What is Car Mastery in Forza Horizon 5?

Forza Horizon 5 Car Mastery is a perk system that’s used on every single car in the game and allows you to unlock permanent and temporary upgrades for individual cars. These upgrades usually include improvements to their ability to generate points for Skill Chain tricks, one-off instant rewards – XP, CR, #Forzathon Points, or Wheelspins – and XP boosts for a limited number of races. Every Car Mastery perk for every car is unlocked using Skill Points. The Car Mastery menu, which shows all the available perks for a car, is accessed by pausing Forza Horizon 5, navigating to the ‘Cars’ tab, and then selecting the ‘Car Mastery’ page.

Forza Horizon 5 Drift Zones

Find a car that with improved drift tricks and take it to one of the Forza Horizon 5 Drift Zones

Each car on the Forza Horizon 5 car list has a fixed set of perks that are generally suited to the kind of tricks you’ll be performing. For example, the Warthog has perks that increase the score you gain from performing Wreckage, Wrecking Ball, or Air tricks and can temporarily gain an extra 25% XP for the next 10 Cross Country races. Meanwhile, a fast supercar like the Lamborghini Huracán has mastery perks associated with with Drafting, Passing, and Speed tricks since it’s good for fast road races in Forza Horizon 5. A few cars have Car Mastery Car perks that instantly unlock a completely different car instead of granting some other benefit. For example, you can unlock a 1999 Lamborghini Diablo GTR from the 1997 Lamborghini Diablo SV’s Car Mastery.

Each car you own has its own Car Mastery perks, but any Skill Points you earn can be spent on perks for any car, not just the one you’re currently driving. The perks on the Car Mastery page are arranged in a grid pattern but are unlocked a bit like a traditional skill tree, in that unlocking a perk causes surrounding perks that are more expensive to become available for purchase too. The perks at the bottom of the mastery grid are usually the cheapest at one Skill Point, but they increase to three, then five, and then 10 Skill Points towards the top. Every car has an ‘extra life’ perk that causes Skill Chains to break on the second collision rather than the first which costs 25 Skill Points.

How to gain and spend Forza Horizon 5 Skill Points

To gain Skill Points, you need to perform Skill Chains which are scores that build up as you perform tricks while driving, whether that’s in a race or in free roam. Your Skill Chain score is visible at the top of your screen. You can get points for destroying objects, getting air by going over a hill or ramp, overtaking, near-misses, driving at high speed, drifting, slipstreaming another car ahead of you, doing J-turns, and more. Performing any trick increases the score and multiplier, but it seems like performing strings of unique tricks gets your score and multiplier up faster. Your Skill Chain multiplier caps out at 5x your current score, but this doubles to 10x during a Skill Song.

A good strategy for getting your combo up is to drive your fastest car up and down the central highway that runs across Mexico. These are some of the Forza Horizon 5 best cars you can use for high-speed driving. As you drive, you’ll get Speed and Near-Miss tricks, but once you reach the end and the road narrows, turn as hard as you can and smash into stuff to get Drift, One-Eighty, and Wreckage Tricks. Accelerate back up to top speed as quickly as possible back the way you came to keep your Skill Chain going with more Speed tricks.

If you end your chain by not performing a trick for a few seconds, you’ll be awarded your total score and any Skill Points you earned as a result – a higher score means more Skill Points. Crashing your car will cause the chain to break and you’ll lose all your points. Listen out for Skill Songs after you’ve bought the Casa Bella house as your final scores for any Skill Chains you perform during the song will get doubled.

You should spend your Skill Points as soon as you get them so that you’re always unlocking new perks. This will improve your car’s ability to perform Skill Chains and earn Skill Points as you go and will get you lots of nice and useful rewards along the way. Performing Skill Chains and spending Skill Points will also grant you XP which contributes towards your player level. Once you’ve levelled up a fair bit, for any new cars you get, you could try saving your Skill Points up to unlock the extra life perk which will make performing Skill Chains much more forgiving, helping you to power through the rest of the perks later.

Hopefully those were some useful tips on what Car Mastery is and how you can spend your skill points, but we’ve got more Forza Horizon 5 tips here too.

The post Forza Horizon 5 Car Mastery explained and how to get Skill Points appeared first on Game News.

When did Minecraft Caves and Cliffs part 2 release?

The Caves and Cliffs part 2 update, or Minecraft 1.18, released on November 30, 2021. You can now explore all of the new biomes, taller mountains, and larger caves made possible with this update, and there are plenty of new things to see which we’ll explain below.

There are 8 new biomes available in Minecraft Caves and Cliffs update part 2

One of the biggest sets of new additions that arrived with the Minecraft Caves and Cliffs update part 2 are the eight new biomes that have been added into the game. You can find fresh underground Dripstone Cave biomes, and several new mountain biomes. Aquifers and new cave types have also arrived with this update, to make the subterranean biomes of Minecraft more interesting. Here’s what you need to know about each one:

Noise caves and aquifers are new cave features

Noise caves are a new way of generating caves that leads to greater natural variety out in the world, and there are three food-themed variations of them: Cheese, Spaghetti, and Noodle. Cheese caves, much like real-life Swiss cheese, are large holes that lead to cavern formations of differing sizes. Contrarily, Spaghetti caves are long and relatively narrow paths that go all over the place. Lastly, Noodle caves are very similar to Spaghetti caves except they are thinner and “squigglier”. This new system mixes in with the original cave and canyon generating systems to create much more diverse cave systems found in a world.

Aquifers are another new feature that can be found in caves with the Minecraft 1.18 update. These bodies of water form in noise cave areas with their own local water level that’s independent of sea level. Depending on the size of the cave system, this can result in giant underground lakes, although aquifers can also generate inside mountains and at the surface. You also have a chance of stumbling across a lava aquifer if you’re below y0.

Dripstone Cave Biome

You can find Dripstone Cave biomes underground in the Overworld now the Minecraft 1.18 update has gone live. These biomes are (unsurprisingly) full of Dripstone, a rock block that allows Pointed Dripstone to form beneath it to create stalactite-like formations. Dripstone is mainly used for decoration and occurs naturally in certain cave biomes.

In these Dripstone Cave biomes, you’ll find Dripstone, in both block and pointed forms, abundantly on the floors and ceilings. Dripstone blocks on the ceiling with water above them can form into stalactites, which will then cause stalagmites to form directly below. A pair of these formations can eventually join up to form a Dripstone column. Copper ore and small water pools are also commonly found in Dripstone cave biomes.

Lush Caves biome

As the name suggests, this underground biome type features caves filled with lush plants. Moss covers the floors and ceilings and Spore Blossoms grow on ceilings too. Your path will be lit by Glow Berries that grow on Cave Vines from the ceiling. If you’re exploring the Minecraft Overworld, you’ll know a Lush Cave is below you if you stumble across Azalea Trees as they keep their roots firmly in the caves. As such, Azalea Bushes can also be commonly found in Lush Caves. This new biome also serves as the only place to find axolotls too!

Grove biome

Groves are a new type of snowy biome that commonly occur on high altitude terrain but below mountain peaks or hilltops. You’ll find spruce trees, naturally-occurring powder snow, plus a lot of rabbits, foxes, and wolves in Grove biomes. Make sure you wear Leather Boots to avoid falling through the snow!

Meadow biome

Like Groves, Meadow biomes also spawn at higher altitudes near mountain ranges or up on plateaus. Meadows are full of grass and flowers, but there is a chance that a tall and lonesome oak or birch tree, often with a beehive, will be generated too. In terms of wildlife, you’ll find donkeys, rabbits, and sheep grazing on the meadow grass.

Lofty Peaks biome

The mountains you find in Lofty Peaks biomes are the kind that you might have seen in a nature documentary. They are very jagged and feature snow, stone, and goats making them their home.

Snowcapped Peaks biome

Serving as almost the opposite of Lofty Peaks, the Snowcapped Peaks biome contains smoother mountain peaks with ice as well as snow. However, you will still find goats.

Stony Peaks biome

This biome features lots of stony mountain peaks that vary between jagged and smooth. Like Lofty Peaks, goats are commonly found in Stony Peaks biomes. You’ll also have a chance of finding strips of decorative Calcite blocks within the stony mountains.

Snowy Slopes biome

Snowy Slope biomes are like a more extreme version of Grove biomes. Snowy Slopes generate at higher altitudes beneath mountain peaks and hilltops – just like Groves – except they feature very snowy terrain, so much so that powder snow traps can be hidden within. Leather Boots are essential to traversing these biomes safely. Look out for goats and rabbits on your travels though.

In Minecraft Caves and Cliffs part 2 update, mountains are getting taller and caves are getting bigger

Another big change that’s included with the Caves and Cliffs part 2 update in Minecraft 1.18 is that the world has received a big vertical expansion to accommodate a lot of the new biomes. Minecraft’s in-world Y-axis has been expanded by 64 blocks in both directions, creating a total vertical building range of 384 blocks, up from 256 blocks. In terms of the in-game coordinates, that’s from y-64 to y320.

You’ll notice that generated mountains can now be taller thanks to the taller ceiling, and caves go even deeper – as far down as y-64! With the raised world ceiling, clouds now spawn higher in the sky too, at y192 instead of y128. With these changes and the new biomes in update 1.18, ore veins and ore distribution is getting significant changes too.

Minecraft Caves and Cliffs part 2 update introduces large ore veins and new ore distribution

With the underground world of Minecraft expanding vertically down by 64 layers, loads of opportunities for even more mining of ores and materials will open, but the task of finding exactly what you need might be a bit trickier. In Minecraft update 1.18, new large ore veins can be discovered underground. These winding formations are rare but contain a lot more of a particular ore than usual. Mine between y0 and y50 to find Copper veins with Granite mixed in, and search within y-8 and y-60 to find Iron veins with Tuff.

Ores as a whole have seen lots of redistribution with this update, largely to compensate for the huge increase to the vertical world size. One of the key general changes to ore distribution is that individual ores have more specific layer ranges to generate in, so there won’t be a particular Y level that is good for all ores. Here’s a list of where you can find ores as of the Caves and Cliffs part 2 update:

• Iron Ore: Below y72 with a strong bias towards y16. Also generates above y112, with increasing iron ore deposits the higher you go.
• Copper Ore: Between y0 and y96 with a strong bias towards y48. Also look in Dripstone Cave biomes underground.
• Lapis Lazuli: Below y64 with a strong bias towards y0. Lapis Lazuli below y-32 or above y32 can’t generate in open air and can be found buried or in water instead.
• Coal: Above y0 with a strong bias towards y96 and above. It has reduced air exposure, so it is also more commonly found buried or underwater.
• Gold: Below y32 with a strong bias towards y-16. Extra Gold can still be found in Badlands biomes.
• Redstone: Below y16 and increases as you go below y-32.
• Diamond: Below y16 with more Diamond the further down you go. Like Lapis and Coal, Diamond has reduced air exposure and is commonly found either buried or underwater.

Candles have been added for all Minecraft players in the Caves and Cliffs part 2 update

Having only been in the Java Edition of Minecraft for about a year and in beta versions of the Bedrock Edition for several months, candles are finally available for all players now Minecraft update 1.18 has released. These light sources can be crafted with a Honeycomb and a piece of String, then dyed to change their color. You can also add one on top of an uneaten cake to give it a true celebratory feel.

The new Warden mob is coming in a future update

Unfortunately, the new Warden mob was delayed out of the Minecraft Caves and Cliffs part 2 update, but since the Minecraft The Wild update launched, it’s in the game along with the Deep Dark.

Wardens and the Deep Dark biome aren’t the only things that didn’t quite make the cut for the 1.18 update, however. Archeology, bundles, and goat horns won’t be in Minecraft just yet either, but will come in a later update.

For those not in the know, Archeology will allow players to use a copper brush to reveal items buried in Sand, Gravel, or Dirt Blocks found within a new Archeology Site structure. Goat Horns have a chance to drop from goats after they charge into a solid object and can be used by the player to make sounds. Finally, Bundles are craftable sacks that take up one inventory slot but can hold several items of different types – useful for long journeys and extensive mining expeditions where food and material storage is essential.

 Minecraft download | Minecraft Realms | Best Minecraft seeds | Minecraft cheats | Best Minecraft servers | Best Minecraft mods | Best Minecraft shaders | Best Minecraft skins | Best Minecraft texture packs | Play Minecraft for free | Minecraft Forge

The post Everything new in Minecraft 1.18 Caves and Cliffs Part 2 appeared first on Game News.

Minecraft Respawn Anchor explained

Minecraft Netherite

Look out for Ancient Debris to craft Minecraft Netherite while in the Nether

If you’re a Minecraft veteran, you’ll know that beds do not work in the Nether. In fact, they blow up if you try to use one. However a Respawn Anchor allows you to set a spawn point within the Nether and, best of all, it doesn’t explode. Using a Respawn Anchor makes the Nether a little more habitable, particularly for anyone embarking on lengthy Nether trips.

When you’ve got one (details on how to craft a Respawn Anchor in Minecraft below), you need to charge it with Glowstone. One Glowstone block is equivalent to one respawn and you can add up to four blocks, meaning you can respawn four times before needing to replenish the Respawn Anchor. You do need to ensure the surrounding area is not obstructed however, otherwise you’ll see “You have no home bed or charged respawn anchor, or it was obstructed” when you die.

Interestingly, Hoglins will flee from Respawn Anchors, meaning you don’t run the risk of one being next to you when you respawn. Using a Respawn Anchor in the overworld will cause it to explode though, so don’t even test it out. 

Minecraft diamonds

Make sure you know how to find Minecraft diamonds

To get Crying Obsidian, you need to find a Ruined Portal, and they can be found in either the Overworld or the Nether. They can be found in every biome in both dimensions and there’s also a 5% chance it’s a Giant Ruined Portal. Once you’ve found some blocks, just mine it with a Diamond Pickaxe like normal Obsidian. Blocks of Crying Obsidian can also be found in Bastion Remnant chests, and can be obtained through bartering with Piglins when you give them a Gold Ingot, although the chances are quite low.

To get Glowstone, you need to mine it in the Nether and is frequently found hanging from ceilings in large clusters. When you mine it with a regular pickaxe, it’ll turn into Glowstone Dust, but four bits of Glowstone Dust can be reformed into a Glowstone Block. If you’ve been doing some Minecraft enchanting and have a Silk Touch pickaxe, you can mine the Glowstone without breaking it down into dust.

The Respawn Anchor is currently the only use for Crying Obsidian, other than as a decorative block. As long as you don’t explode it in the Overworld, one Respawn Anchor will suffice for a while if you keep restocking it with Glowstone.

Minecraft House | How to enchant axes in Minecraft | Minecraft Iron Golem | Minecraft Netherite tools | Minecraft Netherite armor | How to tame a fox in Minecraft | Minecraft Axolotl | Minecraft Amethyst Shards | Minecraft copper | Minecraft Lightning Rod | Minecraft Honeycomb | Minecraft glow berries | Minecraft The Wild update | Minecraft Allay | Minecraft Frogs | Minecraft Recovery Compass 

The post How to use a Minecraft Respawn Anchor to set a Nether spawn appeared first on Game News.

Developer Hoyoverse confirmed (opens in new tab) the updated launch schedule earlier today. Despite rumors and speculation that the Genshin Impact 2.7 delay could push Hoyoverse into shortening the update in order to get the game back on its usual six-week cycle, the studio says “the duration of version 2.7 is expected to be six weeks.”

Update 2.8 is planned to launch on July 13, 2022. However, the ongoing Spices from the West event, which implied that update 2.7 could arrive as late as June, will continue through June 7 as planned. Per Hoyoverse’s previous statement, the weekly compensation given out for the update 2.7 delay will be adjusted, so expect 400 more Primogems to arrive on Wednesday, May 25, and a bit less for the final week. 

As usual, the time zone breakdown for the update’s launch means it will technically arrive one day earlier for much of the world. Maintenance will start around 3pm PT / 6pm ET / 11pm BST and should end within five hours. Genshin Impact updates usually go live 30 to 60 minutes before the scheduled maintenance resolution, but especially given 2.7’s launch hurdles, there are no guarantees there. 

Hoyoverse says that the long-disabled Serenitea Pot building function will also return once maintenance ends and update 2.7 launches, so you’ll get to update your characters and furniture soon. 

The 2.7 reveal stream will air at 5am PT / 8am ET / 1pm BST on the official Genshin Impact Twitch (opens in new tab) channel. It will be posted to the game’s YouTube (opens in new tab) roughly four hours later. 

The stream reveal art features new character Yelan as well as the lovable oni Itto. The new four-star character in the update, Kuki Shinobu, is a top member of Itto’s gang so players had suspected the Geo oni would be rerun for update 2.7, and that certainly seems to be the case. 

New Genshin Impact character Shikanoin Heizou has already been revealed and should arrive in update 2.8

The post Genshin Impact update 2.7 release date set for May 31 with a reveal coming tomorrow appeared first on Game News.

As usual in GTA Online, this week’s update proves the real money is in illicit business dealings. To start, Special Cargo and Gunrunning sell missions are paying out a 50% bonus GTA$ and RP for this week. Elsewhere, GTA Online players can score triple rewards by getting in on the vehicular action of both Sumo (Remix) and Roadgame, while Paige Harris’s Client Jobs will pay out double the usual rewards.

Rockstar recently started offering premium test rides for GTA Online players on PS5 and Xbox Series X, and this week’s new-gen exclusive extra is the weaponized Pegassi Zentorno, which also happens to be the prize ride for placing in the top 3 in the Pursuit Series for five consecutive days. Meanwhile, everyone playing GTA Online, no matter the platform, can test out the Dewbauchee Champion, Lampadati Tigon, and the Ocelot Jugular free of charge. And if you want to try out your luck at the Lucky Wheel, the top prize this week is the Annis Euros, which looks a lot like my all-time favorite car (which I’ll never be cool enough to own in real life), the Nissan 370Z.

This week’s discounts are split between business materials and vehicles as well as their upgrades. Here’s the full list of GTA Online discounts this week:

Vehicle discounts

• Överflöd Entity XXR – 30% off
• Ocelot Ardent – 40% off
• Truffade Adder – 40% off
• Obey Omnis – 40% off
• Dewbauchee Seven-70 – 40% off
• Invetero Coquette BlackFin – 50% off

Business discounts

• Executive offices – 30% off
• Bunkers – 30% off
• Nightclubs – 30% off
• MC businesses – 30% off
• Benefactor Terrorbyte – 30% off

You can read the full GTA Online patch notes on Rockstar’s site (opens in new tab). 

How to make money fast in GTA Online | GTA Online Solomon Movie Props | GTA Online new cars | GTA Online fastest cars | GTA Online Lucky Wheel glitch | GTA Online fastest bikes | GTA Online tips | GTA Online Playing Cards | GTA Online Peyote Plants | GTA Online Serial Killer | How to level up fast in GTA Online | GTA Online Action Figures | GTA Online best paying missions | GTA Online Shark Card 

The post GTA Online patch notes: triple salaries and big bonuses for tons of jobs appeared first on Game News.

Modder Garden of Eyes uploaded a video showcasing the Patreon (opens in new tab)-locked mod over the weekend. It does what it says on the tin: add an incarnation of Let Me Solo Her, known here as the Puppet of the Legend, to your collection of Spirit Ashes.

Let Me Solo Her has become a local hero among Elden Ring players for carrying countless Tarnished in the fight against Malenia, widely regarded as the most difficult boss in Elden Ring. Their good deeds earned them an outpouring of thanks as well as a wave of incredible fan art, and now they’ve been immortalized as a spirit who can assist even more players. 

This mod describes Let Me Solo Her as “a warrior whose skill was a match to the Rot Goddess herself” and equips him with his iconic outfit: a jar on his head, the Rivers of Blood katana in one hand, and a plain katana to match. Those katanas must be upgraded to high heaven, too, because the spirit version of Let Me Summon Her deals frankly illegal damage. They make short work of several difficult bosses in the video showcase, and they’ve got some impressive reflexes for an NPC. 

“His famous words echoed through every era: ‘I always wear a jar on my head, and I do not bail on any Malenia boss fights,'” the mod adds, quoting Let Me Solo Her’s comments in a recent interview with IGN (opens in new tab). In the same piece, Let Me Solo Her confirmed that, as of April 15, he has helped other players kill Malenia approximately 400 times after personally dying to her some 242 times in his own playthrough. 

Elden Ring tips | Elden Ring secrets | Elden Ring Classes | Elden Ring Keepsakes | Elden Ring PS4 and PS5 comparison | How to get the Elden Ring horse | Elden Ring Rune farming locations | Elden Ring Summons | Elden Ring stats explained | How to level up in Elden Ring | Elden Ring respec and Larval Tears | Elden Ring merchants | How long is Elden Ring? | Elden Ring cheats | Elden Ring coop and multiplayer | Elden Ring endings | Everything to do in Elden Ring before NG+ 

The post Elden Ring hero Let Me Solo Her is now a spirit ally thanks to this mod appeared first on Game News.

Bandai Namco announced the game earlier today and confirmed a 2022 release date for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. Like many popular anime and manga, One Piece already has a massive roster of middling-to-bad tie-in games, but unlike most of them, One Piece Odyssey apparently isn’t a generic brawler or fighting game. Instead, it’s being pitched as a full-fat JRPG that’s been in the works for “many years,” which is already more promising than the usual anime fare. 

Producer Katsuaki Tsuzuki described the game as a “JRPG project offering a One Piece adventure experience like never before” in the announcement trailer. He says it’s “probably the first title that has been developed so meticulously over an extended period of time,” giving it a leg up on the annual tie-ins that many anime fans are likely accustomed to. 

The gameplay snippets woven into the reveal trailer show third-person exploration in an open world, complete with dungeons, environmental puzzles, climbable walls, and grappling hook anchors. The trailer is light on gameplay, to the point that we can’t even confidently determine whether it’s turn-based or action-driven, but we’d bet on the latter given Bandai’s pedigree. 

The world and characters look pretty dang good, almost like One Piece filtered through Square Enix’s Dragon Quest 11, and that’s partly thanks to the efforts of original manga creator Eiichiro Oda, who contributed character and monster designs for Odyssey. Bandai adds that the settings explored in the One Piece manga and anime served as the foundation for the game’s world, apparently centered around a mysterious island. It also notes that Dark Souls and Tales of composer Motoi Sakuraba worked on the music, which is exciting in its own right. 

Speaking of which, Dragon Quest 12: The Flames of Fate will apparently change up the combat and aim for a darker tone. 

The post One Piece JRPG out this year looks like a pirates Dragon Quest appeared first on Game News.

Global community director Marcin Momot of developer CD Projekt Red confirmed on Twitter (opens in new tab) that the medallion belongs to the School of the Lynx. There was never any doubt that the medal wasn’t from the School of the Wolf, and its half-buried catlike features were just vague enough to implicate the School of the Cat and Ciri with it, but this medallion actually belongs to the Witchers of a very specific feline faction. 

The School of the Lynx has a more tenuous presence in the Witcher universe on account of it being largely rooted in footnotes and fan-fiction. The fact that it’s seemingly at the heart of the “new saga” that the next Witcher game is planning implies that Geralt has indeed left center stage, but with the School of the Cat largely out of the theorycrafting picture, there’s now less to suggest that Ciri will take his place as the lead in the story, and less still about what her challenges and motivations might be. So we’re not quite back to square one, but we’re pretty close to it, and we likely won’t get more story details for some time. 

Original story: The first teaser image for The Witcher 4 suggests that its main character could be Ciri, the adopted daughter of series protagonist Geralt. 

As developer CD Projekt Red noted in a brief announcement confirming that The Witcher 4 is officially in development, the reveal image features a Witcher medallion and promises “a new saga” for the franchise. It’s clear that big changes are coming to the Witcher games, and that medallion could be a big clue. 

It’s partially buried in snow, but the featured medallion seems to belong to the School of the Cat, which oversees a separate Witcher faction than the School of the Wolf that Geralt follows. Ciri initially trained under Geralt at Kaer Morhen, the base of the School of the Wolf, but she did come to possess a medallion of the Cat after seizing it from Leo Bonhart, who was said to have killed at least three Witchers. 

This isn’t just coming from the Witcher books, either. Ciri is shown sporting a medallion of the Cat in The Witcher 3, so if this teaser image is as literal as it seems, The Witcher 4, or whatever its final title ends up being, could well be a new story starring Ciri that picks up after the events of The Witcher 3 and its canon ending. 

We’re veering even further into speculation here, but on top of hitting some popular story beats, casting Ciri as the playable character of the next Witcher game could also allow CD Projekt Red to go wild with gameplay. Ciri possesses Elder blood, after all, and has access to rare and powerful magics which would probably be pretty fun to wield in combat and use in exploration. 

It’s still unclear what’s in store for The Witcher 4, including its official title and release date, but we can safely assume that its “new saga” will take the series to unfamiliar territory. Whether Ciri plays a central part in that remains to be seen, but fans of the Cintran princess have never been more favored. 

We do have one bit of concrete information: there are no plans for The Witcher 4 to be an Epic Store exclusive on PC. 

The post That Witcher 4 teaser image is actually for the School of the Lynx, CDPR confirms appeared first on Game News.

GTA 5 is a big game, and vast open worlds often come with significant loading times, but thanks to the powerhouse that is the PS5, this is not the case with the newest iteration of the crime sim on Sony’s latest console. 

VGC (opens in new tab) put the next-gen rerelease of GTA 5 to the test, reporting that the PS5 version of the game loaded from the main menu into story mode in 27 seconds. That’s significantly faster than its PS4 counterpart, which takes over a minute and a half to get into the action.

You can see the results for yourself in the video below.

The loading times aren’t as fast as other PS5 titles like Marvel’s Avengers, which boasts loading times that “are pretty much instant”, or Spider-Man: Miles Morales where you can be zipping around New York City in mere seconds, but it’s still a remarkable improvement and good news for those eager to enter Los Santos’ criminal underbelly once again. The time reduction is even more impressive given that GTA 5 was originally developed as a PlayStation 3 title.

Rockstar recently gave details on GTA Online’s Career Builder feature, which gives newcomers instant access to properties as well as a sizeable amount of starting cash to spend on trendy outfits, designer apartments and fast cars.

It’s been a long time since we’ve had a brand new GTA game, but Rockstar recently confirmed that the development of GTA 6 is “well underway”. With a sequel in active development, is this the beginning of GTA Online’s swansong?

The post GTA 5 loads three times faster on PS5 appeared first on Game News.

Subscribe to PLAY Magazine here (opens in new tab) to save on the cover price, get exclusive covers, and have it delivered to your door or device every month.

 Horizon Forbidden West

We’ve had quite the wait for Horizon Zero Dawn’s sequel, Horizon Forbidden West, and the game itself is just as massive. Hitting both PS5 and PS4, it’s on the former it really shines. Guerrilla’s Decima engine is a technical marvel, and if you want to see some of the most detailed and amazing environments and models around you’ll want to grab this. As for the rest of the game? It’s a bit more of the same. But we get into what that means and why that might still excite you in our huge review.

 Elden Ring

Like Horizon, the other huge release in this issue is also an open world. But in quite a different way. Evolving Dark Souls into a wider environment results in a very different beast, and while it’s rougher around the edges than Horizon, its ambition makes it feel like little else before it. Journeying across the dark fantasy world (which George RR Martin contributed towards), it’s a brutal quest that feels like your own. Also, I love the screenshot that’s the main image here taken by yours truly. The visuals in this series are always on point in times like these.

 GhostWire: Tokyo

As for full-on PS5 console exclusives, next on the menu is GhostWire Tokyo, from some of the same developers behind Resident Evil. We perform a séance on this issue to explore the world of ghosts and yokai, and tell you just why these action-packed exorcisms throughout modern day Tokyo are so compelling. And yes, ghost cats sell you food. ’nuff said.

Moss Book 2

Don’t worry, there will be plenty of news about PSVR2 to come, but as we wait the release of the beefed up new hardware there’s no reason to let your older PSVR gather dust. Moss Book II is giving more than enough reason to strap it back onto your face, and we talk to the developers about how they’re continuing to push the technology that powers their immersive, mousey quest.

 Granblue Fantasy Relink (and more previews too)

With PlatinumGames having handed off development duty, Granblue Fantasy Relink has returned from the shadows with a hefty new update (and a 2022 release date target). Based on the mobile sensation that boasts some former Final Fantasy talent, this console hack and slash version looks like plenty of fun, especially in co-op. We also bring you hands-on impressions across the likes of Mina The Hollower, Mask Of The Rose, Rumbleverse, and beyond.

Bizarre but brilliant big Bungie buyout

We never thought we’d see the day when PlayStation would acquire the Halo devs (especially considering they shrugged off previous deals with both Microsoft and Activision), but here we are. Just as Destiny 2’s huge Witch Queen expansion lands, we analyse just what the new partnership means for both companies, and why the two seem to be set on continuing to operate mostly independently.

Subscribe and save

For more unrivalled developer access to the hottest PS5, PS4, and PSVR games, why not subscribe to PLAY Magazine? You’ll save on the cover price and have your copy delivered to your door (or device) each month, complete with exclusive subscriber covers. It’s a big saving for a tome that covers PlayStation past, present, and future every month, so consider helping us keep the train going.

You can subscribe to the print edition, digital version, or save even more with the print/digital bundle – whatever you choose, you’ll be receiving an unprecedented trove of dedicated PlayStation coverage every month. We can’t do it without you!

The post Horizon Forbidden West leads PLAY’s review special appeared first on Game News.