Triad Wars players should be in for a new update on Wednesday. While the official patch notes are still pending, the team has offered a few indications of what to expect new when the patch goes live:

• A new Raid Start Screen that displays favors for you and the defender.
• 20 new store items, including facial hair.
• Improved Player Profile and UI.
• AI can now play favors against you and become more aggressive at higher ranks.
• Improvements to operations in difficulty and variety.
• Improved tutorial.
• Improved mouse and keyboard controls.
• Refer a friend system.

Read up more on what to expect here.

Today Dying Light just got infinitely bigger as Techland released free Developer Tools for its award-winning action survival game. All PC players can now take on the role of game designers and build their own quarantine zones. The Dying Light Developer Tools allow for the creation of brand-new maps, custom stories, and insane scenarios limited only by the imagination of the author. All content created with the Developer Tools can then be shared and downloaded via the Steam Workshop platform.

To give all beginner game designers a helping hand, Techland prepared a six-part video guide that explains the basic ins and outs of the Developer Tools. To showcase more advanced capabilities of the editor, additional in-depth tutorial videos will be released soon.

Techland plans to regularly expand and update the Developer Tools with new features, assets and functionalities so all users are encouraged to share their feedback and suggestions at the official Dying Light forum.

International game developer and publisher NEXON Korea has revealed Fantasy War Tactics, a deep and tactical strategy role-playing game (SRPG) developed by NEXON GT that will be the company’s next step into entering the mobile gaming market in the US and other international territories. Like classic SRPGs before it, the game will offer turn-based tactical battles and a huge variety of playable characters, though the game will also offer competitive battles.

To kick off the announcement, NEXON Korea is looking for prospective adventurers to join a beta test for Android users in North America and Europe starting April 21 and ending on April 30. Players can pre-register and qualify for future in-game rewards (up to 250 in-game currency) here: https://promo.nexon.com/fwar

“With Fantasy War Tactics, we’re looking to make a real impact in the US and international mobile gaming markets. We’ve watched the mobile market grow beyond casual games to really be ready for full-featured game experiences with tons of depth, beautiful graphics, and cooperative battles – social elements that let players borrow additional forces from their friends.” said Daehwon Kim, Creative Director of NEXON GT. “This is why we’re choosing to make a strong start with Fantasy War Tactics as one of our flagship titles in 2015.”

In Fantasy War Tactics, players will make their way through a single-player adventure as an ambitious wizard bent on conquering the world-only to find that another wizard has beaten them to the punch. Over the course of the campaign, players will unlock new heroes and items that will aid them in both single-player and multiplayer battles. Players will need to use smart tactics on the battlefield that take advantage of movement, terrain, ranges, and hero skills, while strategizing about the best teams to build from their ever-growing roster.

Fantasy War Tactics will draw upon the engaging, isometric, turn-based gameplay of classic SRPGs, offering a stacked roster of 50 playable hero characters that players can recruit completely free of charge, in-depth character development, and challenging turn-based battles. Players can also use the game’s social features to gain extra support by adding friends online, which lets them borrow additional heroes for their own adventuring party.

International developer and publisher NEXON Korea is producing Fantasy War Tactics, and is proud to add it to a long list of worldwide hit games such as Combat Arms, Vindictus, and Maple Story. The game is scheduled for release later this year for both iOS and Android, with a beta test scheduled for April. For more information, please visit the official Fantasy War Tactics website.

Fantasy War Tactics beta sign-ups begin today. Sign up for beta now.

Welcome to the all-new Age of Wonders III, as today Triumph Studios releases both the Eternal Lords expansion and the massive free V1.5 Update to the main game.

Eternal Lords is the major, second expansion for the acclaimed strategy game Age of Wonders III, marking one year of continuous development since its release. With the introduction of the Tigran and Frostling races, and the new Necromancer class, players must adapt to a world on the brink of cataclysmic change.  New mechanics include the Race Governance system, which allows players to tailor the features of each race in their empire to meet their strategic needs, add new layers of depth to empire development and diplomacy.   Embrace forbidden powers and reign for eternity!

Eternal Lords content includes:

• The Necromancer Player Class: The Necromancer’s legions are on the march to establish an eternal kingdom, unifying all the world’s races in death.  The Necromancer creates spectacular undead units in its cities, such as the Bone Collector, a crablike monstrosity which eats corpses to strengthen itself.  Other units are summoned, such as the Banshee, which invokes despair in the hearts of the living.  The Necromancer’s dark magic allows players to convert towns to cities of the dead, filled obedient Ghoul minions.
• Keeper, Grey Guard and Shadow Born Leader Specializations:  Champions of Good, Neutrality and Evil respectively, these three new specializations deepen the alignment mechanics and provide players of all classes powers to withstand the challenges of the new age. Learn spells to summon mighty Angels, end game units who embody the essence of each alignment.
• Frostling Player Race: Frostlings are a race of humanoids that emerged from the frozen north. Lead by their Ice Queens, they embark on frequent raids into warmer lands. Their seafaring skills, offensive fighting style and frost magic spread fear among the coastline villages they pillage.  Frostings are even more deadly in their home arctic clime, where they build cities carved into the very glaciers they hope will someday grow to cover the earth.
• Tigran Player Race:  These feline humanoids hail from remote desert lands. They worship the sun and track the cycle of day and night; life and death. Their natural curiosity about necromancy and the passing of regal souls into kingdoms of glory in the afterlife inspires them to construct massive tombs. Tigrans are natural sprinters, capable of moving far faster in combat than members of the other races, and are familiar with shape changing magic, allowing their mystics to transform into Dire Panthers.
• Eternal Lords Story Campaign. An epic battle of the forces of creation: fire versus ice, life versus death.  As Arvik, heir to a broken Frostling kingdom, you awaken forbidden necromantic powers to reclaim your realm. You will find unlikely allies, and must choose between your Frostling roots and the full potential of your new found powers.
• Cosmic Happenings:  The dawn of the Eternal Lords has triggered cataclysmic events that can radically shift fortunes. These events occur as the game progresses, disrupting the best laid plans and providing opportunities for cunning players to gain an advantage. Falling Clouds can fill the world with mist, giving shock weakness to machine and armored units and reducing sight range, while the March of the Troll King can summon armies of trolls to rampage across the map.
• Race Governance: Relations are now tracked per race, allowing you to make careful decisions who to make war with.  Declaring war on an Elven city might give you a quick conquest, but don’t expect your Elven citizens to be happy about it afterwards! As your relations with each race improve, you will be able to earn unique racial perks that boost your armies and economy.
• Unifier Victory Condition. As you unlock more perks with a race, the production of a Unity Beacon is unlocked in cities of that race. Building Unity Beacons for the number of races set in the victory condition will make you the Great Unifier, and let you win the game
• A dozen new Mysterious Map Locations: Capture the Reef Colony Dwelling, home to horrors of the deep, and discover new treasure sites such as the Lich’s Castle, Temple of the Sands and the Hall of the Forefathers to benefit your empire.
• Plus New Hero Items, Standalone Scenarios and more!  Eternal Lords incorporates feedback from the community and coincides with the massive free V1.5 update, the biggest since release. Major new features include:
• The Vassal city mechanics system, giving an alternative to expansion through conquest
• Race Relations system, be careful who you make war with.
• More diversity among core racial units.
• Improved strategic and tactical AI
• Random Map Generator Overhaul
• Mac/Linux support, also available for all existing customers.
• “Play by Email”, a new asynchronous Multiplayer Mode. In PBEM games, a player takes their turn in their own time and then uploads it to Triumph’s servers. Once it is uploaded, an email is sent to the next player in the game, who may then take their turn. This allows players to play when they like, without needing to set aside a large amount of time with other people to play a game all at once.

Eternal Lords and the Mac and Linux versions of the game are set for an April 14th 2015 release and available via online stores such as Steam and GoG. The expansion will cost EUR/USD 19.99.  New comers can buy the Age of Wonders III:  Collection Bundle with includes all DLC.

Read our full expansion review!

Aeria Games and ESL (eSports League) have announced two new eSports events for the popular free-to-play first-person shooter, Alliance of Valiant Arms (A.V.A.). The A.V.A. World Championship and the A.V.A. International Championship will give A.V.A. players the chance to test their skills and win some fantastic prizes.

A.V.A. World Championship (AWC) – The World Championship is the ultimate ESL event for A.V.A., with a prize pool of $100,000! Qualifiers kick off on April 25 and will culminate in the December finals in Japan. Flights and accommodation for the winning teams will be paid for and free gear will be provided by Zowie.

A.V.A. International Championship (AIC) – Beginning on May 16, the AIC offers standalone tournament qualifiers challenging the best A.V.A. players. The winning team at the AIC qualifiers will travel to Taiwan to compete in the AIC Finals in July. Victory at the finals means automatic seeding for the A.V.A. World Championship in December!

More information on the upcoming schedule is available on the ESL website, with additional details about the event series on the A.V.A. AWC page.

En Masse Entertainment, a player-driven publisher focused on delivering great games and exceptional service, today announced the launch of Game of Drones, an update for its free-to-play, third-person shooter, Zombies Monsters Robots (ZMR). The update introduces a fleet of drone companions that provide backup in ZMR’s many challenging co-op scenarios, in addition to five new maps, a new competitive game mode, and a new improved leveling-rewards system. The Game of Drones update is available now.

The update’s defining feature, the drone system, allows players to unlock mechanical companions that fight alongside them in co-op modes. Players can unlock four unique drone types, each with their own unique attacks and appearance. Players can also customize their drone with abilities and modifications to best suit their play style and the operation at hand.

The Gatling Gundrone trades a higher fire rate for lower damage per hit, making it ideal for controlling crowds and taking down airborne enemies. The Thunderdrone launches powerful, high-impact grenades, making it well suited against larger, slow-moving creatures. The Lazerdrone fires powerful laser beams and is ideal as an all-purpose companion for its high single-target damage. Finally, there’s the Dragondrone, which fires electric bursts that can damage multiple targets at once.

In addition, Game of Drones also introduces five new maps to the game, including the meaty new Assault Ops co-op campaign, “Occupied Earth,” which includes an extremely challenging Nightmare difficulty mode. For competitive mercenaries, the update debuts “Charnel Halls,” a new multi-level map for ZMR’s exclusive Mercs vs. Monsters mode, in which players assume control of one of more than 20 unique playable character classes, including a demonic emperor, a stealthy witch, or a destructive mech-suit.

But perhaps the biggest and most impactful change in the Game of Drones update is a complete overhaul of ZMR’s leveling rewards. With more free unlocks—including permanent weapons and weapon modifications, drones, turrets, and costumes—players will now reap fantastic rewards just for leveling up. These new rewards will be delivered to the in-game mailboxes of any existing players, meaning players have a lot to look forward to!

Since the game’s release in October 2013, Path of Exile has exploded into more than just a community of 11.2 million players worldwide, it has become a massive RPG phenomenon… and it is about to get even bigger! Grinding Gear Games today reveals details on Path of Exile: The Awakening. Scheduled to release in June, the World of Wraeclast changes forever.

Path of Exile: The Awakening takes the player on a dark journey as they descend into the depths of nightmare. Great secrets about the world of Wraeclast will be discovered and even greater battles will be fought.

In parallel development alongside Path of Exile‘s previous expansions, Path of Exile: The Awakening is more than just Path of Exile‘s fourth act – it improves and expands upon every aspect of the game. With a crazy new twist on the iconic Passive Skill Tree and numerous systems changes, this expansion has been internally dubbed Path of Exile Version 2.0.0. The Awakening completely changes the Path of Exile experience and includes new items, monsters, maps, skills, and many quality of life improvements suggested by the Path of Exile community.

Path of Exile: The Awakening Features:

• The Beast Awakens: Act Four continues Path of Exile’s storyline. The time has finally come to venture into the center of corruption itself and drive a blade through its black heart.
• Explore Beyond Highgate: For the first time since launch, The Awakening introduces completely new areas, monsters and end-game maps to expand the world of Wraeclast.
• Defeat Legendary Bosses: Experience climactic boss encounters with characters from Wraeclast’s past such as Voll, Daresso, Kaom and many more.
• Powerful New Skill Gems: With new classes of skills such as elemental Golems that fight by your side, warcries, and several new support gems, players are able to create new clever and intricate builds.
• Socketable Passive Tree: Collect and craft Jewels that can be socketed into the Passive Tree to drastically change the tree itself.
• Masses of New Gear: Find more than 70 new Unique Items and discover an entirely new set of equipment – the Maraketh Weapons.
• User Experience Improvements: We’ve made extensive user interface improvements, added more customization options and implemented many community-suggested changes.
• Complete Rebalance: We’ve reconsidered every core game system and rebalanced Path of Exile from the very first level. With these enhancements, both new and experienced players will enjoy The Awakening.

Players can jump into the new content with Path of Exile: The Awakening Closed Beta beginning April 20. An international launch, including traditional Chinese and Russian localization, along with more languages and countries will be added throughout 2015.

See the expansion in action in our special preview video!