Professional villain Jason Isaacs will voice a character of questionable morality in Baldur's Gate 3, developers Larian announced today at Geoff Keighley's Level Up Pool Party. The English actor who played Star Trek: Discovery's Captain Lorca, Marshal Zhukov in The Death Of Stalin, and a whole load of other baddies has now lent his voice to Lord Enver Gortash, the creator of magical clockwork watchmen. Ooh it is a good voice.
]]>I thought Sonic Frontiers was less Breath Of The Wild and more Super Mario Odyssey after I'd given it whirl in LA at Summer Geoff Fest. Despite its rough edges, Frontier's open-ish world was a joy to blitz around as a hedgehog renowned for going particularly fast. But there was one thing I couldn't talk about – Cyberspace stages: Bite-sized levels à la classic Sonic. And here's why it might've been one of the best bits of the demo.
]]>I was in LA for Summer Geoff Fest and I played a whole bunch of games. No, not lots of blockbusters – mainly because there weren't too many of those about - but lots of indies, instead. In fact, out of all the games I saw or played or glanced at while I dashed between appointments, it was the indies that really stood out.
]]>I love the name "SpellForce", mid-word capital letter and all. It conjures a mental image of a kid’s TV show where some, possibly sentai-style, superheroes learn about the importance of spelling and grammar. Maybe a little punctuation, as a treat. SpellForce the video game series isn’t that; it’s a trio of RPG-RTS hybrids which, by the time you read this, will have had a new entry announced in the form of SpellForce: Conquest Of Eo. It’s a fresh, turn-based take on the series which casts the player as a wizard attempting to further their mastery of magic.
]]>The blue hedgehog is back! He goes very fast in his latest instalment, Sonic Frontiers! And lots of fans – naturally – think it looks terrible! The scepticism is understandable. But having gone hands-on with it at Summer Geoff Fest, I'd like to pose a counter argument: the game needs to be played. Just seeing it with your eyeballs doesn't do it justice. Yes, it's a weird departure for Sonic, but I am here for it.
]]>Square Enix’s 25th anniversary livestream for Final Fantasy VII played out in almost textbook fashion for the JRPG giants, starting and ending with the two most important pieces of news for PC players. First up, Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade leaves Epic exclusivity to steer its motorbike onto Steam today. Steam Deck compatibility was touted too, you lucky beggars.
Then, after much faffing with mobile games and memorabilia, producer Yoshinori Kitase revealed footage from the second part of Remake, now known as Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. Kitase also confirmed that the Final Fantasy VII Remake saga might actually be completed in our lifetimes, thanks to Square Enix deciding to draw it to a close with a third, as yet untitled part. Gawp at Sephiroth’s broad shoulders from behind by watching the trailer below.
]]>Nightingale is an upcoming PvE open-world survival craft 'em up by Inflexion Games, a studio led by former BioWare boss Aaryn Flynn. Imogen (RPS in peace) spoke with him earlier this year about the game's gaslamp fantasy setting and why they chose to enter the survival genre gauntlet, among many other things. At this year's Summer Geoff Fest, I caught up with Flynn for another quick chat. This time, we dug into the game's recently revealed card crafting and realm-hopping features, as well as the choices you might make along the way.
]]>This week Matthew and Nate are both away, but luckily I'm joined by two very special guests to discuss our favourite games from Summer Geoff Fest and the Not E3 2022 steams and showcases this past weekend. Rebecca from our guides team has been doing exhaustive work doing live chats and roundups for almost all the streams, and Edders was actually out in Los Angeles to play some games and chat to people. He even saw St. Geoff in the flesh. Wowser!
]]>Farthest Frontier, which arrives on Steam Early Access on August 9th, sounds as much of a statement of intent as it does the name of a city-building game. It’s a combination of town management and survival sim, putting you in the presumably cheap clogs of a band of settlers trying to make a go of it in the wilderness. A story trailer for Farthest Frontier was shown at last weekend’s PC Gaming Show, which you can watch below.
]]>Your boy was in LA for Summer Geoff Fest 2022 and had the opportunity to sit down with Dead Space co-creator Glen Schofield, who's now director of Striking Distance Studios and their upcoming sci-fi horror fest The Callisto Protocol. We touched on the game's "beta paths", its gore system, upgrades, and batteries. There was a lot of chat about batteries. Forgot to ask if they were AA or AAA, though.
]]>Retro-futuristic RPG pentequel Fallout 5 will be Bethesda’s next project after they complete work on The Elder Scrolls 6, development leader Todd Howard has confirmed in an interview with IGN. You might have to wait for some years to see anything from it though, as The Elder Scrolls 6 is only in “pre-production”. We’ll all be sporting Methuselah-length beards and have popped all the achievements in Starfield’s umpteenth DLC by then.
]]>Blizzard have revealed that Overwatch 2’s next closed PvP beta starts on June 28th, and it’s set to introduce new tank character Junker Queen. Also coming in the beta is a new map. Blizzard’s announcement tweet promised more information about what’s to come when sign-ups begin tomorrow, June 16th.
]]>First released in 1987 - back when Games Workshop were, arguably, much more fun than they are today - Rogue Trader was the first edition of what would eventually become tabletop miniature megachonker Warhammer 40,000. Rogue Traders, the stars of the setting, are themselves a touch more colourful than your average corpse-emperor enjoyer; freelance explorers given a ship, a packed lunch, and a cohort of space-toughs, and sent off to explore the far-flung reaches of the galaxy. And it’s this unique place in the 40k universe that makes them such an exciting prospect for the setting's first fully-fledged classic CRPG.
]]>A few days ago I sat in on a presentation for Lightyear Frontier, a 3D farming and crafting game set on a remote planet at the edge of the galaxy. In fact in the presentation the game was referred to as a "farmadventure", which isn't a portmanteau and you only have to go another centimetere along to get farmventure, which is just about a portmanteau and, furthermore, is fun to say.
Developers Frame Break are keen to emphasise how chilled out Lightyear Frontier is: it's very peaceful, and there's no death (a "survival game without survival"). It's all about ecology and being one with nature. This does, at times, feel slightly at odds with the other eye-catching thing about Lightyear Frontier, which is a bloody massive tractor mech stomping about everywhere.
]]>The Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase has been and gone, but Not E3 is far from over. Including, as it turns out, for Xbox and Bethesda: tonight’s Xbox Games Showcase Extended stream will take a deeper dive into some of the many games that were announced during the main show on Sunday, with new trailers and extended interviews. Liam and I will be liveblogging the whole thing, despite him having stayed up until God-knows-when last night watching Capcom’s Resident Evil and dinosaur genocide announcements.
]]>Barbarian-tinged match-3 puzzler Grindstone is abandoning its exclusivity to the Epic Games Store and venturing into the untamed wilderness of Steam on June 20th, developers Capybara Games have revealed. All updates to the game that released on other platforms such as Apple Arcade and Nintendo Switch will be included. There’s a helpfully explanatory animated trailer to watch below.
]]>The collective JRPG fandom did a little squee and cartwheeled when Persona 5 Royal and Persona 3 Portable were announced for PC at Sunday’s Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase. There was no word on whether either game would make their way to Steam like Persona 4 Golden, though. Well, never fear, because developers Atlus say both games will be coming to Valve’s storefront, as Eurogamer report. In case you missed the trailer, here it is below.
]]>A free demo of Capcom’s upcoming beastie-slashing action RPG expansion Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak is releasing on Steam today. It’s worth putting aside at least 10GB ready for the install if you’re planning to take a crack at it. Hop onto your canine mount and check out the trailer below for a glance in advance.
]]>When Capcom announced Exoprimal, an action game devised by your six-year-old self where players jump into badass exosuit and then machine-gun roiling hordes of dinosaurs, Alice0 believed that you fought the big lizard-birds with the help of an AI. In a new trailer and deep dive from tonight's Capcom Showcase we learned that in fact the dino-rain is happening because of the AI. It is running combat tests with humans by, er, opening huge wormholes in the sky and dumping hundreds of dinosaurs on us like so many plastic toys.
If this concept sounds as incredible to you as it does to many of us in the RPS treehouse, then you can sign up for an upcoming closed network test here. Entry is open until the 30th of June, and to avoid disappointment make sure you take note of the entry requirements.
]]>Starfield is the next big new game from Bethesda Game Studios, and it's a pretty big deal because they haven't made something that isn't a Fallout game or an Elder Scrolls game in like... ever. So everyone was pretty excited to see what this new space RPG holds at the Xbox & Bethesda Showcase stream this weekend. And, sure enough, we actually got a pretty big eyeful of it.
Now, keep in mind that this game is set in outer space, the vast expanse and wonders of which we cannot ken. You could do any cool, awe-inspiring thing you want with space. Crystal waterfalls that flow backwards into the sky. Aurora borealis-like lights but so low down they whip along at ground level. Deserts of hot-pink dust sprouting deep blue rock spires. Destiny 2 has some cool planets, for example. Imagine my confusion, then, when the footage of Bethesda's brand new IP made it look like they've accidentally done Fallout or Elder Scrolls again.
]]>My favourite spot in Berband's colourful night city is a tiny quiet backalley bar at a hole in a wall, and my first task in Nivalis will be attempting to recapture that mood. Nivalis is a slice-of-life sim set in the same cyberpunk city as hovercar courier game Cloudpunk, where we'll get to run bars and restaurants, grow ingredients, fish, make friends, and maybe even find love. So like a cyberpunk Stardew Valley? Have a look in the new trailer.
]]>We finally glimpsed our first look at some in-game footage from interstellar RPG Starfield at yesterday’s Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase, and it had the feel of a less retro Fallout 4. Everyone knows that the true heart of any RPG is the character creation screen though. It’s just science. Speaking of which, Starfield’s character creation menus are modelling themselves on some real-life science, namely molecular biology. That’s cool, I think.
]]>The Wholesome Direct showcase had a whole lotta games once again, but one that really stood out to me was Paper Trail, because it looked and felt quite different. I've already elaborated on the key wholesome themes this year being witches and plants, and Paper Trail is neither of those. It is origami and puzzles. There's a very cool free demo out now too, so you can see for yourself.
]]>Hundreds of demos for upcoming indie games of all kinds will flood onto PC today when June’s Steam Next Fest kicks off at 6pm BST. I’ve already downloaded a smattering of them in advance and my hard drive is positively creaking. Check out a slice of what demos are up for download in the trailer below.
]]>Self-styled retro Thief-like FPS Gloomwood is stealthing its way into Steam Early Access on August 16th, an announcement that snuck in as part of last night’s PC Gaming Show. See, it’s like Thief but has guns. Oh, and Resident Evil 4’s inventory Tetris, which is possibly the best inventory system ever invented. Witness for yourself in the trailer below.
]]>The PC Gaming Show 2022 has been and gone, and everyone at the RPS treehouse is now absolutely exhausted. 43 trailers. 43! A ludicrous amount of work for a Sunday evening. But happily for you, we’ve put together an exhaustive (oh, so exhaustive) list of everything that was announced, featured, or otherwise hinted at throughout the entire show, just in case you missed anything. Read on for every new trailer and announcement from the PC Gaming Show.
]]>Citizen Sleeper’s developers Jump Over The Age have revealed a roadmap of free DLC story episodes for their tabletop-esque science fiction RPG. It was announced at today’s PC Gaming Show that the first of three episodes, Flux, will be out in July. Watch the trailer below for a glimpse of what’s to come in Citizen Sleeper’s cyberpunk future.
]]>There was a lot going on in the 19th and early 20th centuries, and Paradox's grand strategy game Victoria III aims to simulate pretty much all of it, starting in 1836 and giving you a century to play with. A big selling point is that every inhabitant of your nation is simulated, from lowly farmer to high rolling capitalist, each having preferences and beliefs. Balancing the political needs of your state against diplomacy, economy and, you know, war, will take a lot of wrangling of lists, menus and percentages, which you can see in the new gameplay trailer debuted at the PC Gaming Show.
]]>The Flight Simulator series turns 40 this year, which is somehow a distressing thought making me realise how fast time is passing, so Microsoft are preparing to celebrate. Come the 40th anniversary in November, they plan to release a big Microsoft Flight Simulator update with helicopters, gliders, iconic historical aircraft including the Wright Flyer, and more. But that's the future. Right now, the game has received a taste of far future with the release of Halo Infinite's Pelican aircraft as a real plane you can really fly in Flight Sim.
]]>The Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase for 2022 has now wrapped, bringing plenty of trailers and announcements for upcoming games on Xbox and PC. The rule for this showcase, as outlined early on, is that every game shown will launch within the next 12 months. What the future will actually hold remains to be seen, but Xbox certainly sound optimistic at least. With Starfield, Hollow Knight: Silksong, Diablo IV, and much more shown at the event, there’s plenty to cover. Let's get started then, shall we? Here's a reminder of every announcement and trailer from the Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase 2022.
]]>Cocoon is an insectoid puzzle adventure that’s being developed by Jeppe Carlsen, the lead gameplay designer of Playdead’s Inside and Limbo. The game was announced at today’s Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase, and its worlds-within-worlds reality hopping system has already blown my mind a little. Check it out for yourself in the trailer below.
]]>If you stick your hand in the bone trunk, you deserve what you get. That's my new motto, after watching the latest trailer for the first-person Giger-esque horror game Scorn. This trailer has the same world of bone and flesh as all those before it, but with the added twist of a release date: this October.
]]>I had just kind of assumed that if you sail a ship in Sea Of Thieves you're a captain, you know? I know it doesn't give anyone that title, but I figured whoever was hosting the game just kind of was it. But it turns out I am a FOOL and that nobody was a captain at all. All that is going to change when Season Seven of the MMO pirate 'em up arrives next month, as confirmed in a jaunty song at the Xbox & Bethesda Showcase. Players are getting a whole raft of "Captaincy features" - and these include being able to name your ship and customise the interior.
]]>Obsidian have announced that their co-op garden survival game Grounded will burst forth from early access into a full 1.0 release like a seed in your backyard this September. A story campaign playable in co-op or solo will explain how Grounded’s kids were shrunk by a mad scientist, and probably persuade me to finally give it a go. Watch out for colossal bugs in the trailer below.
]]>Racing games are often technological powerhouses, and the announcement trailer for the new Forza Motorsport spent time talking about ray tracing, refined surfaces and fancier trees. It looked... fine? It looked fine! Check it out below.
]]>Were you hoping to hear something about Avowed or The Outer Worlds 2 tonight? Well, Obsidian have announced manuscriptacular medieval murder-mystery adventure Pentiment at today’s Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase instead. This one at least has a firm-ish release date of November attached, though, and looks very pretty. Catch yourself up with the reveal by watching the trailer below.
]]>The Alters wants you to think about how small choices can change the type of person you are, like a big science fiction Sliding Doors. Only, since it's the new game from the developers of Frostpunk and This War Of Mine, I'm guessing the stakes are higher than whether Gywneth Paltrow gets it together with John Hannah. For one, you're creating alternatve versions of yourself in order to survive on a rickety base rolling across an alien world.
]]>House Flipper captured the minds of all of us who watched Homes Under The Hammer and knew in our hearts that we were unlikely to be able to buy a house to live in, let alone spare houses to flip and sell at a profit. Now the publishers Frozen Forge are back with The Constructors, revealed at the PC Gaming Show. The Constructors is a simulation game allowing you to climb up another rung on the parasite ladder (following on from last year's landlord sim The Tenants, by the same devs Ancient Forge Studio) as you own a constuction company, and build and design housing estates.
]]>Klei Entertainment, the makers of an unlikely number of good games including Don't Starve and Mark Of The Ninja, today announced their next. Rotwood is its name, and cartoony dungeon-crawling is the game. Up to four players can join together for online hack 'n' slash action, or you can play it on your lonesome if you'd rather. Here, check out the announcement trailer below.
]]>Fairytale action-adventure Ravenlok was revealed at today’s Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase, hailing from Echo Generation devs Cococucumber. Ravenlok is clearly channelling Alice In Wonderland a fair bit, and Cococucumber do refer to it as a “fairytale reimagining”. It’s due out sometime in 2023. Watch the mushroom-laden trailer below.
]]>We all remember 2019's A Plague Tale: Innocence, the inspiration for the famous phrase "rat's entertainment!" that you still hear shouted in music halls up and down the country. The blend of action-adventure, stealth and seething hordes of rats is getting a sequel later this year, taking our miserable medieval tots Amicia and Hugo to the south of France for A Plague Tale: Requiem. In a gameplay trailer shown at the Xthesda showcase tonight we saw that Amicia is struggling with whether or not she should kill the heck out of soldiers, or try to stealth on by.
]]>Persona 5 Royal and Persona 3 Portable are coming to PC via Xbox Game Pass, with Persona 5 Royal due to arrive this October. Persona 4 Golden, which is already available on PC via Steam, is also coming to Game Pass. This is exceptionally good news for fans of stylish, urban fantasy JRPGs about hanging with friends, going to school and getting sucked into supernatural adventures.
]]>More footage of online survival sequel ARK 2 was shown off at today’s Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase, and we got to see another glimpse at the bizarre sight of Vin Diesel riding a dinosaur. Who does he think he is, Chris Pratt? Gawp in awe at the Unreal Engine 5 trailer below and try not to remember Babylon A.D. or any of the pants Riddick movies, I dare you.
]]>It must be a relief to ActiBlizz to have some good Diablo 4 news, given how everyone on Earth is ragging on Diablo Immortal 24/8 (when we are not open-mouthed at the stream of terrible news about the company, from numerous allegations of harrassment, misconduct and discrimination, to the company advising shareholders to not approve a proposal to report on harassment and discrimination). But at the Xbox & Bethesda Showcase tonight they were able to share that Diablo 4 is coming out next year for some much anticipated ARPG antics. Why, that's the Diablo game people keep saying they want!
Plus, the Necromancer is confirmed as the fifth playable class. There's a moody trailer that tries to make being a Necromancer sound twisted and dangerous and a hard path to walk, but it mostly makes it sound like Necromancers are cool badasses with loads of skeleton best friends.
]]>Rumours spread this past week that Hideo Kojima's next would be called Overdose, and a return to the horror genre. Well, Kojima appeared during tonight's Microsoft conference and confirmed: yes, he is making a game of some kind. And that's it.
]]>The next expansion for open-world racer Forza Horizon 5 will once again feature the gravity-defying stunts and tracks of the Hot Wheels toys. The expansion launches on July 19th and it’s the second such DLC, following on from similar orange loop-de-loops made for Forza Horizon 3. Buckle up and try not to chuck when you watch the trailer below.
]]>After spinning an action-RPG off Minecraft in 2020 with Minecraft Dungeons, Mojang Studios today announced the blocky builder is venturing into another new genre with an "action strategy game" named Minecraft Legends. Due to launch in 2023, Mojang are making it with Blackbird Interactive, the studio behind Homeworld 3 and Hardspace: Shipbreaker. Have a peek in the announcement trailer below.
]]>Gothic puzzle platformer The Last Case Of Benedict Fox was announced at today’s Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase, but it’s bringing a demon along for the ride. Set in Boston, Massachusetts in 1925, The Last Case Of Benedict Fox follows, you guessed it, self-appointed detective Benedict Fox as he searches through a dodgy mansion. Watch the suitably moody trailer below.
]]>After many delays, Overwatch 2 has a release date. Blizzard's sequel will launch on October 4th - and it'll have a new free-to-play model when it does.
]]>Peaceful farming sims are always in, really, and Lightyear Frontier is a) in space and b) has a mighty morphin' tractor mech. Digging up a gameplay trailer at today’s Xthesda Games Showcase, Lightyear Frontier is taking farming to the final frontier in Spring 2023 - but that frontier includes Game Pass on day one. This planet may be on the edge of the galaxy, but it has good wifi.
]]>The much-anticipated metroidvania Hollow Knight: Silksong finally gave another peek at the beautiful and awful things awaiting us in a new kingdom of insects. Microsoft's NotE3 showcase brought a new trailer, which didn't help with the info bugheads really crave—a release date—but did announce the exciting news that Silksong will be on Game Pass at launch. Here, come watch, check out some of the beautiful and awful things waiting to murder you.
]]>If you’re a fan of the comedy stylings of Rick And Morty and its co-creator Justin Roiland then you’ll probably be all over the wacky sci-fi shooter High On Life. The game was announced at today’s Xbox & Bethesda Showcase, and it seems Roiland is voicing its main character. Feel free to chuckle at the trailer below.
]]>It was on the cards, and tonight at the XBox & Bethesda Showcase we indeed got a look at some vampire slaying in Redfall. Arkane's spooky co-op FPS has been on my most anticipated list for a while, especially because I was hoping the studio would put their signature weird twist on things. Judging by the big guns and big abilities you have at your disposal, they have - and the vampires should be watching their be-caped backs. Never thought I'd see the day when someone made being a vampire hunter look cooler than being a vamp, but we might be getting there.
]]>Here's a thing: Riot's games are coming to Game Pass, including League Of Legends, Valorant and Legends Of Runeterra. Those are free-to-play games, which means what you'll really getting for your subscription is access to some of the bits that would normally be locked behind real money or the grind. In League Of Legends, for example, a Game Pass subscription will unlock all 160+ of the MOBA's champions.
]]>What better way to spend a Sunday evening than by settling down to watch this year's PC Gaming Show, brought to you courtesy of cheery RPS fanzine PC Gamer as part of this year's Not-E3 festivities? It's a guides team takeover tonight as Hayden and Rebecca, RPS's duo of in-house Guides Writers, wrestle control of the liveblog away from our more chat-fatigued colleagues to bring you our highly unique blend of weird perspectives and in-jokes once it all kicks off at 8:30pm BST / 3:30pm EDT / 12:30pm PDT.
]]>Not-E3 2022 continues today with the Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase, and we’ll be liveblogging it right here. Will we see more of Starfield that isn’t CGI target footage and concept art? Could we get a closer look at Playground Games’ mysterious new Fable? Will Redfall get its first major public appearance since, uh, the last the Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase? Dunno, but you can watch the whole show via the stream embedded below, and follow along with commentary from myself and vid bud Liam. The curtain raises at 6pm BST / 7pm CEST / 1pm ET.
]]>The trailer for Morbid Metal from tonight's Future Games Show had a lot of metal (the music genre) and metal (the stuff you make blades out of). Morbid Metal is a hack 'n' slash, but the difference here is that you have four different mech lads at your disposal, and you can morph between them whenever you like. This real-time switching means Morbid Metal moves very quickly. You might think hyphenated phrases like "high-octane", "action-packed", and "fast-paced" are moving in the direction of this game, but buddy this is going at such speed that they're already here.
]]>Sci-fi platformer Planet Of Lana seems like a sweet, scenic adventure with an alien monkey butler, and today’s Future Games Show had a little more gameplay to share. I mentioned Planet Of Lana earlier this week in my Day Of The Devs 2022 round-up, because it featured in that indie showcase too. Check out the trailer if you missed it on Thursday, it’s quite charming.
]]>Last year a couple of brothers posted a concept trailer for an FPS horror game that didn't exist (named Project Ill). Well, those brothers are now Team Clout and that game now exists, albeit called simply Ill. I've not got much to point you towards - there's no Steam Store page, no high-res press screens, no release window. Even calling the video from the Future Games Show a gameplay trailer is taking the biscuit, if not most of the factory floor at McVities. But the vibes, as they say, are immaculate: bare feet on a grubby floor, shambling horrors with many half-glimpsed appendages, and a gun that is surely too small to protect you from any of it. Resident Evil but injected with your most virulent 2022 strain.
]]>Palworld has a new trailer. If you've seen Palworld's previous two trailers, those words alone should send you rushing below to see what new absurdity is on show. For the uninitiated: Palworld is a game in which you can catch off-brand Pokémon, put them to work in a sweatshop producing guns, and then do battle with these Nopémon by your side and and an assault rifle in your hands.
Watch the trailer, you'll see.
]]>Back in January of this year RPS regular contributor Edwin Evans-Thirlwell interviewed Ami Y. Cai, developer of The Cartomancy Anthology, as part of his efforts to dig into the mystery of why tarot is such a popular inspiration for indie games at the moment. Happily, after today's Future Of Play Direct, we can provide you with a little update on that story: Cai's expansive collaborative project is due to release on Steam very soon: on August 9th, 2022.
]]>Upcoming sci-fi puzzle game The Entropy Centre has a gun that, at first glance, seems to rewind time, and that’s probably one of the most useful inventions ever. The Entropy Centre’s due out this year. Although it could probably be out whenever it likes if it fires at a calendar of games releases. Have your ideas about physics turned upside down when you watch the trailer below. Or is it above?
]]>Tinykin is about an astronaut named Milo returning to earth after a long space voyage. Milo might reasonably fall to his knees and scream "You blew it up, damn you!" when he gets there, because the earth he lands upon has been blown up several times larger than normal - either that or he's been made much smaller and is now the size of a penny. Milo must then have to navigate the abandoned world with a Pikmin-like army of aliens by his side, ready to solve puzzles.
It looks great, and after being announced last year, Tinykin now has a release date of August 30th.
]]>If there's anything I've learned from today's Future Of Play event, it's that stylish futuristic dystopian mysteries are where it's at right now in the indie scene, and I for one am all in favour. One of the coolest announcements at the event was Hill Agency: PURITYdecay, described as an "Indigenous cybernoir detective game" and in the works at Achimostawinan Games. Although maybe "in the works" isn't quite an accurate description, because the game is in fact out very soon: on August 31st this year, to be exact.
The trailer is a pitch-perfect hearkening back to the golden age hardboiled detective stories of the 1940s — complete with a black-and-white palette with just the occasional hint of colour to highlight the high-tech parts. High-tech because, despite its 20th century influences, this game is set quite far in the future, in 2262. It's not exactly a nice vision of the world in 240 years' time, though, as the narrator is quick to point out that it's riddled with "crime, conflict, and propaganda". Truly holding up a mirror to our times, then.
]]>Anyone up for side-scrolling Bloodborne? That’s the distinct vibe emitting from every gothic orifice of The Last Faith, a Metroidvania coming this year. Some more footage of the thwack ‘em up platformer was shown off at today’s Future Games Show. You can stroke your beard and make approving sounds at it, if you watch the trailer below.
]]>Sunday Gold, revealed at the Future Games Show tonight, has a lot going on under the hood, so bear with me. In Sunday Gold you play a team of three crims and... well, I can't explain it better than the steam blurb, which says "experience a unique hybrid of escape room style puzzles, turn-based combat, and RPG mechanics tied together with a dark and cinematic storyline." So, er, Blending a few things, here. Key takeaway is that everyone in this has a faced like a slapped Bulldog's bum. Nobody is having a fun time.
]]>Bramble: The Mountain King is an action-adventure game inspired by grim Nordic folktales, where the bosses you'll encounter may have some horrible backstory which explains why they now drown people for funsies. It's also seemingly a game where you're a wee smout and can ride on the back of a friendly hedgehog. There's a new trailer which covers both of these elements below.
]]>The Moomins were spreading themselves a little thin tonight, with Snufkin: Melody Of Moominvalley appearing at both the Wholesome Direct stream and the Future Games Show later the same evening. In the former we got a bit of a primer on Tove Jansson's work as the source material for this game, but in the latter we got a better look at the game in motion - plus news that ethereal Icelandic rockers Sigur Rós are collaborating on the sound track.
]]>Sci-fi first-person shooter Outpost has an underwhelming working title, but the trailer looks positively overwhelming thanks to the scale of the thing. It's about fighting gushing swarms of hundreds of squid-like robots and constructing a base to help you.
]]>One of the most intriguing new announcements at today's Future Of Play event had to be Psychroma, a cyberpunk horror adventure game in the works by indie developer/publisher Rocket Adrift Games. The devs describe their game as a narrative-driven side-scroller where you play as a digital medium. Imagine something halfway between Observer and Detention, then, and you'll be on the right lines.
The trailer harks back to the point-and-click mysteries beloved of my misspent youth, which really fits in with Psychroma's whole retro futuristic vibe. It's got that clever pixel art style that looks exactly how you remember golden age adventure games looking in the '90s, which of course means that it's much, much more polished and modern than those games ever were.
]]>Revealed at the Future Games Show tonight, Tray Racers is a game clearly derived from a dev accidentally doing a spoonerism in a meeting one time. This SEO nightmare is being developed by Bit Loom, the team behind colourful yet somehow unsettling puzzle game Phogs, and it's about racing down sand dunes on trays. As the trailer says, "the world ended... But the fun didn’t!", and I guess winning a dune race would take your mind off the unending horror for a bit.
]]>Would PT have spawned a genre of housebound horror had PT been fully released? I don't know, but Luto is the latest indie attempt at making you scared of your linen closet. It even has some extremely impressive sheet physics.
]]>It's hard not to view Kitfox Games as the stars of tonight's Future Of Play event. Hot on the heels of the news that Boyfriend Dungeon will be receiving a substantial free update, they unveiled Mossfield Origins, the next game coming courtesy of their publishing arm.
Developed by Studio Any Percent, Mossfield Origins promises an extremely relaxing take on the sci-fi city builder genre. The announcement trailer, which you can check out below, opens with a serene disembodied voice setting the tone for what's to come. "We were sent here with a purpose," the voice murmurs soothingly, then adds: "But we're not doing that any more."
]]>This year's Wholesome Direct featured around a hundred games, and from that, just as bloggers at Paris Fashion Week are able to look at what Versace is slanging down the runway to predict key highstreet colour themes 12 months in advance, we can look at what his wholesome hot and what is wholesome not. Get your wholesome discourse takes prepared, because in 2022 and beyond it's all about plants and witches.
]]>Dungeon crawler-slash-dating sim Boyfriend Dungeon will receive a substantial free update this summer and will feature three new dateable characters — not two, as was previously announced. The surprise new addition, revealed at tonight's Future Of Play stream, will be the sinister Dr Holmes the Whip, the final boss of the brand new dungeon which is also being added in the Secret Weapons DLC.
]]>The Guerrilla Games showcase this year had trailers for like, 60 games, or something, and no woman can play 60 games. Who do you think I am, Santa? You think I can slow time to infinity when I need it? So I've done you a little roundup of the games that caught my eye this time. There's some action, some horror and some puzzles. Fun for all the family!
]]>When I was a student I used to spend way too much time scrolling through the endlessly refreshing collection of horror flashfiction on r/nosleep. Consequently I'm a fan of horror anthologies in the vein of No Code's Stories Untold. Upcoming freak 'em up The Fridge Is Red (developed by 5Word Team) looks like r/nosleep having a story jam about the fridge you have to stare at off of Control, so I'm into it. Look out for it in 2022, but the trailer says there's a free demo on Steam now.
]]>Interplay’s formerly console-exclusive action RPG Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance 2 is being re-released this summer 18 years after it spawned, marking its first appearance on PC. It’s obviously the follow up to Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance, which was similarly late in coming to PC (and modern consoles) at the end of last year. Scout the next game’s trailer out below.
]]>Square Enix and People Can Fly have unveiled more details of the endgame for Worldslayer, the upcoming first paid expansion to their online co-op action RPG Outriders. Outriders’ creative director Bartek Kmita says there’s “hundreds of hours of meaningful progression” in Worldslayer’s endgame, which sounds like a lot, but the focus is mostly on the replayable big new Trial of Tarya Gratar dungeon. Check out the full broadcast below for some shooty footage.
]]>As part of the Summer Game Fest's adjacent livestream events, Epic Games did it's own thing to show off this year, and first on the docket was the reveal of a Lord Of The Rings Game that, as a lapsed fan, I'm actually interested in. The Lord Of The Rings: Return To Moria is a multiplayer action survival game about the Dwarves trying to reclaim the most cursed mine in all of fantasy canon. It's due out in Spring 2023 and will, of course, be an Epic Games Store exclusive.
]]>Guns and swords are a useful combination, so imagine having a gat-toting frog riding on top of a blade-wielding robot. That’s essentially the cut and thrust of Moving Pictures Interactive’s roguelite co-op action adventure Shoulders Of Giants, coming to the Epic Games Store later this year. They’re not quite a 21st century Banjo-Kazooie, but they’ll do in a pinch.
]]>What is building a PC but piecing together an elaborate, electronic jigsaw? Equally, what is building a jigsaw but piecing together an analogue cardboard PC you can't do anything with after it's finished? These similarities are why building a PC isn't as strange a subject for a videogame as it first appears.
If you like your electric jigsaws, then good news: there's now an open beta available for PC Building Simulator 2.
]]>Videogame publishers look at animated series like I look at air fryers: everyone else seems to have one, so I want one too. I assume that's why BioWare are working with Netflix to produce Dragon Age: Absolution, a new animated series coming this December.
]]>One time in the office (so, a hundred years ago) a hypothetical was posed: if you were given the chance to go to the moon, with a guarantee that nothing would go wrong, would you take it? "No," I said. "No way. Not a chance. I wouldn't like it." People were shocked at my refusal. "But nothing will go wrong!" they exclaimed. This misses the universal truth that even - and indeed, especially - when it is guaranteed nothing will go wrong, something will always go wrong in space.
Honestly, who can say that they've played a video game set on a space station and not encountered at least one deserted corridor plunged into darkness, but with one spotlight tipped over onto its side to cast ominous shadows? Raise your hands. Terror in space has never gone out of fashion, really, but the source of the terror does seem to go in cycles. In the 2010s a lot of the danger came from an AI gone a bit sinister and funny. As we saw at last night's Summer Game Fest, though, the monsters are back, baby.
]]>Last night’s Day Of The Devs stream closed out with an announcement from Annapurna Interactive, confirming that their annual summer showcase is happening again this year. Pop July 28th in your diaries, or feel free to mark it on your decorative floral-print wall calendar if you so wish. There’s a very short preview trailer of past Annapurna-published games to pique your interest below.
]]>Well, isn't this a lovely surprise? Arguably the highlight from Devolver's Countdown To Marketing stream this evening, The Plucky Squire is the next game from the creator of Swords Of Ditto - and it looks an absolute peach. See what I mean in the reveal trailer below.
]]>Skate Story has been grinding along for a couple of years, promising a skateboarding game set in an ephemeral world of ghostly corridors and unending paths. The last we saw of it was back in 2020. It resurfaced tonight during Devolver's not-E3 showcase, and dang: it's transformed into one of the most beautiful games I've ever seen.
]]>Anger Foot. It’s angry and there are certainly plenty of feet. From Free Lives, the creators of Broforce and Genital Jousting, it’s so aggressively kicky that I don’t feel like going near doors anytime soon. They describe it as a “lightning fast hard bass blast of kicking down doors and kicking ass”. Good grief. Keep an eye on the threatening tootsies in the trailer below.
]]>I rarely feel as conflicted about a game as I do about Honkai: Star Rail. It's a turn-based RPG and I like those; but it's a JRPG and I dislike those. It's got a spacefaring train in it, which I always think is cute; but also it's got anime waifus in it and those make me cringe. Its new trailer, which you'll find below, is dynamic and exciting and well-edited; but... it's got cringy anime waifus in it.
Watch it and make up your own mind.
]]>Genshin Impact developer MiHoYo brought some more fighty footage of their sci-fi online third-person action RPG Zenless Zone Zero to today’s Summer Game Fest presentation. It’s as snazzy as you’d expect from the Shanghai-based studio. Avoid multiple fancy blows while perusing the trailer below.
]]>Geoff-Fest, Keigh3, or just regular old E3 week (but not really) - whatever you want to call it, announcement season is here. Summer Game Fest 2022 has now wrapped up and there were plenty of trailers and world premieres to gawk at. If you couldn’t keep up with Keighley’s Summer Game Fest onslaught, or just need a reminder of what happened, we’ve got every new trailer from Summer Games Fest 2022 right here.
]]>A studio founded by former Blizzard folks today announced their free-to-play real-time strategy game, Stormgate. It's about the remnants of humanity hopping into mechs to beat back demonic-lookin' alien invaders, and will have a campaign with co-op support as well as competitive multiplayer. Check out these fightbots in the announcement trailer from the Summer Game Fest, below.
]]>Nightingale, the upcoming PvE open-world survival craft 'em up from former BioWare boss Aaryn Flynn's new studio, is getting into the card game business, according to its latest gameplay trailer shown at tonight's Summer Game Fest. Its freshly flaunted Realm Cards will be your ticket to navigating its mysterious portal network, although naturally you'll need to craft them by pulping different resources together first. Anyone spot a paper press in the new trailer below?
]]>Offering a veritable open buffet of updates, retro beat 'em up Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredders Revenge confirmed its release next week on June 16th, showed off Casey Jones (real name Arnold) as a playable character, and revealed some six-player online and local multiplayer all in one go. This wasn't part of anything, and was instead a random and unexpected announcement. Only kidding! It was one of many things shown at Summer Game Fest tonight.
]]>Midnight Fight Express features brutal violence and people in animal masks, prompting unflattering comparisons to the streamlined and propulsive Hotline Miami. Look past that comparison and I think there's more to like about it on its own terms, however. Check out the new trailer below, which also delivers news of its release date and a playable demo.
]]>Day Of The Devs is probably my favourite part of the summer games jamboree every year because it does wonders for the visibility of indie games and their developers. Slotting in snugly right after Geoff regaled us with the Summer Game Fest stream, this year’s Day Of The Devs showcase marked the tenth anniversary. Tim Schafer and friends revealed more about some stonking looking indies from places as far apart as the Netherlands, Japan and Argentina. It was lovely to see some solo devs featured too, such as Madison Karrh with Birth, a point-and-click puzzler about loneliness, and Billy Basso’s beautiful pixel-art Metroidvania Animal Well.
]]>Na-na-na-na-na-Nightwing! See, who misses Batman anymore? Not former ward and sidekick Dick Grayson, who was happily kicking faces and twirling about like the aerial gymnast he is at tonight’s Summer Game Fest, live from Gotham City. Oh wait, that was new footage from Gotham Knights? Okay then, well, you better watch the trailer to find out more.
]]>The Last Of Us: Part One is heading to PC. The news leaked out earlier this evening but was then officially announced as part of the Summer Games Fest. The good news is that our favoured platform will receive the same fancified version as is being developed for PlayStation 5; the bad news is that while the PlayStation 5 version has a September 2nd release date, there's no confirmed date for the PC version yet.
]]>A new trailer for Warhammer 40,000: Darktide fresh out of the Summer Game Fest gives another look at the heretic-smashing cooperative shooter from the makers of Warhammer: Vermintide and yup, it looks like Vermintide in 40K. And that's fine. I'm good with that. That's great, really. Vermintide is fun but I've no affinity for Warhammer Fantasy so yes, give me bolters and Inquisitors and Ogryns and sci-fi Gothic cathedrals. See for yourself below.
]]>First came Golf Club Wasteland, a post-apocalyptic sports game from Demagog Studios where the world's remaining elite jetted around golf courses on the ruined surface of Earth. Then, earlier this year, they announced The Cub, a side-scrolling platformer telling a parallel story of one of the poor souls left behind on our home planet while the rest of humanity buggered off to Mars. Now, Demagog seem to be expanding their Wasteland-verse with a third entry: Highwater. It's not clear how this one relates to the others just yet, but it does feature a rather lovely yellow lifeboat in a flooded cityscape. Check out the reveal trailer below.
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