This week, the Epic Games Store is offering a fantastic indie game called Botany Manor as a free download. Released in 2024, it’s available starting February 5th and shares some similarities with Blue Prince, a highly praised indie title from last year.
As a Magic: the Gathering player, I’ve always been impressed by how huge the pro scene is – it’s definitely one of the biggest in all of trading card games. Wizards of the Coast is constantly holding tournaments all over the world, bringing together the best players to compete for the championship. The Pro Tours (now called Players Tours) are the biggest events on the calendar, and only the top players even get invited. Sadly, I just heard the news that one of the greatest Magic pros has passed away, which is really tough to hear.
Open-world games offer diverse experiences: sometimes you play as a powerful hero, and other times as an everyday person facing huge challenges. But players always appreciate the freedom to shape their own story and live the life they choose. Here’s a look at some of the best open-world games that let you forge your own path.
Flynn McAllistair and Jason Lee Scott are often seen as the perfect Power Rangers, and while others have achieved great things, very few are as well-respected. Only a small number of Rangers truly stand out as the very best, and they’ll be remembered throughout the series’ history.
Many games center around staying alive, requiring players to gather resources to build homes, find food, and protect themselves. Others emphasize building and expanding, letting players create huge, automated factories or complex economies based on items they produce. No matter the specific style of game, crafting is a key element and a core part of the experience.
LEGO bricks will be 77 years old in 2026. For over two decades, LEGO has successfully created sets based on popular licenses – meaning they make kits featuring characters and themes from franchises like Star Wars, Harry Potter, Spider-Man, Super Mario, Batman, Indiana Jones, Lord of the Rings, and SpongeBob SquarePants. LEGO has partnered with almost every type of media, but anime has generally been the one exception – until very recently.
One Piece is now in its final arc, and the author, Oda, is working hard to bring Luffy’s adventure to a satisfying conclusion as quickly as possible. This means Luffy and the rest of the Straw Hat crew should be at their strongest. As Luffy gets closer to finding Laugh Tale and finishing his journey, he needs to be incredibly powerful and have built up a network of strong allies.
A new indexing method offers a promising alternative to traditional pointer-based approaches for rapidly accessing data stored in DNA.
Nikita Buyanov has become a well-known figure in the gaming world thanks to the popularity of Escape from Tarkov. He’s currently the Chief Operating Officer for Battlestate Games, the studio behind the game, which he founded in 2012 to start developing Escape from Tarkov. Buyanov is also actively involved in the game’s creation as its director, and even composes much of its music. Even though Escape from Tarkov isn’t fully releasing until late 2025, Buyanov is already giving fans a preview of his next project.
Looking back at 2011, it’s crazy how many games we still talk about as all-time greats! It almost feels like a fluke, but when you think about it, a lot of them were sequels to games we already loved, or they brought back old favorites. Most of the big titles from that year were pretty safe bets. Actually, out of all those now-classic games from 2011, only one really came out of nowhere, and honestly, that one’s probably the most popular of the whole bunch now!