NBA 2K23 Boston Celtics Roster And Ratings
NBA 2K23 is here, and that means hoop heads and casual NBA fans will have about a season’s worth of debates to start and more than a few Dominique Wilkins dunks to choreograph. We’re breaking down the NBA 2K23 rosters for all 32 NBA teams, and in this guide we’re taking a look at the Boston Celtics. The defending Eastern Conference champions have retooled this offseason, and certainly look primed for another Finals run. The additions of Malcolm Brogdon and Danilo Gallinari bolster Boston’s depth while the frontcourt remains strong with Robert Williams III and Al Horford. If you’re curious about who the Celtics’ best players are, how their new players affect their team rating, or which team positions may need an upgrade in MyNBA Eras, then here’s everything you need to know about the new NBA 2K23 Celtics roster.
Boston Celtics – Best Player
The Celtics are the 6th best team in the league according to the new ratings for all 32 teams in NBA 2K23. At launch, Boston is slated for an overall team rating of 94. The Celtics will also have six players rated 80 or above in NBA 2K23, including the inaugural winner of the Larry Bird Eastern Conference Finals MVP award:
Jayson Tatum (SF) – 93 OVR
Below you will find a table of the starting roster and reserves for the Boston Celtics at launch in NBA 2K23, which includes all five starters and new faces like Malcolm Brogdon and Danilo Gallinari.
Boston Celtics – Starters & Bench
Player Name | Position | OVR |
---|---|---|
Marcus Smart | PG | 82 |
Jaylen Brown | SG | 87 |
Jayson Tatum | SF | 93 |
Al Horford | PF | 82 |
Robert Williams III | C | 85 |
Malcolm Brogdon | PG | 82 |
Grant Williams | PF | 77 |
Derrick White | SG | 78 |
Danilo Gallinari | PF | 78 |
Payton Pritchard | PG | 76 |
Sam Hauser | SF | 71 |
Luke Kornet | C | 70 |
J.D. Davidson | PG | 69 |
For more on NBA 2K23, check out our NBA 2K23 review and the 2K23 ratings hub.
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Madden NFL 25 Preorders Are Live – Here’s How To Get A Free $10 Gift Card
Another football season, another installment of Madden. And while the 2025 NFL season is still quite a way off, preorders for Madden NFL 25 are already open ahead of its August 16 release, and you can get a free $10 gift card with your preorder at Best Buy. Three versions of the game are up for grabs–one of which comes bundled with a copy of EA Sports College Football 25 (which releases July 16), making it a great way to save money if you know you’ll be picking up both later this year. We still don’t know a whole lot about this installment of the iconic franchise, though EA Sports will likely give it the usual refresh with improved mechanics and animations, an updated Ultimate Team mode, and more.
Read more: Check out our EA Sports College Football 25 preorder guide for details on editions and bonuses for the revived NCAA football sim series.
Madden NFL 25 Preorder Bonuses
All Madden NFL 25 preorders come with bonus in-game content. The pricier the edition you pick, the more in-game goodies you’ll get. If you opt for the standard edition of Madden NFL 25, you’ll get the Cover Athlete Elite Player Item (TBA), two strategy items, Superstar Drip Gear (PS5 and Xbox Series X|S only), and the Legendary XP Boost (also exclusive to PS5 and Xbox Series X|S).
$70
Preorder the Madden NFL 25 standard edition to get the base game, Cover Athlete Elite Player Item, 2 Strategy Items, Superstar Drip Gear, and Legendary XP Boost. Preorders are currently live at Amazon, Best Buy, and GameStop. As mentioned above, if you preorder at Best Buy, you’ll get a $10 gift card with your order.
The Xbox disc-based version of the game comes with Xbox Series X and Xbox One versions of the game thanks to dual entitlement. On PlayStation, the PS4 disc has a free upgrade to PS5, whereas the PS5 disc only works on PS5.
Madden NFL 25 at Amazon:
$100
If you want to snag a couple of extra digital goodies or get on the gridiron early, the Madden NFL 25 deluxe edition might be a good investment. Along with the base game and everything included in the standard edition, you’ll also get the following:
- Three days early access starting August 13
- 4,600 Madden Points
- Early Access Ultimate Team Challenges
- AKA Player Item
- Cover Athlete Elite Player Item
- Choice of 2 Strategy Items
- Superstar Drip Gear (PS5 and Series X|S only)
- Legendary XP Boost (PS5 and Series X|S only)
$150
The most exciting preorder is the Madden NFL 25 MVP Bundle. Not only does this get you the Madden NFL 25 Deluxe Edition, but you’ll also get the EA Sports College Football 25 Deluxe Ddition. That’s a $200 value. So if you know you’ll be playing both titles this year, consider stepping up to this discounted bundle.
- Three days early access starting August 13
- 4,600 Madden Points
- Early Access Ultimate Team Challenges
- AKA Player Item
- Cover Athlete Elite Player Item
- Choice of 2 Strategy Items
- Superstar Drip Gear (PS5 and Series X|S only)
- Legendary XP Boost (PS5 and Series X|S only)
EA Sports College Football 25 Deluxe Edition
Note: EA Sports College Football 25 is only available on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. You should not buy this bundle if you play Madden on PS4 or Xbox One.
- Three days early access starting July 16
- 4,600 College Football Points
- Heisman Hopeful Ultimate Team Pack (1 player item out 5)
- Alma Mater Ultimate Team Pack (1 player item out of 134)
- Cover Athlete Ultimate Team Pack (1 player item out of 3)
- Bring Glory Home Ultimate Team Uniform Item
Huge Amazon Book Sale – Free Kindle Unlimited Subscriptions, $2 Ebooks, Ereader Deals, And More
Amazon is running a huge book sale through May 20, giving you a chance to score physical and digital books for some of the lowest prices of the year. Along with books, you’ll find a free 3-month trial to Kindle Unlimited, as well as a variety of ereader and tablet deals. The catalog is packed with hundreds of great books and devices, so we’ve pulled together a handy roundup of notable price cuts to help you navigate the event.
Quick look: Amazon Book Sale – $2 ebooks
From digital books for $2 and popular paperbacks for 50% off to tablets and more, here are the best Amazon Book Sale deals.
Kindle Unlimited 3-Month Trial
Before checking out all the other great deals, it’s worth noting that Amazon is offering a three-month trial of Kindle Unlimited. You’d typically pay $36 for three months, so getting to check it out for free is pretty enticing. Along with unlimited access to over four million digital titles, you’ll get to enjoy thousands of audiobooks and a variety of magazine subscriptions.
Amazon Kindle Device Deals
A handful of Amazon’s Kindle devices are on sale during this event, though the most notable discount is for the Kindle Scribe. Along with letting you read ebooks, the device lets you draw on the screen with an included stylus, making it great for doodling or taking notes in the margins. Typically available for $340, you can pick up the premium gadget for just $240. You’ll also find a bunch of Fire tablets on sale–including several that are built just for kids.
Kindle ebook Deals
Kindle ebooks are a huge part of this event, with dozens of titles listed for just $2. That makes it easy to cross off titles on your wishlist without breaking your budget. This includes The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and multiple other Tolkien books focused on Middle-earth. Science fiction fans can pick up several of Neal Stephenson’s stellar novels for only $2 as well, including Reamde and Anathem. You’ll also find Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow for $6 (down from $14), which follows two game developers as they find success and grow more entwined over the years.
Amazon Editors Picks
If you’re searching for a physical book for your bookshelf, consider taking a gander at the sales hubs pulled together by Amazon’s book editors. Dozens of well-regarded books are included in the savings, though some of our favorites are Red Rising, The Maid, and The Mystery Guest. All three are on sale for at least 50% off their usual prices, making this a great time to check them out. You should also check out
Popular on Goodreads
Not sold on any of the picks above? You’ll find plenty more deals on physical books in this collection, which includes the books that a lot of Goodreads users have added to their virtual shelves. Notable discounts include Gareth Brown’s 2024 fantasy hit The Book of Doors and Neal Stephenson’s modern sci-fi classic Snow Crash.
Diablo 4 Season 4: All Seasonal Journey Rewards And Objectives
Diablo 4 Season 4, Loot Reborn, is here, bringing a reworked loot system and new seasonal content. Among the new content is the Seasonal Journey, which provides a series of tasks to complete, which provides rewards in the shape of aspects, resources, and battle pass XP. Since the Seasonal Journey provides a ton of battle pass XP, it is the best way to get Smoldering Ashes, which provide season-long boosts. There are seven chapters in the Seasonal Journey that will take you from level 1 all the way to level 100 and beyond.
Chapter 1
You must complete 8 out of 10 objectives to complete this chapter.
Chapter 1 objectives:
- What Lurks Below: Complete 3 cellars
- Den of Evil: Complete any dungeon found on your map
- Trouble in the Wilds: Complete 2 world events
- One of the Pack: Increase your Wolf’s Honor Rank to 1 by battling evil in Helltide Zones
- Forager: Collect 50 Bundled Herbs from Harvest Nodes, Cellars, or various other sources throughout Sanctuary
- Fragrant Find: Collect 10 Angelbreath from Harvest Nodes, Cellar Mastery, or various other sources throughout Sanctuary
- Prospector: Collect 50 Iron Chunks from salvaging Weapons and Jewelry, Mineral Nodes, or various other sources throughout Sanctuary
- Tanner’s Apprentice: Collect 50 Rawhide from salvaging Armor, defeating Monsters, or various other sources throughout Sanctuary
- Joining the Fray: Complete 1 Iron Wolf Event found during a Helltide
- Spoils of Hell: Open 1 Tortured Gifts during Helltide
All of the Chapter 1 objectives are fairly simple and should be both easy and quick to complete. The only objective on the list that could be an issue is completing two world events, just because you have to wait for one to be live, but world events do occur relatively frequently.
Chapter 1 Rewards:
- Greater Favor: Contains Favor, which is battle pass XP
- First Journey Cache: Contains Consumables, such as Elixirs and Murmuring Obols
- First Journey Crafting Cache: Contains Crafting Materials, such as Herbs and Gem Fragments
- First Journey Equipment Cache: Contains a Legendary Weapon, Gloves, and Amulet for your class
Chapter 2
You must complete 7 out of 10 objectives to complete this chapter.
Chapter 2 Objectives:
- Veteran of Ashes: Acquire 666 Aberrant Cinders during a Helltide
- Miracles of Alchemy: Craft 10 Elixirs at the Alchemist
- Keeper of the Keys: Collect 3 Whispering Keys, sold at the Purveyor of Curiosities
- Touching the Eternal: Unlock 3 Aspects in the Codex of Power, such as through completing Dungeons
- Honorary Wolf: Increase your Wolf’s Honor Rank to 6 by battling evil in Helltide zones
- Notarized Nuisance: Increase your Threat Level to Max by defeating monsters during Helltide
- Expanded Repertoire: Learn 1 Recipe of Magic rarity or higher
- Cinder Spender: Open 10 Tortured Gifts during Helltide
- Mad Prophecies: Complete 3 Doomsayer Events found during Helltide
- Demonic Presences: Disrupt 3 Cultist Rituals found during Helltide
Again, nothing too difficult or time consuming here. The best thing to do here is to try and nab the six objectives that are all related to the Helltide at once, and then just complete one additional objective, whichever one seems easiest for you.
Chapter 2 Rewards:
- Greater Favor
- Second Journey Cache: Contains a Temper Manual and Consumables, such as Elixirs and Baneful Hearts
- Second Journey Crafting Cache: Contains Crafting Materials, such as Herbs and Veiled Crystals
- Second Journey Equipment Cache: Contains a Legendary Weapon, Pants, and Ring for your class
Chapter 3
You must complete 8 of 10 objectives to complete this chapter.
Chapter 3 Objectives:
- Risk and Reward: Buy 25 pieces of equipment from the Purveyor of Curiosities
- A Master at Work: Complete 3 World Events with Mastery
- Hard Fought Victory: Complete 1 Legion Event
- Forsaken Offerings: Obtain 10 Caches from the Tree of Whispers by completing Whispers
- Raised by Wolves: Increase your Wolf’s Honor Rank to 9 by battling evil in Helltide zones
- Ineffable Draughts: Consume 5 Seasonal Elixirs, Elixir of Momentum or Elixir of Holy Bolts
- Basic Needs: Temper 5 Affixes onto Gear at the Blacksmith
- Thorn in Hell: Defeat 666 Monsters while at Max Threat Level during Helltide
- Predator and Prey: Defeat 666 Monsters while Bloodmarked in Hostile areas
- Capable Craftsmen: Learn 1 Recipe of Rare rarity of higher
The two objectives here that are the easiest to skip will be Predator and Prey and Forsaken Offerings. Predator and Prey requires you to kill enemies in a PvP zone, while marked for other players to attack, which some people might not be interested in doing. Forsaken Offerings requires you to complete enough Whispers to obtain 10 caches, which isn’t hard, but is time consuming enough that you might finish the other objectives first.
Chapter 3 Rewards:
- Greater Favor
- Third Journey Cache: Contains Consumables, such as Sigil Powder and Baneful Hearts
- Third Journey Crafting Cache: Contains Crafting Materials, such as Veiled Crystals and Forgotten Souls
- Third Journey Equipment Cache: Contains a Legendary Weapon, Chest Armor, and Boots for your class
- Third Journey Summoning Cache: Contains Summoning Materials to challenge Bosses in World Tier 3
Chapter 4
You must complete 9 of 11 objectives to complete this chapter.
Chapter 4 Objectives:
- Pilgrim of Horror: Complete a Tier 10 or higher Nightmare Dungeon
- Blessing of the Strong: Equip Sacred Legendary items in every slot
- Confront the Creature: Defeat the Blood Maiden during Helltide in World Tier 3 or higher
- Baptized in Hell: Defeat 15 Hellborne during a Helltide
- Shards of the Fiends: Collect 5 Scattered Prisms, found primarily from defeating World Bosses
- The Long Howl: Complete 15 Iron Wolf Events found during Helltide in World Tier 3 or higher
- Most Dangerous Game: Defeat 15 Elite Monsters while Bloodmarked in Hostile areas
- Seed to Evil: Collect 15 Baneful Hearts by defeating Hellborne during a Helltide in World Tier 3 or higher
- Stem the Tide: Defeat 666 Monsters while at Max Threat Level during Helltide in World Tier 3 or higher
- Brink of Madness: Defeat 666 Monsters while using the Profane Mindcage during a Helltide
- Decent into Delirium: Defeat 666 Elite Monster while using the Profane Mindcage during Helltide in World Tier 3
The vast majority of these objectives are done in a Helltide, so focusing on those will make this chapter go faster. The two skippable objectives are Shards of the Fiends and Most Dangerous Game. Shards of the Fiends requires you to beat world bosses, which spawn every three hours roughly, so you might miss your opportunity depending on when you are playing. Most Dangerous Game is another PvP area objective, which some players might not be interested in doing.
Chapter 4 Rewards:
- Greater Favor
- Captain of the Wolves Emblem
- Fourth Journey Cache: Contains a Temper Manual and Consumables, such as Profane Mindcages and a Scroll of Amnesia
- Fourth Journey Crafting Cache: Contains Crafting Materials, such as Veiled Crystals and Forgotten Souls
- Fourth Journey Equipment Cache: Contains a Legendary Weapon, Helm, and Ring for your class
- Fourth Journey Summoning Cache: Contains Summoning Materials to challenge Bosses in World Tier 4
Slayer (Chapter 5)
You must complete 9 of 11 objectives to complete this chapter.
Slayer Objectives:
- The Gathering Fires: Acquire 6,666 Aberrant Cinders during Helltie on World Tier 4
- Damnation’s Downfall: Defeat each of the 5 Helltide Commanders while using the Profane Mindcage during Helltides, summoned after completing Helltide Events
- Shock and Awe: Defeat Grigoire, the Galvanic Saint in World Tier 4
- No Mere Mortal: Unlock a Legendary Paragon node after reaching level 50, through using Paragon Points
- Mephisto’s Bane: Purify 33,333 Seeds of Hatred obtained in Hostile areas at an Altar of Extraction
- Alpha Member: Increase your Wolf’s Honor Rank to 15 by battling evil in Helltide zones
- Form and Function: Upgrade Gear by adding 5 Sockets to them at the Jeweler
- Guilt: Defeat Echo of Varshan in World Tier 3, summoned beneath the Tree of Whispers with materials from World Tier 3 Whisper Caches
- Ancient Craft: Temper 8 Affixes onto Ancestral Gear at the Blacksmith
- Precious Shards: Salvage 100 Ancestral Legendary items at the Blacksmith
- Heir to Transcendence: Equip Ancestral items in every slot
Once again, many of these objectives involve doing activities in a Helltide, so many will be done simultaneously. The two easiest to skip will be Mephisto’s Bane, the PvP objective, and No Mere Mortal. No Mere Mortal requires a legendary Paragon Node, which will likely take about 15 to 20 Paragon Points to reach depending on your board, so you will likely need to be a few levels past 50 and you might complete the other objectives prior to that.
Slayer Rewards:
- Epic Favor
- Slayer’s Cache: Contains Consumables, such as Runeshards and a Scroll of Amnesia
- Slayer’s Crafting Cache: Contains Crafting Materials, such as Obducite and Scattered Prisms
- Slayer’s Equipment Cache: Contains two Ancestral Legendaries and an Ancestral Unique for your class
- Slayer’s Summoning Cache: Contains Summoning Materials to challenge Bosses in World Tier 4
Champion (Chapter 6)
You will need to complete 10 of 12 objectives to complete this chapter
Champion Objectives:
- Not All Who Wander: Defeat 5 Seething Abomination while Bloodmarked in Hostile areas
- Lootmaster: Open 10 Tortured Gifts during a single Helltide in World Tier 4
- Forgiveness: Defeat Lord Zir in World Tier 4, summoned in Fractured Peaks with Exquisite Blood from World Tier 4 World Bosses or Legion Events
- Harbinger of Ice: Defeat The Beast in the Ice in World Tier 4, summoned with Distilled Fear from Tier 30 or higher Nightmare Dungeons
- Anointed in Blood: Reach Level 90
- Born in Torment: Defeat 10 Hellborne while using the Profane Mindcage during Helltide in World Tier 4
- Anguish Ignited: Defeat Echo of Andariel in World Tier 4, summoned in Kehjistan with Materials from The Beast in The Ice and Lord Zir
- Exterminator: Defeat Echo of Duriel in World Tier 4, summoned in Kehjistan with materials from Grigoire and the Echo of Varshan
- Heritage of Artisans: Learn 1 Recipe of Legendary rarity or higher
- Honing Craft: Attempt to Masterwork 20 gear at the Blacksmith
- Cleaning Day: Defeat 666 Monsters within 6 Minutes while using a Profane Mindcage during Helltide in World Tier 4
- Preamable: Complete Artificer’s Tier 1 or higher in The Pit, located at the Artificer’s Obelisk in Cerrigar and activated with Runeshards
This chapter contains several difficult objectives, so you must pick your skips wisely. While most of the summoned bosses will be a bit of a challenge, Exterminator requires you to beat Duriel, who is summoned using materials from The Beast In The Ice and Lord Zir, which are needed for another challenge, so Duriel will be one of the last objectives completed anyway. Once again, Not All Who Wander is a PvP zone focused objective, so that might be a good one to skip too.
Champion Rewards:
- Epic Favor
- Mark of the Artificer Emblem
- Champion’s Cache: Contains a Temper Manual and Consumables, such as Runeshards and Scrolls of Amnesia
- Champion’s Crafting Cache: Contains Crafting Materials, such as Ingolith and Scattered Prisms
- Champion’s Equipment Cache: Contains two Ancestral Legendaries and an Ancestral Unique for your class
- Champion’s Summoning Cache: Contains Stygian Stones and other Summoning Materials to challenge Tormented Echo Bosses
Destroyer (Chapter 7)
You need to complete 7 of 9 objectives to complete this chapter.
Destroyer Objectives:
- Blessed Mother Departed: Defeat Echo of Lilith in World Tier 4, remembered in Nevesk
- Glyphmaster: Improve 5 Paragon Glyphs to Rank 15 by completing Nightmare Dungeon
- Alpha of the Pack: Increase your Wolf’s Honor Rank to 18 by battling evil in Helltide zones
- Delved Deep: Complete Artificer’s Tier 21 or higher in The Pit, located at the Artificer’s Obelisk in Cerrigar and activated with Runeshards
- Horadric Smith: Masterwork Gear to rank 8 at the Balcksmith
- Anathema: Defeat the Blood Maiden while using the Profane Mindcage during Helltide in World Tier 4
- The Bigger They Are: Defeat 10 World Bosses
- Anguish Extinguished: Use Stygian Stones to summon and defeat Tormented Echo of Andariel
- Eradicator: Use Stygian Stones to summon and defeat Tormented Echo of Duriel
With this being the final chapter, all of these objectives are both difficult and time consuming, although two are particularly difficult. Blessed Mother Departed and Eradicator both require you to complete the two hardest boss fights in Diablo 4, Duriel and Lilith, on the highest world tier. You will need a basically complete build to take down these fights, so these will likely be the final two objectives completed.
Destroyer Rewards:
- Destroyer’s Cache: Contains Consumables, such as Runeshards and Scrolls of Amnesia
- Destroyer’s Crafting Cache: Contains Crafting Materials, such as Neathiron and Scattered Prisms
- Destroyer’s Equipment Cache: Contains two Ancestral Legendaries and two Ancestral Uniques for your class
- Destroyer’s Summoning Cache: Contains Stygian Stones and other Summoning Materials to challenge Tormented Echo Bosses
- Crafty Player Title
- Looter Player Title
The Complete Pokemon Pocket Guide Box Set Is 1,100 Pages Of Poke-Facts For Only $29
Sure, you might have memorized the original Pokemon Rap when you were a kid, but things have changed! There are a lot more than just 151 Pokemon, and for those days when you’re looking for a breakdown on how to evolve your pocket monster, it’s always handy to have a complete Pokedex nearby.
That’s what Pokemon: The Complete Pokemon Pocket Guide is all about. Spread across two massive paperback volumes, the new Pokemon Pocket Guide published by Viz Media is worth checking out if you want a physical Pokedex to flip through. Volume 1 (560 pages) released on April 23 and is available for $13.49 (was $15) at Amazon. Volume 2 (552 pages) is set to release on May 28, and it’s available to preorder now for $15.
Alternatively, you preorder a box set featuring both paperback volumes, neatly packaged in a displayable slipcase. The Complete Pokemon Pocket Guide Box Set is priced at $29 and releases September 24. You’ll spend about the same amount of money whether you buy each volume separately or preorder the box set, so what matters is if you’re willing to wait and/or you care about the slipcase.
Pokemon: The Complete Pokemon Pocket Guide
With over 1,100 pages combined, these volumes provide you with data on 898 Pokemon (out of 1,025 total). This includes descriptions, stats, abilities, movies, and evolutions for the critters. With its pocket-friendly size, you can carry these books around with you for those days when you take your Switch. The books have been a mammoth undertaking–hence the exclusion of the Paldean region Pokemon from Scarlet and Violet–and every Pokedex entry in the guide features full illustrations.
While sites like Bulbapedia are incredibly valuable for instant access to vital Pokemon data, you can’t discount the appeal of physical media. Whether you use the Pokemon Pocket Guide while on your quests to catch ’em all, or you simply like the idea of flipping through a paperback filled with full-color illustrations and loads of neat details, these new guides offer a budget-friendly way to do just that.
Plus, this exhaustively researched two-tome set could make for a great gift for the Pokemon fans in your life.
Titanfall 2’s Time-Traveling MacGuffin Enters The Fray In New Apex Legends Trailer
Apex Legends Season 21: Upheaval launched, surprisingly, without an actual launch trailer. But just over a week after the new season went live, Apex Legends developer Respawn Entertainment has released a new animated short featuring a device that Titanfall 2 players will certainly recognize: the Time Gauntlet, a device that makes a significant appearance in Titanfall 2’s Effect and Cause chapter, which is widely regarded as the best part of the game’s single-player campaign.
In Effect and Cause, the player takes the Time Gauntlet–a donut-shaped metal disc attached to a glove–and uses it to shift back and forth in time at-will. We’ve seen the Gauntlet appear in Apex Legends before, when an early prototype of the device appeared to power Loba’s teleportation bracelet, and we also saw Horizon eyeing up the one in the Apex Museum in Season 20’s launch trailer. But so far, we haven’t learned much more about it.
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Since joining the Apex Games, Horizon has had a singular goal: getting back to her son, Newton. Prior to joining the Games, Horizon was left for dead in a black hole by Ash, and though she managed to escape it, she got back to her home on Olympus over 80 years too late. Her son had already grown up, lived a life, and passed away. Horizon now spends every spare second looking for a way to get back to her son and seems to think the Time Gauntlet is the answer. After finally getting her hands on it, she’s spent months trying to get it functional, but all her attempts thus far have failed.
In today’s trailer (titled Altered Horizons), new Legend Alter appears, interrupting Horizon’s work, snatching up the Time Gauntlet, and transporting Horizon, Lifeline, and Mirage through various portals that lead to mysterious dimensions.
“They don’t believe in you like I do,” Alter sneers from her perch atop a guard rail after incapacitating both of Horizon’s teammates. “I know what you are capable of.”
“I don’t know you!” Horizon pleads, clearly confused.
“But I know you,” Alter replies with a sinister grin.
Having finally had enough, Horizon begins fighting back.
“Not bad, but you’re not as exciting as all the other Mary Somers,” Alter teases, confirming she’s met various versions of Horizon before, and possibly implying Alter herself could even be a different version of Horizon.
Finally, Horizon gives Alter a swift kick to the tail before drawing her weapon and pointing it at the dimension-hopping enigma’s head.
“Now there’s the Mary Somers I’m looking for,” Alter all but purrs. “I’m not your enemy, Doctor. Newton needs you.”
“You wanna make that thing work? I have what you need,” Alter explains, referring to the Time Gauntlet, which is now back in Horizon’s possession. “If you want it, you know where to find me.”
Alter produces a calling card featuring the infamous Predator logo–suggesting she may be involved involved with the Mercenary Syndicate–then disappears into her shattered-glass portal, leaving Horizon (and viewers) with countless questions.
When GameSpot spoke to Apex Legends lead writer Ashley Reed earlier this year, she confirmed that a new, Kill Code-esque animated web series was on the way, along with a new villain who “may not be who [players] expect.” Respawn has referred to Alter as the franchise’s new villain in some of Season 21’s promotional material, and after reaching out to the developer, GameSpot received confirmation that this new animated short isn’t a late launch trailer. Instead, it’s the first episode of the aforementioned animated series, which will seemingly focus on the relationship between Alter and Horizon–and the fate of Titanfall 2’s infamous Time Gauntlet.
Will Alter actually help Horizon reach her son? Only time will tell. Stay tuned for more Apex Legends news as Season 21: Upheaval progresses.
As Call of Duty Continues Attracting Skill-Based Matchmaking Complaints, XDefiant Goes In A Different Direction
Ubisoft has revealed that XDefiant will not have skill-based matchmaking in its casual play mode. Instead, the game will have different matchmaking factors depending on each playlist. XDefiant is considered Ubisoft’s answer to Call of Duty, and its development is being led by longtime CoD boss Mark Rubin. CoD famously uses SBMM, much to the chagrin of some players, so this move by Ubisoft could win over some fans.
According to a new post from Ubisoft on its website, Casual Play prioritizes fast connection times and will try to match latency and regions where possible. Ubisoft’s reasoning for not implementing SBMM for Casual Play is that the matches will be a more fun and varied experience in the long-term. The development team states that having SBMM makes matches repetitive and stressful.
For those who do want a competitive experience, Ranked Play will be added in a future season. The mode is segmented by rank levels and will only matchmake players within a rank range.
When it comes to balancing teams, they are balanced based on players’ skill rating. Casual Play doesn’t use skill ratings to determine who gets into the game, but once everyone enters and the lobby is full, the teams will be balanced. Lobbies in Casual Play also persist between matches, so subsequent matches will often include the same players from the previous match. However, teams are still shuffled between them.
XDefiant launches on May 21 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S as a free-to-play game. Ubisoft also recently canceled The Division Heartland in order to put more resources into XDefiant and Rainbow Six.