Location Spoilers for Dreadwolf to follow

The extant gameplay clip and screenshots show an elf warrior rocking a sword and board fighting through a stone vault. The UI indicates that this is Weisshaupt Fortress, the legendary home base of the Grey Wardens in the Anderfels, far to the north of Origins’ Ferelden. This is surprising, but also not too far away from Dreadwolf’s previously-confirmed setting of Tevinter, and I could see this Weisshaupt level as a classic Bioware Candlekeep/Endar Spire/Ostagar opening area separate from the rest of the game.

This unnamed elf warrior (what a suboptimal build combo!) tangos with some Darkspawn-looking opponents, deploying a gnarly drop kick ability as well as a charged sword attack. The combat features a closer in third person camera⁠—not quite God of War (2018) close, but still a lot more intimate than in Inquisition. The combat looks fully actionized, the kind of Soulslite dodging, blocking, and positioning from God of War or, as Pepe points out, Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin. Your combat abilities are mapped to controller face buttons in a similar fashion to Inquisition, and I also spy what seems to be a reprisal of Inquisition’s charging ultimate ability meter.

The version of Dreadwolf’s inventory we see reminds me a lot of Inquisition or Dragon Age 2: it’s very minimalist and abstract, with clean lines and a kind of goopy, swirling cosmic background. A full 3D character model stands between slots for armor, helmets, weapons, and accessories, with some of these obscured by a tooltip popup for a “Connected Templar Shield.” Curiously, it has a lore blurb connecting it to the Mortalitasi (opens in new tab) order of Thedas’ nation of Nevarra.

Back on Reddit (opens in new tab), Revanchisto describes this gameplay as showing a Darkspawn attack on Weisshaupt, and says that it comes from a “kind playtester” of this early build. They describe the combat as being “completely real time” and inspired by the God of War reboot series, with Mass Effect-style squad commands instead of direct party control. Revanchisto also notes a “vastly improved” quality of combat animations compared to Bioware’s previous work.

This leak certainly appears legitimate, at least at this juncture, and it potentially corroborates some Dreadwolf details from a recent Insider Gaming (opens in new tab) report. Insider described Dreadwolf as still struggling to slough off some of the live service trappings from its early development, but claims it adheres to a classic Bioware campaign structure, with a big focus on building out a band of followers at a home base hub area. Insider also described a combat system in line with what we see in this leak, saying it most closely resembles Final Fantasy 15.

We’re likely still some ways off from Dreadwolf’s release or even a first official gameplay reveal, but I’m more intrigued by this gameplay snippet than anything else. I’ve seen a lot of doom and gloom about this “ruining” Dragon Age with action combat or Bioware “turning its back” on some legacy, but I’ve been around long enough to remember the first time Bioware “betrayed” hardcore RPG fans 20 years ago with a beloved dumbed down, easy console RPG by the name of Knights of the Old Republic.

Quite frankly, even as the company struggled with Inquisition, Andromeda, and Anthem’s world building, characters, and pacing, Bioware’s continued to be really good at making action RPGs, while by my reckoning the only truly excellent tactical party experiences it’s produced since Baldur’s Gate 2 have been Origins and, weirdly, Dragon Age 2’s Legacy (opens in new tab) expansion. I’m a Bioware half-full kind of guy, and I’ve got a lot of hope for Dreadwolf in whatever form it takes. It also has to be said that it’s not exactly fair to condemn a game based on surreptitiously-acquired in-progress gameplay footage.

More worrying for me has been the company’s exodus of senior talent (opens in new tab) in recent years, as well as Dreadwolf’s reported initial focus as a live service game. If anything, I feel like Dreadwolf’s moment-to-moment combat couldn’t be in more capable hands, with this gameplay leak confirming that suspicion for me. I only hope the team is able to endure this long, seemingly troubled development and deliver in the character and story department. You know, your cool circle of digital friends you can have inappropriate workplace relationships with.

As well as scavenging for loot it can be earned through special events, some of which demand you take on elite or boss NPCs. At the end of each round you advance up Splatter Royale’s four skill trees, which let you get better at being an Assassin, Butcher, Commando, or Marksman.

The same update also adds two new weapons. The grenade launcher does pretty much what you’d expect, i.e. it launches grenades that explode, while the scythe looks like a particularly brutal limb-lopper that can sever legs and heads.

Coinciding with the release of Splatter Royale is a DLC pack called the Immortal Power Bundle (opens in new tab), adding a new Survivor named Ruby Knowby. She’s based on the character from Ash vs Evil Dead played by Lucy Lawless, who returns to voice Ruby in-game. She has the ability to eat souls, strengthening her aura and charging up her unique, which sets off an AoE blast that hurts bad guys and heals good guys. She can also regenerate, boost her weapon damage, and boost her poison resistance. The bundle also comes with premium outfits for the Puppeteer Demon, Kelly, Pablo, and Ash, who gets a “party animal” Hawaiian shirt.

Evil Dead: The Game scored an 85 in our review at launch, with Luke Winkie saying, “There are so many fast-paced decisions to make, so many strategic wrinkles to consider, that a round of Evil Dead often leaves me feeling as exhausted as I do after a white-knuckle StarCraft duel. Trust me, I mean that as a compliment.”

In other Evil Dead news, the fifth movie in the series, Evil Dead Rise, is due out on April 21. Directed by Lee Cronin (who directed 2019 horror movie The Hole in the Ground), it stars Alyssa Sutherland and Lily Sullivan.

Back in 2013, our reviewer Tom Sykes gave Anodyne a score of 84, saying that, “Anodyne can be as funny and charming as Link’s Awakening on occasion, but the overall tone is one of unease, with a subtle malevolence—the ‘something seems a bit off here’ factor—reminiscent of the indie horror Lone Survivor. Meaning is elusive, but themes and motifs soon begin to take form, in a game that feels increasingly personal the more you burrow into it.”

As well as the giveaway, Analgesic is running a couple of fan events for Anodyne’s 10th anniversary. As described in a birthday blog post (opens in new tab), the studio is collecting players’ written memories of their favorite places in Anodyne to publish “in some kind of writing in the future” as well as fan art of the game “which we might publish in digital or physical form in some way.”

You may remember Anodyne as the game whose developers ran a promotion, shortly after launch, in which they reduced its price to a single dollar while also uploading it to The Pirate Bay, hosting a torrent themselves so that people could download it for free. A note included with the torrent said, “We’d like to make a living by making games that will give people memorable experiences, but we know not everyone can afford them. So that’s why you can download a torrent of our game, Anodyne, and if you’d like and are able, also purchase the game!” It also exhorted players to vote for Anodyne on Steam Greenlight, which at the time was how indie games found their way onto Valve’s storefront.

The stunt proved effective, with its creators earning over $12,000 from the promotion, as well as getting an extra 13,000 views on Anodyne’s Greenlight page. Just over a month later Anodyne launched on Steam (opens in new tab), where it currently holds a user rating of Very Positive.

A sequel, Anodyne 2: Return to Dust, was released in 2019. It shifted the setting to a 3D world, though one where characters had 2D interior dungeons to explore. A multi-genre meta-commentary on games, it was as much Psychonauts as Legend of Zelda. Analgesic followed it with split-world platformer Even the Ocean and near-future explore-em-up Sephonie (opens in new tab).

Right now Analgesic is working on its fifth game, as yet untitled, which will be 3D and top-down, set in a “1950s Ireland-inspired setting.” It’s been in development since 2021, and you can keep up with progress at Analgesic’s devlog (opens in new tab). 

Where to get Dry Wood in Disney Dreamlight Valley

Dry Wood can be found laying on the ground near trees in the following biomes:

• Forgotten Lands
• Frosted Heights
• Sunlit Plateau

Because wood drops are random, you may find that there aren’t many pieces of Dry Wood when you visit these locations. If that happens, pick up all of the other types of wood around all three biomes, then wait just a bit to hopefully get more Dry Wood to spawn in them. It goes without saying (but we’ll say it anyway): If you’re noticing you’re a bit light on wood drops in general, it might be best to plant more trees in the biomes you’re needing specific types (like Dry Wood) from.

For more on Dreamlight Valley, head over to our comprehensive guides hub.

Building everything in Disney Dreamlight Valley means collecting a wide variety of materials, including multiple types of wood. Dark Wood is arguably the rarest of the different types in the game, only spawning in a single biome, which is likely to require quite a few hours of playing to unlock. We’ll tell you everything you need to know below.

Where to get Dark Wood in Disney Dreamlight Valley

Dark Wood only spawns in the Forgotten Lands, which is likely to be the last biome that most players unlock due to the high Dreamlight cost required to remove the night thorns blocking the path. Once you’ve gotten together the 15,000 Dreamlight to gain access, however, you should have no problem finding Dark Wood.

Multiple types of wood spawn in the Forgotten Lands, so if you’re not seeing much Dark Wood around, you may need to pick up other kinds and wait for new spawns. If you’re still having trouble getting enough Dark Wood, try planting more tree in the Forgotten Lands to increase the amount of wood that drops there.

For more on Dreamlight Valley, check out our comprehensive guides hub.