How Embracer’s cuts killed a potential Red Faction sequel and gutted a promising studio The exclusive inside story of Chorus developers Fishlabs, from Project Black to Project White Image credit:Plaion A phoenix is a mythological firebird that is periodically reborn from its own ashes, a symbol of cyclical renewal. It’s also, according to several former employees of Chorus developers Fishlabs in Hamburg, an internal title for the massive cost-cutting project begun by Swedish conglomerate Embracer Group in June 2023....

How to build and manage the Marketplace in Manor Lords How to set up a full Marketplace of Stalls in Manor Lords Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Hooded Horse Having trouble figuring out Marketplaces and Market Stalls in Manor Lords? You’re not the only one to be tripped up by the finnicky market stall supply mechanic in Slavic Magic’s eagerly anticipated city-builder, Manor Lords . To keep your people happy, you need a supply of Market Stalls nearby offering a variety of essential goods such as food and fuel....

How to get Fiber in Palworld Here’s how to get Fiber in Palworld Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Pocketpair Want to know how to get Fiber in Palworld? Fiber is one of the first crafting materials you’ll need when you begin your Palworld adventures. Easily gathered and used in a wide variety of recipes to craft everything from saddles to weaponry, Fiber could even be considered one of Palworld ’s basic building blocks....

Hunt: Showdown developers Crytek lay off around 60 people after shelving Crysis 4 “We have determined that layoffs are inevitable to move forward” Image credit:Crytek Hunt: Showdown and Crysis developers Crytek are dismissing an estimated 15 percent of their workforce - around 60 people out of 400 – in the face of “the complex, unfavourable market dynamics that have hit our industry these past several years”. This comes after they paused development of mechsuit FPS sequel Crysis 4 last year, with staff shifting over to Showdown’s live service reboot Hunt: Showdown 1896....

I regret to inform you the Games Done Quick dog did not get a world record speedrun time When will the novelty arms race end? Image credit:Games Done Quick I enjoy Games Done Quick , an organisation that raises money for charity (this year is the Prevent Cancer Foundation) by playing games at peak efficiency. If you’ve never watched it before, I recommend loading up the Twitch stream at about 1am and sort of gently dissociating while someone plays an 80s NES game you’ve never heard of....

I’m not sure I’ll ever leave the prologue area in Skull And Bones Why ask for the Ubiworld? Image credit:Ubisoft/Rock Paper Shotgun Last night I spent an hour in Ubisoft Singapore’s Skull And Bones , the much-reconceived , nigh-mythical open world pirate game that has been in development since 2013. Taking a leaf from the book of feared intergalactic corsair Samus Aran, the prologue starts you off at the height of your bucanneering powers, with a mighty gold-and-scarlet galleon at your disposal that is shortly blown to bits by the English Navy....

In Starless Abyss, you play hex-based battleships with a fleet of eldritch space monsters Cthulhull breach! Image credit:No More Robots After a hard day’s editing articles about three Disco Elysium spiritual successors - each more politically outspoken than the last, in a kind of Sophisticated Pooh collage of escalating Marxism - I like to kick back with a nice chill game about Lovecraftian space monsters. That game is Konafa Game’s Starless Abyss - a roguelite tactical deckbuilder published by Descenders and Yes, Your Grace outfit No More Robots....

Invisible Inc spiritual successor Cyber Knights: Flashpoint has released from early access One of the cyberpunk nicknames in the trailer is ‘Kindle’ Image credit:Trese Brothers I currently do not have time to play Cyber Knights: Flashpoint , the game Katherine (RPS in peace) called a “spiritual successor” to (unbelievably good stealth tactics game) Invisible Inc . So, I’m writing about its release from early access as a sort of vicarious joy substitute....

Larian will no longer use GenAI for Divinity concept art, and any genAI used for other games will be “trained on data we own” Swen Vincke says the studio still hope the controversial tech “can aid us to refine ideas faster” Image credit:Larian Larian CEO Swen Vincke has provided an update as to how the studio are planning to go about handling the use of generative AI in the making of Divinity ....

Last year’s top guilty favourite action game has received a big free combat update Wanted: Dead gets a rework, but is it enough? Image credit:110 Industries SA Wanted: Dead is a terrible game that I sort of adore. Created by some of the people behind the Ninja Gaiden series, it’s the kind of rough diamond or perhaps, chunk of lacerating windscreen glass you find at the bottom of a mouldy box at a service station car boot sale along a particularly depressed stretch of the UK’s M1....

Latest Palworld update defaults your Pals to “Relax” and lets you create artificial volcano conditions Also fixes save bugs and stops players getting mega-rich by selling nails Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/PocketPair Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the Palwoods, Pocketpair have revealed a new Palworld update - Steam and Xbox patch v0.1.5.0. This is a larger overhaul, encompassing a juicy mixture of balance and technical tweaks that together make this spring’s breakout survival game easier to play, less buggy and, dare I say, a little kinder, with various tweaks aimed at making life more liveable both for trainers and Pals....

A price adjustment that makes it a better Asus ROG Ally or Steam Deck rival. Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun Lenovo’s Legion Go is the most powerful and specced out PC handheld we’ve seen yet, with a mammoth 8-inch 1600p 144Hz screen, Z1 Extreme chipset and detachable controllers - one of which turns into a pseudo-mouse for FPS action. The Legion Go debuted at £699, a price at which we found it largely compelling , but now it’s dropped to something a bit more reasonable - £649....

Minecraft cheats list for 1.21 including XP commands Use these Minecraft commands to get free XP, control the weather, and much more Image credit:Mojang Studios Want to learn how to use Minecraft commands and cheats? The Minecraft console is every bit as creative a tool as Minecraft itself. With it, you can teleport to various locations, change the time or weather, spawn items or entities, chat with your friends, or control entire Minecraft servers filled with players....

Monster Hunter Wilds: Chapter 6-1 walkthrough Prepare for the big finale in our Chapter 6-1 walkthrough Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Capcom Need help getting through the Monster Hunter Wilds finale in Chapter 6-1? The time has come to truly wrap up the main story of Monster Hunter Wilds , and we’re here to guide you with a list of tips and items to bring in this walkthrough. Remember if you’re having too much trouble, you can always grind monsters for better armour, weapons , and skills....

New Divinity trademarks suggest Larian are behind Geoff Keighley’s regal, inspiring and thick teaseage Though, the BG3 devs’ publishing director claims “there aren’t currently any plans for a new Divinity: Original Sin 3” Image credit:EUIPO Three new trademarks which very much look to be related to Larian’s Divinity RPG series have been unearthed, with one closely mirroring the design of a desert monolith Geoff Keighley’s posted a picture of in advance of The Geoff Awards ....

New Quest apps will be unable to support Oculus Quest 1 headsets from May Because Meta said so The Oculus Quest launched back in 2019, just five years ago, but come May new apps released in the Quest Store won’t be playable on the Quest 1. This isn’t because the Quest 1 isn’t powerful enough to play them anymore, but because developers will no longer be able to upload them and players won’t be able to see them....

Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound is both a speedrunner’s dream and the perfect homage to the NES trilogy Straight outta 1990 Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun / Dotemu / The Game Kitchen The RPS Advent Calendar 2025 has begun! We’re revealing one of our favourite games of the year every day, and our favourite of favourites on December 24th. Check the main Calendar post to see a full list of our choices so far....

No Rest For The Wicked’s latest update expands its endgame roguelite mode with new enemies, buffs, arenas Alongside Steam Deck verification and performance upgrades Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Private Division Grimdark hack-and-slasher No Rest For The Wicked has received its first major update - or the first that isn’t focused on bug fixes and performance improvements, anyway. It focuses on revamping the Crucible, the endgame’s repeatable roguelite, adding more randomisation to arenas and a new system of player buffs....

Now is the best time it’s ever been to jump into Overwatch 2 If you’ve never picked up Blizzard’s hero shooter, give it a go Image credit:Activision Blizzard This past Christmas marked the anniversary of me playing Overwatch 2 . 7 years of my partner and I swearing at seemingly impenetrable enemy teams, then whooping in victory when we finally pull together a plan that cracks them apart - or just as our chill W+M1 game while we chat about our days....

Nvidia GeForce RTX 5050 review: Starting, and finishing, at the bottom Even in what passes for the current “budget” market, there are stronger graphics cards than this Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun Zotac Gaming GeForce RTX 5050 Twin Edge OC: CUDA Cores: 2560 Base Clock Speed: 2.32GHz Boost Clock Speed: 2.6GHz VRAM: 8GB GDDR7 Power: 130W Recommended System Power: 550W Price: From £248 / $270 There was a time when I’d be chuffed to bits to be clicking a new entry-level graphics card into its PCIe home....