Pages 75 / 236

Big update for Hearts of Iron 4: armies, arms trade and pre-war events get a serious overhaul, from factories to border skirmishes 🚂

The headline change is an army readiness balance system that tweaks a country's fighting power before full-scale war (example: Czechoslovakia before Munich). Owners of Arms Against Tyranny get deeper international procurement mechanics; others get a simplified trade-via-decisions system. Germany can more tightly fold Czech industry into its war machine, new artillery tech inspired by Rӧchling is coming, and Hungary MAY trigger a Slovakia border clash adding a Small War. New military firms and railway concerns arrive for major powers, some features are free because devs said they just love trains. HYPE

Week of 14-21 April shook up Steam's paid chart: PIRATE survival sim Windrose jumped ahead of Pragmata, while MOUSE: P.I. For Hire and REPLACED cracked the top. ⚓️

Peak players: Windrose, 222,134, Pragmata, 68,687, Torchlight: Infinite, 27,406, MOUSE, 13,755. Forza Horizon 6 stays in the top‑10 thanks to preorders; overall revenue charts still feature Counter-Strike 2 at the top.

⚡️The Steam CHART just saw a power shift: Windrose and PRAGMATA bulldozed to the top and dethroned Crimson Desert.

Sitting third is MOUSE: P.I. For Hire, preorders for Forza Horizon 6 are still pouring in, and the top ten also includes REPLACED, Slay the Spire 2, EA Sports FC 26, Ready or Not and Rust 😏

🦑 Nintendo has officially revealed the release date for the single‑player Splatoon Raiders, another loud EXCLUSIVE coming to Nintendo Switch 2 in 2026.

It's a meaningful boost to an otherwise meagre slate for the console: fans get more first‑party content, critics will nitpick, but the announcement actually matters.

🍯 Spring hit ASKA: the Hearth & Honey update lets vikings BREW honey & mead. Expeditions to swamp isles hunt wild hives, the craft grows into tavern culture and taverns can be upgraded to 3.

New warehouse stats make tracking supplies easy; hunters can now venture into mines and face crawling creatures, so underground runs are noticeably more dangerous.

⚔️ Crusader Kings III just dropped a major 1.19 update with a surprise collab: Kingdom Come: Deliverance content and Indrzhikh roaming the maps.

The patch ships 19 new music tracks, a historically rebuilt Trosky castle with unique model and art, adds age-related illnesses, UI improvements, and a toggle to disable map tables for low-end PCs. Also: expanded barbershop fabrics and a fix for the silly bug that could dye horses pink, WILD.

This is HUGE: the Federal Tax Service froze account operations for Pioner devs, studio GFA Games reportedly owes over 13,000,000 ₽ in taxes, penalties and fines. ⚠️

Accounts were blocked at Alfa-Bank and Raiffeisen. Earlier wage delays and the loss of accredited IT status, which removed key tax breaks and state support, have deepened the studio's legal and financial troubles.

⚡️BALL x PIT is getting a big patch, The Shadow Update, on April 27 for PC (Steam), PS5, Xbox Series, both Switches and iOS/Android. Russian localization and Game Pass are supported.

What's inside: 2 new characters, grizzled miner The Tunneller (shots wrap around the screen) and fragile ninja The Tiptoer (near‑invisible up close but with lower HP/damage). Also 11 new balls (space‑warping, poisonous that slow+drain, time‑stop, erosion, etc.), 4 passives, e.g. Arrow of Fate; Argent Clock (balls start at 150% damage and lose 30% per bounce); Full‑Metal Rapier; Swordbreaker, and a new town hall building that lets you reroll previously chosen upgrades.

🔥 Daniel Vávra picked the 2026 action‑platformer Replaced as his Game of the Year, and it's mostly about the visuals, not flawless mechanics.

Raised on Amiga classics, he gushed over the look of Belarusian studio Sad Cat: "There are so many animations and everything is hand‑painted... It's insane!", he told founder Igor Gritsay. Vávra did point out gameplay flaws: the hero feels a bit slow and jumps lack precision. Still, the stunning art and atmosphere outweigh those tech issues, making Replaced more meaningful to him than big releases like Resident Evil 9. INSANE

⚡️Patch Crown of Greed 1.1.0 is live, a big QoL and stability update packed with fixes for the Rodovia campaign.

Highlights: a restart-mission button in the menu, time control, an upgraded save-recovery mechanism and a rebuilt save system, devs recommend using saves created in the new version and, if possible, restarting active missions. The update also adds timers and kill counters for tasks, map markers, new SFX; fixes alchemy shop and tavern behaviours, spells, skills and units (including the druid infinite tornado bug); reworks balance (resistances, mage research order, mausoleum no longer requires a cemetery) and patches dozens of scenario issues, Night of the Fangs, Cult of Shadows and Lord of Greed among them.