The Elder Scrolls Online's Elsweyr expansion is little over a month away, so Bethesda's giving the new necromancer class a proper welcome this week, breaking down the lore and mechanics of Tamriel's most hated mages. Watch the goths in action in the trailer above. 

“In broad strokes, necromancy is about the creative manipulation of the soul, or animus, which is one of the basic building blocks of life in Tamriel,” explains Leamon Tuttle, ESO’s loremaster in a class preview. “Necromancers use their power to cast spells, bind souls into service, and use lesser Daedric spirits to reanimate corpses.”

Playing as a necromancer might be a bit trickier than the other classes. Necromancy is illegal, you see, so summoning an undead horror is going to send NPCs running to the cops to grass you up. Rude. You'll need to be sneaky, then, and try to keep your true nature a secret. Some powers will be less noticeable, though, letting you use them without fearing the long arm of the law. 

“A player who chooses to assume the role of a necromancer in ESO needs to understand that they’re playing something of an outlaw class,” says Ed Stark, lead content designer. “It’s similar to a player who decided to engage in wholesale crime—they’re taking on a bit of an increased risk in exchange for increased excitement.”

Steven called the criminal side of necromancy "the best thing" about the class in his Elsweyr preview. But while you might have to commit to a life of crime, that doesn't mean you have to be an evil necromancer. Like the MMO's other classes, the necromancer has several different paths for you to explore, so you can take on the role of party healer or transform into a huge Bone Goliath and just pummel things. 

Elsweyr is due out on June 4, with early access beginning on May 20. Expect more necromancer-themed videos and blog posts from Bethesda across the week.  

I'd love to know what passers-by would make of the sight of this bunch creating this video. It recreates a couple of Sekiro's outstanding boss fights and features an idol made of people. 

I love the attention to detail, like the state of the poor near-dead NPC, and the moment when Sekiro flexes as though the player has just tapped block while running around. Sekiro fights Lady Butterfly in what looks like an abandoned parking lot, and Gyoubu Oniwa rides a boxy horse, even managing to copy the boss' attack patterns.

I award additional bonus points for real life Shinobi candy, and very good use of authentic Sekiro UI and sound effects.

We're still obsessed with Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. Samuel's Sekiro brain levelled up when he fought Genichiro, and I've been searching for more great mods for our best Sekiro mods roundup. If you want to know what all the fuss is about, check our our Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice review.

Hat tip to boogie-verstan on Reddit.

Stardew Valley creator Eric Barone isn't done tinkering with his farming sim, and he took to Twitter over the weekend to share what he's been up to, namely update 1.4. "It's a big one," Barone promised, and will include a new farm map, Four Corners, and separate bank accounts in multiplayer. No more going seed shopping only to realise your mate's blown it all on garden ornaments. We said we'd discuss purchases as a group!

Barone showed off a screenshot of Four Corners, which apparently only reveals a fraction of what's heading to Stardew Valley, first on PC and then eventually on consoles.

The new farm will split farmers up a little bit more than normal, but it's still cooperative. "There's one shared cave, shared community centre, mines etc," Barone said. So you won't be going it alone entirely, but you will be more independent than you would be on the older farms. 

Existing multiplayer farms will still have shared accounts, but you can hit up the mayor and make the switch. That will automatically share all the cash evenly. New multiplayer farms can select the option at the beginning. Barone confirmed that the new map, while "perfect" for the new separate account option, will also be available in singleplayer. 

Last week, Barone advertised a new administrator position, as he's looking to expand the Stardew Valley team. The job listing was criticised for having enough responsibilities to fill two jobs, if not more. Barone responded by saying that the position isn't to take over every responsible that was listed, just to help him manage them. That wasn't especially clear, and it still isn't. The high number of applicants means that Barone's not accepting more, but the listing is still up and continues to look pretty hefty for just one person.

There's no release date for 1.4 yet, but the tease suggests that it's not too far off. 

Update: Waypoint reports that some employees have discussed staging a walkout to protest these arbitration agreements, as well as, as one source put it, Riot's failure to provide visibility "into what leadership is actually doing to improve" after Kotaku's initial report about sexism within the company. 

According to Waypoint, Riot chief diversity officer Angela Roseboro responded by planning "small group sessions" to discuss employee concerns, and CEO Nicolo Laurent added that along with these sessions, the topic will be discussed during a "biweekly all-company town hall on Thursday." You can read the full story over at Waypoint.

Original story: Several former and current Riot Games employees have filed lawsuits against the League of Legends developer since a report last year claimed there was a pervasive culture of sexism throughout the studio. The suits allege that, despite promises, Riot has not done enough to combat sexism in the workplace, instead "sweeping these allegations under the rug". Now Riot is attempting to stop two of the women from taking their employer to court, using clauses in their contracts to force them into private arbitration. 

These kinds of arbitration agreements protect companies like Riot by shuffling the suits into private arbitration, where the employees must make their case in front of a third party arbitrator instead of a judge or jury. Documents obtained by Kotaku state that "claims for discrimination, harassment, and retaliation, as well as for wages due, are expressly listed". 

The plaintiffs' lawyer said Riot's actions "serve to silence the voices of individuals" and that they would fight the arbitration clause and still attempt to get a jury trial.

Last year, Riot told us that the company takes these kinds of allegations seriously and investigates them thoroughly. "We remain committed to a deep and comprehensive evolution of our culture to ensure Riot is a place where all Rioters thrive."   

Since then, Riot's created a chief diversity officer position, updated its manifesto and made a lot of promises about how it will improve its culture and tackle discrimination. But now that it has an opportunity to address complaints from employees, it's not being particularly transparent. It's apparently been reevaluating procedures like arbitration, however, but it's not yet committing to any specific changes. 

Editor's note: Changed the headline to reflect that private arbitration is still legal action.

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice's Hanbei the Undying is a handy NPC, sticking around to let you beat him up as you hone your skills. As his name suggests, he can deal with a lot of punishment. He's also the subject of a new spin-off Manga that's in the works, starting on May 27. 

Sekiro Gaiden: Shinazu Hanbei looks like it will fill in some of the cursed warrior's history, mostly with blood. Check out the extremely gory sample below.  

Like its predecessors, Sekiro is light on exposition and it makes you work for every scrap of story. Much easier to just put your feet up and ready a grisly comic instead. It's being supervised by FromSoftware and Monster Hunter: Flash Hunter's Shin Yamamoto is on art duties. 

It'll launch on the Comic Walker website on May 27 and it's also been licensed by US-based graphic novel publisher Yen Press, which also teased the story.

"The Sengoku Era…A time when losing a battle meant losing it all. The Sword Saint, Isshin Ashina, aims for world domination…That is, until he encounters a certain Samurai…"

Mysterious! 

Cheers, Anime News Network.

A few weeks ago, a purple swordsman bullied me relentlessly in Sekiro. Most players have probably met him: he's near the bamboo thicket slope idol in the Hirata Estate flashback sequence, not long before you fight Lady Butterfly. I was probably slightly too early in the game to take him on, but kept throwing myself at him all the same. At the end of a long evening of trying, I quit Sekiro in a huff, decided this was yet another From Software game I'd never crack, and prepared to move on to something less stressful. 

Except, I didn't quit Sekiro. I went back to the game a day later, and I persevered. This Sengoku period-infused grim setting—where the pervasive obsession with immortality is decaying everything—was too compelling for me to walk away from. I recently found that purple swordsman again and killed him the first time. He was a piece of piss. That's because I'd already beaten the game's Genichiro Ashina boss—and like a lot of players, I define my time with Sekiro as pre and post-Genichiro. He teaches you the game by kicking your ass over and over again. I understand things about the game now that I only thought I understood before that boss fight. It took me at least 30 attempts to beat him. I skipped that cutscene preceding the duel a lot.

I imagine Genichiro Ashina is the biggest separation point for players who give up on the game and those who persevere to the finish. I'm far from done with Sekiro—I just beat Snake Eyes Shirahagi this morning in the Ashina Depths before work, and I haven't killed anything that requires Divine Confetti yet—but I can't see any further difficulty bumps making me give up at this point. The Guardian Ape took me four or five attempts to beat. Sub bosses that would've taken me tens of attempts before are now taking three or four tries. Instead of getting angry with enemies like I did with the purple swordsman, I just reconfigure and calmly try again. 

Genichiro Ashina, you broke my brain. But you saved me. 

Turning point

If this boss fight wasn't as well-designed as it is, I don't think the player's journey through Sekiro would hold together as effectively. This trial-by-fire teaches you how to parry and dodge properly, but it does so without the player necessarily realise they're learning through failure—only afterwards did I discover that parrying had almost become second nature, and not a move where I'd frequently flub the timing. This fight slowly transforms you into the precise, deadly wraith that the game needs you to be. 

In its second phase, the fight stops being a straightforward duel, and Genichiro starts throwing lightning strikes at you, which you can either deflect or dodge. This part of the fight is about teaching you to expect surprises in Sekiro—say, if a poo-throwing ape happens to come back to life with no head—and to acclimatise on the fly against new threats. It's the model the rest of the game is built on. 

I don't have much of a history with From's games, which is why I'm surprised Sekiro has swept Devil May Cry 5 aside in my Steam library and dominated my spare time this year. I've seen people say it's harder than previous Souls games, or Bloodborne—but personally I find Sekiro much easier to grasp. I understand its parry system, which I didn't in Bloodborne. There aren't many abstract systems to figure out and no equippable items, and the stats are so simple that you can focus on swordplay and move sets.

After Sekiro, I'll probably go back to those games, and see if anything I've learned will help me out. I finally understand the appeal of From's games, past the videos breaking down lore and extra-tedious discussions about difficulty, and get that these are singular works. FromSoftware has made a whole bunch of games that are roughly in this vein now—but it's the twists on Sekiro versus its other works that have made it specifically appeal to me. It's a masterful sword combat game, which is something I've always been looking for, going back to the Jedi Knight series. 

I can't wait to see how else the developer plays with this template in future—and hopefully it'll pick up many more converts like me along the way. 

Following a stint in beta, Druidstone: The Secret of the Menhir Forest will release on Steam on May 15. It's an isometric RPG with tactical, turn-based combat, created by a small team with experience working on the Legend of Grimrock series. Andy seemed pretty keen on the idea back when the game was announced in 2017.

In addition to the usual grid-based, stats-oriented combat, there's quite a bit of puzzle-solving in the world of Elo Shpaera. Centred around protagonists Leonhard, Aava and Oiko, these adventurers are tasked with investigating a disappeared Archdruid, as well as the menacing proliferation of weird purple cysts throughout the Menhir Forest.

The game is available to pre-order if you like. There's a new trailer below:

Thomas the Tank Engine must be the world's most adventurous train. After gracing the worlds of Resident Evil 2, Monster Hunter: World and Fallout 4, he's now rolled into Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, replacing the Great Serpent in a new mod. 

Sekiro's Great Serpent appears several times throughout the game, so you'll have plenty of chances to feast your eyes on Thomas' eerily unblinking face. You don't get to hear his theme tune, sadly, but he will blow an amusingly squeaky whistle just before he attacks.

Don't expect much in the way of animation work: this really is just a replacement for the front portion of the snake, so Thomas will jerk and twist in unnatural ways, but it's good for a laugh or two. 

To install it, first grab the Sekiro Mod Engine here and then follow the instructions on the mod's Nexus page.

If you're looking for something slightly more serious, check out this mod, which adds on-demand elemental damage to your katana. For more, check out our roundup of the best Sekiro mods.

Thanks, PCGamesN.

Arma 3's first paid-for, third-party DLC will be out tomorrow, and it will offer a 10-mission singleplayer campaign, 17 multiplayer scenarios and more than 40 new vehicles and vehicle variants across its 1980s Cold War Germany map.

The DLC, called Global Mobilization - Cold War Germany, features 419 square kilometers of terrain in both sunny summer and snowy winter variants, making it the largest Arma terrain to date. As well as the campaign, multiplayer scenarios and usual Arma 3 sandbox gameplay, the DLC will introduce 42 new vehicles and vehicle variants, 21 new weapons including variants, and new character assets.

The campaign focuses on the battle over the inner German border from two perspectives: a private in the West German army and the leader of a tank platoon. The 17 multiplayer scenarios comprise 13 co-op scenarios and four competitive game modes, including a deathmatch called "Fashion Police", in which teams "can quickly change based on the clothing you wear".

As well as West and East German armies, the DLC features troops from Denmark, who will provide a "smaller but viable military faction".

Bohemia insists that third-party DLC, announced last year, is not simply "paid mods". In an FAQ it says: "We believe that these DLC packs would not have otherwise existed or be possible as mods of similar quality and scope". Third-party DLC "will never replace something that was available for free", it says.

I'd say it at least has a leg to stand on here—all third-party DLC must be a new project pitched to and approved by Bohemia, which provides "continuous feedback, assists with the Quality Assurance (testing) process, and offers legal, mastering, publishing, and promotional support" throughout development.

The two-person team behind Global Mobilization are called Vertexmacht. One of the developers is an animation lead at Bohemia Interactive Simulations, a separate entity to Bohemia Interactive, which is why this still counts as third-party DLC. You can read an interview with both developers here.

Bohemia haven't yet announced a price for the DLC. The Steam page is here, while the Bohemia Store page is here.

Great moments in PC gaming are short, bite-sized celebrations of some of our favorite gaming memories.  

Sometimes, it's the little things. Yes, Deus Ex is a sprawling, complex conspiracy thriller that rode high in lists of the greatest games ever, but mention it, and it's rarely long before someone brings up being shouted at for going into the ladies' toilets. One of the few times a toilet has been considered a major game feature, if you don't count Infocom's text-adventure Leather Goddesses of Phobos tying your choice of toilet to in-game gender.

Of course, it’s more than just an angry bark from an NPC. It's proof that the game is watching, and taking notes on what you do, with the unspoken element of "If we’ve flagged this, what else are we flagging?" It's a demonstration that rules really are there to be broken, either through ignoring social mores, or handling a hostage situation with a shrug and some heavy explosives. Or just running away from a boss instead of fighting them, in clear violation of Shooter Character Rule 73B (no relation to 74C, which we all know is "respect the chest-high walls at all times").

It's not the first time that a game reacted to something like this, not even close. Ultima Underworld 2, for instance, would let you start attacking people in its central castle until you got thrown in jail, then let you out, and if you did it again, just put you back in there to rot. Deus Ex was part of the first wave of shooters really looking to marry action and simulation, to create the illusion of being part of a world rather than simply presenting one as target practice. Something as simple as going into the wrong toilet was a way of showing that even non-violent actions could have consequences, and that the simulation was complex enough to be able to sweat those little details as well as the big stuff. In practice, it never really does anything like that again, and many of the bigger features like the enemy AI were, well, less than groundbreaking.

That doesn't matter. It only takes a few moments to sell an illusion and encourage you to play a little smarter, a little more in keeping with your assigned role in the game. And if you want to break out of that for your own amusement? That's always pretty entertaining too.