Search Results

The Association for UK Interactive Entertainment (Ukie) has recently established new guidelines governing how loot boxes will work in the country, aiming to protect children and provide more transparency to gamers. In 2020, the UK's entertainment regulatory arm, The Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS), launched a call to gather evidence on the potential harm that loot boxes can have on players. The goal was to explore whether new regulations should be set on gaming companies and whether it falls under the UK's 2005 Gambling Act. Based on findings from an InGame report, the DCMS released a statement saying, "While many loot boxes share some similarities with traditional gambling products, we view the ability to legitimately cash out rewards as an important distinction." They continue, "Most loot boxes currently on the market do not meet the definition of gambling under the Gambling Act 2005, as the prize is confined for use within the game and cannot be converted into real-world money." Ultimately, this led the regulatory body to pass the responsibility to Ukie, a group representing gaming organizations in the country. Alongside companies including the likes of Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony, Ukie formulated 11 new guidelines to help regulate loot boxes in the country. While the DCMS concedes that there have been 15 peer-reviewed studies correlating loot box use and problem gambling, it claims that research is still early and that there may be other "plausible explanations" linking the behaviors. New guidelines tasks developers with disclosing odds, protecting children While the UK may not consider loot boxes officially gambling, they recognize the harm they can do, which is why many of the new regulations set by Ukie will help gamers make more informed decisions when buying loot boxes. One important new guideline governs how odds are presented to the player. Loot boxes should now provide clear probabilities, which should lift the veil behind the chances of getting certain items. The guidance also tasks the gaming industry to develop stronger technologically-based parental controls to restrict anyone under the age of 18 from getting a loot box without the permission of a parent or guardian. In addition, it calls for fair and lenient refund policies to act as a backstop for instances when children purchase loot boxes without parental consent. A clear problem that still persists is the existence of third-party websites that will buy and sell in-game items with real-world money. This defeats the argument that loot box buying and gambling are different, as the potential to bring in real-world revenue is more than possible with just a little research. While against the terms of service for most titles, selling your entire account for real-life money is also possible and something gamers have done in the past. Even when players can’t redeem in-game items for money, platforms like Steam enable players to sell items for account credit, which could theoretically result in thousands of dollars in “free” games. That being said, the new guidance does touch on this, as one of the new recommendations includes, "Continue to tackle the unauthorised external sale of items acquired from Loot Boxes for real money and continue to invest in IP protection to combat such sales." While probability disclosures and better tech for parental controls are better for gamers at large, only time will tell whether the regulatory guidelines will positively affect problematic loot-box purchasing behavior. What’s also unclear is whether or not gaming companies in the UK will make a concerted effort to adjust loot box mechanics if there are no penalties for breaking the new rules. Do you have any thoughts about this topic? Tell us in the comments below, or talk about it on Twitter. Don’t forget to tag us in the discussion! And don’t forget to subscribe to our weekly Patch Notes! Check out some other topics on GameCrate: ● Team Fortress 2 Hits Its Highest Player Count in 15 Years ● Can FPS Games Be "Too Real?" These Titles are Pushing the Limits ● 5 Best Warhammer Games Coming Up (and 2 You Can Skip) ● Breaking the Mold: Innovative Ideas from Indie Devs

great initial concept buried under poor design and an empty story. Are you familiar with the publisher Annapurna Interactive? If not, you definitely should be. They’ve published some of the best video game experiences I’ve ever had. The Pathless, Outer Wilds, Journey, and What Remains of Edith Finch just to name a few phenomenal games. Unfortunately, you can’t win ‘em all. Despite its strong gameplay concept, Maquette, a first-person puzzle game developed by Graceful Decay, is a staggeringly awful addition to Annapurna Interactive’s otherwise exemplary portfolio. This idea had loads of potential, but Maquette never does anything with it. Let’s talk a bit about that strong gameplay concept. Maquette sees you walking around a few buildings and areas that are connected to a large dome. Underneath this dome, there is a miniature replica, or maquette, of the world you’re exploring. In order to solve the game’s puzzles, you can pick up an object in the world you walk through and place it in the maquette to have an enormous version of that object appear in your walkable world. Likewise, you can place the object out in the main world to pick up an even smaller version from the maquette. This is a marvelous and entirely original idea. I’m sure it was a total pain to try and figure out how to code it all, and the devs should be commended for the concept. Yet, it’s an idea that’s tragically unexplored. This idea had loads of potential, but Maquette never does anything with it beyond boringly simple ideas. Put a bridge over a gap to make a bridge. Put stairs next to something to make a ramp. Put a key in a door. Whoa, leave some ideas for the rest of the industry! Picking up and resizing an object is a real cool five seconds, sure, but the game never hits that initial “wow” moment of discovery ever again. Resizing objects is neat for the first two times you do it, but it never evolves in any meaningful way. I’m not sure how it could either, considering the game only has a few puzzles. This is a shockingly short and content sparse title, and the fact that some levels consist of only one, two, or even zero puzzles makes its price tag feel entirely unearned. What few puzzles do exist, have solutions that are either insultingly simple or so bizarrely convoluted and specific that they would only make sense to the people that created them. What few puzzles do exist, have solutions that are either insultingly simple or so bizarrely convoluted and specific that they would only make sense to the people that created them. I won’t spoil puzzle solutions in this review in case you have a desire to play the game yourself and have run out of ideas for how to be miserable, but I will say that, on more than one occasion, it felt like Maquette was deliberately wasting my time. Having to walk back to the maquette to place and replace objects again and again and again is an absolute slog that’s made even worse when you encounter painfully awful jumping sections. More challenging than finding the answer to any of the game’s puzzles, however, is fighting the completely awful controls. Picking an object up can either stow the object on the bottom of your screen leaving you free to move at your normal pace, or you can pick it up and have it floating in front of you, ready for placement, while walking like your legs have suddenly been made eighty pounds heavier. Fighting the camera was absolute hell when dealing with smaller objects, and it was hell squared when dealing with two objects that were somewhat near one another. In theory, you’re able to swap between these two different states of object holding with the press of a button, but theories are made to be broken. Most of the time the game refused to let me hold anything in the bottom of the screen position, and I’d be stuck walking in ultra slow-mo. This constant issue made me think the act of actually playing the game would be a lot more enjoyable if, I don’t know, there weren’t two separate ways you could hold things? Have an object be placed into “placement mode” and that’s it! No need to add a ball and chain to each foot when we do it either. Half-Life had players picking things up more than eighteen years ago, and that wasn’t even its core gameplay mechanic! It’s whenever I was struggling to simply move an object that the game’s true antagonist would appear: the camera. For reasons that are still baffling modern scientists, Maquette has an insanely aggressive auto-aiming camera. I’d be walking along until my camera sensed an interactable object within my peripheral vision and my view was jerked to look at the object. Yes, Maquette, I see that giant, golden key. Now kindly remove my bridle, thank you. Before you ask, no, there was no way to turn this off in the game’s settings. Fighting the camera was absolute hell when dealing with smaller objects, and it was hell squared when dealing with two objects that were somewhat near one another. Not only would the camera have its own ideas for what object I ought to pick up, but a few times my wrestling with the dastardly foe would cause objects to clip through the floor and remain irretrievable. Happy now, camera? Now neither of us can play. Of course, reloading the game fixed the floor clipping issue but completely resetting a puzzle because the game broke isn’t exactly stimulating. Then again, I’d rather have had to reload the game hundreds of times than endure its blisteringly boring story. Somehow, Bryce Dallas Howard and her husband Seth Gabel were cast as the sole characters in Maquette, and somehow the game’s creators thought this would elevate the entirely meaningless narrative. Said “story” is told via two methods: white text that appears on walls as you walk through the game (similar to What Remains of Edith Finch does but much less impactful, interesting, well-implemented, and not tied to the story in a meaningfully contextual way), and pieces of audio where Howard and Gabel say a whole lot of nothing. Their characters, Kenzie and Michael respectively, are two young people who meet, fall in love, and fall out of love. So we’re told, because like a school without a science teacher these characters have absolutely no chemistry. Of course they’d have to be characters for that to happen. The issue is that they have nothing interesting to say! No aspirations, motives, personality, or any reason to care about them. Add the fact that the story itself has no inciting incident, conflict, or resolution, and you’re left with two people just spewing words at each other. They blandly and awkwardly flirt for twenty minutes, mope around for ten, scream at each other for five, and that’s it. In an interview with Howard and the game’s director, they discussed how the recording for the game took place in a single day and large portions of the dialogue were rewritten in an improvisational way. Oh, believe me. It shows. One of the worst parts about the already vacuous tale is that Maquette really thinks it’s diving into some deep stuff and taking it all way too seriously. Here’s an example: Michael and Kenzie have a sketchbook they both draw in. At one point, we have a line that says, “We sketched things and places. Both real and imagined.” So, you drew? Yeah, when you mentioned you had a sketchbook I assumed that you drew things. Did you also sketch any persons? Then you’d have all the nouns! The verdict in this Maquette review is that the game isn’t worth playing. It’s a shame that it isn’t better, because the initial concept of resizing objects with the maquette is truly unique. However, it’s not explored nearly enough, the game’s puzzles aren’t enjoyable to solve, and the game’s story is an enormous load of nothing. The biggest puzzle in Maquette is figuring out why anyone would want to play it. Maquette Review in a nutshell Pros: ● Nicely done visuals ● Interesting gameplay concept Cons: ● Woefully lacking in content ● Puzzles aren’t fun to engage with ● Puzzles never evolve ● Controls are poorly done ● Auto-locking camera is a nightmare ● Objects can clip through the floor ● Story is mindless and uninteresting Score: 2/10 Reviewer played on Xbox Series X. Maquette is available on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch and PC.

The Epic Games storefront on PC, like other online portals such as Steam, is generally a great place to discover new games and sales. But, they do always have some sort of free option going, as well. If you scroll down just below the featured games and sales, you’ll see a section aptly named “Free Games”. The games in this section are always games that normally cost money, but are slashed down to the low, low cost of zero. This revolves around every week or so. But, you can really get some amazing games from this section. This week is no exception. This week, you can find Murder by Numbers and The Elder Scrolls Online for free on the Epic Games store. Murder by Numbers is a Picross mystery adventure Murder by Numbers, normally a $14.99 game, mixes amazing visuals for a visual novel, with Picross-style gameplay. Basically, it’s “Ace Attorney paint-by-numbers with a cute robot companion instead of Maya”. Hato Moa, the creator of the pigeon-romance otome game Hatoful Boyfriend, handled the beautifully-made art for this game. You and your robot companion, SCOUT, are detectives solving murder cases. You do the usual visual novel thing, like the Phoenix Wright games, but the gameplay comes from nonogram puzzles. You can pick it up right now for free on Epic Games. The Elder Scrolls Online The Elder Scrolls: Necrom expansion was recently released. But, Bethesda is dropping the standard The Elder Scrolls Online experience for free this week on the Epic Games storefront. This version includes the base game, which has dozens to hundreds of hours worth of content as it is. It’s normally $19.99, but down to zero for the week. Even if you don’t plan to play, it might be worth grabbing if you’re a Fortnite player. Claiming the game will give you a special Sigil of the Alliance War back bling in Fortnite. And you didn’t have to do anything to get it other than clicking a couple of buttons. You can also pick up Necrom starting at $59.99, if you want to make a fun necromancer and play through the new stories from the expansion. Both of the games are free until July 27th, 2023 at 11:00 AM EST. At 11:01 AM, the free games incoming are Homeworld Remastered Collection and Severed Steel. Do you have any thoughts about this topic? Tell us in the comments below, or talk about it on Twitter. Don’t forget to tag us in the discussion! And don’t forget to subscribe to our weekly Patch Notes! Check out some other topics on GameCrate: I bring the Smoke: Mortal Kombat 1 shows off Smoke, Rain, and more Xbox gets a long-awaited feature: Voice reporting Toxic Destiny 2 “fan” owes half a million dollars to Bungie over harassment Xbox Live Gold to be retired in September, replaced with Game Pass Core

This F.E.A.R. spiritual successor packs a lot of punch There aren’t too many moments in Trepang2 that allow you to catch your breath. Between elite soldiers, cultists, and even a Mothman, everyone wants you dead. Bullets, grenades, and bile were flying at me from every angle for almost every minute of my time in this game and I have to say that overall, it was an absolute blast. In Trepang2 you play as Subject 106, someone so bad that they are locked up in a vault inside of a blacksite filled with elite guards. Luck isn’t with the guards though because a mysterious someone has infiltrated the site, unshackled 106, and left the vault door open. As soon as you finish a short section of moving through some vents and the first few squads of guards undetected, Subject 106 finds an H&K Mark23 pistol and some armor. You then quickly discover why they wanted 106 locked up. Much like the game series F.E.A.R., 106 is given the ability to slow down time, and much like the Crysis series, they are also given the ability to use a cloak and leave the enemy frantically searching to relocate them. This is just the tip of the iceberg because 106 can also slide, jumpkick, take an enemy as a hostage (allowing you to dispatch them or even turn them into a human grenade), or surprisingly just straight up kick an enemy in the face so hard that their head explodes. The small dev team that created this game wanted players to just have a fun time experimenting with all of these moves and create a spectacle of absolute carnage and badassery. Trepang2 isn’t a walk in the park though. Every mission is filled with enemies pouring out of almost every door, dropping in reinforcements from helicopters, using grenades to keep you from taking cover, flanking, and just doing everything in their power to keep pressure on you at almost all times. The enemy variety is nice too, with having soldiers of different ranks fighting you with increasing amounts of armor and firepower. You aren’t just fighting soldiers either, there is even a section involving some zombie-like enemies who try to puke on you, and cultists in a castle that either try to swarm you with bullets or immolate themselves in front of you in hopes to take you with them. The cultists were a lot of fun to fight, but the zombie enemies I personally could have done without. Boss fights also are included, but they are a bit of a mixed bag. Some of them are fun, but they mostly just boil down to being against bigger baddies with a lot more health and that’s about it. The arsenal that you can carry is impressive, with the Mk23 pistol, the Kriss Vector SMG, the absolute beast of a weapon SPAS-12 shotgun, the VHS2 assault rifle (which I used probably more than any other weapon next to the SPAS-12), the SL8 DMR sniper rifle, a minigun, bolt launcher, frag and flash grenades, molotovs, throwing knives, and tomahawks. What’s even better about this fantastic array of weapons is that after a few missions into the game, you can find a serum that allows you to use all of the guns akimbo. I never knew how much I needed to be able to dual wield two SPAS-12s in a game until I played this. Add on top of that the ability to find weapon cases hidden within missions that can unlock different attachments like suppressors, compensators, and scopes; or even change the firing type or ammo type on a few weapons. This can change the feel of a battle entirely and it’s wonderful to be given options like this to play with. Guns and grenades also feel like they have a great amount of heft to them and periodically sound speaker-breakingly loud. There were a few times that I am certain my sound bar’s speaker was bottoming out with all the explosions happening all at once. The missions are broken up into primary and secondary ones, with the primary of course furthering the developing plot, and the secondary just being side objectives like taking out high value targets (elite enemies that show up in certain missions and some only show up on certain difficulties), exploring a crash site, and hacking servers while fighting off hordes of soldiers. My least favorite of these was definitely the hacking ones, not because they were bad, but because of these certain enemies that have equipment on their backs that interfere with the hacking signal, and even reverse its progress, so having to hunt them down in haste while also having to try and avoid more serious threats like some of the juggernaut soldiers (who have insane amounts of armor) that were swarming the area, was a bit of a pain. Mission locations like the Pandora Institute have a lot of detail put into them, with that one having everything from offices, bars, courtyards, and even a hospital within it. Although the stages are quite linear, the game’s settings and atmosphere feel believable and keep the pace of the action moving at a brisk clip. There is also a bit of a destruction aspect to the combat, with things like concrete pillars and walls taking damage from gunfire and grenades; this is a nice touch because it shows off the aftermath of 106’s battles quite beautifully. There are some issues though: enemies can have a lot of jerky animations at times when they have passed on from their virtual lives, and they can even get launched far into the air (however this one was quite hilarious), or get stuck in doors, but thankfully the latter issues didn’t seem to happen too often. The AI’s pathfinding can seem to break when it comes to the player occasionally and they just wander off in a different direction or even run right by you. I had one of the high value targets lose me even though I was right behind him, so I gave him a hot lead enema and he didn’t even seem to notice. For the most part the enemies didn’t seem to have issues with this sort of thing, but it is something that I’m hoping can perhaps be fixed in a future update. The next issue is more of a personal gripe, but I do wish that the Focus (the slo mo feature) and Cloak gauges on the HUD stayed on all of the time or at least had an option to do so. I can’t tell you how many times I wanted to use Focus only to not have any meter left and I had no idea. Overall, I have to say that Trepang2 is a really wild and fun albeit short, ride. My playtime for the main campaign missions was a little under four hours, but with the side missions it was around six. Outside of the primary and side missions there is also a combat simulator that can add several hours of playtime. It’s a horde mode with a great selection of maps and I found it to be a fun way to just unwind my day with some pure insanity. On top of that there are several difficulty modes, and the higher ones can unlock things like particular high value targets and even cheats like infinite ammo or health. All in all, I think people who are fans of high-octane action and fun with a John Woo, John Wick, or F.E.A.R. style to it are going to have a blast with this title. Pros: ● Combat feels fantastic and is full of tools for the player to have fun with ● Graphics look clean and environments are full of great atmosphere ● Being able to dual wield SPAS-12s ● Hours and hours of fun to be had between the campaign and horde mode ● Skittles camo Cons: ● Enemy bodies can sometimes be a bit janky ● Some boss fights can be a bit bland ● Enemy AI needs some tweaking in places Score: 8/10 Reviewer played on PC. Trepang2 is available now on Steam and GOG.

Back in May 2019, what felt like a decade ago, The Pokémon Company International announced a new gamified app that was in development, Pokémon Sleep. The app would track your sleep patterns and turn it into a game to help people sleep better while making friends with Pokémon along the way. We expected to see it soon after, maybe by early 2020. Other games and apps announced at that same press conference came out not long after, such as Pokémon HOME and Pokémon Masters. But, Sleep kept hitting the snooze button for another four years. It’s finally out. After several days of releases across the world, it finally hit North America and Japan. What is Pokémon Sleep? Pokémon Sleep is a sleep tracker app that gamifies your sleep patterns, sounds you make while sleeping, and tries to help people get a full night’s rest. Then, from your sleep, it can calculate points and have Pokémon join you that sleep in various ways and poses. Then, you do it all over again the next night. If you don’t have the Pokémon GO Plus +, a device that costs $54.99, you have to keep your screen and app on for it to track you. It also requires itself to be on your mattress with you. If you share a bedroom with a loud sleeper or use a wireless or MagSafe charger to charge your phone, it might not be the app for you. The upside is that the app ties into Pokémon GO and you can earn rewards for the long-running mobile game. The Pokémon Sleep app is out now in all major territories. You can pick it up on iOS and Google Play for free. It also has microtransactions. Do you have any thoughts about this topic? Tell us in the comments below, or talk about it on Twitter. Don’t forget to tag us in the discussion! And don’t forget to subscribe to our weekly Patch Notes! Check out some other topics on GameCrate: I bring the Smoke: Mortal Kombat 1 shows off Smoke, Rain, and more Xbox gets a long-awaited feature: Voice reporting Toxic Destiny 2 “fan” owes half a million dollars to Bungie over harassment Xbox Live Gold to be retired in September, replaced with Game Pass Core

John Romero is a legend in the video game industry. Back in the 1990s, his name became synonymous with heavy metal music, innovative gameplay, and big friggin’ guns turning demons on Mars into soup. Without John Romero, the first-person shooter genre may not have become so dominating. DOOM is where it all started. But, that was the 90s. This is 2023. Image: Doom Guy: Life in First Person, by John Romero This week, Romero published his autobiography, Doom Guy: Life in First Person. He opted to do a Reddit AMA to promote the book. During the AMA, he did let spill a couple of extra details that we didn’t know about. During the AMA, u/smolgote asked, “If given the opportunity, would you remake/reboot Daikatana into the kick ass FPS you once envisioned?” John responded in kind and explained that it was not currently in the cards. But, he isn’t against the idea of it, if anyone else wanted to take up the task. “Thanks for the Daikatana question,” he said. “I feel that Daikatana, if remade, could be an exciting game, moreso than the original. Personally, I would consult but not do the remake myself as I'm very busy with other games.” Another user, u/Poopyman80, asked, “Is there some way we can convince you to make a modern death match game in the old gameplay style?” John responded with a bombshell. “I've been working on an FPS for a while now. I can't say anything about it, however. There's a major publisher behind it.” In the same question and response, Daikatana was also mentioned, where Romero simply stated that he “would not remake Daikatana [him]self, but [he] support[s] a remake.” Only time will tell what Romero’s new big FPS game will be. Knowing that it’s being handled by a “major publisher” is promising, though. We’re just glad it isn’t Daikatana related. You can read the entire AMA with John Romero over on Reddit. Do you have any thoughts about this topic? Tell us in the comments below, or talk about it on Twitter. Don’t forget to tag us in the discussion! And don’t forget to subscribe to our weekly Patch Notes! Check out some other topics on GameCrate: I bring the Smoke: Mortal Kombat 1 shows off Smoke, Rain, and more Xbox gets a long-awaited feature: Voice reporting Toxic Destiny 2 “fan” owes half a million dollars to Bungie over harassment Xbox Live Gold to be retired in September, replaced with Game Pass Core

Team Fortress 2 launched before some of its players were even born, all the way back in October of 2007, but it hasn't stopped its developers, Valve, from updating the game consistently throughout the years. While maintaining any player base for over 16 years is an impressive feat by itself, what's even more remarkable is that it just hit its record for most people playing concurrently at 253,997 people on July 13, 2023. Currently, the game has anywhere from 160,000 to 180,000 gamers playing at any given time, making it the 6th most-played game on Steam, right under the highly popular Apex Legends. Most of the recent success of Team Fortress 2 likely stems from the Summer 2023 update that dropped on July 12 and introduced a host of new content, including 14 new community-created maps, cosmetics, taunts, and more. Another driving factor is likely the Summer Special Event, which includes the new maps and provides players with seasonal drops. As with other live-service games, creating this seasonal event model typically brings in more players who want to obtain special items, like the Summer 2023 Cosmetic Case and Summer 2023 War Paint Case. Bots are definitely a problem To see what all the hype was about, I hopped back into TF2 to see what it was like in 2023. Coming from someone with 1,500 hours in the game, I can say that a lot has changed, but the core gameplay that was so addictive back in the day has remained largely unchanged. Sadly, in many of the matches I played, both teams almost instinctively started a vote-kick for bots at the start of the game. While it's anecdotal evidence at best, every casual game I played had at least three to five bots the team had to vote to ban. Typically, bots linger around in the game to get loot drops without anyone actually having to play. Since TF2 implements a time-based drop system, many utilize bots for farming items in the game. Combine this with the fact that the game is free-to-play, and there aren't many deterrents to this sort of activity. More prevalent in games where loot is the primary goal, like ARPGs or MMOs, botting is a problem that has afflicted titles in the past, such as World of Warcraft and, more recently, Lost Ark. I’d like to say with pretty high confidence that if you hopped into a few casual matches, you’d probably have a similar experience. Just make sure you talk over your mic so that the team doesn’t kick you. While this isn't concrete proof that the player-count numbers aren't as high as the official stats would indicate (I was mistaken for a bot in my first game), it is strong anecdotal evidence that perhaps the record-breaking player-count numbers may not all be human after all. That being said, TF2 is still a blast, and there are a ton of new weapons, cosmetics, game modes, community maps, and more for returning players to explore. Regardless of the real player-count number, it's still a title worth revisiting or trying for the first time. Do you have any thoughts about this topic? Tell us in the comments below, or talk about it on Twitter. Don’t forget to tag us in the discussion! And don’t forget to subscribe to our weekly Patch Notes!

In case you weren’t already aware, Capcom has been killing it. The company revealed in May of this year that their net sales have grown and set new records year-over-year for the last six years. I mean it’s not really a surprise when you look at the games they’ve released during that time. Monster Hunter World, Monster Hunter Rise, Devil May Cry 5, Resident Evil Village, and Street Fighter 6 to name just a few of their more recent, well-received releases. With so much success, especially in these large, well-known franchises, I feel like your average AAA publisher would be less eager to take a risk on brand new IPs. Admirably, this isn’t the case with good, old Capcom as their latest release is the all new Exoprimal. However, is this competitive shooter good enough to keep Capcom’s winning streak going? I’d say, at the moment, no. Not really. The story’s characters are inoffensively bland and not memorable at all, but you’re fighting dinosaurs with mech suits so they don’t take anything too seriously. Set in the year 2043, Exoprimal sees a rampant AI program called Leviathan opening rifts through space and time to pull pilots of fancy Exosuits into an endless stream of wargames. Why? For data, apparently, to make even better Exosuits. Oh, and the wargames see those pilots, you included, going up against swaths of dinosaurs. Why dinosaurs? Because robotic suits fighting against dinosaurs are, in professional terms, totally sick. Yes, the story of Exoprimal is extremely goofy. Which is fine, because the story is basically nonexistent after you finish the game’s tutorial. As briefly mentioned above, Exoprimal is strictly a competitive multiplayer shooter. Two teams of five compete to finish dino-killing objectives in the fastest time possible. The story only exists through cutscenes and audio logs that you unlock as you complete matches. Image: Capcom The story’s characters are inoffensively bland and not memorable at all, but you’re fighting dinosaurs with mech suits so they don’t take anything too seriously. This is good because the idea of mech suits fighting an endless stream of interdimensional, time-traveling dinosaurs that drop from the sky like they’ve been poured from one of those giant buckets you see at a children’s water park is a very goofy and fun thing. No matter how many dinos were crawling over one another, getting blown up, or thrown through the air my game didn’t stutter or drop a frame even once. Not only are the dino swarms a goofy premise, but they’re actually a technical achievement. Every single match I’ve played of Exoprimal ran at a beautifully steady sixty frames. No matter how many dinos were crawling over one another, getting blown up, or thrown through the air my game didn’t stutter or drop a frame even once. A feat that’s made even more impressive since ten players are connected to a match and their Exosuit abilities are flying around at the same time. Also, there’s just so, so, so many dinosaurs. One would think that having so much going on would make the game hard to read, and one would be surprisingly wrong. When you start out it’s a lot to take in, sure, but the more I played the more I was able to appreciate just how neatly the game’s HUD is implemented. Nothing ever feels like it’s getting in the way, highly-detailed and polished animations on both Exosuits and dinos convey action beautifully, and no explosion or visual effect is ever overwhelming either. Provided you turn off the disgusting plague that is floating damage numbers in the settings, of course. Yes, it’s all very pretty and blowing up a pack of raptors is delightful, but is it fun to play? Yes! There are ten different exosuits (three must be unlocked by leveling up and using in-game currency or you can use real money), and each one is a blast to use. Their designs and animations are stellar, their abilities make them feel distinct from one another, and there’s quite a bit of depth in the way that you can use them to take down your prehistoric prey. Roadblock, for example, is a huge, tanky fella that can give large groups of foes a shove with his Shield Blast. This is good for pushing things back and giving your teammates some room, but it’s even better when you find opportunities to bash large groups of dinosaurs off of cliffs for a bunch of instant kills. Image: Capcom Now, considering all of the glowing praise I’ve given Exoprimal so far, you might be confused about that point earlier in this review where I said It doesn’t really continue Capcom’s streak of strong releases. This is because despite all of the polish and effort that’s gone into making the game look and play great, there is only one game mode. One. That’s it. Even more frustrating, is the fact that it’s a PvEvP game mode. Why, Capcom? I thought I was here to fight dinosaurs, not other players. It’s extremely upsetting to be told you’re not having fun fast enough. True, you do fight dinosaurs, but I completely despise the fact that I’ll be having a great time making those giant lizards extinct again until the AI Leviathan interrupts my joy saying, “You are completing objectives slower than the enemy team.” Who cares? You don’t even see the enemy team for ninety-eight percent of the match anyway. It’s extremely upsetting to be told you’re not having fun fast enough. You will see other players, however, in two different ways. The first is Dominators. These are powerful abilities that can be used once per team by one player in each match’s “final mission.” You gain the ability to control one of the larger dinosaurs, (triceratops, carnotaurus, or a t-rex) and invade the enemy team’s world. This is admittedly fun, and it’s a great way to allow teams to either catch up or cement their lead. At the same time, I’d much rather just be fighting increasingly difficult hordes of giant AI dinosaurs. Image: Capcom The other way you’ll run into enemy players is far worse and completely baffling to me. In the very last moment of a match, players forget all the dinosaur killing they’ve been doing and everything devolves into a wildly unbalanced PvP brawl of Exosuit vs Exosuit. It’s so bizarre, and a team’s lead can be completely lost if you aren’t as good at fighting player-controlled Exosuits as you are at killing dino hordes. Why would you be? It’s not what the entire game has been about until the last possible second. Imagine you’re taking a math test, and right before you solve the last problem you’re told to write an essay on the influence that Edgar Allen Poe’s work had on southern gothic literature. It’s one of the weirdest and poorly thought out game design choices I’ve seen for quite a while. Stranger still, is that the game has raids which see ten players working together against enormous bosses and wackier, unique dinosaurs, but said raids happen completely randomly in matchmaking. Why? Why not allow people to matchmake into the modes they’d like to play? Image: Capcom The sole saving grace here is that a PvE mode does exist. Though it shouldn’t be labeled PvE, because it’s the exact same game mode that has teams racing to complete objectives, but there’s no nonsensical Exosuit fight at the end. Which makes the opposing team thing really redundant. Thankfully, Capcom has said that a true PvE mode will arrive on July 29, but until then there’s only one way to engage with the game. Once again on the frustrating side of things, Exoprimal is a live-service game. That can be good when things like a (hopefully) fun PvE mode arrives and the game’s promised 10 Exosuit variations that are set to arrive in August finally show up, but these regular content drops are also a pain. If you bought Exoprimal for its full retail price, you might be wondering why you have to wait weeks and months for the game to feel more complete. Also, as recent months have taught us with games like Marvel’s Avengers, Spellbreak, and Knockout City, being a live service game with promises of regular content doesn’t guarantee your survival. Image: Capcom Speaking of survival, Exoprimal also has a “Survival Pass” that costs even more money. But, this is just to be expected from any multiplayer game these days, isn’t it? On the bright side, Exoprimal has plenty of Exosuit and weapon skins that you can earn solely by playing the game which is an admitted breath of fresh air when compared with contemporaries. The core gameplay loop and presentation of Exoprimal are solid. Shooting dinos as each one of the Exosuits is great fun, and there’s some depth to be found in how you use your abilities and support your teammates. However, one game mode isn’t enough, especially when it’s so hyper-fixated on competing with other players in what feels like it ought to be an exclusively PvE experience. Hopefully, plenty of strong additions will find their way to Exoprimal sooner than later, but as it stands right now this is an extremely polished dino shooter that doesn’t have enough bite. Pros: Runs beautifully Stellar animations and designs Each Exosuit feels great to play Cons: Only one game mode at time of writing Too much focus on PvP in a PvE experience Having to wait weeks for content Score: 7.5/10 Reviewer played on Xbox Series X. A key was not provided by the publisher. Exoprimal is available on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, PS5, and PC Do you have any thoughts about this topic? Tell us in the comments below, or talk about it on Twitter. Don’t forget to tag us in the discussion! And don’t forget to subscribe to our weekly Patch Notes! Check out some other topics on GameCrate: Toxic Destiny 2 “fan” owes half a million dollars to Bungie over harassment Xbox gets a long-awaited feature: Voice reporting UPDATED: Microsoft wins case against FTC, can now legally buy Activision Blizzard Most classic video games are no longer accessible

As gaming technology has improved, so has the realism in some of our favorite shooters, not only with higher-fidelity graphics but also with how developers approach in-game mechanics. For some, this hyper-realistic approach is insensitive to the real-world people the games are based on, while for others, video games are always a fantasy, regardless of the subject matter they are based on. Regardless of where you stand, it begs the question, "Can a game be too realistic?" Below, we look at a few new and upcoming first-person shooters that are pushing the boundaries of realism. Ready or Not Depicts Real-Life SWAT Scenarios Image: VOID Interactive Ready or Not is a first-person SWAT game that puts players in control of an operator that must complete missions in highly-dangerous and realistic scenarios. Developed by VOID Interactive and released into Early Access on Steam at the end of 2021, the game is getting a full release sometime soon, accompanied by an update entitled Streamer, which puts players in the center of the SWATTING of a popular online influencer. Rather than the colorful futuristic items and characters in Apex Legends or the fluid movement and flashy frags in Call of Duty, Ready or Not opts for realistic, plodding combat, where there is no run button. Instead of slide-canceling into an enemy, players must slowly navigate realistic hostage scenarios, clear rooms, and detain threats, all while issuing commands to an AI squad or communicating with a team online. The game has come under fire for some of the missions and content within those missions, including one that tasks the player with clearing a threat at a school (there are no children on any map), a nightclub mission, and the aforementioned Streamer mission. With mass shootings increasing significantly over the years, it's clear why some missions wouldn't sit well with some. Image: VOID Interactive However, with all this being said, as someone who played the game, it's evident to me that the developers are doing their best to create a realistic SWAT game rather than get views for shock value. If anything, they've avoided potentially problematic content and have created mission objectives that, while realistic, try to honor those involved in the real-life scenarios they are depicting. While it's arguable whether a game like this should exist, the same could easily be said for other games, which brings us to our next title. Unrecord Was Confused with Bodycam Footage Image: DRAMA Unrecord is an upcoming single-player FPS that puts players in the shoes of a tactical police officer from the perspective of their body camera. The graphics create an uncanny realism, and many speculated that the footage was taken in real life when the first trailer dropped earlier this year. However, it was later revealed that the game was genuine and developed in Unreal Engine 5, according to online statements from the game's developer, DRAMA. The game looks like video clips from LiveLeak or YouTube, immersing players into the world of a police officer. Rather than focusing so much on gunplay, the developer has stated that the game focuses mainly on solving crimes while using tactics and detective skills, though onlookers can't help but comment on how realistic early footage appears. The French-based games studio, DRAMA, must tread lightly, especially considering the recent fatal shooting of teenager Nahel Merzouk by French police, which sparked protests and unrest throughout France. While American onlookers must contend with their own dark history of police brutality, having a game depict a detective's body cam footage as you potentially shoot suspects may feel too soon for some and never appropriate for others. A game that appears so realistic leads many to question whether titles like this go too far, blurring the line between video games and real life. Though a firm release date has yet to be set, some of these questions should be answered when the game debuts and players can get a better sense of what it is actually all about. Six Days in Fallujah Has Had Over a Decade of Controversy While Unrecord and Ready or Not place players in hypothetical police scenarios, Six Days in Fallujah is based on an actual U.S. military operation called the Second Battle of Fallujah in 2004, which saw 110 coalition forces die and is estimated to have killed thousands of Iraqi insurgents and civilians. For this reason, the title, developed by Highwire Games, came under intense backlash when it was first announced in 2009, eventually leading to the temporary cancellation of the game. Image: Highwire Games Flash-forward to 2023 and the game is officially revived and is currently sitting with a "Very Positive" rating on Steam, showing that sensitivity around real-life war scenarios seems to wane over time. That being said, the game has also come under fire for several other aspects, including negative, shallow, or stereotypical depictions of the Iraqi people. War will always be a sensitive subject and for good reason. Still, it's arguable whether all the negative attention should remain on the title, as games have depicted real-life war scenarios, from Battlefield to the original Call of Duty games and many other titles, for decades. Where the line lies with you will likely depend on your relationship with the story behind the game. Controversy is Nothing New for Video Games While it's clear to see why the above titles would garner attention for their realism, it's nothing new for the industry. Famously, in 1993, Senator Joe Lieberman held hearings to put Mortal Kombat execs on the stand to talk about violence in video games and the potential effect that may have on child development. Today, it still looks like we're talking about similar things, though, admittedly, the Mortal Kombat franchise has gotten a lot more gorey and realistic since the 90s. Whether or not these games are going "too far" or whether FPS titles can be "too real" will ultimately depend on the publishers distributing and funding their development and the gamers buying the games. As with many other things in our global economy, if it makes good money sense and people are willing to buy it, there's a high likelihood that someone is willing to make it. Whether or not it's a net positive for society overall, however -- only time will tell. Do you have any thoughts about this topic? Tell us in the comments below, or talk about it on Twitter. Don’t forget to tag us in the discussion! And don’t forget to subscribe to our weekly Patch Notes!

Any ARPG player will tell you having a proper build is the only way you'll be able to take out stronger enemies and bosses in the game. Diablo IV is no different, with theory crafters and Diablo veterans tinkering and tweaking different skills and Aspects to create the strongest character. Druids are one of the most powerful classes in Diablo IV, mixing high defense with reliable damage via elemental spells. They are among the most challenging classes to play because of all the different mechanics and spell options. If you've been struggling to get past World Tier 3 or complete your Capstone Dungeon, these endgame Druid builds will give you the power boost you need to make it through the more challenging portions of the game. These builds assume that your character is at least level 50 and you've reached the Paragon board; however -- you can also use them to level if you still need to make it there. Diablo IV Werebear Pulverize Build Perhaps the most well-known endgame build in the beta, the Werebear Pulverize build utilizes Earth Spike to build up Spirit and Pulverize as the main damage-dealing attack. The basic skill setup that you can use includes the following: Skills Earth Spike Pulverize Earthen Bulwark Debilitating Roar Trample Grizzly Rage See the full Skill Tree breakdown. The core of this build is to get your Skills and gear to the point where you can spam Pulverize, then obtain gear and Aspects that enhance your Pulverize damage. To recoup and regenerate Spirit faster so that you can spam, players should invest in Core skills like Heart of the Wild and Abundance and the Earthen Might ult, which provides a 5% chance to recoup 100% of your Spirit. Players can also use the unique Mother's Embrace ring that drops from defeating Lilith to refund 20-40% of the resource cost when simultaneously hitting five or more enemies. Key Aspects The two most important aspects of the Werebear Pulverize Build are the Shockwave Aspect and the Aspect of Ursine Horror. The Shockwave Aspect creates a shockwave that blasts in front of your Druid and transforms it into a ranged move. Unfortunately, this is also one of the most challenging Aspects to obtain and can only be found on Legendary 1H weapons, 2H weapons, and gloves. Players may get The Shockwave Aspect by gambling obols at the Curiosity Vendor in town. Luckily, the second critical aspect, The Aspect of Ursine Horror, is much easier and can be obtained by defeating the Belfry Zakara dungeon in Hawezar. This will create tectonic spikes that deal a certain amount of damage after casting Pulverize, transforming it into an AOE attack. It also makes Pulverize an Earth Skill, meaning buffs for Earth Skills also apply to Pulverize. Other aspects you can get, most of which can be obtained by completing dungeons, include: Ballistic: When you have Fortify, your Earth Skills gain +2 ranks. Disobedience: You gain increased armor for four seconds after you deal damage. Retaliation: Your core skills deal increased damage based on your amount of Fortify. Spirit Boons Spirit Boons are a unique mechanic to the Druid and go a long way in enhancing your character's power. The Boons you should activate for this build include the following: Deer: Wariness Eagle: Avian Wrath Wolf: Calamity Snake: Masochistic, Calm Before the Storm Related: https://www.gamecrate.com/guides/diablo-iv-unlock-druid-spirit-boons Key Items Certain Unique items will also synergize with this build and enhance its power significantly. They include: Vasily's Prayer (helm): Earth skills are now Werebear skills and Fortify you. Insatiable Fury (chest): Werebear is now your true form, and you gain +2 ranks on all Werebear skills. Temerity (legs): Effects that Heal you beyond 100% Life grant you a Barrier up to 80% of your Maximum Life that lasts 8 seconds. Ballistic Necklace (amulet): When you have Fortify, your Earth Skills gain +3 ranks. Players should concentrate on gear that provides them additional ranks on their Earth Skills and any equipment that provides Willpower, as it increases the damage that your Pulverize does. Vasily's Prayer is critical to round out this build, as it makes all of your main skills, Werebear and Earth skills, meaning you benefit from any buffs for either type of attack. If you follow these steps exactly, then the Druid Pulverize Earth build is one of the most powerful AOE builds in the entire game while still providing your Druid with enough defense via Fortify and armor to tank high-level dungeon bosses and make it out alive. Try to wrangle as many mobs in clusters as possible, as this will reward you with a greater chance to recoup lost Spirit and increase your overall damage. Diablo IV Werewolf Tornado Build The Werewolf Tornado Build uses Storm Strike to build up Spirit, Tornado as your main attack weapon, and the Werewolf form to increase your attack speed. This synergy enables you to spam your Tornado and procure critical hits more frequently. Skills Storm Strike Tornado Blood Howl Cyclone Armor Hurricane Grizzly Rage See the full Skill Tree breakdown. The Werewolf Tornado build relies on recouping lost Spirit quickly via Earthen Might and increasing attack speed as much as possible by spamming Blood Howl and Grizzly Rage, which puts you in an immune state so you don't get stun locked. With the increased attack speed via your Werewolf skills, you should be able to stack multiple tornados, which will all continue to hit enemies in the area for severe damage over time. Key Aspects The two critical aspects of this build include the Mighty Storm's Aspect and the Dire Wolf's Aspect. The Mighty Storm's Aspect makes it so the Earthen Might skill also applies to Storm Skills, providing a 5% chance to recoup all your Spirit while increasing critical strike damage. Unfortunately, this Aspect can only be found on Legendary gear, which you'll have to farm for or trade obols for at the Curiosity Vendor. Roll on 1H weapons, as they only cost 40 obols, and restrict your rolls to Offensive Aspects. The Dire Wolf's Aspect makes Grizzly Rage transform you into a Werewolf instead of a Werebear while also applying damage reduction, a speed boost, and Spirit cost reduction. It will also heal you when killing mobs, which can be helpful because you won't be in Werebear form and may require additional survivability. Other important Aspects include the following: Vigorous Aspect: Damage reduction while in Werewolf form. Stormchaser's Aspect: Tornados will seek up to 1-3 targets. Aspect of the Rampaging Werebeast: The duration of Grizzly Rage is increased by 1-5 seconds and provides increased Critical Strike damage. Spirit Boons The Spirit Boon passives you should get for the Werewolf Tornado build include the following: Deer: Wariness Eagle: Avian Wrath Wolf: Calamity Snake: Masochistic, Calm Before the Storm Key Items Luckily, only a few items are required for the Druid Werewolf Tornado build beside the unique helm, Tempest Roar. Tempest Roar (helm): Storm skills have a chance to grant 4 Spirit. Your base Storm Skills are now also Werewolf Skills. Temerity (legs): Effects that Heal you beyond 100% Life grant you a Barrier up to 80% of your Maximum Life that lasts 8 seconds. Unfortunately, Tempest Roar is required to work at its maximum capacity for this build. It can typically be found in World Tier III and beyond in Helltide Chests, World Bosses, and other random in-game drops. Players can also pick up the unique Temerity (legs), which grants a barrier that lasts up to 8 seconds. If you can obtain Tempest Roar, the Werewolf Tornado build is one of the strongest in the game. Because you're in Werewolf form, you should focus on items to improve your Fortify and survivability since that will be your only weakness. Just as powerful as the Pulverize build but better for single-target bosses, the Werewolf Tornado might be slightly more challenging to use than the Pulverize build, but the DPS payoff is well worth it. Paragon & Gems for Druids in Diablo IV For both builds, initially spec your Paragon points into the Willpower Paragon path – or the right side- as it will increase your character's elemental damage. Branch out and obtain the Tempest Node to boost your Willpower significantly. As you gain more Paragon boards, the path to increase your Willpower and damage output will become more apparent. Paragon is one of the more fun and creative things you can do in the game, so as long as you invest in Willpower and nodes that increase your damage, you’re on the right path. Regarding gems, players should socket Sapphires in armor for damage reduction, Skulls in jewelry for additional armor, and Rubies or Sapphires in weapons for increased Overpower damage or Critical Strike Damage. Whatever build you select for your Druid in Diablo IV all comes down to you. Luckily, there are plenty of options for any playstyle, and this class is one of the most fun and unique in the game. You don’t need to adhere to these rules strictly, but if you do, it should maximize your damage output. If you have difficulty in the game, try reducing your World Tier level or following one of these builds closely to help you through it.

Upon completing the Diablo IV story campaign, players are met by a sentient tree called the Tree of Whispers. After speaking to the tree, players unlock the Whispers of the Dead questline, a repeatable endgame quest they can use to gain additional experience and obtain high-level gear. This is a brand-new mechanic in Diablo, so if you're having difficulty figuring it all out, don't worry; I've got you covered in this guide. After beating the campaign and speaking with Lorath, a new Priority Quest marker will appear on the map in The Writhing Mire in Hawezar with a new Waypoint for The Tree of Whispers. Interact with the tree, and it will ask you to collect 10 Grim Favors from special quests called Whispers, indicated by red and pink icons on the map. GameCrate/Diablo IV Completing the marked quests will reward the player with Grim Favors -- the amount of which can be viewed by scrolling over the event on the map. Complete the Whispers to gain Grim Favors, and once you have 10 Grim Favors, you can return to the Tree of Whispers to select 1 of 3 Collection Caches that you can unlock for Legendary gear. It's important to note that these quests have a timer that can expire but will refresh with new quests once the timer runs out. To check the progress of your Grim Favors, open the map and view the Whispers of the Dead Grim Favors bar at the bottom of the screen. GameCrate/Diablo IV The best caches are the Legendary Caches, as they have the best chance of dropping the most Legendary Items. However -- regular caches can also contain Legendaries. Caches from the Tree of Whispers can include all pieces of wearable equipment. They also include gems, gold, herbs, ore, and a variety of other items. Whisper Quests in Diablo IV There are various Whisper Quests in Diablo IV, each reflecting other events and missions you've probably already completed. The Whisper Quests in Diablo IV include: Dungeons: The typical dungeon involves completing a series of tasks, then taking on a dungeon boss. If you haven't completed the dungeon before, it will unlock an Aspect you can use. Local/World Events: These are the typical events outlined with an orange quest marker in the game. You'll need to complete the objectives in the allotted time. You'll also get some Obols for your trouble in most cases. Assassination Quests: Players must travel to a specific location, interact with a corpse, then defeat an enemy to gain Grim Favors. PvP: Players can enter PvP areas and take down bosses to gain Grim Favors. They can also collect Seeds of Hatred that they can then bank at Altars of Extraction to gain powerful items. Rituals: In these events, players must travel to set location markers and interact with in-game entities to Invoke rituals and complete the task. Harvest Events: Players must harvest a certain resource in a select area. Once they reach the cap, they'll be rewarded with Grim Favors. Typically this involves killing mobs. The Tree of Whispers is a powerful endgame entity in Diablo IV. Elias, one of the antagonists in the game, has his head mounted there, along with other characters from the lore of the game. While its origins remain somewhat elusive, it does provide fun daily activities players can complete to get really good gear.

In Diablo 4, Druids gain access to powerful passive buffs known as Spirit Boons at level 15. Players can choose from four Spirit Boons, each providing strong passive bonuses that will help you make it through Tier 2 and beyond. Like the other classes in the game, this class-specific mechanic can synergize with your build and greatly enhance your damage output and survivability. If you're a little lost on how it all works, this guide will tell you everything you need to know about Druid Spirit Boons in Diablo 4. Upon reaching level 15, players unlock the Priority Quest, Spirits of the Lost Grove. To unlock the Spirit Boon mechanic for Druids, players must travel to Túr Dúlra and defeat the Stronghold there. Afterward, players can head to southern Túr Dúlra to unlock different Boons using Druidic Spirit Offerings, a resource that drops when defeating enemies. To enable the Boons after you've unlocked them, open your inventory and select the Spirit Boons tab. From here, you can select one passive per Spirit unless you've unlocked all the boons, in which case you can allocate two Boons for a single Spirit as part of the Spirit Bonding passive buff. There are four different Spirits, each with four different Boons to select from. The four spirits include: Deer Eagle Wolf Snake Each time you unlock a new Spirit Boon tier, the Druidic Spirit Offerings cost increases, with each level costing 25, 50, 75, and 100 for tiers 1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively. The only exception here is the Snake Spirit, which requires you to invest 100 Druidic Spirit Offerings upfront to unlock all its Boons. All Druid Spirit Boons in Diablo 4 Each of the four Spirits has a Boon to select from. See below for all the Boons currently in the game. Deer The Deer Spirit helps players by providing a variety of defensive abilities. Prickleskin: Gain X Thorns Gift of the Stag: Gain 10 Maximum Spirit Wariness: Take 10% reduced damage from Elites Advantageous Beast: Reduce the duration of control impairing effects by 15% Eagle The Eagle Spirit increases attack modifiers, with Iron Feather being the only passive contributing to Health. Scythe Talons: Gain 5% Critical Strike Chance Iron Feather: Gain 10%[x] Maximum Life Swooping Attacks: Gain 10%[+] Attack Speed Avian Wrath: Gain 30%[x] Critical Damage Wolf The Wolf Spirit offers a variety of passive buffs that mainly play on Lucky Hit and Fortify. Packleader: Lucky Hit: Lucky Hit: Critical Strikes have up to a 20% chance to reset the Cooldowns of your Companion Skills. Energize: Lucky Hit: Dealing damage has up to a 15% chance to restore 10 Spirit. Bolster: Fortify for 10% of your Maximum Life when you use a Defensive Skill. Calamity: Extend the duration of Ultimate Skills by 25%. Snake As mentioned, you'll need to invest 100 offerings to unlock all four Snake Spirit Boons. Obsidian Slam: Every 20th kill will cause your next Earth Skill to Overpower. Overload: Lucky Hit: Dealing Lightning damage has up to a 20% chance to cause the target to emit a static discharge, dealing [x] Lightning damage to surrounding enemies. Masochistic: Critical Strikes with Shapeshifting Skills Heal you for 3% Maximum Life (#). Calm Before the Storm: Lucky Hit: Nature Magic Skills have up to a 10% chance to reduce the Cooldown of your Ultimate Skill by 2 seconds. As far as what Diablo 4 Druid Spirit Boons are the best, that really comes down to your build. It will all depend on what kind of skills you’re speccing in and what role you’re trying to fill with your character. Experiment with different Boons to see what fits best with your character. Remember, you can always reset skills with enough gold.