The Witcher 3 Remastered releases this week, bringing updated visuals, a tonne of quality of life tweaks, and even some new features like armor transmog, to the 10-year-old RPG.

The update arrives on September 29 everywhere, with a rolling release time throughout the day that's the same for both PC and console. Here's exactly when you can play:

• West Coast US: 3 am PDT
• East Coast US: 6 am EDT
• UK: 11 am BST
• Europe: 12 pm CEST
• Australia: 8 pm AEST
• New Zealand: 11 pm NZDT

You can see the other times in the image above. Since this is an update to a pre-existing version of the game, there is no preload, except apparently from Battlenet, since it's coming to that platform for the first time. The update is around 45GB.

What does The Witcher 3 Remastered add?

• Improved visuals
• Reimagined skill system
• Expanded photo mode
• Improved combat
• Transmog
• Other upgrades and QoL tweaks

Opening the auxiliary lines at the end of Part 6 in Silent Hill: Townfall is perhaps its most complicated yet simple puzzle. By this point in the game my brain was completely fried and my nerves were shot. So in case you're also in a bad spot, here are some tips to point you in the right direction.

Spoilers ahead for Silent Hill: Townfall

How to get to the Auxiliary Room

Before you head to the elevator and go up to the auxiliary room, you'll need to get the key. This can be found in the command centre, and the code to get into it is 0825. Inside, you'll find the key to the auxiliary room. Now you can head downstairs to the elevator, but be warned—this is where The Weight and other monsters are lurking, so you need to be cautious. You can make a mercy dash to the elevator as the doors close quickly, but it'll be tight.

Once you've made it to the next floor, there'll be a couple of smaller monsters who you can easily circumvent. Make sure to close the door to the auxiliary room once you're inside.

How to open the auxiliary lines

Here you'll find a pipe running across the walls with levers at various intervals. There's also a locker and a desk with a terminal. The first step is to open the locker and find the floppy disk. Then, head to the terminal and use the floppy disk to get your clue: a bunch of lines.

At first glance, this could look like morse code or some other cipher, but actually it's much simpler than it seems: It shows whether each lever needs to be horizontal or vertical. But not every lever is included: only the ones which are adjacent to one white line for the first row, two lines for the second, and three lines for the third.

Auxiliary Line 1

Auxiliary line 1 solution: | _ | | _ | _ | |

The first line starts on the wall next to the locker, just by the white arrow at the bottom of the wall, and includes all the levers which are next to the singular white lines on the pipes. The pattern goes like this:

1. vertical
2. horizontal
3. vertical
4. vertical
5. horizontal
6. vertical
7. horizontal
8. vertical
9. vertical

If you've done it right the light next to the last lever should turn green.

Auxiliary Line 2

Auxiliary line 2 solution: | _ _ _ | _ _ | |

The second line starts on the wall next to the locker by the middle white arrow. The pattern should be:

1. vertical
2. horizontal
3. horizontal
4. horizontal
5. vertical
6. horizontal
7. horizontal
8. vertical
9. vertical

Again, if you've done this right, then the light next to the last lever should turn green.

Auxiliary Line 3

Auxiliary line 3 solution: _ | | | _ | _ |

The third line starts on the opposite wall to the other two, above the second light that just turned green and the pattern should be:

1. horizontal
2. vertical
3. vertical
4. vertical
5. horizontal
6. vertical
7. horizontal
8. vertical

Again, if you've done it right the final light will turn green. That's the end of that, and now you can leave the room (be careful of the creepies), head back to the elevator, and make your way back to the control room (avoiding The Weight and other monsters) to wrap up your segment in the command centre.

It wasn't a long wait for some of my favorite Valheim mods to start working again after the 1.0 launch, and just as I expected, there were plenty of new fan-made features to tinker with. I'm still digging through the sea of new creations, but here's a list of some of the best Valheim mods I've found so far—along with advice on your mod manager options.

Valheim mod managers and required mods

Best gameplay mods

Best building and furniture mods

Best quality-of-life mods

Best visual tools and texture mods

This week there's another challenge to complete in Forza Horizon 6. This time we've got the Shimanoyama Treasure Hunt to track down, and doing it will grant you some season progress. The British Automotive Festival Series is currently underway and there are a couple of season reward cars to grab, namely the Vauxhall Astra VXR and Bentley Bentayga. Finding and smashing this chest will get you a little closer to earning them.

Forza Horizon 6 Shimanoyama region Treasure Hunt location

You can find this treasure chest in the far south of Shimanoyama, on a winding road that goes through the snowy hills. It's north of the Izu Skyline and southwest of Matsumi Great Bridge, just north of the big freeway that connects Tokyo to the stadium in Shimanoyama.

You can see the location above, but the best way to get there is:

1. Head northwest out of Tokyo.
2. Continue along the winding trails into the Shimanoyama region.
3. Navigate to the point shown above, keeping an eye off to the side of the road where the chest is easily visible.

Simply smash into it as usual and you'll get 100,000 credits, 5,000 XP, and three Season Progress points towards those two season cars. For more progress, make sure to complete the photo challenge at the Bamboo Forest .

Much to my embarrassment, while I was mid-complaint about my new wall of Valheim storage chests, a fellow Viking hit me with, "You know you can color code those signs, right?" Duh, of course I know that. Well, I swear I did, but totally forgot about the handy feature that doesn't require a single mod. In case you forgot too, I'm here to remind you—or teach you a quick tip for organizing Valheim storage with colorful text codes for signs.

Codes for sign colors

You can change a sign's text color in Valheim through markup codes. For those even vaguely familiar with traditional HTML, you won't need to close these style commands, but keep in mind you still have limited text space on a sign, so keep them short.

You can use any 6-digit hex value, so check out the color code calculator on W3 Docs to find more, or reference the table I used from Unity. It's a fairly straightforward process, but I'll leave you with a few extra color-changing tips:

• Some of the color names listed above work in place of their hex code
• If using a color name, remove '#' and replace it with 'color='
  • Example: Red becomes Red sign

Codes for sign text size and style

Other markup attributes from the Unity guide also work in Valheim. You can use a few at a time for text styles like bigger italics, colorful bolds, or extra spacing and alignment.

Unicode characters for signs

You can take your Valheim signs even further by adding Unicode characters. I find the W3 Schools chart to be the most helpful, but they don't all work, so I've included a few below for reference.

Example Valheim signs

You don't have to stop at just one code when customizing your text, so I've made a few examples you can use to test things out. Change the variables as needed, and remember to heed the 50-character limit—lest your signs wind up with awkwardly cut-off words or floating text.

World of Warcraft: Forever is a new branch of the MMO that's making its debut this week in a month-long beta before the whole thing drops in November. It will be the first opportunity to experience some of the new quests, dungeons, and class abilities that Blizzard has added to a version of the MMO that will never move on past the original game.

Here's everything you need to know about the WoW: Forever beta, how to get access, and what's available in it.

When does the World of Warcraft: Forever beta start?

The WoW: Forever beta begins on Thursday, September 17 on PC. Anyone who has preordered the Skyborne Epic Pack or the Warcraft Forever Collection will have access as soon as it opens.

Blizzard says the WoW: Forever beta will go live after the live Q&A at 10:30 am PT. It's unclear how long the stream will go, but I'd expect it to last around 30 minutes.

Here are the stream times across regions on September 17:

• 10:30 am PDT (Los Angeles)
• 1:30 pm EDT (New York)
• 6:30 pm BST (London)
• 7:30 pm CEST (Berlin)
• 3:30 am August 29 AEST (Sydney)
• 5:30 am August 29 NZST (Auckland)

You'll have about a month to try the game out before the beta ends on October 21.

How to access the World of Warcraft: Forever beta

There are two ways to get into the WoW: Forever beta. The first requires purchasing one of the two premium versions of the game from Blizzard's store. Both the Skyborne Epic Pack ($59.99) and the Warcraft Forever Collection ($79.99) will grant you beta access. Alternatively, you can leave it to chance and sign up for it on the WoW: Forever website by clicking the "Beta Opt-in" button at the top of the page.

You can check if you have access to the WoW: Forever beta by opening the Battle.net launcher dropdown menu under World of Warcraft and selecting "World of Warcraft: Forever".

What is available in the World of Warcraft: Forever beta?

The WoW: Forever beta will be split into two phases. At the start, you won't be able to go past level 20. Then, after two weeks, the level cap will be raised to level 30 and will stay there until the beta ends.

Every race and class will be available to play, including the new Skyborne elves (if you preorder).

Here's how each phase will work:

Phase 1 (September 17)

• Level 20 cap
• New class abilities and talents
• New Profession items
• New dungeons: Hall of Thanes, Ruins of Lordaeron
• Legacy system

Phase 2 (~October 8)

• Level 30 cap
• New class abilities and talents
• New Profession items
• New dungeon: Excavation Site: Wetlands
• Legacy system

Aniimo codes can help you buy items to alter the stats or appearance of your adorable (only occasionally intimidating) Aniimo companions, or just straight up give you the items to do so. Whatever gift codes contain, they're free! So even if you don't need the rewards right now, it's best to redeem Aniimo codes as soon as pawsible, before they expire and your rewards are gone furever.

All active Aniimo codes

• aniimofreetoplay - 3 Growth Flower and 10,000 Credits NEW
• aniimotogether - 50 Glimmer, 5 Aniipod Pro, 5 Growth Flower NEW
• aniimoidyll - 5 Aniipod and 10,000 Credits
• aniimowelcome - 50 Glimmer, 5 Aniipod Pro, 5 Growth Flower
• twinewithaniimo - 50 Glimmer, 5 Aniipod Pro, 5 Growth Flower
• anyoneaniimo - 5 Aniipod and 10,000 Credits
• aniimoopenworld - 5 Aniipod and 10,000 Credits
• aniimolaunch2026 - 5 Aniipod and 10,000 Credits
• aniimobonus - 50 Glimmer
• ANIIMOGIFT - 10 Glimmer, 20,000 Credits, 10 Growth Flower, 5 Aniipod Pro
• Aniimo2026 - 20 Glimmer

Expired codes

• aniimoparty - 50 Glimmer, 5 Aniipod Pro, 5 Growth Flower

How to Redeem Aniimo codes

Aniimo codes are redeemed in-game from the settings menu, which is accessed from the main phone menu. You also need to complete "Chasing The Clouds" with Dr. Lewis to unlock the in-game mail menu to receive your rewards, though.

To save you getting lost in the tabs, here's step-by-step instructions on how to redeem codes in Aniimo:

1. Press ESC to bring up the phone main menu
2. Click the cog symbol in the column on the right to go to Settings
3. Select the Account tab on the left
4. Click the Gift Code Redemption option
5. Input the code and press Redeem
6. Open your in-game mail in the Esc menu
7. Press "Claim" to receive rewards

Codes are case sensitive, so you need to enter them exactly as shown.

Your reward will then be sent to your in-game mailbox. It should show up right away, but the message can take a few minutes to appear. If you haven't received your rewards after five minutes, try fast travelling to another area. If that still doesn't work, restart the game and check your in-box again after your log in.

What's the best item to get from codes?

There's usually a clear winner when it comes to items and currencies dished out via codes when it comes to live service games like Aniimo, but seeing as Aniimo isn't a gacha anymore the best items you get from codes is a little more subjective.

Aniipod Ultras guarantee a 100% catch rate with Elite potential for any catchable Aniimo, and they're one of the pricier items, so they're always welcome. Likewise if a Sparkling Cube or Prismana Orb ever shows up in codes, they guarantee a shiny Perfect potential, and rare Prismana form Aniimo, respectively. These two are even rarer than Aniipod Ultras, so if you ever see a code including one of these two Aniipod variants, make sure you redeem them before they expire!

Glimmer is the best currency to get, as it can be exchanged for a lot of helpful items, including Aniipod Ultras, Primegy (your daily stamina currency), and items to customize your player character and Aniimo. Otherwise, eggs are always nice, as even if you already have Aniimo included in an egg's specific hatching pool, there's always the chance it could be a rarer variant with better stats.

Aniimo smooshes cute creature capturing and open world exploration together to serve us a meal with notes of Genshin Impact, Infinity Nikki, and the grandaddy of trapping critters in balls: Pokemon. But although it may look like developer Pawprint Studio has included a side of gacha with that meal, it's actually a little more complicated than that.

Is Aniimo a gacha game?

Is Aniimo a gacha?

No, Aniimo is not a gacha game. Despite having all the bells and whistles a gacha usually throws at us—including about a thousand currencies and menus to stress over—Aniimo doesn't have any banner systems that gacha games like Genshin Impact or Infinity Nikki do.

All Aniimo, their equipment, Aniimo eggs, and anything related to cute critter combat and fashion is not linked to random odds, or reaching an arbitrary "pity" number that eventually guarantees something after enough pulls. You get Aniimo (and most other items) just by playing the game, seriously, and instead most (but not all) cosmetics are linked to coughing up a fixed amount of cash in the store.

I swear I heard Animmo was a gacha though

That's because Aniimo did have a gacha system, but only during its final beta. The Rift Exploration event—AKA a banner—was a very sneaky inclusion, because these rifts involved spending a premium currency for the chance to catch a Legendary Aniimo by filling up a bar, not pulling on a banner with a button press.

It didn't look like your regular banner system, but the capture rate for the Legendary Aniimo was so miniscule that unless you got very lucky, you probably had to rely on reaching "pity" to finally guarantee catching it—just like a banner in any other gacha.

Rift Exploration was very poorly received by beta testers and future players alike. The rifts reportedly got stale and repetitive real quick, plus, lots of people pointed out the developers had promised many times that Aniimo wouldn't be locked behind gacha. For Aniimo's full launch, Rift Exploration has been replaced with a token collection system.

Developer Pawprint Studio never mentioned Rift Explorations were changed because of the gacha backlash in the official blog post, but I'm willing to gamble (one last time) that it sure contributed to the change.

Aniimo monetization

Then how is Aniimo trying to get my money?

As a free-to-play live service game, Aniimo is of course still trying to shake down your wallet, even without a gacha system. Its monetization model of choice is a cosmetics shop where you convert real life money into Lumin Crystals, then exchange that currency for outfits and accessories for your playable character and Aniimo. Some cosmetics are available for free by using one of the other in-game currencies, but the coolest and cutest sets will inevitably be locked behind a paywall.

Another "give us your money" tactic is Aniimo's shop bundles, which asks for Lumin Crystals (your real money) in exchange for Aniipods, profile backgrounds, Aniimo stat alterations, guaranteed ways to get rare versions of Aniimo, or other types of currency. You can still get some of these items by spending the Glimmer or Credits currency instead, or from rewards by just playing the game, but you bet they're far harder to get this way.

Then there's the inevitable battle pass, which Aniimo calls a "Companion Handbook" (for twee capitalism purposes, I guess). A free tier is unlocked automatically, but two premium tracks include extra goodies, including Aniimo, cosmetics, and a fast-track to higher battle pass levels.

So how do you get Aniimo then?

So many ways. The main method is throwing an Aniipod to capture one minding its own business while you explore, during Alpha and Omega battles, or at an activated Bloom spot.

Another way to get Aniimo is by hatching eggs. These come in different rarities, with lots of variety in which Aniimo can hatch from what egg. You can even choose an Aniipod during the hatching process to turn that Aniimo into a guaranteed shiny, or one with elite stats to terrify the halls of PvP.

Other Aniimo are rewarded by completing events, the battle pass, or just playing the game. This includes Legendary Aniimo, which you get by collecting unique tokens, then playing through the Legendary's story before chucking your special Aniipod at it and guaranteeing a capture.

Wondering how to fish in Valheim? When you're not slaying Odin's enemies in the Norse underworld, it makes perfect sense to kick back with a relaxing bit of fishing. And if you've spent time on a raft or ship, or even just wandered close to a body of water, you've probably already seen a few fish swimming around. But how do you catch them? Don't worry, it's not hard, but you'll need a little bit of gear and a lot of stamina.

Valheim fishing rod: How to get it

It's a bit unfortunate that in a world where you craft all your own gear, you can't craft a fishing rod. But at least there's Haldor, the vendor you'll (eventually) find in the black forest.

Haldor sells fishing rods for 350 coins, and sells 20 pieces of basic bait for 10 coins.

If you haven't found Haldor already, you can check our guide on how to increase your Valheim inventory size for a few tips on locating Valheim's NPC vendor.

If you're a real gambler, you can attempt to find a fishing rod out in the world. They are very rarely found as loot in frost caves in the mountains biome. I'd probably stick with buying one from Haldor, though: I've got over 150 hours in Valheim and I've never found a fishing rod in a frost cave.

How to fish in Valheim

Fishing is stamina based: you'll need to spend stamina to reel your fish in, so prepare yourself as you would going into battle: by eating enough food to give you a full stamina bar and by bringing some stamina meads with you.

With the rod equipped and the bait selected in your inventory (by right-clicking it), press mouse 1 (or your attack button) to cast your line into the water. When a fish swims near and nibbles—your bobbin will be tugged—click mouse 2 (or your block button). That will instantly hook your fish.

To reel in your fish, hold down mouse 2: that will drain your stamina while reeling in the fish. If you run out of stamina before you finish reeling it in, the fish will escape.

When the fish is close to you, you'll be able to target it with your crosshairs and press E (or your use button) to pick it up.

Fishing tips

• Fish are physical entities that spawn into the world, so if you don't see any fish in the water nearby, you're not going to catch anything.
• To find fish, run along the edge of the water and try to spot them swimming around, then aim your cast there.
• You can also take a boat out into the water to look for groups of fish. Just watch out for sea serpents, which are a little too big to land with a fishing rod.
• You can craft bait from fish you catch using the food preparation table. The food preparation table can be made with 5 iron, 15 leather scraps, and 20 finewood.
• Make sure you have spare room in your inventory for your catches!
• You can also catch fish by hand if you're fast enough. They sometimes wash up on beaches, too.
• There's a fishing hat you'll learn to craft by catching at least one of every different fish in Valheim. It gives you a +20 to your fishing skill.

The Aniimo release time is almost here, unveiling the world of Idyll and its many creatures for you to catch. This game certainly seems to be trying to tap into that Palworld vein of an open world filled with recruitable monsters, though admittedly with fewer guns and survival crafting elements. Aniimo is also free-to-play, though apparently not a gacha game, so expect some slightly different monetisation. All that said, here's when you can play Aniimo.

Aniimo release times for each region

The Aniimo release date is September 15 or 16 depending on your timezone. For folks in the US, it'll be the former, while for those in Europe and the UK, it'll be the latter.

Here's exactly when you can load in:

September 15

• West Coast US: 7 pm PST
• East Coast US: 10 pm EST

September 16

• UK: 3 am BST
• Europe: 4 pm CEST
• Australia: 12 pm AEST
• New Zealand: 3 pm NZST

If you're unsure whether you can run Aniimo, you can find its specifications on the Steam page.

Can you preload Aniimo?

Yes, the Aniimo preload unlocks on September 14 at 10 am (UTC+8), which means it's already available. You can download the Aniimo launcher from the official website and then preload the game itself—the size is about 40gb, though the actual download was only 28 for me.

Whether you're a Valheim veteran or playing for the first time, at some point you're going to stop and ask "Is there any way to increase the size of my inventory? And finally, as of Valheim 1.0, the answer is yes, you can!

Inventory size in Valheim is famously small, with just eight hotbar slots and 24 inventory slots. Especially since worn armor takes up slots, your inventory is going to be full quickly and constantly, making it tough to haul back all the loot and resources you find in the world. At long last, there's something you can do about it.

How to increase your inventory in Valheim

1. Defeat bosses. This is important: before you can increase your inventory you'll need to defeat a couple of key Valheim bosses.

The first inventory upgrade becomes available once you've defeated Moder in the Mountains biome. The second inventory upgrade becomes available once you've defeated the Queen in the Mistlands.

2. Visit Haldor. The NPC merchant in the Black Forest now sells two inventory upgrades in exchange for coins, with each upgrade giving you an extra row in your inventory, meaning you can add a total of 16 extra slots.

Here are the inventory expansions Haldor sells:

• Wider pockets (+8 slots): 1000 coins
• Deeper pockets (+8 slots): 2000 coins

How to find Haldor

If you're new to Valheim, you may not have run into Haldor yet, and he can be hard to find. The vendor will only appear in the Black Forest biome, and there's not many ways to find him besides just going out into the world and looking.

To find Haldor in a Black Forest biome, you'll need to be at least 1,500 meters away from the center of the map. (There's a console command, "pos", that shows your coordinates and distance from the map's center—to learn how to use it, please visit our page on how to use Valheim console commands.)

You can also try putting your Valheim world seed into a third-party utility like the Valheim World Generator, though it may not show Haldor's location reliably until it's been updated to support Valheim 1.0.

When you get within a couple hundred meters of Haldor's camp, a white bag icon will appear on your minimap.

As for the coins you can spend at Haldor's camp, you can find them in chests, dungeons, and by killing monsters like trolls and fulings. You can also sell items like rubies, amber, and silver necklaces to Haldor in exchange for coins.

If you've started a new character or world in Valheim 1.0 from the beginning (or are playing it for the first time ever), you may be wondering about the Battle Idols and Protection Idols you've found. While opening chests in Valhiem's various biomes, you will occasionally come across an item called a Battle Idol or Protection Idol made of wood, bronze, iron, or other materials.

These Idols don't seem to serve an immediate purpose, but hang onto any you find because you'll eventually be able to use them to upgrade your weapons and armor.

Valheim Idols: Where to find them

Idols can randomly be found as loot in chests, and chests can spawn in various places in the world: abandoned houses, burial chambers, ruined towers, shipwrecks, Viking graveyards, and other points of interest.

Which type of Idol you find will depend on what biome you're in:

• Wooden Idol: Meadows biome
• Bronze Idol: Black Forest biome
• Iron Idol: Swamp Biome
• Silver Idol: Mountains biome
• Black Metal Idol: Plains biome
• Black Marble Idol: Mistlands biome
• Flametal Idol: Ashlands biome
• Bloodgold Idol: Deep North biome

The Idols will allow you to upgrade your weapons and armor: the Battle Idols are used to improve your weapons, and the Protection Idols are used to improve your armor. You can only use Idols at one place: the Forge of Potential.

How to find the Forge of Potential

To find Valheim's Forge of Potential, you'll need to search the Mountains biome. Since it's so cold there, be sure to have items that keep you warm, like frost resistance mead, or a wolf fur cape or wolf fur armor chestpiece to avoid freezing.

Once you're close to the Forge of Potential, an icon that looks like an Idol will appear on your map:

In both worlds I've found it in, the Forge of Potential has been very close to boss Moder's summoning altar, but I don't know if that's a rule for where it appears or if that was just luck. Both times it has been near the top of a tall peak, however.

How to use the Forge of Potential

The forge is a workbench you can use to upgrade your gear if you have an Idol and suitable gear in your inventory. Each Idol will work with gear made of the same material: if you have a Bronze Protection Idol, for example, you can upgrade a piece of armor made of Bronze. An Iron Battle Idol will let you upgrade an iron weapon.

Interacting with the Forge will let you select the gear you want to upgrade if you have an Idol in your inventory. Press the "Attempt Refinement" button to activate it.

Important: The Forge has a chance of failure. If your refinement fails, the gear you're attempting to upgrade will be destroyed, though you'll recover the crafting materials needed to remake it. You won't be able to use the Forge of Potential to recraft it, however: it can only be used for upgrades.

You'll also take damage if your upgrade fails, so be sure you're at full health!

Forge of Potential upgrade results

Is upgrading worth it? Here's a look at one example of a bronze sword I upgraded at the Forge of Potential:

You can see that the durability increased by 50 points, slash damage went from 41 (11-24) up to 47 (13-27), and block force went from 25 to 30, but all other stats remained the same.

Wardogs is pretty approachable for a milsim, but very complex for a military shooter. The 100-player king of the hill FPS is somewhere between Battlefield and Squad in terms of realism, but it's also got elements of Counter-Strike and extraction shooters. It's a weird game, but very fun.

If you have experience in both, you're already ahead of the game, but if you've never played an FPS with dedicated driver and logistic roles, then let me ease you into it. These are my best beginner tips for understanding Wardogs, including its unique economy systems and transportation.

When you're done reading them, it's also worth checking out my guide to making money fast in Wardogs.

Never leave spawn without these

If you're about to jump on a heli without any of these, turn around:

• Two extra magazines
• 3-5 bandages
• A dot sight (unless you really like iron sights)
• A class gadget, like binoculars, a hammer, or RPG

Yea, it all costs a few extra hundred bucks, but you'll make that back by simply standing in the zone for a few minutes. Better to be prepared.

Don't buy 5 magazines, buy loose ammo

Wardogs' streamlined vendor makes it easy to buy extra magazines, but it doesn't explain the value of loose ammo. Loose ammo can be purchased in stacks of 100 that only take up two inventory slots. When your magazines run empty, you can press C from the inventory screen to automatically replenish magazines from your stack of loose ammo. Filling magazines takes time, but the inventory and wallet savings are worth it.

Never drive to the zone if you don't have to

There are very few scenarios where it makes sense to drive from spawn to the zone. It's a 3km journey that can take 4-5 minutes depending on the car, so you're almost always better off waiting for a transport chopper. Typically, every team has volunteer helicopter pilots eager to ferry people back and forth to the action (the job pays pretty well). Even if you have to stand around in spawn for 30 seconds to a minute waiting for the next chopper, it's way faster than buying a set of wheels.

Hold Shift to steady aim

You can momentarily reduce aim sway with any gun by holding Shift while aiming. This will also slightly zoom in your view—great for firing in controlled bursts from dozens of meters away.

Use the rebuy button

If you want to buy the same loadout you had last time, press the "Re-buy Loadout" button in the bottom left of the vendor. You'll be shown a list of the gear and its total cost, and you can make last minute subtractions if desired. The button will go away if you purchase something before pressing it.

Don't just sit at your FOB (unless)

Helicopter pilots will often drop you off at the nearest friendly FOB (forward operating base) by default, but you shouldn't stick around there unless you have something to do, like build, snipe, or use artillery. Leave the FOB and go do something productive, like capture the Hot Zone (yellow circle), disrupt enemy FOBs, capture towers, blow up enemy vehicles, whatever really. The FOB is a safe place to get your bearings, but you don't need to stand around and defend it constantly (unless there's an active siege, of course).

Loot bodies

You can loot any dead body and pilfer all of its gear. You should do this constantly to replenish ammo, bandages, and swap out your banged-up armor for a fresher set. Bodies themselves will disappear once the player "gives up," but a lootable backpack will remain for several minutes.

Don't snitch on your medic

If you go down around enemies, read the room before calling for help. Enemies can hear every word you're saying over mic. If you can see a teammate is nearby, assume they're coming for you but don't want to reveal their position by running straight toward you. Calling out their name or even saying "thanks" as they're reviving you could tip off nearby enemies. Play it cool and make sure the coast is clear. If you want to tell nearby friendlies where enemies are, use the team text channel.

Target the enemy APC

Each team gets one boxy, rectangular APC painted the color of their team (red, blue, or green). This is a mobile spawn point for that entire team, and blowing it up is both strategically helpful and very profitable. If you see one, pelt it with RPGs, IEDs, or C4.

When in doubt, bring binoculars

If you don't have any other class gadgets unlocked and don't want to build FOBs, just buy binoculars. They're cheap and incredibly powerful: Looking through them makes it easy to spot enemy players, and holding LMB over them will reveal their position to the whole team. This earns you a bunch of XP, money, and extra assist cash when spotted targets are killed. This is one of the easiest ways to help the team by far.

The new British Automotive Festival Series has begun in Forza Horizon 6, and that means some new regular challenges. This week's Ito Treasure Hunt has you searching for a chest in a pretty hard-to-locate field, with few landmarks to gauge its location except a house in the background and a mountain. However, if you want the Summer Season progress points towards the Ginetta G40 Junior and McLaren 620R, this is one to complete.

Forza Horizon 6 Ito region Treasure Hunt location

This week, the treasure chest is located south of Ito Airfield towards the centre of the region. Ito is on the east side of the map, by the coast, but you've likely driven through it before. All you need to do to find the chest is:

1. Head south from Ito Airfield until the farmlands are to your west.
2. Take the road going between the north and south sections of the farmland.
3. The road will cross a train track with a house to your right—turn left before crossing into a small tree-less area where the chest is located.

Simply smash into it as usual and you'll get 100,000 credits, 5,000 XP, and three Season Progress points towards those two Summer Season cars. For more progress, make sure to complete the photo challenge at Shimanoyama Circuit.

Have you met Valheim 1.0's mountainous menace, the Gammeltroll? If you've made your way to Valheim's final biome, the Deep North, you've probably seen and fought it already: the Gammeltroll is a 30-foot tall rock monster who pelts you with tree trunks from range and stomps you into paste if you get too close.

Most interestingly, when you defeat the Gammeltroll, it doesn't fall down. Instead, it turns into a statue called a "Petrified Gammeltroll." You can chip away at its legs all you want, but even the toughest pickaxe in the game won't make a dent. And as you might have guessed, inside the Gammeltroll awaits a critical new resource you'll need to conquer the frozen biome. So, how do you mine it?

Valheim: How to mine the petrified Gammeltroll

The key to destroying the petrified Gammeltroll lies in the previous biome, the Ashlands, plus a new resource found in the Deep North.

Once you have ember charges, equip them and throw them at the petrified Gammeltroll. I find it best to throw them at its ankles from point blank range, then run away before they explode. With this method, it only takes two ember charges, one for each ankle, to destroy the statue.

(I wouldn't advise using ember charges as weapons against a living Gammeltroll. It'll damage the troll, but not enough to be worth it.)

When the troll collapses into a pile of rubble, collect your new resource, Petrified Tissue! Be warned, it's very heavy so you can't carry much, and it won't pass through wooden portals, only stone ones. Back at your base, throw it into your blast furnace and see what you get!

Playing Wardogs is a bit like playing Battlefield, except you have to buy every gun, magazine, helmet, and kevlar vest yourself. It's a milsim FPS that runs on a personal wallet—doing useful things for the team makes you money used to unlock permanent upgrades and temporary gear.

Wardogs is designed in a way that lets you play any role you want and still be a profitable teammate. But especially early on, it can be tough to make enough cash to consistently fund unlocks, and the game doesn't spell out some of the most lucrative playstyles. Based on dozens of hours in closed beta tests, here are some early tips for making money fast in Wardogs.

Bulkhead has stated the economy of the beta will change for the early access release, so some of these figures might change at launch. I'll be sure to update figures once we know them.

Spot, spot, spot with binoculars

The safest, simplest, and surprisingly efficient way to make money in Wardogs from minute one is to buy a $75 pair of binoculars. Binoculars (and its fancier variants) allow you to spot enemy soldiers, vehicles, and structures, temporarily marking them on the map and in-world for teammates.

On top of just doing a nice thing for your team, each successful spot (holding left-click over a visible target) earns you a small cash prize immediately, and when a teammate kills that target, you get an assist worth hundreds. The nice part of this strategy early on is you don't have to stick your neck out and risk your loadout before you understand the game: just perch up on a hill with a few of the Hot Zone or enemy FOBs, lay down, and be your team's eyes and ears.

Build a FOB

Another extremely safe, profitable playstyle is to grab a hammer, buy a FOB module, and build a base for your team in a strategically useful location. The default FOB spot at the start of the match is the tower nearest to your spawn. Ask your heli pilot to load up with FOB supplies (or do this yourself), and head to a tower. Once you're there:

1. Place the FOB
2. Build it by holding LMB with your hammer (hitting the yellow X's makes it go faster)
3. Use FOB supplies to build a perimeter of walls, gates, and Hesco blocks

Every productive swing of a hammer earns cash ($15 in the beta), and completing a build can be worth more than getting a kill ($1,200 to $1,500).

Revive others quickly and often

My favorite non-lethal way to make money while staying in the action is revives and heals. Reviving teammates is worth $900 (in the beta), and you can do it without buying any additional equipment. The problem is that the default revive speed is annoyingly slow, which is where resuscitators come in. The one-use revive items are cheap to buy in introductory levels, so if you want to become a human ambulance, you could:

1. Buy the biggest backpack you can
2. Fill it with resuscitators and bandages
3. Follow teammates in the backline
4. Quickly revive anyone who goes down for $900
5. Get extra assist cash when they go on to get kills
6. Heal teammates with bandages for $200 a pop

That's what I did during beta weekends until I reached Medic level 11 and unlocked the defibrillator. Defibs are a larger investment at $1,600 (and $150 batteries), but they're the quickest way to revive teammates and each battery is good for five revives.

Drive the spawn vehicle to the zone

This won't always be an option, as only one person can do the job at a time, but driving your team's spawn vehicle (the APC with a satellite dish on top) from HQ to the zone is a quick gig that pays royalties. You can drive the APC to a FOB, leave it there, and make money every time a teammate uses it.

Be a taxi

The best way to get from spawn to the zone in Wardogs is the spawn APC. When that's not an option, everyone needs a taxi. The cheapest way to earn cash as a virtual uber is to practice flying a helicopter in the firing range, then ferry people back and forth to the zone. Not only do you get direct cash for dropping people off in the zone, but nice people will give you tips, and you'll also get assist cash if they go on to get kills.

You have to be in the mood to do this job well: Helicopters aren't cheap for a new player, and you have to be good enough at flying to not crash or get blasted out of the sky by an RPG. Plus, you're essentially ignoring the shooting part of this shooter, which won't appeal to everybody. The reward is a steady stream of money and happy teammates.

Be a cheapskate

Not much to this one: Buy the cheapest guns, fill them with the cheapest ammo, paper-thin armor, and go get a kill. It's not the most exciting playstyle, but it can be if you treat it like a free loadout in an extraction shooter. Get a kill, loot that enemy corpse, and steal all of their better gear. Saving money while making money.

Play the Hot Zone

If you hadn't already noticed, you passively earn money for simply standing in the Hot Zone—hundreds of dollars by the minute, actually. You don't even have to shoot anyone, but you will earn extra for killing and assisting in the Hot Zone. If you want to get in the action, there's no better place to be.

The Wardogs release date fast approaches, following its super popular beta last weekend before it enters early access. As our own FPS aficionado Morgan Park notes, it's a "100-player milsim that's inspired by Arma but plays like Battlefield," and its formula of cash-earning, all-out warfare is definitely appealing to a cross-section of game-hungry shooter crowds. Here's when you can expect to play the game in your timezone.

Wardogs release times for each region

The Wardogs release date is September 10 for most regions, though it'll drop on September 11 in certain territories due to timezones and its simultaneous release. Here's when you can expect to play (confirmed by Steam):

September 10

• West Coast US: 9 am PST
• East Coast US: 12 pm EST
• UK: 5 pm BST
• Europe: 6 pm CEST

September 11

• Australia: 2 am AEST
• New Zealand: 4 am NZST

If you're unsure whether you can run Wardogs, you can check its requirements on the Steam page.

Can you preload Wardogs?

Yes, there is a preload for Wardogs and it's currently available. The download is 41.7GB, though the download footprint is slightly higher—simply load up Steam and install the game to get it started before launch.

Valheim 1.0 changed a ton about viking survival, but some things remain the same—like my tendency to repeatedly die to fall damage in the Mistlands. A new item helps traverse all those foggy marble mountains and steep drop-offs, but I didn't find it until I was ready to leave the biome. I'll save you from a similar fate with a quick explainer on how to get the Grappling Hook in Valheim.

Where to find Hooks in Valheim

Find Hooks to unlock the Grappling Hook blueprint

You can find Hooks in the Infested Mines, the Mistlands' bug-riddled dungeons that are just as difficult to navigate as the rest of the biome. I cleared out several dungeons before stumbling upon one with a hidden stone door that I almost skipped, but realized those glowing blue glyphs must mean something.

The Hooks were inside a Dvergr Treasure Chest sitting beside other valuables, like Black Cores. I scoured a few more dungeons later and found a couple stacks of three Hooks, but you'll only need one per craft to make the Grappling Hook.

How to make the Grappling Hook in Valheim

Viking survival crafting has changed quite a bit since the days of early access, and though Valheim's biome order remains mostly the same in 1.0, there's plenty of new details to keep track of for lapsed players. If you want to make it to the new biome as soon as possible, I've got a handy progression guide to hold your hand all the way from the Meadows to the Deep North.

Meadows

The shrine you spawn at is always located in Valheim's most peaceful biome, the Meadows. Since it's relatively chill compared to other zones filled with creatures desperate to kill you, I lump it in with the Black Forest as Valheim's beginner zone. Your main goal here is to set up a small base, gather leather for armor, and get a Deer Trophy to summon Eikthyr.

Feel free to tiptoe along the edge of the Black Forest for extra goodies and upgrades, but don't stray too far. Bears and Trolls make quick snacks of low-level Vikings.

Black Forest

You'll spend a lot of time running back and forth from your Meadows base to the Black Forest for new materials, so bring Eikthyr's head back to the spawn shrine to receive the deer god's buff. Use the Hard Antlers from Eikthyr to make the Antler Pickaxe and mine as much Tin and Copper as possible—you'll need a ton of ore to smelt into ingots. I always prioritize making a Bronze Pickaxe as my first upgrade so the process goes faster.

Be careful about picking fights with Trolls or Bears, and start hoarding materials from dungeons to build portals. When you're done here, we'll make a boat and set sail for muddier waters.

Black Forest dungeons

Swamps

Trudging through Valheim's Swamps can be a real pain in the ass, so pace yourself and brew plenty of poison resist potions. I tend to blow through Surtling Cores when I reach the hostile waters here, making portals for easy travel and extra bases to process Iron Ore.

Above all else, try to be patient. It's easy to get caught in a cycle of repetitive deaths, and if you aren't careful, your viking will rack up serious skill level losses.

Swamp dungeons

Mountains

The Mountains are your first encounter with Valheim's frigid cold and you'll take damage if you visit without protection, so make yourself a Wolf Fur Cape or stock up on Frost Resistance potions. Think of it as training for the Deep North. Everything here is a bit more cumbersome, including the hunt for new ore. You'll need to carry the Wishbone from Bonemass to find Silver Ore deposits, then start digging when it whirs to signal a hit.

The terrain is often your biggest challenge. Running from enemies occasionally means sprinting off a cliff or running out of stamina before a fight, while nightfall brings increasingly aggressive wolf packs and a new vicious enemy, Fenrings.

Mountains dungeons

Plains

The Plains may be easier to jog across, but everything here hits hard. Deathsquitos live up to their name with just one hit, while the cackling Fulings are good at ragebaiting me into fights I can't handle—don't fall for their taunting. You'll also find another nighttime enemy in the Plains, the Viles. They're powerful undead versions of the Black Forest's bears, but a high-risk, high-reward enemy to farm if you're keen on making the Vilebone bow armor from their remains.

When you're feeling brave and well-prepared, try raiding a few Fuling villages. They're great sources of Barley and Flax, the latter of which you'll need a ton of for crafting Linen Thread required by gear upgrades.

Mistlands

Ashlands

Deep North

Deep North dungeons

As a mighty Viking warrior you've fought your way to the Deep North in Valheim 1.0—but now you're facing an enormous door that requires an Intricate Key to unlock. But what is an Intricate Key in Valheim, and how can you get one? Truth is, you'll eventually need more than one Intricate Key to triumph in the Deep North, so here's a quick guide that'll walk you through the steps to find them.

How to craft an Intricate Key in Valheim 1.0

As you explore the Deep North, keep an eye out for small, snow-covered villages. Look for the largest building in the village, a multi-story dwelling, seen in the image above, then head inside.

Now for the trickier bit: you'll need bloodgold to craft a cast of the Intricate Key, and bloodgold comes from defeating and destroying Gammeltrolls.

If you haven't already met a Gammeltroll, just go exploring and one will eventually find you. You'll know one when you see one: they're huge. But first, prepare an item you'll need at your base:

Whew! That's a lot of work, but now you've got everything you need to craft an Intricate Key.

Valheim 1.0 is here, so that sound you hear in the distance is scores of eager Vikings stringing their bows, sharpening their axes, and piling onto their longboats to explore the open world survival game's final biome: the Deep North.

But before you set sail for some chilly thrills in the frosty new biome, you might be wondering if you should create a new character and generate a new world for Valheim 1.0, or just keep playing with your current Viking and world. Veteran Valheimers will know that updates can conflict with existing worlds: any areas you've already explored, for example, won't be overwritten with new terrain and features, which can sometimes cause problems.

So, should you start fresh or continue from where you left off?

Let's begin with what the devs advise:

"As usual, your world will receive new content even if it was created before the update, although biome generation will only work properly on areas that have not yet been explored," says developer Iron Gate in its Valheim 1.0 FAQ. "However, we always recommend that you start the game over from scratch to get the best possible experience."

In other words, if you've already explored the areas to the far north of your world, those areas won't generate updated terrain and features of the Deep North. That's why starting a new world is in your best interest if you've already taken a few trips to the upper edge of the map.

There are other things to take in consideration for 1.0, says Iron Gate:

"The achievement system will begin to track statistics from the moment you download the 1.0 version. This means that an achievement connected to killing Eikthyr, for example, will require you to kill Eikthyr again, even if you’ve already killed him 500 times previously."

Starting from the beginning has an additional benefit that's a bit of surprise, story-wise:

"To establish the world of Valheim and welcome seasoned and new Vikings alike, Iron Gate have worked together with Brikk Animation to create a brand-new cinematic that will usher players into the world of Valheim," says Iron Gate. "Additional cinematics will also play once players have slain key bosses throughout the game."

I've seen these anime sequences and while I wouldn't say they're essential to the experience, they are pretty cool and if you don't play through the whole world again for 1.0, you won't get the chance to see all of them for yourself (except on YouTube, probably).

As for PC Gamer's advice, having played Valheim 1.0, we also recommend you start a new character and world, both for the reasons cited by Iron Gate but also because that's what several of us did. I started from the beginning again for the review, even though I'd already played for a hundred or so hours in early access, and I'm glad I did. It was a great way to rediscover the magic of the game and see just how much it has changed and improved since 2021.

That's our recommendation! Look at it this way: you've already waited this long for the Deep North, and delaying your journey to the final biome just a little bit longer to replay from the start will be worth the extra time.

It took me quite a while to work out all The Blood of Dawnwalker endings. Similar to The Witcher 3, there are a fair few different options, each with a number of variables that can change based on your choices. There are also some secret endings to discover.

Obviously, this guide will contain spoilers for just about everything, you've been warned. Here's each ending, how they work, plus a short explainer about the epilogue and its different outcomes.

All Blood of Dawnwalker endings

There are eight possible endings to Blood of Dawnwalker.

• Four involve assaulting Griefberg Castle, either with allies, or by yourself.
• One involves making a deal with Brencis.
• The final three endings are secret and accomplished before the others.

Also two additional notes:

• The post-credit cutscene plays in every ending.
• Lunka's fate is the same in every ending.

All endings, except for one of the secret ones, involve an epilogue sequence which runs through decisions you made throughout the game—and there are some big differences, but I'll explain all of those in the epilogue section at the end if you're curious. Side note, make sure to have 800 Denarius on hand for any ending involving the epilogue, as the church will ask for a donation and you can give your sister Yanna a dowry.

Assaulting Griefberg Castle

Four of the game's endings begin with assaulting Griefberg Castle, and in every version, your assault changes based on a few key variables:

• If Ambrus or Bakir are still alive you'll have to fight them as bosses during the castle assault, with Ambrus in the entrance hall and Bakir in the dungeon. Bakir will also force you to fight some of the prisoners if he's present.
• If you killed Xanthe, you won't face her as a boss in the throneroom, but you'll have to complete her trap sequence, which involves additional combat and puzzling.
• If your 30 day timer has run out, your family is dead, but you will have realised that by the cutscene that plays when you run out of time. After this point, you can keep playing the game without a timer, but the absence of your family impacts aspects of the epilogue.

Below, I'll run through each variation of the castle assault.

A Lone Wolf's Hunt

Coen takes the fight to Brencis by himself.

This ending sees Coen assault Griefberg Castle by himself at either day or night, depending on which of the approaches you take. If you do fight Ambrus, Bakir, or Xanthe in the assault, you won't be able to drink their Vrakhir blood and gain their abilities if it's daytime, or invite them in, and will instead just kill them.

First off, you always have to fight the Unblinking Blasphemy boss, even if you completed the Who Pulls the Strings quest for the Manumits. You battle through the castle, free some prisoners by unlocking their cells, and eventually confront Brencis in the dungeon depths, just in time to save your family.

You can either fight Brencis here, or make a deal with him if you agree to bow and give up either Crake and the Manumits, or Lacra, though if it's the former, you'll have to go their hideout and mark it, as in the A Deal With the Devil ending (I'll explain that one in its dedicated section below).

If not, you'll fight and defeat Brencis, and choose whether to invite him in, or leave him in Anachora (vampire hell) to have his soul devoured. After this, the epilogue sequence in Laslea will begin.

This is genuinely one of my favorite endings—Vale Sangora becomes independent and there's some degree of lawlessness, but the Manumits protect the valley from the worst enterprising ruffians. You can read a proclamation on a tree in Laslea explaining that Svartrau city council plans to petition Bohemia, Hungary, or Poland to join their realms in the spring.

Since there are no more Vrakhiri, the plague returns, the Uriashi return to their villages, but Christianity also returns, the cathedral is restored, and Father Florin becomes a saint. I'm sure you're thinking "That's a good ending??" but just wait until I explain the others.

Rise At Dawn, Fall Before Dusk

Coen helps Crake and the Manumits restore Catalin Dragosti to power.

In this ending, Crake explains that Catalin Dragosti (the son of Vale Sangora's former tyrant) is waiting outside the valley with an army, and you attack Eastridge Outpost to let him in.

Unsurprisingly, Catalin Dragosti is as bloodthirsty as his father and immediately executes some defenceless prisoners, though two of them will survive if you object. After Rise at Dawn, you attack Griefberg Castle in Fall Before Dusk, infiltrating through the tunnels below and battling some Kobolds.

The key variations here are that you won't save any of the prisoners, since Brencis knew you were coming. Vlad will also get a load of Manumits killed by rushing the gate if you save him in the intro, and encourage his recklessness in the Old Friends, New Friends quest where you talk to him in the Manumit hideout.

Finally, you'll reach the throne room, where Brencis will try to murder Catalin Dragosti.

• If you let Brencis try to kill Catalin, Crake will rush forward instead and die defending him or he'll let Catalin die (I haven't been able to confirm what changes Crake's reaction, but based on my choices, I suspect he lets Catalin die if you 'stay silent' and let him execute the soldiers in Rise at Dawn.)
• If you save Catalin, both he and Crake will live.

If Catalin is killed, Vale Sangora will be independent as in the A Lone Wolf's Hunt ending. After this, you'll continue to the banquet hall, with or without Crake, and will fight Brencis in a room with your family tied to chairs. Unlike the A Lone Wolf's Hunt ending, you can't make a deal with Brencis at this point, since you can't stop Catalin and his army. You'll fight and defeat Brencis, invite him in, or leave him in hell, and the epilogue in Laslea will play.

This is one of the worst endings in my opinion. Catalin Dragosti undertakes a campaign of retribution against anyone he sees as having helped the Vrakhiri, burning entire districts of Svartrau and filling the castle dungeons. As you see in a note on a tree in Laslea, he also imposes a large tax and encourages people to inform on each other. The epilogue also mentions his mercenary army loots and pillages towns whenever it feels like it.

Perhaps the most heartbreaking part of this ending is it reveals who Crake really is—a toady for Catalin. Under Dragosti's orders, he undertakes a genocide of the Uriashi, seeing them as monsters just like the Vrakhiri. The plague also returns, as does Christianity, but there is a slight silver lining in that this is the only epilogue where you can talk to Crake in Laslea.

Midnight Reckoning

Coen helps Lacra end Brencis' sinister scheme.

Alongside Lacra, you enter the Griefberg Castle dungeons via the ancient ruins below and destroy Brencis's ritual, before ascending through the castle to face Brencis himself. The key variables here are that in smashing the ritual, Lacra unleashes hell on the castle. Corpses start coming back to life, huge chunks of the castle are ripped up into the air, and the prisoners lose their minds.

When you finally reach the throne room, your family will be overgrown in the red roots (but still alive). Brencis will appear to confront you and Lacra.

• If you betray Lacra and choose your family, she'll fight Brencis, but he'll win and drink her blood. The outcome here is the same as the A Deal With The Devil ending (explained below).
• If you fight Brencis with Lacra, you can still save your family. I haven't played this variant to confirm, but there's a cutscene midfight that implies Lacra dies if you didn't complete her optional The Night of Horrors quest and eat the Mandrake with her.

As with the other endings, you'll defeat Brencis in Anachora, and can decide whether to invite him in, or let him be consumed by hell. However, he'll also reveal more in this ending about his plan—that he wanted to accept and harness the curse of Anachora that all vampires harbor instead of trying to resist it.

This ending isn't a particularly good one—as with A Lone Wolf's Hunt, Vale Sangora becomes independent for a time, the Manumits defend it, and both Christianity and the plague return. The negative here is basically everyone in the castle dies and it remains a cursed hellscape.

Lacra also doesn't trust you enough to tell you that this was going to happen and could've killed your family, which is a sad realisation about her character and goals. Lacra will appear briefly in the epilogue, but she appears in almost every epilogue provided you complete her questline. Taking this route to the ending also doesn't change her ending in the epilogue.

A Deal With The Devil

Coen makes a deal with Brencis for the freedom of Laslea.

In this ending, you meet Brencis at Shrike's Crag, the haunted site of a mass atrocity committed by Skender Dragosti (the valley's former tyrant). After meeting your father, who Brencis brings, he'll offer you a deal: He'll return your family and the villagers, and you can live in Laslea, exempt from the blood tax, if you find and mark the Manumit hideout.

You can also choose to kill Brencis here, though spilling any blood summons the dead, and you'll have to fight him with a million ghosts trying to get in the way. This is also inadvisable because you leave your father, Pieter, to the mercy of all the angry spirits you summon, which will lead to his death. Before you can agree to Brencis's deal, your father picks the absolute worst moment to trip over and hurt himself, summoning a legion of ghosts you have to fight through with Brencis to escape and save him.

All you have to do to complete this ending is head to the Manumit hideout and mark the door. Brencis swoops in, murders the Manumits, drags Crake out into the street, drinks his blood, and then disappears with him—not a great outcome for Crake, obviously. However, the epilogue in Laslea will play out.

This ending is not great. While it's made clear that Brencis's regime does eventually fall thanks to the Arbiters, bad stuff happens to Lacra and Father Florin, and Brencis continues to rule with an iron fist, slowly bleeding the valley for his scheme. The upsides are that the plague doesn't return, the Uriashi stick around, and Laslea gets to practice Christianity as an exception.

Secret endings

Leaving Vale Sangora

Coen leaves the valley to its fate and hits the bricks.

This is probably my favorite ending for Blood of Dawnwalker. You can do it anytime after the prologue provided you reach Level 11 Corruption and unlock the second level of Shadow Dweller in the vampirism skill tree, increasing the max distance of Shadow Step. Head to the Cursed Chasm in northwest Briar Sloughs, following the road that looks like it leads out of Vale Sangora.

Use the max level Shadow Step to get across the gap and follow the road to the still open pass. You'll be given the choice to leave the valley forever or stay. That's it. There isn't even an epilogue (besides the post-credit cutscene), so it really is a disavowal of everything in Vale Sangora, as Coen leaves with his newfound vampirism to make a new life.

Killing Brencis in the prologue

Coen thwarts Brencis's scheme without leaving Laslea.

As many of you likely guessed, saw, or experienced yourself, if you manage to beat Brencis's first stage in the prologue, you can defeat him there and end the game. I'm going to be frank—it's not worth it. Defeating both the Brencis fights in the prologue is incredibly hard, even on the lowest difficulty, and the ending isn't that much different from A Lone Wolf's Hunt.

The main difference is that the epilogue is, understandably, short as hell because you didn't do anything in the game.

Never waking up

Coen fails to escape Aurelius's nightmare.

Some of Blood of Dawnwalker's endings are really well hidden, but the one you get during Home Sweet Home, especially, is a fun little secret. In this quest, which you start by visiting The Silts Tower and trying to enter Aurelius's study on the top floor, you're trapped in a repeating nightmare.

You wake up to a family breakfast at your home in Laslea, until they're kidnapped by a flying monster. You battle through ghost enemies (with some basic-ass gear I might add) to rescue your mum and siblings, and then the flying monster itself to save your dad. Each time, the dream concludes in the church with your family, only to restart again from that same morning.

There is a way to escape the nightmare (detailed in the guide linked above), but if you don't take the hint and play through four cycles of the dream, you're doomed. When you wake up in the morning, you'll speak to Esme and she'll explain you're going to stay there forever. Your family surround you, the door closes, and that's the end for Coen.

Of course, we know Coen's real fate in this ending is likely being baked alive in clay and turned into one of those flying creatures by Aurelius—either that or just butchered in the basement. This ending rolls credits, but it's the only one that doesn't feature the post-credit cutscene, since Coen is most definitely dead.

The Blood of Dawnwalker's epilogue explained

The epilogue in Laslea has a few different variables depending on the ending you chose:

• Certain characters showing up in the town.
• The characters who appear in the scene with Lunka at the end are different.
• The notices on the tree in the town square can change, but invariably address who rules Vale Sangora, whether Christianity returned, whether you killed the Murohn in Svartrau Cathedral's Almshouse, and the fate of St. Tyna's Convent.

Below I'll run through the epilogue section post-Laslea, which shows you a series of tableaus you can examine. These explain the outcomes of various quests and choices you made:

Your family

• Your mother will be absent if you didn't make Anca's medicine correctly and she was killed in the prologue.
• Your family will be dead and absent if you don't save them in 30 days.
• Lunka will be corrupted by Brencis—her and Coen always leave the valley at the end after meeting Neberu.

Svartrau, The Plague, and the Uriashi

• The city will either be independent and somewhat lawless, still controlled by the Vrakhiri, or burned and sacked in retribution by Catalin Skender.
• The Uriashi will either retreat to the mountain or stay.
• The plague will return or remain absent based on whether Brencis remains in power.

Anca

• If you didn't let Anca use The Font, she disappears from Laslea in search of a different cure.
• If you did, she stays in Laslea and is accepted by the villagers.

Crake and the Manumits

• Defend the newly independent Vale Sangora from ruffians if Coen defeated Brencis himself or with Lacra.
• Kill all of the Uriashi under Catalin Skender's orders if Coen lets the army in and Crake survives.
• Are dead, because Brencis killed them after Coen made a deal with him.

Lacra

• Moves on and continues her travels and adventures.
• Is killed and sent to Anachora by Brencis and his court if he remains in power.
• If you complete Lacra's questline, she'll appear in the epilogue provided Brencis isn't in power.

Father Florin

• Is canonized and made a saint. This might only happen if you complete his A Hero's End quest.
• Is publicly burned alive if Brencis remains in power.

Echoes of Silenced Bells

• St. Tyna's Convent has its curse lifted but its zombie nuns wander off into the woods.
• It remains cursed and filled with undead.

A Study in Crimson

• You found the correct killer and the Svartrau murders ceased.
• You caught the wrong culprit and they continue.
• Vicho will also appear in the epilogue looking after Lunka if you befriended him.

Hive and Seek

• You killed the Kobold hive in Lacra's quest. I haven't seen the other outcome, but I assume it relates to sparing them.

Xanthe and Chariklea

• This tableau only shows up if you spared Xanthe during her The Cycle of Love quest (which you get by angering her). It basically explains how Xanthe keeps murdering women to keep Chariklea alive.

Onimusha: Way of the Sword is the latest victim of the dreaded AAA videogame disease: Padded Runtime Via Unsatisfying Upgrade Materials. It could be a lot worse: thankfully there's no level gating in Onimusha that requires you to accrue an arbitrary set of stats before you can tackle a particular quest. It's not an RPG, and I'm sure as soon as Twitch streamers get their hands on it they'll be flexing on the hardest bosses without ever upgrading their gear by a single percentage point.

But for us mortals, Onimusha's runtime is padded out by a pretty boring hub world full of pretty boring upgrade materials like cotton and iron that you use to very, very slowly increase your damage, health, stamina, and Oni power gauge. It's a dull system that doesn't evolve a single bit over the entire game. There are also rarer upgrade materials that you use to unlock abilities and enhancements on the skill tree.

This structure encourages you to spend quite a few hours playing the least fun bits of Onimusha, but I do have some good news: there's a way to bypass some of the tedium that you can easily overlook.

Buy key upgrade materials from Yorimasa's shrine

A few hours into Onimusha: Way of the Sword, you'll complete a quest to purify Yasui Konpiragu shrine, saving its guardian Oni spirit from an evil Genma infestation. Once done, Yorimasa will begin selling you items for red souls, the standard "currency" you accrue from killing enemies. If you're anything like me, you'll take a cursory look at what's for sale, go "I don't need any of this stuff right now" and then go play about 10 more hours of Onimusha without bothering to revisit the shrine.

Don't do that! Check back in after you complete every major story mission, because Yorimasa's Monument expands the shop inventory several times throughout the game. And after awhile he'll begin stocking some of the key crafting items, including:

• Leather
• Fine Silk
• Tempered Iron
• Tamahagane
• Malacite Mass
• Byakue's Talisman
• Dohatsu-ten's Horn

Yorimasa doesn't sell all these right at the start, but early on you'll probably be getting the basics like cotton cloth and regular iron at a pretty steady clip, and won't need as many of these rarer materials. There are five upgrade tiers for your clothing, sword, and gauntlet, though, each of which require a substantial number of materials to work your way through. Unless you spend hours and hours doing sidequests in Kyoto and chasing down every shiny chest your Oni vision highlights for you, you're going to need more of these items than you accrue naturally throughout the game. (Even putting around 35 hours into Onimusha I didn't quite max out any of my gear.)

By the mid- and late-game, at least, you can supplement your findings with some stock bought from Yorimasa's finite supply. If you have the red souls, I recommend buying as many as you can; hunting for them really drags down Onimusha's pacing.

Unfortunately, this is also a very quick way to go broke.

Okay, so how do I get more red souls?

The higher tier upgrade items can cost upwards of 8,000 souls, so even after spending a few hours on a big story quest killing enemies you'll blow through your soul wallet by upgrading a couple skill tree nodes and buying some materials. If you don't want to run into a late game cash crunch, here are a few tips:

• Spec into the skill tree node that increases red soul rewards: It's not the sexiest option up front, but prioritize this early on so that you start earning more souls sooner so you can buy your way through the skill tree later
• Use Soul Suckers before big fights: These are the sorts of inventory items I have a bad habit of ignoring. Don't be like me: stick the red Soul Sucker in your Hozuki pouch and use it right before you carve through a big pile of scrub Genma to up your payout. If you're confident, it's also worth using one when you've got a Byakue or Dohatsu-ten close to death, then follow-up with the next tip for an even better reward.
• Finish off enemies with the Flashing Void: While you won't get this Oni armament until later in the game, using it as a finisher nets you more red souls. Do that! Otherwise I know you're just going to be sitting on that Oni meter saving it for the "right" moment.
• Upgrade the Reaper's Charm if you really plan to grind: I'll be up front and say that I didn't do this myself, because I didn't get my hands on the Reaper's Charm until I was far enough into Onimusha to be pretty over fighting the basic baddies, and reckoned the investment wouldn't pay out. But if you keep this charm equipped to a slot from the moment you get it, you can maximize your red souls earned with a baseline 15% buff even before taking advantage of the tips above. Just keep in mind there are only so many upgrade materials Yorimasa will sell you before you go all-in grinding for souls.

What's that sound I'm hearing? Could it be the sound of five rings? Well, no, because that's not the kind of rings Musashi wrote about. It's the sound of a desperate bit of wordplay constructed to lead into a post about the launch times and release date for Onimusha: War of the Sword. Musashi's the protagonist of that one. That's the joke. I'm doing my best out here.

If our Wes Fenlon's Onimusha review stirred your appetite for samurai action through its descriptions of the "sublime mix of classic Capcom action and weighty physical swordfighting," you're likely eager to know precisely when you can don the demon gauntlet for yourself. I've gathered the Onimusha unlock times below—and you won't have to endure any more wordplay to get there. I promise. Maybe.

When is the Onimusha: Way of the Sword unlock time?

Onimusha: Way of the Sword launches on PC at 12 am EDT / 5 am BST on Friday, September 4. Unlike consoles where it's launching at midnight in each respective timezone, it's a simultaneous global release on PC—which means, if you're east of a UTC -4 timezone, you'll be playing a few hours later than you would otherwise.

Here's that unlock time for timezones around the globe:

• Los Angeles: 9 pm PDT on Thursday, September 3
• New York: 12 am EDT on Friday, September 4
• London: 5 am BST on Friday, September 4
• Berlin: 6 am CEST on Friday, September 4
• New Delhi: 9:30 am IST on Friday, September 4
• Sydney: 2 pm AEST on Friday, September 4
• Auckland: 4 pm NZST on Friday, September 4

If you're not covered in that list, don't worry about calculating the time yourself. Here's a convenient countdown timer instead. Don't say all I ever did for you was half-baked Book of Five Rings references:

Is there preloading for Onimusha: Way of the Sword?

There is! Unless, for some reason, you're choosing to buy it on the Epic Games Store, where Capcom says preloading isn't available. And maybe you are. I don't know what your life is like.

On Steam with the rest of society, however, you can get your game installed early, so you won't waste any time waiting for all the relevant files to download before you can get to demon-cutting.

Working out how to escape Xanthe's trap in The Blood of Dawnwalker took me a lot longer than I'd like to admit. This event only occurs during your assault on Griefberg Castle if you chose not to spare Xanthe, or straight up killed her before starting the final sequence. Obviously, this guide will contain some spoilers, but I'll also explain how to escape the trap she leaves for you from beyond the grave.

How to escape Xanthe's trap in The Blood of Dawnwalker

The key to getting through Xanthe's labyrinth lies in the banners you can see hanging up next to each door. You should go through the doors that have the banner pictured above next to them—triangular, pointing downward, with a kind of tentacled eye depicted on them. There's actually a note earlier in the castle you can read, which explains the only way to get into the dungeon is by following the banners.

If you've just entered the trap, you'll have to fight the enemies in the main room, go through the door ahead and to your left, and pull back the bookcase to reveal a hole you should drop down. After that, enter the main room again, fight the enemies, look for the door with that banner next to it, and drop down again. One last time: enter the main room, kill the enemies, find the banner, go through the door next to it and drop down the hole.

With this, you'll find that you've escaped the trap and can continue through Griefberg Castle. If you're still struggling, just remember, you need to go through the door with that triangular, downward, tentacled-eye banner, and keep doing it until you escape.

I had no trouble finding vendors to offload Coen's endless supply of low-value pilfered junk in Blood of Dawnwalker, but it took a few days to figure out how to sell silver. It makes sense that silver is considered contraband under vampire rule, so you have to find the right vendor to foist it on and complete a quick quest before adventuring south.

Where can you sell silver in Blood of Dawnwalker?

You can sell silver in Svartrau City to the aptly named Silver Trader, but before you leave Coen's home in Laslea Glen, complete the Into the Den quest. It doesn't take long to slay the ravenous bear, and you need the intel uncovered by investigating what remains of its dinner.

In the name of RPG science, I tried heading to Svartrau immediately and skipping Into the Den, but the Silver Trader just tells Coen to get lost. You've gotta kill the bear, sorry.

A note at the end of the quest points Coen to Svartrau's Neustadt District. The city is further away in south-central Vale Sangora, but as long as you've completed Into the Den, you can visit as early or as late as you want. The map populates with new merchant icons and quest icons when you're close—the Silver Trader is in the southwest corner.

When he plays coy about Coen's visit, tell the Silver Trader you know what he's up to, and he'll agree to buy your silver contraband. It sells for way more than all of those pickles and chunks of raw meat in Coen's pockets. Well worth the bear fight, if you ask me.

Finding a way to free Mert in Blood of Dawnwalker's Under Watchful Eyes quest took me a while to work out. At first, I slaughtered the entire fort, but after such a slog of a fight I realised there must be a better way to do it—turns out there is. You can take a sneakier route at nighttime which drastically reduces the number of soldiers you have to kill.

In my video runthrough of it below, I also show how to reduce the number of fights even further with some tactically-employed Voracious Bites. Here's how to free Mert without murdering the fort.

How to free Mert without killing everyone in Stoneward Post

There's an obvious approach to freeing Mert in Under Watchful Eyes, and that's killing every soldier in the fort, but this is understandably quite tricky. There is a sneakier route you can take via a back door instead which will really cut down the number of goons you've got to put down.

You can avoid the two-on-one fight in Friedo's office by following my exact route in the video above. To do it, you need to purchase the Shadow Dweller and Dimension Reach upgrades in the Vampirism tree so you can take a shortcut up to the battlements. These are generally very handy upgrades, though, as they buff Shadow Reach distance and reduce stamina used in Plane Walking.

If you don't, you'll have to fight a bunch of enemies in the upper courtyard outside Mert's office, Friedo and the miniboss in his office, and the prison guard by the cells. Even without the Shadow Step skip, you're still fighting far fewer soldiers than if you'd taken on the whole fort. These are the steps you need to take if you have the upgrades.

1. After you've first spoken to Mert, go back up to Friedo's office and steal the Prison Keyring hanging on rightside shelves—he should be facing the opposite way, so just press Ctrl to sneak and yoink them. If you didn't do this the first time, return to the fort and grab them.
2. Leave the fort and do other activities until moonrise (nighttime).
3. Go around the back of the fort and use the Prison Keyring to unlock the back door.
4. Head inside, use Shadow Step and Planewalking to reach the top of the tower to your right, and walk along the battlements until you're above Friedo's office.
5. Get to a spot where you can Voracious Bite him to put him to sleep (as shown in the video)
6. Take everything of value in the chests and head downstairs.
7. Voracious Bite the guard by the prison cells to put him to sleep.
8. Free Mert.

When you head back upstairs, you'll have to fight the miniboss, Rayko the Incorruptible, and then three soldiers outside and a dog afterwards.

You can also take out one of the outside soldiers with a Voracious Bite before any of the others get to you (also shown in the video). After they're dealt with, make sure you're above one health segment, then exit the back door with Mert. He'll thank you and ask where to go, and you can send him to the Almshouse in Svartrau.

This is one of those hunger moments, so if you're below one health bar, I'm pretty sure you'd be forced to feed on Mert instead, which would be a poor reward for all your hard work. It's worth noting that whether you killed the soldiers at the mill during The Firebrand will also have an impact on Renna and Mert's potentially happy ending.

The Blasphemy quest is one of the most impactful in Blood of Dawnwalker's prologue, since it impacts the Blood Mass at the end of the day. When you find Gremla, bemoaning the theft of her tapestry, she explains that she took on that task of weaving a vampiric banner for the Knyaz, and that Brencis won't be pleased if she can't get it back.

It's easy enough to see the writing on the wall as to the outcome for not completing this one. However, the quest's second section, which sees you searching for the culprit, is actually quite tough. Below, I'll run through the whole quest, plus I've included details as to the outcome and rewards for getting Gremla's tapestry back, or keeping the thief's secret.

How to complete Blasphemy in Blood of Dawnwalker

After you speak to Gremla at her house in Laslea, you need to use Focus Mode (right click) to do some investigating:

1. Use Focus Mode to inspect the weaving loom in her house
2. Inspect the trail of footprints and the cane trail around the side of the building
3. Inspect the torn corner of tapestry at the end of the footprint trail and turn it around to spot the blood on it

This leads Coen to conclude that the thief cut their hand when they took the tapestry and that they also walk with a cane, so you'll have to search Laslea to find someone who matches the description.

There are three villagers who walk with canes, but you're looking for Premysl, who lives in the house at the most northeasterly point of the search area, marked on the screenshot above. He should be sitting outside his house.

Should you make Premsyl return the tapestry?

After you ask about his injured hand and cane, you can confront Premysl, and he reveals that he took the tapestry because it's an abomination to hang it in the church because of the nightmarish scene it depicts. You can either:

• Convince Premsyl to give it back: He's easy to convince, just don't choose the "Maybe you're right…" option. Report back to Gremla and you'll get some money and XP. In the Blood Mass in the evening, the nightmarish banner will be hanging in the church and the villagers will react with horror.
• Agree with him and he'll keep the tapestry: If you choose the "Maybe you're right…" option when he tries to convince you to keep it secret, he will, and you'll get the Daylight Amulet from him as a reward. In the evening, instead of the tapestry, Gremla will be killed and hung in the church.

You might be thinking that killing Gremla is worth a Superior Amulet, but you'll definitely find other amulets that are better before very long. Basically, if you want to save Gremla, don't feel obligated to let her die just to get the reward, when you can find lots of amulets in the game by just searching around, defeating enemies, and looting.

That said, Gremla isn't a very important character, and this doesn't seem to have an impact beyond the prologue, so do as your heart dictates.

Completing Where Loyalty Lies is the first big step in aligning yourself with a faction in Blood of Dawnwalker. Until now, you've likely been taking the fight to Brencis yourself, though maybe you decided to free Mert out of the goodness of your heart. But to join the Manumits, you'll have to prove your commitment to the cause by raising your infamy, a system you may not have interacted with much until now.

How to complete Where Loyalty Lies in Blood of Dawnwalker

You'll need to raise your infamy level to Notorious in order to join the Manumits, which is the fourth (IV) level on the court's infamy track, which you can see in the 'Court' tab of the menu. Your best bet for raising infamy is:

1. Complete named Vrakhir quests in any of the regions, such as Ambrus's Cellars, Ambrus's Transports, Ambrus's Collectors, or Ambrus's Prisoners, all of which are available in the regions just after you leave Laslea, such as in Briar Sloughs, Maragir Wealds, and St. Tyna's Grove. Other Vrahkir boyars have their own quests in other regions, which are similarly named.
2. Defeat one of the Vrakhiri boyars. Completing named Vrakhir quests will increase their anger, which you can see if you hover over their portrait in the court menu. A good way to do this is by completing every quest in a particular node, such as destroying all of Ambrus's blood cellars. Once you anger them sufficiently, you'll get a quest to defeat them, such as The Gilded Gauntlet for Ambrus.
3. Destroying Soldier Camps and Soldier Pickets: Soldier Camps are an incredibly time-efficient way to earn infamy. They don't increase a boyar's anger as much but they only consume one hourglass. They also generally reward you with a Swordsmastery manual. When you reach infamy level 2, Military Checkpoints will appear, which are equally time-efficient.

I'd recommend a mixture, destroying Soldier Camps in Ambrus's regions to unlock those abilities, but then also deal with some of Ambrus's operations to anger him enough, fight him, and gain a big chunk of infamy there. Either that, or go to a completely different region and anger one of the other boyars instead, though enemies in these will be a bit harder.

Once you reach Notorious infamy, you can head to Svartrau and meet up with Sara to continue the Manumit questline.

Deciding whether to force feed Coen's mum in Blood of Dawnwalker is one of the initial choices you'll encounter, but if you're like me, you may pause over it a while wondering how much it's going to impact. The game's prologue has only just started in earnest, and this is the first proper decision you encounter after all. So, here's what happens based on either choice and which I recommend picking.

Should you force feed Coen's mum in Blood of Dawnwalker?

While Esme indeed does need to eat—how else is she going to make lots of lovely blood for mass in the evening—force feeding her doesn't help the situation. If you choose the "Alright. Let's try" option, Coen will pick up the spoon and try to force feed Esme, but this results in her smacking the spoon aside and then essentially bursting into tears, leaving your dad, Pieter, feeling very sorry about what he tried to do.

Choosing the "I won't feed her against her will" option instead sees your father try to force feed her, but she also still bats the spoon out of his hand. It's the same result, but this way she at least seems less distressed with the outcome. This decision has no long term impact—it's more just a chance to dip your toes in the game's choice mechanics before some proper decisions later.

So yes, not trying to force feed her is the way to go if you don't want to feel bad. Either way, your father will ask you to head to Anca's to get some herbs so your mother can make it through the evening's blood mass.

Deciding whether you should kill the soldiers at Mert's Mill during Blood of Dawnwalker's The Firebrand quest looks like a minor choice at first, but a life does hang on it. After investigating Vlad's house in Laslea, you'll be directed to the mill in the region to the south. When you arrive, though, you'll be confronted by a bunch of soldiers, and you'll have to decide what to do about them.

Should you kill the soldiers or leave them be in Blood of Dawnwalker?

During The Firebrand quest, if you arrive at the farm during the night, you'll be ambushed by some soldiers who demand your identity. You can talk your way out of it by saying "I'm Mirto", but if you kill them Mert's wife Renna will emerge and tell you that you've made a grave mistake and that she'll be punished as a rebel collaborator, considering Mert is already in prison at Stoneward Post.

If you come during the day instead, Renna will pretend you've come to fix the cart. She will explain what's going on and ask you not to kill the soldiers hiding in the barn, again, to avoid making her appear to be a rebel. She's totally wrong, though. You should absolutely kill the soldiers in the barn because otherwise Renna will be killed while you're off trying to free Mert from prison. If you didn't kill the soldiers, Renna's corpse will be lying in the middle of the farm when you get back from your rescue.

I haven't tested whether there are consequences for putting off this quest for too long, so I'd suggest getting Mert out as soon as possible. After jailbreaking Mert, you tell him to flee with Renna to the Svartrau Almshouse and leave the area. If you killed the soldiers, you won't find Renna's corpse when you return to the farm, meaning they presumably got out safely.

You can meet Mert again at the Almshouse in Svartrau Cathedral's complex later, so be sure to check in on him when passing through.