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Cyberez

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Rustler Review – Medieval Chaos Done Right

Rustler
Rustler

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

Rustler immediately grabs attention by delivering on its wild promise of “Grand Theft Auto meets medieval times.” From the first moments as Guy – a broke peasant with questionable morals – players are thrown into a sandbox of absurdity. You’ll horse-jack your way across muddy roads, fight armored guards, and take on ridiculous quests that blur the line between satire and outright parody.

The game uses a top-down perspective reminiscent of GTA 2, but with modern polish. Controls are tight, and the world feels responsive. Whether you’re escaping knights on stolen horses or battling through chaotic arena fights, everything clicks in that pick-up-and-play way you’d expect from an open-world title with arcade roots.

Rustler Arena
Rustler Arena

Rustler’s Arena Combat – A True Highlight

Among Rustler’s varied gameplay offerings, the gladiator-style arenas stand out. These medical martial arts arenas throw Guy into frantic fights against waves of enemies inside tight circles. Fast-paced and rewarding, these fights test combat skills and serve as a great way to grind some coins between main quests. They also help break up the open-world pacing without feeling like forced side content.

Rustler Death On The Beach
Rustler Death On The Beach

Rustler’s Story – Flat Earth Jokes, Rap Battles, and Bard Memes

Rustler doesn’t just rely on its premise – it builds a world that commits fully to its nonsense. The main story, revolving around Flat Earthers and Round Earthers, is played for maximum laughs. Every quest, dialogue line, and visual gag doubles down on absurdity. Knights engage in rap battles, bards cover modern pop hits on medieval instruments, and the in-game “police” are just guards who don’t care about property damage but will hunt you down for murder.

What works here is the consistency: Rustler never lets its satire slip. Every part of the world contributes to the ridiculous atmosphere, from posters on village walls to random NPC chatter.

Rustler Labour Camp
Rustler Labour Camp

Visuals and Sound – Rustler’s Cartoonish Personality

The game’s visuals are stylized and slightly cartoonish, perfectly fitting the humor-driven experience. Towns, arenas, and countryside areas are detailed without ever taking themselves too seriously. Character animations are simple but effective.

Sound design is another strength. The bards, constantly following Guy to provide musical background, deliver not just immersion but humor, whether it’s medieval remixes of modern tunes or just goofy battle sounds, audio rounds out Rustler’s chaotic energy.

Rustler Eye Of The Horse
Rustler Eye Of The Horse

Performance and Polish – Rustler on PC

Rustler runs smoothly on PC, with minimal bugs and no major performance issues. Controls are responsive, and both controller and mouse-keyboard setups work without hassle. Minor quirks exist, but they do not significantly disrupt the experience or gameplay.

Rustler Medieval Martial Arts
Rustler Medieval Martial Arts

Is Rustler Worth It? Final Thoughts

Rustler stays in its lane: it promises medieval GTA and delivers exactly that. With chaotic gameplay, constant humor, and a world that embraces satire at every turn, it’s a fresh twist on a familiar formula. The result is a small but polished title that offers hours of laughter and entertainment. Rustler doesn’t try to be deep or groundbreaking, and it’s better for it. This is a game that embraces being foolish in the best possible way.

Rustler The End
Rustler The End

Where to Purchase:


Blasphemous Review: A Souls-Like Metroidvania That Surprises

Blasphemous
Blasphemous

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

I didn’t expect a Souls-like game to blend in so well with a 2D platformer, but it just works here. Right from the start, Blasphemous shows its quality, with smooth movement, responsive combat, and satisfying attacks, dodges, and deflects that feel right. For an indie game, it’s polished, with no major bugs, and offers a demanding but fair combat system that keeps you engaged.

Blasphemous Bosses and Combat Depth

Boss fights in Blasphemous are a real highlight. They blend environmental platforming challenges with deflect-heavy combat, some leaning more Sekiro-inspired, others sticking to platformer roots. You’ll need to dodge, deflect, jump, and duck at the right moments, making each fight feel rewarding. Difficulty is challenging but not unfair, though navigating the world can get frustrating at times, especially when trying to locate items for puzzles. I had to look up a few things online, but that’s nothing unusual for games in this genre.

Blasphemous Art, Music, and Design

The pixel art and retro aesthetic are excellent, featuring beautiful and creepy details that stand out, such as blood animations and eerie designs that perfectly fit the dark tone. Every boss and mob is uniquely crafted, except for the final boss, which felt disappointing compared to the rest. Enemy AI behaves well, with each enemy having unique finisher animations—a rare touch for platformers. The soundtrack supports the atmosphere effectively, with solid voice acting and sound design that keep everything grounded in the Souls-like feel.

Exploration and Replayability in Blasphemous

The world design in Blasphemous can feel like a maze, making navigation challenging at times, but exploration pays off. Hidden relics, items, lore bits, and secret paths are scattered throughout the map, rewarding patient players. New Game Plus adds even more reasons to come back, giving the game excellent replayability if you’re into deep dives and hidden content.

Is Blasphemous Worth Your Time?

It took me about 10 hours to beat the main bosses. There’s still plenty left to explore post-game, especially in New Game Plus. The best part for me was how it blends two genres I love: 2D platformers and Souls-likes. It feels authentic and engaging. Aside from the occasional loss of direction, the gameplay remained smooth. The boss fights are memorable, even if the final boss missed the mark for me.

About Blasphemous

Title: Blasphemous
Type of Game: Metroidvania, Souls-like, Action-Platformer
Developer: The Game Kitchen
Publisher: Team17
Release Date: September 10, 2019
Platforms:

  • PlayStation 4
  • Nintendo Switch
  • Xbox One
  • PC (Windows, macOS)
  • Linux

Where to Purchase:

Stream, Slash, Repeat: Xbox Cloud Gaming in 2025

Xbox Cloud Gaming is legit picture
Xbox Cloud Gaming is legit

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

Instant Boot, Zero Install

Xbox Cloud Gaming lets you sidestep gigs of downloads by streaming full-fat console games from Microsoft’s data centers straight to almost any screen. Your chosen device—Xbox console, Windows 11 PC, Android or iOS phone, smart TV, even a first-generation Lenovo Legion S handheld running Windows 11—acts only as a video receiver: inputs fire up to the cloud, a 1080 p/60 fps feed races back with surround audio, and you’re playing in well under a minute. Bundled inside Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, the service turns what used to be installation day into play-now freedom, and this article dives deep into every corner of that experience: how the tech works, the connection rules that keep it smooth, real-world tests across different networks, the perks that make it addictive, the hiccups that still sting, and where it sits among rival cloud platforms.

Xbox Cloud Gaming 101: What It’s Actually Doing

  • Series X-Grade Blades: Behind the scenes, custom Xbox Series X hardware lives in Microsoft Azure racks. Each blade virtualises multiple game sessions, beaming them out at a locked 1080 p/60 fps for consistency.
  • 200+ Titles on Tap: Anything marked with the cloud icon inside Game Pass launches without installing. New first-party releases drop day-one, indies rotate in monthly, and saves sync whether you stream or later download.
  • Device Spread: Beyond consoles and PCs, cloud play reaches Macs via browser, iPads, Android tablets, Samsung 2022-and-newer smart TVs, the upcoming Xbox app on Fire TV sticks, and handheld PCs like the Legion S or ROG Ally. Add a Bluetooth/Xbox Wireless controller (or select touch layouts) and you’re good.

Connection Specs: Bandwidth, Ping, Stability Checklist

MetricMicrosoft’s FloorSweet-Spot in TestingWhy It Matters
Download bandwidth10 Mbps20 Mbps +Enough headroom stops the stream dropping to mud-blur mid-boss-fight.
Upload bandwidth2 Mbps5 Mbps +Inputs and voice chat are tiny packets, but spikes still like breathing room.
Latency (ping)≤ 80 ms ok< 40 ms greatSub-50 ms feels native; under 25 ms fools the brain entirely.
Packet-loss & jitter< 1 %Near-zeroConsistency beats raw speed.
Connection type5 GHz Wi-Fi goodGigabit EthernetA cable murders random spikes; Wi-Fi works if the router’s close and uncongested.

A fiber line at 300 Mbps/25 Mbps (ping ~18 ms) chewed through every test game flawlessly. A family DSL line at 40 Mbps (ping ~38 ms) held up fine until three simultaneous 4 K Netflix streams forced the cloud feed to fuzz for about thirty seconds—then it snapped back once bandwidth cleared. Upload never proved a bottleneck.

Hands-On Breakdown: How Different Games Behave in the Clou

Graphical heavyweights (Forza Horizon 5, Starfield) look shockingly close to local play on a 65-inch 4 K TV—even down-scaled to 1080 p—so long as bandwidth stays steady. During sudden speed streaks or explosive scenes, the encoder occasionally throws a micro-blur, but controls stay laser-responsive.

Stylised or lightweight games (It Takes Two, Hades, Cult of the Lamb) are basically born for cloud. Their bold colours survive aggressive compression, and frame pacing never hiccups. A co-op run of It Takes Two on shared Wi-Fi saw a single, faint artifact bar flash once—gone before the next jump.

Twitch shooters and fighters register the cloud’s extra 20–40 ms. Casual Fortnite or Halo Infinite matches feel fine, but ranked Street Fighter 6 duellers will still crave native silicon. Good news: the cloud option is perfect for practice rounds away from home.

Power-Ups: Six Killer Perks You Notice on Day On

  1. Instant Sampling – See a cover tile, press play, decide inside ten minutes whether it deserves your SSD.
  2. Storage Salvation – Stream 100 GB epics instead of juggling internal space or buying another expansion card.
  3. Silent Updates – Servers patch everything overnight; log in weeks later and skip the dreaded “51 GB required” screen.
  4. True Cross-Screen – Slay a boss on the Series X, finish crafting on the Legion S in bed, check auction house prices on a phone at lunch.
  5. Portable Power – Even a fanless tablet can run next-gen titles; the Legion S feels like a pocket Series X once you clamp on the pad.
  6. Friend-Proof – Drop-in guests play split-screen without any pre-download stall—hand them a spare controller and launch.

Known Glitches & Gotchas

  • Data Appetite: 1080 p/60 fps streams burn roughly 7–12 GB per hour. Metered plans beware.
  • 1080 p Cap: Until Microsoft flips a 4 K switch, videophile setups still shine brightest on local hardware.
  • Latency vs. Esports: Cloud feels wrong for frame-perfect parries; offline tournaments remain console-driven for a reason.
  • ISP Wobbles: Brief congestion equals momentary smear. Ethernet mitigates, but not all router woes.
  • Library Gaps: A handful of Game Pass titles and many owned discs aren’t cloud-enabled yet; licensing hurdles persist.

How It Stacks Up Against PS+ Streaming, GeForce Now, Luna & Co.

Service & FocusResolution / FPSLibrary ModelStand-Out Trait
Xbox Cloud Gaming1080 p 60 fps200+ Game Pass titles includedZero-install plus Series X day-one exclusives
PlayStation Plus Premium Cloud720–1080 p 60 fpsMostly legacy PS3/PS4 catalogueStrong first-party classics, limited reach
GeForce Now Ultimate4 K 120 fps, RTX 4080BYO Steam/Epic library; pay tieredPC-ultra visuals, ray tracing in the cloud
Amazon Luna1080 p 60 fpsChannel-based subs + Ubisoft add-onFamily titles & couch co-op emphasis
Steam Remote Play (in-home)Up to 4 K 60 fpsStreams your own rigZero extra cost if you own the beefy PC

Xbox’s edge is frictionless sampling and a first-party pipeline; GeForce Now rules raw fidelity; Sony’s cloud remains a legacy sidecar; Luna and Remote Play fill niche appetites.

Future Vision: Hybrid Consoles and Always-On Servers

Expect series refreshes that boot locally but default to the cloud for try-now demos, legacy compatibility, and on-the-go handoff. Edge computing will drop server latency under 10 ms in major cities, Wi-Fi 7 slashes jitter, and Microsoft is already testing higher-bitrate streams. When 4 K/120 fps finally rolls out, the last reason to install will be “I’m offline.” Physical boxes will stay for collectors, modders, and competitive purists—everyone else might decide electricity is better spent powering servers than living-room fans.

Monster Hunter Wilds Player Numbers Drop Sharply on Steam

Monster Hunter Wilds
Monster Hunter Wilds

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

Monster Hunter Wilds launched strong but has since seen a steep drop in active Steam users. Data from SteamDB and user feedback highlight ongoing performance issues, critical reviews, and dwindling engagement just months after release.

Peak Launch Followed by Steep Decline

At launch on February 28, Monster Hunter Wilds hit over 1.3 million concurrent players on Steam. This gave it the biggest peak of any Capcom title on the platform and ranked it sixth all-time on Steam. But that peak didn’t last. Within a month, active player numbers dropped to about 308,000. Two months in, the number fell further to around 119,000. After three months, only 40,000 players were still active — a loss of more than 97 percent from launch.

In contrast, Monster Hunter World stabilized at 122,000 after a similar time frame, and Monster Hunter Rise maintained roughly 84,000. Wilds had a higher launch peak than both, but lost players faster and more dramatically.

Current Steam Activity and Ongoing Issues for Monster Hunter Wilds

By mid-June, SteamDB showed Wilds averaging just over 6,000 concurrent players. GameSpot noted a slightly higher figure at 10,000, but that still puts it below the seven-year-old Monster Hunter World, which regularly sits above 16,000. PCGamesN previously compared a 20,600 player count for World against only 12,600 for Wilds.

User reviews on Steam reflect the drop. PC Gamer reported a surge of over 2,000 negative reviews in one week. The overall tone shifted to “Overwhelmingly Negative,” with only 18 percent of recent reviews marked positive. Major complaints include technical performance issues, gameplay balance problems, and dissatisfaction with the available content.

Performance Complaints and Game Design Criticism

Players continue to flag severe performance problems. Reports include random crashes, stuttering, inconsistent frame rates, and game freezes during basic actions such as navigating menus or resting at camps. These issues persist across various hardware setups. Some users say the game runs worse than Monster Hunter World, despite being released seven years later. One Steam review bluntly reads: “Moving your camera … Too bad, 12FPS for you.”

Beyond technical performance, several design aspects also frustrate the community. Players point to a lack of engaging endgame content. While Capcom introduced tougher monsters in an April title update, many fans expected a broader set of features. Combat difficulty also drew criticism. Some felt Wilds scaled back on the challenge compared to World, making fights feel too easy, especially in solo or early progression. Others claim the game lacks content relative to its $70 price tag. A common sentiment: it offers less value than its predecessors.

How Monster Hunter Wilds Compares to Previous Entries

Wilds’ player drop is steeper than both World and Rise, though the comparison isn’t exact. One reason is that Wilds launched simultaneously on console and PC. Earlier titles came to PC months later, making their Steam declines appear slower. Even so, Wilds has not stabilized like its predecessors did. Threads on Steam, Reddit, and other community hubs often cite a lack of optimization and shallow content as the reasons. One player wrote they ran out of content after just three days of play.

Meanwhile, Monster Hunter World continues to draw higher player numbers and better Steam sentiment. Its content depth, polish, and performance are still regarded as benchmarks within the series. Wilds was expected to improve on that foundation, but many feel it fell short.

Capcom’s Update Schedule and Next Steps for Monster Hunter Wilds

Capcom’s first major update landed in April, adding endgame monsters and refining balance. However, users claim that performance issues remain unresolved. Steam reviews from June still mention bugs that existed at launch. PC Gamer confirmed Capcom plans to reveal details for the next major update on June 26. Players hope it brings more substantial fixes and content, but expectations are mixed.

Despite the issues, Wilds sold extremely well. Capcom announced 8 million copies sold within three days and 10 million after one month. That success shows strong brand loyalty. However, current player numbers and community reaction suggest that long-term retention may be a problem without significant improvements.


Pokémon TCG Pocket’s Eevee Grove Expansion Arrives June 26

Pokémon TCG
Pokémon TCG

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

The next significant content drop for Pokémon TCG Pocket is confirmed for June 26, 2025. Titled Eevee Grove, this themed expansion introduces over 100 new cards centered around Eevee and its full set of evolutions: Vaporeon, Jolteon, Flareon, Espeon, Umbreon, Leafeon, Glaceon, and Sylveon. These familiar forms receive both standard card reprints and new ex variants—Flareon ex and Sylveon ex have already been previewed, offering new tactical angles in battle. Each evolution is designed to complement a variety of playstyles, enhancing the overall utility of the set. As with prior expansions, the content follows a steady monthly release cycle that Pokémon TCG Pocket has kept up since launching in October 2024. It arrives one month after the previous set, Extradimensional Crisis.

Support Cards, Items, and Cosmetic Additions

Eevee Grove also includes new supporter and item cards, notably adding Penny—a character from Pokémon Scarlet & Violet—as a usable supporter card. Penny’s ability lets players return an opponent’s supporter card to their deck, which adds a strategic counterplay element. Beyond the mechanical additions, the update brings new cosmetic content: a custom binder cover and display board themed after Eevee and its evolutions. These will be available directly in-game and serve both functional and visual purposes for deck organization and player customization. The cards themselves also include alternate art versions and potential shiny variants, making this set appealing for both collectors and competitive players.

Player Access, Comparisons, and Community Feedback

Unlike the physical Prismatic Evolutions Super‑Premium Collection, which has experienced stock shortages and reselling issues, Pokémon TCG Pocket provides all cards through the game’s digital gacha system. While this avoids scarcity and guarantees access in theory, it also means players may need to spend more than the ~$90 MSRP of the physical set to get all the desired cards. That has sparked familiar debates within the community about monetization and fairness in card distribution. Comparisons between Eevee Grove and Prismatic Evolutions have been frequent. Some users feel the new Pocket set is a direct digital adaptation, calling it “just Prismatic Evolutions in Pocket form.” Others defend it as a natural inclusion of fan-favorite evolutions in a format that’s more accessible than physical TCG collecting. While some players appreciate the theme and mechanics, others express fatigue with how often Eevee and its evolutions appear in expansions, suggesting it caters more to collectors than competitive play.

Gameplay Mechanics and Meta Implications

The new ex cards introduced in Eevee Grove aim to shift existing gameplay strategies. For example, Flareon ex provides strong energy acceleration at the cost of self-damage, supporting fast-paced, high-risk deck builds. Flareon ex offers strong energy acceleration but inflicts self-damage, pushing high-risk, fast-paced deck builds. Sylveon ex improves card draw after evolving, helping players cycle decks faster and set up combos efficiently. These mechanics may influence the meta, especially for short-term burst damage or resource-heavy strategies. Retrained evolutions and support effects like Penny’s card may encourage hybrid decks that blend aggression with disruption. It’s unclear if these changes will shape ranked play or stay as niche options after launch.

Platform Availability and Future Roadmap

Pokémon TCG Pocket remains a free-to-play mobile title on both iOS and Android. Since its release, it has surpassed 100 million downloads and generated over $500 million in global revenue. Accessing Eevee Grove requires only that players keep the app updated on launch day. All cards, items, and cosmetic add-ons will be available within the same rollout window. The Pokémon Company is preparing to launch the physical Black Bolt and White Flare sets on July 18, 2025. Until then, Eevee Grove stands as the next key update for Pokémon TCG Pocket. It continues the game’s blend of traditional card mechanics and mobile-first design.