The Elder Scrolls IV, Oblivion, released in 2006 by Bethesda is an RPG action adventure game that took the gaming community by storm cementing itself as another epic installment of the Elderscrolls franchise. It’s no wonder why in 2025 it’s about time this game was …
The release of the Nintendo Switch 2 comes with a line of fan-favorite games and a brand new exclusive from From Software. Along side this also comes a higher Price
Minecraft, released on May 17th, 2009 under the name Cave Game, has become one of gaming’s most popular releases ever, with over 300 million copies of the game sold and generations getting wrapped up in the simple sandbox it’s no wonder why in 2025 we are getting the Minecraft Movie releasing April 4th.
Minecraft also held its Minecraft Live event for 2025 prior to the movie release and made some of the biggest announcements for the game since their Caves and Cliffs updates that completely changed world generation back in 2021.
The first announcement was the Spring to Life update, featuring new Cold and Warm mob variants in the overworld for cows, pigs, and sheep. Since the addition of these farm animals in the very early stages of the game back in 2010, they have seen little to no reworks to keep them up to speed with the newer animals in the game. The newer mobs of the overworld feature subtle animations that add more life to their models, as well as more updated textures that fit with the new block textures added back in 2019.
Now in Tigas, windswept hills and snowy plains, the new cold variants will spawn, with a new cow based on the Highland cow, a chicken with dark blue and grey feathers, and sheep spawning with darker colors of wool and a new brownish pig based on the Mangalica pig. The warm variants can be found in desserts, jungles, and plains with yellowish orange chickens, a pig based on the red river hog, Sheep with brownish and sandy colors, and a cow based on the pinto cow.
These new variants are a welcome addition, in my opinion. Adding variety to these super common animals helps the player experience the differentiation in biomes, adding to the atmosphere of each.
Additionally in the Spring into life update we also got new spawn egg textures that make each spawn egg resemble the mob it spawns compared to the old textures that were simply two different colors to resemble the entity, this is a great quality of life addition for creative players allowing you to simply look for what you want rather then read each spawn egg until you find what you’re looking for.
The final notable thing within this update to mention is one of my personal favorites they have added: the new wildflowers. These are small yellow flowers found in most temperate biomes, and they are the perfect landscaping addition to any build. Just as the Cherry petals that fall on the ground, you are able to place four flowers on each block, allowing the player to get natural-looking flower patches that can seamlessly blend into your landscaping.
Mojang also announced a timeline for future updates this year and what we can expect, and in my opinion these updates will be the biggest updates since Caves and Cliffs. Mojang announced that in the summer of 2025 there will be a new rideable flying mob added to the game.
By venturing into the nether, a player can stumble upon a new block called a dried ghast. By mining this block and bringing it back to the overworld the player simply puts the ghast in water and waits. After a little while, a baby happy ghast will emerge from the water and hang out around your base. Once the ghast is grown, the player can then make a new type of saddle for the ghast called a harness. This harness not only allows you to ride your pet ghast, but three of your friends can join you for the ride as well. Now you can explore your overworld from the skies, but that is not all this ghast will be good for. As well as being rideable, the ghast can act as a moving platform, allowing the player to dismount and stand on top of it while it stays flying in the air. This is going to change survival mode building for the better in my opinion. This allows players to build as high and as big as they want without any need for extra scaffolding or nerd poles to work on your build, saving the player a ton of clean-up time and tool durability.
The final announcement from Minecraft Live is the biggest announcement Mojang has ever made for their bedrock audience. Mojang announced their Vibrant Visuals update, which will completely change how Minecraft is perceived and experienced in every way. In Vibrant Visuals, players on both bedrock and java will have access to shaders in vanilla Minecraft. This is going to completely change the lighting of the game, from sunshine to moonlight to torches and anything else you can think of will now have ray tracing that allows for some of the most beautiful imagery imaginable in the game. This feature is something that the Java edition of the game has had access to through the modding community for years while Bedrock players simply had to watch as Java players simply had a better experience of the game then Bedrock players, but not any longer in the coming months vibrant visuals will be added to both editions of the game giving everyone access to shaders.
Helldivers 2 is a game about defending democracy and securing the galaxy in the name of Super Earth and the Human Race.
Can you manage the formation of an empire? Find out and expand your borders to the horizon, This game will put your skills to the test and cement your dynasty’s name in History
Set Sail in Search of Treasure
Sea of Thieves released in 2018 by Rare and published through Xbox is a one of a kind sandbox experience. In Sea of Thieves set sail as a unique pirate and seek your destiny among the waves. This game has a little something to offer any type of player who decides to check it out.
When first loading into the game the player will notice the unique look of the game, mixing realism with a whimsical cartoonish style that adds a lot of personality to the environment and other players you’ll find throughout the world, with players and non player characters having a somewhat disheveled hardened look to them really gets across the point that they’re pirates. Another thing that sets this game apart from others is the decision by the developers to have very limited HUD and UI while playing the game, there is no crosshair displayed on your screen, no toolbar down at the bottom, only a small health icon is displayed with a small bar in the bottom left corner. The decision not to add enhances the first person perspective making it feel as if you’re really looking through your characters eyes. I think that this works really well in the games favor by adding another layer of realism to the player experience by incorporating an uncertainty to where exactly your bullets or cannon balls will go, this makes it more rewarding when you hit your shots.
The ocean itself is mind-blowing, the beauty Rare was able to capture with their simulated seas. Watching the ocean crash along the shore or witnessing the light bounce off each wave in the water is truly breathtaking, considering that most of the world map consists of this water it’s no wonder why the Rare team spent so much time getting the look right.
In terms of game play you never know what to expect when sitting down for a session of Sea of Thieves. The overall goal of the game is to sail around the sea on voyages in search of treasure, these voyages will lead the player to various different islands and oceans with their own unique challenges to overcome such as severe storms, erupting volcanoes and even a kraken. The sandbox nature of the game with little to no main objective besides collecting this treasure leaves most of the content up to players and the game does a great job of encouraging that player to player interaction.
This player to player interaction is done by a variety of methods that will display your location on the map for all players to see. You are faced with a gamble: do you sell your loot or risk finding more with a chance of a player finding you first? This decision fuels a lot of the player interaction with greedy players often finding themselves being pulled into hour long naval battles where their cannon abilities will be tested. This player to player interaction is also fostered by the in game voice chat, when speaking to your teammates your voice is projected for everyone to hear within earshot allowing other teams to freely communicate with each other and possibly hearing each other’s plans. The mix of these features pulls players together either with friendships or as enemies allowing players to form their own stories and unique experiences with each other and really adding to the fact that you never know what will happen when you sit down to play some Sea of Thieves.
The combat in this game is truly skilled based, with a limited variety of weapons to pick from and the absence of crosshairs often outside the box thinking and forward planning will give you the upper hand in a fight. Every decision you make will affect your combat, what side of the boat is facing the enemy, what weapons you have equipped or even what food you choose to heal yourself with, a slight mistake can cost you hours worth of work so plan accordingly.
As any amazing game this game does have its share of challenges that face it. Sea of Thieves is known as not having the best ability to deal with cheaters. Cheaters are a problem in this game often using external downloads to give them an unfair advantage that can make it quite difficult to counter, they will always have the best wind in their sails or perfectly hit all their shots and in some cases even fly. Cheaters who often get reported usually take a while to get banned and after getting banned can easily make a fresh account and return to the seas within the same day of their ban, this is obviously frustrating to new players trying to learn and enjoy the game but one important thing to remember is that these cheaters never improve at the game, always relying on cheats or cheap tactics they never improve their game sense and understanding of how the game works, they can be easily dealt with by someone who has played the game for a little bit. Another challenge this game faces is lag, often to make selling your treasure worth it you need to collect a large amount of individual chests or items to sell, this slows the game down to a choppy halt in some cases. The lag will make it a lot harder to steal or defend loot from other players who may have a better device then what you are working with, in my 260 hours of gameplay so far in the game this has only been a problem a handful of times when playing on PlayStation but doesn’t make it any less frustrating when it does happen.
Sea of Thieves is an amazing game that truly feels unique in a world filled with sandbox games, from graphics to content Rare did an outstanding job at making this game feel alive. Any player can find something they love in this game and the game will offer you a different experience and adventure every time you play. Sea of Thieves is available on PC, Xbox and PlayStation and is definitely worth your time in checking out.