Diablo 4 player discovers secret Diablo 2 easter egg in its new throw…

While server issues stalled the start of Diablo 4's new season for many players, a few were able to get in and discover something Blizzard carefully left out from official materials. mchezo.life

The focus for Diablo 4's Season of Hell's Legacy is celebrating the series' 30th anniversary. Blizzard went back to Diablo 2 and brought back Deckard Cain (in a dream) and three of its most iconic bosses: Diablo, Baal, and Mephisto. Each of them have updated versions of their old models and attacks, too.

Blizzard didn't indicate that it would be doing more than just a nostalgic storyline for season 15—but it is. Diablo 4 streamer Dioxide was able to squeeze past the login issues and found a number of new Runes available. Normally, these slot into your gear and give you passive bonuses, but Dioxide discovered there's more to them than that.

When he dropped two specific runes and a low-quality chestpiece into Diablo 4's crafting table, the Horadric Cube, it showed "???" as the recipe instead of one of the many listed on the side of the interface. When he clicked the transmute button, out popped the Stealth chestpiece, a Unique item from Diablo 2.

It turns out Blizzard added some of the Rune word item recipes from Diablo 2 without telling anyone. The Stealth armor is created exactly as people did more than two decades ago. It has different stats than the original, but carries the same relative power in Diablo 4 because it has two more stats than a normal Unique.

Now everyone is eager to see what other recipes are available and what other things Blizzard has hidden in the new season. The recent trailer has a pretty obvious hint for Diablo 3's rainbow-colored Whimsyshire level near the end with a creepy teddy bear: It isn't clear how to access it, but I'm sure someone will figure it out before the end of the day.

Ever since the release of the Lord of Hatred expansion for Diablo 4, Blizzard has been intentionally leaving stuff for players to find on their own. Nobody knew they would actually add the cow level, for example. I think it's a great approach when so many previous seasons felt kind of solved before they even began, and it maintains some of the mystery that the older games always had.

After plenty of speculation, HBO boss Casey Bloys may have just confirmed that The Last of Us will end after season 3.

"I think [showrunner] Craig [Mazin] has planned it as the final season," Bloys told Deadline, when asked to confirm whether or not it would be the final season.

Last year, composer Jake Staley told the The Last of Us: Savage Starlight podcastthat "there’ll be at least two more seasons, no question" after HBO announced season 3. Keep in mind that season 1 told the story of The Last of Us video game over nine hour-long episodes, with season 2 telling just one half of The Last of Us Part 2. The first half of Part 2 tells Ellie's side of the story, with the second half focusing on Abby – which is what season 3 will do. A fourth season would make a lot of sense, as the final part of the game takes place sometime later and showcases Ellie's life with Dina before she and Abby have their big final fight.

As someone who has played their way through both games, I definitely believe that Abby's story deserves its own dedicated season (since that's the way they chose to break it up. They could've done an every-other-episode perspective switch instead, but alas). That being said, it's possible that the last part of the game will be crammed into a big epic series finale... but we'll just have to wait and see.

The Last of Us season 3 is expected to premiere on HBO in 2027. For more, check out our guide to the best shows on HBO Max, and keep up with new TV shows on the way.

Upcoming Mass Effect-like RPG Exodus takes romance seriously, which means you'll need to get comfortable with the idea that serious romance requires sacrifice, and, sometimes, a pig pen of mess. You'll be able to date around, but not without consequence.

Exodus narrative director – and Mass Effect's lead writer – Drew Karpyshyn tells Game Informer that romance was mandatory for the sci-fi drama because "it would feel almost hollow" without it. "Romance is a huge part of the real world," Karpyshyn adds, and Exodus encourages you to be reasonable when you feel a familiar spark in-game.

So while "you can have multiple romances going at the same time," Karpyshyn says, "eventually, there might be some issues with that, depending on which companions [you choose]."

It's like any other situation where one partner wants to discuss non-monogamy and the other wants to throw their copy of The Ethical Slut into a funeral pyre. Basically, "Not everybody is comfortable with that," Karpyshyn says, "and as the story develops, your romance might go from something like a casual relationship, more of a fling, to something much deeper."

"In that case," the writer says, "most of the companions would not want you to have a very deep emotional connection with somebody else as well." You may choose to ignore your lovers' wishes if you'd like to live your life in space as an evil bachelorette, but keep in mind that Exodus' romance is connected to its affinity system. So, the more you risk your tires getting slashed – or whatever the intergalactic equivalent of that is. Your rocketship will get keyed.

Even mission scenarios can risk pissing off your partner. Karpyshyn explains, "You might get into a situation where you think, 'Well, for this mission, I actually agree with this character, but I've been romancing this character. Should I just back them anyway?"

"If you do," the writer continues, "that'll obviously get you more affinity with that character." But "if you decide not to back the character," he warns, "you might get yourself into a situation where they are not very happy with you. I'm sure anyone who's been in a relationship has experienced that."

Karpyshyn explained to GamesRadar+ in February that playing as the main character doesn't give you magic heartthrob status. Its approach to relationships, as I'm sure you've been starting to pick up on, is more realistic than that. The narrative lead said at the time, "There are some games where, literally, you can just romance anyone, because you're the hero, and you just get it." Exodus doesn't waste its time with something so easy.

"We want it to be a little bit more than that. We want these relationships to feel real, which means there's sometimes conflict, there's sometimes push and pull. Sometimes you've got to earn it" – something you should keep in mind for your time both in space and on Earth.

Exodus steps out of Mass Effect's shadow with combat that builds on BioWare's RPG and a galaxy that I'm itching to explore.