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Rennsport 1.13 – Big Patch, Bigger Expectations, and the Ring for (Almost) Everyone

Sim Racing

20 June, 2025

Rennsport Spa Francorshamps race picture — Rennsport Spa Francorshamps race

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

After months of simmering community feedback, curious design choices, and a physics model some still call “mysteriously polite,” Rennsport has finally dropped a double hitter with Patch 1.13.0 and the follow-up 1.13.1. And for once, they’re giving everyone a fair crack at the Nürburgring 24H layout—even if it took a tidal wave of N24 hype and pressure from Founders Pack-holdouts to make it happen. You’ve got until June 25 before it vanishes behind the virtual paywall again, so get your reps in.

That’s just one slice, though. Under the hood, Rennsport’s finally trying to show it’s more than just a good-looking demo reel.

Open Setups and Semi-Unleashed Physics

For the first time since launch, open setups are available in Time Trial and across all cars. It’s not total freedom—gear ratios, brake pressure, and a few other parameters remain locked—but at least we’ve escaped the purgatory of default tire pressures and cookie-cutter spring choices. This is a major quality-of-life upgrade for any driver trying to push the edge, not just hotlap within factory tolerances.

Paired with the updated ABS and TC behavior, the car control actually feels less sterile now. TC interacts more like a proper race system—not a roadsafety nanny—and low levels let you hang on to slip angles without slapping your hand. Same for ABS: early settings keep the pedal honest while letting you trailbrake properly.

Audio Rework Done Right—for Once

Major props are due on the audio side. The AMG GT3 saw the biggest upgrade, and it actually sounds like it’s got a real drivetrain attached now. You hear transmission whine under load, distinct external and internal mic blends, and adaptive effects like gravel hits, diff chatter, and crash reverbs based on your view. Opponent audio finally sweeps in with doppler filtering and a sense of proper spatial fade.

Tire noise also got refreshed with a new load-based model. No more one-size-fits-all scrub sound regardless of tire load or direction. Different surfaces, speeds, and camber loads now influence the rollout and slip sounds. For once, headphones do something other than annoy the cat.

This overhaul may feel cosmetic, but for cockpit drivers and immersion hunters, it’s transformative. The audible layers are the clue to mechanical limits—you can now listen for mechanical sympathy rather than guess.

Lite UI Wins, League Points, and Player Reporting

Beyond tires and exhausts, a few UI and QoL tweaks landed with a satisfying thunk. Replays still explode (hold that thought), but player reports can now be filed directly from Race History, complete with notes. Combined with the new League Point System—where splits are merged and DNFs stop farming ghost points—it’s a solid nudge toward competitive legitimacy.

More camera options too: interior visibility sliders, proper seat positioning, anti-aliasing options beyond the weird blurfest defaults—all stuff other sims had a decade ago, sure, but it’s finally here. Given how many cockpit-only players were ready to uninstall over view jank, this is a real pacifier win.

They’ve also fixed rolling start logic and tightened jump start rules: now a mistimed launch earns a disqualification, not free pole. Obvious fix, but one that actually matters if you care about sanctioned league rhythm.

The Old Bugs Still Bite

Then there’s the bad news. And there’s still a list.

Replays are going to crash on you. Period. This isn’t entirely Rennsport’s fault—Unreal Engine has its own cursed replay implementation—but knowing that doesn’t help when your Nürburgring lap vaporizes after 15 minutes. Worse is the in-car menu (ICM), which still hijacks input, rendering your button box or mapped functions non-responsive until you restart the session. That’s day-one stuff that somehow persists.

Pit crew dramatics? Still an unfixed meme. They clip through garage walls like spectral indie game assets. Parts of car interiors suddenly don’t render depending on the cam, breaking VR and dashboard immersers entirely. It’s amateur-hour visual bugs that nobody believes are top priority—and maybe that’s the problem.

And is anyone going to remove that “Local Contest” button that does nothing? Feels like you’re one dropdown away from seeing placeholder lorem ipsum text and realizing half the UI is orphaned.

But the biggest screw-up is core to this patch: setups don’t persist between sessions. Yeah, open setups are here—but every time you load into a new TT, it resets you to default values. You can’t benchmark or develop without manually reloading or reentering camber, toe, or pressure numbers every single time. For a sim courting eSports viability, that’s not just sloppy—it’s counterproductive.

Still No Path Forward… Just a Slicker Roadside

This patch smacks of departmental progress with no overarching direction. Audio and car feel? Vastly improved. Surface systems like reporting and camera tilt? Great. But drivability nuances, proper endurance race structuring, and progression still feel like they’re TBD. There’s no indication yet whether mod support or custom lobbies with save states are on the radar. Still no liveries outside dev handouts, still no user-facing telemetry APIs, still no roadmap for rank resets or sanctioning integrity.

And without a firm stance on where this sim is going—serious PC simulator or polished gateway to eSports events–it all settles into a gray space. Looks sharp, sounds right, but plays like it’s unsure who it’s for. The sim racing scene doesn’t care if your GT3 car has 4K tire textures if it resets your damn setup between sessions.

Exclusive Ring Access and a Gimmicky Livery Hustle

That Nürburgring 24H layout access? It’s good. It’s overdue. It’s limited-time only. Just like the “PRPL Beast” AMG livery you can nab if you run a 2.4-hour event on June 21 or log any TT lap before the 25th. It’s styled after the #17 GetSpeed Mercedes from the real N24—a nice crossover, but clearly an influencer carrot with a weak string attached. We’ve seen the same marketing loop from GT7 to Forza—it gets predictable.

11 Additions Coming to Xbox Game Pass

Xbox Official News

Mat

18 June, 2025

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Game Pass is closing out June and kicking off July with a robust injection of eleven titles across its Ultimate, PC, and Standard tiers. Whether you’re craving nostalgic RTS throwbacks, moody platformers, or high-impact shooters, this roster has some serious heat. Here’s a deeper look at each addition, what makes them worth your time, and where they land.

Strategy Legends Return with Warcraft Series Remasters

A major highlight lands on June 26 as Warcraft: Orcs & Humans, Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness, and Warcraft III: Reforged arrive on Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass. These iconic Blizzard real-time strategy entries helped define the genre in the ’90s and early 2000s, and now longtime fans and newcomers alike can revisit (or discover) their strategic depth and lore-soaked fantasy world.

Warcraft 1 Remastered and Warcraft 2 Remastered stay close to their original roots but with modern resolution support and slight usability updates. Meanwhile, Warcraft III: Reforged (Metacritic: 59) gets the most visual attention, though it’s worth noting that reception has been mixed since launch—criticisms surround its feature cuts and online integration issues. Still, for historical importance and campaign replayability alone, this trio gives Game Pass a hefty jolt of genre-defining content.

Call of Duty: WWII Reloads the Shooter Quota

On June 30, Call of Duty: WWII (Metacritic: 79) lands on Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass, and Game Pass Standard. Developed by Sledgehammer Games, this 2017 installment rolls back the futuristic tech in favor of grimy, boots-on-the-ground combat in World War II’s European theater.

While its campaign hits some predictable story beats, the spectacle and cinematic intensity feel authentic and brutal. More importantly, the game’s Zombies mode still holds up as a fast-paced, squad-coop blast machine, and its multiplayer arena may find a second life in the hands of Game Pass players who missed it first time around.

Survival and City Building Fuse in Against the Storm

Against the Storm joins Game Pass Ultimate on June 26, bringing a rare crack at roguelite colony-building. It’s a city builder that makes you rebuild regularly under high-stakes, ever-changing weather effects and environmental stressors.

Rather than building for the long haul, you’re racing against an apocalyptic storm cycle across multiple campaigns. With its clever interplay between strategy and time optimization, Against the Storm (Metacritic: 91) has quietly become one of the slyest successes in PC gaming over the past year. This one’s for fans of Frostpunk and loop-based gameplay momentum.

Little Nightmares II Creeps In

On July 1, Game Pass adds Little Nightmares II (Metacritic: 84) across Ultimate, PC, and Standard tiers. It’s a follow-up to the cult hit, dripping with a gloomy Tim Burton-like aesthetic and unsettling audio design that nails the feeling of oversized horror through the eyes of a child.

It ditches words entirely but tells a powerful story with atmosphere alone. The platforming is better refined this time, and while some trial-and-error remains during chase sequences, the overall tension and pacing make this sequel one of the stronger indie horror offerings in recent years.

Rise of the Tomb Raider Reemerges

Also on July 1, Rise of the Tomb Raider (Metacritic: 86) climbs back onto Game Pass. This is Lara Croft’s second outing in the rebooted trilogy, set against Siberian blizzards and mythic lost cities. It leans harder into open exploration and puzzle tombs compared to its more linear predecessor.

With slick shooting mechanics, grounded performances, and satisfying Metroidvania-style backtracking, this remains one of the best modern adventure games. If you’re a fan of Uncharted or Assassin’s Creed, this long-form quest through ancient crypts and high-stakes conspiracies still holds major appeal.

Volcano Princess Brings Heart

On June 24, Volcano Princess lands on Ultimate and PC Game Pass. This one’s likely to fly under the radar but deserves attention. It’s a heartfelt simulation game where you raise your daughter in a medieval fantasy kingdom, shaping her education, friendships, and personal development across branching narrative paths.

The pixel aesthetic mixes cozy with melancholic charm, and despite its lighter, parenting-sim premise, it’s got surprising narrative depth. Released to positive fan reception, its Steam player base lauds its replayability and bittersweet storytelling approach.

Rematch Offers PvP Without the Grind

Launching June 19 on Ultimate and PC Game Pass, Rematch is a competitive PvP title focused on short-form, skill-based skirmishes. Unlike the time-sucking progression climbs of most modern shooters, Rematch trims the fat and drops players straight into clean, coaching-focused, low-barrier PvP.

Details remain light ahead of launch, but for players tired of bloated loadouts and season passes, this could offer a refreshingly stripped-down throwback to older Arena titles.

Star Trucker and Wildfrost Hit Game Pass Standard

On June 18, Game Pass Standard gets two low-key bangers. Star Trucker offers a charming blend of hauling cargo through space with retro-futurist vibes, while Wildfrost delivers hard-hitting roguelike deck-building underneath a deceptively cute art style.

Wildfrost (Metacritic: 75) will appeal to fans of Slay the Spire, offering tough fights that reward smart energy management and synergy-building. Star Trucker is more niche but oozes style. These two indie additions punch above their size.

Indie RTS Game The Last General Unveiled with New Trailer: Massive Battles and Strategic Depth Await

RTS

Mat

16 June, 2025

The Last General Anti aircraft picture — The Last General Anti aircraft

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Alejandro Nunez, the solo mind behind indie outfit Wakety, just gave the RTS faithful something to chew on with the newly released trailer for The Last General. Clocking in with explosive visuals and a clear focus on large-scale warfare, the footage finally pulls the curtain back on what has quietly shaped up to be one of the most promising strategy titles on the horizon. And yes, it’s being built from the ground up by a single developer.

WePlayGames Youtube Channel: The Last General RTS Official Trailer

From the get-go, The Last General sets its sights far beyond typical indie ambitions. The trailer showcases sprawling battlefields erupting with thousands of units—infantry, tanks, artillery lines, choppers—all colliding in fluid, chaotic firefights. Unlike many indie strategy games that lean into pixel-art minimalism or stylized abstraction, The Last General isn’t interested in compromise. Its visuals land somewhere between the grittiness of military simulators and the overhead chaos of genre mainstays like Wargame or Company of Heroes. There’s a sincere push here toward cinematic, modern warfare—a tone RTS fans haven’t seen executed at this scale in years.

Strategic Scale and Mission Diversity

At the heart of The Last General lies its mission diversity and procedural scope. The game touts “millions of unique missions,” a metric that sounds absurd at first blush until you drill down into its structure. There’s a procedural generation backbone here meant to spit out endless combinations of battle types—deathmatches, assassinations, insurrections, rescue ops—all layered with tactical complexity. This isn’t a narrative-driven campaign stitched together with set pieces; it’s systemic war, set across ever-shifting configurations.

Leading your army seems to involve a satisfying layer of command-level decisions, from precise tactical moves to broader resource conquest objectives. The trailer suggests a blend leaning heavily into overwhelming volume—games where a thousand moving pieces create chaotic but emergent order. For strategy heads who’ve been craving a sandbox of destruction instead of heavy scripting, this is exactly the right flavor. And with the presence of air support and real-time reactive AI hinted at, there’s potentially a deep stratification of player skill expression.

One-Man Army Behind the Code

Much of the buzz surrounding The Last General stems from the sheer audacity of its development model. Alejandro Nunez is reportedly building this colossus solo. Indie games often push boundaries, but the scale of this attempt tilts from impressive to downright unhinged. It’s rare to see one pair of hands pull off anything with this much apparent simulation density, particularly with 3D unit rendering, AI systems, environmental design, and network-level optimization all presumably involved.

The trailer doesn’t conceal this either—it leans into the scope, weaponizing disbelief as a kind of allure. Whether or not the final product lives up to the trailer’s promise, there’s no denying the vision here. It’s a gutsy attempt to revive a genre that’s either stagnant or over-engineered depending on who you ask. At a time when AAA studios often struggle to ship fully functional RTS titles, there’s something inherently rebellious, even punk, about a one-man army forging this battlefield.

Tech Direction and What’s Next

The game’s tech stack appears tailored for heavy lifts. Unit count is one of its big flexes, with direct shots spanning massive engagements without tearing at the seams—not a small feat in any engine. However, there’s still an open question of how it will handle such numbers during real-time play. Will slower systems chug under the weight? How fluid is command responsiveness when managing hundreds of squads at once? The trailer answers plenty but leaves performance in real conditions deliberately coy.

According to the Steam store page, The Last General will hit Early Access in Q3 2025, with full release targeted for 2026. It’s being planned for Windows first, and likely Mac, though no word yet on Linux or console ports. That early access period will be critical—not just as a testbed for mechanics but as proof of stability under scale. For a game defined by ambition, its community feedback loop could shape everything.

For now, RTS fans and skeptics alike should keep one eye locked on this one. The Last General walks a thin, volatile line between simulation excess and excellence—but if the game plays half as well as it looks, Nunez might have just made history from his basement.

Le Mans Ultimate: Official 1.0 Launch on July 22, 2025, Featuring Aston Martin and Mercedes Additions

Sim Racing

Mat

15 June, 2025

Le Mans Ultimate - Aston Martin AMR LMGT3 picture — Le Mans Ultimate - Aston Martin AMR LMGT3

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Version 1.0 of Le Mans Ultimate is officially hitting the grid on July 22, 2025, marking the end of its Early Access run after a year of steady content, five pivotal updates, and growing support from the sim community. It’s a calculated move: launching during real-world Le Mans week is no accident — it’s smart timing and sharp marketing that aims to tap into the excitement of one of motorsport’s crown jewel events. But it’s more than just a date on the calendar; this is the pivot where the game transitions from a promising beta-phase project into a serious full-spec sim contender.

Two Headliners Hit the Track

With the 1.0 release, developer Studio 397 isn’t holding back on the fanfare. Leading the content charge are two 2025-spec beasts: the Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR Pro and the Mercedes AMG LMGT3 Evo — both included at no extra cost for all players. The Valkyrie, co-developed by Adrian Newey, is a rolling spectacle, an all-out hypercar cartoon given carbon-fiber flesh. With its naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12, it screams with an old-school fury that’s increasingly rare in a hybrid-dominated field. It sounds angry, it looks unhinged, and it might wind up being the most crowd-pleasing addition the game has made yet.

Meanwhile, the Mercedes AMG LMGT3 Evo brings something more grounded but no less significant. It marks Mercedes’ official return to Le Mans competition for the first time since the late ’90s — a narrative milestone baked right into the sim. It’s the type of GT3-class entry that carries all the brand’s brutal efficiency and race-day finesse, and it slots perfectly into multiclass events that define endurance racing. Fans of both high-octane chaos and rhythm-based class management should find plenty to love across both additions.

Visual Harmony with the Real World

Le Mans Ultimate continues to lean hard into authenticity, and that focus is turning up a notch with this update. All 2025 FIA WEC grid liveries will be available in-game on day one, pushing the visual alignment between the real-world paddock and virtual sessions closer than ever. It’s a sharp update for anyone looking to mirror what they’re seeing during live coverage, and it plays especially well for league racers and eSports broadcasts trying to maintain visual parity with their real-life counterparts.

Career Mode: The Next Horizon

What’s perhaps most tantalizing isn’t even part of this July drop — it’s what’s positioned next. A fully fledged Career Mode is slated for Q1 2026, and from the early glimpses shown so far, it looks far from a superficial post-launch addition. Players will step into the nomex suits of endurance drivers climbing the ranks through real team deals, managing team chemistry, navigating the behind-closed-doors pressure of media perception, and most importantly — earning future contracts through race-day performance.

This promises more than canned progression trees and sponsor objectives. From what’s been teased, it’s being built around persistence, identity, and decision-making — something sim racing’s often sterile structure tends to overlook. If this mode lands with the nuance and depth hinted at, it could shift how sim racers treat single-player entirely.

The Smartest Launch Window Possible

Watching Le Mans Ultimate anchor its version 1.0 rollout during arguably the most high-impact week in endurance racing is a play worth crediting. When the world is fixated on the Circuit de la Sarthe, and motorsport chatter flood feeds and forums, it’s precisely the right moment to grab attention. This is fan service with a marketing backbone — giving players the very same cars they’re falling in love with in real-time.

That synergy is rare across racing sims. We’ve seen timely updates before, but aligning a full-scale content and platform launch with motorsport’s biggest broadcast moment — and offering straight-from-the-grid machines as base content — shows both confidence and coordination. And it gives new players a reason to jump in while the scene is buzzing, something sim racing sims often struggle with post-launch.

A Digital Extension of the Real Series

From a bigger-picture angle, the relationship between Le Mans Ultimate and the FIA WEC continues to deepen. It’s clear this isn’t just a license play — both parties seem invested in creating a platform that expands endurance racing’s footprint beyond weekends and time zones. The sim becomes a shadow championship, letting fans not only watch but participate, drive, compare, and relive race dynamics at any hour. That loop feedbacks into the real-world audience with gameplay, social media content, and potential crossover fans who enter the world of motorsports through a screen first.

The vision here feels bigger than selling DLC and track packs. If Studio 397 delivers across online improvements, progression systems, and mod tools in future updates, Le Mans Ultimate sits in prime position to be what rFactor 2 never quite became — a community-backed, fully licensed hub for modern endurance racing with the polish of a flagship title and the geek-baiting precision of a hardcore sim..

Hell Let Loose Is Free to Play This Weekend—and Half Off If You Decide to Stay

FPS Games

Mat

13 June, 2025

Hell Let Loose Stalingrad Map picture — Hell Let Loose Stalingrad Map

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

One of the most immersive and demanding World War II shooters you can play is now free to dive into for a few days—and available at half price if it sinks its hooks into you. Hell Let Loose is currently free to play on Steam until Monday, June 16th, as part of the Team17 Publisher Sale. All editions of the game, including the base and deluxe bundles, are also sliced in half for the duration, giving new players plenty of incentive to hang around after they’ve had a taste.

WePlayGames Youtube Channel: Hell Let Loose – Camper no more

This isn’t your typical shooter weekend freebie, either. Hell Let Loose plays in a totally different league compared to Call of Duty or Battlefield. It trades instant gratification for tension, strategy, and brutal consequences. If you want to sprint down a trench line, call in artillery, or coordinate a recon flank across open fields while bullets whiz overhead like mosquitoes—you’ll feel right at home.

What Makes Hell Let Loose Hit Different

From the moment you spawn on the map, it’s obvious Hell Let Loose isn’t interested in hand-holding. There’s no flashy HUD pointing out exactly where enemies are hiding, no personal K/D stats pushing you to chase kills like a dopamine-starved lab rat. Instead, you’ll be given a scrappy shovel, a rifle or radio, and dropped into a 50v50 battlefield where communication, teamwork, and steady hands outweigh twitch reflexes.

WePlayGames Youtube Channel: Hell Let Loose – Another tank down

What sets it apart is how hard it commits to that vision. Squad leaders shout positions across voice comms, a commander tracks the ebb and flow of the frontline from a top-down view, and logistics crews quietly work in the background to keep supplies flowing to key positions. You’ll quickly learn that being cannon fodder is easy—contributing meaningfully requires patience, coordination, and situational awareness.

Gritty, Atmospheric Warfare

Visually, Hell Let Loose doesn’t rely on FX explosions or saturated color palettes to sell the war. Its brutal authenticity lies in how maps are rendered with staggering realism—from the muddy fields of Foy to the narrow rubble-strewn alleys of Carentan. The sound design is equally punishing: heavy artillery shells land with jaw-rattling concussions, bolt-action rifles crack like the world’s angriest thunderclaps, and tank treads churn through terrain like an industrial menace.

WePlayGames Youtube Channel: Hell Let Loose – Can be funny as hell 🙂

There’s a grim satisfaction in watching a coordinated push liberate a sector, only for that small victory to erupt into another desperate defense. Maps aren’t just setpieces—they’re resourced-driven chessboards that shift every match, depending on how well your side works together. There’s often more tactical drama in a three-minute standoff at an intersection than in an entire round of a traditional shooter.

Not Just for Hardcore Vets

While it sounds intimidating—and make no mistake, there’s a learning curve—Hell Let Loose doesn’t gatekeep. New players are welcome, and the ongoing free weekend lowers the stakes for jumping in blind. There are enough veteran squads out there willing to show you the ropes, especially if you jump on voice chat or get your bearings in a support role. Playing as a medic, engineer, or supply runner can be just as rewarding as storming trenches, often more so.

And once everything clicks—once you drop ammo behind your squad just before an assault, or hear the clatter of friendly armor rolling over the hill at just the right second—you get this rare feeling. Not that you’re dominating a match, but that you’re a crucial cog in a machine doing something bigger than any one player.

Is It Worth Buying?

At 50% off, absolutely. Hell Let Loose has received consistent support since launch, with new maps, factions, and gameplay tweaks that expand rather than dilute the core experience. The community remains invested, and while it doesn’t pull millions of players at once, those who stick around are usually in it for the long haul.

The free weekend gives you everything you need to decide. Spend a few rounds exploring how dense this shooter can get, and if it even remotely clicks for you, it’s hard to justify not snagging it at half price. You’re not just buying a game—you’re stepping into one of the most hardcore, communal, and genuinely intense multiplayer warzones out there.

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