Arise now, ye Cerim: No Rest for the Wicked’s performance updates are underway Already running better on low-end GPUs Image credit:Private Division Following Hotfix 1’s focus on the game’s debatably enjoyable weapon durability system, Hotfixes 2 and 3 have made a raft of tweaks aimed at getting those framerates up. Along with the general fixes and enhancements, they both also specifically address the prologue’s dramatic ship battle, in which a maelstrom of sea, rain, and fire effects conspire to batter performance harder than any other part of the game I’ve seen yet....

As We Descend burrows beneath the other Frostpunk-likes with ornate card tactics and writing Downtown Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun / Coffee Stain Publishing Years ago I wrote a piece about what I presumptuously defined as the “emerging” subgenre of city games that respond to the climate crisis, with its attendant catastrophes of unchecked capitalism and resurgent fascism. Today, it feels dangerously like that subgenre is “sub” no longer. We are engulfed in strategy sims where society is the rind between the formless terrors without and the only-human abusers within....

Battlefield 6’s release date appears to have leaked, jumping the gun ahead of its reveal trailer The same report claims there’ll be no early access tomfoolery Image credit:EA Ahead of Battlefield 6 ’s reveal trailer later today, July 24th, the camo-clad shooter’s release date appears to have been shot out into the universe by a leaker. This isn’t the first time EA’s latest instalment of putting bullets in faces while someone shouts orders in your ear has been subject to some leaks ....

Beautiful, brainy space RTS Nebulous: Fleet Command is getting carriers and fightercraft Carrier update coming in January Image credit:Hooded Horse I feel guilty about repeatedly comparing Nebulous: Fleet Command to Homeworld, inasmuch as it’s an appalling bait-and-switch. It’s like offering somebody a cake that is actually a cunningly painted hunk of torpedo fuselage. It’s like offering to shake hands while wearing one of those comedy hand buzzers - except that the hand buzzer is an intricate simulation of zero-G physics, missile behaviours and comms jamming, featuring spacecraft with proper internal layouts that require you to think hard about attitude control if you don’t want, say, your engines to become Swiss cheese about 90 seconds before you need to retreat from combat....

Best Naoe builds and masteries in Assassin’s Creed Shadows Here’s how to create the best build for Naoe Image credit:Ubisoft Wondering what the best build is for Naoe in Assassin’s Creed Shadows? Naoe is the playable ninja character of Assassin’s Creed Shadows , with a skillset that emphasis deadly stealth manoeuvres and a wide variety of techniques to eviscerate opponents. If you want to go the traditional route and max out your katana, Naoe’s your girl....

Blow up strange new worlds in Away Team, a Spelunky-style base builder from the Oxygen Not Included devs Klei Entertainment going big once again on simulated physics Image credit:Klei Entertainment Invisible Inc and Don’t Starve developers Klei Interactive have announced Away Team, a 2D base-building game from the same universe as Oxygen Not Included . I have yet to play Oxygen Not Included, but Klei seldom miss - their Mark Of The Ninja remains one of my favouritest ninja shankfests - and Away Team already seems very appealing for putting a deeply inhumane emphasis on traitorous physics....

Borderlands 4 update aims to “improve stability for a wide range of PCs”, but comes without proper patch notes Amid the usual onslaught of posting claptrap you’d expect from Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford Image credit:2K / Gearbox Borderlands 4 developers Gearbox have chucked more wrenches at the shooter ’s PC performance over the weekend, following issues that’ve landed it mixed Steam review fortunes since launch last week. However, if you’re looking for patch notes, you’re gonna be a bit disappointed....

Borderlands 4’s first major balancing patch is out now, delivering beefy vault hunter buffage across the board Warrior-poet/big axe guy Amon in particular should now be a lot less weak Image credit:Gearbox Borderlands 4 ’s first round of vault hunter balancing tweaks has arrived, with Gearbox having waited until they’d had a chance to try getting some of the looter shooter ’s technical gremlins under control and observed the state of play balance-wise before whipping out the ol’ nerf/buff cannon....

Bulletstorm and Painkiller devs People Can Fly let over 120 people go and suspend or downsize projects Now “focusing on the development of a single independent game” Image credit:Gearbox Publishing 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. “This action became necessary as external market pressures persisted beyond our forecasts,” writes chief executive officer Sebastian Wojciechowski on Xitter ....

Closing the car boot on your head will now kill you in Pacific Drive Oh, and a bunch of other difficulty options Image credit:Ironwood Studios To survive in looter-booter Pacific Drive you have to keep the paranormal station wagon you drive around in good nick. You’re constantly repairing corroded doors and swapping out busted engine parts with cobbled-together technology. But maybe this tinkering was a little too much. Our review praised the game for its “trunk loads of atmosphere” but called the constant need to craft stuff “laborious”....

Connections hints and answers for Tue, September 3rd Need some Connections hints? Read our guide for help with Connections #449. Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/NYT This guide is for a previous day! Looking for today’s solution? Check out the Connections hint for Wednesday 11th February ! Looking for a hint to help with today’s Connections puzzle on 03rd September? If this latest selection of words has got you feeling confused, then you’re in the right place for some assistance....

Control Resonant trademark applied for in Europe by law firm Remedy have used multiple times Whatever the phrase refers to, a group of Finnish lawyers want control of it for video game purposes Image credit:Remedy A trademark for Control Resonant has been applied for in Europe by a law firm who’ve represented Alan Wake developers Remedy on numerous previous occasions. This application’s been lodged not long before The Game Awards and is to permit the phrase to be used in relation to games, but at the moment it’s still a mystery what exact sort of Control-related thing it refers to....

Creator of already-disturbing elf-hatching sim now plots to make another virtual pet game inside it You mustn’t be afraid to dream a little smaller, darling <img loading=“lazy” src=“https://assetsio.gnwcdn.com/1_FVp7MnT.jpg?width=690&quality=85&format=jpg&dpr=3&auto=webp" onerror=“this.onerror=null;this.src=‘https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhe7F7TRXHtjiKvHb5vS7DmnxvpHiDyoYyYvm1nHB3Qp2_w3BnM6A2eq4v7FYxCC9bfZt3a9vIMtAYEKUiaDQbHMg-ViyGmRIj39MLp0bGFfgfYw1Dc9q_H-T0wiTm3l0Uq42dETrN9eC8aGJ9_IORZsxST1AcLR7np1koOfcc7tnHa4S8Mwz_xD9d0=s16000';" alt=“A fairy queen with big wings saying “Look at that! The yolk has started to walk!” in pixelart pet game Yolk Heroes - 1”> Image credit:14 Hours Productions / Astrolabe Games Did you have a tamagotchi as a kid? I did, and yes, I too let it die....

Crimson Desert, don’t let your slippery combat break my heart Because just powersliding horses for 20 hours isn’t an option Image credit:Pearl Abyss Ever since Crimson Desert dropped that audacious trailer at Gamescom 2023 , I’ve yearned to soak in its medieval Just Cause 2 vibes. It’s hard not to be moved by the exaggerated kineticism of it all – the magic-enhanced swordfights, the jumping off cliffs and turning into a flying shadow monster, the ability to drift horses ....

Crow Country review: my first Resident Evil (complimentary) Less survival horror and more puzzle horror, but still a great time Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/SFB Games Developer: SFB Games Publisher: SFB Games Release: May 9th 2024 On: Windows 10 From: Steam Price: TBC Reviewed on: Intel Core i5-11340F, 16GB RAM, Nvidia RTX 3060, Windows 11 Tangle Tower was a weird and cute point and click murder mystery set in a big weird tower full of colourful characters, so what better way for the devs to fill time before the sequel comes out than by making a creepy retro survival horror set in a regional theme park?...

Darktide’s new Arbites class is overrunning the far future with exploding, immortal dogs Not complaining, mind Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Fatshark For the first time in its two-and-a-bit years on this Earth, Warhammer 40,000: Darktide has a new class of Imperial bastard to bop ‘eretics with. The Adeptus Arbites are – in direct contrast to the frazzled convicts you normally play as – shiny-helmeted space cops, and the fact that they cost a tenner to unlock has done little to slow their near-complete takeover of the average mission lobby....

Deep Rock Galactic Season 5 has you plunge to new depths with “Drillevators” A Season 6 release window has also been detailed Image credit:Coffee Stain Publishing We learned a bit about Deep Rock Galactic’s upcoming Season 5 update a few weeks ago, and now we know a bit more thanks to a Ghost Ship dev stream. Not only has it gifted us details on the new mission type and the new season event, it’s also given us an idea of when we might see Season 6 emerge....

Diablo 4 crossplay, cross-save and cross-progression explained Good news: You can play with your friends on all the main platforms Image credit:Blizzard Entertainment Is Diablo 4 crossplay and cross-progression across PC, Xbox, and PlayStation? The short answer is yes, but there are some specific things you’ll want to know about Diablo 4 crossplay and cross-progression before jumping into Blizzard’s forthcoming action RPG. Here’s what you need to know about crossplay and cross-progression in Diablo 4 , which is now available with Xbox Game Pass ....

Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed brings Warren Spector’s platformer to PC for the first time With modern graphics and controls Image credit:THQ Nordic Epic Mickey, Warren Spector’s action-platforming love letter to early period Disney, is heading to PC more than a decade after its original Wii exclusive release. It’ll arrive as Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed , a “remake” with modern graphics and controls. Here’s the trailer, which recreates the original opening cinematic from the game:...

Don’t Stop, Girlypop! is a glittery, Y2K heart attack of a boomer shooter, with a great demo you can try now It’s giving a word I’m not allowed to write here Image credit:Funny Fintan Softworks In the late ’90s, early 2000s, there were two distinct flavours of aesthetics: boomer shooters , and Y2K girlypop vibes (for the sake of this argument we will ignore every other aesthetic that existed at the time)....