Do you even potato bro? Because Brotato is now available for free on the Epic Games Store, giving Windows gamers the chance to own this starchy top-down shooter for nothing. It's yours to keep as long as you get in on the deal by next Thursday, when two new giveaways will arrive: Bus Simulator 21 Next Stop and LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga. Back to today's freebie, here's more on this gift from Blobfish Games:

A spaceship from Potato World crashes onto an alien planet. The sole survivor: Brotato, the only potato capable of handling 6 weapons at the same time. Waiting to be rescued by his mates, Brotato must survive in this hostile environment.

Features

• Auto-firing weapons by default with a manual aiming option
• Fast runs (under 30 minutes)
• Dozens of characters available to customize your runs (one-handed, crazy, lucky, mage and many more)
• Hundreds of items and weapons to choose from (flamethrowers, SMGs, rocket launchers or sticks and stones)
• Survive waves lasting 20 to 90 seconds each and kill off as many aliens as you can during that time
• Collect materials to gain experience and get items from the shop between waves of enemies
• Accessibility options: tweak the health, damage and speed of enemies so the difficulty is right for you

Phoenix Labs announces Dauntless will arrive on Steam next week when the Dauntless Awakening update goes live in the monster-hunting action game on PC and consoles. A Launch Trailer is here to show off what's described as the game's biggest-ever update, which adds new weapons and more as detailed in this post. Here's word:

Dauntless: Awakening introduces 18 new weapons, seven of which are unlocked through early quests, including the Silver Sword and Golden Claws. Plus an additional 11 weapons are earned via Weapon Tokens, which are earned in weekly challenges and both the free and paid tracks of the new Hunt Pass. Every weapon has a unique special ability, can be powered up to Level 60, and has 25 unlockable Talents including boosts to special, active, and passive abilities. To aid players in levelling up their weapons they will be able to equip both a weapon and subweapon, with both gaining equal XP.

This update is the culmination of player feedback and innovation, shaped in part by insights gathered during the closed beta, bringing new challenges, rewards, and adventures to Slayers around the world.

Continue here to read the full story.

Secrets of The Spires is now available for Windows on the Epic Games Store and Steam, adding a new Story Pack to Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, the action game based on the second installment in the planned seventeen-part (or so) series of Avatar movies. Story pack sounds like mini-DLC, but this is USD$20 with no launch discount. Rather than talk about it until we're blue in the face, here's a new trailer and a description:

Secrets of the Spires brings an all-new story campaign featuring an expanded Western Frontier map, a new Na'vi clan and new characters. Players will explore the dizzying spires of a new mountainous region, the Spires of the Clouded Forest, where banshee flight is necessary to navigate the vast network of canyons and caves, and a new aerial predator, the chiroptera, lies in wait.

Continue here to read the full story.

Polish studio Boruta.dev announces Snake in the Dark, an upcoming arcade game that re-imagines the original Snake, in case you misplaced your Nokia phone somewhere over the decades. As the title suggests, this twist here is that like Bane, this snake was born in the darkness. You can see the impact of imperfect information on gameplay in the Announcement Trailer and the listing on Steam, which says this is due next year. Here's more:

Sure, you've played Snake. But could you play it blind? Snake in the Dark is a total re-imagination of the timeless arcade and puzzle game classics like Snake and Sokoban. Fun gameplay you know delivered with more puzzling twisssts than you expect!

The dungeon is dark, and the snake can only see a few feet ahead. Consuming magic light cubes gives it a short glimpse of the whole level. Where are the walls? Where is the food? Where's your tail? Shine a light and find out!

Continue here to read the full story.

• GFN Thursday- GeForce NOW Black Friday Deal - NVIDIA Blog.

• DAVE THE DIVER: over 5M copies sold✨ Thank you so much for all the love and support.
• No Man's Sky finally has a 'very positive' rating on Steam after 8 years - Engadget.

• New Tencent Game Accused of ‘Ripping Off’ Sony’s Horizon Series - IGN.
• Report: Stalker 2 Receiving Negative Reviews from Individuals Allegedly Paid by Russians to Damage Its Reputation - MP1st.

• Capcom has removed Denuvo from Monster Hunter Stories - DSOGaming.
• Voidwrought - Patch #4- More Quality of Life Changes and Balancing.

↑ Official patches. ↓ Unofficial games, patches, and mods.

• Retribution 2 is a DLC-sized fan expansion for Fallout- New Vegas - DSOGaming.

• Ubisoft+ Revamps Reward System.

• Arcade Paradise VR - PICO Launch Trailer.

• Palworld announces major update, Terraria crossover despite ongoing legal issues - Eurogamer.net.

Official trailers.

• Avatar- Frontiers of Pandora – Secrets of the Spires Story Pack Trailer.
• For Honor - Content Of The Week - 28 November.
• Jumping Jazz Cats - Release Date Announcement. January 30th.
• SCUM - Fame Seekers - v0.96 Cinematic Trailer 4K.
• Voidwrought - Accolades Trailer.

• Nintendo Switch ending online support exposes fragility of gaming partnerships in China - Opinion - GamesIndustry.biz.
• Taito Milestones 3 - Pre-Order & Release Date (2024.12.10) Announcement Trailer.
• Nintendo Switch ending online support exposes fragility of gaming partnerships in China - Opinion - GamesIndustry.biz.

• Serial Cleaner - Mobile Trailer.

Thanks Neutronbeam.

• How to control Windows with Super God Mode (and enjoy settings omniscience) - ZDNET. God Mode powercrept!
• How AMD went from budget Intel alternative to x86 contender • The Register.
• Shares of Temu owner PDD slump as China slowdown hits sales - BBC.
• Buying a USB-C cable: Watch out for these 6 gotchas - PCWorld.
• PuTTY 0.82 is released. Thanks Ant.
• Notepad++ version 8.7.2. Thanks Console General.

• We Need a New Right to Repair for Artificial Intelligence - WIRED (may require registration or subscription).

• Tech companies put on notice as Australia passes world-first social media ban for under-16s - CNN.
• FTC expands rules to hold tech support scammers accountable - Engadget. Someone seems to have swapped out the decaf at the FTC.
• Uber probed by US consumer watchdog over subscription plan - BBC.

Thanks Neutronbeam.

• Case: ENDORFY Arx 700 ARGB PC Case - Nikk Tech.
• Case: Thermaltake The Tower 600 Review - TechPowerUp.
• CPU/GPU/AIO/SSD Cooler: Review- DeepCool Assassin IV VC Vision - CPU Cooler with LCD Display - Guru3D.
• Graphics Card: GPD G1 Review- Compact AMD Radeon RX 7600M XT GPU gives your PC a graphics boost - Liliputing.
• Graphics Card: Sparkle Arc A770 ROC Review - TechPowerUp.
• Laptop: Dell XPS 13 (9350, Core Ultra 2) Review - PCMag.
• Laptop: MSI Prestige 13 AI Plus Evo laptop review- Great graphics performance for under 1 kg - NotebookCheck.net Reviews.
• Motherboard: Crucial Pro DDR5-5600 CL46 64 GB Review - TechPowerUp.
• PC: Aftershock PC Nimbus (7800X3D + RTX 4070 SUPER) Gaming PC - TweakTown.

Happy Thanksgiving to all who are celebrating, and to all who aren't here's hoping you have reasons to be happy and thankful nonetheless. I'm certainly appreciative you are reading these words, so thank you for the support. We will visit my stepfather's for dinner later. This will be a very low-key affair, which is fine, and hopefully the drive into Manhattan will be low-key as well. To our experience this drive been much less painful than you might expect, as it seems like the major flow is out of the city towards the more rural areas, rather than the reverse course we're taking. We'll just keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best. Here's hoping your plans, or lack thereof, are equally suitable and that everyone has safe travels.

Stuffed Round-up
Thanks Ant, Neutronbeam, and Max.

Stories

• Thanksgiving weather- Rain and snow may bring travel troubles to the Northeast - ABC News.
• Man suffers chemical burn that lasted months after squeezing limes - Ars Technica. Some people claim there's a woman to blame.

Science

• The Physics of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade Balloons - WIRED (may require registration or subscription).
• The Future of Silence Is Here- MIT’s Noise-Canceling Silk - SciTechDaily.

Creature Features

• Buitengebieden on X: Gandalf the Golden.. 😅. Thanks Kxmode.
• How to Spot FAKE Animal Rescue Videos - KPassionate. Thanks RedEye9.