Finally playing some CoD again after a pretty long break from the franchise. 😎

The team behind Olden Era has revealed a new Arena mode, designed to bring fast, dynamic battles to the forefront of gameplay. Responding to community feedback, this mode skips traditional elements like castle building, resource gathering, and map exploration. Instead, players jump straight into the action, drafting their heroes, troops, artifacts, and spells in a quick five-minute setup before diving into a decisive battle. Inspired by the Hot Seat Duel Mode from HoMM 5, Olden Era’s Arena takes the concept further with full customization and balance improvements. Players can draft from a selection of heroes, level up skills, and pick artifacts, all while ensuring fairness through carefully balanced systems. Whether battling AI or other players, the mode is designed to provide exciting, bite-sized gameplay sessions that are perfect for newcomers and veterans alike. Arena also introduces competitive features, including a separate rating system and matchmaking, adding a fresh challenge for seasoned players. It’s a fast, accessible way to enjoy the game, whether you’re short on time or want to sharpen your skills in quick, intense battles. More details on Arena’s competitive ladder system will be shared in an upcoming devlog.

That feeling you have when you just finished an amazing game. With StarCraft II that feeling I have once in a while when I replay all the campaigns. Too bad the story is over and in a way I'm glad there are no spin offs or some other crap like World of StarCraft. There is not much space for story rich games in the modern gamedev. There is also less and less demand for competitive real-time strategy games, all that market was consumed with MOBAs. Not many players out there want to spend hundreds of hours just to even stand a chance against other players. Having such good in size and quality single-player part is too expensive nowadays. Those shy attempts to revive an RTS market don't even try to include campaign or a story because creating balanced PvP game is already challenge on its own. I will revisit StarCraft story in the future, hoping there won't be any Reforged failures that will take the original game from me.

Valve has released a major update for Counter-Strike 2, introducing weapon charms and new skins as part of the "Arsenal" operation. They added over 100 new cosmetic items, including stickers and a new case. Players can also acquire charms through the Arsenal Pass, which costs around $15, and attach them to weapons. Additionally, gameplay animations were improved, and bugs were fixed. On the downside, some users have reported performance issues following the update, with frame rates dropping by around 14%.

Frostpunk 2 has been released. 11 bit studios released their game in Steam and Microsoft Store. City builder also available in PC Game Pass since day one. Reviews claim the game is bigger and better its predecessor in every way. In Frostpunk 2 players control a city in postapocaliptic setting where eternal winter rules the world. You have to develop the city, deal with problems of its citizens and political factions. The game offers long campaign and sandbox mode where yo can play with no limits. Frostpunk 2 also offers full mod support that allows community to create their own maps, models and scenarios.

God of War Ragnarök is now finally available on PC after almost 2 years being available exclusively on PlayStation. Porting to PC was done by Jetpack Interactive, the same studio that was also porting previous God of War game. God of War Ragnarök on PC received several improvements compared to console version. Among other things developers added image upscaling support, support of ultra-wide displays and unlimited framerate. Action made by Santa Monica continues the story from God of War (2018). Kratos and Atreus are traveling in every of Nine worlds to prevent Ragnarök, the end of the world. Initial release of God of War Ragnarök happened in 2022. Average rating on Metacritic is 94 out of 100.

My favourite Heroes game is Heroes of Might & Magic III and I'm glad that Olden Era is trying to recreate visuals, both on adventure map and in battle. The details on the map are amazing, they look like a painting. Objects to interact with are prominent and you can't miss them, but at the same time they feel as part of the landscape and not too bright to attract attention. Opening fog of war is no longer boring, it looks like paper cover is burning away as you uncover new territories. Last but not least: the tilt-shift effect that makes objects on the adventure map look like miniatures.

During The International 2024 Valve has announced 126th hero for Dota 2. It's a bird-samurai named Kez. It's going to become available with the 4th act of the Crownfall event, where players will oppose the Empire. This hero was one of those that regularly was found in game files and numerous leaks. Valve was adding interest with items and teasers on the website. After the release of the Crownfall Kazurai - the order of samurai birds - was added to the Dota 2 lore. During the last The International Valve has announced previous hero named Ringmaster that was released just recently after almost a year since the announcement.