Weekly Recap #471 October 15th – POE Scourge, Bloodhunt Act 2, Hearthstone Mercenaries & More!

JamesBl0nde recaps the MMO gaming news for the week of October 15, 2021! Transcript follows.

Elyon gears up for launch with Twitch based rewards, Path of Exile’s new league has you drain demon blood to corrupt items, Hearthstone launches its new Mercenaries game mode, and Bless Unleashed shows an impressive roadmap for the PC version, so get ready for PvP, Guilds and a new class just around the corner.

What’s good everyone, JamesBl0nde here with the weekly recap for gaming news and announcements for the week of October 15th, 2021 and starting out the news this week…

Book of Travels, Might and Delight’s new “tiny multiplayer online roleplaying game” – is now available on early access on Steam. Players can explore the world of Braided Shore, wandering alone or chancing upon others in small server encounters – and we do mean small, as servers only allow a maximum of seven players at once! The developer is very attuned to its community and has revealed its road map that includes costumes, pets, new areas, and more. The title is available right now for 30 US Dollars.

And Elyon approaches its official launch, with pre-loading for the game having begun on October 14.  Of course, this means once you’ve loaded the game, you can create your character and be ready for the launch immediately when servers go live on the 20th.  Need some more motivation?  How about participating in the Official Launch Celebration also starting October 20!  If you’ve connected your Kakao Games account to your Twitch account, you’ll get rewards for the amount of time you’ve spent watching Elyon content on Twitch.  This launch event ends on November 8, so you’ll have plenty of time to claim all the rewards!

Meanwhile hot news from Path of Exile this past week as they revealed more details about their upcoming league and expansion, Scourge! I got a hands on preview with this to see the new game mechanics, how the passive skill tree rework is going to change the game, and more. Make sure to go check out that video ASAP if you’re a POE fan. Got that linked below along with the full live stream reveal, pretty cool stuff.

Speaking of cool stuff, Bloodhunt, the Vampire the Masquerade battle royale, has rolled out its second major update for early access players. The game’s story plot continues, and a new indoor battle arena, the Rudolfinum Concert Hall, has been added. The update also takes a major pass at quality of life improvements, and while it doesn’t include optimization changes, the team has noted that it’s their number one priority. And, in the spirit of all things dark and spooky, Halloween content is also now in game, including a new quest line, daily quests, and vanity items to collect.

Neowiz has revealed a robust new roadmap for the PC version of Bless Unleashed. Starting with the end of this month, Bless Unleashed will enjoy a new PvP Season, a 5-Player Lair, and a level 40 time dungeon. November promises a new dungeon difficulty system, rune adjustments, and potential systems. December is set to add the Guild vs Guild system, while January will add a new quest line, and February brings the assassin class! This is one packed road map but make sure to check out the full video linked below for all the  details. Meanwhile Bless Unleashed on console just got the Awakened update, adding an updated Blessing & Skills system, a new fusion system for weapon and costume enhancement, improvements to matchmaking, and more.

In other news, Aion has gotten its latest update here in the US, patch 1.5 The Balaur Invasion. This patch brings the game up to date with Korea’s March 24th build – yeah still months behind, sorry folks! Featured in this update are three new instances – Dark Poeta, Kromede’s Trial, and Baraneth’s Dredgion. There are other additional quests, changes, and updates, so make sure to check out the patch notes linked below for all the info.

Hearthstone: Mercenaries, the card game’s newest game mode, went live this week. Mercenaries promises a combination of RPG, rogue-like, and Hearthstone elements in a mode free for all to play. Instead of a deck of cards, you form a party of up to six mercenaries, then take them to a travel point to hunt bounties or into the fighting pit. Combat is automatically determined after you lock in moves but it’s not quite an autochess mode (which the game actually already has). Anyway it can be accessed free in the Hearthstone client and doesn’t use any of your Hearthstone game progress, so even newbies can enjoy the mode!

It was time for a new patch reveal for Paladins, and this week they’ve showcased their next new champion: Azaan the Eternal. Azaan is a frontline champion whose passive, Ire, increases his damage output and decreases his damage taken as it accumulates. His attacks include a chain of medium and heavy hits, a projectile explosion that lifts enemies into the air, the creation of a wall to capture and stun enemies, and an ultimate that majorly reduces his damage taken while creating a huge painful knockback. Ouch! The update will also include the new Dark Depths battlepass and much more, so check out the patch note preview linked below.

Meanwhile, Brawlhalla has welcomed its newest legend this week – Munin, the Raven! Anticipated since her reveal a month ago, Munin’s rock star style will send enemies soaring with musical riffs. There’s also some cool skins for Munin, including Magpie Munin, Hugin, and DJ Hugin – why does that last one feel inspired by Duck Tales? The update also includes a new emoji and lobby invite feature. Brawlhalla is also about to start its Halloween event on October 27th, and the anniversary arrives on November 10th with more surprises in store.

The tactical shooter Warface has just ushered in its newest season on PC. Called Origins, this season features a return of classic maps – Hangar, Airbase, and Dock – with a fresh redesign. The battle pass has also seen a redesign with a new progression system that adds prestige levels and the ability to gain experience in all possible modes. Players can also look forward to a new weapon modification system, and an in-game event that includes both a PvE mission and PvP mode.

It’s time for a little Trick or Treat this Halloween in Heavy Metal Machines!  Its new machine Clunker is equal parts as it rolls through the opposition, hurling sweet, sweet torment to your adversaries.  This new season also brings several new visual effects, emotes, sprays, and much more.  Enjoy this new season from now until Halloween!

The Icebrood Saga returns to Guild Wars 2 next week. Starting October 19th, you can log in each week to unlock and play the episodes of the Living World Season 5 story arc for free. This has been part of an ongoing summer campaign to let players relive the story arc seasons for free before the next expansion, End of Dragons, launches early next year. Of course, with some players comparing the ending of this season to that of the ending of the Game of Thrones TV show, maybe you won’t miss out on much, haha. Regardless, you can participate in the ongoing Halloween event, Shadow of the Mad King, and participate in mazes, races, jumping puzzles and more.

In other Halloween related updates, The Festival of the Lost has returned again for another Halloween season in Destiny 2. Celebrating the light found in the darkest of times, the special event is free and available untli November 2nd. There are three new Haunted Sectors tales to experience, a new Jurassic Green Pulse Rifle to unlock, an Exotic Sparrow, a Bump in the Night emblem, and more. This is one of the most loved events of the game so make sure to log in and get those rewards.

What do Batman and Halloween have to do with each other?  If you said bats, well, you’re wrong!  Rocket League Haunted Hallows is back this year, and with it the Caped Crusader makes his triumphant return.  Rumble transforms into Gotham City Rumble, the arena transforms into Beckwith Park, and of course grab three variations of the Batmobile in the shop.  Expect decals and more from the rogue’s gallery too as you bring the fear of the Dark Knight to your opponents!

And finally for our free game on Epic Games Store this week, it’s… Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse! This is a remaster of the original game released in 2005, and it’s perfectly themed for the Halloween season. Play as Stubbs in a wacky action game that has you possessing humans, building an undead army, and farting unholy gas – yes, literally. The remaster has had some lukewarm reviews but it’s free, so, you know, might as well give it a shot!

But with that said, that’s about it for all the major news and announcements for this week. Be sure to stay safe, and keep your families healthy! Like always you can find more information on the news topics, linked in the description below, feel free to discuss the news or even more news in the comments below and don’t forget to like, subscribe, wash your hands a bunch, hit that little bell icon to get notifications and of course share this video! But until next time guys that’s going to be it for me… I’m JamesBl0nde… see ya out there gamers!