3 days ago
Man of Many's Staff Favourites—7 June, 2025
By Dean Blake - News
Published: 7 June 2025 |Last Updated: 5 June 2025
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Readtime: 5 min
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Happy long weekend everyone! Hopefully you're up to some fun and exciting things for the next few days, or are sitting at home playing with your brand-new Nintendo Switch 2. We're gearing up for some exciting stuff, with a few of our writers off on international trips for some exciting, secret things we can show off in the coming weeks.
In the meantime, here are a few exciting things we can share now: a few of our favourite things from our personal collections, as well as a special message from one of Man of Many's co-founders. Enjoy!
Blundstone #2446's
Blundstone #2446's
Beatrix Boon – Social Content Producer
I took my Blundstone #2446's with me on a recent trip to New York, and at the time, it was a bit of a risk considering I hadn't worn them a bunch till then. But now I can't take them off!
I've always been a sneaker person, but ever since breaking them in, they are genuinely more comfortable than my trainers. Between walking Brooklyn streets and navigating Manhattan subways, they held up beautifully — It was all-day comfort and classic style. Plus, the leather is wearing so nicely, I can tell they're gonna be with me for a long time to come. Safe to say, they've officially earned a permanent spot in my rotation.
Favourite article: Chess GOAT Magnus Carlsen Perform All-Time Dummy Spit at Norway Tournament
'Elden Ring: Nightreign' | Image: FromSoftware Inc.
Elden Ring: Nightreign is Kicking My Ass
Dean Blake – Entertainment and Tech Journalist
As someone who has spent hundreds of hours of his life dying repeatedly in most of From Software's dark fantasy games, Elden Ring: Nightreign feels very familiar, but also very different. It's effectively the same old Souls formula—a third-person action RPG with much of the gameplay dictated by how well you can manage your stamina bar when being pelted by an over-aggressive enemy—but with a much bigger focus on multiplayer and a rogue-like gameplay loop.
You (and potentially two others) are dropped into the game's large, detailed map, and are given 2 in-game days to explore, collect weapons, power-up your chosen character, and get to the next major boss fight before the rains come and lay waste to the world. You're effectively avoiding the storm from Fortnite, only without slurp juice for safety. After surviving two nights, you're taken straight to the run-ending boss, and get rewards based on how well you do. Then, you do it all again.
It's much faster than almost any other Souls-style game From has made, and reduces much of the RPG-elements in order to speed up decision making. You're not building out a custom character but are choosing an archetype (Strength-based Barbarian, or Magic-focused Witch, for example) and leaning into it wholeheartedly. It makes it both an easier game to recommend to newcomers, and way harder.
Runs aren't too long, lasting about 40 minutes if everything goes well and you actually manage to beat whatever Nightlord you've chosen to take on. If you're like me though, you're probably spending 10-15 minutes solo grinding through the world before getting absolutely hammered by the first boss. The single player scaling isn't quite there yet, so bring some friends.
Favourite Article: 'Ballerina' Review: Ana de Armas Blows the Door Off the 'John Wick' Universe
When Robots Skip the Source – Don't Let AI Erase Independent Media
Scott Purcell – Co-Founder
With Agentic AI, AI tools and software absolutely taking over how we digest, disseminate and discover information, the world is truly changing at a rapid pace. Now enter Google's AI Mode that has launched in the USA and gone are the days of the 10 blue links. Now search is multi-modal, personalised and conversational. While that might be good for Google's bottom line, does make it much more difficult for publishers who've previously relied on traffic the resulting ad funding in order to keep their content free. Man of Many is not excluded from these impacts.
Here at Man of Many we can feel the squeeze. Fewer clicks mean fewer resources and while we have plans in motion, every independent publisher ultimately lives or dies on community support, audience loyalty and not on algorithmic mercy.
So we are asking, politely and with our best puppy-dog eyes, for a little help. It takes less time than brewing an instant coffee, yet it keeps real voices in your feed instead of bland copy-paste AI summaries that nobody needs.
Pick one, pick seven, every bit counts:
Favourite Article: Netflix Drops Trailers and Release Dates for the Biggest Titles Comings This Year
