How to play the Smite 2 alpha test

Everyone who has played a Pokemon game knows that the most powerful ball is the legendary Master Ball. Most games only provide you with one of these overpowered items that lets you catch any Pokemon you want without a fight, but Pokemon GO didn’t include them at all for many years. That all changed in 2023 when they were introduced as part of a special event and finally gave trainers the chance to add one to their bags. If you log in today looking to get one for yourself to have ready for when you find that elusive Pokemon you’ve been struggling to catch, you won’t see any signs of how to get one. Like any good professor, we will instruct you on all the things you need to know about getting a Master Ball in Pokemon GO.

Decorating and designing your dream island in Animal Crossing: New Horizions takes a lot of Bells and materials. There are hundreds of ways to decorate your dream island, but the grind to get there can be a little daunting, especially with so many items being seasonal or part of holiday events. You are always encouraged to go out and visit your friend’s islands via Dodo Airlines (as long as you have a Nintendo Switch Online membership) so you can trade for or snag some items from their islands. You might also have heard of special Treasure Islands you can visit. These are said to be jam-packed with all sorts of rare items to collect. As you know, you can’t randomly visit other players’ islands, so here’s how you can reach them.

One of the major advancements the PlayStation 5 brought with its new DualSense controller was a new form of haptic feedback. In addition to more dynamic rumble, this included adaptive triggers that could adjust how it felt to pull the triggers to match the action on-screen. This could mean simulating resistance, or stopping the trigger short at different intervals. While novel, it isn't always great if you want to be playing at your best. The last thing you want is to struggle to fire your weapon in an online first-person shooter. Thankfully, this is an optional feature you can easily disable from your console.

There are ways in which you could play as a solo pirate in Sea of Thieves, but adventuring is so much more fun and rewarding when you’re part of a crew. Once you’ve gotten a handle on how to play the game, taking on voyages and attacking other players with fellow pirates is where the real fun begins. Alliances make it much easier to coordinate and team up with your fellow scallywags, but how you form them and all the benefits they can provide are somewhat obfuscated. It isn’t as simple as joining a party through a menu like in other games, so follow our treasure map to learn all about how alliances work in Sea of Thieves.

After Fortnite unleashed a flood of crossovers into the gaming world, there’s almost nothing that’s off the table anymore. Call of Duty getting a Nicki Minaj operator, for example, would likely never have happened 10 years ago, and yet here we are. The rapper/singer is often called the Queen of Rap, but she’s expanded her talents to dolphin-diving and no-scoping noobs on the battlefield. If you want to strut your stuff as Minaj in your next match, complete with her own set of pink weapons and vehicle skin, there are a few bits of information you need to know before loading up your next game.

One of the key features of vampires, at least in their original depiction, is their ability to take the form of a bat to quickly traverse the night. In V Rising, you technically can shapeshift but it won’t make a big impact on your ability to travel. You have all the normal weaknesses of the mythical creature, such as aversion to sunlight and the need to suck blood in order to survive, but you must stick to normal methods of transportation most of the time. Getting on a horse certainly speeds up your traversal, but the map is quite large and sometimes you just want to get from one side to the other quickly.

Unless you’re a lefty, you may not notice that every shooter, including Counter-Strike 2, always has you playing as a right-handed character. While it may not seem like a big deal, it just feels awkward for people who primarily use their left hands to get used to seeing games that way, especially when previous versions of this game allowed you to play as a southpaw. And, if you’re playing at the highest level, swapping hands can make peaking corners much easier. While it was missing for almost the first year of the game, Counter -trike 2 has finally allowed players to swap hands and play however is more natural and comfortable for them. Here is how to set your preferred handedness in Counter-Strike 2 and swap it on the fly.

There's no denying that Counter-Strike 2 is one of the most hardcore and competitive FPS games on PC. One wrong move in this game can force you to wait out the rest of the round and leave your team a player down.

You can’t have a game where you play as a witch without a massive cauldron. Hades 2 places one front and center in the Crossroads, but it isn’t just there for decorative purposes. Melinoë can use this big boiling pot of green liquid to bring new features into the game, whether it be between runs or during them, in exchange for various materials like Silver. You will only start out with a few Incantations, but doing more runs and getting further toward your goal of killing Chronos will gradually unlock more to create. There are far more than you might expect for an early access game. Here are all the Incantations and their recipes.

Hades 2‘s Melinoë is a very different main character from the first game’s Zagreusin terms of personality and in how she fights. Being a witch, magic is core to her moveset, but she still wields all sorts of new weapons. You won’t find the standard sword or spear here, as she starts off with just a witch’s staff. You’ll need to unlock the rest in traditional roguelike fashion. Each item requires you to gather up different materials, but most have some overlap so you will need to be selective about which one you craft first. We’re still in the early access period, but for now, here are all the Nocturnal Arms in the game and how you can unlock them.

No matter what type of lord you want to be in Manor Lords, you will need to play nice early on. You will only have access to so many materials and resources in your village's early stages, so trading is essential for not only upgrading and advancing, but also keeping your loyal population happy. To sustain yourself in the early years, trading will grant you access to much-needed support, as well as a great source of income if you have a surplus of materials to sell. To make sure your storehouses are well-stocked, you will need to learn how to set up a profitable trade operation.

Silver is one of the most important resources you can find in Hades 2. Unlike most others that drop after clearing a room, this precious metal must be mined from deposits around the map, leading to the question of how you can gather it. You may come across a glowing stone with the “Collect?” prompt, only to be told you cannot gather it without a special tool. That tool is none other than the Crescent Pick, but unlocking it is a bit obscure. It won’t take you many runs to get what you need, so just follow our lead so you can start collecting Silver to make new weapons with.