Grinding Gear Games revealed the rest of Path of Exile 2's full release at ExileCon on November 6, led by the Shadow, a new class that hides in stealth and fights with daggers and traps. The game leaves early access and becomes free to play on December 11. Also in this roundup: Modern Warfare 4's DMZ mode is free to try until November 11, Gears of War turns 20 with a free RAAM character, and a NieR: Automata update on Steam needs far more disk space than it should.
Path of Exile 2 adds the Shadow class and two more acts for its December 11 launch
Grinding Gear Games showed version 1.0 during its ExileCon broadcast on November 6 and posted the details on Steam at 3 p.m. PT / 6 p.m. ET. The big addition is the Shadow, a class built around a new Stealth mechanic: monsters can't see you until you get close, hiding powers up your dagger skills, and the traps you throw go off in the order you set them. The Shadow starts with two Ascendancy classes, Assassin and Infiltrator. It joins the Duelist, which the studio announced in August along with the release date.
What it means for you:
- Release: December 11 (Pacific time), when the game becomes free to play.
- Campaign: Acts 5 and 6 finish the six-act story, with 24 new areas and 18 new bosses.
- New league: Conquerors of Wraeclast, where you recruit troops, take castles and pick one of three factions for an endgame stronghold.
- Items: more than 40 new unique items, and over 70 existing ones reworked.
- Platforms: the announcement doesn't list them. Early access is on Steam and PS5, among others.
Our take: Stealth is a new idea for a series built on clearing screens fast, so the Shadow is the class to watch. With the game going free on December 11, buying into early access now only makes sense if you want the supporter pack extras.
Modern Warfare 4's DMZ mode is free to try until November 11
DMZ, the extraction mode in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, opened as a free trial at 12 p.m. PT / 3 p.m. ET on November 6. Xbox Wire's Free Play Days post says it runs until November 11 at 10 a.m. PT / 1 p.m. ET, with full access to DMZ, including X01, a former weapons facility, plus DMZ Orders and Threat Assessments.
What it means for you:
- Xbox: the trial is part of Free Play Days, so you need Game Pass Ultimate, Premium or Essential.
- PS5: the DMZ Free Trial costs nothing on the PlayStation Store, but the listing says PS Plus is required for online play.
- PC: we didn't find an official trial listing for PC, so we can't confirm it there.
- After November 11: to keep playing DMZ, you need the full game, $69.99 for the standard edition on the PlayStation Store.
- Also free on Xbox, no Game Pass needed: Anno 117: Pax Romana and Crime Boss: Rockay City until November 8.
Our take: Five days is enough to find out whether DMZ's slower loot-and-extract pace suits you before you spend $69.99. On PS5, remember that the free trial still needs PS Plus to play online.
Gears of War turns 20 with a free RAAM character and a Season 2 date
The Coalition marked the series' 20th birthday on Xbox Wire on November 6. From November 7, the anniversary date, every Gears of War: E-Day player can claim RAAM, the Locust general from the original Gears of War, as a free multiplayer character. You only need to log in. A two-week anniversary event is also running: Versus gets Guardian, where only one leader makes it out alive, and Horde Siege gets For the Queen, which turns off the supply cache so your squad relies on its loadouts.
What it means for you:
- Free RAAM: log in to E-Day on or after November 7, and The Coalition says he's added instantly.
- Season 2: Legacy: starts December 1 and brings back fan-favorite maps, modes and skins. One example is a Solemn Memories skin for Dom, in the suit he wears in his photo with Maria from Gears of War 2.
- Where to play: Xbox Series X|S and PC, and it's included with Game Pass.
Our take: A free character just for logging in is a nice thank-you to players who stuck with E-Day through its first season. Season 2's focus on classic maps and skins will matter most to longtime fans.
A NieR: Automata update on Steam takes far more disk space than intended
Square Enix posted patch notes for a NieR: Automata update on Steam at 7:26 a.m. PT / 10:26 a.m. ET on November 5 (already November 6 in Japan). It adds Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese and Korean. On November 6, the publisher acknowledged a problem: since the update, installing the game needs significantly more storage than intended. Square Enix says it's investigating and hasn't given a date for a fix.
What it means for you:
- Workaround: in Steam, open the game's Properties, go to DLC and uncheck each DLC item. Square Enix says the base game then downloads at its intended size.
- The catch: the DLC stays uninstalled until you check those boxes again.
- Already installed? The notice doesn't say whether existing installs grow, so check your free space before Steam applies the update.
Our take: If you only want the main game for now, the DLC workaround is quick and easy to undo. Otherwise, it's worth holding off on a reinstall until Square Enix ships a fix.