Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 continues the misadventures of Henry of Skalitz, 15th century Bohemian blacksmith's son and chivalric Laddy Lad, who is questing to reclaim his murdered father's sword from some absolute shit of a noble. The prologue starts you off as the handsomely equipped and fully levelled-up bodyguard of Sir Hans Capon - an exasperating gadabout and your bosom chum from the 2018 game. You're on your way to deliver a message to a distant lord, in hopes that he'll take your own lord's side in the on-going civil war. But Plot intervenes in the shape of some suspiciously familiar bandits, who slaughter your retinue and reduce Henry and Sir Hans to a pair of shirtless runaways.
]]>"Oh, and one last thing..." teased the narration for yesterday's Like A Dragon Direct showcase on Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza In Hawaii, before announcing that the RPG will be getting New Game+ mode as part of a free post-launch update. It then cut to Majima and his crew making celebratory noises on deck. This follows last year's Infinite Wealth catching some backlash for the decision to lock the mode behind a £15/€15/$15 edition upgrade.
Unrelated, but I've decided to stop putting angry spiders through your letterbox every morning. I know, I know. Come on now. Hero is such a strong word.
]]>Ubisoft are delaying Assassin's Creed Shadows again, but this time, not just out of concern about the quality of Assassin's Creed Shadows. The French publisher are pushing back release of the new samurai-era open worlder from 14th February to 20th March 2025 while they look into "various transformational strategic and capitalistic options to extract the best value for stakeholders", with news of a possible major "transaction" to follow.
]]>A long, long time ago I became obsessed with watching people play rally games beautifully. It was a blessing to see those disembodied hands sling virtual cars around with grace and precision, kicking up dirt in a way I could only dream of.
Now, though, I am going through a different phase. A less blessed phase. One where I watched the popular streamer and influencer Ludwig attempt to climb to Platinum rank in League Of Legends, all because he wanted to prove another popular streamer, who thought he couldn't do it, wrong. I know I've already put you off, so I don't blame you if you stop reading. Just know that I couldn't stop watching his streams, even as it conjured up terrible memories of a time spent doing the exact same thing at uni.
]]>Over the Christmas break, I took a brief hiatus from reporting on every time a Total War developer breathes or spills tea on their shirt. The year ended, the world did not, and no Thanquol DLC was announced, but I did miss what I reckon is the strongest hint they’ve yet freely given that strategy game Total War: Warhammer 40,000 is both real and due an announcement very soon. Here’s the skinny.
]]>Terrible news! Santa ignored all my letters asking for 2025 to be a year when no new videogames came out so I could catch up on everything I missed from the past several years. In fact, it seems like maybe someone else might have sent him a letter asking for there to be more big games coming than ever.
]]>God-wrecking MOBA Smite 2 is going free-to-play next week after four months of paid early access. The game of omniscient deities scrapping over lanes and minions has been playable since September last year by early bird "founders" willing to pay some bucks (it had plenty of closed alphas since May too) but now it's finally opening up to the rest of us mere mortals. And it's throwing in a new "god" too, the genie-toting thief Aladdin.
]]>If you gotta go fast, you probably don't want to be a stubby-legged spearman who climbs every ladder like a geriatric walrus. Yet that's the challenge taken up yesterday by speedrunners at Awesome Games Done Quick. The UFO 50 speedrun includes an impressive dart through the retro collection's most bewildering game, the ancient and mysterious Barbuta, in which your character is a frustratingly slow hero with a fearfully short attack range. They managed to complete it in less than five minutes. Not only does the run (and its helpful commentary) serve as a short and sweet explanation of why Barbuta is so glitchily fascinating, it also left plenty of time to marathon another three games from the collection.
]]>Original Fallout designer Tim Cain, also known for co-directing The Outer Worlds at Obsidian, has published a video responding to a player's question about why violence is the "default" path in so many big budget RPGs. That's specifically RPGs with "AAA" budgets, whatever AAA means these days. Cain is, of course, well aware that there are many RPGs from smaller teams that "evolve past the paradigm of violence being the default way in which the player interacts with the world", and that there are plenty of puzzle games, adventure games and the like in which there is no violence at all.
]]>Looking for all the latest SpongeBob Tower Defense codes to redeem this January? SpongeBob TD is one of the latest in a long line of extremely popular Roblox Tower Defense games which gains its popularity in two ways: by being fun, and by adding popular characters from existing franchises. This time, it's SpongeBob's turn, and you must protect your base using towers which are also familiar characters such as Squidward, Patrick, and of course SpongeBob himself.
To help improve your chances of victory, you can redeem special SpongeBob TD codes for free rewards. These rewards range from EXP boosts to Gems, Trait Rerolls to Patties that you can use to feed and upgrade your towers. Below you can find the full up-to-date list of all working SpongeBob Tower Defense codes, along with instructions on how to redeem them in-game!
]]>Looking for all the latest Lootify codes to redeem this January? Lootify is a dungeon-crawling RPG experience in Roblox, where rolling for upgraded gear and crafting supplies is essential if you want to progress. To help you along the way, you can redeem codes in-game for a medley of entirely free in-game rewards like Potions, Coins, Rerolls, and more!
In the guide below, you'll find an up-to-date list of all the currently active Lootify codes, along with instructions on how to redeem them one by one.
]]>Looking for all the latest Rate My Car codes to redeem this January? If you're a fan of creating and customising the most gorgeous cars possible, then Rate My Car is likely to be right up your alley. But to become the true star of the show and beat out the competition with the best car possible, you need lots of Cash. And one of the easiest ways to get Cash is by redeeming codes.
Below we've made your job as easy as possible by collecting up all the currently working Rate My Car codes in one place, so you can redeem them all at once for tonnes of extra Cash!
]]>Looking for all the latest Go Fishing codes to redeem this January? Go Fishing is the latest Roblox fishing game to hit the big time, with tens of thousands of active players working to catch all the rarest and unique fish on offer. And to do that, you need lots of Cash and lots of different Baits - both of which you can get for free by redeeming Go Fishing codes in-game.
Most new codes are released by the game's developer (Fishing Forum) on their official Discord server, but we've made your task easier by collecting up all the newest and currently active Go Fishing codes so you can redeem them all at once for tonnes of free goodies. And if you're unsure how to redeem codes, we'll explain how to redeem them below too!
]]>Looking for all the newest Squid Game X codes to redeem this January? Squid Game X is really popping off at the moment in Roblox, and there's never been a better time to dive head-first into its various death-defying challenges with the help of our Squid Game X codes list.
Your main resource in Squid Game X is Coins, which you can use not only to customise your character's appearance, but also purchase extra lives to increase your chances of being the last playing standing at the end of the game. And each of the Squid Game X codes below will give you free Coins just by redeeming them in-game.
So, without further ado, scroll down to see the full list of all the newly added and currently working Squid Game X codes that you can redeem for free Coins and extra lives! We'll also go over how to redeem these codes if this is your first time playing.
]]>I'm quite proud of the delights that we packed behind each door of the Advent Calendar this year, to be honest. All my major choices are in there, plus a few more that I haven't played but I'd watched other people play, and had a swell time doing so. Still, there are always a handful that don't quite make the cut, but still deserve a heaped Christmas plateful of praise at year's end. So here's my selection box, my bonus games of the year for 2024. It's an unusually diverse triad this time.
]]>I'm a sucker for a good first-person runabout. I don't need to shoot, but it's sometimes nice to get a sword, or a big whip. As long as I get to be immersed in an adventure. I think that's the big theme of my selection box: being grounded within my player character. I want to feel what it's like to hike through canyons with too much sellable loot in my backpack. I want to park my soul in the head of a scared Scotsman way out of his depth, hundreds of miles from shore. The closer I can comfortably fit in my character's shoes, the more I seem to buy into the world they inhabit. Even if that world is constantly glowing a magnificent crimson.
]]>If pushed, I’d describe my 2024 gaming habits as eclectic, but that would actually be a lie. All my favourite games for the year are actually very similar: they are all the best. Unfortunately, the realities of sharing website space with several less-correctos means they didn’t all make this year’s advent calender.
]]>2024 was my first full year at RPS, and as a guides writer, it was a year packed with the sort of games that make you roll your sleeves up, wipe sweat from your brow, and stare up at the sky from the trenches, ruminating on what life is like when you aren't dealing with back-to-back Soulslikes interspersed with gacha games that feature incomprehensible lootbox mechanics.
]]>It was a rainy day when she walked into my office, hard rain, like stray stones from a truck on the highway hitting your car bonnet. I lit my cyber-cigarette and put my feet on my desk, I don't know why, I thought it would make me look nonchalant to this strange woman. She wasn't impressed. "Detective," she said, glaring at me with eyes like gorgeous tennis balls, "I want to open today's advent calendar door." I was confused. "Whaddya wanna do that for, missy?" She sat back, relaxed, and pulled a gun from her purse. "I need to stuff a body into it."
]]>There's a slight breeze and a comforting glow coming from the crack's in today's calendar door, the sound of merriment and many accents from all over the world. Better join in the campfire revelry, because whoever's there won't be staying for long.
]]>"A tactically rich turn-based game with some meaty role-playing elements", was how Staff Sergeant James Archer characterised his Menace hands-on, back in September. The only thing missing from his account of the game was the bread needed to make that rich, meaty concoction a tasty, nourishing sandwich.
And by bread, I of course mean the strategic layer - the parts between the turn-based battles where you pick your next mission, improve your squads, deal with pop-up story events, appraise your standing with each NPC faction, and equip your strike cruiser with auxiliary systems. Developers Overhype have now shared a few details of how it all works. Mmmmm, such malty, yeasty strategicalness.
]]>Clambering deep out of the Contemplation Pit, where reading reviews or opinions or, god help you, Takes, is forbidden, I am curious to learn how people have been categorising Songs of Silence. Its structure most resembles Songs of Conquest or Heroes of Might and/or Magic, but with little RPG emphasis or base building, and minimal tactical fighting.
Taxonomy is arbitrary and often unimportant at the end of the day, but I am very glad to firmly rule it out of one category: It's not a bloody card game. It looks like one, sure. You do most things with cards, and characters acquire more cards over time. But even if you absolutely, utterly, and correctly loathe card-based systems, this game has none.
]]>Ahhh, the lap of the ocean is calming isn't it? And it's really warm here, too. What's interesting is that the sounds of the sea are occasionally masked by the sounds of multiple segways. Weird.
]]>Open that bottle of space champagne, the aliens have been wiped out. At least that's what the interstellar pilots of Elite Dangerous are celebrating in the galaxy-sized multiplayer space sim. Earlier this month, the Thargoid menace finally landed in the Sol system, putting earth itself under threat for the first time, not to mention other human homeworlds and colonies. This meant players were invited to drop everything and head for home - to embark on one last great stand against the final, desperate, and dangerous alien attacker: a Thargoid Titan called "Cocijo". Don't worry, they got him.
]]>The announcement of The Witcher 4 with The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt's Ciri as protagonist has attracted a bit of discussion. Some of the reaction is online toddlers waxing wroth about a video game having a (somewhat older!!!) woman as lead character, and especially, shock, a video game in a series that has hitherto starred a man. And some of it is people commenting more thoughtfully on whether Ciri genuinely makes for a suitable Witcher protagonist, given that she isn't the product of the typical Witcher genetic modification regime (which is heavily tailored towards men), and given that, without spoiling too much, she has gifts that make crumbly old Geralt's sword-and-sorcery skillset look rather paltry.
Speaking to Eurogamer this week, game director Sebastian Kalemba and narrative director Philipp Weber responded to a few of these comments, and also shared a little about Ciri's situation at the start of the game.
]]>"We are a people who honour democracy," said the dog, scratching himself. "Per our custom, you may drink of our fresh water." The dog was called Senator Umeshefaat, and he was very civil, even if he was shedding his black and white fur everywhere. We spoke in his home village at dawn. Later, I examined the senator's personal history more thoroughly and discovered he was "hated by bears for cooking them a rancid meal." I suppose every politician has their enemies.
That Caves Of Qud creates fun anecdotes out of simple encounters shouldn't be a surprise. It has had 15 years of early access to establish itself as a small-but-mighty story generating roguelike of repute (there's a reason it sits deservedly side-by-side with Dwarf Fortress in the same publishing house). After creating many characters, and dying and dying and dying again, I understand why it grips the brain with such fierce glee. It is a machine of grand imagination and adventuresome comedy. A deceptively powerful RPG that isn't half as obtuse to newcomers as the screenshots make it out to be. Qud's low-res bark is just a complement to its bite.
]]>They say hope is the first step on the road to disappointment, and reader, I’ve made a pretty damn big step. Previously, on my mission to survive S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl with only wild mutants as my weapons, I’d discovered clues that someone else was attempting to tame the Zone’s beastly inhabitants. With one of their electronic tracking collars in hand and absolutely no preexisting knowledge of their location, I set out to find this kindred spirit, only for the Zone to once again slam a door in my face.
A cold, steel, very literal door to boot. It turns out that the scientist’s laboratory is locked up tight, and will remain so until I delve about twenty hours deeper into the faction war that’s bubbled up while I’ve been running around throwing irradiated rats at people in tracksuits. Fine. Fine! But I’m keeping the collar.
]]>Today's Advent Calendar might take you quite some time to polish off. It's ridiculously dense, darkly majestic, and popular among masochists. Come then, touch the withered arm and be transported behind door number 18...
]]>First revealed all the way back in December 2023, Archetype Entertainment and Blur Studio's sci-fi action adventure Exodus hit us with a few things: Matthew McConaughey is involved, it looks a bit like Mass Effect, it's being developed by BioWare veterans, and it loves a bit of time dilation. In October of this year, we got a look at some icky celestial faction and zero in the way of actual gameplay. And now? Now we finally get a look at how you do things. Like sucker-punching armoured space bears in the face with electro-pistols.
]]>Great was the adulation last week when FromSoftware announced a new Elden Ring game, Elden Ring: Nightreign - and great the lamentation from certain quarters when it was revealed to be a co-op-focussed experience. If you missed the reveal, perhaps because you value sleep over the spectacle of Geoff Keighley's fashion friends, let me catch you up: in Nightreign, you pick one of eight preset characters and explore a parallel-universe version of Elden Ring's Limgrave map, fighting lesser foes and levelling up quickly so that you can battle a boss at the end of each 15-minute in-game day.
]]>Uh, it's probably not a problem - probably - but I'm seeing a small discrepancy in today's advent calendar and... no, never mind... it's well within acceptable bounds. Go ahead, open the door.
]]>Quick, the world is in peril, your adopted daughter is under threat, and nearby villagers are being terrorised by monsters. What do you do? Oh, you're sitting down at a cosy table in the local tavern. You're playing a card game with a dude called "Aldert". The wind outside is howling, and so are the nightwraiths, but you're just sitting there. Playing another "cow" card. Okay.
Guess you'll be happy to learn that the Witcher 4 developers have more or less confirmed that Gwent will be making a return in the recently trailered Ciri-led sequel.
]]>Today’s door has a big DO NOT ENTER sign, suggesting your immediate opening of it was in fact prohibited. Banned. Taboo, even. Yet it’s hard to see why, as it swings open to reveal a spectacular sunset view, interrupted only by the roar of a mechanical woolly mammoth.
]]>Crimson Desert first galloped onto the scene in 2020, with a bombastic trailer at Gamescom 2023 showcasing some particularly beautiful medieval open world action adventuring. It's got horses, fishing, plate armour and roving heroism, but one thing it lacks is a release date. Now, thanks to The Geoff Awards, that's changed! Well, sort of - Crimson Desert is out sometime in late 2025.
]]>Stealth launching a game during an awards ceremony is cool. But you know what's cooler? Stealth launching a union. As many in the games industry settled in for an evening of advertisements and blockbuster backslapping, one group of US workers quietly succeeded in organising something of their own. Employees at Zenimax Online Studios launched their union with 461 members, as announced on social media site Bluesky last night.
]]>Earlier this week we heard rumblings of a new character announcement for Tekken 8, and at the same time a trailer dropped a big unmistakable hint for red-dressed rabble rouser Anna Williams. Turns out that unmistakable hint was mistakable. My mistake. At last night's Game Awards we learned that the next fighter to come to the game will be... Clive? From Final Fantasy XVI? Sure. Why not.
]]>Capcom are working on a sequel to Okami, the wonderful 2006 Zelda-like in which you play a sun goddess in a wolf's body, roaming a world of ink and parchment. It’s being co-developed by M-TWO Inc, Machine Head Works Inc and CLOVERS Inc, and directed by original Okami game director Hideki Kamiya. I am tickled pink, I tell you. Find a trailer below.
]]>Looter FPS Borderlands 4 has gotten its first trailer, courtesy of Medium Geoff’s Happy Hour and..wait. What you mean it’s three hours? I’m going to die tonight, aren’t I? Ah well, at least I’ll die doing what I’m ambivalent about. Here’s the trailer for Fourderlands, which is out sometime next year.
]]>I've lost track of how many Yakuza games are in development at any given moment, but it seems makers Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio have space for more on their plate. During this evening's Game Awards, they announced "Project Century", a new third-person brawler set in 1915. There's a trailer below.
]]>The Long Dark creators Hinterlands have announced The Long Dark 2, another helping of open-ended wilderness survival. Actually titled Blackfrost: The Long Dark 2 - a travestying of naming conventions that is surely more harrowing than any post-apocalyptic winter - it's out in early access in 2026, and introduces urban environments together with a "Will to Live" sanity system and co-op multiplayer. Here's the trailer.
]]>The Geoffies have delivered us a first look at the gameplay for Obsidian’s spacefaring RPG sequel, The Outer Worlds 2. It looks, as you might expect, very much like the first one, but a bit nicer. The game itself was announced back in 2021, but we’ve seen nary a vaguely satirical sign nor very large gun since. Now we have both, plus some punching. Here’s that trailer.
]]>Final Fantasy VII Rebirth launched on console back in February, and if I'd had to guess, I'd say it would arrive on PC about a year later. Hey - guess what! Square Enix just gave Rebirth a PC release date: January 23rd, 2025.
]]>CD Projekt have screened the first trailer for The Witcher 4, the next instalment in their fantasy monster-slaying series. It’s another single player open world RPG, and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt’s Ciri is the protagonist. In fact, she's the protagonist for a whole new Witcher saga, though there’s a tease at the end of the footage that crusty old Geralt may return as well.
]]>RPG Solasta: Crown Of The Magister is getting a sequel. Solasta II launches in early access next year, and they’re aiming to have a demo out sometime earlier. Like its predecessor, this one’s a party-based CRPG with tactical combat, featuring single player and online co-op. Here’s a trailer. Warning: it has shiny rock people in it, the worst videogame enemy.
]]>Remember when From Software’s Hidetaka Miyazaki said they weren’t thinking about Elden Ring 2, but they were thinking about the continuation of Elden Ring in general? Well, who had “three player co-op musou” on their bingo card?
]]>After a failure-riddled start, my attempt to turn S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2’s mutants into beasts of war is finally bearing fruit. I’ve engineered a Bloodsucker attack that wiped out the worst of villains – someone who was mean to me – and I’ve progressed far enough to really open up the map, and with it, access to more of the Zone’s fiercest fleshwarps.
Also, rats. Buoyed by the successful Bloodsucker siccing, I’m back on the trail of some mysterious anomaly scanners, and word is I might find a lead inside a local maze of wrecked cars. It’s heavily guarded by some gangster types, but for once, I won’t have to dash off in search of some far-off muties and coax them back here using my neck as bait. Mercifully, a gaggle of overgrown rodents are already hopping around right outside the labyrinth’s entrance. I beckon them in like a bouncer on his last day, then sprint past the stunned gunmen, who can barely shoulder their rifles before being set upon by a pack of giant carnivorous hamsters.
]]>If Space Marine 2's wanton devil-mulching left you hungry for more fantastical depictions of medieval zealotry, maybe take a look at Band Of Crusaders, an open-world party-based RPG in which you are the Grandmaster of a knightly order, trying to keep a bunch of wily Archdemons out of Europe. It seems to play a bit like XCOM, with an oppressive world map that is slowly encroached upon as you travel around recruiting soldiers, interacting with settlements, and picking real-time fights with hellfiends "inspired by biblical descriptions and European folklore". Naturally, parallels with real-life xenophobia and sectarian hatred abound. Here's the trailer.
]]>Bulletstorm, Painkiller and Outriders developers People Can Fly are "suspending or parting ways" with over 120 people, shelving one video game project, downsizing another, and "restructuring some of our support teams" in the face of market turmoil.
]]>While it’s always worth starting a new game of Cyberpunk 2077 just to hear Judy say "his own choomba shot him!" for the thirtieth time, there’s now a slightly more tangible reason to start a new journey into Night City’s open world. Update 2.2 went live yesterday, bringing with it a host of fixes, as well as some deeper customisation options for both your character and vehicles. The base game is also 55% off on Steam until the 18th of December, with the Phantom Liberty expansion at 20% off, or both in a 48% off bundle. Cyberpunk is on sale often enough, although these current discounts line up with the cheapest it's ever been on Steam. Again: worth it for the line.
]]>I’m quite smitten by the Nintendo DS stylings and traditional roguelike charms of Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon Of Serpentcoil Island, but I’m having real trouble summoning up the motivation to repeatedly grind through its opening levels to get to the interesting stuff. Early stages soon lose any real sense of surprise, and later ones can feel low on real agency. I want a new roguelike run to feel vital and verdant; heady with grand plans and plan-shattering twists. But by having randomness influence each run so significantly, Mystery Dungeon feels fickle instead of emergent - less than the sum of some incredibly novel and creative parts.
]]>There’s an awful lot behind this door, lemme tell ya. Hours of adventure, of tension, of action, of sci-fi strangeness. It’ll be great. Unfortunately the door itself is bugged out so you’ll need to reload a quicksave or something to get it open.
]]>This happened on Thursday, but we were busy with other, less interesting news. Late or not, I can't let it pass unremarked upon: Caves Of Qud, the vast, weird roguelike which has been in development for 17 years, hit version 1.0. It brings multiple endings to the game, a revised UI, improved tutorials and much more.
]]>The protagonists of two of my all time favourite RPGs share something in common. Both (the best Final Fantasy game) Final Fantasy 8’s Squall and The Witcher 3’s Geralt simply cannot get enough of leaving their friends and the entire world in mortal peril while they sneak in a quick round of cards, and I love them for it. Way back when the Wild Hunt released, there was a special edition kicking about that gave you a few decks for Gwent - the fleshed-out, playable card distraction that ended up being responsible for some of the game’s best moments. I pined for those decks, but I never acquired them. Now, Hatchette Board Games is putting out a full physical edition of Gwent next year.
The set contains "over 400 cards and a playmat" for £44/$39.99. I’m still recovering from various Fantasy Flight LCGs, so my value sense for this stuff might be a bit skewed, but that strikes me as incredibly reasonable. A good Gwent deck consists of only about 25 cards. They’re not bad cards, either! I’ve got a real pet hate for tabletop versions of videogames that just use in-engine screenshots for the cards, but these ones look to have the proper artwork from the game on them:
]]>Looking for a way to get Essence in Infinity Nikki? A large portion of your time in Infinity Nikki will be spent collecting crafting materials and items across Miraland using your special Ability Outfits. But after a time, you'll encounter tasks that require Essence variants of certain items. How do you get Essence? The game leaves this question irritatingly unanswered, so we've decided to step in.
In this quick guide, you'll learn everything you need to know to start gathering Essence in Infinity Nikki. We'll also go over what Essence is generally used for, including its uses in the creation of the all-important Miracle Outfit.
]]>Wondering what Infinity Nikki Tidal Guidance means? As part of the Resonance gacha system, you can set course towards your favourite 5-star Outfit on the permanent banner, 'Distant Sea', through a system called Tidal Guidance. It may sound complicated, but this guide will show you how it works.
Beware that it takes a large stack of Resonite Crystals to obtain your favourite clothes from Tidal Guidance. Before we explain this Infinity Nikki feature, you might want to get more Resonite Crystals.
]]>Do you need to heal in Infinity Nikki? Although Nikki isn't the type to slay enemies left and right, that doesn't mean she can't lose HP. Whenever that happens, you can rely on HP recovery items to save you from a respawn.
Healing items are devilishly well-hidden in Infinity Nikki. If you don't happen to look in the right place, it's easy to miss them altogether. Here's how to heal and how to grab some Healing Nectar for free.
]]>Want to improve your Stylist Rank in Infinity Nikki? If you want to become one of Miraland's Legendary Stylists, you'll have to upgrade the Stylist Rank in the Courses application. In return, you will receive valuable rewards such as Energy Crystals and Resonite Crystals. Besides claiming rewards, obtaining new Stylist Ranks will also help you advance the main quests.
Unfortunately, it's possible to hit a soft-lock during the main questline due to Stylist Rank requirements. In this guide, we'll show you how to improve your Stylist Rank and deal with the Daily Wishes cap.
]]>Want to upgrade your clothes in Infinity Nikki? If you wish to thrive in the fashionable Miraland, you must wear the most stylish, sparkliest, and strongest Outfits. Not to worry if you don't have any 5-star items yet, you can improve any set of clothing by using the Glow Up feature. Don't like the looks of a particular set? Then you can even upgrade its cosmetic features.
Whether you're going for a stat boost or a different colour scheme, this guide will show you how to upgrade Outfits in Infinity Nikki.
]]>Open a door, then back here again, open a door, then back here again. It's as if we're caught in some infernal loop. Thankfully we get to talk to you, our attractive friends, in the moments between.
OK, ready to go again. Let's open the door.
]]>When last we left myself, on a mission to survive S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 by weaponising its monsters instead of shooting its guns, my one-with-nature experiment was yielding mixed results. At best. I’d successfully lured some bandits into the deadly lair of a bucket-tossing Poltergeist, but several attempts at more actively siccing mutated pigs on the Zone’s human baddies had all failed, even when I’d seemed to actually tame one.
Now, my only friend lay dead at my feet, and I’m in dire need of some new beasts to master. And some cash. It turns out that a fighting style that involves letting shopping trolley-sized swine creatures chew on my heels is bad for the ol’ HP, and having recently blown my savings on half a sausage, I’m forced to shift focus from my current debt collection mission towards a means to fill my own coffers.
]]>There was a crowded second there when I read the press release and thought they’d militarised the Beano, but Menace is not, in fact, about Dennis the Menace joining the Colonial Marines. It’s the new turn-based tactics RPG from the creators of Battle Brothers, and look at that, it has a freshly deployed gameplay trailer.
]]>Ah, it feels just like yesterday when Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector had around a year of development time left. Actually, I’d say it feels like it precisely around February 2nd of this year. Well, would you look at that. It seems making excellent RPGs isn’t Jump Over The Age’s only skill. They’ve also predicted the exact release of their game to within a 3 day margin of error: the actual release date is the 31st of January, 2025.
]]>How do you get the Miracle Outfit in Infinity Nikki? The Miracle Outfit is in fact the first of several Outfits which are directly related to the main story of Infinity Nikki. You may remember in the prologue when you met Ena the Curator, she gave you the mission to "revive all the Miracle Outfits". In the current state of the game, there's just one Miracle Outfit in Infinity Nikki, and it's not at all clear what you're meant to do to get your hands on it.
In this guide, we'll hopefully clear up some of the confusion surrounding the all-important Miracle Outfit of Wishfield. Read on below and you'll learn everything you need to craft the Miracle Outfit in Infinity Nikki.
]]>Need to pass the time in Infinity Nikki? Don't worry, there's no need to hang around as you wait for the time of day to change organically. If you'd like to skip time until nightfall or morning, whether it's for a quest or just for fun, there's an easy way to do so.
As passing time in Infinity Nikki requires a Pear-Pal, make sure you've completed the story quest called 'Land of Wishes'. If that's done, here's how to change the time of day.
]]>Looking for more Infinity Nikki Revelation Crystals? To obtain the most fabulous fits from the game's gacha banners, you'll need plenty of Revelation Crystals. The more you have on hand, the greater your chances of receiving the best five-star Outfits for Nikki.
Unfortunately, Revelation Crystals are a limited resource in Infinity Nikki. While they can be bought with real money, there are a few ways to obtain them for free. Since it's easy to miss out on free Revelation Crystals, this guide will show you how to grab them and use them on Resonance banners.
]]>Looking for Bedrock Crystal in Infinity Nikki? There's a dizzying number of different dresses, tops, shoes, and other clothes available in Infinity Nikki, but the vast majority of them need crafting first - and you won't get far without Bedrock Crystal. These shining purple rocks are a commonly used crafting material, but they only come from defeating one specific enemy: the Bouldy miniboss.
In this guide, we'll show you the easiest way to farm Bedrock Crystal in Infinity Nikki. It involves you reaching at least Chapter 2 in the main storyline, which shouldn't take long; and after that, we promise you'll be rolling in Bedrock Crystals for the rest of the game.
]]>Need more Infinity Nikki Resonite Crystals? If you'd like to obtain more Outfits for Nikki, spending Resonite Crystals on the game's gacha banners is a great way to get them. With a nice stack of Resonite Crystals in your pocket, you'll certainly get a glamorous fit to flaunt in Miraland.
The only issue is that Resonite Crystals are difficult to find. You can buy them with real money, but there are also ways to obtain them for free - if you know where to look. This guide will show you how to get Resonite Crystals in Infinity Nikki and how to spend them wisely.
]]>Looking for Tricky Patch in Infinity Nikki? Tricky Patch is a crafting material that may elude new Infinity Nikki players for a little while. But it's necessary to find some Tricky Patch, because it's a required material for crafting new Infinity Nikki Outfits and other handy items later on.
If you're struggling to find anything that can give you Tricky Patch, you've come to the right place. As it turns out, you need to face off against a particular kind of Esseling enemy. Read on to learn how to get Tricky Patch in Infinity Nikki.
]]>The world is changing. Geopolitics are fractious and unnerving, environmental catastrophe seems more likely each day, and rampant digitally-disseminated disinformation further erodes our trust in one another. But I'll let lesser reporters tell you about that stuff. I'm here to report that Capcom have made the big bonk feel good again. They’ve heard player feedback on the missing weapon oomph caused by the lack of hitstop in the Monster Hunter Wilds beta, and they’re bringing back the bonk.
Here’s a handy breakdown of the issue by X user Blue Stigma, but briefly: hitstop is the brief pause in an attack animation the moment the weapon connects with an enemy, giving you a real sense of bonkitude and making say, a hammer feel different from a dagger. As the video showed, the hitstop was greatly reduced in Wilds compared to previous Monster Hunters, and many players reported the combat just feeling a bit off as a result.
]]>I'll come out and say it: I had no idea, really, what Infinity Nikki was about before I dove in. I knew from some trailers that it was a free-to-play game about collecting pretty dresses and exploring a relentlessly positive open world. In those respects, I was correct.
I'd just missed the really big part - the fact it's a pacifistic Genshin Impact wearing a pretty dress. And as that realisation sunk in for the first time, my heart also sank with it. I really tried, I mean really tried to get into Nikki's gacha offerings; to delight in its menagerie of menus and cash in countless currencies for fun socks or glitzy tiaras. Sadly, I won't be logging back in ever again.
]]>Need more Energy in Infinity Nikki? If you want to do Realm Challenges, you'll have to spend a resource called 'Vital Energy'. Besides being fun, Realm Challenges are a great source of upgrade materials and items, so it's very important to have enough Energy on hand. If you run out, you won't be able to enter new challenges for a while.
An Infinity Nikki Energy deficit is understandably frustrating, but luckily, there are several ways to recover Vital Energy. One of them involves waiting, and the other two require Energy Crystals and Diamonds. Here's how the Energy system works and how to get more Energy Crystals in Infinity Nikki.
]]>Looking to collect all 366 Whimstars in Infinity Nikki? There's a great deal of activities to busy yourself with in the land of Infinity Nikki, from the expansive main storyline to tonnes of side quests, activities, and a vast supply of collectibles. Chief among those collectibles are Whimstars, which you must collect in order to unlock new skills in the Heart Of Infinity.
There's a grand total of 366 Whimstars to collect across all six regions of Miraland in Infinity Nikki, and below we'll help you find every last one of them. Follow along with our guide, and we'll explain everything you need to know about what Whimstars are and how they work, the various different types of Whimstar puzzles you'll come across during your travels, and - most importantly - where to find all 366 Whimstar locations in Infinity Nikki!
]]>Want to save your Infinity Nikki outfits? Part of the fun in this colourful open-world game is to expand Nikki's wardrobe and change her outfits according to the occasion. With hundreds of different clothing items to collect, you'll be spoiled for choice, but that also makes it difficult to keep track of your favourite fits. Luckily, there's an option to save your best Infinity Nikki outfit combinations.
]]>Would you like to invite friends in Infinity Nikki? While there's no shortage of NPC friends in Papergames' giant new dress-up adventure, perhaps you'd like some human ones too. If your friends are also playing this cosy open-world game, you can send them a friend code to connect. The more the merrier, right?
]]>Looking for a full list of all 46 Infinity Nikki Outfits? There are hundreds upon hundreds of different clothing items to collect and craft in Infinity Nikki, perhaps the most ambitious and high-quality open-world dress-up game we've come across. Many of these clothing items are parts of overall sets called Outfits, and with a total of 46 different full Outfits in the game, there's no shortage of stats and challenges to sort through if you want to own them all.
Some Outfits in Infinity Nikki will be unlocked automatically as you progress through the main storyline, but others you'll need to go searching for. They may be hidden inside treasure chests, or locked behind Styling Challenges. Several of them will need to be pulled from Resonance Banners if you want to own them. We'll go over all these and more in our guide to all 46 Infinity Nikki Outfits below, complete with stats, parts, abilities, and instructions on how to get every single Outfit in the game. We've even listed all the best Outfits for each stat: Elegant, Fresh, Sweet, Sexy, and Cool.
]]>Want to track down all 88 Breezy Meadow Whimstar locations in Infinity Nikki? Whimstars make the world go around in Miraland, the colourful world of Infinity Nikki. More specifically, they're required for you to unlock all the new ability Outfits, clothes, and skill upgrades in your Heart Of Infinity skill tree. And a huge amount of these colourful collectibles are found in Breezy Meadow.
If you're just beginning the unenviable task of tracking down all 88 Breezy Meadow Whimstars, fear not. Below we've catalogued the exact location of every single Whimstar in the region, with screenshots and instructions detailing exactly how to solve each Whimstar challenge you'll come across in Breezy Meadow. So, deep breath, and let's begin.
]]>Looking to collect all the Florawish Whimstars in Infinity Nikki? Florawish is the second major region you'll encounter in Infinity Nikki, home to the Stylist's Guild, the Dream Warehouse, and a grand total of 67 Whimstars to locate.
Whimstars are very important in Infinity Nikki, because they are used to unlock more ability nodes in the Infinity Heart, which is essentially the game's skill system. Without Whimstars, you can't unlock new ability outfits or key clothing items. So it's well worth spending the time to track down every last Whimstar in Florawish while you're there.
Below we'll show you exactly where to find all 67 Florawish Whimstars in Infinity Nikki. You can use our handy Florawish Whimstar map to track down all the Whimstars yourself, and if you get stuck on any particular Whimstar, keep scrolling below, because we have detailed write-ups on how to find and solve each Florawish Whimstar puzzle!
]]>Looking for all the Whimstars in the Memorial Mountains, the first region of Infinity Nikki? Whimstars are a very important collectible item in Infinity Nikki, and they come thick and fast as early as the game's prologue, after Nikki wakes up in the middle of the Stylist's Guild Memorial.
There is a grand total of 7 Whimstars to collect just in the Memorial Mountains region alone, and it's well worth tracking them all down, because Whimstars are needed in order to unlock new Ability Outfits, clothing items, and skills in the Heart Of Infinity skill system. In this guide, we'll walk you through where to find all the Memorial Mountains Whimstars in Infinity Nikki.
]]>Looking to collect all 26 Whimstars within Stoneville in Infinity Nikki? Stoneville is a small and fairly vertical region found to the west of Breezy Meadow in the fantastical world of Miraland. And, as with all the different world regions in Infinity Nikki, it's packed with Whimstars that you can collect to unlock new skills and Outfits in the Heart Of Infinity.
In this guide, we've pulled together all our knowledge on where to find all 26 Stoneville Whimstars in Infinity Nikki, with detailed instructions, maps, and screenshots to help you solve every Whimstar puzzle in Stoneville.
]]>Need more Stellarite in Infinity Nikki? Stellarite is a special in-game currency that can be used to buy premium items from the store, including a variety of clothes. If you want additional, dresses, jackets, hats, or anything else to complete the perfect outfit for Nikki, it's best to stack up on Stellarite as much as you can.
]]>What is the current Infinity Nikki banner schedule? The Resonance system in Infinity Nikki should be very familiar to you if you've played other prominent gacha games like Genshin Impact or Wuthering Waves. From the Resonance screen, you can spend Resonite Crystals and Revelation Crystals to "pull" for unique clothing items. If you don't know what that means, it's basically a lottery, and each time you Resonate, you will gain a random reward from a large selection of possible clothing items.
When you Resonate in Infinity Nikki, you first have to choose a banner, which determines the selection of possible rewards you can get. Some banners are permanent, while others are time-limited or event-based banners which will disappear after a time. So if you're on the lookout for a specific dress or entire Infinity Nikki Outfits, you need to keep an eye out for the upcoming banners, so you know when is the best time to pull.
Below we've detailed the current Infinity Nikki banner schedule, including details on the current and the next banners in Infinity Nikki. Further below, we've compiled an ever-growing list of all the previous banners that we've seen in Infinity Nikki since the game's launch.
]]>Looking for all the answers to Professor Aventura's Observation questions in Infinity Nikki? Professor Aventura is a recurring NPC in Infinity Nikki, one who delights in travelling Miraland, laying in wait for you at key locations, and then pouncing on you with a question about the surrounding area. Professor Aventura's quests are called Observation quests, and to complete them, you just need to answer his question correctly.
The hidden secret of the Observation quests is that you don't need to know the answer. If you guess wrong, you can just try again with a different answer, and so you can complete the quest purely through trial and error. But hey, that's not the most efficient way to deal with these quests! Read on to find the answers to all of Professor Aventura's Observation questions in Infinity Nikki!
]]>What is the fastest way to get Bling in Infinity Nikki? As a gacha game, Infinity Nikki is of course brimming with different confusing currencies. But Bling is simple and easy to understand - it's the most basic currency, used for pretty much everything from purchasing new outfits and abilities to unlocking new skills in the Heart Of Infinity skill tree.
There are tonnes of different ways to earn Bling, but some are definitely more lucrative than others. And if you learn how to combine different methods of farming Bling, you can start to earn over a million Bling per day. In the guide below, we'll explain how to get Bling as fast as possible in Infinity Nikki, so that you never have to worry about dwindling Bling reserves ever again.
]]>Stuck on one of Infinity Nikki's confusing Kindled Inspiration side-quests? The world of Miraland in Infinity Nikki is jam-packed with side quests and activities, and one of the most baffling for new players is the recurring "Kindled Inspiration" series of quests. In these quests, you must wear a specific clothing item in front of the quest-giver at the right time of day in order to solve the quest and gain the reward.
But it's very difficult at times to know which clothing item or Outfit is expected for each quest. So to help make things simpler for you, we've put together the below guide detailing all the Kindled Inspiration solutions in Infinity Nikki.
]]>Dragon Age: The Veilguard won't receive any major story DLC. It also ends pretty decisively, save for a few hints about the future of Thedas in a secret post-credits scene. How final is that air of finality? Is Dragon Age going back on the shelf for the forseeable? Fear not, say game director Corinne Busche and series creative director John Epler, for the universe of Dragon Age has many yarns yet to spin. The next game won't necessarily be an action game with RPG trappings, either, for much like Final Fantasy, Dragon Age exists in a state of continual "reinvention".
]]>Looking for the Infinity Nikki release time? Blurring the line between open-world adventure game and dress-up sim, Infinity Nikki is the perfect game for explorers with a great sense of style. If you'd like to be one of them, be ready to enter the magical world of Infinity Nikki between December 4 and 5.
]]>Jett: The Far Shore and Sword & Sworcery developers Superbrothers are making a new "2D mystery action pixel videogame", in partnership with an unnamed publisher. In what feels almost like a pivot away from the developers' previous, magnificently hipster experiments, it's billed as "satisfyingly finite, immediately legible, entertaining, funny, and generally satisfying for a broad audience".
]]>"Bestest best?! We’ll have that!" is how I imagine detective immersive sim Shadows Of Doubt made it on the roster for the Jingle Jam 2024 charity bundle. "RPS have never steered us wrong before!" they said, thus cementing our reputation as the most selflessly heroic gaming website, seven years running. What we can’t take credit for, however, is the 1.2 million quid they’ve raised already. If you want to make that number bigger, you can pick up the bundle here, and get 19 Steam keys for your trouble with a minimum donation of £35.
19 is such an annoying number in terms of the page layout that I’m almost convinced to never give to charity again, but there are some very nice games, including the aforementioned Shadows Of Doubt, Dungeons And Degenerate Gamblers, Citizen Sleeper, Another Crab’s Treasure, Two Point Campus, and Deathsprint 66.
]]>The Elden Ring series will live on, but Elden Ring 2? That's slightly more in doubt. So says Hidetaka Miyazaki, the original Elden Lord, in a new interview about From Software's current projects, which apparently span a variety of genres.
]]>Are there any sights more quintessentially Christmassy than a street lit up by warm and glowing decorations, as seen through a snow-graced windowpane? Why, I could gaze through this wonderful window all day. Let’s just hope no-one decides to smash through it, eh? Why, I’d get bits of glass in my lovely warm milk, which would massively downgrade my biscuit-dunking experience. Wait. What’s that? Oh no!
]]>Netease's free to play open world gacha RPG Project Mugen now has a proper name: Ananta. As Edwin points out in the Maw, it is very much like Spider-Man meets Zenless Zone Zero, with its mixture of cityslinging and unabashed anime teens with long, flowy hair and a penchant for metal accessories.
]]>Today’s advent calendar window has an entire cult inside of it. Also, an alcoholic knight speaking in plummy prose between mouthfuls of booze and porridge. What’s more Christmassy than booze and porridge, eh? Not much, we’ll wager. You could pour the booze in the porridge, perhaps? You could call it ‘inebrioats’!
]]>‘Confident’ game design is one of those slightly fluffy critic words I sometimes find myself reaching for tenuously, knowing that - sigh - I’m going to have to do all sort of detestable nonsense like ‘back up my vague assertion with concrete examples that are useful to the reader’ if I do. Yuck. If there’s one type of design that deserves the accolade, though, it’s RPGs that are assured enough in the richness of their worlds to not feel the need to signpost every discovery.
It’s a feedback loop of charitable feelings: the game is saying "we think you’re smart enough to find this stuff on your own". "You’re right!" you respond. "I am smart! And anyone who recognises that must be one smart cookie". Joy abounds, it rains Tunnock’s Caramel Wafers, hedgehogs jig gracefully in the street, and all is right with the world. So, I must say, I’m quite pleased to hear Avowed’s environment region director Berto Ritger sing the virtues of missable content to GamesRadar.
]]>Last week, Brendy left a note in our weekly Maw liveblog about a player-made map of Caves Of Qud, the reportedly excellent sci-fi roguelike RPG that lets you "chisel through layers of thousand-year-old civilizations", represented as 2D Dwarf Fortress-esque layouts. Glancing over that map as a newcomer to the game, my eye was caught by the creator's casual mention that Caves Of Qud is technically 2,147,483,646 levels deep.
"Is Caves Of Qud really 2,147,483,646 levels deep?" I asked Brendy, like a wide-eyed child asking whether there is such a thing as dog heaven. Brendy wasn't sure. (About Caves Of Qud, I mean, not dog heaven.) So I put the question to one of the developers, Freehold Games co-founder Brian Bucklew. In brief, the answer is yes, but with some significant caveats.
]]>Seeing great games sell too poorly for the pursestring goblins to shell out for a sequel is always a heartache, but it really stung to learn that the incredible Dead Space remake didn’t catch on enough for EA to greenlight a remake of Dead Space 2 (even if EA were a little spotty on the details). Doubly so in the wake of The Callisto Protocol - a game I still think is worth picking up on a deep discount, if you like hitting gross things with a big bit of metal. It’s quite exciting, then, to learn that the next game from Lies Of P developer Round 8 Studios might just replace that severed limb. Alongside a sequel to the puppety soulslike, they’re also working on a sci-fi survival horror game, via Eurogamer.
]]>Looking for a full list of all working Infinity Nikki codes? The giant new open-world dress-up adventure game Infinity Nikki is full to its brim with currencies, resources, and items that you'll need in order to finish all the game's quests and collect all the clothing items on offer. And one of the easiest and most lucrative ways to get these items for free is by redeeming Infinity Nikki codes in-game. With these codes, you can earn tonnes of free Bling, as well as the more valuable and premium currencies such as Diamonds, Stellarite, and Revelation Crystals.
Below you'll find an up-to-datae list of all new and currently working Infinity Nikki codes, along with easy instructions on how to redeem Infinity Nikki codes in-game.
]]>S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl challenges you to survive the Zone, a land where the rules of nature are more like half-hearted suggestions and death may come from a mutant’s fang as quickly as a bandit’s bullet. But what if you could not only survive it, but tame it?
I am Bohdan Beastmaster, aspiring wrangler of all the radiation-twisted insults to God that occupy the Zone. One of its rogue Artifacts exploded my flat, and rather than find a place on SpareRoom, I’ve gone for the easier and safer option of venturing into the wilds of Chornobyl – armed not with rusty AKs or scavenged grenades but the teeth and claws of my mutant soon-to-be companions. The absence of any actual fauna-influencing tools or techniques only makes my plan even simpler: find beasts, aggro beasts onto human enemies, win.
]]>Another explosion sends the bodies flying. "Has anyone been here long enough to tell me what the hell is going on!?" the sergeant yells. He sounds annoyed. The field hospital is gone, probably blown to pieces. Troops keep wandering north and disappearing from view, only to come flying back as airborne cadavers moments later. The number of corpses and spilled backpacks on the road imply that someone in battalion headquarters (if such a place even exists) has made a terrible decision. If the Colonial forces want to win the persistent online war of Foxhole, suggests the sergeant with his many irritated noises, then someone needs to piece these dying fools together. As the only medic in a 500 metre radius, that means me.
]]>Palworld developers Pocketpair have revealed a new major update, which introduces "the largest and harshest" island in the survival game's history, together with new tower bosses and new pals. As for everything else… that's a secret, but you can expect a "large amount of new content", and we've got a few images to speculate over.
]]>The genre of 'Action RPG' is supremely annoying to write about, because the term can mean different things to different people, but here’s how I see it: Diablo 4 and similar games, such as Path Of Exile, are 'ARPGs'. Which stands for 'Action RPG'. But Zelda games are 'Action RPGs', which is a totally different genre that you could, if you felt like it, also shorten to 'ARPG'. So, to summarise: ARPGs and ARPGs are two different things, and both are Action RPGs. Got it? Great.
It’s because of this kerfuffle that I’m not exactly mad at Diablo boss Rod Fergusson recently suggesting that we just call games that are similar to Diablo 'Diablo-likes'. I just find it very funny that he’s the one saying it, in a bold faced act of admittedly very inconsequential linguistic colonialism that carries the unspoken connotation that something is "like the game I make, but a bit crap".
]]>
