Gaming

The latest Major Order in Helldivers 2 has the community both thrilled and agitated. Arrowhead Game Studios has once again upped the ante, challenging players to liberate the planet Claorell from the clutches of the Automatons in order to advance Super Earth’s plans for the Democracy Space Station.

But as any seasoned diver knows, the path to victory is rarely straightforward!

To even reach Claorell, players must first conquer the planet Imber, a fiery hellscape ravaged by deadly fire tornadoes. It’s a daunting task, but fear not, brave Helldivers! With the right equipment and a little bit of know-how, you’ll be spreading democracy across the galaxy in no time.

So, what’s the secret weapon in your arsenal for this Helldivers 2 Major Order? Look no further than the Freedom’s Flame Premium Warbond. This fiery-themed content pack, available for purchase with Super Credits, contains a selection of weapons and gear that will make your life on Imber a whole lot easier.

But the real star of the show? The armor sets! Freedom’s Flame includes two body armor, each with a unique passive ability that could mean the difference between victory and defeat. The I-09 Heatseeker Light Armor and the I-102 Draconaught Medium Armor both come equipped with the “Inflammable” passive (nice one, Arrowhead), which provides a whopping 75% damage resistance to fire.

That’s right, you read that correctly. 75% damage resistance to fire. On a planet plagued by fire tornadoes. It’s almost as if Arrowhead knew exactly what “Game Master” Joel had in store for us and decided to throw us a bone ahead of time. Or, more precisely, a very stylish and functional set of armor.

Of course, the armor alone won’t guarantee success. You’ll still need to coordinate with your fellow Helldivers, make strategic use of your weapons and stratagems, and pray to the RNG gods that a teammate doesn’t accidentally call down a supply drop on your own head.

But with the Freedom’s Flame armor equipped, you’ll be able to face those fire tornadoes with a little more confidence and a lot more style.

So, what’s next for the Super Earth’s finest? Once Imber is secured and the path to Claorell is open, the real work begins. The Automatons won’t give up their deep-mantle mining complex without a fight, and you can bet they’ll have plenty of surprises in store for us.

But if there’s one thing we’ve learned from our time in Arrowhead‘s hugely popular sci-fi space shooter, it’s that this community is more than up to the challenge. With each new Major Order, we’ve seen players come together, strategize, and ultimately triumph in the face of seemingly impossible odds.

And with the help of gear like the Freedom’s Flame armor, we’ll be ready to take on whatever the Automatons throw at us next.

So gear up, Helldivers. The fight for Claorell is just beginning, and we’ve got a whole galaxy to liberate. And soon, an entire new alien faction to welcome back. But, for now, let’s show those Automatons what happens when you mess with Super Earth!

What’s your go-to loadout for taking on the Automatons? Have you had a chance to try out the Freedom’s Flame armor yet? Share your tips and stories in the comments below, and let’s keep spreading the word of democracy, one planet at a time!

Dragon Ball Super’s Limited-Edition Steelbook Collection is on sale for a huge 40% discount on the Crunchyroll Store, dropping the price to $120. First released in 2022 and reprinted earlier this year, this premium gift set is arguably the best Dragon Ball Blu-ray set thus far. You’re saving 40% with this deal; Dragon Ball Super: The Complete Series normally sells for $200, and discounts are exceedingly rare. This is one of the most notable offers in Crunchyroll’s new Treat Yo’ Shelf Sale.

$120 (was $200)

The entire Dragon Ball Super arc is collected across 20 discs, two in each steelbook case. That’s right, this gift set comes with 10 steelbooks and a premium “steelbox” display case. The storage box has slots for each steelbook as well as a lid featuring the dragon Shenron.

At the $120 deal price, you’re paying $12 per steelbook, which is quite cheap compared to standalone anime Blu-rays with steelbook cases.

Crunchyroll’s deal probably won’t last for long, as the $120 price is by far the lowest we’ve seen over the past two years. At one point in 2022, Amazon had the collection for $155, but the price has been pretty much locked at $200 for nearly two years now. We’ll update this article if Amazon matches Crunchyroll’s deal for Prime Big Deal Days, but at the moment, the gift set costs $195.57 at Amazon.

Dragon Ball Super takes place during the gap in the Dragon Ball Z timeline following the Majin Buu arc. Amazon’s exclusive Dragon Ball Z Complete Series Box Set is $175.36.

Check out the full list of bonus features for Dragon Ball Super: The Complete Series below.

Dragon Ball Super: The Complete Series Bonus Features

• Catching Up on the Dragon Ball Universe: Sonny Strait and Savannah Ligaluppi
• Catching Up on the Dragon Ball Universe: Christopher R. Sabat and Hero D. Sabat
• Textless Opening and Closing Songs
• Watching Dragon Ball Super: with Jason Douglas and Ian Sinclair
• Anime Expo 2017: Interview with Sean Schemmel and Jason Douglas
• Dragon Ball Super: An Interview with Sean Schemmel
• Coffee Break with Mai and Trunks
• Dragon Ball Super at Anime Expo 2018: Interviews with Sonny Strait, Matthew Mercer, and Kyle Hebert
• Dragon Ball Super: Rawly Pickens and Chuck Huber Answer Twitter
• Dragon Ball Super: Two Humans and an Android
• Dragon Ball Super: Twitter Q&A with Sarah Wiedenheft and Dawn Bennett
• Dragon Ball Super: Interview with Patrick Seitz and Kyle Hebert

More Dragon Ball Deals at Crunchyroll

Crunchyroll’s Treat Yo’ Shelf Sale includes a handful of other Dragon Ball products, including Dragon Ball Z: Complete Manga Box Set for $187.59 (was $280). The set comes with all 26 volumes of the acclaimed manga. Crunchyroll’s price is better than Amazon’s current deal ($210). The reverse is true for the original Dragon Ball Complete Box Set, as Amazon’s deal price is $97, while Crunchyroll has the 16-book collection for $113.89.

• Crunchyroll has the best deal on Dragon Ball Z manga set:
• Amazon has the best deal on Dragon Ball manga set:

You can also get the Dragon Ball Z – Premium Collector’s Lamp for $95 (was $150). Admittedly, this seems rather pricey still, but it does look pretty cool at least.

Four Dragon Ball Super films are available on Blu-ray, too. But if you haven’t watched the series, you may want to wait on them, as a few cover the same plot points in a more condensed format. Plot points from the movies were fleshed out and included in the Dragon Ball Super anime.

Square Enix’s failed party shooter, Foamstars, is going free-to-play just in time for its latest Season, Season 6. This new Season introduces a fair bit of new content for players to sink their teeth into.

Over on Square Enix’s website, it was revealed that the shooter, which released back in February, has gone through many discussions and the new model has already begun, meaning players whether they’re PlayStation Plus members or not can enjoy Foamstars for the low price of free.

If you were among those who purchased the game or claimed it on PS Plus from February through early March, you’re able to claim the Legacy Gifts DLC, which includes limited items like 12 Bubble Beastie skins complete with an exclusive color variant. Additionally, you can plaster “Legacy” as your title and a new slideboard design.

The next Season, Diamond Jam, introduces tons of new maps across the Smash the Stars, Rubber Duck Party, and Extreme Party game modes as well as new boss battles in Squad Missions. It also introduces Diamond Chips, which act as a currency to trade-in for items.

In the end, Foamstars hit a rough patch, just like Square Enix in general, finding itself myrid in controversy thanks to its use of AI art. It also couldn’t shake the comparisons to Nintendo’s Splatoon no matter how hard the team tried.

Season 6 of Foamstars goes live on November 8.

For many Valorant players, the climb up the ranked ladder can feel like a battle of willpower. When Valorant players discuss the hardest rank to escape, many people focus on the higher ranks like Ascendant or Immortal. But in truth, the real struggle often lies much lower.

Despite being so low in the rank tiers, Gold has earned a reputation as a frustrating and difficult rank to escape. Many players find Gold lobbies more toxic, inconsistent, and volatile, making the climb out of this rank a mental and skill-testing hell.

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Valorant recently entered the console market and is doing pretty well in that space. Image credit: Riot Games

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One of the primary reasons Valorant‘s Gold rank is so challenging lies in the mindset of the players. Gold players often develop an inflated sense of skill, believing they’re far superior to their rank. This mentality breeds arrogance, leading to poor decision-making and communication breakdowns.

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In Gold lobbies, many players fail to acknowledge their mistakes, choosing instead to blame teammates for losses. This environment fosters a toxic atmosphere where teamwork suffers, making it difficult to maintain a cohesive strategy throughout a match.

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Another factor that contributes to Gold being the hardest rank is the inconsistency in skill levels. In Gold, you’re likely to encounter a mix of players who belong in Silver or Platinum, which disrupts the balance of the game. This creates lobbies with skill gaps between teammates and opponents.

A match can feel like a constant uphill battle when one player consistently carries while others struggle to keep up. The disparity in individual skill can make matches feel more chaotic and unpredictable compared to higher ranks, where the skill level tends to even out.

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Some players have even gone as far as to say that Gold lobbies are harder to win than those in Diamond or Ascendant. This is partly due to the sheer unpredictability of the players in Gold.

Despite the perception that Gold is a toxic cesspool, some argue that it’s also a critical learning phase for players. The rank forces players to improve their game sense, communication, and adaptability, as they’re constantly exposed to different styles of play. Those who persevere through Gold often come out with stronger skills and a deeper understanding of the game.

Players often report that despite performing well in terms of kills and assists, their Ranked Rating (RR) gains are minimal. This is because Valorant’s ranking system prioritizes overall match performance and win-loss ratios rather than individual combat scores.

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A player might consistently carry their team but still see slow progress due to the hidden MMR system working behind the scenes. This mismatch between visible rank and hidden MMR means that Gold players often feel like they’re stuck in limbo, unable to break free despite their efforts.

In contrast, once players reach higher ranks like Platinum, Diamond, or Ascendant, the environment becomes more stable. Communication improves, and players are more likely to focus on strategy and team play.

Higher-ranked players are often more focused on winning, which creates a more consistent and enjoyable experience. But for many, the mental and emotional toll of grinding through Gold is so exhausting that they’re unable to appreciate it once they finally escape.

What do you think about Valorant‘s ranked system? Let us know in the comments!

New releases in fiction, nonfiction and comics that caught our attention.

Harper

Normally a book described as being largely about a teen love triangle wouldn’t be something I’d reach for, but I decided to give this one a go after reading many glowing reviews, and found myself drawn in by Louise Erdrich’s prose right away. There is a love triangle, yes, but The Mighty Red is about much more than that. It covers a lot of ground, including the struggles of a farming community facing economic recession, land degradation and concerns about the chemicals being used to keep the land productive.

The Mighty Red follows characters Crystal and Kismet, a mother and daughter, and the people in their orbits in rural North Dakota. There is a tragedy that underlies much of the story (and a hint of the supernatural), but there’s a fair amount of humor mixed in too.

$23 at Amazon

W. W. Norton & Company

Every so often I’ll be minding my own business, just going about my day, when I suddenly remember the terrifying possibility that a small asteroid could someday strike Earth and do unfathomable damage. Mood ruined. This exact scenario is something that scientists have been investigating for decades and devising tactics to prevent. Promisingly, they’ve made some major strides in recent years. In How to Kill an Asteroid: The Real Science of Planetary Defense, science journalist Robin George Andrews dives into the ongoing efforts to develop a planetary defense strategy, like asteroid redirection.

The beginning of this book reads like an apocalyptic nightmare, which is to say it’s pretty engrossing. As Andrews moves on from the hypothetical and into reality — the history and the science that the book is all about — he keeps it interesting with a conversational writing style that makes even the jargon feel readable.

$28 at Amazon

Oni Press

Despite being obsessed with Cult of the Lamb, it’s taken me a little while to get around to reading the comics, the first of which was released back in June. I finally snagged issues 1-4 this week, though, after the fourth and final book of this arc was released, and it’s been a lot of fun reading through them. The comics (so far) rehash the game’s already established lore — how the Lamb came to be leading a cult, why they’re fighting the Bishops of The Old Faith, etc — but there’s some new stuff to latch onto even for people who already know the story really well. At least, new to me (did you guys know Clauneck is a duck?).

Running a cult is complicated stuff, as anyone who has played the game can attest, and the comics get into the emotional ins and outs of that burden. It’s just as cute-yet-horrifying as you’d expect a Cult of the Lamb comic to be. Issues 1-4 are being collected in a volume called  that’s due to come out in December, but you can find them individually at your local comic store or in digital form.

$5 at Amazon

Even though Bethesda tried its best to hype up Starfield: Shattered Space, the DLC hasn’t been received well by gamers. Over on Steam, the story-driven only managed to draw in a little under 600 reviews within the first 24 hours, with the majority of them being negative.

Gamers have labeled Shattered Space a massive flop and given Starfield the classic review-bomb treatment once again. All of this is quite disappointing to see, considering the fact that Todd Howard has fantasized about this phenomenal IP for nearly 55 years at this point.

Even though Starfield hasn’t exactly hit the mark, Bethesda still considers the project to be the best thing they’ve ever developed. In an interview before the game’s launch last year, Todd Howard opened up about the development process and what motivated him and Bethesda to take their RPG formula to space.

Howard shares his personal and professional journey, which led to the creation of Starfield. Since his birth in 1970, he has always been fascinated with space and the moon landing, which coincidentally connects to his family’s history.

Howard’s brother was born on the same day as Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon. This sparked a lifelong dream for him to create a space-themed video game that would shake up the entire gaming industry.

Even though Starfield spent eight years in development, it’s been on Howard’s mind for nearly 55 years. Sure, it’s not a perfect game by any means, but it brings a universe packed to the brim with stars, planets, and galaxies to explore. The title allows gamers unprecedented freedom and the next level of immersion.

Starfield truly expresses Howard’s personal love for space exploration, his childhood dreams, and his experiences growing up with NASA’s moon landing, which all contributed to his vision for the game. It’s Howard’s ultimate project, which, with quite a few fixes, will be right up there with Bethesda’s most iconic franchises.

Even though the space RPG is Howard’s biggest project ever, it still doesn’t change the fact that its latest expansion, Shattered Space, has failed to live up to the expectations. Currently, it’s being torn apart by gamers who believe Bethesda has truly lost its way, and it won’t be long before it suffers the same fate as Ubisoft.

So, why did Shattered Space DLC fail? It’s simply because Howard and his team didn’t bring much to the table for a $30 DLC. Despite the steep cost, for which you can buy some quality games, it doesn’t feature any new ship parts, skills, or gameplay mechanics that you’d expect with any DLC.

It took the company over a year to develop Shattered Space. In the past, it has delivered some phenomenal additions to its classic games, which were developed in way less time and altered the titles completely.

It’s time for the development team to own up to its failures and finally do Howard’s dream project justice. All it needs is some meaningful additions, and it’ll be back at the top of Steam charts.

With that said, do you think Starfield has failed to deliver on its promises? If so, let us know in the comments below.

“The Rotterdam-based (The Netherlands) indie games publisher/developer SOEDESCO and the Berlin-based (Germany) indie games developer FreetimeStudio, are today very happy and excited to announce that their upcoming farm-life RPG “Garden Witch Life”, is coming to PC (via Steam) and consoles (PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X//S, Xbox One, and the Nintendo Switch) this year (Q4 2024).” – Jonas Ek, TGG.