Remedy Entertainment has confirmed that it is working on Control 2, which will be co-developed and published with 505 Games. Formerly known as Codename Heron, Control 2 will release on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S in the future. The developer added that the sequel is currently in a concept stage of development, and will be powered by Remedy’s Northlight engine.
“With Control, we leaped into the unknown. We wanted to create something new. Something different and unexpected. A world like no other. Thank you, the audience, for making Control such a success for us,” Control game director Mikael Kasurinen said in a blog post. “With Control 2, we’ll take another leap into the unknown. It’ll be an unexpected journey. It’ll take a while, but to put it mildly, this is the most exciting project I’ve ever worked on. It’s still early days, but it will be worth the wait.”
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505 Games co-CEOs Rami and Raffi Galante have described Control as the “biggest investment” that the publisher ever made and that the $51 million deal for the sequel with Remedy will allow the “success story” of Control to continue. Remedy will publish the game on PC and 505 Games will handle PS5 and Xbox Series X|S publishing duties.
Since it launched in 2019, Control has sold an impressive 3 million units, and an enhanced edition of the game was released later on PC and console.
Official Control 2 concept art
Remedy has a busy development slate as of late as the studio is working on Project Condor, a co-op multiplayer spin-off set in the Control universe and Alan Wake 2, which remains on track for release in 2023. Beyond those two projects, fans can also look forward to remakes of Max Payne 1 and 2 in partnership with Rockstar Games.
The products discussed here were independently chosen by our editors.
GameSpot may get a share of the revenue if you buy anything featured on our site.
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When it comes to competitive games, I play two main genres: shooters and card games. I like destroying my enemies with either quick reactions or a furrowed brow while counting lethal. Which is why I’m pleased that with the arrival of Marvel Snap and Overwatch 2, I’m duel wielding my love of both genres in the same gaming session.
See, I didn’t play Overwatch 1 competitively. I played hours and hours of the game but I always played the Arcade modes because it was more about chatting to friends online than it ever was about winning. Since the arrival of Overwatch 2, I’ve been far more focused on climbing up the ranks, and as a DPS main that comes with one major annoyance—queue times.
Of Overwatch 2’s three roles, DPS is easily the most popular. It’s not only the role with the most heroes, but also my favourites. Unfortunately, the most popular role also means the longest line to matchmake into a game. And as a damage main, I’ve been frustrated waiting upwards of five minutes to play a single match.
(Image credit: Tyler C. / Activision Blizzard)
It’s getting to the point where I’ve played far more competitive support games than I have damage or tank just because if I want to play Overwatch, I really don’t want to wait. I want my quick fix of chaos now, and by George, I’ll have it. So, while twiddling my thumbs while in the queue, it occurred to me that there is something fun I could be doing instead, which is where Marvel Snap has come in.
I love card games. I think it’s a Caribbean thing that has been instilled in me from watching my mum and grandmother play late at night as a kid. I held off on trying the new CCG on the block, Marvel Snap, because I knew from peer reviews that I could potentially get carried away, so I waited until last weekend to try it out. I spent all of Saturday with a terrible cold, crushing my enemies and collecting cards. I drank copious amounts of orange juice with my left hand while the right hand built decks thinking on the powers of Quicksilver, Iron Heart, and The Hulk. And I won a lot.
I found myself screenshotting particularly funny wins where card effects and locations had ridiculous consequences. I’ve been looking at other people’s boards with fascination or jealousy as I spot cool cards I’ve not yet gotten to. And I’ve started playing Marvel Snap in little quiet moments. Its matches are short and sweet so it threads that exact needle of time when I’m waiting for something tedious. A quick game while the kettle boils. Another while I’m waiting for a bus to turn up. And now a game while I’m waiting to load into another game altogether.
(Image credit: Marvel)
Marvel Snap’s snappy format really is a ranked player’s dream interim activity. Of course, Overwatch 2 allows you to play some deathmatch or practice while you wait to be put in a real game but there’s little satisfaction in that. You’re dumped into a deathmatch and pulled back out so hard you might get whiplash. Why would I play no consequence Overwatch 2, when I could be playing Marvel Snap and outplaying my opponents? You can come away in awe at another player’s deck, or feel proud that you kept Odin in yours for a special occasion. And if by some miracle you’re pulled into a game early, and you’re still in a Marvel Snap match, you’ve got two options.
The first is playing on. Overwatch matches have a few minutes of prep time while players pick heroes and prepare to defend. It’s not a lot of time but with Snap’s short games it’s enough to get another round or two finished in the match. And even when the shooting starts, playing a card quickly in between shots as a hail Mary to clutch the game is quite possible. I’ve done it before and won both my Snap game and my Overwatch game.
(Image credit: Second Dinner)
The other option is another built-in feature of Snap: retreating. The Snap in Marvel Snap refers to a betting mechanic that lets either player “snap” at any time to wager double the XP that they’ll win If one player Snaps and the other isn’t confident in a win, they can retreat, preserving their tokens and sacrificing some pride instead. If you’re in the rare situation where you can’t finish your Marvel Snap game, just retreat. Preserve some of your tokens and it’s no biggie. And you know what, as someone who has been retreated on a few times, it’s a little annoying, so it’s still a moral win.
Queuing for Overwatch 2 and, frankly, any game with long queue times, can be made that little bit more fun with the addition of Marvel Snap. There are very few games that are that quick and punchy to play that fill that tiny gap while you’re waiting to do something else. Now, excuse me while I decide if Blue Marvel is still worth his place in my deck.
https://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/1668170954_Marvel-Snap-is-making-ranked-Overwatch-2-much-more-fun.png6751200Carlos Pachecohttps://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Website-Logo-300x74.pngCarlos Pacheco2022-11-11 12:14:012022-11-11 12:14:01Marvel Snap is making ranked Overwatch 2 much more fun
Since Baldur’s Gate 3 (opens in new tab) launched in early access back in 2020, Act 1—the only one available until the full launch—has been fattened up with giant badgers (opens in new tab), musical instruments and D&D’s objectively best race (opens in new tab), but at this point you probably just want to know when the heck it’s coming out. Good news: more information on the 2023 release date will be coming in December.
Patch 9 will add new features before the end of the year, and in the accompanying Panel From Hell Larian will “go into detail about some of the most discussed topics in the community”. That includes the release date, so hopefully we’ll have a better idea of when in that 12 month period we can expect to embark on a complete adventure through the Forgotten Realms.
This week’s dev blog update (opens in new tab) noted that Acts 2 and 3 are being “actively playtested” at the moment, and there’s also plenty more in the works for Act 1. After completing the first act ages ago, I’ve only dipped back in to quickly muck around with new classes, but if you’ve already played through it countless times you should still encounter enough new things at launch so that playing through it again won’t feel like a repeat.
“Our goal,” says Larian, “is for even the players who have repeated Act 1 over and over again for hundreds of hours to feel like there’s a whole new experience in store for them at launch.”
In the meantime, we’ll have to entertain ourselves by speculating about what’s coming in the next patch. There are still races and classes waiting in the wings, and I’m very keen to get into trouble as a rowdy half-orc. What Christmas present are you hoping the patch will bring you?
https://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/1668285275_Baldurs-Gate-3-is-getting-new-features-and-a-release.jpg7101200Carlos Pachecohttps://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Website-Logo-300x74.pngCarlos Pacheco2022-11-11 12:13:522022-11-11 12:13:52Baldur’s Gate 3 is getting ‘new features’ and a release date announcement in December
Anyone who’s ever been told to “respect your elders” will now get the chance, as Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration commemorates the full 50-year history of the developer.
Atari has partnered with Digital Eclipse–whose last release was the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection back in August–to restore and compile over 100 games from the Atari library into one package. The collection features games from every console Atari manufactured, including for the first time on modern consoles the Lynx and Jaguar.
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Now Playing: Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration Launch Trailer
Atari 50’s launch trailer shows off a few of the games that will be available in the compilation, including Asteroid Deluxe, Breakout, and Fatal Run. Digital Eclipse also reimagined or remade six games for the collection as well, including Airworld, the fourth game in the Swordquest series which famously was never finished and never released.
Finally, Atari 50 also features a full timeline of the company’s 50 years in existence. The timeline gives players access to never-before-seen interviews with members of the Atari team, including company co-founder Nolan Bushnell and Defender lead programmer Eugene Jarvis.
Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration is out today on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and PC for $40.
The products discussed here were independently chosen by our editors.
GameSpot may get a share of the revenue if you buy anything featured on our site.
https://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/1668358889_Atari-50-The-Anniversary-Celebration-Is-A-Virtual-Museum-For.png7201280Carlos Pachecohttps://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Website-Logo-300x74.pngCarlos Pacheco2022-11-11 12:00:002022-11-11 12:00:00Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration Is A Virtual Museum For 50 Years Of Gaming History
Turns out that the new Telesto emblem may have been the entire reason the buggy fusion rifle was taking over Destiny 2 the last few days. First, it gained an alternate firing mode where it would spark and shoot out a shower of orbs, then Telesto somehow got the keys to Bungie’s Facebook and Twitter accounts, and now we’ve got a free emblem to claim.
For those that don’t know, Telesto has a bit of a reputation as a game-breaking gun, and in the past it’s had issues with the game recognising its projectiles as people—I guess that explains the whole gun gaining sentience thing. It’s hard to tell if this is the climax of our Telesto-based community event, but either way, you can get yourself a fun little emblem if you’re a fan of the gun, or just want to prove you were there when Telesto broke bad.
How to get the ‘Schrödinger’s Gun’ Telesto emblem
Now, a gift: 9LX-7YC-6TXThose who wish may bear my mark. I already know what choice each of you will make. pic.twitter.com/puGA0jL3WONovember 10, 2022
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If you want the ‘Schrödinger’s Gun’ Telesto emblem, you can get the code to redeem it from Bungie’s Facebook or Twitter. When you log into the game, it’ll also give you the code. Here it is for ease of use:
https://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/1668325871_How-to-get-the-Telesto-emblem-in-Destiny-2.jpg6751200Carlos Pachecohttps://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Website-Logo-300x74.pngCarlos Pacheco2022-11-11 11:58:262022-11-11 11:58:26How to get the Telesto emblem in Destiny 2
There’s a good reason the best Twitch streamers, eSports players, and other big hitters on the gaming scene always seem to be wearing headphones. You may think that a couple of monitor speakers or room-scale 5.1 surround sound is the best option (who’s got the space?), but none of these things are tailored for purpose quite like a quality gaming headset. Get the right one, and it can prove just as important to pulling you into that game space like a powerful GPU, or a high-res high refresh rate monitor.
That’s where JBL steps up. For over 75 years, these guys have been refining their acoustic formula to deliver high-end audio to televisions, music equipment, and, most recently, gaming. Their Quantum range of gaming headsets caters to a vast range of budgets and needs – from the solo adventurer seeking to immerse themselves in the soundscape of an open-world RPG, to the streamer who needs to communicate clearly with their audience while staying attuned to what’s happening in-game.
Every headset in the Quantum series (opens in new tab) features a directional microphone, premium memory foam ear cushions, and QuantumSOUND signature drivers, which ensure that you’ll be able to track enemies by the sound of their footsteps, and feel the impact of an explosion as a shell lands 50 feet away from you in an online shooter.
(Image credit: JBL)
As you move up through the tiers of Quantum headsets, the feature sets get even better.
The Quantum 300, 400, 610 wireless, 810 wireless, 910 wireless (opens in new tab), and ONE headsets have the luxury of QuantumSURROUND, which is where things really take off. Suddenly, gunshots reverberating off distant mountains will actually sound distant, while the ghoulish rasps of a spectral presence in a horror game will have you looking anxiously over your shoulder. The spatialisation tech will give you the edge too, letting you react faster to face whatever threats are coming your way.
Best of all, QuantumSURROUND works with every game (though you’ll only get the most out of it if that game outputs surround sound).
Then there’s Active Noise Cancelling, reserved for the elite Quantum 810 wireless, 910 wireless (opens in new tab) and ONE headsets. Zone out of your study, your bedroom, your office, or wherever you’re sitting, and pull yourself into the game by eliminating background noise. Your parents, partners, or housemates might not appreciate having to tap you on the shoulder to get your attention, but you can probably pacify them by letting them know that the only viable alternative to the Quantums would be a roomful of booming 5.1 speakers.
(Image credit: JBL)
The JBL QuantumENGINE makes your headset truly your own, letting you tweak and refine the majority* of Quantum headsets. Use a range of presets or manually modify the EQ tune into the ambience of rustling trees, the heavy bass of artillery fire, or your favourite tunes. Create multiple profiles for different moods, modify your microphone settings, and customise those RGB lights with the whole spectrum of colour (hint: set your RGBs to an ominous pulsing red when you don’t want to be disturbed). With QuantumENGINE’s feature set, your headset becomes your personal space, just how you like it.
Packaged snugly in a bite size box, this small form-factor Acer Nitro PC feel like it’s got a bit of a Napoleon complex going on. The angry, red LED brow on the front of the machine sits beside possibly the largest power button I’ve ever seen, as if to say, “Press it and I will end you.” Though that attitude isn’t entirely baseless—the mid-range CPU/GPU combo can handle itself in a host of games at 1440p.
In theory, that combo should be great for productivity-style tasks, too, but the storage really lets it down.
Bolstering a pretty miniscule 238GB PCIe SSD boot drive with an HDD (even a 1TB one) is, frankly, a mistake. Just pick a bigger solo boot SSD, people. Here it means I’m not able to play the majority of today’s games with the speedy load times an M.2 solid state drive would have provided. Case in point, the FFXIV Shadowbringers benchmark choked at 32.9 seconds when loading from the hard drive; in this day and age that’s pretty unacceptable.
If you do manage to fit anything on the SSD, you’re looking at around 12.7 seconds load time, and even that’s a little lacking compared to other PCs in the same, and even in lower price brackets.
Nitro 50 spec
CPU: Intel Core i5 12400F GPU: Acer Predator GeForce RTX 3060 RAM: Kingston 16GB DDR4-3200 Motherboard: Acer proprietary Intel B660 Storage: Kingston OM8PDP3256B-AA1 238.5GB SSD Front I/O: 1x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, 1x USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 Type-C, mic in, headphone Rear I/O: 4x USB 2.0 Type-A, 2x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A Connectivity: Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.0 PSU: 500W Case: Acer Nitro 50 OS: Windows 11 Home Warranty: 1 year standard Price: $1, 300 (opens in new tab)
The 3DMark Storage Benchmark furthers my concerns there, with only a passable 1,381 index score for the SSD, and just managing an abysmal 155 points for the HDD. Basically, expect to spend a lot of time on read/write tasks. This is likely the main reason the Nitro stumbled in the PCMark 10 Express benchmark, too, with a score of 5,757.
On the plus side, you can’t buy this exact spec. Acer has, in its infinite wisdom, decided to send us a machine for review you can’t buy. The system you can buy comes with a far more reasonable 512GB PCIe SSD for your $1,300. It’s still hooked up with a 1TB hard drive, so the data side is still slow, but that takes away a lot of our immediate issues with the Nitro 50.
That’s unlikely to change the PCMark score, which would indicate general productivity isn’t its strong suit. But the Aida64 Extreme benchmark score of 41,015 shows the dual channel 16GB DDR4-3200 RAM can handle the stresses of multitasking pretty well.
That RAM will give you a better chance when it comes to gaming too, and once you’ve spent the majority of your day installing your games on the HDD (ridiculous), the Nitro 50 does manage to pack a punch when it comes to gaming. That’s thanks to the solid combination of entry-level core components: an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 (opens in new tab) and Intel Core i5 12400F (opens in new tab).
(Image credit: Future)
System benchmarks
Even as a last generation CPU, the Core i5’s got a lot going for it with single core Cinebench R23 scores of 1,697, and multi core scores of 11,595. That gives it an edge in rendering, and an average synthetic performance of 34.14 fps when testing with X264 v5.0.1. That’s all a good indication of the i5 12400F’s great gaming potential, and although it’s no match for the $200 more expensive iBuyPower’s Core i7 12700f in terms of multicore performance, maybe think of it as paying yourself $200 to wait a little longer for rendering.
The 4K 3DMark Time Spy Extreme benchmark did give it a little trouble though. A CPU score of 4,068 is lacking compared to other machines we’ve tested, which will be down to the RTX 3060’s contribution; this is really not the card for 4K.
In actual gaming benchmarks, the CPU saw 82fps averages in Hitman 3 Dartmoor—that’s on ultra graphics settings at 1440p, with sim quality set to best. Not a terrible score, especially when you put it next to 43 fps averages in Metro Exodus Enhanced. The F1 22 performance with ray tracing on was underwhelming at 29fps, though the test was done on the rainy Belgium track with anisotropic filtering at x16, and graphics set to ultra high. It never did drop below 26fps though, so it still remained playable. You can definitely hit smoother frame rates with a little settings tinkering, which is the general ethos of this machine.
The rest of the gaming benchmarks were all done at 1440p on ultra settings, and all were more than playable thanks to the core components, though for an additional $99 you could have yourself the NZXT Streaming PC that manages another 20fps in Far Cry 6, 18fps in Hitman Dartmoor, and 17fps in Metro. It doesn’t sound like a lot, but considering the great thermals and more impressive (and larger) NVMe SSD, it’s almost a no-brainer.
(Image credit: Future)
Gaming benchmarks
The Nitro is a nifty machine for gaming it’s really been let down on the storage side.
The main problem with high powered components, however, comes in the form of heat dissipation. The Nitro’s small form factor case with minimal vents doesn’t help in that respect; we’re talking max CPU and GPU temps in the low 80°C. It’s not the worst we’ve seen and won’t have your components melting, but it could certainly be better.
The bottom line here is that, while the Nitro is a nifty machine for gaming it’s really been let down on the storage side. The config we were expecting to have in the lab is this Nitro 50 (opens in new tab) at $1,300 with a larger SSD, though Acer has still felt the need to jam a hard drive in there. Honestly, that machine would perform at about the same level as the one in front of us here, and with that larger boot drive would have garnered a far higher score, too.
Sure, I would have been much happier with even a single, speedy 1TB SSD, rather than some additional spinning platter nonsense, but a 512GB drive is the bare minimum for a modern gaming PC. You can easily upgrade the storage later or add some more into one of the two spare M.2 slots, but these storage shenanigans really make the Nitro hard to recommend.
All the tips and tricks you need to make today’s Wordle pass by as easily as you want it to are just below. Newcomers to the popular game will want to check out our helpful explanation of the rules at the bottom of the page, and for daily Wordle players, there’s a fresh clue waiting just below and the answer to the November 11 (510) puzzle after that.
My opener today was an unhelpful line of greys but the second guess made up for it by giving me three yellows and a central green, and that meant the third guess… was close enough to today’s answer for me to get it on the fourth go.
Wordle hint
A Wordle hint for Friday, November 11
The answer to today’s Wordle is a term used to describe a small and mostly flat piece of metal, often but not always round and usually given to commemorate a notable achievement. The top three Olympians receive these objects on a length of ribbon after competing, for example.
Wordle help: 3 tips for beating Wordle every day
If there’s one thing better than playing Wordle, it’s playing Wordle well, which is why I’m going to share a few quick tips to help set you on the path to success:
A good opener contains a balanced mix of unique vowels and consonants.
A tactical second guess helps to narrow down the pool of letters quickly.
The solution may contain repeat letters.
There’s no time pressure beyond making sure it’s done by midnight. So there’s no reason to not treat the game like a casual newspaper crossword and come back to it later if you’re coming up blank.
Today’s Wordle answer
(Image credit: Josh Wardle)
What is the Wordle 510 answer?
Everyone deserves a win. The answer to the November 11 (510) Wordle is MEDAL.
Previous answers
Wordle archive: Which words have been used
The more past Wordle answers you can cram into your memory banks, the better your chances of guessing today’s Wordle answer without accidentally picking a solution that’s already been used. Past Wordle answers can also give you some excellent ideas for fun starting words that keep your daily puzzle solving fresh.
Here are some recent Wordle solutions:
November 10: UNITE
November 9: RAINY
November 8: SPELL
November 7: BEGIN
November 6: STALE
November 5: DREAM
November 4: PHOTO
November 3: ALOUD
November 2: INEPT
November 1: PINEY
Learn more about Wordle
Every day Wordle presents you with six rows of five boxes, and it’s up to you to work out which secret five-letter word is hiding inside them.
You’ll want to start with a strong word (opens in new tab) like ALERT—something containing multiple vowels, common consonants, and no repeat letters. Hit Enter and the boxes will show you which letters you’ve got right or wrong. If a box turns ⬛️, it means that letter isn’t in the secret word at all. 🟨 means the letter is in the word, but not in that position. 🟩 means you’ve got the right letter in the right spot.
You’ll want your second go to compliment the first, using another “good” word to cover any common letters you missed last time while also trying to avoid any letter you now know for a fact isn’t present in today’s answer.
After that it’s just a case of using what you’ve learned to narrow your guesses down to the right word. You have six tries in total and can only use real words (so no filling the boxes with EEEEE to see if there’s an E). Don’t forget letters can repeat too (ex: BOOKS).
If you need any further advice feel free to check out our Wordle tips (opens in new tab), and if you’d like to find out which words have already been used you’ll find those below.
Originally, Wordle was dreamed up by software engineer Josh Wardle (opens in new tab), as a surprise for his partner who loves word games. From there it spread to his family, and finally got released to the public. The word puzzle game has since inspired tons of games like Wordle (opens in new tab), refocusing the daily gimmick around music or math or geography. It wasn’t long before Wordle became so popular it was sold to the New York Times for seven figures (opens in new tab). Surely it’s only a matter of time before we all solely communicate in tricolor boxes.
https://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/1668148528_Todays-Wordle-answer-and-hint-for-Friday-November-11.jpg6751200Carlos Pachecohttps://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Website-Logo-300x74.pngCarlos Pacheco2022-11-11 06:05:462022-11-11 06:05:46Today’s Wordle answer and hint for Friday, November 11
Douglas Adams used to add the word “hyper” to things to make them sound more sci-fi. The authors of the best Warhammer 40,000 books do the same thing, only their prefix of choice is “mega”. Orks pilot mega bommers and mega gargants. The Imperium’s agri-worlds are threshed by mega-harvesters, and its industrial worlds powered by megafurnaces. Spider-like aliens? They are called, delightfully, “megarachnids”.
It’s the perfect word for 40K, a science-fantasy setting based on taking everything too far, then pushing it further. Not content with extrapolating the future to a reasonable distance, it imagines 38 or 39 millennia ahead (individual books hop around the timeline) to a galaxy that’s full to bursting with evil empires who are all at war with each other and frequently themselves.
They’re pretty extra when it comes to gore and dismemberment as well, the writers competing to find new ways to describe violence. Some of the books are clever and twisty, but they always find room for something to be painted with arterial spray, or a head to pop like a specific over-ripe fruit or vegetable. In one turn of phrase that will stay with me till I die, someone’s intestines flopped out like gray snakes. You don’t get that anywhere else.
The other thing 40K books push beyond reason is their quantity. There are so many it’s hard for new readers to find a way in, and easy for regular readers to miss books they’d enjoy in the megaflood. Here are the best 40K books.
Best 40K books for beginners
(Image credit: Black Library)
If you want to dip a toe in the dark future, Deathwing (opens in new tab) is a short-story anthology that gives a solid overview of the setting’s breadth. Devil’s Marauders by Bill King is about a company of Imperial Guard racing to escape their own bombardment across a planet where trees are so big their branches form highways. Charles Stross writes about a judge and an assassin dispatched to bring an entire world back under Imperial control, while Storm Constantine writes about psykers falling in love while their ship travels through the alternate reality horrorshow of the Warp. Heck, there’s even a couple of stories about space marines.
For a standalone novel, read Lord of the Night (opens in new tab). It’s about a traitor marine searching a hive city for a relic, which he does by terrorizing its inhabitants from the shadows while talking like a Frank Miller protagonist. As he murders his way through the city’s gangers and underclass, an apprentice inquisitor tries to convince her superiors that he exists, and that they should actually care there’s an evil Batman out there ripping apart disposable citizens.
(Image credit: Black Library)
Best 40K series
(Image credit: Black Library)
The Eisenhorn (opens in new tab)books turn 40K into hardboiled fiction, with Inquisitor Eisenhorn as a Raymond Chandler detective narrating in first-person. His investigations into Chaos frequently lead to conflict with the machinery of the Imperium he’s supposed to protect, which plays well with the genre’s cynical view of authority. Eisenhorn’s written by Dan Abnett, one of the better 40K writers but one with a weakness—endings that feel rushed. The third book in the Eisenhorn trilogy suffers from this, but waiting on the other side is a sequel trilogy called Ravenor. Ravenor jumps genre and protagonist, following an inquisitor who works with a team of badass specialists. Suddenly it’s more like the X-Men than The Big Sleep, a change that revitalizes the series and makes it worth sticking with.
For classic military sf, Gaunt’s Ghosts (opens in new tab) is the series you want. Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt is an unusually compassionate officer, dedicated to keeping alive a regiment who are the only survivors of a dead world. Unfortunately for them, the war engine of the Imperium is full of glory hounds and bastards happy to throw away thousands of lives to move a trench forward half a mile. While the enemies faced by the Ghosts are terrible, Gaunt struggles just as much against the orders he’s given.
(Image credit: Black Library)
Ciaphas Cain (opens in new tab) is another series about an unusual commissar, only what makes Cain different is that he’s a liar and fraud. Cain schemes his way out of responsibilities and danger, and ends up taking credit for every triumph, accompanied by a filthy sidekick named Ferik Jurgen who plays Baldric to his BlackAdder. The Ciaphas Cain books are more comedic than most 40K fiction—if Gaunt’s Ghosts takes Bernard Cornwell’s Sharpe stories and moves them from Waterloo to Warhammer, the Ciaphas Cain books are George MacDonald Fraser’s Flashman Papers shifted to the 41st millennium.
(Image credit: Black Library)
Then there’s the Dark Coil, which isn’t a formal series, but a name for Peter Fehervari’s 40K stories, connected by an esoteric tangle of recurring characters, places, and themes. Start with Fire Caste (opens in new tab), which follows an Imperial Guard regiment called the Arkan Confederates who walked straight out of a western and have names like “Kletus Modine”. They join an endless war against the tau on a planet covered in fungal jungle and a maze of rivers called the Dolorosa Coil. It’s a “war is hell” story, Apocalypse Now if it was about cowboys versus aliens who wear anime battlesuits. The short story Vanguard (opens in new tab) is its epilogue, and from there anything with the name Peter Fehervari on it leads further into the Coil.
(Image credit: Games Workshop)
Best standalone 40K novels
For a non-human perspective, try The Infinite and the Divine (opens in new tab). It’s about the necrons, pseudo-Egyptian cybermen who were tricked out of their souls and into immortal machine bodies, and have been mad about it for millennia. Trazyn the Infinite is so obsessed with the past he fills a museum with warriors in stasis like life-sized collections of Warhammer miniatures, while his rival Orikan the Divine can see the future and even alter it, which he uses for reasons as petty as jury-tampering. One of the funnier 40K books, it extrapolates the idea of beings who essentially cannot die to imagine an entire species filling infinity with pointless one-upmanship—as well as plays that take literal decades to perform and nobody enjoys.
(Image credit: Black Library)
Honourbound (opens in new tab) is another book about a commissar, but where Gaunt and Cain are atypical, one of the first things Severina Raine does in Honourbound is execute one of her own soldiers for cowardice. Which is exactly what commissars are meant to do. And yet, Raine comes off sympathetic, as do the soldiers who serve under her—even though one’s an addict who does some terrible things and the others are so superstitious they shun the psyker attached to their squad and call her a “witch”. Written in present-tense, Honourbound constantly pauses to dive into the thoughts of its ensemble cast, peppering the battles and intrigue with psychological insight that makes it as much character study as war story.
(Image credit: Games Workshop)
Best Horus Heresy books
(Image credit: Black Library)
The Horus Heresy line jumps back 10,000 years to a formative point in the setting’s history. Like most prequels they’re better experienced after the stories they’re set before, full of foreshadowing that pays off if you know what’s coming. The first three are the essential ones: Horus Rising (opens in new tab), False Gods (opens in new tab), and Galaxy in Flames (opens in new tab). In these, the perspective is split between superhuman space marines and ordinary remembrancers—artists, photographers, poets, and journalists brought along to record their Great Crusade for posterity, who instead witness its fall into corruption and betrayal. It’s a look at the Imperium before religious dogma dominated it, imperfect but far from “the cruelest and most bloody regime imaginable” it becomes.
Unfortunately the Horus Heresy books were a victim of their own success, selling well enough that initially modest plans were expanded into a line that numbers over 50 books, full of padding and stories that bounce back in the timeline to fill gaps no one cares about. One exception is Legion (opens in new tab), a spy novel that uses yet another of 40K’s grand pointless wars as a backdrop. Best of the books that rewind the timeline is The First Heretic (opens in new tab), which goes back to the roots of the heresy among the Word Bearers, and nicely sets up probably the best Horus Heresy book of all, Know No Fear (opens in new tab). It turns an attack on an Ultramarines homeworld into a disaster movie in present-tense, and actually makes the most boring chapter of marines interesting for once.
Beyond those, the best way to approach the later Heresy books is to cherry-pick ones that focus on factions or characters you’re already interested in and skip the rest. If you like the White Scars read Scars (opens in new tab), if you like the Space Wolves read Prospero Burns (opens in new tab), and if you like giant robots read Mechanicum (opens in new tab).
(Image credit: Marvel Comics)
Best 40K comics
(Image credit: Black Library)
When Marvel Comics got the 40K licence the result was both a solid introduction to the setting for comics readers, and an enjoyable blast of the old megaviolence. Marneus Calgar (opens in new tab) is a five-issue series about how the chapter master of the Ultramarines first became a space marine, told in flashback as a tech-adept tries to discuss the finer points of budgeting ammunition with him. This is constantly interrupted by battles with entire armies of heretics, pages of impaled bodies and blood. Which is great.
The other 40K comic worth reading leans into comedy even harder. Deff Skwadron (opens in new tab) is about ork fighter pilots in junker planes with three speeds: stop, fast, and “Waaagh!” They act like The Dam Busters on a raid, if you replaced tactics with pure brutality and a belief that parachutes are for wimps. The dogfights are chaotic, sketchy swirls of ink where engine parts and limbs fly through the air like confetti at a wedding. Deff Skwadron is an older one and can be hard to find in print, but worth it.
Every new Battlefield game messes with classes in some way—Battlefield 3’s heresy was getting rid of medics and giving defibrillators to the Assault class—but Battlefield 2042 went too far for some fans when it ditched classes in favor of unique specialist characters. Perhaps Battlefield fans are principled anti-individualists, or maybe they just like things how they were—either way, DICE has conceded. Classes are on the way back.
The Battlefield 2042 class system rework was announced a while ago as part of DICE’s now year-long “we’ve heard you” quest to redesign the 128-player FPS in response to player criticism. The studio has held onto some of its decisions—it hasn’t entirely axed 128-player modes because some players prefer 64, or killed specialists altogether—but the overall effect has been a walking-back of the biggest changes 2042 introduced to the Battlefield series.
There technically were classes in Battlefield 2042 at launch, it’s just that they didn’t really mean anything. When the revised class system is introduced, the class of each specialist will matter, because it’ll determine which utility items they can carry. Here’s what DICE has arrived at via its latest class rework progress update (opens in new tab):
Class Equipment (Always available)
Assault: Med Pen
Engineer: Repair Tool
Support: Defibrillator
Recon: Insertion Beacon
Class Gadgets (You can choose 1)
Assault: Smoke Launcher, IBA Armor Plate, C5 Explosive, M18 Claymore
In the past, Battlefield classes have also limited weapon selection: sniper rifles for Recon, LMGs for Support, SMGs for Medics (or rifles, in Battlefield 1), assault rifles for Assault. Battlefield 2042 doesn’t restrict weapon selection by class, and DICE says that’s one decision it isn’t going to take back. It is, however, going to give classes bonuses for using certain weapons. Recon specialists, for example, will automatically hold their breath longer when they aim down the scope of a sniper rifle.
My gut feeling is that, if they’re going to do that, they should just go all the way and restrict weapon choice by class, but we’ll see how it goes. The latest Battlefield 2042 “Core Feedback” post explains more about the system and why DICE made the decisions it did.
These class changes are coming sometime during Season 3, which is starting in a few weeks. The season will also add a new specialist, new map, new battle pass, a Battlefield Portal update, and two more map reworks (another port of the player feedback patching project). There’s more detail in this new blog post (opens in new tab).
The final notable bit of news is that Battlefield 2042 has a free trial period coming up. On PC, the dates to remember are December 1 through December 5. On those days, Battlefield 2042 will be free to play on Steam, and newcomers will get a “Welcome Bundle” which includes “a collection of new cosmetics, as well as instant access to the Season 1 and 2 Specialists, Lis and Crawford.” If you buy the game during or after the free trial period, your progression will be preserved.
I think it’ll be worth checking out, at least. Although I’m kind of into Modern Warfare 2 right now and I’ve gone back to Rainbow Six Siege despite its new persistent freezing problem (there’s always something!) I still think Battlefield 2042 is pretty fun, especially with a group of friends who want to goof off more than win. DICE also confirmed today that a fourth Battlefield 2042 season is in the works, and will start next year.
https://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/1668130221_Players-get-their-wish-Classes-are-coming-back-to-Battlefield.jpg6751200Carlos Pachecohttps://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Website-Logo-300x74.pngCarlos Pacheco2022-11-11 01:09:292022-11-11 01:09:29Players get their wish: Classes are coming back to Battlefield soon
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