Rock Paper Shotgun News Feed

Shapez 2 gets an Early Access release date and a new trailer to explain how it'll consume all your free time

Graham Smith — Sat, 27 Jul 2024 13:02:40 +0000

I like a good factory game, but there's a fine line between "I enjoy this" and "I am uninstalling this before it ruins my year." I can't tell on which side of the divide Shapez 2 will fall, but I'm planning on finding out when it launches in Early Access next month on August 15th.

World Of Goo 2 gets second trailer a week ahead of release and ooh I'm pumped

Graham Smith — Sat, 27 Jul 2024 12:23:57 +0000

It's not often that a trailer release alone is enough to justify a post around here, but World Of Goo 2 ought to be bigger on everyone's radar. A sequel to one of the best games ever made ought to be cause for an international holiday. It's being released next Friday, on August 2nd, and the new trailer below will gloop your tower with glimpses fo the puzzling tower-building to be found therein.

No Rest For The Wicked's latest update expands its endgame roguelite mode with new enemies, buffs, arenas

Graham Smith — Sat, 27 Jul 2024 11:45:19 +0000

Grimdark hack-and-slasher No Rest For The Wicked has received its first major update - or the first that isn't focused on bug fixes and performance improvements, anyway. It focuses on revamping the Crucible, the endgame's repeatable roguelite, adding more randomisation to arenas and a new system of player buffs.

Paradox CEO admits company made "wrong calls in several projects" in wake of Life By You's cancellation

Graham Smith — Fri, 26 Jul 2024 20:00:37 +0000

Paradox Interactive appear from the outside to be a company run by dice roll. That was the case earlier this year when they cancelled Sims competitor Life By You and closed its developers, weeks after it had missed a project release date.

"It is clear that we have made the wrong calls in several projects, especially outside of our core, and this must change," writes CEO Fredrik Wester in an interim financial report, released today.

Steam has made it easier to find, download and even review game demos

Graham Smith — Fri, 26 Jul 2024 19:03:02 +0000

Demos were once a cornerstone of PC gaming and they arguably will be again thanks to events like Steam Next Fest. The latest update to Steam seeks to make those free slices of potential delight easier to find for players, and easier to promote for developers.

There's a new episode of Double Fine's Psychonauts 2 documentary

Graham Smith — Fri, 26 Jul 2024 18:30:29 +0000

Double Fine's PsychOdyssey is a 32-part documentary series which charts the creation of 2021 platformer Psychonauts 2, from initial brainstorming sessions to its final release. Or it was - now it's 33 parts, as a new 94-minute episode was just released which looks back at the game, its reception, and the release of the documentary itself.

Final update to Morrowind-like RPG Dread Delusion adds a big nautilus with a town built inside its shell

Brendan Caldwell — Fri, 26 Jul 2024 16:00:00 +0000

In a recent interview, the director of The Elder Scrolls Online said that if you made Morrowind today, it would struggle to find an audience. "If you play that right now," he said, "there is no compass, no map, literally the quests are like 'go to the third tree on the right and walk 50 paces west'... And if you did that now, no one would play it. Very few people would play it." Well sir, have you heard of a little open world RPG called Dread Delusion? It's pretty good. And what's more, it has just added a whole new area with - let me see - a giant floating squid creature with an entire town of citizens living inside its shell.

Zombie survival game 7 Days To Die version 1.0 is out now after 11 years in early access

Brendan Caldwell — Fri, 26 Jul 2024 11:09:02 +0000

I don't know what the longest-running early access game in history has been (perhaps Project Zomboid?) but I know that zombie survival game 7 Days To Die is definitely up there. We first reported its appearance back in the dark ages of 2013. For context, that was the year Grand Theft Auto V came out. Whoa! Okay, calm down, sorry, I didn't mean to panic you. Yes, the arrow of time is inviolable. We are all marching steadily towards our graves, I know. But at least now 7 Days To Die has finally released its fully baked version 1.0.

Balatro can run Doom – or can it?

James Archer — Fri, 26 Jul 2024 10:26:17 +0000

Chaotic poker-themed roguelike deckbuilder Balatro quickly captured hearts and frazzled minds when it released earlier this year. However, nowhere in Katharine’s (RPS in peace) review does it address the one eternal issue: can it run Doom?

This upcoming dating sim lets you romance household objects turned absolute fitties

Ed Thorn — Fri, 26 Jul 2024 10:12:35 +0000

I keep seeing those adverts for that Ray-Ban and Meta collaboration, where like, they're smart glasses that let you browse the web with your eyes? Anyway, yeah, they don't appeal to me at all. Not as much as "Dateviator" glasses, which come courtesy of Sassy Chap Games and their upcoming dating sim Date Everything! As the title suggests: you date everything, from kitchen sponges to lampshades, as they morph into absolute fitties once you've donned the special specs. It looks incredibly dumb but in the best possible way.

Legacy Of Kain: Soul Reaver I & II remasters on horizon, if a Comic-Con plaque is to be believed

Brendan Caldwell — Fri, 26 Jul 2024 09:43:29 +0000

It looks like the Legacy Of Kain: Soul Reaver games could be getting the remaster treatment. An attendee at San Diego Comic-Con was looking at a set of figures based on characters from the series when they saw that the plaque accompanying the figures was labelled with the words "Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered" alongside the logo for Crystal Dynamics. I suppose if you throw a coin enough times, one day it will land on the side with the head of a jawless vampire on it.

"AI protections remain the sticking point" for today’s SAG-AFTRA game actor strike

Nic Reuben — Fri, 26 Jul 2024 09:18:07 +0000

As of today, the The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) has called a strike of the Interactive Media Agreement - effectively, video game voice acting, motion capture work, and other roles, the full list of which can be found here. The strike comes after over 18 months of negotiations with some of gaming’s largest companies - including Activision, EA, Insomniac, Take-Two, and WB Games - over AI protections.

Earth Defense Force 6 players on Steam will only need to sign into Epic once, say publishers in apology for "lack of advance notice"

Nic Reuben — Fri, 26 Jul 2024 08:30:03 +0000

Earth Defense Force 6 players on Steam aren’t happy about having to sign into the Epic Games Store, it seems. The latest entry in the co-op ant-control shooter launched yesterday, and critics reckon it's a decent time. Still, it’s currently sitting at an angry red 'mostly negative' on Steam. In response, D3PUBLISHER have put out an apology statement, reassuring players that this third-party log in will only be required once.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is delayed again, but a developer deep dive is coming soon

James Archer — Thu, 25 Jul 2024 14:21:24 +0000

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl, the beautifully grotty sci-fi shooter sequel from Ukrainian studio GSC Game World, has been delayed once again. It’s a relatively good-spirited delay, though: first off, it’s not that long, with the previously planned September 5th launch pushed back just a few weeks to November 20th. There’s also clever little in-universe announcement video (one which gives the fourth wall a study kick on its way out), and an accompanying promise of a meaty "developer deep dive video", set to reveal much more of the game’s radioactive hellscape on August 12th.

Over 500 World of Warcraft developers at Blizzard have voted to form Microsoft’s biggest wall-to-wall union

Nic Reuben — Thu, 25 Jul 2024 13:01:16 +0000

Yet again, some good food. Following the news earlier this week that 241 Bethesda Games Studios staffers had formed what was at the time the biggest wall-to-wall under Microsoft, The Verge reports that over 500 World Of Warcraft developers have voted to form their own union, alongside the Communication Workers of America (CWA).

The twisted animals of horror zookeeping sim Zoochosis will be released from their cages in autumn

Brendan Caldwell — Thu, 25 Jul 2024 11:24:27 +0000

Animal caretaking sim Zoochosis is about being an ordinary zookeeper working in an ordinary zoo. What's that? There are no ordinary zoos? My mistake. Let me start again. Animal caretaking horror game Zoochosis is about being a stressed-out zookeeper in a hideous zoo where the giraffes have tendrils coming out of their chests and the kangaroos have rows of chattering teeth in their marsupial pouch. There, got it right in the end. We've known about the development of this terror-heavy tourist attraction since its announcement early this year. But now the upcoming horror sim has been given an autumn release date in a new trailer.

AMD Ryzen 9000 delayed after first chips fail to meet "quality expectations"

James Archer — Thu, 25 Jul 2024 10:38:23 +0000

In a certifiably not-great week for gaming CPUs, AMD have announced that the new Ryzen 9000 series is being delayed for a few days. That’s thanks to initial production units not being up to standards, an AMD executive admitted, and comes shortly after rivals Intel copped to a potentially chip-killing fault in their latest Core processors. Ah well, there’s always – oh, wait. No. Those are the only two.

This web game lets you drag words around a communal fridge door to create poetry

Ed Thorn — Thu, 25 Jul 2024 09:27:36 +0000

I've never been a poetry guy, not because I don't like it, I've just never gone out of my way to read them over books or whatnot. The poems I've engaged with the most are those read out during wedding ceremonies, those that pop-up before the start of a horror game, or The Tiger by 6-year old Nael that occasionally pops up as I'm doomscrolling. But thanks to the multiplayer web game "fridge poetry", where you drag words to create poems, I might become a day-to-day poem guy. Going off my first effort, I don't think many will appreciate my career switch.

Apex Legends shelves plans to only charge real money for battle passes, following backlash

James Archer — Thu, 25 Jul 2024 09:26:41 +0000

Apex Legends developers Respawn Entertainment have announced that poorly-received plans to overhaul the battle royale's Premium Battle Pass will be partially walked back. Most crucially, the new passes – set to launch alongside the upcoming Season 22 in August – will no longer be sold exclusively for real-world cash; as with previous BPs, players will still be able to buy them with accumulated in-game currency.

Grit And Valor 1949 is a real-time Into The Breach, or at least vaguely similar enough that I can squeeze a more popular game in this headline

Nic Reuben — Thu, 25 Jul 2024 08:34:35 +0000

Grit And Valor 1949 certainly evokes the tactics of Into The Breach, with its stompy machinery and floating tile battlegrounds. But, despite all appearances, this one isn’t actually turn-based at all. A tiley, tiny real time strategy then? Aye, and one that’s actually pretty frantic as it happens. Missions are snappy, intense skirmishes. You’ll fight off waves while trying to protect your useless, freeloading command vehicle. This threat, combined with on-the-fly tactical consider-me-do's like utilising cover and keeping rock-paper-scissors matchups in your favour ends up spawning something quite distinct. Please, do stomp on, preferably with less hypens for all our sakes.

You can now look forward to spending your weekend playing huge Fallout 4 mod Fallout: London

Nic Reuben — Thu, 25 Jul 2024 08:26:25 +0000

Update: Oh, hey. It's out now.

Fallout: London, the massive fan-made Fallout 4 mod set in Poundland Prime (No Elephants, Some Castles, Canary Wharfare) has finally got a release date. Happy days, it’s actually today, Thursday 25th July. The news comes from Inverse, who’ve sent their dear alsatian companions sniffing around the mod’s Discord. Yesterday, Team FOLON lead Dean Carter shared the song I Just Can't Wait (For Tomorrow) then, when sniffed at harder, confirmed that the 'Tomorrow' part meant tomorrow (as in, today), "Unless nuclear war happens."

Humble Games announce ‘restructuring’, laying off entire publishing team

Nic Reuben — Wed, 24 Jul 2024 10:48:02 +0000

All 36 employees of Humble Games publishing have reportedly been laid off. According to business developer Nicola Kwan, staff were informed at 9am this morning, and told that “the company is shutting down.” Humble dispute this in a statement made to Game Developer, claiming that the publishing label is "undergoing restructuring," as opposed to a full shutdown.

Humble’s statement - which you can read in full here - attributes the events to “challenging economic times for indie game publishing,” saying that “Humble Games has made the difficult but necessary decision to restructure our operations.”

The Sims 4 now lets you set how jealous Sims will get when they catch their partner flirting

Brendan Caldwell — Wed, 24 Jul 2024 10:08:23 +0000

The latest free update to The Sims 4 will let you "define the conditions under which your Sims become jealous". That's handy. The new feature, called "Romantic Boundaries", will give you some settings to tweak that determine whether a Sim will be bothered when they see their partner flirting with the neighbour, or kissing the neighbour, or getting into bed with the neighbour, or becoming a blur of obscene pixels with the neighb- okay Cindy, stop! I'm not comfortable with this. When I said we could open up I didn't mean with Nigel.

An algorithm, among the many other things they ruin, is causing stability problems on Intel Core CPUs

James Archer — Wed, 24 Jul 2024 09:40:53 +0000

Intel have identified the fault behind reported stability issues with their 13th and 14th Gen Core CPUs, many of which have been failing after feeding themselves excessive voltages. The blame, Intel told PCG, lies with the same kind of pernicious force that fills your Twitter feed with pillocks, has turned Google into an AI-sodden shell of its former self, and keeps making Spotify suggest I listen to ninety different electroswing arrangements of Everybody Wants to Be a Cat. That's right: an algorithm.

Campy Suda 51 and Shinji Mikami joint Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered gets Halloween release date

Nic Reuben — Wed, 24 Jul 2024 09:25:46 +0000

Likely as a conspiracy to make me use the word boner in two different articles on the same day, campy horror shooter Shadows Of The Damned: Hella Remastered has received a release date - this Halloween, 31st October 2024. This spiffier version of the 2011 console game was announced earlier this year. Aside from a few costumes and NG+, it's basically the original package you know and - if you’re one of the fifteen people that bought the original - love.

Metal motocross shooter Motördoom is Rollerdrome’s dirtbag uncle

Nic Reuben — Wed, 24 Jul 2024 08:29:44 +0000

"Do you fancy playing as a couple of skellies named 'The Boner Brothers' riding a bike and sidecar while chunky bastard-metal blasts out, also they’ve got a gun, also they can do tricks?" asked Motördoom, to which I became so instantly hyperactive I somehow worked out how to headbutt my own face. Of course I want to put a chainsaw on the front of my bike, Motördoom. Obviously I want a rougelike-able upgrade that perchance may set my demonic enemies on fire. Yes, I’d like to combine a sick manual with an action game killstreak for a very large combo, Motördoom. Is this what overly concerned parents thought PS1 games were actually like? If I got a disc with this demo on as a kid, I’d be significantly radder than I am today. Gnarly, even. Made of gnarls.

Counter-Strike 2 update plonks new crates on Dust 2, which could be game-changing

Ed Thorn — Tue, 23 Jul 2024 10:41:02 +0000

I've not played Counter- Strike 2 in yonks, but I know a big update when I see one. That's right: Valve have added some new crates just outside of counter-terrorist spawn, near bombsite A. This means that players can now use these boxes to hop from CT up to catwalk with little fuss, where previously you'd need to use your teammates' heads as a springboard. What does this mean as a layperson who sort of plays the game sometimes? More than you might think!

Stretcher Men is a comedy game about carrying a dying man across the hills without dropping him

Brendan Caldwell — Tue, 23 Jul 2024 09:57:59 +0000

A glance at comedy medieval medic sim Stretcher Men might have you believe it is a co-op game about co-ordination and teamwork. Not so! It's a singleplayer game in which you control not one but both carriers of a stretcher. You have to ferry a sick man over the hilly countryside, past muddy lake banks and over snowy mountains, all without dropping him on the ground. I can only imagine it controls a bit like Brothers: A Tale Of Two Sons, but with added ragdoll jollity. We'll know next week, when it releases on Steam.

Large catfish spotted chasing tiny little man around in Japanese folklore game, is terrifying, wonderful

Brendan Caldwell — Tue, 23 Jul 2024 09:09:48 +0000

One of the most memorable moments of Metro Exodus comes from a standoff with a giant catfish, who you have to avoid for a while (along with the cultists who worship it) before going "fishing" using an entire human corpse as bait. I didn't expect to see any rival catfish appearing in games after that, but now that I think about it - why not? They're a naturally freaky animal, perfect video game antagonists. And the developers of upcoming Japanese folklore 'em up Otoshi No Shima seem to understand this, having created a monstrous creature with a gaping mouth that follows the player at every turn. Come see.

Critter Crops is a witchy Stardew Valley with pet squashes and forbidden grimoires

Nic Reuben — Tue, 23 Jul 2024 09:03:58 +0000

Readers, something actually magical has happened! I’ve spent a non-zero amount of time this week compiling a wishlist for potential Stardew Valley-likes that also let me keep pets. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to play, but I knew I was burnt out on both stabbing and shooting, and wanted something light and colourful with a solid loop that I could veg out (pun intended) with at the end of the day. I even went to so far as to create a chap named Karrot King in Stardew before quitting in disgust because I couldn’t easily access carrot seeds.

I cannot in good conscious claim that I manifested such a videogame - that was the work of Skyreach Studio. However, this is the internet, so I will both take credit for it and offer you an exclusive discount on my course. While I’m waiting for your membership fee to arrive, I’ll be playing Critter Crops. It’s a witchy farming sim in which you grow odd pets and cast spells from flesh-bound grimoires. One of the verbs it offers on its Steam page is 'noodle'. Apologies to all the other games on my wishlist.

Delayed Baldur’s Gate 3 patch notes reckon you've all been eating too much delicious, irresistible soap

Nic Reuben — Tue, 23 Jul 2024 08:50:04 +0000

Baldur's Gate 3’s latest patch was due to launch in closed beta yesterday, but Larian have decided to give it a bit more time in the oven due to bugs. Namely, a bug that caused passive rolls - like those that detect traps - to stop working.

Happily, if you hadn’t already registered to take part in the beta, you now have more time to sign up. Scroll down a bit on the RPG’s Steam page and click the ‘Request Access’ button.

Tiny Garden now has a Steam demo in which you can grow plants and customise your Polly Pocket

Graham Smith — Mon, 22 Jul 2024 21:12:44 +0000

Tiny Garden is a puzzle game about planting flowers and crops you can then sell to buy seeds for new types of flowers and crops. That would be charming enough on its own, but your agricultural endeavours are set inside a Polly Pocket-style toy, with crops also able to be exchanged for furniture with which to decorate your diorama home. After blowing past its Kickstarter target, there's now a playable demo.

Cyberpunk Edgerunners' Lucy is coming to fighting game Guilty Gear Strive in season pass four

Graham Smith — Mon, 22 Jul 2024 20:31:48 +0000

Fighting game tournament EVO 2024 took place this weekend, an annual event marked by fierce competition between the best players in the world and several update announcements for just about every fighting game going. The most exciting this year, to me: Lucy from Cyberpunk 2077 anime Edgerunners is joining the roster of Guilty Gear Strive.

MultiVersus developers Player First have been acquired by Warner Bros. ahead of tomorrow's season two

Graham Smith — Mon, 22 Jul 2024 20:09:38 +0000

MultiVersus development studio Player First Games has been acquired by the game's publisher, Warner Bros. The studio's co-founders will continue to lead the studio. The platform figher's second season is due to go live tomorrow, adding a ranked mode and new characters Samurai Jack and Beetlejuice.

Heihachi rises from the dead as Tekken 8's third character DLC

Brendan Caldwell — Mon, 22 Jul 2024 09:59:05 +0000

Heihachi Mishima, the mustachioed malevolence of the Tekken series, is going to be the next DLC character for Tekken 8. He was last seen with his loving son Kazuya, who threw him into a volcano. Of course, to be fully submerged in impossibly hot liquid rock is merely a long-running family prank for the cast of this 3D fighting game, sort of like forcing your granddad to do the ice bucket challenge, but with lava. Nobody truly expected the horn-haired headbutter to be fully removed from the series. But I am a little surprised to see him back so soon.

Solve an Outer Wilds-style time loop, grow tea on the Moon, and fish on Neptune in this indie game anthology

Nic Reuben — Mon, 22 Jul 2024 08:49:29 +0000

Fish! Tea! Time! Space! An ‘immersive horror sim’! Stopping the sun from not burning anymore but also not getting burnt in the process! Locally Sourced Anthology I: A Space Atlas does not, somewhat disappointingly, offer the infinite possible game concepts that space allows for. It’s got eight though, which I must say is a good start. Eight experimental indies from different developers, each equally taking part in space as the last.

Bethesda Game Studios developers "ecstatic" to announce a 241-strong "wall to wall" union

Nic Reuben — Mon, 22 Jul 2024 08:37:57 +0000

Late last week, 241 staffers from Fallout, Starfield, and The Elder Scrolls developers Bethesda Game Studios announced a "wall-to-wall" union under the Communication Workers of America (CWA). Alongside Bethesda Montreal’s unionisation last month, and the union of Zenimax QA workers last year, this marks a historic moment in the US game industry labour movement.

Warframe boss thinks publishers should have more faith in burgeoning live-service titles instead of getting "terrified" when numbers drop

Nic Reuben — Mon, 22 Jul 2024 08:33:12 +0000

Steve Sinclair, CEO of Warframe studio Digital Extremes, reckons publishers should give live service games more time to find their footing, and not see dodgy release periods as a "make or break" indicator of a game’s success. "It comes out, doesn’t work and they throw it away," Sinclair told VGC.

The Maw: what's new in PC games this week?

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell — Mon, 22 Jul 2024 07:45:00 +0000

The below list of new PC games was communicated to me using smoke signals by two brave Advance News Scouts, shortly before the Maw's event horizon expanded by 100 metres. I have not heard from them since. I fear their souls are even now pigmenting the tides of Destiny 2 gifs that fill the Maw's lower intestines. Sergeant Shagbert, Corporal Pieface, I will avenge you in the only way I know how: by posting some words on a website.

Microsoft say it's "misleading" for the FTC to call the Game Pass experience "degraded" now it costs more

Graham Smith — Sat, 20 Jul 2024 21:17:17 +0000

Microsoft have responded to the US Federal Trade Commission's assertion that the tech giant are now offering a "degraded" Game Pass experience, posing "exactly the sort of consumer harm" the FTC warned was possible in advance of the Activision Blizzard acquisition.

Nuh-uh, say Microsoft, who call the FTC's letter "a misleading, extra-record account of the facts".

FlatOut 1, 2 and Ultimate Carnage all get Workshop support, Deck verification in new updates

Graham Smith — Sat, 20 Jul 2024 20:38:52 +0000

I like my car combat to be focused on collisions not guns, and for the vehicular argy-bargy to be an additional layer of excitement and strategy upon a racing core. FlatOut, then. A series of bumper car racing which managed to impress with its crumple zones long before the era of Wreckfest or BeamNG.

Now FlatOut, FlatOut 2 and FlatOut: Ultimate Carnage have all received an update on Steam to add Workshop support, Steam Deck verified status, improved performance, and in the case of FlatOut 2, re-enabled online multiplayer.

Pacific Drive's summer update adds a photomode and is the first of a new roadmap of free updates to come this year

Graham Smith — Sat, 20 Jul 2024 17:42:36 +0000

Station wagon survival 'em up Pacific Drive has received a summer update which adds a photomode, new upgrades for garage machinery, a new sideways dodge manouver for the car, and a piece of paid cosmetic DLC. This is the first of a new roadmap of post-release updates still to come.

Astral viking city-builder Roots Of Yggdrasil sprouts a 1.0 release date

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell — Fri, 19 Jul 2024 16:14:41 +0000

Our former editor Katharine "Thorsbane" Castle has long since quit these turgid shores for the sunny uplands of Eurogamer, where the consoles multiply like rabbits, but her legacy endures. For instance, it's thanks to her that I know and am excited about Roots of Yggdrasil, a roguelike deck-and-city-builder which casts you as a posse of vikings in a flying longship, touching down on floating islands to found a quick settlement and harvest some magic before the apocalypse - here known as the Ginnungagap, a swirling purple void - catches up with them.

Katharine called it "a real grower" before the early access release in January, likening it to both Dorfromantik and The Banished Vault - a chalk and cheese comparison if ever I heard one. Well rejoice, perverted chalk-and-cheese mixers, because Roots of Yggdrasil now has a 1.0 release date - 6th September 2024.

Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn is misfiring with major stutter on the Game Pass version

James Archer — Fri, 19 Jul 2024 13:53:40 +0000

Edwin’s been appreciating the acrobatic twist that Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn puts on the Soulslite formula, but not everybody’s magical zip-zooping has been going as smoothly. Following the Steam and PC Game Pass releases yesterday, there are widespread reports of heavy stuttering spoiling the fun; I’ve given both versions a test, and indeed, Flintlock does have a serious case of the framerate stammers. Especially the Game Pass build, which is significantly worse for it.

New card battler Placid Plastic Deck blends Pokémon with Inscryption using the dark magic of ducks

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell — Fri, 19 Jul 2024 11:05:35 +0000

Like many an addled follower of the games industry, I have recently fallen under the spell of Balatro, and especially, its jokers. The mechanics and overall presentation may be exquisite, but it’s the thrill of discovering another mutant jester modifier that has me lunging for the Steam Deck in my sleep. Well, now those jokers have competition: ducks. Step or rather waddle forward Placid Plastic Deck - A Quiet Quest, a quacked-up card battler which somehow takes inspiration from both the Pokémon series and Inscryption.

Forestrike is a tactical kung-fu roguelike that lets you orchestrate fights with time-bending powers

Ed Thorn — Fri, 19 Jul 2024 10:34:54 +0000

Devolver have just announced Forestrike, a 2D kung-fu game where you're not smashing buttons in a beat 'em up format. Instead, you use your supernatural time-bending abilities to tactically dispatch goons in a roguelike bash through increasingly difficult levels. It looks like a mixture of things: Sifu, Katana Zero, Aesthetically Cool Stuff In General.

FTC accuse Microsoft of breaking promise not to raise Game Pass prices after Activision Blizzard deal

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell — Fri, 19 Jul 2024 10:22:03 +0000

The US Federal Trade Commission have slammed Microsoft's recently announced Game Pass price hikes as "exactly the sort of consumer harm" they claimed would result from the Xbox publisher's now-completed acquisition of Activision-Blizzard.

Please go away I live in pet sim indie Bobo Bay now

Nic Reuben — Fri, 19 Jul 2024 08:17:04 +0000

Over the past few weeks, my review schedule has involved kicking dudes, shooting dudes, war, eldritch busses, and diseased rats. I did not know how utterly burnt out I was on violence and misery until I held one of pet simulation Bobo Bay’s sentient blob critters in my arms and lavished snacks upon it. When I close my eyes, I can still hear Conscript’s shells falling in the distance. But here and now, there are only Bobos, the races they take part in, and the idyllic bay in which they reside.

Judas and Bioshock dev Ken Levine thinks video game voice-acting has a problem with "turn-based dialogue”

Nic Reuben — Fri, 19 Jul 2024 08:10:23 +0000

Many moons ago, I remember having a chat with Brendy about FPS Metro Exodus’s choice to have characters frequently speak over each other in conversation. It’s something I always appreciate in films (Brendy mentioned Fleabag, I brought up Shane Meadows), and although the flow of many of Exodus’ scenes were quite awkward, it was still refreshing to see a game break away from the common, unnatural back-and-forth line delivery. Bioshock and Judas’s Ken Levine has a name for this - “turn-based dialogue.” According to Levine, it’s “one of the biggest problems” in the way games portray conversations.

Counter-Strike creator correctly holds the opinion that cs_siege is one of its best maps

Graham Smith — Thu, 18 Jul 2024 21:32:46 +0000

Everybody knows that Counter-Strike's asymmetric levels are its best. If only someone had told its millions of players. Counter-Strike creator Minh Le seems to agree with me at least, naming cs_siege as one of his favourites in a recent interview.

Streets Of Rogue 2's chaotic open world sequel delayed from August until October

Graham Smith — Thu, 18 Jul 2024 20:59:16 +0000

It was just last month that we reported on Streets Of Rogue 2's early access release date, then planned for the middle of August. Alas, the streets of video game development are meaner than first thought, and its release date has now slipped until October 22nd.

Warhammer 40,000: Speed Freeks is a twisted metal death rally with Orks coming in August

Graham Smith — Thu, 18 Jul 2024 20:48:53 +0000

I confess that 2018's Warhammer 40,000: Speed Freeks is a corner of the grim dark far future with which I'm unfamiliar, but it turns out it's an Orky death rally. Its video game adaptation, meanwhile, is a free-to-play, multiplayer, with several team-based modes. It now has an Early Access release date: August 6th.

Vultures - Scavengers Of Death is a turn-based roguelike that looks like a vintage Resident Evil game

Ed Thorn — Thu, 18 Jul 2024 18:00:00 +0000

Crow Country, Conscript, and now Vultures - Scavengers Of Death. We really do seem to be living through a craze for PS1-style horror games. Vultures is different to the others, though, in that it's turn-based zombie crunching combined with roguelike scavenging to survive and get more powerful. It's arriving on Steam sometime soon and it's probably worth a looksy if you're after biohazard disposal with a tactical twist.

Horror game The Mortuary Assistant is turning into a job sim, thanks to an "endless embalming mode" update

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell — Thu, 18 Jul 2024 16:12:16 +0000

We've had a glut of articles about gloomier video games on here today, Rachel's bright and breezy Dungeons Of Hinterberg review notwithstanding. Tomorrow, I promise, it'll be wall-to-wall wholesome life sims, pastel petals and hug emojis as far as the eye can see. But before then, a quick piece on well-received DreadXP-published horror sim The Mortuary Assistant, which will shortly be updated with an "endless embalming-only mode" that strips out the game's supernatural scares and turns it into a very downbeat job sim.

Corpus Edax is a Deus Ex-style immersive sim with a frankly irresponsible number of violence-based verbs

Nic Reuben — Thu, 18 Jul 2024 13:17:45 +0000

A good immersive sim, by its very nature, offers myriad varied approaches to solving problems. And yet, I find myself wanting to get hyper-specific when writing about the action of Corpus Edax, because it has an incredibly gratifying metal pipe sound, whether you’re stealthy wrapping it around the back of a blissfully unaware fool’s noggin, or lobbing it directly at their knee caps. In fact - although the game does have a delightful array of classic verbs, along with a few surprises - many of them are simply conducive to a stirring round of fisticuffs, to write my most British sentence of the week.

Portal-hopping shooter Splitgate 2 revealed, looks like the original cult FPS but with a lot more money

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell — Thu, 18 Jul 2024 13:00:00 +0000

1047 Games have announced Splitgate 2, sequel to the gambolling free-to-play FPS from 2021 in which you could blast people through wormholes. The new game brings back said wormhole-based carnage together with newly "faction-forward" teamplay, and if you want to know what "faction-forward" means when it's at home, I encourage you to stick your whole head into the below crackling cinematic trailer-vortex. I promise nothing bad will happen to it on the other side.

Horror game Slitterhead is The Thing vs The Thing and I really hope it's also a sandbox stealth game

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell — Thu, 18 Jul 2024 11:35:59 +0000

I've been fumbling for a grasp on Bokeh's skull-splitting horror game Slitterhead since I first heard the words "brought to you by Keiichiro Toyama, former designer of Silent Hill, Siren and Gravity Rush". Thanks to a new interview, I now have a proper description of the relationship between protagonist and antagonist. Friends, Romans and countrymen: this is a game about a war between two sets of body-stealing monsters, waged in the neon shadows of a fictional East Asian city. It all puts me strongly in mind of a certain John Carpenter movie about squelchy goings-on in Antarctica.

Got a desktop full of unfinished projects? That's okay, so does Square Enix creative Tetsuya Nomura

Brendan Caldwell — Thu, 18 Jul 2024 10:26:01 +0000

When you dive into the mess of folders on your PC, what do you find? Cobweb-plastered manuscripts for those twelve fantasy novels you started? Mouldy design documents for those nine games you never actually began coding? Perhaps dozens of little motheaten thumbnails of that masterpiece you're planning to someday paint? Relax, I'm not calling you out (I have my own groaning cybercabinet of neglect). Rather, I'm here to say don't worry. Everyone does it. Even famous Final Fantasy character designer and Kingdom Hearts director Tetsuya Nomura, who has a “huge number of game proposals lying dormant” in a mish mash of folders on his PC. You're just like him!

I cannot unsee the dreadful, gurning planets of rapidfire space strategy game To The Stars

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell — Thu, 18 Jul 2024 09:57:19 +0000

Here is an incomplete list of people, creatures or things that susceptible Terrans have glimpsed in the surface of the Moon: an old man, a rabbit, a crow, a moose, a toad, and King Mohamed V of Morocco. The technical term for this is "lunar pareidolia", which would have been a good alternative title for To The Stars, a spooky and spry "planet-hopping" strategy game in which the planets pout and grimace at you constantly, like a nestful of horrible baby sparrows.

No Man's Sky's Worlds update adds walking houses, fancier weather and a touch of Starship Troopers

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell — Wed, 17 Jul 2024 16:59:43 +0000

No Man's Sky is getting a big new Worlds update which treats the space sim's gazillions of planets to a sumptuous overhaul, using technology devised for stablemate fantasy sim Light No Fire, which only has one planet, albeit a "literally Earth-sized" one with dragons. Catch a deep dive trailer for the Worlds update below.

Multiplayer FPS Over The Top WW1 guns for Battlefield's crown with 200-head battles and Mount & Blade-inspired melee

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell — Wed, 17 Jul 2024 15:59:29 +0000

If DICE's Battlefield series lacks for one feature, it's surely the option to dig trenches. Properly dig them, I mean, not just waft them into existence with a wave of your magic trowel, a la Battlefield V. Think Minecraft, but with howitzers instead of Creepers. I have never been to war, but I do own several shovels, and let me tell you, if I ever hear artillery fire or even just dangerously raised voices round these parts, the first thing I will do is tunnel straight down.

Fuck it, I might do that if I read any negative comments on this news piece. Vex me not with your pestilent talk of "map balancing". Watch this trailer for Flying Squirrel's new FPS Over The Top WW1 instead. It abounds with trench-digging, and it looks like you can make some decent-sized craters, too.

Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap to continue killing Orcs in 2025 with new co-op thrills and roguelite progression

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell — Wed, 17 Jul 2024 14:55:50 +0000

Back in 2011, Robot Entertainment released tower defender Orcs Must Die!, adding an exclamation mark to spark some urgency and also, irritate anybody who has to write about video games for a living, though not as much as the absolute maniacs behind Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. Evidently, players did not sufficiently meet their demand for wanton Orc-massacring, for Robot were forced to release two sequels, which I personally would have titled Orcs Must Die!! and Orcs Must Die!!! or perhaps Orcs Must Die!!?, to indicate a mounting existential crisis.

Now, Robot have stepped things up by announcing Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap, a newly roguelite, four-player spin on the goblin-farming formula, whose subheading throws bumbling Orc murderers a bone by specifying that you might try building a trap of some kind, a deathtrap possibly. Please find below a suspiciously innocent trailer, which I promise you isn't covering a wall of arrow launchers or similar.

If we just went an entire year where every game was as short, cheap, and existentially harrowing as Clickolding that’d be great, thanks

Nic Reuben — Wed, 17 Jul 2024 08:04:11 +0000

When Clickolding - a vaguely Inscryption-y sub-hour dread droplet - opens, you’re sitting on a bed across from a man wearing a mask that looks like someone gave up halfway through carving an Easter Island statue of Joe Camel, stuck a pair of googly eyes on it, then went to cry in the corner at what they’d created.

In your hand is a clicker counter. Moose-face stares. What do those eyes convey? Patience? Intent? Longing? If nothing else, they betray a deep certainty that whatever else happens, you’re going to click. If you stop clicking for a moment, a prompt appears in the corner telling you the controls. At least, I think it's a prompt, because it might actually be a threat.

Left click to click. He'd like you to click 10,000 times, please.

Baldur's Gate 3 patch 7 will add dynamic splitscreen, new evil endings, Dark Urge fixes and lots more kissing

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell — Tue, 16 Jul 2024 15:51:21 +0000

The word "kiss" occurs 10 times in the latest blog post for the seventh major Baldur's Gate 3 patch, while the word "bug" occurs 14 times. I think this ratio captures how BG3 updates at large walk the line between dealing with stuff like progression blockers, and sating the inexhaustible horniness of the fanbase. There's more to patch 7 than glitch-hunting and snogs, however. Due in September, it introduces dynamic splitscreen functionality, expansions for Honour mode, modding tools, new endings for evil playthroughs, and a brace of tweaks for Origin characters.

Star Citizen is free for the next few days, please don't accidentally buy a $300 spaceship

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell — Tue, 16 Jul 2024 11:38:36 +0000

My love of the chilly, lightless heavens is equalled only by my love of free things, and right now, Star Citizen ticks both boxes. Cloud Imperium are offering free access to the long-in-the-making space game until July 19th, as part of the latest Foundation Festival. During that fleeting window of opportunity, you can try out 10 ships and enjoy such astral pastimes as stripping wrecks, busting asteroids, or getting blown up by other pilots. If you're an existing citizen of the stars, there are also festival-themed discounts of various kinds.

Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6 multiplayer early access and open beta dates revealed

Ed Thorn — Tue, 16 Jul 2024 10:39:27 +0000

The ouroboros is a snake eating its own tail: an infinite thing, a never ending cycle. While I do think this is a rather metal logo, there's an argument to be made that it's not current or trendy enough. With this in mind, I think the words "Call Of Duty" should represent the endless, unstoppable nature of existence. And with Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6 revealing its multiplayer open beta and early access dates, we must further consume and be consumed by the circular march of COD. Let's dolphin dive in, shall we.

A former Fortnite tech artist is making the world's most advanced slime monster in Unreal Engine 5

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell — Tue, 16 Jul 2024 10:08:30 +0000

I know as much about programming video game monsters as I do the exact flavour and consistency of the sands on Mars, but I've always thought the chief advantage of the Slime monster archetype is its economy. A slime, in most games, is a squashy smiley face. Why, I could grow myself one of those right this very instant, by doodling a circle in MS Paint and squinting very hard. Slimes do take more complex forms - chrome slimes, fire slimes, slimes with angry eyebrows, etc - but come now, it's not on the same level as rebooting Lara Croft's hair to billow in the blowback from grenades.

The simplicity of slime creation may soon become a distant memory, however, for Epic Games tech artist and current Duck Shake Games Asher Zhu is hell-bent on reinventing the homely Dragon Quest sludgeball as a technical tour de force on par with his previous contributions to Unreal Engine showcase Matrix Awakens. That's the impression I garner from the below video of Zhu's latest project, anyway, whose description also tantalises with talk of "Splatoon mechanics in dungeons".

You're a better pilot than I if you can get this Mechwarrior meets HighFleet indie’s mech to do literally anything

Nic Reuben — Tue, 16 Jul 2024 08:24:52 +0000

We do love a good diegetic interface here at the treehouse, whether that’s the analogue radar twisties of HighFleet, or the myriad hefty flickables of PVKK (Planetenverteidigungskanonenkommandant. Duh.) The fifth mech jam is currently happening over at Itch.io, and the clear standout for me thus far is Armored Shell Nightjar. It’s a first person pilot-em-up that puts you in the cockpit of a grasshoppery rust-bucket carrying out a critical mission on an industrial desert planet. The more the intro text stresses the importance of this mission, the more guiltily useless I feel, because I cannot get this beautifully run-down mech to do anything of note, unless you count violently hopping into walls to be notable.

Manor Lords next update will switch over to Unreal Engine 5 and, more importantly, add fishing ponds

Nic Reuben — Tue, 16 Jul 2024 08:23:51 +0000

I’m calling it now. When, in a “few weeks” according to the developer, fishing ponds come to strategy builder Manor Lords, it will take approximately 45 minutes for some enterprising medieval fintech tinkerer to utterly bork the entire economy, and it will be glorious. What will begin as brave new world of lean protein and previously unseen Omega 3 levels will soon devolve into hordes of beleaguered oxen hauling overburdened carts full of rotting fish carcasses, as hyperinflation looms.

At least 500 people will trounce you in Space Marine 2’s multiplayer at launch, because they’re already playing a torrent of the entire game

Nic Reuben — Tue, 16 Jul 2024 08:22:30 +0000

We’re still a few months out from the bug-be-gone-em-up action of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2’s September 9th release date, but that hasn’t stopped a jolly band of heretics skirting the watchful gaze of the inquisition and pirating what appears to be a leaked version of the entire game. The 75GB torrent is apparently fully playable minus a few assets, and also includes server binaries, meaning cool pirates can play with their cool pirate mates.

Sorry, sorry, I’m being told pirates aren’t cool and don’t have any mates. Sorry. Sorry.

Swery's bloody gambling in Death Game Hotel won't be his only multiplayer game, he says

Brendan Caldwell — Mon, 15 Jul 2024 12:51:58 +0000

Death Game Hotel came out last week - a comically gory game in which players play casino-style card games around a table and raise the stakes by betting their own limbs. It's a VR game, which is a break from the norm for White Owls, the studio run by Hidetaka "Swery" Suehiro (then again, what is their "norm"?). It's also got a big multiplayer component, with lots of jovial bubble-popping and chicken-squeezing between the comedy blood spurts. And this taste of multiplayer mischief has Swery's head percolating. This game won't be his last dipped toe in the multiplayer ocean, he told us.

"In the future," said Swery, "I would like to leverage this experience to challenge myself with something new in the online multiplayer realm (something you probably haven't even imagined yet)."

Like a Dragon: Yakuza series actor sees Kiryu as a heroic character who’s “starved for love”

Nic Reuben — Mon, 15 Jul 2024 10:34:37 +0000

If there’s one series that can be relied upon to dole out 80-hour helpings of joy straight into my eager face at regularly scheduled intervals, it’s the RPG brawler stylings of Yakuza/Like A Dragon. One could, I believe, make a convincing argument for Yakuza 0 being - if not the best videogame ever made - then at least the most videogame. While this coming October’s Amazon series won’t be the first live action adaption of Yakuza, I am hopeful its episodic format will give its characters a bit more room to breathe. Or, according to Kiryu actor Ryoma Takeuchi in an interview with IGN, to find the love they’ve always longed for.

Sandbox sequel Supraworld gets loose release date, bringing its shrunken hero to early access this year

Brendan Caldwell — Mon, 15 Jul 2024 10:00:33 +0000

"Honey, I shrunk the first-person puzzler. Twice." This is how I like to imagine the designer of Supraworld explaining the hijinks that unfold in his life. Supraworld, the sequel to toybox explorer Supraland, is going to hit early access this year, say developers Supra Games in an update post on Steam. These are happy words for anyone who enjoyed 2019's dander among the sandcastles and erasers. A lot of games offer a "sandbox" but in Supraland, the entire world really did take place in exactly that - a sandbox out in a garden, full of toys. The sequel's launch into early access "might be in october," says the post. "We'll see."

The First Descendant has "decided to make adjustments" to "barely-changed" Destiny 2 icons

Nic Reuben — Mon, 15 Jul 2024 09:29:14 +0000

Last week, Destiny 2 enjoyer-in-public Paul Tassi of Forbes wrote an article pointing out the similarities between The First Descendant’s in-game icons and those used by Bungie’s multiplayer looter shooter. Nexon have since reached out to Tassi, saying they’re taking the concerns seriously, and will make adjustments so that the imagery "clearly reflects the unique identity" of their Warframe-Destiny hybrid GaaS shooter.

The Maw: what's new in PC games this week?

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell — Mon, 15 Jul 2024 08:32:24 +0000

I'm not sure it's physically or metaphysically possible to overfeed the Maw, but this week we put that desperate daydream to the test. There aren't any mega-sequels in the offing, none of yer Call Of Dutifuls, just an absolute deluge of neat and nifty originals - a deluge of such proportions I have been forced to unsheathe my HTML hammer and smash the customary single paragraph of PC game releases in twain.

A big Steam sale of IGF award winners and finalists is now underway

Graham Smith — Sat, 13 Jul 2024 22:22:29 +0000

There are a lot of video game awards and most of them are simply popularity contests, and therefore also stinky borefests. The one that isn't, in my eyes, is the yearly Independent Games Festival awards - the IGFs.

The IGF Celebration Days Steam sale provides plenty of examples as to why, with discounts from now until July 20th on winners and finalists from throughout the IGF awards' history.

The closed beta for Concord, Sony's new hero shooter, is underway - and the open beta arrives on Thursday

Graham Smith — Sat, 13 Jul 2024 21:17:20 +0000

The Concord beta is now underway for folks who pre-ordered Sony's upcoming hero shooter or who are subscribed to PlayStation Plus. If that's you, you should be able to grab the PC version from Steam and play from now until July 14th.

The Driver TV series is dead, but other "exciting projects" are in the works

Graham Smith — Sat, 13 Jul 2024 20:45:26 +0000

The Driver TV series you forgot was happening isn't happening. Announced back in 2021 and initially due to arrive alongside a gamer-focused streaming service called Binge in 2022, the live action series has been scrapped along with the production company behind it.

Perhaps of greater significance is that the Driver series itself might not be dead, as a Ubisoft spokesperson said that they are "actively working on other exciting projects related to the franchise".

Dark fantasy sword-heisting sim Dungeonborne gets early access launch date

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell — Fri, 12 Jul 2024 16:03:28 +0000

Mithril Interactive have announced that their (deep, rasping breath) first-person player-versus-player-versus-enemy dungeon crawler extraction sim (FPPvPvEDCES) Dungeonborne will launch into early access on Thursday July 18th. Here are some more intuitive, albeit no more elegant, ways of summarising what you do in Dungeonborne than "FPPvPvEDCES": sword go clang, goblin go eek, treasure chest go jingle-jangle, other player go stab-in-the-back.

Rappy Snappy beats Snap Tap rap, say click-clack manufacts

James Archer — Fri, 12 Jul 2024 15:39:26 +0000

Gaming hardware makers have often walked the line between enabling a player’s true skills, and simply delivering them an unfair advantage. Sometimes, honest accessibility aids are falsely accused of being cheating tools; other times, a monitor will straight-up play League of Legends for you. This week, developments in gaming keyboards have sparked a new debate on what does and doesn’t fall within the scope of fair play, with mechanical keeb specialists Wooting declaring in no uncertain terms that "Rappy Snappy is not the same as Snap Tap." Cool, glad that’s cleared up.

Deck-building space sim Breachway re-emerges from warp with an August early access release date

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell — Fri, 12 Jul 2024 13:11:01 +0000

In theory I'm down to review Breachway, a roguelike deck-building space sim which is sort of FTL but 3D and with cards. The second I wrested this privilege from Ed Thorn's resentful fingers, however, developers Edgeflow Studio and publishers Hooded Horse delayed the early access release. Perhaps this reflects Hooded Horse's atypically forgiving, when-it's-ready approach to game publishing. Or perhaps they just hate me and wish to deny me things that might bring me pleasure. It matters not, because the game now has a new early access release date - 30th August 2024 via Steam, GOG, and the Epic Games Store. Catch a celebratory trailer below.

Black State is a glossy Metal Gear Solid-style shooter that's thinking with Portals

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell — Fri, 12 Jul 2024 12:34:36 +0000

From Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart through the original Prey to the obvious touchpoint Portal, gaming hath no greater love than that for an unassuming door which stitches together two places that are notionally far apart.

This rampant enthusiasm for teledoors might seem strange, given that video games are make-believe worlds held together by arbitrary squiggles of magic language. There is fundamentally no reason any video game door should obey the customary laws of spacetime. But don’t let that stop you watching the announcement trailer for Motion Blur’s Black State, a third-person stealth shooter which is heavily redolent of Metal Gear Solid but also, awash with doors that work in mysterious ways.

Once Human is the centre of a storm of data privacy concerns over a policy line about collecting government ID

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell — Fri, 12 Jul 2024 10:46:16 +0000

Free-to-play open world survival shooter Once Human has spent its first week in the wilds weathering complaints about its data collection practices, many of them directed at a line from publisher NetEase's privacy policy in which they state that personal information they receive from you may include "government-issued ID, such as passport information, as required by applicable laws for age verification and correction of personal information".

Following a backlash in the user reviews (the game was Mostly Negative on Steam at launch, but has since risen to Mixed) and on social media, the game's developers Starry Studio have published a blog insisting that they harbour no dark intentions for your personal details - or at least, that they harbour intentions no darker than those of the many other developers who collect your personal information.

Action Game Maker is RPG Maker’s sprintier, jumpier sibling

Nic Reuben — Fri, 12 Jul 2024 09:41:08 +0000

Gotcha Gotcha Games, creators of the RPG Maker series, have announced Action Game Maker. Much like its predecessors, it aims to allow users to create games in its chosen genre without any programming experience, using a “node-based visual scripting system” (draggable arrows and concepts, basically). Could this finally be the opportunity to create the legally distinct Little Shop Of Horrors management sim of my dreams? No, of course not. The technology does not yet exist powerful enough to manifest it. Also, it's not an action game. Also, I don't know how to make games. Also it's Friday and I'm tired. Also, AGM isn't out yet. Still, I’m intrigued!

Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver is getting a canonical prequel graphic novel starring everyone’s favourite jawless monologuing vampire

Nic Reuben — Fri, 12 Jul 2024 08:12:40 +0000

Kain is merchandised. The clans sell tales of him. Few know the truth. He was a character in a dead franchise once, as were we all. However, his contempt for anonymity drove him to inspire the creation of an upcoming (crowdfunding allowing) graphic novel. The book stars Raziel, the first-born of his lieutenants, and It’s a canonical prequel story to the original Soul Reaver. I have waited a millennium. Over time, I became less human and more…games blogger. I have had the chance to write about Legacy Of Kain precisely once. You’re goddamn right I’m going to froth at the mouth at even the vague promise of more Shakespearean monologues and time-travelling vampires.

New colonial fantasy RPG Greedfall 2: The Dying World hits early access in September 2024

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell — Thu, 11 Jul 2024 16:26:42 +0000

Spiders and Nacon's new fantasy RPG Greedfall 2: The Dying World will launch into early access for PC via Steam on 24th September. Find beneath these words a trailer's worth of folk in facepaint glowering at burning battlefields, garlanded with preview excerpts along the lines of "ooh, I like what they've done with the curtains".

Planet Coaster 2 revealed with water parks and multiplayer park-building for 2024 release

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell — Thu, 11 Jul 2024 14:52:33 +0000

"It's going to be a good, good, good, good day," sings Frontier's announcement trailer for theme park simulator Planet Coaster 2. Not for me it isn't, because now I have to compare my shabby flat, in which there are exactly zero waterslides at the time of publication, with Planet Coaster 2, in which you can expect such aquatic attractions as "meandering lazy rivers", "adrenaline-pumping wave pools", "looping flumes" and "exhilarating water coasters". Please watch the trailer while I yet again revisit the possibility of sneaking into Stoke-On-Trent's Waterworld and trying to pass myself off as the resident ghost.

Here's a demo for Tako no Himitsu, a Game Boy Advance-style JRPG with music from Golden Sun's composer

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell — Thu, 11 Jul 2024 11:23:59 +0000

New indie action JRPG Tako No Himitsu: Ocean of Secrets - customary disclaimer: "JRPG" is a contentious term which some feel fetishises Japan culture, while others define it more neutrally as a specific style of role-playing game - is set in a world shadowed by a long-ago war between Human and Octopus. This in itself would be borderline post-worthy, but it's also heavily inspired by Game Boy Advance RPGs such as Golden Sun, and features music created by Golden Sun composer Motoi Sakuraba alongside Terranigma composer Masanori Hikichi.

Pizza Hero is Vampire Survivors with toppings as upgrades, and it’s free on Steam for a limited time

Nic Reuben — Thu, 11 Jul 2024 08:07:52 +0000

As a quick glance at my Papa John's account will tell you, I’ve enough of an addictive personality that I’ve consciously avoided Vampire Survivors and its -likes, in the fear that the carefully balanced professionalisation of my dedicated goblin lifestyle will tip over the edge. As such, I don’t have enough experience to tell you whether the currently free Pizza Hero is an especially interesting or innovative riff on the formula. However, I am simple-minded enough to enjoy the epic bacon 1.5 humour of a sentient pizza slice with a dog for a companion upgrading itself one topping at a time. This action roguelike reeks of concentrated internet like a week old-slice nestled amidst a stack of free AOL disks. But! It’s cute and fun and free, and that’s enough for me.

Fortnite can run Doom now, making it officially as useful as gut bacteria and rat neurons

Nic Reuben — Thu, 11 Jul 2024 08:06:08 +0000

An Unreal Engine developer has got classic Doom running in Fortnite, in a manner of speaking broad enough to justify a series of headlines about it, including my own. Jackson Clayton honoured the proud tradition of getting the 1993 FPS to run on things where no Doom should be by porting classic opening stage E1M1, via level editor Ultimate Doom Builder, into Fortnite’s Unreal editor as a 3D model. Welcome, newcomer Fortnite, to the vaunted halls currently occupied by gut bacteria, jar-grown rat neurons, lawnmowers, teletext, electric toothbrushes, Windows notepad (sort of), and a pregnancy test.

If you want to play that whopping Fallout London mod you'll need to downgrade Fallout 4's "next gen" version

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell — Wed, 10 Jul 2024 15:53:34 +0000

We haven't written nearly enough about Fallout London, a gargantuan Fallout 4 total conversion that takes place in a whole new map based on England's capital city - the Big Smoke and/or Great Wen, whose real-life incarnation probably harbours at least one nuke at any given moment, though I haven't asked the King about that lately. Best not speculate.

Anyway, Fallout London is a huge effort from modders Team Folon that was recently sabotaged when Bethesda treated Fallout 4 to a next gen update to capitalise on the Amazon TV show's popularity, rendering several mods incompatible and breaking a lot of stuff. Team Folon have now fiddled with the workings and sent a Fallout London build to GOG for QA testing, which suggests that release is imminent. The catch, however, is that you will need to downgrade your copy of Fallout 4 to play the mod, because even with Team Folon's last-minute adjustments, Fallout 4 next gen and Fallout London simply don't get on.

Why haven't Sonic Team made a Sonic RPG yet, asks Sonic Team boss

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell — Wed, 10 Jul 2024 15:12:09 +0000

Sonic Team head Takashi Iizuka wants to know why the hell Sonic Team haven’t made their own Sonic The Hedgehog RPG yet. He sounds positively hysterical about it, hopping mad, which you know, mate, you’ve been running the show since 2008. You’ve been working on Sonic games since 1994. I too yearn to bound through the Star Post portal and into a world where Sonic has to min-max his trainers and do companion quests for Big The Cat. The spinning ball of spines is in your court, Iizuka-san. The people of Mobius are ready. Mario has had that genre all to himself for long enough.

Star Wars Outlaws gangs will send hit squads after you if you upset them

Brendan Caldwell — Wed, 10 Jul 2024 12:12:09 +0000

The open world action game Star Wars Outlaws is coming out next month and developer Massive Entertainment have already shown off some of the speeder biking and laser-trading in various trailers. But recently they've spoken a little more about the player's scummy travels across the galaxy, including how big some of the explorable planets will be, and what happens when you piss off the Hutts. In short, you're going to have a price on your head. Makes sense.

PC and Xbox Game Pass are getting a worldwide price hike

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell — Wed, 10 Jul 2024 09:46:16 +0000

Microsoft have announced global price increases for their Game Pass subscription business across all existing packages on console and PC. They’re also doing away with Xbox Game Pass For Console, while introducing a new Standard tier for console users which includes the Xbox back catalogue but doesn’t offer day-one access to new games.

The King Is Watching’s free demo turns city building into a brilliant balancing act of feudal surveillance

Nic Reuben — Wed, 10 Jul 2024 08:24:22 +0000

A watched pot never boils, so they say - ‘they’ presumably all being dead now after having their minds physically melted after hearing the first kettle click in readiness while stubbornly staring in the opposite direction. Yes, yes, it’s a metaphor, but we don’t have time for all that. Your kingdom is under attack by goblins, and the only way to get your useless underlings to chop the wood, till the fields, and train the guards needed to defend it is to provide constant surveillance. The King Is Watching is a minimalist resource-chain-em-up and wave defense goblin-knocker with a brilliant twist. I'm now a little bit obsessed with it, I think, and what is RPS if not a vehicle for chronicling my many fleeting obsessions?

Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s companions can fall in love with each other, not just you

Nic Reuben — Wed, 10 Jul 2024 08:18:51 +0000

We already know that you’ll be able to romance all your companions in the upcoming RPG Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Sounds a bit synthetic on the surface, right? Even fantastic games like Baldur's Gate 3 suffered from this overly obliging approach to relationships. A game letting you tell your own tales is dandy and all, but those stories don’t mean much if the cast feel like input/output affection bots, ready to drop trou like a clumsy Levis temp once you’ve adequately filled their invisible bonkometer.

Mistborn author Brandon Sanderson thinks you could apply Elden Ring storytelling to novels, comparing it to Dune and Watchmen

Nic Reuben — Tue, 09 Jul 2024 16:02:43 +0000

Prolific fantasy author and number one Ranni stan (“I'll pick the ending where my character gets a waifu”) Brandon Sanderson has been thinking a lot about how to apply Elden Ring and the Souls games' signature storytelling approach to novels. During a recent playthrough on his YouTube channel, he was asked if he thinks there’s a way to replicate Souls-like descriptions in books. “I’ve wondered that. I really have,” Sanderson replies.

Total War: Pharaoh's enormous free Dynasties update gets a July release date and trailer

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell — Tue, 09 Jul 2024 15:50:35 +0000

Creative Assembly and Sega have slapped a release date on Total War: Pharaoh’s free Dynasties expansion, which outfits the historical strategy colossus with new Aegean and Mesopotamian regions and maps, new factions such as Troy and Babylon, and a glittering, bellowing host of new or reworked units, new mechanics, and new quality-of-life updates. That release date is 25th July 2024. Come stamp your feet and brandish your shields vigorously at the overview trailer below.

Tomoe is back in the free demo for Sekiro-like indie Bloodless

Nic Reuben — Tue, 09 Jul 2024 14:11:59 +0000

That was…slightly cheeky of me. The Tomoe you play in parry-ful action adventure Bloodless is not the same Tomoe that was conspicuously absent from undeniable influence Sekiro. They might be based on the same historical figure, but that’s simply Sek-ulation. However! You can make your mind up yourself for zero money, since Bloodless has a free demo on Steam. Trazzer below.

Helldivers 2 players are escaping death by performing aerial salutes and hugs

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell — Tue, 09 Jul 2024 12:37:54 +0000

According to the wikihow page “how to fall safely”, the best way to minimise injury while falling is to stay loose, keep your arms and legs bent, and roll on impact. According to ragdoll-prone shooter Helldivers 2, however, it’s better to stand to attention in mid-air and perform a crisp salute. It’s long been known that the game’s emotes confer unexpected defensive advantages, with emergency hugs sometimes shielding you against artillery fire, but now, one redditor has proven via careful scientific experimentation that they also protect you against the force of gravity.