The answer to today’s Wordle can turn any row completely green in an instant, and we’ve got it all prepared and ready whenever you are. Don’t worry if that all sounds like a bit much—as always, our tips are here if you’d like some general advice, and the December 6 (1266) clue’s freshly written and happy to help.
Wow, today’s Wordle came and went in a flash. It was the fifth letter slot that really made things clear for me—as soon as that fell into place, the rest of it just seemed obvious. With a bit of luck, I’ll carry this good fortune into the weekend puzzles too (I’m going to get thoroughly humbled tomorrow, aren’t I?).
Today’s Wordle hint
(Image credit: Josh Wardle)
Wordle today: A hint for Friday, December 6
A thoughtless, rude, push with some force behind it could be called this.
Is there a double letter in Wordle today?
No, there is no double letter in today’s puzzle.
Wordle help: 3 tips for beating Wordle every day
A good starting word can be the difference between victory and defeat with the daily puzzle, but once you’ve got the basics, it’s much easier to nail down those Wordle wins. And as there’s nothing quite like a small victory to set you up for the rest of the day, here are a few tips to help set you on the right path:
A good opening guess should contain a mix of unique consonants and vowels.
Narrow down the pool of letters quickly with a tactical second guess.
Watch out for letters appearing more than once in the answer.
There’s no racing against the clock with Wordle so you don’t need to rush for the answer. Treating the game like a casual newspaper crossword can be a good tactic; that way, you can come back to it later if you’re coming up blank. Stepping away for a while might mean the difference between a win and a line of grey squares.
Today’s Wordle answer
(Image credit: Future)
What is today’s Wordle answer?
One win, coming up. The answer to the December 6 (1266) Wordle is SHOVE.
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Previous Wordle answers
The last 10 Wordle answers
Past Wordle answers can give you some excellent ideas for fun starting words that keep your daily puzzle-solving fresh. They are also a good way to eliminate guesses for today’s Wordle, as the answer is unlikely to be repeated.
Here are some recent Wordle answers:
December 5: ENDOW
December 4: CRYPT
December 3: SHAKY
December 2: GUILE
December 1: MAUVE
November 30: DOGMA
November 29: HIPPO
November 28: CHOCK
November 27: SLANG
November 26: WITCH
Learn more about Wordle
(Image credit: Nurphoto via Getty)
Wordle gives you six rows of five boxes each day, and you’ll need to work out which secret five-letter word is hiding inside them to keep up your winning streak.
You should start with a strong word like ARISE, or any other word that contains a good mix of common consonants and multiple vowels. You’ll also want to avoid starting words with repeating letters, as you’re wasting the chance to potentially eliminate or confirm an extra letter. Once you hit Enter, you’ll see which ones 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.
Your second guess should compliment the starting word, 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. With a bit of luck, you should have some coloured squares to work with and set you on the right path.
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, and if you’d like to find out which words have already been used you can scroll to the relevant section above.
Originally, Wordle was dreamed up by software engineer Josh Wardle, 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, 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. Surely it’s only a matter of time before we all solely communicate in tricolor boxes.
Every new Diablo feels more like a multiplayer game than the last, with co-op as the intended experience and solo play as a vestigial limb. There’s a reason the last two Diablo games have been always-online. Yet there are still a significant number of players who enjoy them as entirely singleplayer experiences, and some of them aren’t happy about the fact the Vessel of Hatred expansion includes a dungeon, the Dark Citadel, that can only be entered in groups of two or more.
Speaking to Polygon, Vessel of Hatred game director Brent Gibson was adamant that the Dark Citadel wasn’t going to be changed, saying, “I absolutely am sticking to my guns”.
He went on to explain this multiplayer dungeon isn’t something players have to do, especially since the rewards are cosmetic. “We’ve designed it in a way where, to be the most efficient in the game, it’s not required to have to go through that multiplayer content. I love the fact that we have this huge, rich game that has a bunch of different activities that give you alternate paths in the same loop.”
The Dark Citadel is similar to the kind of raid dungeon you get in World of Warcraft, where players have to learn specific mechanics to survive encounters—standing on pressure plates for instance—either by dying and retrying, or just looking them up on YouTube. While an essential part of the endgame of something like Destiny 2 or Lost Ark, it’s not something Diablo has dabbled in before.
So why add something to Diablo 4 that players could be getting elsewhere? As Gibson explained, “even though we have a lot of players who play games solo, the community in the gaming industry that doesn’t know playing games any other way than with their friends or online with other people, it’s growing over time”.
Diablo 4 may not be on the list of games you play with your Discord friends just yet, but Blizzard sure would like it to be. And if it’s going to compete with Path of Exile 2, it’ll have to do something.
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https://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/1733441086_Diablo-4-expansions-game-director-refuses-to-back-down-on.jpg6751200Carlos Pachecohttps://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Website-Logo-300x74.pngCarlos Pacheco2024-12-05 22:51:292024-12-05 22:51:29Diablo 4 expansion’s game director refuses to back down on the dungeon you can’t enter unless you do it multiplayer: ‘I absolutely am sticking to my guns’
The Zotac Zone, is the latest stab by a manufacturer at Valve’s throne and the Steam Deck. While it comes incredibly close to being a genuine best attempt—the design and layout is 100% aimed at mimicking Valve’s console—it is held back by software, and not just by the pesky hand of Microsoft and Windows 11.
It’s not the most flashy of entries in the ever growing list of Windows handhelds. It’s a more subtle affair, despite its typical “gamer aesthetic” outer shell. It’s all in the hardware, without the gimmicks.
However, it is the PC handheld that has felt the most detached from Windows during set up. After digging through Microsoft’s endless requirements and agreements vertically (there’s a gyroscope), I wasn’t met with any baked-in software. I did find Zotac’s software pre-installed, but it was a much older version than the latest release, and it consistently crashed.
Once I got it working Zotac—like everyone else—presents a far worse version of Steam Big Picture Mode (Valve’s additional front end originally intended for TVs) to get around Microsoft’s inability to launch its own, handheld console-like experience.
Zone specs
(Image credit: Future)
Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 8840U GPU: Integrated AMD Radeon 780M RAM: 16 GB Storage: 512 GB Screen: 7-inch 120 Hz AMOLED touchscreen Controls: Hall effect analogue sticks, gyroscope, back paddles, dual touch pads Connectivity: 2x USB4, 3.5 mm jack, Micro SD slot, Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2 Battery: 48.5 WHr Dimensions: 285 x 115 x 35 mm Weight: 692 grams Price:$799 | £820
Zotac’s launcher is just riddled with glaringly obvious oversights. On the ROG Ally systems, Asus has presets for the performance options you’d like. Zotac’s “One Launcher” instead has you build your own presets, which without prior knowledge would make little sense. Does the regular consumer know that 17 watts is the agreed upon “best middle ground” for the 8840U or what a TDP even is?
Even the launcher’s controller remapper left me wanting more. A lack of options, including remapping a keyboard button to one of the back paddles or even having the remap function when active just led to frustration.
More frustrating is the branded buttons can’t be remapped either, an issue I found on the ROG Ally. It’s wasteful, when it could very easily be a generic guide button rather than causing the Zotac proprietary launcher to lurch to the front on instinctive presses.
I’m quite down on Windows handheld software, simply because we’ve been at this for some time now. GDP and OneXPlayer didn’t figure it out in the years before the Steam Deck. Not one manufacturer has cracked it since Valve’s release, with only Ayaneo really getting close.
(Image credit: Future)
While I could whittle on about Windows 11 on handhelds, it’s old hat. Just know that it’s the same here. You’ll be thumbing at the desktop environment—even with the trackpads—and fumbling through Game Pass to try get the wretched app to install anything.
It does make me look like a fan boy, but the honest truth is that Valve’s custom built version of Linux and major rework of Steam Big Picture to be a true frontend work so well, and work so well precisely because they’re custom-built to work with the hardware. It’s the complete package, something that Zotac is ever so close to figuring out.
While Zotac’s software is lacking, its hardware decisions aren’t. It feels as though at every turn, it took into consideration what people would want from a higher end handheld.
Underneath the hood is AMD’s 8840U, a killer chip that is the current favorite of companies like Ayaneo. It provides just that extra smidge of power over the previous 7840U, but the 16 GB of RAM means it still lags behind in some applications that of a fully upgrade Ayaneo 2S with 32 GB or Asus ROG Ally X with its 24 GB.
However, with the 8840U I found that Metaphor: ReFantizo ran exceptionally well at 1080p, 60 fps. I’ve been playing it quite a bit on the Steam Deck and the jolt between seeing everything at 30 fps, 720p and what the Zotac Zone can do, is a little like whiplash.
Other titles such as Ace Combat 7, Amid Evil, and Half-Life 2 all played magnificently at the higher end of the frame rate. Half-Life 2 and Amid Evil obviously held down the 120 fps mark, while Ace Combat 7 held steady at 60 fps. Even in the newest Forza Motorsport game I was hitting mid-40s with FSR supersampling helping along the way.
These handhelds do need supersampling for some newer titles. You’ll never be playing that new Indiana Jones game comfortably on one of these, but some of the Unreal Engine 5 games I played also needed that extra push.
Robocop: Rogue City ran extremely poorly without supersampling and frame generation. Both software tools, they use algorithms to achieve better performance. Supersampling shrinks the image and blow it back up at the desired resolution, taking work off the GPU. Frame generation literally tries to create the next frame based on the data provided.
I found that Rogue City introduced quite a bit of latency when using frame generation, but also, even with FSR, still needed to be bumped down a graphical notch in the settings to achieve a steady frame rate. Essentially, as with any of these handhelds, so long as you keep your gaming expectations in check, the Zotac Zone could be your next best friend.
Image 1 of 3
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
One area that I wish Zotac had considered more was the storage space. 512 GB is paltry in the modern era. After installing Cyberpunk 2077 for benchmarks, as well as a few other titles, I was fast running out and it hadn’t even been a day. It really needs to be a 1 TB or more for a modern handheld. However, upgrading should be cheaper and easier than on something like the Steam Deck. Inside is a full sized, 2280 NVMe drive, instead of the usual 2230 short stack. This is a fantastic move for tinkerers, just making the system even more flexible.
Where Zotac obviously thought things through is the AMOLED screen. Measuring 7-inches, it is glorious. Rich, vibrant colors pour out of it. Horror titles like Crow’s Country ooze atmosphere as the deep blacks envelope everything. I found no major haloing or weird effects coming from it either, with not much in the way of color inaccuracies either.
Buy if…
✅ You want solid hardware, and the software be damned: While the software is awkward it does offer the best actual hardware of the bunch.
✅ You’re after a best in class screen: The AMOLED screen truly is in a class by itself on the Windows handheld front, only bested by those with OLED.
Don’t buy if…
❌ You want an affordable option: The Zotac Zone sits with the likes of Ayaneo and Lenovo with a meaty price tag.
❌ You’re expecting to play the newest games: These handhelds play great with older titles or indie games, so no, you won’t be playing Stalker 2 at full whack on the go.
The Zone is incredibly comfortable to hold, even with its jagged edges on the palm rest. Aping Valve’s design, it sports two small trackpads with a definitive, satisfying click. There’s two USB 4 ports, making peripheral or docks use super easy to use.
It even has a Switch or Legion Go like stand to prop it up. There’s also a webcam on the front for Windows Hello and I’ve even used it as a last minute Teams meeting device—helped by its stand.
One major addition is the Hall effect sticks, meaning that even after prolonged use, you shouldn’t find them drifting. Even the rings around the sticks twist to adjust the brightness, volume, or RGB lighting. While I wish I could properly remap these, it shows Zotac’s genuine care in the hardware space.
Zotac has taken notice of the push in the controller space for, well, more control. The software might not be helpful, but the physical switches beside the triggers means you can set if you want it to be a quick snap press or a longer, more analogue one depending on the game you’re playing.
Its things like these which set the Zotac Zone apart from the other Windows handhelds. The Zone feels like a contemplated idea, rather than a rushed to market thing. Combined with its performance prowess, if you can put up with some quirks—as with any of these machines—you should put this on your list of considerations.
If you want to be a real go-getter in Miraland, you’re going to want to make sure you get all of Professor Aventura’s quiz answers correct. You’ll run into this intrepid academic all over the first zone of Infinity Nikki and he’s always armed with a tricky question about the details of a nearby point of interest. The real trick is that he’s usually hanging out near the side of the road before you reach the area in question so you’ve got to ignore him if you want the chance to observe the place on your own first.
It’s okay if you don’t get Aventura’s quiz questions correct on your first attempt. You can still earn a reward—usually 20 diamonds and sometimes a generous 3,000 blings. If you want to get it on your first try though, or honestly if you did go try to observe the area yourself but you’re still stumped, I’ve collected all the right answers for you.
Professor Aventura’s location
Where is Professor Aventura?
You’ll need to meet up with Professor Aventura outside of the Old Florawish Memorial for the first time before you can begin meeting up with him in other areas around the map. Professor Aventura is standing on the side of the road leading up to the Memorial Mountains. He’ll be talking to himself and have a blue quest marker over his head so you shouldn’t miss him as long as you’re following the path winding up into the hills.
Aventura’s quiz answers
Old Florawish Memorial
(Image credit: Infold Games)
What part of the central statue in the Old Florawish Memorial is damaged?
Answer: Head Reward: 20 diamonds
This observation is pretty easy to remember if you happened to take a gander at the memorial before talking to Aventura. Of the options he gives though, the memorial having a missing head wouldn’t have been my first guess sight unseen. It’s true though, the memorial statue is undeniably decapitated.
Great Wishtree
(Image credit: Infold Games)
Which of the following is not a Wishing Item found on the Great Wishtree?
Answer: A wish chime Reward: 20 diamonds
I’ll be honest, I got this one wrong even after looking at the Great Wishtree. The woven baskets that all the wish bottles are hanging in look a little like they could be wind chimes, so he fooled me with that one. Wish cranes, bottles, and cards are all definitely hanging on the Great Wish Tree at the center of town, so the chime is indeed the answer you’re looking for.
Dream Warehouse Tower
(Image credit: Infold Games)
How many dome-roofed towers still stand in the Dream Warehouse?
Answer: Three Reward: 1,000 blings, 3 lampchilis
You have to climb pretty high up above the Dream Warehouse to get a vantage point that confirms this answer but there are definitely just three towers with domed roofs. This is just one of many times that Aventura is going to ask you to observe a specific number of items at a location, so get your counting fingers prepped.
Meadow Activity Support Center
(Image credit: Infold Games)
How many balloons float above the roof of the Meadow Activity Support Center?
Answer: Five Reward: 20 diamonds, 3,000 blings
Don’t get distracted by all the other balloons decorating the activity center. Aventura is only asking about the balloons actually attached to the roof of the building itself. So the correct answer is just five. If you want, you can even hop up there yourself to snag the blings that are on top of some of them.
Swan Gazebo
(Image credit: Infold Games)
How many pillars support the Swan Gazebo?
Answer: Six Reward: 20 diamonds, 3,000 blings
It’s a shame that Aventura didn’t ask the number of swans at the gazebo because I totally knew that answer but the number of pillars is a bit trickier. There are six of them, all draped with romantic white banners.
Shimmer Pond
(Image credit: Infold Games)
What kinds of creatures inhabit Shimmer Pond?
Answer: Bow fish Reward: 20 diamonds
This question seems tricky at first because you probably didn’t spend a lot of time fishing in Shimmer Pond before going to report back to Aventura about it. There are lots of fish varieties in that pond, actually. Look closer though, only one of those answers is actually a fish. The other three are a bird, flower, and vegetable.
Meadow Wharf
(Image credit: Infold Games)
How many intact, sail-less boats are docked at Meadow Wharf?
Answer: Three Reward: 20 diamonds, 3,000 blings
Avetura’s trying to trick you again with this Meadow Wharf observation. While talking with him, you can spot a single ship with a sail in the background. He’s actually asking about boats that don’t have sails, meaning the tiny little row boats that are hanging about the wharf. There are only three of those, so that’s your answer.
Queen Philomia’s Palace Ruins
(Image credit: Infold Games)
Inside the Queen Philomia’s Palace Ruins, there is a sculpture in the central flowerbed. What is the sculpture of?
Answer: A violin Reward: 20 diamonds
I totally assumed that the queen’s palace would be decorated with something more wish-themed like a paper crane or a Faewish Sprite but nope, it’s just a classy violin. The one Aventura’s likely asking about is all the way up in the big central courtyard of the palace but you can find similar violin statues near the entrance as well.
Abandoned Camp
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(Image credit: Infold Games)
(Image credit: Infold Games)
How many damaged catapults can be found near the Abandoned Fanatic Wisher Camp?
Answer: Three Reward: 20 diamonds, 3,000 blings
This might be the trickiest observation that Aventura asks for. Once you head up to the abandoned camp, you’ll eventually find two rather large, broken catapults inside the camp walls. Without any others in sight, you’d think that would be the answer. There’s actually a third catapult outside the camp near the fast travel waypoint but it’s nearly buried in the ground and much harder to spot.
Border Outpost
(Image credit: Infold Games)
What color is the flag hanging on the Heartcraft Kingdom Outpost wall?
Answer: Yellowish-green Reward: 20 diamonds
This observation quest is pretty out of the way, but once you arrive it’s pretty easy to answer. Take a stroll over to the big wall past where Aventura is hanging out and you’ll easily spot that the banners for Heartcraft Kingdom are a very muted yellow-green color.
I have been alive for *shudder* almost three decades now, and for pretty much all of that time I’ve been scared stiff by spiders. Please, keep your armchair therapising to yourself. Yes, I know the majority of spiders can’t hurt me. They’re just bros, chilling, with their way-too-many legs and eyes and… urgh. Anyway, I’m not a fan.
I am a fan, however, of videogames. And you know what videogames love to do? They love to shove freakin’ spiders into everything! Thankfully, most developers are kind enough to implement some sort of arachnophobia mode in order to shield my eyes and feeble, fearful brain from such atrocities.
That being said, not all arachnophobia modes are made equal. Some are genuinely fantastic, lessening the scaries without detracting from the immersion too much or leaning into the surrealism of it. Others are, to be frank, a bit naff. Fear not, for I’m here with my very professional opinion* on which ones are worth toggling on, and ones that may as well leave you diving into some exposure therapy instead.
*Depends on who you ask.
Grounded: 7.8/10
(Image credit: Microsoft)
Starting off strong here, my arachnophobes-in-arms. There’s a few reasons I really dig Obsidian’s attempt at soothing my eight-legged fears: First of all, it’s on a scale, something which very few arachnophobia modes offer. In fact, I don’t think a slidable scale is anywhere else on this list.
Only a little scared? Cut off a leg or two and voila. Totally paralysed by the sight of one? Turn them into shiny round orbs of death. Admittedly, the shiny death orbs are somehow just as terrifying as their fully realised furry selves. Plus, changing their appearance doesn’t actually do anything to the terrifying hissing sounds they make when they’re trying to kill you.
Overall it’s a solid attempt though, and a much-appreciated one in a world where literally everything is bigger and more frightening than you.
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Pro: Adjustable spider scale. | Con: They still sound terrifying.
WoW: The War Within: 9.5/10
(Image credit: Blizzard Entertainment)
Now I don’t actually play World of Warcraft—my MMO brainrot lies solely with Final Fantasy 14—but I had to include Blizzard’s incredible solution to the spider scares: Crabs. It’s crabs, baby.
Both are arthropods, sure. But as associate design director Maria Hamilton discovered, “Fundamentally, the best choice was crabs, it turns out. No-one was scared of crabs.” The team had gone down the route of trying things like your bog-standard spider leg removal, but ultimately found that “people don’t seem to have the same visceral reaction to the shape of a crab’s legs that they do with spiders.”
Y’know what, they’re right. I find The War Within’s crustaceans surprisingly endearing. The team even went as far as to look at all of the spiders within the game to carefully find the more appropriate crab replacement. Maximum effort for minimal scares on my part. If I was a regular WoW gamer, I know this is one I’d appreciate for sure.
Pro: Nobody is scared of crabs. | Con: Someone might also be scared of crab
Hogwarts Legacy: 6.3/10
(Image credit: Warner Bros. Games)
Another arachnophobia mode that thinks chopping the legs off will solve all problems. Hogwarts Legacy didn’t even have an arachnophobia toggle when the game first launched, which automatically gets it docked a point or two. It was only after a mod started to ramp up in popularity that Avalanche Software decided to implement one itself.
Hogwarts Legacy turns its spiders into two blobs with an ominous maroon hue and two glaring red eyes that look like they’ve been robbed off a couple traffic lights. Why couldn’t Avalanche have gone for, I don’t know, a nice baby pink instead? It’s still largely menacing in a way that makes me uncomfortable.
The one saving grace here is that the spider has been put on rollerblades. Why? For the whimsy, perhaps. It’s cute and quirky, sure, but it still doesn’t excuse everything going on above the skates. How does a spider even get a hold of rollerblades, anyway?
Fun fact! Arachnophobia isn’t just the fear of spiders, it also covers other arachnids like ticks, mites, and—in Star Wars: Jedi Survivor’s case—scorpions. Because brains (especially mine) are stupid and fickle things, I’m not actually scared of scorpions, despite essentially being spiders wearing plate mail with poison on tap. Alas, I live in the UK where the number of scorpions who have made their way into my apartment is approximately zero, making them a little less frightening to me.
I guess EA wanted to get in on the arachnophobia toggle fun, though, because here we have one that tries to make Jedi Survivor’s scorpions a little friendlier. Except, it doesn’t really do… anything? It whacks down the number of polygons for the scorpion’s model and puts a big ol’ black tube around its stinger.
It’s still, ultimately, very scorpion-shaped. I could see it from any renderable distance and recognise what it was. I don’t know, maybe I’m biased as someone who thinks scorpions are Just Okay, but I feel if I was scared of ’em, this mode would do absolutely nothing for me. Perhaps even worse is the fact that the game also has exploding ticks—which, as we discovered earlier, can also fall into arachnophobia—yet the toggle does nothing about them. A poor attempt.
Pro: Not a spider. | Con: Still very obviously a scorpion.
Lethal Company: 9.2/10
Arachnophobia mode is the best thing #lethalcompany pic.twitter.com/ymqEFOnVwbDecember 9, 2023
So far we’ve had orbs, crabs, low-poly scorpions, and rollerblades. All very noble attempts, sure. Very visual attempts. Yet nobody dared to tread into the power of words until Zeekerss came along with one simple arachnophobia mode: Take all the spiders away and replace them with the word “SPIDER” instead.
They still have two teeny-tiny legs mind you, which I don’t love, but almost all of what makes them hair-raising is gone in favour of the written word. It’s 3D text that swivels around and bounces up and down with the regular spider’s movement, adding the perfect blend of horror and comedy to my planetary excursions.
Is it a particularly elegant solution? Not exactly, but it also feels like one that fits in surprisingly well with Lethal Company’s whole vibe. It’s also easily the one that assuages my fears the most out of all the modes we’ve seen so far, and that’s a bonus.
Uhh. I… don’t know where to start with this one. Technically Monster Hunter Wilds isn’t out until February 2025, but a recent beta gave us a peep at what we can expect out of its arachnophobia mode when the full game releases.
First of all, despite being part of an arachnophobia mode, the affected creatures seem to be some kind of mosquito rather than a spider or other arachnid. Their legs do look vaguely spider-y, which is perhaps where the decision has come from. Whatever they are, they’ve been swapped out for giant translucent slimes. I don’t know how to put this delicately, so I’ll let our Staff Writer Harvey Randall’s piece on Capcom’s attempt at an arachnophobia mode do the talking for me instead: “That slime is 100% humping that person. The prosecution rests.”
Yup, the slime transformation gives certain animations an unintentionally saucy flair. The one Harvey is calling out here specifically is one where the mosquito knocks down your hunter before leaping on top of them and, presumably, sucking their blood. You know, as mosquitos do.
Except when said mosquitos are in gelatinous blob form, it doesn’t look like that at all. I’m not entirely sure how I feel about the whole situation. The blobs take away some sort of distress, sure, but I also feel like it adds a whole other kind to contend with. This is somehow weirder than the rollerblades and the 3D text.
Pro: Not scary. | Con: Weirdly sexual.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6: 4.3/10
(Image credit: Activision)
Despite there being a metric ton of Call of Duty games, Black Ops 6 is the first one to actually have some kind of arachnophobia mode. That’s down to the little eight-legged undead arachnids that are scuttling amongst the humanoid brain eaters in the game’s Zombies mode.
Once again, Activision has gone for limb amputation. Why always the legs? I understand they’re probably the part that gives people maximum heebie-jeebies, but it’s only one part of a larger fear machine. I would argue that the scariest part of Black Ops 6’s zombie spiders are in fact their terrifying teeth, but those remain the same.
What we’re left with is a monstrous floating head that, for me anyway, does almost minimal damage reduction to my psyche. If one of these was chilling in the corner of my bedroom, I would be burning the entire place down and moving across the country.
I thought that we may have peaked with Lethal Company’s evolutionary arachnophobia mode implementation, and then while I was writing this whole thing I came across one that transcends them all: Satisfactory.
I have never played Satisfactory, nor will I ever probably play it. It’s the kind of game I’m not at all smart enough for, instead being one I quietly appreciate in the background. I’ve now come to appreciate it even more upon learning its delightful solution to simply replace all spiders with a flat JPEG of a cat’s head, complete with meowing.
It’s an absurdly immersion-breaking fix, I know, but I find that all of the arachnophobia modes that actually help tackle the fear are. If I’m gonna have my spiders taken away from me, I want them replaced with something fuzzy and calming. That’s cats, baby. It’s fun, it’s friendly, and it would absolutely get me to play the game if I knew it wouldn’t break my brain in the process. As a cat lover, I vote every developer does this with their arachnids from here on out
Pro: Cats. | Con: You cannot pet the JPEGs. They still bite.
https://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/1733332916_Ranking-arachnophobia-modes-as-someone-whos-been-terrified-of-spiders.jpg6751200Carlos Pachecohttps://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Website-Logo-300x74.pngCarlos Pacheco2024-12-04 17:09:092024-12-04 17:09:09Ranking arachnophobia modes as someone who’s been terrified of spiders for nearly 30 years
Delta Force (née Delta Force: Hawk Ops), the only videogame to provide me with the experience of smashing every bone in my body while playing on the 74th floor of a Los Angeles hotel, finally hits open beta on December 5. If you want to check out the F2P military shooter yourself, you’ll need to know the Delta Force unlock times so you can immediately answer the call of, uh, action. The call of action.
Lucky for you, we’ve gathered up Delta Force’s release time for various timezones below. From California to Calcutta and from Turin to Taipei, you should be able to find out exactly when you’ll be able to join the war in your local timezone.
And if you’re stuck watching a ticking clock, why not check out Nova Smith’s impressions of Delta Force, calling it “a shooter with an identity crisis” that was nevertheless a “promising F2P option” for military FPS-heads, while you wait?
When does Delta Force launch?
Delta Force’s open beta goes live at 5 pm PST on December 4 (that’s 1 am GMT on December 5, for the other side of the Atlantic). Sun-soaked Californians can play it right after work, but the timing’s slightly more awkward for us Brits.
Here are the full Delta Force open beta launch times for timezones around the world:
5 pm PST on Wednesday, December 4 (Los Angeles)
8 pm EST on Wednesday, December 4 (New York)
1 am GMT on Thursday, December 5 (London)
2 am CET on Thursday, December 5 (Berlin)
12 pm AEDT on Thursday, December 5 (Sydney)
2 pm NZDT on Thursday, December 5 (Auckland)
When the clock strikes, you’ll be able to launch right into the open beta if you’ve preloaded on Steam, or get the game downloading if you’re playing on Epic. Either way, it shouldn’t be too long before you’re in the thick of things, or being eaten by a crocodile or what-have-you.
Is there preloading for Delta Force?
Good news, friends: there very much is preloading for Delta Force. You can head over to Steam right now, add the game to your library, and get it downloading in time for launch. If you’re one of the Epic Game Store die-hards who presumably must exist somewhere, though, you’re outta luck. You’ll need to wait for launch to get the game onto your PC.
More good news: you probably won’t have to wait that long for it to download. Delta Force is a pretty svelte game compared to the 100+ GB behemoths we’re used to cramming onto our SSDs these days. Delta Force lists a mere 50 GB of required space in its system requirements, or around 39% of the space that BLOPS 6 wants from you.
https://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/1733296841_Delta-Force-open-beta-launch-times-and-release-date.jpg6751200Carlos Pachecohttps://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Website-Logo-300x74.pngCarlos Pacheco2024-12-04 07:00:002024-12-04 07:00:00Delta Force open beta launch times and release date
We don’t know much about the next Mass Effect game yet, except that it’s happening and Liara T’Soni will be in it. That’s left fans of the series eager for whatever scraps of information they can get their hands on, and BioWare’s Michael Gamble, who’s heading up work on Mass Effect 4, might have just thrown them a bone.
“So many new Mass Effect fans popping up in my mentions,” Gamble wrote recently on X (via Game Rant). “Maybe because it’s like 5 bucks or something. Awesome to see. There’s like an extra game worth of DLC content in there but make sure you play Lair of the Shadow Broker. Thx.”
First things first, Mass Effect Legendary Edition is indeed on sale for less than a fiver in the Steam Autumn Sale, which is an absolutely bonkers price for literally hundreds of hours of outstanding sci-fi RPG action. It’s a great game (the original ending was fine) and more than worth your time if you haven’t played it yet—trust me, you will not get more out of five bucks than you will here.
What’s more interesting, though, is Gamble’s seeming insistence that if you’re new to the whole Mass Effect thing, you should really play the Shadow Broker DLC. For those not in the know, Lair of the Shadow Broker is a Mass Effect 2 expansion that sees Liara beefing with the mysterious—one might say shadowy—knower-of-things who first appeared, more as a plot device than a character, in the original Mass Effect. I didn’t care for the DLC all that much: It was fine but served mainly as a way to bring Liara back into the action (she isn’t a playable character in Mass Effect 2), and since I didn’t particularly care for Liara, I found the expansion largely forgettable.
(I have nothing against Liara, for the record, I just preferred to roll with Zaeed and the krogan. As Teddy Roosevelt said, be a Paragon, but always bring a couple heavy hitters along for the ride.)
Liara’s involvement in Mass Effect 4 has been effectively confirmed already, but Gamble’s message could be construed as a hint about the broader basis of the game, especially since Liara returned as a playable squaddie for Mass Effect 3. If it was simply a matter of being aware of the character, that (along with ME1) would be sufficient. The specificity of “make sure you play Lair of the Shadow Broker” suggests to me that there might be something more to it.
And now is the time for these sorts of oblique hints to drop. Dragon Age: The Veilguard is out the door and doing quite well, and with no DLC for that game planned, the focus has shifted to Mass Effect. And Gamble has been something of a hint-dropper in the past: In 2023, for instance, he teased N7 Day “packets” in a little online game that eventually led to the release of a new Mass Effect promo image.
Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
https://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Mass-Effect-boss-may-have-dropped-a-hint-about-the.jpg6751200Carlos Pachecohttps://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Website-Logo-300x74.pngCarlos Pacheco2024-12-03 19:38:412024-12-03 19:38:41Mass Effect boss may have dropped a hint about the next game: ‘Make sure you play Lair of the Shadow Broker’
Monster Hunter Wilds is only a few months away now, and a lot of hunters are already whipping out their whetstones and sharpening their tools ahead of facing some of the series’ most threatening monsters yet. If it’s your first time delving into a Monster Hunter game, or if you’re looking to try a new approach to the hunt this time around, your first port of call will be your weapon. And we all know that Monster Hunter isn’t shy in giving us a lot of variety.
Knowing which weapon to choose can be a very daunting process. Luckily, Monster Hunter Wilds gives you a chance to try different weapons out before your first hunt, but until you’re face-to-face with a Chatacabra you’ll want to feel confident and comfortable in your weapon choice. To be honest, even as someone who’s been playing for years the second I want to try a new weapon out I feel inundated with options.
We think that the vast majority, if not every weapon has already been announced for Monster Hunter Wilds, so we can help you understand what weapon does what, and you can make the best decision for you. Unless they pull out some serious curveballs a few months ahead of launch, this is everything you need to know about the weapons in Monster Hunter Wilds without trialing them yourself.
Great Sword
(Image credit: Capcom)
Range: Close
Guard: Able
The Great Sword is a hefty weapon that is capable of delivering staggering, hard-hitting attacks. But, the weight of this gargantuan blade also means it is a lot slower than other weapons available. If your preferred method of approach is landing blunt, strategically timed attacks resulting in big chunks of damage, rather than a quick flurry, then the Great Sword is a good companion. Plus, its ability to guard comes in handy when you don’t quite land a blow in time and need some extra protection from an oncoming attack.
Long Sword
(Image credit: Capcom)
Range: Close
Guard: Unable
A Long Sword cannot guard you from any attacks but it does allow countering and also gives you more freedom to string combos together in comparison to a heavier weapon. It won’t deliver as much damage in a single hit like a Great Sword, for example, but a well-timed combo can be pretty devastating for your opponent. Certain attacks will also help to fill your Spirit Gauge, which will give you the chance to inflict more damage when your Gauge turns red.
Sword and Shield
(Image credit: Capcom)
Range: Close
Guard: Able
If you want to fight valiantly, it’s hard to resist choosing the Sword and Shield. Not only does this set look the part as you ride into battle, but it works a charm for anyone looking to prioritise defense as well as attack. The sword is a fairly basic weapon, but the shield is where this choice shines. The shield can be used to protect you, while also being used as its own weapon when needed. It’s neither heavy nor incredibly light which makes it a good all-rounder if you’re a bit unsure of your ability to dodge roll at first.
Dual Blades
(Image credit: Capcom)
Range: Close
Guard: Unable
The Dual Blades are designed for rapid attacks. They do little damage per hit, but the amount of hits you can land in one sequence is what makes this weapon worthwhile. If you’re used to swift movement, quick attacks, and inflicting status effects to help you take down whatever beastie you’ve come up against then the Dual Blades tick every box. But, I am a little biased as this has been my go-to weapon for the majority of Monster Hunter games I’ve played.
Hammer
(Image credit: Capcom)
Range: Close
Guard: Unable
Much like the Great Sword, the hammer is a heavy, blunt weapon. It’s very slow in its attack delivery, but its power can be overwhelming. With that said, the Hammer still gives plenty of opportunity for you to dodge roll or zip out of the way to help you evade any serious damage. You can charge up attacks to make them even more powerful, and if you inflict enough damage to the head of the monster with these powerful swings you can stun them.
Hunting Horn
(Image credit: Capcom)
Range: Close
Guard: Unable
f you want to be the bard of the group, then the Hunting Horn is your perfect weapon. Your attacks are blunt and may occasionally stun the monster you’re fighting, but the melodies you can perform are what make the hunting horn a good choice. Each melody will give you (and your teammates) a buff such as attack power to help your hunt, and you’ll be able to plant ‘Echo Bubbles’ around the map to give special effects to different areas. Mastering the Hunting Horn takes some work, but if you’re willing to dedicate the time it’s a fantastic tool to help you and your team.
Lance
(Image credit: Capcom)
Range: Close
Guard: Able
The Lance offers powerful thrusting attacks which are incredibly quick to pull off, meaning you’ve got a lot of opportunities to dodge and evade after a successful hit. The length of the weapon also gives you a good chance to keep some distance between you and your opponent, which is helped massively by the amount of defensive moves the Lance already offers. On top of its ability to guard, the Lance also has several moves that counterattack to open up vital windows for you to land devastating blows during a fight.
Gunlance
(Image credit: Capcom)
If you want your Lance to have slightly more range, then the Gunlance is worth picking up. As its name suggests, it offers a similar set of attacks as the Lance, alongside its range and quick speed. But, on top of that, you gain the ability to fire explosive shells from a distance so you don’t risk losing all your health in one hit by charging in, pardon my pun, all guns blazing. The only downside is this weapon does rely on precision and planning slightly more than something like the Hammer, which is much more hands-on, but it’s just something you get the hang of the more time you spend with it.
Switch Axe
(Image credit: Capcom)
Range: Close
Guard: Able
Generally, if someone tells me they don’t know what sort of weapon they want to play, I point them in the direction of the Switch Axe. Rather than being tethered to one weapon, you can inflict as much damage as possible using either its axe mode for ranged, harder-hitting attacks, or dashing in with your weapon in its Sword mode for a flurry of much faster but much closer hits. One thing to note though is this weapon cannot guard, so you’ll need to be constantly on your toes and ready to roll if a monster feels particularly enraged.
Charge Blade
(Image credit: Capcom)
Range: Close
Guard: Able
Similar to the Switch Axe, the Charge Blade can morph between two different forms: Axe mode and Sword mode. Axe mode will dish out heavy hard attacks, but this time they can be made more powerful by the damage you deal when your weapon is in Sword mode. During Sword mode, the attacks you deliver will charge up phials which can be unleashed during Axe mode to land more brutal attacks. It’s a more tactical version of the Switch Axe, so requires a little more planning, but the damage you can pull off makes it all worth the effort.
Insect Glaive
(Image credit: Capcom)
Range: Close/Mid with Kinsect
Guard: Unable
Next to the Dual Blades, the Insect Glaive is one of my favourite weapons. You can keep your distance while still dealing reasonable damage, and use your weapon to vault into the air to land more intense attacks upon landing. But, on top of its range, the Insect Glaive also comes with a controllable Kinsect you can send out into the battle to do your bidding. Whether you’re using this mobile insect to lure your monster into a trap or you’re using it for some all-important additional damage, it’s a very valuable tool to have on hand. You can also gain some powerful buffs by harvesting monster extract, and every little helps.
Light Bowgun
(Image credit: Capcom)
The Light Bowgun is a mid-range weapon that fires a variety of ammo, so you can decide whether you want to litter your enemy with rapid attacks and chip away at its health, or set up a more intense shot if you’ve got the opportunity. Its priority is quick attacks, otherwise, your best bet is testing out the Heavy Bowgun if you want something with a little more bulk. Unlike its heavy counterpart, the Light Bowgun also makes life easier when you need to evade attacks quickly with a dodge roll despite the fact it can’t guard.
Heavy Bowgun
(Image credit: Capcom)
In comparison to the Light Bowgun, the Heavy Bowgun is a long-range weapon that lets you hurl ammo from a safe distance. If standard ammo isn’t enough, you’ll also be able to use energy to activate Ignition Mode and fire a special, more powerful ammo that causes additional damage. This weapon is not as easy to maneuver with, but it comes with an auto-guard function (and of course, you can guard manually too) which will help you reduce any damage you might fall victim to.
Bow
(Image credit: Capcom)
The Bow is another mid-range weapon that’s perfect for anyone who doesn’t want to get up close and personal with a monster or waste any precious moments readying a shot from far away. It’s easy to manoeuvre with so if you do get caught in the crossfire you’ll be able to make it out with one piece. You can also charge your arrows to increase your damage and can mark monsters with a Tracer to help your arrows hone in on it in case your aim isn’t up to scratch. The Tracer will also explode to cause additional damage to the monster after a period of time, or if you land enough damage on it.
Xbox controllers go on sale often enough that I’d never spend $60 on one, but I’d pull the trigger at around $45. With certain Xbox Controllers down to $34.99 at Lenovo (use code BFCMXBOX at checkout), I’m contemplating picking one up as a backup just in case I ever decide to return to my more aggressive Rocket League playing days, which weren’t kind to the analog sticks. Shipping is free, and I’m not sure I’ve seen them go below $40 before.
Only some colors, like Robot White, can be brought down to $34.99 with that code. The price listed on the website is $39.99, and you won’t see the full discount until you apply the code in your shopping cart. (You’ll see a different code automatically applied when you go to checkout at Lenovo—make sure to enter BFCMXBOX in the “Have an eCoupon or discount?” box to replace it.)
You could consider an alternative controller, though. I’ve been using Xbox controllers for so long it’s hard to imagine holding a different shape, but the 8BitDo Ultimate 2C is tempting and much cheaper than an Xbox controller—$25.49 at Amazon. Jacob has more details on why we like 8BitDo’s controller here and in the box below.
https://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/1733188653_The-best-Xbox-controller-deal-right-now-isnt-at-Amazon.jpg6751200Carlos Pachecohttps://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Website-Logo-300x74.pngCarlos Pacheco2024-12-02 23:13:292024-12-02 23:13:29The best Xbox controller deal right now isn’t at Amazon or Best Buy
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