Game Releases – Page 4

Posted on May 27, 2023 by — Leave a comment

Today’s Coin Master free spins links May 2023

Wondering how to get Coin Master free spins? You’ve come to the right place. This is an addictive mobile game by design. It combines the thrill of playing slots with the social battling of Clash of Clans to create something that you just can’t put down; in a good way. The problem is, you so often have to put it down if you’re not willing to fork out the cash for regular spins. That’s understandable when as little as 30 spins will set you back £1.99 in the UK or $1.99 in the US.

In this Coin Master blog, we’re going to provide you with all of the ways you can get your hands on a few free spins and a Coin Master bonus here and there. This will allow you to continue playing long after your daily free spins run out, and provide you with the means of getting extra, without the need to spend your hard-earned money on premium spins in the game’s store. We’d also recommend checking out our Coin Master free cards and Coin Master free coins guides to get even more rewards, and our Pet Master free spins guide if you fancy checking out Moon Active’s latest game.

Today’s Coin Master free spin links

Coin Master free spins May 26

Coin Master free spins May 25

Coin Master free spins May 24

Coin Master free spins May 23

Coin Master free spins May 22

Coin Master free spins May 21

Coin Master free spins May 20

Coin Master free spins May 19

Coin Master free spins May 18

How can I get Coin Master free spins?

Here are a bunch of tips to help you get even more free spins in Coin Master.

Follow Coin Master on social media

Each day, Moon Active, Coin Master’s developer, provides a bunch of links that you can follow to get your hands on Coin Master free spins. If you keep on top of this, you can get a steady stream of free stuff for very little effort. You can follow Coin Master on Facebook or Twitter.

Want more? Check out CodesDb for a powerful, searchable database of the latest game codes.

Sign up for email gifts

If you sign up for email gifts, you can get yourself a handful of Coin Master free spins every single day just by following a link on your phone. We haven’t encountered any spam from signing up so far either, so it’s a quick and easy method of getting yourself some tasty free spins.

Invite friends

Each time you invite a friend who successfully joins Coin Master through Facebook, you’ll get 40 Coin Master free spins, which is considerable. They don’t even have to actually play the game; they simply have to download it and log in via their Facebook account to get you the free spins. Of course, it’s in both your interests to actually play it, which brings us nicely to our next point.

Request spins as gifts

You can get up to 100 Coin Master free spins per day from friends, though to get to those heights you’ll need 100 active friends who are kind enough to send you a gift each day. Each gift consists of a single free spin.

Unless you’re incredibly popular, it’s highly unlikely that you’ll have 100 friends; let alone 100 that will actually deign to play a game with you. We recommend heading on over to the official Reddit community or Facebook communities to try and find people willing to play with you.

Watch video ads

You can get a limited number of Coin Master free spins per day by watching a video ad. Simply scroll to the slot machine and tap on the spin energy button on the bottom right. If it’s not there, you’ve run out of free spins you can get through this method for the day, but if it is, simply tap on it and you’ll watch an ad.

Spin

Ironically, you can actually get a ton of Coin Master free spins by, well, spinning. If you get three spin energy symbols in a row, you’ll get a bunch of free spins. Pick up a chain of them and you can spin for ages before you run out.

Level up your village

Each time you level up your village, you’ll get a bunch of Coin Master free spins. It’s not easy though, as it costs a considerable amount of gold to purchase new buildings and improve them, and you have to purchase every single one of them, including improvements, to level up. That’s going to cost a lot of spins, as it is.

Looking for a new game? Take a look at our Honkai Star Rail codes, Honkai Star Rail tier list, or even our Pokédex!

Participate in events

There’s almost always at least one event happening in Coin Master, and it can absolutely shower you with free spins. While viewing the slot machine, look at the top right of the screen. Any virtual buttons that you can see beneath the menu (which is displayed as three lines) are an event. Tap on one and you’ll see what each event involves.

Take advantage of these events and you can get yourself a lot more Coin Master free spins than usual.

Wait

This is an obvious suggestion, but it’s actually worth taking into consideration. You get five free spins every single hour, and you can only hold a maximum of 50 spins at any one time. That means every ten hours you’ll hit the maximum number of spins, and any Coin Master free spins you would have earned after that will cease to exist.

So, we recommend setting a reminder to visit Coin Master every ten hours at least to spend your spins so you are always earning more. You’ll actually end up earning a huge number of extra spins if you’re dedicated, so it’s totally worth doing.

Coin Master free spin FAQ

Now, we’ll answer a bunch of questions you may have regarding getting Coin Master free spins.

Do Coin Master free spins links expire?

Yes, the daily links that we include at the top of this page expire after three days, which is why we only include those from today and the two days prior.

Can I get 50 Coin Master free spins?

Coin Master 50 spin rewards most commonly appear during in-game events, like those that reward you for raiding or battling other players. There’s also a small chance to get this number from daily links, so bookmark this page and check back often.

Can I get 60 Coin Master free spins?

Yes, though it doesn’t appear to happen often from daily links. We’d recommend playing often and participating in events, and following the social media channels to find out what’s happening soon.

Can I get 70 Coin Master free spins?

We’ve never seen a Coin Master 70 spin reward appear as part of the daily links, but it has been known to appear as part of special events.

To get your hands on this rare reward, we would recommend playing on a daily basis and following social media channels to get an indication of when the next big event will take place.

Can I get 100 Coin Master free spins?

Yes, though not from the daily links. We’ve seen this number of free spins appear often during in-game events, most notably for those that reward you for raiding and participating in PvP battles.

Play often and follow the social media channels for events to keep an eye out for this.

Can I get 50,000 Coin Master free spins?

Again, 50,000 Coin Master spin rewards don’t seem to appear as part of the daily rewards cycle, but have been known to crop up during events. Follow the socials and play regularly to get the best chance at this reward.

And that will just about do it for our Coin Master free spins guide. For something a little different, why not take a look at our guide to answers for Wordle today? And if you’re looking for something new to play, check out our best mobile games list, or head over to our Honkai Star Rail tier list and Genshin Impact tier list.

Posted on May 25, 2023 by — Leave a comment

Honkai Star Rail Asta build

Aboard the Herta Space station, it’s near impossible to do anything without first running it by the lead researcher, Honkai Star Rail’s Asta. This lovely young lady commands the entire space station, and is on a constant search for new knowledge to sate her curiosity. So come along with us as we go stargazing with Honkai Star Rail’s Asta, and learn all about her personality, skills, eidolons, best light cones, and relics.

If you want to introduce yourself to the rest of the Herta Space Station staff, then hop aboard the Astral Express with our Honkai Star Rail tier list and Honkai Star Rail characters guide. We’ve also got builds for all the other friendly faces you can meet on your Trailblazing adventure, including Honkai Star Rail’s Herta, Honkai Star Rail’s Arlan, and more, and plenty of goodies to grab in our Honkai Star Rail codes and Honkai Star Rail events guides.

Now let’s get this research mission underway, as we fly straight into our Honkai Star Rail Asta build guide.

What’s the best Honkai Star Rail Asta build?

Honkai Star Rail’s Asta is a four-star fire character who treads the path of Harmony, meaning her main role is to buff her allies. Her varied kit may seem underwhelming at first glance, but can certainly shine under the right circumstances. She fits quite a niche role, increasing her allies’ speed with her ultimate, and buffing their attack by dealing damage through her passive.

If you equip her with her signature light cone, she works best with other fire characters like Honkai Star Rail’s Hook and Honkai Star Rail’s Himeko. However, she’s not the most sustainable without a shielder or a healer on her team, which restricts your team comp options quite dramatically. On the other hand, the buffs she supplies are not to be sniffed at, as they can quickly sway a battle in your favour.

When building Asta, we recommend aiming to increase her fire damage, effect hit rate, and speed above other stats.

Which light cone should I use for Honkai Star Rail’s Asta?

The four-star light cone Planetary Rendezvous is tailored specifically to Asta’s kit. However, its skill is very specific, and is only worthwhile if you have a mono-fire team. Therefore, under other circumstances, it may be better to equip her with a different light cone to suit your team’s needs.

But the Battle Isn’t Over is a strong five-star option which increases Asta’s energy regeneration rate, restores skill points for her team, and boosts an ally’s damage. Other than that, pretty much all of the Harmony-aligned light cones offer useful buffs for Asta’s team, so feel free to pick whatever one suits your desired team.

Light cone	Effect	How to obtain
Planetary Rendezvous	When all allies deal the same damage type as Asta, damage dealt increases by 16%	Gacha
But the Battle Isn’t Over	Increases the wearer’s energy regeneration rate by 10% and regenerates one skill point when the wearer uses their ultimate on an ally. This effect can only occur once every two uses of the wearer’s ultimate. When the wearer uses their skill, the next ally that takes action (other than the wearer) deals 30% more damage for one turn	Gacha or the Starlight Exchange store

Which relics should I use for Honkai Star Rail’s Asta?

Asta’s kit (aside from her ult) revolves around dishing out fire damage and hitting as many enemies as possible. As such, four pieces of Firesmith of Lava-Forging is a decent option for the fire and skill damage increase.

In terms of her two remaining slots, we recommend Fleet of the Ageless for its team-wide buff, or Pan-Galactic Commercial Enterprise to boost her effect hit rate.

Relic	Effect	How to obtain
Firesmith of Lava-Forging	Two equipped: increases fire damage by 10% Four equipped: increases Asta’s skill damage by 12%. After she uses her ultimate, increases her fire damage by 12% for her next attack	Cavern of Corrosion: Path of Conflagration in The Xianzhou Luofu’s Stargazer Navalia
Fleet of the Ageless	Two equipped: increases Asta’s max HP by 12%. When her speed reaches 120 or higher, all allies’ attack increases by 8%	World 3 of the Simulated Universe
Pan-Galactic Commercial Enterprise	Two equipped: increases Asta’s effect hit rate by 10%. Meanwhile, her attack increases by an amount equal to 25% of the current hit rate, up to a maximum of 25% bonus	World 5 of the Simulated Universe

Relic stat recommendations

When picking relics for Asta, we recommend prioritising the following stats. The increases effect hit rate is intended to help her hit more enemies with her bounce skill, so you can make the most of her passive and use it to buff the attack of your entire team.

We recommend building her speed, too, so you can capitalise on the buffs offered by the Simulated Universe relic sets, and potentially proc her passive more frequently.

Main stats:

Feet: speed
Neck: fire damage bonus
Article: effect hit rate

Sub-stats:

Fire damage bonus
Effect hit rate

What are Honkai Star Rail’s Asta’s abilities?

Here are all of Asta’s abilities. In combat, we recommend using her ultimate as often as possible to keep boosting your team’s overall speed. Her skill doesn’t deal a dramatic amount of damage at base value, but it’s good for chipping down enemy weaknesses and charging up her ultimate faster.

Active

Skill	Effect
Basic attack: Spectrum Beam	Deal 50% of Asta’s attack as fire damage to a target enemy
Skill: Meteor Storm	Deal 28% of Asta’s attack as fire damage to a target enemy and bombard them four more times. Each bombardment deals 28% of Asta’s attack as fire damage to a random enemy
Ultimate: Astral Blessing	Increases the speed of all allies by 45 for two turns

Passive

Skill	Effect
Astrometry	Astra gains a charging stack for every different enemy hit, plus an additional stack if the enemy hit has fire weakness. For every charging stack Asta has, all allies’ attack increases by 6% up to five times. At the start of every turn, Asta’s charging stack count is reduced by three

Technique

Skill	Effect
Miracle Flash	Immediately attack the enemy. After entering battle, deal 50% of Asta’s attack as fire damage to all enemies

What are Honkai Star Rail Asta’s eidolons?

Honkai Star Rail’s eidolons, like Genshin Impact’s constellations, are bonuses and upgrades you can unlock by pulling more than one copy of a character. Here are all of Asta’s eidolons.

Eidolon	Effect
E1: A Star’s Lyricless Song	When using Asta’s skill, deal additional damage once to a target enemy
E2: The Moon Understands its Cycle	When using Asta’s ultimate, she doesn’t reduce her charging stacks for the next turn
E3: The Ecliptic Meteorite’s Change	Increases the level of Asta’s ultimate level by three, up to a maximum of level 15, and the level of her basic attack by one, up to a maximum of ten
E4: When the Aurora Manifests	When Asta’s talent charging stack count reaches one or higher, her energy restoration rate increases by 25%
E5: Mystery of Deep Space Objects	Increases the level of Asta’s skill by three, up to a maximum of level fifteen, and increases the level of her basic attack by one, up to a maximum of level ten
E6: Sleep Under the Milky Way	The chagrin stack reduction of Asta’s talent is reduced by one

What are Honkai Star Rail Asta’s ascension materials?

You can get Asta all the way up to level 80, but you need to use specific materials to raise her ascension rank at certain intervals. Here are all the materials you need to get Asta to max level.

You can get the silvermane badges and their higher-grade counterparts, silvermane insignia and silvermane medals, from the silvermane guard enemies on Jarilo-VI, Honkai Star Rail Simulated Universe enemies, assignment rewards, and the embers exchange store. The endotherm chitin are drops from the Shape of Blaze Honkai Star Rail Stagnant Shadow in Jarilo-VI’s silvermane guard restricted zone.

Required level	Credits	Materials
20	3.2k	Four silvermane badges
30	6.4k	Eight silvermane badges
40	12.8k	Two endotherm chitin, five silvermane insignia
50	32k	Five endotherm chitin, eight silvermane insignia
60	64k	15 endotherm chitin, five silvermane medals
70	128k	28 endotherm chitin, seven silvermane medals

Who is Honkai Star Rail’s Asta?

Asta is the lead researcher of Herta Space Station, who possesses a wealth of knowledge about the galaxies around her. She’s a fiercely inquisitive and highly energetic young woman, who takes all of the trials of her job in her stride.

Whether it’s managing opinionated staff, dealing with gossip, handling the Intelligentsia Guild, or fighting back the fragmentum, Asta handles it effortlessly, with a polite, approachable demeanour belying a firmness that demands the respect she deserves.

Asta’s English voice actor is Felecia Angelle, and her Japanese voice actor is Akasaki Chinatsu.

And that’s everything we’ve got on Honkai Star Rail’s Asta. For more Hoyo fun, check out our Genshin Impact tier list, Genshin Impact codes, Genshin Impact banner, and Genshin Impact events guides.

Posted on May 23, 2023 by — Leave a comment

Marvel Snap’s High Evolutionary unleashes heroes’ true potential

May 23, 2023: It looks like there’s been an issue with the release of High Evolutionary. We’re waiting to hear more from Second Dinner.

Marvel Snap’s High Evolutionary is the latest card to arrive in Second Dinner’s superhero-powered game, completely changing the play style of multiple heroes. The villainous star of Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 and other Marvel games might not be a powerhouse on his own, but alongside Hulk, Cyclops, and cards with no ability, the meta is about to get pretty interesting with souped-up supes.

Arriving as a four-cost four-power card, the High Evolutionary’s effect reads, ‘at the start of the game, unlock the potential of your cards with no abilities.’ That means it’s no longer just Patriot that no ability cards like Misty Knight and Shocker can rely on, but High Evolutionary too, with the intelligent alien’s enhancements offering power boosts for your cards and nerfs for your opponent.

In terms of recommendations for decks to add High Evolutionary to, it’s hard to say. Really, High Evolutionary is powerful enough to develop an entire deck around, and with most of the components cards you pick up early in the game, it’s only the fresh villain you need to add to your roster to make something worthy of meta play.

You can pick up High Evolutionary for the price of 6,000 collector’s tokens, and for the first time in a while with new Marvel Snap cards, we think it’s completely worth it. Just a few hours in and we’re seeing reports of countless High Evolutionary decks, so you know how the old saying goes. If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.

There you have it, all you need to know about Marvel Snap’s High Evolutionary. While you’re here, see what ideas you might get for this new card from our Marvel Snap decks guide and Marvel Snap tier list. Or, for more ancient space beings and unbelievable powers, jump on the Astral Express with our Honkai Star Rail tier list and Honkai Star Rail codes.

Posted on May 21, 2023 by — Leave a comment

Genshin Impact Kirara build

Are you expecting a package? Because Genshin Impact’s Kirara is here to deliver. This energetic nekomata is always on the move, and we’re here to help you make the most of her unique kit. She’s blessed with a dendro vision and looks to be a formidable shielder, so read on if you want to learn more about her skills, best weapons, constellations, and more.

We’ve got a whole bunch of Genshin guides to help you on your journey across Teyvat. Check out our Genshin Impact tier list, Genshin Impact codes, and Genshin Impact next banner guides to get up to date on the latest content and meta. We’ve also got build guides for other dendro characters like Genshin Impact’s Alhaitham, Genshin Impact’s Baizhu, and Genshin Impact’s Kaveh.

Here’s everything we know so far about Genshin Impact’s Kirara.

What’s the best Genshin Impact Kirara build?

Based on what we’ve seen in the Genshin Impact update livestream, Genshin’s Kirara is a dendro sword user and looks to be an extremely powerful shield support. Her elemental skill has massive damage absorption potential, particularly for dendro damage, that scales based on her max HP. Her kit is somewhat similar to Genshin Impact’s Layla in this way.

Her elemental skill and elemental burst are also great dendro reaction drivers for your other DPS units, dealing AoE dendro damage and afflicting enemies with the element. She’s looking to be a pretty decent off-field shield supporter, but we’ll be sure to update you on her best uses when we test her out in version 3.7. She’s voiced by Julia Gu in the English version and Sayumi Suzushiro in the Japanese version, who you might recognise as the voice of Shinigami in Master Detective Archives: Rain Code and Jackie in Arknights.

What are the best Genshin Impact Kirara weapons?

Based on what we know so far about Kirara’s kit, the Key of Khaj-Nisut is the best five-star sword for her. It increases her max HP which buffs her shield’s damage absorption, and also has the chance to increase the team’s elemental mastery if you use her skill frequently enough. We’ve also suggested some potential four-star options that buff her energy recharge. Sapwood Blade seems like a particularly good budget pick as you can forge it and it synergises well with dendro reaction teams.

Weapon	Effect	How to obtain
Key of Khaj-Nisut	Bonus stat: HP Skill: HP increased by 20%. When an elemental skill hits opponents, you gain the Grand Hymn effect for 20 seconds. This effect increases Kirara’s elemental mastery by 0.12% of her max HP. This effect can trigger once every 0.3 seconds. Max three stacks. When this effect gains three stacks, or when the third stack’s duration is refreshed, the elemental mastery of all nearby party members increases by 0.2% of Kirara’s max HP for 20 seconds	Gacha
Sapwood Blade	Bonus stat: energy recharge Skill: Triggering burning, quicken, aggravate, spread, bloom, hyperbloom, or burgeon creates a Leaf of Consciousness around Kirara for a maximum of ten seconds. When picked up, the Leaf grants Kirara 60 elemental mastery for 12 seconds. Only one Leaf can be generated this way every 20 seconds. This effect can still trigger if Kirara is not on the field. The Leaf of Consciousness’ effect cannot stack	Forging
Favonius Sword	Bonus stat: energy recharge Skill: Crit hits have a 60% chance to generate a small amount of elemental particles, which regenerate six energy for Kirara. Can only occur once every 12 seconds	Gacha

What are the best Genshin Impact Kirara artifacts?

Based on the artifact sets we currently have in the game, we’ve made some suggestions below about which ones work with Kirara’s kit, but currently none of them are a perfect fit. If you want to lean fully into her shielding capabilities, a four-piece set of Tenacity of the Milelith buffs Kirara’s HP and shield strength. For a similar effect but from multiple sets, you can try two pieces of Vourukasha’s Glow and two pieces of Retracing Bolide. We’re still figuring out the right loadout for her, so feel free to experiment!

Artifact set	Effect	How to obtain
Tenacity of the Milelith	Two equipped: HP +20% Four equipped: upon hitting an enemy with an elemental skill, all nearby party members gain 20% attack and 30% shield strength for three seconds. You can trigger this effect once every 0.5 seconds, even if Kirara is not on the field	Ridge Watch domain on Bishui Plain, Liyue
Vourukasha’s Glow	Two equipped: HP +20% Four equipped: increases elemental skill and elemental burst damage by 10%. When Kirara takes damage, the aforementioned damage bonus increases by 80% for five seconds. This effect can reach a maximum of five stacks, with the duration of each stack counted independently. The effects can trigger even if Kirara isn’t on the field	Molten Iron Fortress Domain in the Girdle of the Sands, Sumeru
Retracing Bolide	Two equipped: shield strength +35% Four equipped: while protected by a shield, gain an additional 40% normal and charged attack damage	Domain of Guyun in Sea of Clouds, Guyun Stone Forest, Liyue, or the Retracing Bolide artifact strongbox
Defender’s Will	Two equipped: defence +30% Four equipped: increases elemental resistance by 30% for each element present among the characters in your party	Chests, enemy drops, domains

Artifact stat recommendations

We recommend focusing on the following stats when picking artifacts for Kirara.

Main stats:

HP
Energy recharge
Elemental mastery

Sub-stats:

Attack
Crit rate
Crit damage

What are Genshin Impact Kirara’s abilities?

The key abilities in Kirara’s kit are her elemental skill and burst. They both deal AoE dendro damage and her skill provides a shield for her and her teammates that has incredible damage absorption potential. It’s definitely worth focusing your efforts on those skills instead of her normal attack.

Active skills:

Skill	Effect
Normal attack: Boxcutter	Normal: Performs up to four rapid strikes Charged: Consumes a certain amount of stamina to unleash three rapid claw strikes Plunging: Plunges from mid-air to strike the ground below, damaging opponents along the path and dealing AoE damage upon impact
Elemental skill: Meow-teor Kick	Press: Kirara leaps into the air with all the agility of a cat passing through the bushes, and thwacks her foes with a flying kick that deals AoE dendro damage while creating a Shield of Safe Transport. This also briefly applies dendro to Kirara. The shield absorbs dendro damage with 250% effectiveness. The shield’s damage absorption is based on Kirara’s max HP and will not exceed a certain percentage of that max HP. If Kirara creates a new shield while a previous one is still active, it gains the remaining damage absorption stacks, and its duration resets Hold: Kirara deploys a Shield of Safe Transport identical to the one created by pressing the skill and curls up into a special express delivery box, entering the Urgent Neko Parcel state in order to move and fight more swiftly. Urgent Neko Parcel · Deals dendro damage to opponents she crashes into. This effect can be triggered once on each opponent every 0.5 seconds · When in this state, Kirara’s movement speed, climbing speed, and jumping power increase, and her stamina consumption from climbing also increases · When the duration ends or the Kirara uses the skill again, she unleashes a Flipclaw Strike more powerful than the attack in the press mode, dealing AoE dendro damage · The Urgent Neko Parcel state lasts a maximum of ten seconds. When the state ends, the skill enters cooldown. The longer Kirara spends in this state, the longer the cooldown is · Sprinting or actively cancelling climbing ends this state early
Elemental burst: Secret Art: Surprise Dispatch	Smash opponents with a Special Delivery Package, dealing AoE dendro damage. After the Special Delivery Package explodes, it splits up into many Cat Grass Cardamoms that explode either on contact with opponents or after a period of time, dealing AoE dendro damage

Passive skills:

Skill	Effect
Cat’s Creeping Carriage	When Kirara is in the party, animals who produce fowl, raw meat, or chilled meat aren’t startled when party members approach them
Bewitching, Betwitching Tails	When Kirara is in the Urgent Neko Parcel state of Meow-teor Kick, each impact against an opponent grants her a stack of Reinforced Packaging. You can trigger this effect once for each opponent she hits every 0.5 seconds, for a maximum of three stacks. When the Urgent Neko Parcel state ends, each stack of Reinforced Packaging creates one Shield of Safe Transport for Kirara. The shields created this way have 20% of the damage absorption that the Shield of Safe Transport produced by Meow-teor Kick would have. If Kirara is already protected by a Shield of Safe Transport created by Meow-teor Kick, its damage absorption stacks with these shields and its duration resets
Pupillary Variance	Every 1,000 max HP Kirara possesses increases the damage Meow-teor Kick deals by 0.4%, and the damage Secret Art: Surprise Dispatch deals by 0.3%

What are Genshin Impact Kirara’s constellations?

Constellations are additional buffs that you unlock by pulling duplicates of a character. Here’s all the constellations for Kirara.

Constellation	Effect
C1: Material Circulation	Every 8,000 max HP Kirara possesses causes her to create one extra Cat Grass Cardamom when she uses Secret Art: Surprise Dispatch. She can create a maximum of four extra Cat Grass Cardamom in this way
C2: Perfectly Packaged	When Kirara is in the Urgent Neko Parcel state of Meow-teor Kick, she grants Critical Transport Shields to any other party members she crashes into. The damage absorption of Critical Transport Shield is 40% of the maximum absorption of Meow-teor Kick’s normal Shields of Safe Transport, and they absorb dendro damage with 250% effectiveness. Critical Transport Shields last 12 seconds, and you can trigger them once on each character every ten seconds
C3: Universal Recognition	Increases the level of Meow-teor Kick by three, up to a maximum level of 15
C4: Steed of Skanda	After active characters protected by Shields of Safe Transport or Critical Transport Shields hit opponents with normal, charged, or plunging attacks, Kirara performs a coordinated attack with them using Small Cat Grass Cardamoms, dealing 200% of her attack as dendro damage. This damage is considered elemental burst damage. This effect can trigger once every 3.8 seconds
C5: A Thousand Miles in a Day	Increases the level of Secret Art: Surprise Dispatch by three, up to a maximum level of 15
C6: Countless Sights to See	All nearby party members gain 12% all elemental damage bonus within 15 seconds after Kirara uses her elemental skill or burst

What are Genshin Impact Kirara’s ascension materials?

If you want to ascend Kirara all the way to level 90, you should start farming the Iniquitous Baptist boss right away. You need a lot of evergloom rings and amakumo fruit, as well as the husks from the spectre enemies, so we hope you like hanging out in the desert and on Seirai Island.

Required level	Mora	Materials
20	20k	One nagadus emerald sliver, three amakumo fruit, three spectral husk
40	40k	Three nagadus emerald fragment, two evergloom ring, ten amakumo fruit, 15 spectral husk
50	60k	Six nagadus emerald fragment, four evergloom ring, 20 amakumo fruit, 12 spectral heart
60	80k	Three nagadus emerald chunk, eight evergloom ring, 30 amakumo fruit, 18 spectral heart
70	100k	Six nagadus emerald chunk, 12 evergloom ring, 45 amakumo fruit, 12 spectral nucleus
80	120k	Six nagadus emerald gemstone, 20 evergloom ring, 60 amakumo fruit, 24 spectral nucleus

What are Genshin Impact Kirara’s talent materials?

Some of Kirara’s talent materials are the same as her ascension materials, so make sure to double up when you’re farming. Aside from that, you can get the transience talent books from the Violet Court domain on Mondays, Thursdays, and Sundays, and the everamber materials are drops from the Realm of Beginnings weekly boss in Sumeru’s Desert of Hadramaveth. Here’s everything you need to level up one of her skills to ten.

Talent level	Mora	Materials
Two	12.5k	Three teachings of transience, six spectral husk
Three	17.5k	Two guide to transience, three spectral heart
Four	25k	Four guide to transience, four spectral heart
Five	30k	Six guide to transience, six spectral heart
Six	37.5k	Nine guide to transience, nine spectral heart
Seven	120k	Four philosophies of transience, four spectral nucleus, one everamber
Eight	260k	Six philosophies of transience, six spectral nucleus, one everamber
Nine	450k	12 philosophies of transience, nine spectral nucleus, two everamber
Ten	700k	16 philosophies of transience, 12 spectral heart, two everamber, one crown of insight

What are the best Genshin Impact Kirara team comps?

As we haven’t had a chance to test Kirara out ourselves just yet, we’re not sure which team comps would work best for her. Depending on how you build her, she can benefit from dendro resonance teams or multi-element comps, and she could be a great fit for bloom-based teams as her shields protect your allies from the dendro core explosions. We’ll be sure to add more specific team comps as we get to try her out for ourselves.

That’s everything we know so far about Genshin Impact’s Kirara. We’ll update this guide as soon as we know more, so make sure to bookmark it. While you wait, check out some of our other Hoyoverse guides like our Honkai Star Rail tier list, Honkai Star Rail codes, and builds for Honkai Star Rail Asta, Honkai Star Rail March 7th, and Honkai Star Rail Sushang.

Posted on May 19, 2023 by — Leave a comment

The Legend of Dopamine: Zelda, me, and ADHD

Back in 2017, at the spritely age of 27 years old, I couldn’t wait to get the Nintendo Switch and a new Zelda game. What I didn’t realise at the time was that I likely had ADHD, and oh how I wish I could go back and shake the younger version of me.

If I had stopped to think about it for a few seconds, I might have known, but sadly my ADHD often means I can’t stop to contemplate things very much. Classic really. In my twenties, I was acutely aware of my anxiety. I also knew I was a bit hyper sometimes, but I just put that down to the fact that I’m an enthusiastic person. However, during my twenties, I knew people who are autistic and neurodivergent, and the last thing I wanted to do was take up space.

There are many things that are key to my initial realisation that I have ADHD. Countless abandoned projects, intense hyper fixations, a rollercoaster of acute concentration mixed with a brain that can feel dizzy and disorientated. I also struggle with books, long films, and a lot of games that lack immediacy. I think this is why I gravitate towards Nintendo games, because when I press the jump button, Mario jumps… instantly.

I’m a huge Zelda fan, and I’m lucky enough to say that I got to play and enjoy several titles alongside their original releases, such as Ocarina of Time, Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, and Skyward Sword. Breath of the Wild’s launch is still so special, however, as the drastic transformation of the series’ gameplay and style remains shocking to this day. It also represents everything I love about videogames but often struggle to articulate.

Before becoming a journalist, I was terrible for getting stuck in a game and only coming back months, if not years, later. One wrong turn in a dungeon, and I was so disorientated I could never go back. One too many deaths at the hand of a boss, and I threw in the towel. If I lost an hour or two of progress, I was probably never coming back.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild didn’t entirely help me realise I have ADHD, but it helps me explain so many things about my brain, what appeals to it, and what keeps me coming back. I have well over 600 hours across multiple saves in Breath of the Wild, and it’s a world I am happy to just occupy, aimlessly wander, and jump from point of interest to point of interest.

I think Breath of the Wild is a fantastic game for people with ADHD, and there are a few reasons why. First is the aforementioned immediacy. If I press jump, Link jumps. If I want to go somewhere, I can go there. If I see something interesting, you can bet I can find it, and almost every single time, the game rewards me for doing so. The Hyrule of Breath of the Wild is densely populated not just with things to do, but visual cues that point you towards them.

The most crucial of these points of interest are two things, shrines and koroks. They stand out distinctly in the overworld, and both give you a quantifiable reward for solving their puzzles. In essence, all of the Hyrule map is the dungeon, and shrines and koroks represent puzzles in every square inch instead of individual rooms. The shrines are the macro puzzles, and the koroks are the micro puzzles.

They’re both fun and satisfying to solve in their own right, but the fact they’re both visually appealing is essential. Spotting the bright glow of a shrine is still so fun, and it’s just as present in Tears of the Kingdom. But the koroks are the star of the show here, littering the world with visually distinct oddities that always catch the eye.

As you wander around Hyrule, you might see three trees in a row. They all have very similar displays of fruit, except for a single apple out of place. How strange. So to satisfy the symmetry-loving part of your brain you knock down the odd apple, and low and behold, up pops the leafy critter as you have just solved a korok puzzle.

There are so many of these puzzles, like circles consisting of rocks with a single one missing, begging you to complete the circle. There are rings of leaves floating on bodies of water, with a suspiciously positioned spot just above that looks perfect for diving. There are rows of statues, all holding offerings of apples, except for one, and you know exactly what’s bound to happen if you drop an apple into that empty space.

If you’re familiar with the viral TikTok of a person watching someone put blocks into the wrong-shaped holes, you know the exact opposite of this feeling. There’s such a rush of dopamine when you create order out of disorder, when you finally bring together two separated elements, much like when completing a line in Tetris.

Breath of the Wild is essentially a million tiny tasks, but while other videogames gate these off with blocks to progression or singular solutions to puzzles, Breath of the Wild begs for you to solve these small puzzles any way that works, and in any order. You can walk in a straight line in any direction in Breath of the Wild and come across puzzles to solve, shrines to complete, and enemies to defeat. And it’s never, ever, the wrong thing to do.

I’ve fallen in love with games before, and I often can force myself to play games I describe as anti-ADHD. While the agonising pace of a title like Red Dead Redemption 2 is too much for me, I managed to get through the mental blockades in Animal Crossing: New Horizons created by the obtuse nature of terraforming.

Perhaps it’s because Animal Crossing still allows you to quickly do small tasks in between other larger ones, whereas in RDR2, I feel like I’m following a script, and I can only do it as quickly as the game wants me to. Either way, I can play any game, really, but I only fall completely in love with games that work alongside my brain.

This is how I know Breath of the Wild is the perfect ADHD game for me. Instead of ominous and obtuse large tasks, I have an easy-to-solve pile of small tasks all along the way, offering dopamine with every solution. I don’t have to wait for hours for resolution or essential story development, every moment actively involves me, it makes me think, and rewards me.

I remember those early days in 2017, when my housemates and I had Breath of the Wild up on a projector, playing it for hours at a time, endlessly entertained and constantly curious. My housemate jokingly referred to it as “mash A – the game”, and he was incredibly right. Much like the many korok puzzles and the many shrines, there’s also always something to pick up, whether it’s plants, resources like wood, or drops from enemies. And crucially, it’s immediate.

Everything about Breath of the Wild works with my brain, nothing gets in the way, and that’s how I could still gladly sink another 600 hours into it. Now, this is where I’m both delighted and terrified. You remember how I said Breath of the Wild is the perfect ADHD game? Well, scratch that, because Tears of the Kingdom is the perfect ADHD game.

I’m one week and nearly twenty hours into my latest Hyrule adventure, and already I’m seeing smart amendments to the few blockades that Breath of the Wild offers to progress. The shrines are back and even more visually appealing, just teasing you from across the map with their green swirling lights and asking to be explored.

Except now they aren’t contained to the ground, and neither is Link. That curiosity is rewarded threefold, with new things to spot, pin, and explore on the ground, in the sky, and even below the surface. I’m a magpie, and the sky islands are shiny coins, dazzling me with their secrets as my mind aches to discover what each new floating area holds.

One of my only issues with Breath of the Wild is the amount of rain and having to genuinely just wait for several real minutes for the weather to pass just so Link can explore again. However, Tears of the Kingdom isn’t just about climbing, it’s also about vertical exploration, and the height offered by the skyward propulsion of the towers or the many zany Zonai devices is so, so, satisfying.

No more is my curiosity restricted to the land and beholden to the rain gods. I can go anywhere, and I mean anywhere. Tears of the Kingdom wants you to explore every inch of the sky, the depths, and it happily rewards you for doing so. I find myself spotting mesmerizingly high islands, using Zonai balloons and fire emitters to slowly float up there, and every time being rewarded with something special.

The final two improvements go hand in hand, and I can see myself losing years of my life to them. My favourite element of Breath of the Wild is the koroks, and my favourite new element of Tears of the Kingdom is the ability to create vehicles with Zonai devices, only limited by your imagination.

So, you had better believe that I’m in love with the latest korok puzzle, where you must reunite two little korok friends separated over large distances. I’m going to be making cars, planes, and flying death machines to reunite my leafy friends for the next few years.

I can’t say yet if Tears of the Kingdom is set to help me realise something new about myself, but I’m immensely happy that Breath of the Wild did. Six years and one ADHD diagnosis, later I have steps in place to help me, and crucially I know exactly what my brain likes and what it doesn’t like. I thought I had found perfection, but it just might be trumped, as Tears of the Kingdom offers all the immediacy, curiosity, and constant rewards that make the dopamine in my brain go brrrr… and then some. I’ll see you in another 600 hours.

Posted on May 17, 2023 by — Leave a comment

Honkai Star Rail codes and how to redeem May 2023

May 17, 2023: we added a new Honkai Star Rail code to our list!

All aboard, because we’ve gathered this list of all the latest Honkai Star Rail codes to help you out on your astral adventure. Of course, you get plenty of awesome goodies and bountiful rewards from missions, quests, and events, but everyone loves a freebie, right? We update this guide regularly, so be sure to check back often to snap up all the HSR codes as soon as they drop, so you can grab all the latest goodies.

If you want to see which characters you should be spending those hard-earned stellar jades on from Honkai Star Rail redeem code list, check out our Honkai Star Rail tier list and Honkai Star Rail banner guides. We’ve also got a roundup of the latest Honkai Star Rail update, along with info on all the current and upcoming Honkai Star Rail events.

New Honkai Star Rail codes

Here are all the latest active Honkai Star Rail codes:

HSRVER10JYTGHC – 50 stellar jade, 10k credits (new!)
STARRAILGIFT – 50 stellar jade, 10k credits, two traveler’s guides, and five bottled soda

During the Honkai Star Rail Departure Festival, Hoyoverse also announced an extra gift, no code needed. From April 30, all Honkai Star Rail Trailblazers who reach Trailblaze level ten can claim ten Star Rail Special Passes from their in-game mailbox. Valid until June 6, 15:00 PST / 18:00 EST / 23:00 BST.

How do I redeem my Honkai Star Rail codes?

The Honkai Star Rail redeem code process is easy, just follow these simple steps.

Head to the Honkai Star Rail redeem page
Log into your Hoyoverse account
Select your server
Paste your redemption code into the box
Hit redeem
Head to your in-game mailbox and enjoy your rewards!

Alternatively, you can redeem Honkai Star Rail codes in-game by following these steps:

Launch Honkai Star Rail
Go to the pause menu
Tap the ‘…’ icon next to your namecard
Select the code redemption option
Paste or type your code in the text box
Hit confirm
Head to the in-game mailbox and claim those goodies!

Expired codes:

2T7BP4JVEBT7 – three adventure logs, two condensed aethers, three cosmic fried rice, 5k credits
HSRGRANDOPEN1 – 100 stellar jade and 50k credits
HSRGRANDOPEN2 – 100 stellar jade and five traveler’s guides
HSRGRANDOPEN3 – 100 stellar jade x100 and four refined aether
HSRVER10XEDLFE – 50 stellar jade and 10k credits

How do I get more Honkai Star Rail stellar jade?

You’re going to need a lot of stellar jade in order to roll for more characters. Here are the best methods.

Aptitude Showcase: similar to test runs in Genshin Impact, Aptitude Showcases let you try out characters to gain rewards, here are the current goodies. Test Honkai Star Rail’s Seele, Honkai Star Rail’s Pela, Honkai Star Rail’s Hook, and Honkai Star Rail’s Natasha to earn stellar jade, adventure logs, thief’s instinct, extinguished cores, credits, and ancient parts
Quests: complete quests to earn more stellar jade
Chests: opening chests in-game gives you a couple of free stellar jade
Achievements: these are objectives you can complete in-game, that also grant you stellar jade
Simulated Universe – complete worlds in the Honkai Star Rail Simulated Universe and use the points you earn to claim stellar jade and other goodies
Forgotten Hall – work your way through the many levels of the Honkai Star Rail Forgotten Hall and earn extra stellar jades by completing battles within a set amount of turns
Warp trotters – hunt down those space piggies, the Honkai Star Rail warp trotters. On defeat, each one gives you 60 stellar jades
Dailies – complete your Honkai Star Rail dailies to snap up a set amount of stellar jades – you guessed it – every day!
Events – participate in multiple, time-limited Honkai Star Rail events to snap up a heap of goodies, including plenty of stellar jade

Where do I get more Honkai Star Rail redeem codes?

The best place to pick up the latest codes is right here! So bookmark this page and check back from time to time. You can also follow the official Honkai Star Rail Twitter and Facebook, or join the Discord channel as well.

What are Honkai Star Rail codes?

HSR codes give you in-game freebies such as stellar jade to spend on new characters and credits to buy some helpful items. Hoyoverse tends to release codes alongside update livestreams, these happen every six weeks for Genshin Impact, so we hope to see them appear as often in Honkai Star Rail.

That’s all the Honkai Star Rail redeem codes we’ve got for now, but keep your eyes peeled as we update this guide frequently. In the meantime, be sure to snap up some more Hoyoverse goodies with our Genshin Impact codes, or get yourself ready for all the upcoming Honkai Star Rail events and Genshin Impact events.

Posted on May 15, 2023 by — Leave a comment

The Digital Dragons Awards 2023 celebrate the best of Polish gaming

We’re reporting live from Digital Dragons just after the conclusion of the Digital Dragons Awards 2023 gala. Each year the awards ceremony recognises the best of the Polish games industry, which is made up of over 400 studios.

Mobile and Switch games like Trek to Yomi, Railbound, and Kao the Kangaroo were nominated across multiple categories but were pipped to the post by their competitors. Draw Distance’s Serial Cleaners picked up the award for Best Polish Game Art for its graffiti-inspired style.

Digital Dragons honoured Lucasz Hacura, CEO of Anshar Studios, with this year’s Special Recognition award. His studio has worked on a huge array of games including Divinity: Original Sin 2, Darksiders 3, and its original isometric RPG title Gamedec. Lucasz said, “I’m super honoured to receive this award, and hope to continue to contribute to [the] expansion of Polish game dev.”

The biggest award of the night for the Best Polish Game went to Dying Light 2, which also scooped up the award for Best Polish Game Design. FromSoftware’s Elden Ring took home the title of Best Foreign game, beating out Return To Monkey Island, Stray, and others.

That’s a wrap on day one of Digital Dragons 2023! We’ll continue bringing you the latest news from the show floor tomorrow, but in the meantime check out our Trek to Yomi Switch review or our Elden Ring Switch guide.

Posted on May 13, 2023 by — Leave a comment

Genshin Impact Charlotte build, release date speculation, and more

Say cheese! Genshin Impact’s Charlotte is here from Fontaine to report on all the biggest scoops across Teyvat. With her trusty Kamera and monocle, she’s prepared to investigate even the smallest clues to find the truth for her readers. Keep reading to find out more about her build, element, and more.

We’ve got loads of Genshin content to get you up to speed on the comings and goings of Teyvat, including the newest Genshin Impact codes, a Genshin Impact tier list, and information on the Genshin Impact next banner. Or if you need help building a character, check out our guides for Genshin Impact’s Kirara, Genshin Impact’s Kaeya, and Genshin Impact’s Diona.

Here’s everything you need to know about Genshin Impact’s Charlotte.

Who is Genshin Impact’s Charlotte?

Charlotte is an energetic pink-haired journalist from Fontaine who first appeared in the Genshin Impact update livestream for 3.7. She writes for The Steambird newspaper and her work takes her all over Teyvat. Genshin Impact’s Traveler meets her when she’s covering the King of Invokations Grand Prix TCG tournament.

What is Genshin Impact Charlotte’s element?

We don’t know for sure if Charlotte has a vision, but the white pouch on her right leg looks like it might hold a cryo vision. We’ll let you know as soon as we know more about her element.

When is Genshin Impact Charlotte’s release date?

As of version 3.7, Charlotte doesn’t have a release date. It’s not 100% confirmed whether she will even be playable, but we’ve got our fingers crossed! She’s from Fontaine, so we might meet her again in version 4.0 as a familiar face as we enter a new region.

That’s everything we know so far about Genshin Impact’s Charlotte. While we wait to learn more about this Fontaine reporter, you can check out our guides to Hoyoverse’s space RPG, Honkai Star Rail. We’ve got a list of Honkai Star Rail codes, a Honkai Star Rail tier list, and build guides to characters like Honkai Star Rail’s March 7th and Honkai Star Rail’s Sushang.

Posted on May 11, 2023 by — Leave a comment

The BotW recipe book

BotW recipes are one of the more playful additions to the reinvented Zelda formula. Alongside the crafting system, this offers many, many concoctions for you to discover. It’s very rare that you get given recipes, so finding them by trial and error is key to creating culinary masterpieces. Of course, some players would like to have a recipe book, and that’s what we’ve made here. Every single BotW recipe for every tasty meal.

So, bookmark this page and check back here every time Link’s tummy starts rumbling. Once you’ve had your fill, check out our BotW amiibo guide to get some in-game freebies, or our Zelda BotW map rundown to make sure you actually know where you’re going. If you need a refresher on the stars of the game, check out our BotW Zelda and BotW Link, then head over to our Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom review to embark on a new adventure.

BotW recipe book

Here you can find all the dishes you could every need in BotW:

How do you cook BotW recipes?

Cooking in Breath of the Wild is simple, but not tutorialised. First, you need to find a cooking pot. If it doesn’t have a lit fire beneath it, use some sort of flame to light it (or drop some flint on the wood and use a metal weapon to light it). Once the fire’s lit, it’s time to get cooking.

Go into your inventory and choose the ingredients you want and make sure you get Link to hold them. You can hold up to five items. Once you’re holding them, exit the menu and drop them into the cooking pot. Et voila, you’re now on your way to making countless culinary creations. Bon appetit!

Every BotW recipe

Here are all the BotW recipes. Any ingredient that is non-descript (e.g. vegetable, mushroom, seafood etc.) means that you can use any type of that ingredient. Well, what are you waiting for? Get cooking.

Vegan BotW recipes

Ever wanted to roleplay as an eco-conscious Link? Well, here are all the BotW recipes that don’t harm any animals.

Copious fried wild greens – four different vegetables
Copious mushroom skewers – four different mushrooms
Curry rice – Hylian rice, Goron spice
Fragrant mushroom sauté – mushroom, Goron spice
Fried wild greens – vegetable
Fruit and mushroom mix – fruit, mushroom
Herb sauté – vegetable, Goron spice
Mushroom rice balls – mushroom, Hylian rice
Mushroom skewer – mushroom
Rock-hard food – gems or wood
Salt-grilled greens – vegetable, rock salt
Salt-grilled mushrooms – mushroom, rock salt
Sautéed nuts – acorn or Chickaloo tree nut
Spicy sautéed peppers – spicy pepper
Steamed fruit – fruit, vegetable
Steamed mushrooms – mushroom, vegetable
Vegetable curry – carrot or pumpkin, Goron spice, Hylian rice
Veggie rice balls – vegetable, Hylian rice
Wheat bread – rock salt, Tabantha wheat

Vegetarian BotW recipes

If you can’t do without eggs and milk, not to worry. You can also be a veggie in Breath of the Wild with this wide array of recipes.

Carrot stew – carrot, goat butter, fresh milk, Tabantha wheat
Cream of mushroom soup – mushroom, vegetable, fresh milk, rock salt
Cream of vegetable soup – vegetable, fresh milk, rock salt
Creamy heart soup – radish, hydromelon, voltfruit, fresh milk
Curry pilaf – Hylian rice, goat butter, Goron spice
Glazed mushrooms – mushroom, courser bee honey
Glazed veggies – vegetable, courser bee honey
Mushroom omelette – mushroom, bird egg, goat butter, rock salt
Mushroom risotto – mushroom, goat butter, Hylian rice, rock salt
Pumpkin stew – fortified pumpkin, goat butter, fresh milk, Tabantha wheat
Vegetable omelette – vegetable, bird egg, goat butter, rock salt
Vegetable risotto – carrot or pumpkin, goat butter, Hylian rice, rock salt
Veggie cream soup – pumpkin or carrot, fresh milk, rock salt

Meat BotW recipes

You may see Link as a hardy young man trying to save the world. He can’t be picky with his dietary requirements, right? Well, here’s the list for all you meat lovers out there.

Copious meat skewers – four different raw meats
Creamy meat soup – raw meat, herb, fresh milk, rock salt
Glazed meat – meat, courser bee honey
Gourmet meat curry – raw gourmet meat, Hylian rice, Goron spice
Gourmet meat stew – raw gourmet meat, goat butter, fresh milk, Tabantha wheat
Gourmet meat and rice bowl – raw gourmet meat or raw whole bird, Hylian rice, rock salt
Gourmet meat and seafood fry – raw gourmet meat or raw bird thigh, any fish
Gourmet spiced meat skewer – raw gourmet meat or raw whole bird, Goron spice
Meat curry – raw meat, hylian rice, Goron spice
Meat pie – raw meat, Tabantha wheat, goat butter, rock salt
Meat skewer – raw meat
Meat stew – raw meat, goat butter, fresh milk, Tabantha wheat
Meat and mushroom skewer – raw meat, mushroom
Meat and rice bowl – raw meat or raw bird drumstick, Hylian rice, rock salt
Meat and seafood fry – raw meat or raw bird drumstick, fish
Meat-stuffed pumpkin – raw meat, fortified pumpkin
Meaty rice balls – raw meat, Hylian rice
Prime meat curry – raw prime meat, Hylian rice, Goron spice
Prime meat stew – raw prime meat, goat butter, fresh milk, Tabantha wheat
Prime meat and rice bowl – raw bird thigh, Hylian rice, Goron spice
Prime meat and seafood fry – raw prime meat or raw bird thigh, fish
Prime spiced meat skewer – raw prime meat or raw bird thigh, Goron spice
Salt-grilled gourmet meat – raw gourmet meat or raw whole bird, rock salt
Salt-grilled meat – raw meat or raw bird drumstick, rock salt
Salt-grilled prime meat – raw prime meat or raw bird thigh, rock salt
Spiced meat skewer – raw meat or raw bird drumstick, Goron spice
Spicy pepper steak – meat, spicy pepper
Steamed meat – meat, vegetable

Poultry BotW recipes

A more delicate flavour than the meat above, here are all the poultry BotW recipes.

Gourmet poultry curry – raw whole bird, Hylian rice, Goron spice
Gourmet poultry pilaf – raw whole bird, bird egg, goat butter, Hylian rice
Poultry curry – raw bird drumstick, Goron spice, Hylian rice
Poultry pilaf – raw bird drumstick, bird egg, goat butter, Hylian rice
Prime poultry curry – raw bird thigh, Hylian rice, Goron spice
Prime poultry pilaf – raw bird thigh, bird egg, goat butter, Hylian rice

Seafood BotW recipes

Link is a fine swimmer, and great at riding boats with that big leaf he has. Surely he’s a fan of seafood?

Clam chowder – hearty blueshell snail, goat butter, fresh milk, Tabantha wheat
Copious seafood skewers – four different fish
Crab omelette with rice – crab, bird egg, rock salt, Hylian rice
Crab risotto – crab, rock salt, Hylian rice, goat butter
Crab stir-fry – crab, Goron spice
Creamy seafood soup – seafood, herb, rock salt, fresh milk
Fish pie – seafood, rock salt, goat butter, Tabantha wheat
Fish and mushroom skewer – fish, mushroom
Glazed seafood – seafood, courser bee honey
Porgy meunière – porgy, goat butter, Tabantha wheat
Salmon meunière – hearty salmon, rock salt, Hylian rice, goat butter
Salmon risotto – hearty salmon, rock salt, Hylian rice, goat butter
Salt-grilled crab – crab, rock salt
Salt-grilled fish – fish, rock salt
Seafood curry – porgy or hearty blueshell snail, Hylian rice, Goron spice
Seafood fried rice – porgy or hearty blueshell snail, Hylian rice, rock salt
Seafood meunière – seafood, goat butter, Tabantha wheat
Seafood paella – porgy, hearty blueshell snail, rock salt, goat butter, Hylian rice
Seafood rice balls – fish, Hylian rice
Seafood skewer – crab or snail
Spicy pepper seafood – fish, spicy pepper
Steamed fish – fish, vegetable

Monster BotW recipes

If you’re looking to explore Link’s darker side, here are all the monster-based BotW recipes. He has to take what he can get, right?

Dubious food – monster parts or other non-edible items
Monster cake – monster extract, cane sugar, goat butter, Tabantha wheat
Monster curry – monster extract, Goron spice, Hylian rice
Monster rice balls – monster extract, Hylian rice, rock salt
Monster soup – monster extract, goat butter, fresh milk, Tabantha wheat
Monster stew – monster extract, meat, seafood

Desert BotW recipes

Everyone deserves a treat every now and then. Ruin Link’s diet with these lovely sweet treats.

Apple pie – apple, goat butter, cane sugar, Tabantha wheat
Carrot cake – carrot, goat butter, cane sugar, Tabantha wheat
Copious simmered fruit – four different fruit
Egg tart – bird egg, goat butter, Tabantha wheat, cane sugar
Egg pudding – bird egg, fresh milk, cane sugar
Energising honey candy – courser bee honey
Energising honey crepe – courser bee honey, Tabantha wheat, bird egg, cane sugar, fresh milk
Fried bananas – mighty bananas, cane sugar, Tabantha wheat
Fruit cake – apple or wildberry, fruit, cane sugar, Tabantha wheat
Fruit pie – fruit, goat butter, cane sugar, Tabantha wheat
Honeyed apple – apple, courser bee honey
Honeyed fruits – fruit, courser bee honey
Hot buttered apple – apple, goat butter
Nut cake – acorn or Chikaloo tree nut, goat butter, cane sugar, Tabantha wheat
Plain crepe – Tabantha wheat, bird egg, cane sugar, fresh milk
Pumpkin pie – fortified pumpkin, goat butter, cane sugar, Tabantha wheat
Simmered fruit – fruit
Wildberry crepe – wildberry, bird egg, cane sugar, fresh milk, Tabantha wheat

Drink BotW recipes

One stiff drink for Link. Well, he’s underage, so no booze. But still, it’s got a fairy in it. That’s got to make him feel a little wavey, right?

Fairy tonic – fairy

Whoa, that’s a lot of BotW recipes. You’re ready to explore Hyrule with a full belly thanks to our BotW recipe book. If you need more Zelda magic, we’ve got a Skyward Sword amiibo guide to get you started in this classic Wii adventure.

Posted on May 9, 2023 by — Leave a comment

Man of Medan Switch review – all that glisters is not gold

The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan is the first in Supermassive’s popular series of standalone cinematic interactive drama and survival horror games. It’s seen much praise since its 2019 release and continues to thrive amongst a cult fanbase spread across PC, PlayStation, and Xbox. But Supermassive isn’t content with merely offering in-game jump scares, giving us all a shock when it shadow-dropped the Man of Medan Switch version out of nowhere in early May, 2023. So, how do the spooks size up?

Let’s begin with a brief rundown. In case you’re unfamiliar, The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan is a heavily cinematic and narrative-driven game in which your choices matter. It takes place in the middle of the South Pacific Ocean near French Polynesia and revolves around a group of young adults and their ship’s captain, setting out at sea on a small skipper to do a spot of diving in search of an undiscovered wreck. However, the tides soon change, as a group of modern-day pirates commandeer the ship and set out in search of a mysterious treasure called the ‘Manchurian Gold’.

Our unlikely crew of captors and captives soon find themselves aboard an abandoned WWII ghost ship which appears to be tied to this treasure. But, of course, not all is as it seems, and the tale soon devolves into one of chaos, fuelled by greed, fear, and even a pinch of an apparent supernatural threat.

As with the other titles in Supermassive Game’s repertoire, Man of Medan sees you take control of the five captives at different points, exploring the ship, collecting clues, and attempting to avoid peril long enough to escape. With heaps of key decisions on your shoulders and the lives of the protagonists in your hands, it’s up to you which branching paths your story takes and whether the characters live or die, leading to a great level of replayability as you explore all of the potential outcomes.

Man of Medan offers a single-player mode, a two-player online co-op mode called ‘shared story’, and an up to five-player local co-op mode called ‘movie night’, which sees you and your pals taking control of the different characters, along with prompts to pass the controller at each turn.

Each playthrough lasts around four to four and a half hours, which feels just right for this type of game, and there are plenty more hours to pack in if you want to explore the different outcomes and collectables. Whether alone or with friends, every run can offer a vastly different experience, despite the overall linear path of the narrative – which is easily one of the main reasons why the game still manages to captivate its audiences to this day.

In terms of gameplay, the game mostly revolves around walking sections spliced with cutscenes, with the main crux hinging on those aforementioned choices, collecting key items and premonitions to supplement your knowledge or influence the outcome of certain scenes, and occasional QTE sequences (quick time events).

The control scheme in the Man of Medan Switch version is as simple and easy to grasp as on any other platform, and its button layout translates well to the joy-cons and Switch Pro controller. You walk around with the left joystick, interact with items using A and ZR, and hit buttons to align with prompts during specific QTE sequences. For the most part, I find inputs to be very reliable and responsive, with little to no delay, which is exceptionally important in a game where failing a QTE can have a massive impact on the outcome of your game.

Camera angles are fixed and cinematic, which certainly adds to the interactive movie vibe, but it can sometimes make movement feel a little sluggish and clumsy, feeling closest to the first Resident Evil despite not being true tank controls. This isn’t an issue unique to the Switch version, though the lower resolution and, of course, a smaller screen in handheld mode, can make it a little trickier to work out where you are in relation to the objects and doorways around you. Luckily, I find this is pretty easy to adapt to, and once I got back into the rhythm of how the characters control, I had little trouble aside from the occasional hiccup.

Right from its initial announcement of the Switch version, Supermassive has been quite transparent about the technical limitations of this port, even noting the 24fps cap at the bottom of the Nintendo eShop page. I was initially quite pessimistic about how this low cap would look, but it’s important to note that Man of Medan is a very cinematic game, and 24fps is the universally accepted norm for a ‘cinematic frame rate’ – and it actually holds up pretty well here, for the most part.

The lower frame rate is hardly noticeable in handheld mode, though it does occasionally make the game look a bit stuttery in docked mode. This is especially noticeable in some of the late-game sequences that clearly push the Switch’s ageing hardware to its limits, such as while you’re exploring the stormy rooms during Distress Signal or running away in Revenge. Naturally, with the frame rate cap already being so low, any further drops do look particularly choppy – far more so than such a minor drop in a higher FPS tile.

For the most part, this isn’t too problematic and didn’t particularly impact my enjoyment of the game. However, I did have a stumble towards the end of my first playthrough in docked mode, where the frame rate dropped dramatically during a keep calm QTE, causing me to fail and have to restart the chapter in order to keep everyone alive. Luckily, upon re-loading, the frame rate managed to smooth itself out – but that’s something to keep in mind.

Beyond the frame rate cap and occasional stuttering, Man of Medan’s Switch version is noticeably downscaled compared to versions on other platforms. This lower resolution does result in some visual hiccups, such as some pretty intense texture popping and inconsistent lighting at times – all of which is far more noticeable in docked mode than handheld.

However, I truly respect that Supermassive put in the work to make this port manageable on native hardware rather than slapping together a Cloud version. It’s clear that a lot of work went into bringing Man of Medan to Switch, and the game truly tests the limits of this six-year-old console, meaning it’s honestly quite impressive that it looks so good.

In addition to the desirable portability, the Man of Medan Switch version also offers a few additional features as the icing on the cake. These include updated gameplay features, such as a wider choice of accessibility options, improved UI and interactions, and even an extended playable chapter called Flooded – a climactic ending to the game that introduces brand new deaths. These additional features both sweeten the deal for new players and offer an extra layer of incentive for long-time fans of The Dark Pictures Anthology to give the Switch version a try.

The extended accessibility options are also a very welcome addition, offering you the ability to toggle single action buttons, hold to complete button mash, QTE timers, and more. There are also a nice variety of subtitle and text options, including size, colour, and a dyslexia-friendly font. Unfortunately, subtitles are off by default, and you need to go to the in-game settings to turn them on. I personally believe that subtitles should always be on by default, especially in narrative, choice-driven games like Man of Medan.

Though the Man of Medan Switch version is definitely a downgrade in comparison with the other ports, it still offers plenty of enjoyment. I can’t recommend it as the ‘best’ way to play the game, but it maintains much of the mystery and tension of the original, and, for the most part, its visual and performance issues are quite infrequent or minor, meaning it’s still an enjoyable experience.

The price point is also respectable, avoiding that all-too-familiar ‘Switch tax’ that seems to tack itself onto just about every third-party release and port. It sits at $19.99/£17.99, which is very close to its current full price on Steam, and roughly half of its launch RRP – a respectable cost for such a memorable game.

In short, if you’re interested in the world of cinematic, choice-driven narrative horror, and feel you can overlook some of the shortcomings enforced by the Switch’s ageing hardware, then you should have a pretty great time with this little jewel of the sea, especially with the added benefit of portability and new content. Its winding mystery, believable characters, and impactful choice system makes for an all-around tense and atmospheric experience, and, like the ocean lapping at the edge of a shore, it’s sure to keep tugging you back for more.

If you’re on the hunt for even more terrific terrors, check out our list of the best horror games on Switch and mobile. We’ve also got a selection of the best visual novel games for your perusal, offering a variety of less spooky stories.

Man of Medan Switch review

The first entry into The Dark Pictures Anthology, Man of Medan still holds up as a tense, cinematic horror experience where every choice matters. Unfortunately, the Switch’s ageing hardware holds this version’s performance back, but it’s nonetheless an impressive port with some welcome additions, and still captures the souls of all who board this ship.