.
First, they noticed that Metacritic didn’t pull scores from all their usual approved publications, which are factored in not just other game scores, but other Zeldas. They included perfect scores from EGM and GamePro, but left out Game Informer and Nintendo Power, the official in-house Nintendo publication that gave it a humble 95. They found similar discrepancies with early blogs as well. This could be interpreted as cherry picking, though it’s possible Metacritic didn’t have these back issues and failed to check over the last quarter century. The second thing DYKG takes issue with is the inclusion of more arguable scores. Write-ups that merely call it “perfect,” without a numerical score, including a few flowery non-critical retrospectives published well after the game’s launch.
According to their own calculations, DYKG says the Metacritic score should be degraded from 99 to a whopping 98, rounding up from 97.6 (which is protocol on the site). While a single percentage slip doesn’t sound so controversial, this alone would knock Ocarina down to the more competitive second place, tying it with Grand Theft Auto IV, Super Mario Galaxy 2 and Soulcalibur. In the name of fairness, DYKG went through the same fact checking with Soulcalibur, which also launched before Metacritic, and found that despite some of the same issues in the process the score still ended up the same.
Metacritic is an influential resource and may act as a decent starting point for critical consensus. But it pales in comparison to establishing your own taste through critics and outlets you find speak to your sensibilities. It may matter to some bean counters or beer company record keepers, but an aggregate can only fit loosely over truth.
Beast of Reincarnation is an interesting action RPG. Developed by Game Freak, the studio behind the beloved Pokemon series, it’s a chance for the developer to step out from Pikachu’s enormous shadow and create something fresh. If you’re looking to give it a chance, you can preorder a Steam key at a discount, making it cheaper than buying directly through Steam while also scoring some extra content.
Forget the father-figure, adopted-daughter dynamic that games like The Last of Us and Pragmata deliver. Beast of Reincarnation pairs one person with one loyal dog, putting you in the role of Emma, a shunned outcast the world now relies on as its potential savior, alongside Koo, a blighted canine companion. The world is harsh and unforgiving, but Emma and Koo’s bond takes center stage, bringing moments of warmth to an otherwise bleak post-apocalyptic Japan.
The reveal trailer initially gave me Wild Hearts vibes, one of my favorite takes on the monster-hunting genre. However, Emma and Koo’s combat leans much more toward the soulslike formula, with the pair fighting as a synchronized team. Emma handles close-range combat with her sword, while Koo’s Bloom Arts provide magical abilities that let you attack enemies in a variety of ways.
Game Freak appears to be channeling its decades of experience creating Trainers and Pokemon into the relationship between Emma and Koo. Their journey is intertwined as they set out to defeat the Beast of Reincarnation and the many powerful bosses that stand in their way. Along the way, you’ll unlock new skills and build your ideal loadout to tackle increasingly difficult encounters.
While reviews haven’t been published yet, you don’t have to pay full price if you’re planning to jump in at launch. Right now, you can preorder Beast of Reincarnation for $52.79 / £43.99 at Fanatical, saving 12% before release. You’ll also receive the preorder bonus, which includes an Alternate Brown Shiba Skin for Koo and 30,000 Amber, an in-game currency that gives you a helpful head start.
The rest of this year is packed with major releases, including one particularly colossal game (cough, Grand Theft Auto VI, cough). That makes discounts on upcoming releases all the more welcome, and as a brand-new IP, Beast of Reincarnation is one I’m looking forward to playing.
Disclosure: GameSpot and Fanatical are both owned by Fandom. This story was created in collaboration with Fanatical’s deals team.
If there was ever a month that proved summer isn’t a quiet time for gaming anymore, August 2026 is it.
From long-awaited sequels and ambitious new RPGs to tactical strategy, survival horror and multiplayer warfare, Xbox players have an excellent selection of releases to look forward to over the coming weeks. Better still, Game Pass subscribers are in for a particularly good month, with two massive hitters arriving on day one.
Whether you’re venturing across a post-apocalyptic Japan alongside a faithful canine companion, surviving the horrors of a flooded Arkham, leading an elite Star Wars squad through the Clone Wars or reliving one of strategy gaming’s greatest classics, August’s new Xbox and Game Pass line-up offers no shortage of variety.
If you’re wondering which Xbox games deserve a place on your wishlist this month, or which games you should be downloading through Game Pass, these are the biggest, most exciting releases landing throughout August.
Best New Xbox and Game Pass Games – August 2026TitleDatePlatformsGame Pass?Play Anywhere?Beast of ReincarnationAugust 4thXbox Series, PC✅✅Hell Let Loose: VietnamAugust 13thXbox Series, PC–✅Defender of the Crown: The Legend ReturnsAugust 13thXbox Series, PC––The Sinking City 2August 18thXbox Series––Mortal Shell IIAugust 20thXbox Series ––Once HumanAugust 25thXbox Series, PC––Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2August 25thXbox One, Xbox Series––Star Wars Zero CompanyAugust 27thXbox Series ––Resonance: A Plague Tale LegacyAugust 27thXbox Series, PC✅✅The biggest Xbox and Game Pass releases landing throughout August 2026
Beast of Reincarnation – August 4th
Beast of Reincarnation
Game Freak may be best known for Pokémon, but Beast of Reincarnation couldn’t feel more different.
Instead, this is a striking action RPG set in a haunting vision of post-apocalyptic Japan, where nature has reclaimed much of the landscape and humanity clings desperately to survival. You play as Emma, an outcast burdened by a mysterious affliction, accompanied throughout by Koo, a loyal dog whose bond with the protagonist forms the emotional heart of the experience.
Combat looks pretty flexible too. Whether you prefer charging headfirst into battle, striking from afar or adopting a stealthier approach, skill trees, equipment and spirit stones allow you to shape Emma into the kind of warrior you want her to become. Koo isn’t simply tagging along either, with coordinated attacks and companion abilities adding another tactical layer to every encounter.
Beautiful, melancholic and packed with promise, Beast of Reincarnation has all the ingredients to become one of August’s standout adventures – and with a Game Pass Day One launch, there’s every reason to jump in immediately.
Platforms: Xbox Series X|S, PC, Play Anywhere
Publisher: Fictions
Developer: GAME FREAK Inc.
Game Pass: Day One
Hell Let Loose: Vietnam – August 13th
Hell Let Loose Vietnam
After establishing itself as one of the finest large-scale military shooters of recent years, Hell Let Loose heads into one of history’s most brutal conflicts.
Trading the battlefields of Europe for the dense jungles of Vietnam, this latest entry promises to retain the tactical teamwork that made the original such a success while introducing an entirely new theatre of war. Helicopters, patrol boats and extensive tunnel networks dramatically change how battles unfold, forcing teams to adapt to a far more unpredictable environment where danger can arrive from almost any direction.
With expansive maps inspired by real-world locations and a host of specialised combat roles available, Hell Let Loose: Vietnam should well deliver another authentic multiplayer experience for players seeking tactical warfare rather than arcade action.
Platforms: Xbox Series X|S, PC, Play Anywhere
Publisher: Team17
Developer: Expression Games
Defender of the Crown: The Legend Returns – August 13th
Defender of the Crown
For many players, Defender of the Crown remains one of the defining strategy games of the 1980s.
Now, one of Cinemaware’s most iconic releases returns with a modern makeover that respects its heritage while introducing plenty of new ideas. Veterans can relive the original Amiga experience almost exactly as they remember it through Retro Mode, while Classic Mode refreshes the visuals and streamlines the interface for a contemporary audience.
The biggest addition to Defender of the Crown: The Legend Returns, however, comes in the shape of Kingdom Mode. Featuring procedurally generated maps, unlockable abilities and additional mechanics that keep every campaign feeling different, it gives returning players a compelling reason to keep coming back long after they’ve conquered England once again.
Castle sieges, jousting tournaments, territorial conquest and political manoeuvring all remain central to the experience, preserving everything that made Defender of the Crown such a landmark release.
Platforms: Xbox Series X|S, PC
Publisher: Cinemaware
Developer: Cinemaware
The Sinking City 2 – August 18th
The Sinking City 2
Few developers understand Lovecraftian horror quite like Frogwares, and The Sinking City 2 looks ready to push even deeper into cosmic terror.
Moving the action to a flood-ravaged version of 1920s Arkham, this sequel shifts its focus firmly towards survival horror. Supplies are scarce, every encounter carries genuine danger and careful exploration is often rewarded far more than reckless aggression. Managing your inventory, unlocking shortcuts and deciding when to fight – or when to retreat – all become essential parts of staying alive.
Arkham itself promises to be one of the game’s greatest achievements. From abandoned hospitals and decaying markets to submerged streets and hidden eldritch ruins, every environment appears drenched in atmosphere. Alongside the terrifying monsters lurking beneath the floodwaters sits a more personal mystery, as your desperate search for the woman you love slowly uncovers a far darker conspiracy.
For fans of the original The Sinking City, psychological horror and Lovecraft’s unsettling mythology, The Sinking City 2 could easily become one of the year’s most memorable releases.
Platforms: Xbox Series X|S
Publisher: Frogwares
Developer: Frogwares
Mortal Shell II – August 20th
Mortal Shell II
Soulslike fans won’t have to wait long before another brutally demanding challenge arrives.
Mortal Shell II builds upon the foundations of the original Mortal Shell while significantly expanding almost every aspect of the experience. Combat has become faster, more fluid and considerably more expressive, removing traditional stamina limitations in favour of relentless aggression and rewarding skilful execution.
The world itself also appears far more ambitious than before. Rather than a series of isolated locations, players can freely explore an interconnected landscape packed with more than sixty optional dungeons, powerful weapons and grotesque enemies guarding every path forward.
If Cold Symmetry can successfully balance challenge with exploration, Mortal Shell II has every chance of becoming one of the standout Soulslikes of 2026.
Platforms: Xbox Series X|S
Publisher: Playstack
Developer: Cold Symmetry
Once Human – August 25th
Once Human
Few survival games have generated as much buzz over the last couple of years as Once Human, and now Xbox players finally get the chance to discover what all the excitement is about.
Set in a sprawling open world devastated by the mysterious Stardust infection, Once Human blends survival mechanics, base building and multiplayer action into a compelling sandbox where no two adventures are ever quite the same. As one of the few Meta-Humans capable of harnessing the strange substance rather than succumbing to it, you’ll battle grotesque creatures, gather resources and carve out your own place in a world that has long since fallen apart.
Players will head into frozen wastelands and dense forests, as well as deserts, volcanoes and swamplands, while a deep building system allows you to construct elaborate fortresses complete with traps, workshops and living quarters.
Throw in the wonderfully bizarre Deviants – strange companions that can help gather resources, defend your base and even cook meals – and Once Human looks set to become another addictive multiplayer survival obsession.
Better still, it’s completely free to play, making it one of August’s easiest recommendations.
Platforms: Xbox Series X|S, PC
Publisher: NetEase Interactive Entertainment
Developer: NetEase Interactive Entertainment
Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 – August 25th
Aliens Fireteam Elite 2
If the original Aliens: Fireteam Elite captured the frantic chaos of battling Xenomorph swarms, its sequel looks determined to make every encounter even more desperate.
This time around, four-player co-op takes centre stage, allowing larger squads to combine specialised classes, unique abilities and customised loadouts as they push through increasingly hostile missions. Teamwork has clearly become an even greater priority, with each class designed to complement the others rather than simply surviving alone.
The Xenomorphs themselves have also evolved. Smarter enemy behaviour, larger swarms and greater variety promise to keep players constantly adapting, while a fully customisable Specialist class allows you to mix and match abilities from across the game’s roster to create your ideal Colonial Marine.
Returning Horde Mode should provide endless replayability too, challenging squads to survive escalating waves of terrifying creatures while earning increasingly valuable rewards.
For anyone who’s ever dreamed of stepping into the boots of a Colonial Marine, Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 looks ready to deliver another tense, action-packed trip into one of science fiction’s most iconic universes.
Platforms: Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S
Publisher: Daybreak Game Company
Developer: Cold Iron Studios
Star Wars Zero Company – August 27th
Star Wars Zero Company
The Star Wars universe has seen its fair share of strategy games over the years, but Zero Company feels like a proper return to classic tactical storytelling.
Set during the twilight of the Clone Wars, you command an elite squad assembled to confront a growing threat before it consumes the galaxy. Rather than focusing on massive battles, Star Wars: Zero Company appears to thrive on carefully planned operations where positioning, squad composition and intelligent decision-making determine success.
Between missions you’ll recruit operatives, strengthen relationships and customise both your squad leader Hawks and the wider team, creating a force that reflects your own tactical preferences. Jedi, clone soldiers, astromechs and scoundrels all offer unique abilities that can be combined in countless ways.
With cinematic storytelling underpinning every operation and meaningful player choice shaping each campaign, Star Wars Zero Company could easily become one of the year’s biggest surprises – especially for fans of turn-based strategy.
Platforms: Xbox Series X|S
Publisher: EA
Developer: Bit Reactor
Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy – August 27th (Game Pass Day One)
RESONANCE A Plague Tale Legacy
Closing out the month is what may well become August’s biggest story-driven adventure.
Rather than continuing Amicia and Hugo’s tale directly, Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy travels fifteen years into the past to follow Sophia, the fierce smuggler introduced in Requiem. Her search for answers leads to the mysterious Minotaur’s Island, where ancient myths, deadly puzzles and relentless enemies combine to create a fresh chapter within Asobo Studio’s acclaimed universe.
While familiar themes of survival and emotional storytelling remain intact, Sophia’s adventure introduces a stronger emphasis on melee combat, agile exploration and environmental puzzle solving. A mysterious Minoan sphere allows players to manipulate light itself, opening new paths and revealing long-forgotten secrets buried deep beneath the island.
Launching straight into Game Pass on day one, we suspect that Resonance will become essential playing.
Platforms: Xbox Series X|S, PC, Play Anywhere
Publisher: Focus Entertainment
Developer: Asobo Studio
Game Pass: Day One
August Delivers One Of Xbox’s Strongest Months Yet
August may arrive towards the end of summer, but there’s certainly no shortage of reasons to keep the Xbox switched on.
Whether you’re embarking on the emotional journey of Beast of Reincarnation, surviving the nightmarish streets of The Sinking City 2, mastering the unforgiving combat of Mortal Shell II, commanding elite operatives in Star Wars Zero Company, or uncovering ancient mysteries in Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy, this month’s line-up offers remarkable variety.
Game Pass subscribers are particularly well served too, while multiplayer fans have plenty to dive into thanks to Hell Let Loose: Vietnam, Once Human and Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2.
Throw in the welcome return of Defender of the Crown, and August feels like one of the most balanced release months of the year – mixing blockbuster adventures with inventive indies, tactical experiences and multiplayer action in equal measure.
As always, let us know what you’ll be playing. The comments are below.
The Princess Ladybug Plush is the newly added plush in Palia, alongside the Shimmerfly Plush. It is one of the rare plushes in the game with high demand. Players are constantly farming the Princess Ladybug bug to get the Princess Ladybug Plush. In this guide, we will tell you how to get the Princess Ladybug Plush in Palia.
How to Get the Princess Ladybug Plush in Palia
The Princess Ladybug Plush is a rare drop from catching the Princess Ladybug. The Princess Ladybug is one of the rare bugs in the game that spawns along the coast of Kilima Lake in Kilima Valley at any time. Players can easily find a Princess Ladybug while traversing along the coastal areas in Kilima Valley. A few of the hot spots where the Princess Ladybug often spawns are Whispering Banks, Fisherman’s Lagoon, Remembrance Beach, Gillyfin Cove, and Leafhopper Hills.
How to Catch Princess Ladybug in Palia
Catching the Princess Ladybug is a bit more difficult than other bugs, as it moves fast by crawling in a straight line. They are easy to spot, and while running through the coastal areas in Kilima Valley, keep your eyes on the ground for any movement.
Additionally, stunning the Princess Ladybug will require multiple Smoke Bombs, so make sure you bring enough to stun it when you find it. If the Princess Ladybug gets alerted, it will try to flee by crawling. It is best to throw the Sticky Smoke Bombs on it to slow it down and then use the regular Smoke Bombs to stun it.
After stunning the Princess Ladybug, simply go near it and interact with it to pick it up. The Princess Ladybug also has a chance of dropping a 1-7 Silk Thread. If you are lucky, it will drop the Princess Ladybug Plush.
Best Tips to Get the Princess Ladybug Plush Quickly
Here are some of the best tips that can help you get the plush quickly.
Most of the players are farming the Princess Ladybug in the areas of Bahari Bay.
Join other players to farm alongside them.
Place down a Honey Lure at one of the spawn locations of the Princess Ladybug to farm it.
As you stun many mantises, you will have a high chance of getting the plush drop.
Super Mario Sunshine is finally making its way to Nintendo Switch Online, giving you another chance to clean up Isle Delfino without having to pick up an increasingly pricey copy of Super Mario 3D All-Stars.
Nintendo has confirmed that the GameCube staple will join the Nintendo GameCube – Nintendo Classics library on August 13, 2026. However, the mildly frustrating catches are that you’ll need both a Nintendo Switch 2 and an active Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack membership to play it.
That obviously means the tropical adventure won’t be available through the standard subscription tier or on the original Nintendo Switch. The GameCube Nintendo Classics app is completely exclusive to Switch 2, offering features such as save points and customisable controls alongside improved image quality for supported games.
Dark days loom over Isle Delfino!
Clean up a polluted island with FLUDD at your side in Super Mario Sunshine, coming to Nintendo GameCube – Nintendo Classics on Nintendo Switch 2 for #NintendoSwitchOnline + Expansion Pack members on Aug 13! pic.twitter.com/8j5iWvjnJz
— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) July 31, 2026
If you haven’t had a chance to play it since its original 2002 GameCube release, Super Mario Sunshine swaps out the usual Mushroom Kingdom environment for the much sunnier Isle Delfino. Mario’s holiday quickly goes off the rails when the island is covered in paint-like goop and he is blamed for the mess.
As previously alluded to, Super Mario Sunshine did return on modern hardware through Super Mario 3D All-Stars, which bundled it with Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Galaxy. However, Nintendo stopped selling the digital collection in March 2021 after making it available for a limited period, leaving physical copies as one of the few official ways to access that version.
Therefore, this Nintendo Switch Online arrival makes Sunshine much easier to play again, even if it is locked behind both Nintendo’s newer console and its more expensive subscription tier.
Super Mario Sunshine joins an already pretty solid GameCube library that already includes The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, F-Zero GX, Soulcalibur II and Super Mario Strikers, with more classics still planned for the service.
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Netmarble has released a major new Solo Leveling: ARISE update, introducing a powerful new version of Sung Jinwoo alongside another hunter, increased level caps, additional story chapters, and a revamped endgame challenge.
The headline addition is Sung Jinwoo – Monarch of Shadows, a new Dark-element Successor character based around fighting alongside his summoned shadows.
Unlike the existing versions of Jinwoo, the Monarch of Shadows can transform during combat and perform combo attacks in tandem with his army. His abilities include Mirage Blade, which strikes enemies using a blade of death, and Sovereign Doom, an attack that unleashes the Breath of Destruction before condemning its target to an endless death.
Players will not need to rely on a limited-time banner to unlock him, either. Netmarble says anyone can obtain Monarch of Shadows Sung Jinwoo by completing a series of in-game missions.
The recruitment event has no scheduled end date, meaning both existing and future players will be able to add him to their roster without having to rush through the required objectives.
Jung Yerim joins Solo Leveling: ARISE
The update also introduces Jung Yerim, a new Fire-element Supporter designed to strengthen fire-focused teams.
Jung Yerim can heal allies and provide shields while increasing several offensive attributes, including Fire Overload damage, Burst damage, Attack Power, and Ultimate Move damage.
That combination makes her a versatile support option capable of improving a team’s survivability while also increasing its overall damage output.
Alongside the two new characters, Sung Jinwoo’s maximum level has been raised from 150 to 160. Players can also unlock a new job called Monarch of Shadows: Vanquisher.
The Workshop of Brilliant Light has received an overhaul as part of the update, with Baran, the Monarch of White Flames, now appearing as its primary boss.
Two more Hidden Chapters have also been added. Hidden Chapters 11 and 12 are available to play across both Normal and Reverse Normal difficulties.
Several limited-time events are now underway, including Midnight Mermaid Mayhem, giving players additional opportunities to collect upgrade materials and other rewards.
Solo Leveling: ARISE is an action RPG adaptation of the popular Solo Leveling webtoon. Players control Sung Jinwoo throughout his rise from one of humanity’s weakest hunters to an overwhelmingly powerful warrior capable of commanding an Army of Shadows.
The game allows players to equip different weapons and skills, recruit hunters featured in the original story, and summon defeated enemies using Jinwoo’s trademark command: “Arise.”
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Well this is incredible news ( As if we’ve not had enough already :p ), as indyjo is bringing the classic real-time strategy game Command & Conquer to the Atari ST home computer. This ambitious project is currently a work-in-progress port of Westwood Studios’ legendary 1995 title, adapting the complex strategic gameplay to a 16bit machine that first debuted in the 1980’s. The true marvel of this port lies in its technical adaptation. While the original MS-DOS version relied on 256-colour VGA displays, the Atari ST hardware restricts the visuals to just 16 colours. To bridge this gap, the developer has heavily focused on precision colour reduction, translating the detailed military units and terrains into a vibrant, limited-palette art style. For retro enthusiasts and fans of 16-colour pixel aesthetics, this port promises a unique way to experience a PC gaming masterpiece.
The upcoming release retains all the core gameplay elements that defined the RTS genre. Players will still build fortified bases, harvest valuable Tiberium resources, and engage in intense tactical combat to wipe out enemy strongholds. Both iconic factions are included, allowing players to launch campaigns as either the UN-backed Global Defense Initiative (GDI) or the shadowy Brotherhood of NOD.
AI was not used to generate any artwork, but it was used to port the software itself and to create tools for dealing with the game’s assets.This is a port of the DOS version of Command & Conquer and inherits hardware requirements that exceed what a typical 1990 Atari STe would provide. So currently, you need either somewhat exotic hardware (an Atari STe with an acceleration card or an Atari Falcon) or an emulator like Hatari. In future versions, these requirements will be reduced to make gameplay possible on, say, an Atari Mega STe with 4MB of RAM. However, we’re not there yet. Getting RAM requirements down is the hardest part.A new format for iconsets, ST16, contains terrain tiles in the ST’s native 16 color encoding.A new format for shapes, SHPX, separates meta-information of images from actual pixel data. Only the former stays in RAM while pixel data can be read from disk as needed, freeing almost 2MB RAM.Contribution to reduced memory consumption:A 256kB interpolation table was removed.The cache for terrain tiles was removed (thanks to ST16 iconsets).A new C library, libcmini, reduces overhead.
UPDATE : A new build has been released into the wild and here is what the developer had to say “This major release is closing the gaps towards feature-completeness: cutscenes and audio with full support for 4MB hardware. Intro, mission briefings and other movie sequences play back in beautiful 16 colors, even on 8MHz CPUs. Sound effects, speech and music work even on 4MB machines, no strings attached. Command & Conquer for Atari ST is, as far as I know, the first Atari ST game with full-motion video. The remix tool was updated for this pipeline — it converts VQA movies to STV (with quality and encoding-effort options) and prepares the new audio format.”
System Requirements :
Minimum: Any Atari ST-compatible computer with at least 4MB of RAM.Recommended: 68020+ @ 32MHz, 4MB+ RAM, DMA sound, Blitter.
The long-awaited Helldivers 2 x Warhammer 40,000 crossover is nearly here, with the Arrowhead and Games Workshop collaboration set to drop into the game on 12th August.
The grimdark 41st Millennium and the propagandist dystopian galaxy of Helldivers are a great match thematically, and the Legendary Warbond will bring some intriguing new weaponry to the fight.
There’s two new skins, the Imperial Guard themed TG-8 Sharpshooter and TG-122 Demo-Trooper.
Sales of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth did not initially seem good. In Square Enix’s May 2024 financial report, company president Takashi Kiryu stated that...
![Command & Conquer – Westwood’s hit strategy game is coming to the Atari ST, and it’s impressive! [VIDEO UPDATE]](https://i2.wp.com/blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvTjt8OlP25J65HWFkNRtzXCApoiNN1SH2jjvU_yjhY8-ov3ICupTxVhbE_mN9Y6ntkqiV-oproLI97JhZLzTQdZjcVfPPZvNTJaMagK4lrtyC5XDHA1fC-RjSfGVGyb5BtuLW1LMUFC74Mut3q-sfKGSryvJDxbRicYXJ7jP3twCQ9w43vHpEXPQd5N8/w1200-h630-p-k-no-nu/command.jpg?w=640&resize=640,0&ssl=1 "Command & Conquer – Westwood’s hit strategy game is coming to the Atari ST, and it’s impressive! [VIDEO UPDATE]")
