The Best Weapons In Helldivers 2, The Must-Play Demos At Steam Next Fest, And More Tips For The Week

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Steam Next Fest is happening now, which means there are more demos for upcoming games available this weekend than you can possibly hope to play. We’re here to help, with recommendations for which demos you should absolutely give a shot before the festival ends. We’ve also got pointers on the best weapons to take into battle in Helldivers 2, tips to help you get started in Amazon’s freshly overhauled MMO New World Aeturnum, and a Halloween season recommendation for a spooky game that’s just arrived on Switch. All this and more in the pages ahead.

A pixelated man leans on a car while smoking a cigarette

Steam Next Fest, which kicked off in 2021 as the successor to the Steam Game Festival, remains one of the best ways to see what good games are on the horizon. The event, which runs several times a year, gives players a chance to try out demos from a slew of in-development titles. We’ve been through the latest batch to highlight some of the best from the current festival, which runs from October 14 through 21. - Willa Rowe Read More

A model wearing the Gengar headset and winking at the camera.

You can’t be a proper Discord kitten without cat ears on your gaming headset. But what if instead of cat ears, you had Pokemon ears, wouldn’t that be cute? That’s the idea behind Razer’s new gaming headset based on Gengar, the original ghost-type ghoul from Pokemon Red and Green. Unfortunately, the headset and the rest of Razer’s Gengar line is only available in China right now, so if you live anywhere else, you’ll have to import them through third-party channels. - Kenneth Shepard Read More

My patience with Overwatch 2 is wearing thin, and it’s only getting thinner as the hero shooter enters its 13th season today, October 15. The Halloween-centric season is full of recolors of old skins and a lot of the cosmetic favoritism that has plagued the game in the past year. But it also has a new patch, one that reworks the stealthy, hack-based hero Sombra just a year after Blizzard’s dev team last overhauled the DPS character. And y’all, I think my patience is reaching its limit for how this game keeps shaving down what makes its heroes special and worth playing. - Kenneth Shepard Read More

Rebecca points a gun angrily at something off-screen.

Every now and then a company makes a figure that is meant to depict an iconic moment in a piece of media, and usually I look at these and go “cool,” before moving on. But this $300 statue of fan-favorite mercenary Rebecca from the Cyberpunk: Edgerunners anime made my jaw drop because it was, as one succinct X (formerly Twitter) user put it, “like if you sold a figure of Old Yeller in front of the barrel of a shotgun.” - Kenneth Shepard Read More

A POI in the wilds of New World Aeternum

A total overhaul for New World certainly wasn’t on everyone’s bingo sheet, but here we are, pleasantly surprised. New World Aeternum completely revamps the original game from the ground up, making MMORPG more user-friendly, approachable, and, in some spots, downright fun. With such a massive, open experience, new players may find themselves wandering aimlessly across the island. - Brandon Morgan Read More

A Vessel of Hatred screenshot with Steam reviews plastered across it.

Can you ever satisfy the Diablo community? Does anything other than madness lie in wait for those who try? With the recent release of expansion pack Vessel of Hatred, squillions of people returned to the ARPG, but are they happy? Are they capable of happiness? - Brandon Morgan Read More

If you look at the calendar you might notice that it isn’t Halloween yet. It most certainly isn’t Thanksgiving, and we aren’t close to the winter season. But that hasn’t stopped the Pokémon Center store from stocking up ahead of time on a bunch of items themed to the end of year celebrations. Just pursuing the catalog is sure to make you ready for cold weather and hot cocoa. If you have a Pokemon-obsessed loved one in your life, this is the perfect opportunity to get the gift buying over with early. - Willa Rowe Read More

A woman is bathed in purple light as she stands in an arcade

October is the perfect time to pick up some horror games to fit the season. Of course, not everybody enjoys truly unsettling thrills and chills. For those not ready to jump into the Silent Hill 2 remake, but still itching for something spooky to set the mood, Nintendo Switch just got the perfect game for you. Crow Country is an indie game inspired by the titans of the survival horror genre, but it’s a more laid back and welcoming experience that won’t scare you stiff. - Willa Rowe Read More

Starfield Shattered Space with characters speaking the words of Steam reviews.

For many, there was a lingering hope that the first major expansion for Starfield, Shattered Space, would rescue the game from the throes of mediocrity. Then, with a focus on House Va’ruun and their home planet of Va’ruun’kai, the story-based DLC launched and immediately plummeted, becoming one of Bethesda’s most poorly reviewed pieces of content to date. Within the span of a week, the expansion sat firmly in the ‘Mostly Negative’ territory on Steam, with thousands of upset fans speaking out against the lackluster DLC, poor writing, and shallow gameplay loop. - Brandon Morgan Read More

Large explosions at the hands of Helldivers.

Whether you’re fighting bugs or bots, you need the right tools for the job. As Helldivers 2 finishes its 60-day roadmap and releases the new patch, there’s no better time to visit Super Earth’s armories and take your pick of the litter. - Brandon Morgan Read More