#the weird teaser thing riot just put out?

[cleavetheclover]

Like a Shitty Little Guardian Angel

Cypher doesn’t trust Iso.

Like Chamber, his record was just a little too excellent. Served in the Chinese military, moved to a special unit and received specialized Radiant training, defected and began a search for organizations that would make “better use of his talents.” A plain story. Right at the same time that Valorant was looking to hire another Agent.

Inconspicuous and conveniently at right place at the right time…

Just enough so that it tickles the instincts in the back of Cypher’s mind.

Ah, but Cypher is getting ahead of himself. He has no concrete evidence against Iso. Chamber, on the other hand, showed up with the exact blueprints and coordinates and passwords of the entire Fracture site— including information he certainly wouldn’t have access to if he were merely an optical engineer as he described. That was blatant. Something didn’t add up there, and Cypher still hadn’t been able to figure it out.

Not so much with Iso.

Until he was alerted of a Sheriff missing from the Range Armory.

Under normal circumstances Agents could borrow equipment from the Armory for practice drills. Cypher had set an alarm to notify him of any missing equipment, on a timer of six hours or if equipment left the Range. Most of the time they were false alarms (Phoenix, please stop leaving your pistols in the locker room…), but today was different.

Cypher checked the time. A Sheriff had been removed from the Range two minutes ago, half past midnight. Definitely not during draining hours. He flicked through the security system, looking for the culprit, and found the 24th Agent on his way out of the Armory.

Curious. He was carrying the Sheriff by his side, clearly conscious that he had stolen it.

Cypher stood from his chair and slipped out of his office, deciding to tail the Duelist just in case. His own Ghost was holstered on the inside of his coat (a little exception that he technically shouldn’t have, but if anyone knew, no one had ratted on him so far.)

Iso was making his way through the corridors with decisive strides. Every few seconds, Cypher would note his pathway and check the rooms ahead to see if anything of importance might be there. Just in case, he also prepares to activate an emergency call for Sage and Brimstone. They could help if things went south.

Nothing for ten minutes. Their paths cross at about the five minute mark, Cypher intercepting from behind with Iso none the wiser.

The Duelist had passed by all the rooms housing important power banks, servers, computers, laboratories, and workshops. What was he after, then?

Cypher checks the cameras of the rooms ahead. Killjoy’s workshop, darkened. She is out on a mission now. His own workshop (yes, Cypher had ironically circled back here without intending to). Chamber's workshop, dark, the frenchman was a morning person who enjoyed early bedtimes. Omen in a room further ahead, tending to his favorite bonsai.

(He never said it was his favorite, but Cypher knew because it was the one he was always most careful with.)

Cypher leans his back against the wall, watching Iso continue his path down the hall through his cameras. The Duelist shows no interest in any of the workshops, which is a relief to the Sentinel.

Until Iso stops at the room Omen is standing in, and takes aim at Omen's skull.

Omen doesn't even look up.

Cypher curses under his breath and breaks into a run. An assassination? Why? He braces himself for the sound of the Sheriff’s fire and what he knows he must do afterwards— take out Iso, take Omen’s corpse to the medbay, and get Sage to revive him as soon as possible—

But even as he catches up to the corner, no sound has come. Only silence.

Cypher switches to his cam, where he has a good view of both Iso and Omen. The Sheriff is poin muted at the back of Omen’s head, held evenly in Iso’s hand as he stands out in the hallway. The revenant is none the wiser, continuing to clip away at the bonsai.

Iso does not fire. Five seconds. Cypher holds his breath, preemptively drawing his pistol from his coat.

But Iso lowers the gun.

Iso, for whatever reason, has spared Omen’s life. Instead, he has left a device on the table beside the Controller, one too small for Cypher to examine through the camera.

Cypher rounds the corner, leaning against the doorframe as the duelist once again enters the hallway. The Chinese man stares him down, daring him to say anything. Cypher maintains his gaze and wordlessly rolls a tripwire across his knuckles, playing innocent even though both of them know that Cypher was fully aware of the actions Iso had almost taken.

Iso returns the nod.

Good. Now Iso knows that Cypher is keeping an eye on him, and hopefully he won’t try and pull any of this bullshit again.

#lmao I got tired and dropped off at the end #hope it was a fun read anyways #this is about #the weird teaser thing riot just put out? #valorant #valorant cypher #cypher #omen #iso

[marjansmarwani]

I wrote this before that teaser dropped and it was going to go in a different direction, but I started having thoughts. So welcome to my s3 premiere spec fic, I guess. Here’s some softness for your Wednesday!

--------- When TK rolled over in bed and got his first look out the bedroom window he was immediately disoriented. He was fairly certain he had fallen asleep in Austin, in the bed he shared with his boyfriend. He was almost certain of that. But if that were true, it didn’t explain the white blanketing everything. It almost looked like…

“Is that snow?” 

TK twisted to see Carlos’s sleep mused head peering around him as he squinted at the window, his expression mirroring the confusion TK felt. 

“I think so,” he told his boyfriend, turning his gaze back out the window. “Assuming I’m not seeing things. We’re still in Austin, right?” 

“Last I checked,” Carlos confirmed. “But your mom has been after us to visit and frankly I wouldn’t put anything past her.” 

TK chuckled at that before pulling back the blankets and preparing to climb out of bed. But the cold air hitting his body was unexpected and he let out an involuntary yelp that had Carlos looking at him in concern. 

“Sorry,” he said sheepishly, putting a reassuring hand on Carlos’s arm as he yanked the blankets back over himself. “It’s just, really cold in here. I wasn’t expecting that.”

“Maybe your dad doesn’t have the heat on yet?” Carlos suggested. “It’s not like we were expecting this.” 

“Maybe,” TK allowed, “but I doubt it. Owen Strand has religiously had every thermostat in every place we’ve ever lived set to 69 degrees my entire life. Seems like a weird choice to stop that now. But,” he countered with a smile as he slid back under the blankets and moved closer to Carlos, “it’s plenty warm right here.” 

“So that’s your solution?” Carlos asked with a laugh even as he wound his arms around TK and pulled him closer, “Hideaway in bed until the snow is gone?” 

“Just until it warms up in here,” TK corrected. “I actually like the snow. I’ve kind of missed it.” 

“Don’t say that too loud,” Carlos murmured into his neck as he burrowed closer to TK, chasing the warmth of his body, “you might have a riot on your hands for accidentally starting this.” 

TK scoffed but didn’t say anything as his focus was more on his boyfriend who was currently doing his best to impersonate a koala, “Don’t take this the wrong way babe,” he said after a moment, “because you know how much I love your cuddles, but what exactly are you doing?” 

Carlos looked up at him sheepishly. “I’m cold,” he admitted. “And I don’t like being cold.” 

TK laughed but snuggled closer, wrapping his arms around Carlos. “Then I guess it’s a good thing we don��t have to leave this bed ever again.” 

“We both have jobs, TK.” 

“What?” TK asked with a grin as he pressed a kiss to the inside of Carlos’s neck. “You don’t think your Captain will give you a day off for this?” 

Carlos bit his lip as TK’s lip found more sensitive skin and shook his head, “No,” he replied when he was able to get his breath back, “and neither would yours.” 

TK sighed and laid his head back against Carlos’s chest. “How much time do we have?” 

Carlos stretched a hand out to the nightstand, grabbing his phone off the charger. He frowned as he looked at the screen, turning it to show TK, “It’s dead.” 

TK frowned and rolled over to grab his, ignoring Carlos’s protests at the loss of contact. He picked his up and hit the power button. The screen lit up, the battery icon in the corner informing him that it was at 4% even though it was still plugged in. 

“Do you want the good news or bad news first?” he asked Carlos as he rolled over again. 

“Bad,” Carlos told him, “always the bad first.” 

“In that case, the power’s out, which at least explains why it is so cold in here.”

Carlos groaned and pulled the blankets tighter around them. 

“What’s the good news?” he asked. 

“The good news,” TK began, shifting so his arms were around Carlos again, “is that we have at least a half-hour before we even have to think about getting up for work. Besides,” he added with a sly grin as he felt Carlos press himself even closer, “our power’s out. It’s not our fault if our alarms never go off.” 

#911 lone star #wip wednesday #my fic previews #I have no idea where this is going now thanks fox #but I'm excited either way #scheduled

[modern-mecha]

My thoughts on the fnaf sb characters we have so far

Roxanne

Car person and can and will talk about cars for hours

Shes 100% a riot grrl

Very friendly but she still has to pull a mean joke or two but she doesn't really mean it

*cough cough* lesbian *cough*

Chica

a total mother figure

She loves it went people point out her cupcake or the stickers on her guitar

Health nerd but doesnt push it much

I feel like she was on freddys side at one point then she was taken over by vanny and totally fucked over by her,william or another animatronic (this is based on that one teaser)

Monty

Has a hella temper but he doesnt let it show when hes around kids (not Gregory tho lmao)

He plays golf no wonder hes a shit head 😬

Big boy hes like 6'4

Likes dark areas since he can see good in them

He smells like pool chlorine lmaooo

Freddy

Himbo father figure

Hes like "die irl" to monty

Caring he doesnt want to see others get hurt

I WANNA SEE HIM BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF AMALGAMATION AFTON RN THAT WOULD BE SO EPIC

Moondrop

He was super tame and had a sleepy laid back personality before he was taken over by vanny

Now he is like KILL

Still has that "im a funny lil man weee" personality

Totally thinks "today i will decide to cause mass chaos"

Sunrise (??)

I will protect this small child

Really good at hidding since they can cram their limbs in weird positions

Like moondrop they are jester/clowny but sunrise isnt fucking rude

Will give you spine crushing hugs

Vanessa/vanny

Is mentally ill and easily manipulated

You know the weird true crime community on tumblr? Yeah shes 100% apart of that and think aftons actions are justified

She might have a weird two face thing going on where she keeps getting possessed by afton but by the emails from the ar game i just think shes all bad

Shes probably gonna die at the end of the game tho :////

Gregory

Thinks about others more than he thinks about himself

Very smart and tech-y

Knows something is going on and wants to know

Maybe a friend disappeared there and hes looking for them and finds out about all this vanny shit

Existing animatronics that are from old games and at the pizzaplex

If bonnie bowl exists then the rest of the main cast exists too (we have already kinda seen foxys)

So mad this could have been an opportunity to put the hide and seek bonnie game from black bird in the game 🤬😡🤬😡🤬😡

El chip is there and he sings lil songs while u eat

If el chip is back they better bring back the fucking mediocre melodies if they dont i swear to god

The museum is pretty much why afton wants in on the pizzaplex

After getting basically dismantled by the detective he crawls out of the pond and wants to build himself up again and knows where to go

We might see the funtimes again but they might just be gross and melty and form another ennard to stay together

Another baby hate club is formed

We better see the puppet again i wanna know how shes doing 🥺🥺🥺

There is probably so much remnant in that museum damn

#fnaf #five nights at freddys #fnaf security breach #roxanne wolf #montgomery gator #glamrock chica #glamrock freddy #fnaf gregory #fnaf vanny #fnaf vanessa #fnaf monty #fnaf theory #fnaf blackbird spoilers #fnaf sl #fnaf pizzeria simulator #fnaf puppet #fnaf headcanons

[breaddaerb]

how would the agents react if they were in our world and was told that they are video game characters?

[ valorant headcannons I ]

✎↷: good question! this one is going to be a wee bit of a cluster, but bear with me-

brimstone: as old men who have fought wars and seen everything the world has to offer do, brimstone genuinely wouldn’t believe it for a while. he’d brush it off by saying ‘oh, killjoy continued her webgame she was making? that’s great!’ after all, in this world he’s just a retired military general who works as an english professor at the nearby college, and he’s happy like that. video game or not, the publicity wouldn’t bother him.

breach: this is the spotlight he loves! breach may be older now, but he doesn’t forget the glory he felt when he played with his band back in the day as the lead guitarist. sure, it’s a little weird to see that he’s in a video game, however, people come up with great ideas nowadays and if it had him in it, it would be even better!

cypher: where did you get him, and why is nora dead? nora is alive and happy beside cypher thank you very much, and the man would have sued riot for taking his identity if it hadn’t been for his loving wife helping him to keep his cool. yeah, so this was why he was still married to her. the cypher who was forced to live a life without his beloved was surely suffering in that video game of his.

jett: she’s a gymnast rising star, so when she catches news of her new fame as a video game character, the first thing she checks out are the abilities she has on the game. wind? hm.. acceptable. the character in game was cool, but jett personally thought that she herself deserved even more than that! which is why she was noticeably upset when the new trailer came out. come on, she should’ve won that!

killjoy: oh, she knows alright. killjoy pretty much is the mastermind behind the gaming empire, with her smarts processing countless devices of technology that would be helpful to gamers or other boosts with better graphics. her character was modeled directly after her with her awareness. after all, and she may or may not have put in a word for her other friends as characters. being in video games was cool, and she was sure they wouldn’t mind!

omen: why did they make him so edgy. omen knew his voice was deep, but wow, they really kicked it up to another level. when he asked killjoy, the woman had the audacity to laugh at him and then shrug him away. they got his character horribly off (in his eyes), so he grumbles about it from time to time behind the developer’s backs.

phoenix: this is sick! he played the game, played the beta, and he looks forward to more of it! the whole fire thing is really a nice touch as someone who really didn’t have too many fantastical aspects to his life. he’s a car racer and collector, so while it isn’t reflected in his in game character, phoenix is a fan of the sleek design he’s given and the signature jacket that he always holds onto. the creators did a good job to make him look sick as hell. 

raze: yes! explosions, fire? it captures her perfectly! she’s a demolitionist and works at a car shop on the side, so the whole role she was given was best for her. raze is especially a fan of watching those ‘AGGRESIVE RAZE PLAYS’ and ‘raze.exe’ videos on youtube because those double satchel movements are iconic! and if she ever sees a raze streamer who doesn’t take advantage of her superior ability kit, then they don’t deserve the fame. 

reyna: reyna’s avatar is the best in the game. her voice actor was spot on, and though the singer doesn’t spend much time on video games, seeing the various clips of her own character was a gratifying feeling. purple was always reyna’s favorite color, and her sister would’ve liked to see it had she still been around by the time valorant came out. that girl rubbed off on reyna more than she thought.

sage: as a CEO of a chain of hospitals who had no time for casual luxuries like video games, it was a surprise to find out about it. jett came scampering up to her after one of her many sponsorship events and rambled to the chinese woman about the latest fps game, and she ended up taking a curious glance after a late night of work. valorant looked good, at least to her average-person eyes. the artwork was well made and a respectable system. perhaps it’d be worthy of a partnership..

skye: well, would you look at that! as a working zoologist and animal enthusiast, it was a pleasure to see her have some rad creations be her own abilities. skye liked the video game models so much that she carved out a few hawks of her own, letting them decorate her home studio. who knew that someone like her would be seen in a video game like that? people were getting really creative!

sova: his babushka doted on him a lot for it. neither of them had thought to see him in some mainstream game, but now that he was, sova was happy to share the game with others that he knew. sova found out at first because of omen’s complaints about it, and while they did the man slightly dirty, sova quite liked his own character! but the amount of trauma that was packed into the game.. maybe not so much.

viper: the actress is critical of her video-game representative. she supports riot and all, and the new lines of her character were nice, but there was too little time for her to catch up on it. actually, a colleague of hers had told her about seeing her in the video game, so it’s their main source of conversation whenever they’re on set together. her own fanbase plays the video game as a source of content too, so viper has accepted it as part of her life.  

yoru: give him more lines! yoru’s teaser was by far better than both jett’s and phoenix’s, to the younger two’s disgruntlement, but he was too impatient to wait for his avatar to come out. yoru watched every release of his early access and admired himself and the irritatingly accurate habit of his comb, but he wishes for more content from valorant. give him some nicer japanese lines, too, okay?!

#valorant #valorant headcannons #valorant scenarios #all agents #breaking the fourth wall lowkey

[infinite-xerath]

Thoughts on Sentinel and Ruined Skins

Alright, I plan to give my full thoughts on the entire event once it’s over, but for the time-being, I wanted to give my general thoughts on each skin so far. I’ll be putting this under a read-more for convenience.))

So I guess I’ll start by saying that I like the concept of the event as a whole, though I’ve got some gripes (as do many) with who was chosen to partake. I think, having played through the VN up to its current point, that they do a decent job justifying most of the characters who get Ruined/recruited. That said, it does annoy me that they didn’t even go all-in on the concept; one Sentinel and one Ruined champ per region could have been great, but then there are some regions that don’t even have one of each.

So yeah, in addition to giving my overall thoughts on each existing skin, I also wanna touch on who else I think could have been included.

Sentinel Vayne: In my opinion, the best Sentinel skin of the lot. Not only does it look good (arguably better than her original design) but Vayne is a natural fit for the Sentinels. She already devotes her life to hunting monsters and dark magic, so it absolutely makes sense that she would join up at least until the Ruination is dealt with.

Ruined Shyvana: I wasn’t so sure about this one at first, but I’ve warmed up to it now that we know how Viego’s possession works. Taking the worst aspects of someone’s personality and bringing them to the forefront? Yeah, go figure that Shyvana would give into her monstrous side and resentment for being persecuted almost every day of her life. You could argue that there were better picks, but hey, better Ruined Shyvana than yet another Lux skin, right?

Sentinel Olaf: While not my first choice, I can’t deny that it works in the long-run. The dude already has a history of fighting the undead in his endless quest to find a worthy foe capable of slaying him, and of course the Ruined King seems like a suitably worthy opponent for Olaf to go up against. That being said, I feel like we should have gotten a Ruined Champ from the Freljord as Olaf’s rival, rather than it just being Vex. I don’t mind Vex appearing when she did to have us encounter her for the first time, but she should have had a Ruined champ to help her, which leads me to...

Ruined Tryndamere: Come on, this one’s obvious. There are a few characters in the Freljord that might have fit the Ruined theme, but none more-so than Tryndamere, I think. The guy’s already got a whole thing about controlling his rage and trying to use it as a force for good in the Avarosa tribe. Imagine Viego corrupting Tryndamere and causing all of that primal fury to just explode forth. Plus, come ON Riot, Olaf vs Tryndamere. Battle of the Berserkers. Frankly, it’s absurd to me that Olaf hasn’t tried fighting Tryndamere already, given that they’re both too angry to die. He HAS to have at least heard about the Barbarian King, right?

Sentinel Riven: Honestly, this one is interesting to me. With the other Sentinels, we all kind of know/expect that they’ll return to normal once the event is over and go back to their status quo. Riven feels like an exception. As she stated herself in the event: she’s a wanted criminal in Noxus and it’s not exactly like she’d be super welcomed back in Ionia. She joins the Sentinels because she has nowhere else to go and no other cause to fight for once freed from Draven’s arena. Aside from Vayne, Riven feels like the one who’d most likely stay with the Sentinels once the event is over, even though I know that probably won’t happen. Still, I like her inclusion, all-in-all.

Ruined Draven: Honestly, not the one I would have picked. I mean, it’s just Draven. Absolutely nothing has changed from him being Ruined. Granted, I do think it’s absolutely hilarious that Draven’s worst version of himself is already just himself, an egotistical prick who craves attention, but there are way better picks in Noxus to see getting Ruined. I mean, the event teaser showed Darius getting possessed, and I think there’s a lot more to work with there. Also, am I the only one that thinks that Ruined Draven feels redundant when Soul Reaver Draven is already a thing?

Sentinel Diana: So this one I have some complicated feelings about. On one hand, it makes sense that Diana would join the fight against the undead for the sake of the Lunari. On the other, it feels like MOST of the Aspects should be getting involved with this. I mean, the VN has her say that the other Aspects ARE fighting the Undead all over Targon, but then you’d think we would wanna go and recruit them as well. Seriously, Taric? WTF are you, Protector? Also, Diana needing a Sentinel weapon is weird since we already confirmed that the Mist doesn’t like Celestial magic, but... Eh, the blade she gets is cool, I guess.

Ruined Pantheon: And here comes the controversial one... Right, so like many, I did not care for this skin. In fact, I still have reservations about it. I DO like that it is actually Ruined PANTHEON, because yeah, the Black Mist turns dead things undead. Go figure it could bring back the remnants of the war god lingering in Atreus. That’s a really cool idea, but there’s absolutely an argument to be made that it fucks with Atreus’s whole character arc and makes his seemingly indomitable will look like a joke... But hey, Viego himself said that he’d never be able to take a proper Aspect, which absolutely tracks, which kinda makes Atreus the only Targonian champion he COULD defeat and corrupt.

Sentinel Irelia: To be frank, not too much to say about this one. Irelia’s entire character motivation is defending her homeland against invaders, and... Yeah the undead definitely count as invaders. While someone like Shen probably would have been a better recruit for the Sentinels, Irelia works just fine.

Ruined Karma: And heeere’s another controversial one. Yeah, Karma is not the one I would have chosen. Honestly, just about anyone else from Ionia would have been a better fit for Ruination. Ruined Pantheon can be justified by the dead war god coming back and taking over Atreus’s body again, but Karma and her vessel Darha should have absolutely been able to resist it... And they kind of do. In the event, we actually do see Karma switching back and forth. She’s the only one we’ve seen fight back against Viego long enough to revert to her normal self, at least for a time. In fact, the implication that Darha is being corrupted while the entity of Karma itself fights back is neat. Still, I would have preferred Ruined Zed or something along those lines.

Sentinel Graves: OK, I love this skin. I don’t love the context around it. First of all, the fact that he’s the Sentinel for Piltover is dumb. Graves is from Bilgewater, and should have been the Sentinel we recruited there. I also don’t care for how Twisted Fate is completely missing and never even referenced from his story. Like, OK, Graves fled Bilgewater because it was already overcome with Harrowing. Fine. But... Did he just leave TF behind? If so, why does he have Fate’s blue card? There’s so much we’re missing here. I love that he’s joining just because he’s got a bone to pick with Viego, but Graves should have been the choice for Bilgewater. As for who should be the Piltover Sentinel? Well...

Sentinel Jayce: Think about it. Jayce is a character who’s had nothing to do in the Piltover/Zaun lore for ages. He already considers himself a hero and a defender of Piltover. Plus, imagine what a Sentinel version of his hammer would be like! Hell, Jayce’s whole conflict with Viktor revolves around their opposing beliefs around free will. Of course he’d have a word or two to say about the Ruined King, who’s running around and stripping people of their free will! On that note..

Ruined Viktor: Absolutely a perfect fit for Ruination. Under Viego’s influence, he could deem undeath as the next logical step of evolution, casting aside the limits of flesh and emotion for a spectral form where one’s thoughts were dictated by a single, “superior” consciousness. It would be a perfect contrast for Sentinel Jayce, and besides: we’ve already seen a ghostly version of this concept with Death Sworn Viktor. If Draven gets two undead skins, why not? Plus, we know that the Harrowing can effect machines thanks to Legends of Runeterra, so... Yeah. Ruined Viktor. Let’s go.

Sentinel Pyke: Another controversial one. While I like the general idea behind it, frankly, I would have just left Pyke as he is. We already have him fighting the undead in the Ruined King game, and we know Nagakabouros power can hurt the undead; there was no real need for him to pick up Sentinel gear. Much as I love the line “Wraiths, wraiths are on the list,” I would have just made Graves the Sentinel rep for Bilgewater and called it there.

Ruined Miss Fortune: This one just sucks. It absolutely sucks. The Sarah Fortune I know would have never gone to such lengths merely for power, especially when she already rules most of Bilgewater at this point. Her various short stories show her doing a pretty damn good job stamping out the warring factions challenging her rule, and even if she decided that she needed some kind of supernatural leg up on the competition, it’s not like Bilgewater is lacking in magic. Also, the design sucks, turning her back into the sex icon that they’ve spent the last 7 years moving her away from. Ruined Fortune sucks. As for who SHOULD have gotten the skin instead...

Ruined Gangplank: Now HERE’S a pirate lord desperate for power. He lost his ship, he lost his fleet, he lost his throne, he even lost an arm. Gangplank has been struggling to regain control of Bilgewater ever since Burning Tides, and while we haven’t heard much of him recently, it can be safely assumed that he’s not making much progress with how much control Sarah currently has. Gangplank is absolutely ruthless enough and immoral enough to bargain with the Ruined King for power. Plus, think about it: he’s already been “reborn” once, so to him, Ruination probably wouldn’t even be that big of a deal.

Sentinel Rengar: All things considered, I like this one. Rengar, I think, has one of the best justifications for joining the Sentinels. When Rengar’s jungle is invaded by wraiths, Rengar finds himself faced with monsters that even his skills cannot take down. Yeah, these undead are worthy prey challenging his reign as the apex predator in Kumungu, and if the Viego is their alpha, then he’s the target to go for. Now, obviously he’s still got a hunt for Kha’Zix that has yet to be resolved, but let’s be honest: we’re never going to see that rivalry conclude, and this is the most lore relevance Rengar has had in ages. I’m for this skin, though of course we do still have the issue of who in Kumungu would be a good Ruined rival for him. On that note...

Ruined Zyra: Alright, here me out. Ixtal as a region doesn’t have that many characters, let-alone good candidates for Ruination. Perhaps the best and most obvious candidate would be Qiyana, but I take issue with this for a few reasons. Firstly, accepting Ruination for the power to rule is already something we’ve done with MF/GP, and second, I don’t think the Shadow Isles aesthetic works super well with her elemental-swapping gameplay. I chose Ruined Zyra because, well, Zyra already wants to spread her plants far and wide across Runeterra, and the Mist would be a great method for carrying seeds, not to mention making her offspring harder to prune. Not the most deep, but yeah, I think Ruined Zyra would have been a cool concept to work with.

Lastly...

Unbound Thresh: A mistake. I’ve already made my opinions on Thresh’s lore abundantly clear in my rewrite for him, and this skin just destroys any hope for his character for me. This sexy E-Boy is unquestionably the worst thing to come out of the whole event, and whatever Riot is planning to do with Thresh in the future, it does NOT justify this design. Plus, the whole idea that an undead character can become “unbound” is just dumb. Like, when has it ever been implied that Thresh himself was actually bound in any way? He’s one of the few Shadow Isles entities that can freely leave the Mist, at least for a time! Yeah, this skin was a mistake, but Riot has to cash in on the simps, I suppose.

Anyways, I’ll give my thoughts on the story itself once this is all said and done, but for now, these are my takes on the individual skins. Hope you all enjoyed hearing me ramble.

#Outofpower #Ruination

[notoriouslydevious]

Pool Party 2020 speculations:

Pool Party 2020 skins just got teased on League’s official Twitter and I have a couple speculations on who they might be! (other than the obvious on the far left, Taliyah, who was teased earlier this year). 

Far Right: Definitely Orianna. Not doubt in my mind. 

Some people on twitter are trying to say, “IT COULD BE CAMILLE” but think about Camille for a sec. EVERY OTHER SKIN SHE’S HAD ALWAYS KEEPS HER SCISSOR LEGS. THIS SKIN HAS FEETSIES & TOESIES! So yea, not Camille. 

Next person over: 

Definitely looks like a javelin or polearm next to them so my instant first guesses were: Jarvan or Xin Zhao. 

Next: 

Ah yes, the female in the middle. MANY, MANY people on twitter speculated that it was DEFINITELY going to be Syndra THIS TIME FOR SURE because: BALL. Thought it was weird that they’d only include one ball but it IS a teaser.  After watching the gif over and over, I noticed as this person kicks the sandal back over to the male character on their left, their ‘towel’ that they are laying on seems to be connected to their skirt. Syndra has trails connected to the back of her skirt so it might be her! 

Other people saw the ball and thought maybe it was Ahri (but no tails and I dont think Ahri has tattoos- but who knows?).  Others saw the tattoos on the legs and thought of: Jinx: (but Jinx recently got Heartseeker so I don’t think it’d be her) Karma: She does have the leg tattoos And with the ‘towel’ being connected to skirt/shorts- karma has a short skirt in the front, long in the back.  Karma also has one anklet.  ***BUT**** the skin is WAAAAAAY too light to be Karma. 

Neeko: Neeko DOES have tattoos and she does have an anklet (but she has them on both feet) BUUUUUUUUUUUT in all of Neeko’s other skins, her skin color is never “normal.” Like in Star Guardian, her feet & hands were green. 

Dont know why Riot would change this now but who knows? There’s no tail- but she is a chameleon and could be blending in? Also the flower on Taliyah’s board looks a lot like Neeko’s flower in her hair, but it might just be a tropical flower. Maybe Riot took the odyssey Ziggs approach and just threw her in the skinline without putting her in the cinematic/trailer lmao). 

Janna: (she did recently get guardian of the sands) the “towel” that the person is laying on, when they reach out to kick back the sandal it shows that it’s connected to their skirt/shorts. Janna is one of the only other female champs that their shorts/skirt have long trails on it. 

Next Person Over: 

It’s definitely someone small, so most likely a yordle. They seem to have sunglasses next to them that reminded me a lot of Heimerdinger’s and Corki’s goggles.

There’s also something in the water that (to me) looks like a little turret, like Donger’s turrets.  Other’s thought maybe it’s Corki’s plane or Rumble’s machine- but Rumble’s machine is HUGE- too huge to be that little thing. (To me, personally, it doesnt look like it has a good spot to sit or that it could be steered- so I dont think it’s Corki, but who knows?) 

Last Person: We already know it’s Taliyah from one of the League streams:

Welp, those are my thoughts. TELL ME WHO YOU THINK THEY COULD BE!

Hope this doesnt end up like the Cosmic skins lmao (rip Syndra/Lissandra/Elise. As pretty as Cosmic/Dark Cosmic Lux are, Syndra/Liss/Elise were robbed.)

#league #league of legends #leagueoflegends #pool #party #pool party teaser #pool party 2020 #taliyah #pool party taliyah #pool party orianna #pool party jarvan #pool party xin zhao #pool party syndra #pool party ahri #pool party karma #pool party neeko #pool party janna #pool party heimerdinger #pool party heimer #pool party donger #pool party corki #pool party rumble #pool party kennen #pool party skins #pool party 2020 teaser #notoriouslydevious #skin speculations #cosmic #cosmic prank #we were robbed

[llinx14789]

LoL 10 year: my predictions

So. League of legends (or well riot games) is gonna have a livestream tommarow announcing some big things for their 10th anniversary. I have a few predictions on what they will release for information.

1. Senna

So we have all seen the new teaser for league, the in game souls that appear in base for the first seconds of the game and read Lucians new piece of lore (also the many leaks) so we all pretty much know she is coming next. This would be the perfect opportunity for Riot to release this because it's so big. They will probably talk about how she got out of Thresh lantern or maybe hint on her abilities.

2. TFT

Yea yea TFT let's just mention it I dont really care about it.

3. Things to look forward to for season 10

So season 10 is coming up and I think that they are gonna talk about it a lot. Maybe mention new runes, new reworks coming up and some other things to look forward to for season 10.

4. A new 10 year event.

Just some weird nostalgia event for league.

5. A new game. Putting the s in gameS.

So we all know that riot is looking to releasing a new game, and this would be the perfect opportunity to announce it.

#llinx.exe

[cautelous]

i’m normal now but i think i feel an itch for a writeup coming on so how normal am i. i was going to end it here but i think here’s the post in general.

general discussion of my continual disappointment with how riot handles themes and designs. isn’t really about who c is, because that doesn’t matter in the grander scheme of all of this actually. pretty jaded i must admit.

i just think that this whole thing is proof of the fact that even a lot of people invested in lore or whatever are invested in aesthetics rather than a complete and understandable narrative that doesn’t say/endorse some weird shit.

like, everyone hailing cait’s outfit as awesome and cool and her tactical outfit only being criticized for the thigh gap in the card, because hey her tits aren’t hanging out anymore! diversity win your woman is clothed!

and absolutely no one looking at caitlyn in full tactical gear with SWAT-esque armaments, ready to shoot to kill, and going “is this a good type of character to be held up as an uncritically Good And Cool Cop?” - same goes for all the other times caitlyn has been shown using force in newer canon. (i am not saying that old canon was immune to this. yordle snap traps and whatnot. but the fact that nothing has changed and has kinda gotten worse is concerning.) is it good for her to electrocute someone with her bola net (her e - which should drop anyone when fired out of a gun anyways, because bolas work just fine when hand-thrown - it is made electrified and thus more violent solely for the “cool tech factor”, i assume) in her color story and then gloat over their unconscious body? is it good for her to have flashbangs? in the wake of last summer, shouldn’t a company primarily headquartered on the west coast of the united states - whose writers tend to skew left, or at least america’s idea of the left, from what i’ve seen - at least consider what kind of message is sent when your Super Cool Cop Character repeatedly uses excessive force in her stories and is portrayed as “dangerously sexy”/”dangerously competent”? and of course vi is completely and utterly a police brutality joke. but caitlyn becoming more and more of one too, even as the issue of police brutality is in our mainstream consciousness, just makes it worse.

what kind of message is sent when, when you’re given a chance to write anything in your world that you’ve word-of-god’d to say has no homophobia and presumably has no racism (at least any akin to real-world bigotry. although xenophobia seems likely considering the everything) and you write... a cop that is just a glamorized and still sexualized (because putting more clothes on someone doesn’t necessarily make them sexualization immune!) version of the police of today? you don’t want to repeat the obvious issues of bigotry in the fantasy world, but you choose to repeat... excessively violent and corrupt cops that are complexly intertwined with those real-world issues? uncritically, too, because caitlyn is obviously held up as A Good And Efficient Cop Even If She Almost Shoots People While They’re Running Away (see the LoR teaser trailer for this set).

like... yeah. that’s a thing. but why think on that when the trigger-happy cop finally has a good outfit, yeah? that’s the real win to celebrate. or that she might have some lines to vi that you could interpret flirtatiously but probably won’t be undeniably so because it took over a decade for one canon wlw couple. is that the real win? look at our woke lgbt cops.

like yeah, i don’t expect a billion-dollar corp to criticize cops. but the least folks can do is not uncritically accept that because they’re distracted by the lower-hanging fruit of a more reasonable outfit for a female champ.

and of course the same goes for how riot handles aspects of noxus, handles aspects of viktor, handles the entirety of zaun (cait’s color story has zaunites appear as a mostly drunken crowd, by the by, which is a cool thing for your poor and downtrodden worker class that you’re supposed to be trying to make a class analogy with), handles... well, yeah, i could keep going.

but cait’s in the spotlight right now because she got a reasonable outfit and some Cool And Hot Girlboss Cop Lines, so this is about her.

yeah. i dunno. that’s the end. don’t get distracted by the pretty giftwrapping of a mediocre gift.

#OOC ∵ ( outside the frame. )

[seladorie]

Sentinel/Guide FFXV AU

y’all here’s a teaser for that sentinel/guide ffxv au i was musing on a couple days ago. super unedited, but i’ve been writing a lot soooo enjoy

Being outed as a guide is not the worst thing that has happened to Prompto.

It really isn’t. Doesn’t even rank. Fleeing from Niflheim, waiting for months being processed for refugee status in Insomnia, and the nights when his sister doesn’t check in with Hunter HQ at her designated times--those are all much worse.

Granted. It’s only not the worse thing that ever happened to him because they’re in Lucis right now, and not Niflheim. In Niflheim, he wouldn’t ever had made it to presenting as a guide. Either surviving that long or getting through the experiments in tact enough to develop, it doesn’t matter. It wouldn’t have happened.

And if it had… well. He wouldn’t have had any say on what happened to him, once found and discovered as a guide. Prompto would have been shipped off to the highest bidder, given to some general or lieutenant who needed their own personal guide.

Someone who would be in his head. Prompto shudders.

And it's not like he really hid the fact that he's a guide. It's more like no one thought he wasn't registered.

But still. This isn’t the worst thing that has ever happened to Prompto. They'll slap him with a fine, him take some classes, register his info, put him in the pool of eligible guides for sentinels of equivalent score levels, and call it a day.

That's what should happen. It shouldn't be that big of a deal.

But as he gets into a black, Citadel-official, tinted windows car with a freaked out Sentinel whose panic makes the air itself feel like it's throbbing in pain, Prompto really doubts his decision-making.

…

Prompto walks through the subway station, heading to a job. Nothing special, but it'll pad his income until Aranea sends something his way from one of her hunts.

So he's not really in a rush in the subway, and when a sudden wave of terror passes through him so strongit drowns out his music, he stops. A lot of guides in the station do, looking around for a sentinel who's showing signs of a panic attack. Or of zoning.

Really, with emotions like this, Prompto expects to hear someone crying and screaming. But there's people rushing about unaware, though some are noticing that a quarter of the population in the station has stopped. More than a quarter with so many guides having sentinels.

And to make these even better for those with empathy, the guides who can't pinpoint the sentinel who's freaking out make an echo chamber of nervousness that's helping exactly no one.

Prompto gets a bit annoyed to note that some of these guides are projecting. They're going to start a riot at this point, he thinks. And the guy standing by the seats on the wall, doesn't look like a sentinel with a panic attack. His face is so calm, belying none of his emotions.

Must be a soldier. Prompto's not trained for this at all but it's been a minute and even the empath-null people are beginning to look nervous, and the guy is still freaking out quietly with no one helping him.

Prompto pulls out his earbuds, makes sure his camera is securely in his case and walks over.

The guy’s expression doesn't change as he approaches. He might be zoning already. Unless if that's a soldier thing. Soldiers who are also sentinels and don't have guides can be pretty weird.

And dangerous. Prompto doesn't think this guy will be a problem, though. He's already not doing anything, he must have great control. He can help long enough for him to get it together.

“Hey,” Prompto says with a grin. The sentinel’s eyes zero in on him, which is a good sign. You can't touch a sentinel who's not yours that's already zoning. “Having a bad day?” he asks, getting close enough to touch but keeping his arms by his side. The sentinel’s leaning against the station wall--gross--and he doesn't say anything. “Do you want me to help? You can focus on me for a bit,” Prompto offers. “I'll do what I can.” If his main sense is touch or smell, things might get a little bit awkward, but most people won’t care. Especially not with how freaked everyone is getting now.

Sight or hearing would be a lot easier, and would mean the guy doesn’t have to touch him, but Prompto’s never that lucky. Guy’s definitely military thought, clean and short hair. Pretty handsome, too, if a bit old for Prompto.

Yup, Prompto thinks as the guy’s hands reach out for him, settling tensely gripping his bare arms. Called it. Shiva, I hope he doesn’t try to lick me. Please don’t be a taste focused. Touch is better. He tries to project calm as much as possible. He wants to focus on the sentinel, but others around are getting tetchy too.

“Are you sure?” the guy asks, voice quiet and hoarse, and Prompto thinks, Shit, he’s gonna lick me.

“Yeah, man,” he says anyway, because waves of panic are still radiating from the guy. “Focus on me.”

The sentinel pulls him towards him, and Prompto keeps his arms loose by his side, and is mildly surprised when the guy leans down just to press his face against Prompto’s shoulder.

Oh, smell, Prompto thinks. He tries to remember the last time he showered, and if he put on deoderent that morning. He remembered to shower last night, right? Or was it the night before? Or, was it better to not shower as frequently with a scent-focused sentinel?

Shiva, he can’t remember. He hopes it helps.

The sentinel takes a deep breath, and his grip on Prompto’s arms tightens.

Prompto breathes in and out slowly. The air isn't throbbing with panic quite so much now, and it lessens with every inhale the sentinel takes. The sentinel’s arms move to pull Prompto into a hold that is too desperate for an embrace.

There stuff going on behind him, but Prompto's not quite ready to turn away from the sentinel who's only now slipping back into control.

“Marshal,” a deep voice says behind them. The sentinel jerks his head up, enough that he can look over Prompto’s shoulder.

Prompto twists and cranes his neck to see behind him, and the sentinel’s fingers dig into his back. “Don't,” the sentinel warns. “Please.”

“I'm not going anywhere,” Prompto reassures just as the man behind says,”It’s alright, son. You're fine.”

The man’s words are a warning, and Prompto doesn't understand why for a second. “Oh,” he says as he realizes. “No, I'm fine. I meant to be here.”

A shuffling sound of fabric and leather. “Did you? Are you trained?”

No. Not officially, but trial by Ifrit’s fire wouldn't be a good answer here. “No,” he says, fidgeting a bit, and stopping when the sentinel mutters. “I just wanted to help.”

The man behind him sighs. “Okay. Just keep calm, you hear? Cor’s calming down already. We're going to take you both to a sentinel safe room. Alright, Cor?”

The sentinel--Cor--nods into Prompto's shoulder.

Prompto guesses he's not getting to that job then.

He’ll need to text them. He doesn't want it to stain his chances for future employment.

Cor takes a breath, and shifts them so he has an arm over Prompto's shoulders. It's a bit of a relief to not be held so tightly, and now he can see what's happening behind him.

The answer is a lot of Crownsguards. Like, wow. Prompto's never seen this many at once and he's a Niff refugee.

And they're all staring at him, as if this isn't nervewracking enough.

“They're fine,” the sentinel says. Shit, he must smell nervous. “This is standard procedure.”

A lot of trouble for a standard procedure. For the first time, Prompto doubts if he should have gotten involved. “This happen a lot?” he asks, as they begin to walk through the station, the crownsguards surrounding them like a highly-armed bubble. This isn't--okay, he knew the sentinel was in a bad way and it might take some time to get him to calm down, but he didn't really think the Crownsguard themselves would show up and herd them away.

“Among soldiers,” Cor says, “yes. I--this is unusual for me.”

“It can happen to anyone, Cor,” the man with the deep voice says and there's something about the name and the guy that rings a bell Prompto’s head. “Do you have a sentinel?” The man asks to Prompto, who shakes his head.

The man raises his eyebrows in disbelief and Prompto can just catch the expression on some of the guards’ faces. He doesn't quite know what that's about. “Really? But to help Cor, you must be at least a level 6,” he eyed Prompto. “I should know of you, at least. There are lots of sentinels in the Citadel who need a strong guide.”

A buzzing of suspicion whispers through the guards, and Prompto chuckles nervously, which makes the sentinel pull him in closer. It doesn’t do anything to soothe his unease--the sentinel is one of them, after all. He won’t need Prompto soon, so who cares? “I have a appointment to get registered,” which is a lie, but can easily be made true. “I came into it recently.”

The man peers at him, not buying it a bit. “You seem familiar with your abilities as a guide for someone who just came into it.”

“Um,” Prompto says, the guards’ awareness and focused wariness making his skin prickle. “Um, I--”

“Enough, Clarus,” the sentinel says. “You’re making him nervous, which is pissing me off. Save it for later.” The arm around Prompto’s shoulders squeeze him in a bit as they walk up the stairs out of the station. They’re quite a group, and walking up stairs with a tall guy’s arm on your shoulders isn’t the easiest thing. He’s not sure why theyd didn’t take the elevator. “And relax, kid. If you’re not registered, then we’ll register you and send you on your way. It’ll be fine.”

But will there be a fine? “Okay,” Prompto says, the oppressive static of emotions around him easing off a bit. He can afford a fine, now, but this seems like a bit of a bigger deal than he thought he was getting into.

He didn't think--he had to help, but he didn't think that this would even get to a point where any crownsguards were called. Not the least an entourage.

There's a sleek, official, Crownsguard car waiting outside the station for them, much like the ones that the Prince would use when they went to school together.

Prompto never thought he'd get to go inside one, even if getting in is awkward. Cor doesn't let go of him, following right behind him into the car with his hand on the back of his neck. Prompto feels like the sentinel is an awkward and useless extension of his limbs this way.

He's never really liked how sentinels crowd their guides all the time, and this one wasn't any different.

… The sentinel is a good deal cleaner than most of the hunters Prompto's helped before. Prompto doesn't have a sentinel’s nose, but hunters don't typically have regular access to showers.

They get the back seat to themselves. Prompto slides to the farthest seat and the sentinel follows him, leaning his head down into his shoulder again, which Prompto more or less expected.

He can't put on a seatbelt like this, so… he'll just hope crownsguards are good drivers then.

The ride is quiet. The driver and the man with the deep voice--Clarus?--don't speak at all. Prompto hopes it's for the sentinel’s sake, for his overloaded senses.

And he said that Clarus was pissing him off by making Prompto smell nervous. That could be it, too.

Sentinels always want to protect guides. Because they're sensitive, usually can't hurt other things, and are so affected by others around them.

Prompto thinks sentinels are fucking annoying.

And right now, he knows he did the right thing, but he's beginning to worry that he shouldn't have.

#sentinel au #ffxv #clarus amiticia #cor leonis #prompto #my fanfiction

[entergamingxp]

Riot Games’ Project A is called Valorant, and it plays like a Counter-Strike killer • Eurogamer.net

If there can be only one thing taken from my time at Riot Games’ vast, lavishly fitted LA campus, it’s that the mega-developer is desperately keen to prove they know what they’re doing. Riot’s pitch for Valorant, its upcoming tactical shooter seemingly named after a kind of industrial carpet cleaning fluid, is one based almost entirely on competence: the game will have the best infrastructure, the best attention to detail, the most committed, communicative ongoing support, and the most rigorously balanced gameplay of anything like it – even if it comes at the cost, seemingly, of character and heart and anything else like it. I’ve played about four hours and moment-to-moment it really is brilliant, right across the board. Exacting, oddly approachable, tense. The potential is there for Valorant to be the pinnacle of tactical shooters – but it also feels a bit back-to-front. This is a game that exists purely to excel, like the child of two parents who only agreed to conceive so their kid could ace its homework. A game that’s very good at doing what other games have already done, but better.

Valorant

Developer: Riot Games

Publisher: Riot Games

Platform: PC

Availability: Summer 2020

Perhaps that impression is just a result of the way in which Riot has chosen to introduce Valorant. At times it’s felt almost comically self-conscious, the developer obsessively anticipating every gripe and grizzle before it comes about. Recall the initial teaser reveal, amidst Riot’s multitude of ten-year anniversary celebrations, where lead producer Anna Donlon talked at length about “Project A”‘s ambition to eliminate such essential woes as “peeker’s advantage”, and bless the world with 128-tick servers. Sexy! Dedicated servers are old news, it seems. The schtick of schmucks. Such is the world of games, in this time of subreddit megathreads and so many direct lines from community to creator, that one of the largest developers on earth announces a massive new game by correcting their audience’s complaint-jargon before they’ve even used it.

From the moment you equip your knife to move faster, you know Valorant will feel incredibly familiar to Counter-Strike fans.

Still, Valorant is impressive, and as weird as it is to lead with the technical firefighting stuff, so is that. If you buy it, Riot’s promises are hugely encouraging. In opening presentations at the studio, developers cited twelve games as inspiration, ranging from the obvious, like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive to Crossfire and Ghost Recon: Future Soldier (curiously, and perhaps cheekily: no mention of Overwatch), and the game itself feels like a surgical piecing together of the best of them. Each game’s minor gripe or community grumble extracted and eliminated before it ever came about. To describe it in brief, imagine Counter-Strike in a just slightly more colourful world, with better attention to the little touches, from a nice little ping system to slightly more playfulness in the maps, with things like fixed teleporters allowing for baiting and flanking. Above all though, its standout addition is the highly strategic abilities, each tied to your characters (“Agents”) that sit between the rigid grounding of Rainbow Six Siege’s Operators and the more cartoonish skills of Overwatch.

The abilities themselves are quite Overwatch though, as much as Riot wants to avoid saying the name. The main difference is the intention: with Valorant the aim is to be a “tactical shooter first”, with everything else in service of that. That means all the Agents still deal damage primarily through shooting (disappointingly, with real-world guns, which lead designer Trevor Romleski told me was in order to preserve a sense of inherent, “intuitively satisfying” feel and recognisability), and Agents’ abilities are always in service of that, whether it’s through zoning, or scouting, or debuffing, or just bluntly walling off entrances. Even the Agents that feel especially out-of-this-world or Overwatch-y, such as the Hanzo-like Sova (renamed from Hunter mid-way through my time there), who can fire off a scouting pulse arrow and a larger ultimate that can pass through walls, still rely on gunplay first – and the same guns as everyone else.

Combining abilities ostensibly for one purpose – like that green wall – with position and tactical play like this will be essential for the more advanced players.

Those guns are also at the centre of the in-game “economy”, which is very similar in concept to Counter-Strike again, or indeed the gold-based shopping of League of Legends. Games are played in a first-to-twelve format, which takes a good half an hour, or longer if it’s a close one. Matches are attack versus defence, with one team trying to plant a bomb and the other trying to prevent them. The maps, of which there’ll be four at launch, Riot says, will have a mix of two or three points to attack and defend. You win a round by either killing all five of the enemy team members or successfully planting a bomb and seeing it through to detonation – or defusing it once planted, if you’re on defence. And you play the game in chunks, so you’ll be defending for several rounds then attacking for several and, coming back to the economy, it’s between these individual rounds where you have a chance to buy weapons, armour and – crucially – more charges of your abilities. That economy is intended to be “team-based”, so the better your team does in a round the more money you have to spend before the next one, on those bigger and better guns and the like. In a nice touch that you’d hope would encourage teamwork, you can also ping a weapon from the menu and another teammate can buy it for you with a single click, helping the wealth trickle down from that one ringer on the squad.

As an aside on modes themselves, it’s just this one at launch but Romleski did say the team was “interested in exploring” other, faster or more casual modes, and that the core one’s length may change slightly if the community deems it necessary. Anna Donlon also added it’s “definitely” on the team’s list. “The team has been very focused on the competitive part… The questions we’ve been kind of debating amongst ourselves is: would you hold that back to wait to establish the more casual mode or would you put competitive mode out for the audience we think it’s for, start building that audience and start building a community – and then also at the same time be working on something that could be maybe a little bit more broad reaching or something that you would just want to play to decompress? … Do we wait to launch the game so we have that? I think the answer is probably no. Do we prioritise that work? I think the answer there is probably yes.”

Maps are crisp and readable, but that’s at the expense of them looking a little flat.

Looking for lore

Character and lore might not be the first thing on people’s minds when a hardcore shooter launches, but it’s been a key part of games like Overwatch’s success in particular. So why the silence on that compared to everything else?

Valorant creative director David Nottingham said he’s “a big believer in environmental storytelling”, and so the plan is to introduce it in-game, rather than via the “incredible” CG trailers of games like Overwatch – although they may do something similar “at some point”.

One in-game example: “You’re playing a map and you’re like, “Oh, there’s there’s a billboard up,” it’s maybe a sort of recruitment poster for Kingdom, right? Kingdom is a big faction, a company that exists in this world… and then you come back on a Tuesday and you log in and you’re like “Woah!” – someone’s gone in and defaced it. So for people who are paying attention it’ll be like, “Oh, there’s actually dialogue happening, and things happening within the world that I’m seeing play out in front of me.” And so for those who want to discover that stuff it will deepen their understanding.”

Back to the economy, and successfully gaming it will be what sets the top players apart from the merely skilled. I’d expect deep strategies and metas and all that malarkey to appear pretty fast around what you spend your first bits of cash on and who buys what for the rest of the team. The other side of that, of course, is that I expect the ubiquitous lone wolf players will probably refuse to share. Playing in the cocoon of Riot’s in-house “PC Bang”, on teams of five who speak the same language – and are happy to even use the game’s built-in voice chat in the first place – it would be easy to say that Valorant feels wonderfully tactical, with cooperation and character synergy baked in. The reality is that while, yes, the Agents’ abilities synergise quite beautifully at times, I’m sure that’s also down to having the right people to play with. The ringer on our team was Riot’s David “Phreak” Turley, for instance – a well-known professional League of Legends commentator who mains the support role when he plays. In other words: an unusually supportive, communicative environment off the bat.

Without a squad of chatty friends or some particularly good luck with online matchmaking, it’s very easy to anticipate an issue with toxic communication coming from such an incredibly tense, competitive game with both text and voice chat. As much as it might seem like a laboured point, this is something that many see as inseparable from League of Legends, and that Riot has already had to work enormously hard at combating. It’s arguably failed to really fix the issue, ten years on, and that’s despite League only featuring text chat in-game. Voice chat’s issues, most notably with the exclusionary effect it has on female players in particular, have been well documented. When I asked about this, game director Joe Ziegler promised to draw from Riot’s “centralised efforts” at battling the issue and apply some “specific salves around certain features,” but wouldn’t go into more detail during our chat. You can read more of his thoughts in our full interview with Ziegler and Valorant’s lead producer, Anna Donlon, but a suggestion would be to axe the voice and text chat altogether and go with Apex Legends’ nuanced ping system (something League of Legends itself made good early strides with). It’s also worth noting Riot’s already promised to improve on the pings they have. As Romleski put it, the implementation I saw was “not the grand vision” of the ping system: “we want to make sure players are comfortable if they don’t use voice or they don’t [feel confident in] calling out all the right information at the correct times.” Fingers crossed.

This is one of the zones where you’ll need to plant or defuse a bomb. Riot placed huge emphasis on its work with verticality, sightlines, cover, map-knowledge and more, and they’re all evident here.

Toxicity notwithstanding, Valorant’s intense competitiveness is also one of its greatest strengths. If you do get a good team, or just a good group of pals to play it with, I found there was a remarkable thrill to most of the rounds I played, especially so when we swept ahead to lengthy leads before almost throwing matches at the final round, or clawed matches back from the brink. Games frequently built to a natural climax of tension, and some higher-level plays – last-gasp, “clutch” one-versus-three kills or team-wide strategies coming together – can be incredibly satisfying. The game feels built to surface those particularly vivid, Rainbow Six Siege-style moments in particular, when there’s one player left and somehow they pull it off, turning things around with nothing but spit and hope and a little John McClane gumption.

It’s hard to pin down a single, quantifiable thing that brings that sort of heightened tension about, but Riot would argue it’s all in the basics. To go right back to their initial pitch, this is a game built on competency first, and apparently what that means is a tangible difference to all the little things. The art team emphasised their creation of a “clean zone”, for instance, where anything within the playable height range of the maps was slightly more muted and stripped back, whilst the areas above (roofs, skylines, and the like) was allowed to pop. Other elements are illustrated in accordance with a “readability hierarchy”, where Agents stand out above the playable space, which stands out above the visible parts of your gun, which is above the non-playable stuff altogether. Cover, on the maps themselves, is allocated with great precision, forming a curated spaghetti of “long lanes” of clear sniper paths and intentionally obstructed sightlines. All characters have equal-sized hitboxes. There’s tagging, and specific walls you can shoot through, and on and on and on it goes with a seemingly infinite string of minutiae that Riot has thought about (and talked about) at exhaustive length.

This balcony, and its longer sightlines to and from the room you’re trying to attack ahead, is a key spot for snipers.

Above all of that, though, is a technical effort that on paper sounds quite remarkable. As we all know by now, Riot boldly claims to have eliminated peekers’ advantage, something that I’d expect no-one but the most ardent of CS:GO nerds to have heard of or cared about until now, but makes a demonstrable difference to how long-term players will play the game. In most shooters like Valorant, you can briefly pop out from behind a wall to “peek” at what’s going on and quickly dart back with the shimmy of a button, and do so with no risk of getting picked off, because the delay between you performing the peek and the enemy seeing you is too high. You’re back behind the wall before it’s humanly possible to react and shoot. It’s become a time-old part of playing tactical shooters at a decent level, but in Valorant it no longer flies. Riot seems to have tackled this entirely by cracking open one of those League of Legends coffers, that I imagine they have lying around the place, and simply throwing vast amounts of money at the problem.

To get briefly technical, as I understand it Riot claims to have struck a deal with internet service providers that will route internet traffic directly from you to Riot’s servers, via service called Riot Direct, which it says means an average of 35ms ping for at least 70 percent of players at launch. I can feel the eyes glazing over, don’t worry, so in basic terms: much less lag, regardless of where you are. At the top end of the scale, competitive players and streamers that have been known to move across the continent of North America to get physically closer to servers, so that their ping is low enough for high-level play, can breathe a sigh of relief. For myself and most others, it’s just another quiet reassurance.

As well as the peeker-busting 128-tick servers and promise of super-stable ping for (almost) everyone, Riot’s also built Valorant to be playable on a huge amount of machines. David Strailey, who works at Riot in the netcode and software engineering side of things for Valorant, said that a $120, ten-year-old laptop with an i3-370M CPU (which equates to 88 percent of current League of Legends players) would be able to play Valorant at 30 frames-per-second, while 66 percent of LoL players could play it at 60. Slides were used to show off some apparently remarkable strides to improving the accuracy of hit registration. Riot even showed footage supporting a promise to upscale players with low FPS and lag, through some special server magic, so that even if they jittered about and jumped all over the place on their own screen their movement would appear entirely smooth on yours.

Wind all that back into the important stuff – the gameplay – and it raises interesting questions around where true originality and fun really comes from. Sometimes players coming up with clever ways to work around things that are technically problems or imbalances can actually lead to the most interesting gameplay. To go back to peekers once again, in Romleski’s words: “Let’s say we’re playing against somebody who’s peeking, you might ‘jiggle peek’ yourself as like a counter-way to deal with it, and I think it’s good that players are being ingenuitive and trying to come up with ways to deal with it.” The difference in Valorant, he says, is that Riot wants to build the “tools” for breaking sightlines and using space to your advantage into the game intentionally, so you can “find your own way to break that puzzle of some people holding that position,” rather than relying on server delay to do it for them.

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2020/03/riot-games-project-a-is-called-valorant-and-it-plays-like-a-counter-strike-killer-%e2%80%a2-eurogamer-net/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=riot-games-project-a-is-called-valorant-and-it-plays-like-a-counter-strike-killer-%25e2%2580%25a2-eurogamer-net

[allthingsakali]

Charlie here !

I’m here to report on the Queen’s showcase! I got a personal invitation to the performance, signed by Akali and everything. I knew before anyone that it was happening, and that Akali was going to be releasing something soon. Also, I definitely was the one passing out flyers about how not to touch the queen at the beginning of the night, though most of her fans would already know that.

I was so excited, actually baby tears.

I could honestly have cared less about the first act, not to shade any of the performances but it’s been over two years since Akali’s performed live at somewhere I could get into because last birthday showcase she didn’t perform, she was just partying. But honestly, the opening performances were the bomb and maybe that’s just me thinking that the songs were great and hearing Akali’s music live was to DIE for.

Luxe is a wasted talent, whatever group she used to be apart of really wasted whatever they had because she actually really did well with opening the show and hyping the crowd. She did well and seemed to be very much like Akali in terms of her stage performance, though there was a bit more of a feminine quality towards it. Lone Digger with Bom, who is surprisingly still singing? was a banger too. The light show that went along with it was really surprising, but it really fit the song. The whole place was black lighted and wild, WILD. It was so bright with some of the outfits going on, some people had masks that lit up as well. 

I’m already tired because this show is so good, you can also tell that Akali did everything. Everyone is styled very particular and the whole theme matches. Lots of black, red and white. Runaway was a nice pace change because I was EXHAUSTED from all this hype. Chaeyeong did really well, I’m not much of a fan but Akali really brought out some sort of surprise element out of her. I really liked it.

I dunno Tropikal but I fuck with that song that Yijeong performed, he’s got a good stage presence even though the song is very calm. It had a really good meaning behind the lyrics and truly he seemed to be meaning what he was saying. 

SKELETON IS MY FAVORITE SONG THAT DOESN’T HAVE AKALI ON IT. The drop is NASTY and WONDERFUL and everything I ever wanted in life. It was the best song to tease first, I was just so excited when it came out. I knew that whatever she was going to be doing was going to be really good if it was anything like skeleton. Victoria really BLEW it out of the water. UGH, what a SHOW, the video art thing was weird but it fit nicely with the song. With all the wild art featured in the show, you can tell Akali personally picked everything. 

I hope she’s okay because some of it was really… depressing and strange… poor mommy Akali. ): I love you, she’s never going to read this but please be okay. 

I actually REALLY like Creep so I was super excited to see Selene to appear. Plus, I love Wait a lot. I dunno what it is about it. The light show was amazing that goes with it, it seems like everyone was style by Akali. Just for the record, Ah-in is Akali’s older brother and he’s hot and he can rap, and sign me up to stan. I’m ready to stan the whole family, they are so fucking talented. Horns is such a good song, and Parkers growls during the song were really just what put the performance above and beyond. The animated horns behind him on the screen were a whole topper to the performance. I was very impressed, make a note to check him out when I get a chance to figure out what's going on. 

WHO THE EFF IS CALLUM BECAUSE SIGN ME THE EFF UP!!! Despicable’s light show and beat drop brought the house down and Callum really got some stage presence too. Apparently, he’s also part of Tropikal… if only Akali produce songs for him all the time.

Ah. I’m fangirling again.

I don’t know who Henry is really.. Absolutely never heard of him before. But the song he performed is good, and his voice is nice. I heard he just joined TQ, so maybe I’ll hear more about him soon? He’s talented, that’s for sure. Riot Call with Brooke didn’t seem to fit in with the set at first, it was super bubbly and bright but then the drop hit and the whole club was a neon playhouse. Neon streamers and balloons were tossed out into the crowd, it was such a blast. 

Akali’s baby brother is so cute and for being adopted, they look a lot alike. It’s kinda weird but the song he sang was DEPRESSING AS SHIT. I WASN’T READY. But when his teaser came out, it was very obvious it was him. It’s cute that she brought both of her brothers onto the albums. It probably meant the world to her because given what I know about Akali, her family is above everything. 

Feeling good with Zinnie is SUCH a gorgeous song, so calming and wonderful. Her voice is so much better than I remember, I can’t wait to see what is gonna happen with Dolce? With Ashe, and Zinnie, it’s gonna be so good. I’m sure. It was a nice change of pace for the show though, to close out on that kind of number. 

Ah-in let the intermission with some songs, they passed out a bunch of red and white glow sticks and the colors began to change as the whole place went white and red to match the queen collection. Then we were in for a surprise.

The whole place went completely NEON. Akali had changed her outfit and looked so GOOD. I about DIED. I wasn’t ready for Neo TOKYO but the whole crowd was. WOW OKAY YODA? I’M- HE WASN’T ON THE SETLIST. The crowd is going crazy for the fact those two are on stage again. No one expected that, deadass! There’s something about how she performs, it’s just like she born to be on stage. Plus, she really do be rocking the blonde hair. Akali’s presence on stage was something just out of this world, though I found it interesting that she was wearing gloves to touch fans hands with. 

Like she could absolutely step on me.

16 shots and its dance is SUCH a damn banger. It’s about fucking with her mom and we all know Akali and her mom are the best of friends. Mention she’s doing all of this in platforms? Like a god? She’s like a god. I’d actually break every bone in my body if I ever tried. Then just die. I don’t know how she can do that kind of dance. But the backup dancers were Callum, Rose ( yes, Rose from Black Pink?? like YG let her out the basement? ), and Sohee, who’s a trainee. 

Holy shit, I need to mention how Akali went to perform Crazy Bitch right? And everyone started booing once San.E’s part was coming up but instead it was FUCKING ASHE MAN. 

THE QUEENS ARE BACK ON STAGE TOGETHER. They have such electric chemistry and it’s honestly one of the first time I’ve seen Akali smile in so long. They hugged after the song was over, and it was so long. Ashe slapped Akali’s butt before getting off the stage. I cried baby tears again because her fans love her, why did she hide from us for so long. Cider is going to absolutely be a hit? Like she dead-ass put new songs on her album and said these gonna be my great hits? Actual mood.

ACTUAL MOOD.

Holy shit the dance to Anck was SO COOL. And the like.. Egypt art video that was in the background with Akali was disgustingly cool. She’s just electric on stage, it’s hard not to think everything will be a hit when she’s doing it live on stage for you. Papaoutai and the dance are always so cool to see like you can really it’s about telling the story of her and her father, and her pain and history.

I’ve seen this so many times performed since she dropped it and it never fails to amaze me as she can do it in heels as well as still since so fluently in French. Even though I know she’s fluent? Like I know I’m dumb stop.

Do I have to say how amazing you should see me in a crown is? No?

Okay carrying on because it was just AMAZING. But I don’t like spiders and the video for the song played in the background and I really hate spiders. Sit the fuck down was a great addition to the album, and it’s really a big fuck you to everyone in the Korean industry. She really just went there and did that.

Okay so here’s where there isn’t a dry eye in the house? Like Chul and Ah-in brought out this cute little macaron tower thing, in red which notes that Akali’s favorite French dessert is macarons right, and red is her color. Which is really cute already but then like here’s the real crying part because not only did her little brothers come out on stage but Mimi, Cell and Greyson all came out too. Akali was not having it at first, and simply kinda stared at them in wide-eyed shook as Mimi let out a small wave to the crowd. 

Greyson didn’t wanna be up there and Cell was just laughing at Akali’s expression before she gathered herself. Cell earned himself a switch punch in the arm before Akali just hugged Mimi. I think that was the first time Akali looked genuinely emotional, and honestly, Mimi and Akali stare at each other like actual lovers. Like they should just marry already. After Akali and Mimi hugged, Akali hung onto her and hid her face away as the crowd of fans sang her Happy Birthday, which Chul was super into it. Greyson got glared at but started singing eventually. 

Mimi held Akali’s face for a little bit after they stopped singing, and blew out the candles and it was just so fucking cute considering only Mimi can ever touch Akali without permission. Neither Cell or Greyson made a move to hug Akali like Mimi but they all gathered around for a few minutes to talk before earning a laugh, Cell reaching up to tug lightly on Akali’s hair in their own silent communication kind of way. Greyson and Akali seemed to just look at each other, and know everything that needed to be said with silence before a video began to play on the screen in the back. A personal video message from one SNSD member, Taeyeon. Akali really does have so many famous people behind her, I’m always amazed and sad she’s actually not popular in Korea. 

AnywaY! THE WORDS TAEYEON SAID WERE SO SWEET. "akali! happy birthday! i'm sorry i couldn't be there in person to celebrate, but i still wanted to give you something. i'm glad to have worked with you this time around for your album. it was fun. have tons of fun at the party but be safe. i know you're going to ignore that but i'm going to put it out there anyway. i hope we get many more chances to work together and hang out in the future. you're the coolest woman i know, but you probably already know that. oh! also, i'm not able to deliver my present for you personally -- but i think my manager dropped it off to you. check your studio, maybe! again, happy birthday. have fun but don't get into too much trouble!” This was so cute, even Akali cracked a smile as she looked towards her friends and the crowd. 

Honestly, we haven’t seen any of them together in two years and I’m just emotional rn remembering that it actually happened. It was a whole ass ghei moment.

Akali looked like she was about to cry while performing Rising Star with Taeil, who I know has been her friend for a really long time as well. Ever since she joined TQ, even though he’s since left the company. I was really happy to see that they were still friends. They high five before Taeil said something dumb as hell, and Akali flicked him off. 

Akali took a small break as Collin, who’s a HUGE Akali fan and has been for many years, got on stage to perform Majesty. He looked really good up there, and did really well, definitely learned a thing or two from Akali. He seemed genuinely honored to be performing on stage with her, we love a king with good taste. 

Seeing Reign together on stage again, rapping together and dominating the stage together was honestly the most perfect way to end the show. Two Queens, doing what they do best. I’ve never been in more awe in my life. They really do know how to dominate the stage without power over each other and they really still do look like life partners, as they call each other. Ashe is another person that could touch Akali without being yelled at before at the end of SSE SSE SSE, Ashe just grabbed her and held on for a long moment and it was a sweet touching moment. 

I really do love Reign together on stage, there’s nothing like seeing two strong women showing how easily they can hold their own and be better than some of the favorites out there. I hope they perform together again, and make more music. We need them saving music together again. 

The last song of the night and really, I don’t think anyone was ready for it to end because Akali sat down in a chair with a guitar and just sang her heart out. She did an absolutely wonderful cover of Rag’n’Bone Man’s Human. It was beautiful to watch her just sit there, play guitar and sing, which she isn’t known for. She slammed it into the ground with an amazing finish. 

The show ended at about 2am, running a little over 4 hours but they kept the club open til 6am for a party. VIPs on the stage and the fans on the floor. Booze was on the house, and everyone really just partied after that with Ah-in banging out on the DJ booth. Akali hung out at the edge of the stage with Mimi, Greyson, and Cell just drinking and talking to each other as well as any fans that came up for pictures. 

I’m not going to report any more than that, I spent most of the night talking and having fun so whatever else happened that night I’m sure will be in fan cams. Charlie signing out, it was an honor to a part of such a special night for the fifth year in a row. Thank you Akali, you mean more to us than you will ever realize. 

I hope one day, you find someone to make you happy like you make everyone who attended your show tonight happy. 

[entergamingxp]

The Game Awards 2019’s Biggest Announcements

December 12, 2019 11:48 PM EST

These are all of the games (and devices) shown off during Geoff Keighley’s The Game Awards 2019, including Xbox Series X and Ghost of Tsushima.

The Game Awards were held today, and with it came a plethora of new trailers and game announcements. In case you missed the show or are just looking for a summation of the games present, here is a list of everything shown off at The Game Awards:

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 X-Men DLC Revealed

Gambit, Iceman, Cable, and Phoenix are all being added to Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 as DLC. The DLC comes out on December 23, 2019.

Salam Puts You in the Shoes of a Refugee

An independent developer unveiled Salam, a game that puts you in the shoes of an African refugee. Microtransactions bought in-game will support refugees. Salam will release in Summer 2020

Maneater Trailer Shows Off the Shark-P-G

Maneater, the self-proclaimed Shark-P-G from Tripwire Interactive, got a new trailer during The Game Awards. It comes out for PC, PS4, and Xbox One on May 22, 2020.

Humankind from Amplitude Studios Gets First Gameplay

Humankind, which was revealed at another show hosted by Geoff Keighley, got another trailer. This one shows gameplay too! Humankind releases for PC in 2020.

No More Heroes III Gets a Funny Trailer

A trailer started for a Nintendo game that seemed to be called Goddamn Superhero; that being said, it ended up being a new No More Heroes 3 trailer. No More Heroes 3 is coming to Nintendo Switch in 2020

Final Fantasy VII Remake Gets a Cloud-Focused Trailer

While this isn’t a new game, we did receive another trailer for Final Fantasy VII Remake from Square Enix. It mainly focuses on the game’s protagonist, Cloud Strife, and his adventures in the early part of the original that the first part of this remake covers. Final Fantasy VII Remake release for PS4 on March 3, 2020. It will be exclusive for one year.

Xbox Series X is the Official Name for Project Scarlett

In a surprising twist, Microsoft unveiled Xbox Series X, their next-gen console. Its trailer shows some conceptual parts of a new Forza and Halo Infinite. The console is huge, but I’m pretty darn excited to try it.

Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II announced for Xbox Series X 

Following the Xbox Series announcement, Ninja Theory teased Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II with a really cool trailer. No release date was given, but it will be a console exclusive.

Redesigned Joker Appears in New Mortal Kombat 11 Trailer

Joker’s initial Mortal Kombat 11 design got some backlash, but a new trailer shows that NeatherRealm updated his look. Cassie Cage is also sporting a Harley Quinn outfit in the trailer.

Godfall Unveiled by Gearbox for PS5

Counterplay Games and Gearbox unveiled Godfall, a new sci-fi fantasy game, during The Game Awards. Shockingly, the trailer revealed that it was a PS5 game releasing during Holiday 2020. The trailer was purely conceptual but it looks pretty cool. Godfall is also coming to the Epic Games Store.

Bravely Default 2 is Coming to Nintendo Switch in 2020

Bravely Default 2 was announced by Square Enix for the Nintendo Switch. The trailer showcased many different areas and revealed that the game will release in 2020.

Magic: The Gathering Returns to Theros in January

The next expansion for Magic: The Gathering was shown off during The Game Awards, proving that not everything announced necessarily had to be a “video” game.

PlayerUnknown Teases Prologue

PlayerUnknown teased a new project, simply called Prologue, during The Game Awards with the short trailer below.

Sons of the Forest Announced With an Odd Trailer

Canadian Studio Endnight announced an atmospheric first-person game with horror elements. It was definitely one of the odder trailers during the show. Sons of the Forest does not have a release date or platforms confirmed yet.

Riot Forge Unveils Ruined King: A League of Legends Story

Riot Forge is a new publishing division of Riot Games, and it announced its first two titles during The Game Awards. The first game in question is Ruined King: A League of Legends Story, a single-player turned based RPG game set in the Runeterra universe. It is being made by Darksiders Genesis developer Airship Syndicate.

Cyberpunk 2077 Delves into its Music

While it didn’t show much gameplay, a new behind the scenes video about the music of Cyberpunk 2077 was shown off. Cyberpunk 2077 comes out on April 16, 2020.

Dungeons and Dragons: Dark Alliance Announced 

A new action RPG Dungeons and Dragons: Dark Alliance was revealed during The Game Awards with a trailer that looks like it was shot on a GoPro. Dungeons and Dragons: Dark Alliance releases in Fall 2020.

Apex Legends is Getting a Christmas Themed Event

Roger Craig Smith’s tease ended up being about Apex Legends. It’s getting a limited-time mode called Winter Express, with the full event being called Mirage’s Holo-Day Bash. Apex Legends is currently available for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

Ori and the Will of the Wisps Gets and New Trailer

Ori and the Will of the Wisps got a new trailer showing off more of its refined gameplay. If you weren’t already on board, this trailer should entice you. Ori and the Will of the Wisps also got a slight delay, as it is now releasing for Xbox One and PC on March 11, 2020.

Weird West Announced by Former Dishonored and Prey Developers

Former Arkane developers at Wolfeye Studios and Devolver Digital announced Weird West, which they say has the same values of games like Dishonored. The trailer features gameplay, so check it out.

Magic: Legends is an ARPG MMO

Magic: Legends, an action RPG MMO based on the popular card game, was announced by Perfect World Entertainment. Magic: Legends will release for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

Twisted Pixel Announces and Releases Path of the Warrior for Oculus Headsets

Twisted Pixel, the game developer behind titles like ‘Splosion Man, Gunstringer, and Wilson’s Heart, and Oculus Studios announced and surprisingly released Path of the Warrior for Oculus Rift S and Oculus Quest during The Game Awards. It’s a beat ’em up styled after series like Final Fight and Streets of Rage, though it’s in VR. As I mentioned, Path of the Warrior is available now for Oculus Rift and Oculus.

Ghost of Tsushima Trailer Exposes Sucker Punch’s Beautiful Take on Japan

During Sony’s State of Play earlier this week, we got a teaser for Ghost of Tsushima’s The Game Awards trailer. During the event, we were able to see the full thing. It is actually pretty lengthy and includes gameplay. Ghost of Tsushima is coming to PS4 in Summer 2020 just before the PS5’s release.

Gears Tactics Reemerges at The Game Awards

After being announced over a year ago, Gears Tactics finally reemerged at The Game Awards. We saw some more about story and gameplay, and learned that it had a 40-hour campaign. Gears Tactics comes out on April 28, 2020.

Naraka Bladepoint 

Following Ghost of Tsushima, we learned about Naraka Bladepoint, another action-heavy game fused with Asian culture. Naraka Bladepoint releases in 2020.

Nine to Five Announced by Redhill Games

Redhill Games announced a new military game called Nine to Five that has a focus on tactics and strategic gameplay. They will launch an alpha in 2020.

New World is Coming in May 2020

Amazon Game Studios showed off their MMO New World during The Game Awards. It is releasing in May 2020.

Convergence: A League of Legends Story 

Riot Forge actually revealed two League of Legends games today. Convergence: A League of Legends Story only got a short teaser, but we know it is a single-player action platformer that is in development for PC and consoles.

Surgeon Simulator 2 is Coming in 2020

During what was thought to be a commercial break, Surgeon Simulator 2 was revealed in a pretty funny trailer. That game is launching in 2020.

The Wolf Among Us 2 Has Been Revived

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Slightly Mad Studios Debuts Fast and the Furious Crossroads

While we’ve known about its existence for a bit, Slightly Mad Studios finally showed off its Fast and Furious game today. It seems to have the same over the top action as the movies it’s based on. Fast and Furious Crossroads is coming to PC, PS4, and Xbox One in May 2020.

Here is how Managing Editor Logan Moore is reacting to these announcements (yes, that is actually him).

What was your favorite announcement? What are your thoughts on The Game Awards 2019 overall? Let us know in the comments below!

December 12, 2019 11:48 PM EST

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2019/12/the-game-awards-2019s-biggest-announcements/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-game-awards-2019s-biggest-announcements