Among the most requested features is allowing players to change their Ascendancy by replaying the Trial, though they must first refund any Passive Points allocated to the same. Trials of Chaos with ten chambers are now available at level 65 instead of 75.

Belts will now drop with modifiers providing up to two Charm Lots at level 30, while level 60 belts can have up to three. Stash Tab Affinities are also available for Breach, Expedition, Ritual, Fragments, and other items. The Atlas also allows for bookmarking up to 16 locations for easier navigation.

As for Runes, players will stop seeing Lesser Runes after level 31, while Medium Runes will cease after level 52. Check out several other changes below, though remember they’re still subject to change. It may also take “roughly 15 minutes” after going live before PS5 players can download it.

0.2.0f Patch Notes

Respeccing Ascendancy Classes

• Redoing an Ascendancy Trial now allows you to respec which Ascendancy Class you have chosen at the Ascension device, but only if the Trial would grant you the number of points you already have.
• In order to respec your Ascendancy class, you must have zero points allocated in it, but you can now talk to Balbala or The Trialmaster to Refund Passive Points.
• Trials of Chaos that have 7 chambers and thus grant up to 4 Ascendancy Passive Skill Points now can be attempted from level 55, down from 60.
• Trials of Chaos that have 10 chambers and thus grant up to 6 Ascendancy Passive Skill Points can now be attempted from level 65, down from 75.

Charm Changes

• Belts level 30 and above now have implicit modifiers with 1-2 Charm Slots, while Belts level 60 and above now have implicit modifiers with 1-3 Charm Slots. This only affects new Belts found after this patch has been deployed.
• The explicit modifiers for additional Charm Slots on Belts can no longer roll.
• The Zerphi’s Genesis and Ingenuity Unique Belts no longer have additional Charm Slot Modifiers, though existing versions of these items are not affected.
• Bijouborne has intentionally kept its additional Charm Slots for now as in the future we will be expanding the maximum possible Charm slots to 6.
• Massively increased the values on the Prefixes that Restore Life, Mana or grant Guard when Charms are used. You can update existing items to the new values with a Divine Orb.
• All Charms but the Golden Charm have had their maximum Charges halved and their Charges per Use Halved, making them refill more quickly.
• The base duration of Stone Charm has also been increased from 2.5 seconds to 3 seconds.

New Stash Tab Affinities

Added Stash Tab Affinities for the following categories of items:

• Socketables
• Fragments (includes Tablets and Trial Keys)
• Breach
• Expedition
• Ritual

Atlas Bookmarks

• Added the ability to bookmark locations on your atlas to find them easily later.
• Right clicking a node will allow you create a bookmark by picking an icon and optionally adding a label you can type in.
• You can have up to 16 bookmarks at a time.
• They will appear as icons around the outside of the screen with a direction allowing you to scroll to them easily, or you can click on them to instantly take you there.
• You can also view a list of bookmarks under the legend and click them to go there.

Endgame Changes

• Pinnacle Bosses now have unlimited respawn attempts at Difficulty 0.
• Tower and Hideout Maps now have a higher minimum number of Rare monsters that can spawn. The final Rare monster defeated in Tower and Hideout Maps will now drop a Map of the same tier you are running (as long as you have enough Waystone Chance). Defeating the final Rare monster in Tower Maps is still not required to complete a Tower Map.
• Added UI tracking for Rare & Unique Monsters in Unique Maps, Tower Maps and Hideout Maps.

Crafting Changes

As each new Rune Tier is unlocked we are removing the lower runes from the drop pool. This is to stop you getting spammed with lesser runes at high levels.

• Lesser Runes no longer drop past level 31.
• (Medium) Runes no longer drop past level 52.
• Overall past level 52 you will now drop more Greater Runes than currently, but Lesser Runes and Runes will no longer drop.

Rogue Exiles will always have appropriate Tier Runes socketed into dropped items relative to their item levels.

Scepters can now have sockets, and we’ve added a new set of Talisman modifiers for Sceptres to allow upgrades to your Minions at mid to late game.

Totem Changes

• All Totem Skills now start gaining Elemental Resistances and Chaos Resistance, scaling up with Skill level, from around Gem level 13. At gem level 20 they have +75% to all Elemental Resistances and +35% to Chaos Resistances.
• Ironwood Support now also grants Totems summoned by supported skills +10% to all Maximum Elemental Resistance.

Light Stun Changes

• Moderately reduced the capacity for monsters to Light Stun you especially towards Cruel and Endgame by lowering the amount of Stun-Damage they deal, and increasing the minimum they must deal to Light Stun you. Additionally, Elemental, Chaos and Ranged stun-damage has been penalised even further so you’re less likely to get stunned by random stray projectiles and other things of the sort. These changes don’t affect Light Stuns dealt by players.
• We’ve added a cluster to the Passive Skill Tree near Chaos Inoculation that allows you to invest into a heavy amount of Stun and Ailment Threshold based on your Energy Shield. We will be adding more Stun mitigation later around the tree, notably in the Dextrous section.

Player Changes

• Shard Scavenger, in addition to its current effects, now also restores one cooldown use for all your Grenades and grants a buff for 2 seconds that prevents your Crossbow Attacks consuming bolts.
• Shockwave Totem’s base attack time is now 1.5 seconds (previously 3 seconds). Shockwave Totem’s slam now deals 96-211% of Attack Damage at Gem levels 3-20 (previously 169-369%), while the Jagged Ground Eruption damage is unchanged. Quality now provides 0 to -0.2 seconds to Totem base attack time (previously 0 to -0.55 seconds).
• Frozen Locus can now be used while using other skills to interrupt what you’re doing, similarly to dodge roll (though it does not allow you to dodge incoming hits).
• You will now Shield Bash if you release Raise Shield after blocking a hit from a faraway attacker, if there is a different enemy in Shield Bash range.
• Storm Lance is now able to be supported by ground effect-related Supports.
• Raise Shield is now able to be supported by Concentrated Effect.
• Fire Exposure and Lightning Exposure Supports have had their wording adjusted to make clear their effects apply to any target, not just Enemies. This is not a functional change, just a clarification of wording.
• Whirlwind Lance and The Whirlwind keyword hover now clarify that the Whirlwind’s collapse deals melee damage.
• Improved the visual effects of Arc’s explosions on hitting a shocked target.
• Glacial Lance is now able to chain off terrain.

Improvements and Other Changes

• Added an Equipped Gems section to the Gemcutting interface to make levelling up cross-class skill gems more convenient.
• Added rarity borders to items available to purchase from vendors.
• Greater Rune of Tithing now provides 1 to 100 Lightning Thorns Damage when socketed in Armour (previously 1 to 10).
• Attribute Runes now have a more appropriate gold value to vendors, and can be reforged into their higher tiers.
• Breach hands can now drop splinters at all levels. This amount starts low and increases with area level, similar to splinter drops from monsters.
• Shrines are now easier to click on.

It’s assumed that one would be a portable handheld, and evidence is seemingly mounting about its performance. Regarding whether it would be as powerful as a PS5 if launched by 2028, Kepler recently responded on NeoGAF, “No, it’s a 15W SoC on 3nm.”

Naturally, this resulted in several follow-up questions, including the point of the console if it can’t run PS5 games. The leaker clarified that it definitely can, but “not at the same resolution/FPS, mainly due to lower memory bandwidth.”

When asked if the performance is between the PS4 Pro and PS5, the leaker responded, “Hard to estimate performance since it’s using an unreleased GPU uarch, but I think it’s somewhere between Xbox Series S and PS5.” Interestingly, the alleged handheld “tapes out” a few months after the regular PS6’s SoC.

However, Sony isn’t repurposing existing PS6 chips for the handheld by having less usable CUs. “They’re different SoCs,” said Kepler and the portable is “specially designed to run at very, very low voltages.” They clarified that its CUs are a “lot less than 40” and that it’s a “different SoC” despite sharing “a few things with Soundwave.”

Sony hasn’t provided a timeline for the PS6’s launch, though Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Hideaki Nishino has indicated that it won’t be affected by the PS5’s lifecycle.

April 16th sees the arrival of Neon White (Standard) and SpongeBob SquarePants: The Patrick Star Game (all tiers), followed by Crime Scene Cleaner and Tempopo on April 17th for Ultimate and PC Game Pass. On April 24th, Sandfall Interactive’s Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 will be playable on PC Game Pass and Ultimate as a day-one release.

April 29th sees Stoic’s Towerborne, or at least the Game Preview, going live on April 29th, months after launching into Steam Early Access. The month concludes with Far Cry 4 for all three tiers. Starting May 1st, Anno 1800 will be available for Ultimate, Standard and PC Game Pass alongside Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2022). On May 6th, all three tiers can play the Lovecraftian-esque fishing title Dredge.

Of course, several titles will be leaving the service on April 30th. Check out the list below:

• Have a Nice Death (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Kona 2: Brume (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Sniper Elite 5 (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• The Last Case of Benedict Fox (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Thirsty Suitors (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• The Rewinder (Cloud, Console, and PC)

The Edge of Fate could be the name of the upcoming expansion codenamed Apollo. Launching in mid-June, it includes new stories and locations (some brand new to the franchise), a new raid, the start of the next saga for Destiny 2, and the ability to choose your own story path.

The season consists of two major updates, Arsenal and Surge, one every three months adding new and reprised activities, gear and Artifact Mods, events, new raid weapons and more. Each will have a Rewards Pass containing a new Exotic weapon and ornament, cosmetics, Legendary gear ornaments, and resources.

Of course, we’re yet to know what all this could be, so stay tuned for more details in May. Destiny 2 is available for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5, and PC. It’s currently in the middle of Act 3 of its third Episode, Heresy.

The new subclasses bring their own abilities, complete with unique cantrips, visual effects, and summons. The Oathbreaker Knight also receives new voiced dialogue to accompany the new Oath of the Crown Paladin.

The modding toolkit also gets a big update with partial level editing for items, characters and triggers, thus incentivizing bigger projects. It’s also a way for Larian Studios to “pass the torch” to the community.

For more details on Patch 8, check out the massive 48-page notes here. Baldur’s Gate 3 is available for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC. While the developer is moving on to new projects, Hasbro said it will discuss more about the franchise’s future soon.

The brilliance of the cinematic short, written and directed by Albert Mielgo, earned universal praise. The mood around the gameplay is a different story altogether. Some praised the art direction; others found the assets flat and the smattering of colors unusual. Content creators lauded the gunplay and responsiveness, and considering the studio’s pedigree, you can at least be assured that pulling the trigger in Marathon will feel good.

However, others noted the lack of narrative, with Bungie itself confessing (at least per Skill Up) that there isn’t much story right now and that it would evolve with time. Character progression is tied to completing missions for factions and slightly improving your character’s actions. They don’t seem particularly at odds – forget their relative aim, you don’t even really interact with them, much less other players outside of matches.

Granted, all of these impressions are based on an alpha build, and there’s still plenty that Bungie could add or change in time for launch, which leads to another stickler – the price. Marathon isn’t a free-to-play title, but it’s also not full-priced (whether that means $60 or $70 is unknown). Its retail price is unknown, with more details coming this Summer, but the monetization is set, with a Battle Pass and seasonal model in place.

As director Joe Ziegler explained in the Friends Per Second Podcast regarding the decision not to go free-to-play, “Everyone’s got their own definition of the right price.” However, that’s doubly so when it comes to value. Some people may enjoy Marathon at launch even though it will only have six playable characters and three maps, with a fourth arriving after, which is valid.

It’s just as valid for fans and newcomers alike to look upon the current work and mildly despair for lack of content or game-changing features, much less anything that really sets it apart from the crowd outside of its visual style.

As someone who poured over a thousand hours, maybe more, into Destiny 1, and hundreds of hours into Destiny 2, Marathon isn’t necessarily meant for me, and Bungie acknowledges that. It advises against jumping in if you’re looking for a PvE-only experience since you eventually have to fight other players. There are some PvE elements since you can battle hostile NPCs and complete random field objectives, but it’s a far cry from the current structure in Destiny 2.

I’m not necessarily complaining because, despite all the doom and gloom post-The Final Shape, it’s still getting content updates and “expansions,” even if raids and long cinematic campaigns may be a thing of the past.

That’s not the biggest issue, though. Neither is the fact that PvP is much more grounded than the power fantasy in the Crucible or the lack of an underlying hook that really sets Marathon apart in today’s extraction shooter market. Or the fact that this has been in the works for over four years with more than 300 developers involved, among rumors of troubled development.

It’s that Bungie is shipping what’s seemingly the framework of a title, however nice it feels to play, and asking fans to foot the bill. No early access tag to tie it down and ensure some systemic level of obligation either (for whatever that’s worth in this day and age).

It sounds harsh but that’s pretty much what described the Year 1, Destiny 1 experience. Lackluster story, satisfying gameplay saddled with repetitive mission design and objectives, a laissez-faire faction system, and relatively simple character progression. Bungie can talk as much as it likes about building the game alongside players, taking feedback and whatnot, but charging them to essentially serve as testers is a little iffy.

And while Ziegler and his team are pretty upfront about what you should expect from Marathon at launch, plenty remains nebulous. The idea behind the seasonal model is that “every season should be a moment to go on adventures, commemorate them, and then, some of those commemorative elements you can use as expressive elements for yourself in the future, whether they be skins or titles or things like that as a new season starts – a new opportunity to go on a new adventure,” as told to GameSpot.

The onus is on the team to “make sure every adventure that every season offers is in and of itself different and feels different to create those new stories.” Let’s not get into the seasonal wipes where players’ inventories are reset to zero to ensure a clean slate.

Marathon could very well end up as one of Bungie’s biggest risks – not because of some major revolutionary feature that will forever change the genre (which it could very much do with). Instead, as a Destiny player from the outside looking in, it seems like yet another project that the studio wants you to stick with, through thick and thin, before it really becomes something. Anything.

If the first season doesn’t land, maybe you’re encouraged to stick around and see where things end up. Perhaps you’ll like certain elements, and they could improve with enough feedback. For all the backlash and outright hatred Bungie gets, it has shown a willingness to respond to player complaints, even if that can sometimes take months or years.

While there are plenty of negative reactions to Marathon for being an extraction shooter and yet another live-service title, which has been confirmed for a while, there’s also a significant section who are more confused than anything. Imagine newcomers watching that sleek cinematic and then watching the gameplay to see this basic-bones extraction shooter with a few intriguing mechanics (like not being able to immediately transfer items from other players’ death boxes, instead waiting for them to “decrypt”).

After a decade on the Bungie-certified rollercoaster across two titles and multiple expansions with dramatic upswings and mind-boggling dips, I’m unsure if I want to go again. However, that practice offers some kind of excitement for some long-term fans and new players – that they could indulge in something that feels good to play right now and will fundamentally improve with time. And credit where it’s due, Bungie does have a habit of pulling out the stops and surprising people, even when it’s seemingly on the back foot.

For the foreseeable future, I’m keen to take a “wait and watch” approach with Marathon. Forget its immediate competitors, who already have years of support and content to go with unique gameplay loops – it’s also competing against other major releases for your time and money. Whether its newness will be enough to carry the signature Bungie gunplay further into the future remains to be seen.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

As lead systems designer Kyle Koenig told IGN First, “We’ve significantly increased the number of Perks with over 90 of them – each requiring various Skills to unlock. As you invest in Skills, it changes how you can invest in Perks and leads you down many different paths.” For example, Run and Gun allows one to fire a shotgun, SMG and assault rifle while sprinting and sliding. Pretty potent, but it shines even more with the bullet-time-esque Tactical Time Dilation.

Space Ranger, on the other hand, buffs damage based on Speech and opens up new dialogue options. “The way we looked at them when designing them was to look at all the different modes of gameplay the player has, and what are all the actions they can take and how can we modify them.”

It’s also possible to build around different types of elemental damage. As Koenig notes, “Even if you want to mix and match them, you can be a character that’s all about plasma and burning things alive while getting healing from it – or using shock damage to scramble automechs and have them fight for you temporarily while paralyzing creatures and humans – or using corrosive damage to take away all their armor and make it so all your attacks against them are critical hits that deal insane amounts of damage.”

If you’re someone who thrives off slaying NPCs, Psychopath and Serial Killer are the ticket, permanently increasing your max health. “Especially in an Obsidian game where we allow you to kill anybody – the game’s going to respond, it’s going to roll with it, and you’re going to still be able to complete the game. It’s actually a really fun way to play in a second or third playthrough to see how far you can take it,” said design director Matt Singh.

Launching later this year, The Outer Worlds 2 sees players controlling an Earth Directorate agent who ventures to Arcadia to stop an outbreak of rifts. It’s coming to Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC (including Battle.net), with a Direct scheduled for June 8th.

This change arose due to how the first game homogenized builds. “We would often see characters good at everything, which by the end of the game, minimized your personal experience with your character,” said Koenig.

Skills now feel more drastically different but significant in their own right. “We wanted to focus on making each individual level-up and investment really important. There’s less confusion about when I should invest in one Skill or the other. If I want to be a player that’s all about guns and using medical devices, I know which Skills I really need to care about. By having them separated and not in groupings, it lets characters be more specialized.”

This change also helps create more build variety beyond “a traditional stealth-focused build, combat-focused build, or speech-focused build. There’s a lot of blending of concepts, playing with other systems and incorporating those into a pretty broad but unique range of different player profiles.”

Skill Specialization is still available, like Engineering, which provides one percent damage resistance and the ability to +1 difficulty and lower mechanical systems. On the other hand, Hack allows for unlocking +1 difficulty and lower terminals while dealing ten percent more damage to Automechanicals. As you level up, their bonuses also become stronger.

The Outer Worlds 2 launches this year for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC. Check out the latest gameplay and stay tuned for its Direct on June 8th following the Xbox Games Showcase.

Marathon isn’t free-to-play, and though Bungie didn’t outline how much it would (with more details due this Summer), it confirmed that this won’t be a full-priced title. But what motivated the developer to avoid the free-to-play route?

On the Friends Per Second Podcast (transcription via VGC), director Joe Ziegler said, “We’re hoping that what we’re showing is exciting enough that someone is going to take the leap with us, but we are also committed to delivering on seasons past this that will continuously offer to evolve the game without an increase to the box price.

“What we’re hoping everyone understands is that we’re focused on committing to making this a game that’s really awesome, and we think that starting point is really strong at this current time. Everyone’s got their own definition of what is the right price.”

Of course, everyone also has their own definition of value for money. Marathon will launch with three maps and six playable Runners. A fourth map arrives shortly after, and while there are big plans for seasonal adventures, Bungie has admitted that the narrative is sparse out of the gate. Whether all this is enough for players remains to be seen.

Marathon is out on September 23rd for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC. The closed alpha runs from April 23rd to May 4th.

However, Circana analyst and executive director Mat Piscatella revealed on BlueSky that it topped charts for each of its first three weeks. Furthermore, it’s ranked second in year-to-date dollar sales behind Monster Hunter Wilds. The data is based on dollar sales through April 5th, so it should be interesting to see if Shadows can continue the streak.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows is available for Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and PC. Ubisoft announced over three million players roughly eight days after release and the second-highest day-one sales revenue for the franchise.

Of course, this is only the start with a 10+ hour expansion, Claws of Awaji, out this year. The development team is also “actively looking” at more challenging difficulty options.