Moba meets Smash TV Online battles got a little hotter with the release ofRelic Raiderson Steam Early Access. The free-to-play multiplayer action game drops up to sixteen players into randomly generated arenas where they must fight until one remains. Players choose from six characters that specialize in melee, ranged, or area-wide attacks. However, characters such as Aria offer a balanced selection of abilities. Other characters include an agile ninja, a cybernetically-enhanced black bear, a time-bending sniper, a guy in a power suit with big guns, and a crazed robot assassin....

Closed beta extended through weekend, ends May 3 If you haven’t heard aboutRocket Leagueyet for the PlayStation 4, then let me sum it up for you in just three words: soccer with cars. The game is the sequel to the PlayStation 3’sSupersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle Carsand it’s just as you would expect, addictive and fun as hell. Right now, there is a closed beta going on, but ithas been extendeduntil 10 p....

Prepare to drop blobs stateside? Sega recently confirmed the arrival of competitive puzzle titlePuyo Puyo eSports,currently preparing to launch in Japan on PS4 and Nintendo Switch in around a months’ time. This has led many WesternPuyo-heads to wondering whether this latest edition of the popular forward-planning title will see release on shores outside of its native Japan, affording them the opportunity to get in on the exciting – and amazingly fast-paced – blob-busting action....

If you didn’t listen toPodtoid 114, you might’ve never heard ofKlei Entertainment‘sShank. Since it doesn’t have a publisher or a platform (although I did demo it with an Xbox 360 controller) and was only announced at PAX a few weeks ago, that’s quite alright. For a quick look atShank‘s pedigree, keep in mind that Klei also developed bothEetsgames (for which they receivedan enormous grantfrom the Canadian government) andN+. So, yeah,Shank. It’s kind of like that episode in Season One ofArrested Developmentwhen GOB gets himself thrown in prison as a publicity stunt so that he can escape the next day....

Moving on up One of Activision’s three majorCall of Dutystudios is getting a big shake-up. Sledgehammer Games, the developer that helmed bothAdvanced WarfareandWWII, has lost its figureheads. AsKotakureports (and Activision has confirmed), Sledgehammer co-founders Glen Schofield and Michael Condrey have left the studio. The move happened a few weeks ago — likely over a slow transitional period — but it’s just coming to light today. Activision says both Schofield and Condrey are staying with the parent company, as they’re assuming executive positions within the publisher....

Ride on, Jim The critically acclaimed and fan-pleasingSonic Maniatitle features a tribute to a deceased member of theSonic the Hedgehogmodding community. Lava Reef Zone’s stunt-jumpin’ boss Heavy Rider is a mace wielding knight who attacks the players astride her high-octane motobug, Jimmy. This is a reference toSoniccommunity modder “Polygon Jim”, who was tragically killed in a car crash in 2013. One of Polygon Jim’s best-known works wasMotobug the Badnik in Sonic the Hedgehog, a game variant where players would control a version of the classicSonicenemy as they amusingly trundled through the stage, able to jump obstacles by extending their wheel, ala Heavy-Rider’s mount....

Tegan and Sara and Metric! A bunch of Canadian hepcats, including talent from the lovelySoundShapes, have teamed with a bunch of indie bands (one of ’ems called “Fucked Up”!) for aPlants vs. Zombiestinged rhythm game,Loud on Planet X. It’s already meant to come out this fall (PC, PS4, Vita), but this funding campaign, “is to add more music, more platforms, and help reduce some of the very large personal investment and creative team deferrals....

Spider-Man 2provides a pretty cinematic experience, and you may enhance how cool your battles are by unlocking skills for Miles and Peter. To do this, you’ll need to collect plenty of XP. Fortunately, this is not a problem, as there are several ways to score XP. The most obvious method is to complete the main story missions. This will certainly score you plenty of XP, but you’ll still need more if you plan on fully upgrading both Miles and Peter....

Joeeeeeeeshiiiidoooooooooooo Capcom’s coming back toStreet Fighter Vin a major way soon, adding thingsfans of the series had wanted for a long time, so this extra mode could go far for getting into players’ good graces again. There will be an “Extra Battle” mode with a specialty guest costume to buy at the the end of a four-week long challenge. As per Capcom: Every so often there will be a “Golden Shadaloo Soldier” fight which can net players bonus fight money, though the way Fight Money is earned in general is changing as well:...

Riotrevealed todaythat popular auto battlerTeamfight Tacticswill receive its second every set revival withTeamfight Tactics Revival: Dawn of Heroes, a limited game mode that refreshes and modernizes the set from three years ago. The revival version of theReckoning: Dawn of Heroesset will feature an all-new progression system as well.Teamfight Tactics Revival: Dawn of Heroesgoes live on August 06, 2025. This is just the second set revival Riot has done forTeamfight Tactics, with the Set 3....

I am the man who arranges the blocks In a world obsessed with perfection, one misshapen Tetromino will team with an orphaned block to start the revolution. This is the concept forTetropolisby NextGen Pants, a first in the new side-scrolling genre of “Tetroidvania.” But you don’t have to takemyword for it. Check out theKickstarterpage. Players will explore and progress through the world ofTetropolisby changing their shapes and the shape of the world itself....

Review Round-up: Week ending 12/14 On the second week of December Destructoid’s reviews brought me, one sweet RPG calledYs. Okay, that’s about as far as I’m going with turning this weeks review round-up into some sort of Christmas jingle. But feel free to keep the lyrics going in the comments below. As for the rest of the reviews… well you may tell it’s the second week of the last month of the year....

The fates of E3 and streams have been decided. I guess you could say this post is something of a tradition. When I first started reading Destructoid and E3 came around, a fellow named Chad Concelmo would ask the Destructoid community for questions regarding their E3 hopes and find various ways to predict the outcome of these questions, such as askingzoo animals. So I’ve (inconsistently) tried to keep this idea alive....