For Phoenix Labs, the free-to-play action RPG Dauntless has been a long journey. Mimicking much of the gameplay seen in Capcom’s Monster Hunter series, Dauntless was in closed alpha and beta before eventually releasing into the wild. The response, especially in a post-Monster Hunter World industry, has been fantastic, with the developer announcing two million players to date.

Speaking to VentureBeat, Phoenix Labs CEO Jesse Houston said, “We released it in May and had a huge response. We had trouble keeping up with demand. But now we are doing an expansion with a new Behemoth and a new story.”

The Coming Storm will release on August 9th and feature new weapons and a new Behemoth to tackle. It sees a ship from Ostia, a neighbouring faction, crashing into Ramsgate and bringing new NPCs, quests and changes to the environment. Along with new gear, there will be a new grenade and the Ostian Repeater, the first ever ranged weapon.

The new Behemoth is Koshai, and along with offering a new challenge thanks to its thorns, it will also cause other Behemoths to change their behaviours and forms.

For Phoenix Labs, the idea of Dauntless was to focus on a game with social play. “It’s cool to see that this small genre has gotten a lot bigger with us and Capcom’s Monster Hunter. Now we’ve got a big genre, not a niche. They focused heavily on a solo experience. We are unapologetically multilayer.”

With 72 employees and enough funding raised, Dauntless should be around for quite a while. Have you tried it? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

TennoCon 2018, Digital Extremes’ dedicated convention to all things Warframe, had tons of bombshell announcements this weekend. One such announcement was that Warframe would be coming to the Nintendo Switch. This version will see Digital Extremes partnering with Panic Button, the latter having worked on Switch ports for DOOM, Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus and Rocket League.

Regardless of how the game runs, fans can expect the same degrees of customization, tons of weapons, mods, 35 different Warframes, clans, and enormous worlds like Plains of Eidolon. The Switch version, much like other platforms, will be completely free-to-play.

How will Warframe’s interface fare on the Nintendo Switch, especially on the go? What will be the graphical settings for handheld and docked modes? How much space will the Switch version take? Most importantly, when will it release? We’ll have to wait for this information but it seems a given that updates will go live along with the PS4 and Xbox One versions.

What are your thoughts on Warframe heading to the Nintendo Switch? Let us know in the comments below.

With the number of shooters that Nintendo Switch has been receiving lately (Fortnite, Paladins), it’s probably no surprise to hear of a mobile free to play shooter heading to the platform. However, this is Madfinger Games’ Shadowgun Legends, currently available free on iOS and Android as of March 2018. Check out the teaser trailer below.

Touted as a looter shooter, Shadowgun Legends is actually infamous for its many nods to Bungie’s Destiny. You can earn loot (500 different weapons and 1,000 armour pieces were touted) and the interface is clearly inspired by that other shared world shooter. However, Shadowgun Legends has a Story mode, co-op and PvP along with a hub where players can form guilds.

Not only that but there are raids to partake in which house the best loot. As a mobile translation of the Destiny formula, Shadowgun Legends has proven fairly popular. Will that hold up on a hybrid platform like the Switch? Madfinger Games hasn’t offered a release date but did say that it’s “coming soon”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kcf8hg7nZbU

No one can fault Valve for not following trends – it announced a battle royale mode for popular MOBA Dota 2 to be included in the 2018 International Battle Pass. A month later, The Underhollow is finally live to explore for Battle Pass owners.

Though it’s not a full-blown 100 player affair, The Underhollow does see eight teams with three players each battling it out. The mission is to locate Roshefort, an incredibly rare cheese that can only be found beneath Roshan’s lair. So not only must you contend with other teams but Roshan as well who’s destroying the tunnels in The Underhollow, limiting the play space.

Become the last team standing and claim a large amount of Battle Points. Battle Points can also be earned by taking down enemy teams and finding specific treasures or even cheese. To access The Underhollow, players must purchase the level 1 Battle Pass for $10. If you don’t have time to farm all the unlockable rewards, then individual levels can be purchased as well – spending $37 will get you to level 75.

Digital Extremes had a brief reveal for Warframe’s The Sacrifice, a new cinematic quest, at the PC Gaming Show 2018. During the teaser, we saw Excalibur Umbra and Ballas, the villain that’s been haunting the Tenno for some time. While the newest video isn’t overtly long, the developer confirmed that The Sacrifice will be going live this week for PC.

While it isn’t confirmed how players will earn Umbra Excalibur or even what twists The Sacrifice will bring (what will players have to sacrifice?), Digital Extremes has a pretty solid reputation for its quests. The Second Dream, The War Within and Apostasy Prologue all brought major changes to the free to play title and helped build the lore.

On top of that, new Frames, weapons, activities and much more were brought to players completely free of charge. Warframe’s The Sacrifice doesn’t have an exact release date but seeing it on Thursday or Friday seems to be most likely. What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments.

Though players are having trouble actually playing the game, Phoenix Labs’ Dauntless has launched into open beta. The free to play Monster Hunter-esque action RPG sees Slayers battling the Behemoths and ensuring humanity’s survival. Check out the introduction trailer below to see what your journey to the Frontier entails.

Dauntless functions much like other hunting games. Venture across the Shattered Isles, fight against Behemoths (perhaps teaming with other players along the way) and bring back materials from the beasts. Better weapons and armour can be crafted to tackle tougher challenges. Thus does the cycle repeat. Dauntless’s Evergame is committed to offering more after the campaign with Dire Behemoths, modifiers and rewards like Exotic gear.

Phoenix Labs is looking to further expand on Dauntless with new enemies, expansions and other features in the near future. Supporter’s Packs are available for those who want to splurge. Check them out here – they range from $35 to $100 in price.

Phoenix Labs has spent quite a bit of time developing Dauntless, a Monster Hunter-style action RPG, from closed beta to paid early access and finally, its open beta stage. The game is now available for all to download on PC.

Much like Monster Hunter, players take on the role of Slayers who battle larger monsters called Behemoths. Set on the Shattered Isles, there is a single-player campaign to work through but players can also team up to battle Behemoths together.

After the story is complete, Phoenix Labs promises an Evergame system that will provide end-game level challenges and rewards. Tougher difficulties and Behemoths will be included though more will be added overtime (along with new expansions and the like).

Head on over to the official site to download the game for yourself. If you find the open beta fun, then Dauntless has Supporter Packs ranging from $35 to $100 in price. Some Founder’s Pack owners are annoyed that there’s more stuff included for the same price. However, the developer maintains that the latter’s items will never be available to anyone else.

Chinese company Tencent is fairly dominant in the gaming industry. It owns a major part of Riot Games (League of Legends), a minority stake in Epic Games (Fortnite: Battle Royale), and is partnered with PUBG Corporation (PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds). Add another studio to the list as Grinding Gear Games, developer of free to play ARPG Path of Exile, has had a majority stake acquired by Tencent.

Revealed in a forum update, Grinding Gear Games promised that there won’t be any “big changes” to its operation. As such, the development and operation of Path of Exile won’t be affected. In fact, managing director Chris Wilson told The New Zealand Herald that it would be increasing its employee count from 114 to 130 over the next year.

“We’re planning to do more expansions for our games, in parallel, and of course bolstering the team will be really useful in achieving that. Tencent is the largest games publisher in the world, has a strong reputation and is known for respecting the creative independence of the companies they invest in.”

The total stake owned by Tencent accounts for 80 percent of shares in Grinding Gear. Also, though the game won’t go pay to win, Tencent could release specific features for China. As for the various expansions that the developer has planned, expect them to roll out over this year and 2019. Version 4.0.0 is also in development and is targeting beta testing for early 2020. Given the major scope of content introduced in 3.0.0, it’s worth keeping an eye on.

Meanwhile, Path of Exile fans can expect the Incursion League, which sees players traveling to the past to assault the Temple of Atzoatl in order to ascertain its location in the present. It will go live on June 1st along with several new items and skill gem reworks.

It’s that time of the year again as Dota 2 players count down the days till The International, the biggest esports competition for the MOBA in the world. The 2018 International Battle Pass is thus available and it offers a range of different rewards and unlocks. While last year’s pass offered a co-op PvE campaign, this year’s is even crazier with The Underhollow. The best way to describe is as Dota 2’s take on Battle Royale.

The official site says, “Battle through a labyrinth filled with monsters, marvels, and many other three-player enemy squads as you search for Roshan’s rarest cheese and work to be the last team standing. You’ll need to navigate carefully to earn the XP and Gold needed to destroy your opponents. But don’t take too long—Roshan’s cheese frenzy is causing cave-ins as he moves towards the center of the Underhollow. Soon enough there will be nowhere left to run.”

Combined with being the last team standing and moving closer to the centre of The Underhollow due to cave-ins forcing players together, this certainly sounds a lot like Battle Royale to us. Interestingly, other features in the Battle Pass include Cavern Crawl mode, a new Mutation mode, the Emerald Abyss (a reward terrain which will never be available outside of the Battle Pass) and much more.

More information about The Underhollow, when it goes live and how long it will be active for will arrive later. Count on it being available once The International 2018 is in full swing. As always, proceeds from the Battle Pass will go towards The International 2018’s prize pool.

Hi-Rez Studios’ Paladins, which entered open beta in 2016 and has since endured a number of comparisons to Overwatch, will finally see a full release. The developer announced that the free to play shooter will be out of Steam Early Access on May 8th.

Executive producer Chris Larson stated that, “We are so excited for the official release of Paladins. We really want to thank all of our dedicated Beta players for the time and effort they have put into helping Paladins grow. This Launch Celebration is about our players—only with their feedback were we able to make Paladins the amazing game it is today, with drastically improved UI, console aiming, presentation, and gameplay.”

Those who played the game during the beta will receive 200 Crystals if they log in between May 8th to 31st. For now, all of the game’s Champions – which are usually locked behind in-game currency called Gold – are available to try out until May 7th.

Paladins has had a decent amount of success since going into open beta. Despite stiff competition from other hero shooters, it managed to attract a large number of registered players. Granted, the number of peak concurrent players isn’t in the millions but despite “pay to win” controversies and the like, Paladins still endures.

As the game’s Battle Royale hybrid, Paladins Realm Royale, that’s currently in closed alpha testing and exists as a separate game altogether. What are your thoughts on Paladins getting a full release? Let us know in the comments.