The Pale Piper is Silksong with no combat, a wondrous Playdead-style world, and all the hope bleached out Out now on Steam Image credit:FreeTimeDev / Rock Paper Shotgun Friends, I think I have unearthed the next Hidden Gem, though Hidden Arrow Trap might be the more appropriate framing. It’s a 2D precision platformer called the The Pale Piper that reminds me of Limbo , Hollow Knight and VVVVVV . It’s the work of FreeTimeDev, who is also known for Godot tools and synthwave jams on Itch....

The Sunday Papers Image credit:RPS Sundays are for leveling vigor. Don’t be a hero now. Get that baseline 60. You’ll need it. Before you hit the motivational high of turning a two-shot into a three-shot, let’s read this week’s best writing about games (and game related things!) For Eurogamer , Graeme Mason told the story of Captain Blood , not to be confused with Captain Blood, Captain Blood (2024), or Cap’n Blood (my cat*)....

The Sunday Papers Image credit:RPS Sundays are for finishing up Godzilla Minus One now its on Netflix. I’m not shilling Netflix here, but I am happy to shill Godzilla. Before I shout “It’s Godzilla! That’s Godzilla! It’s him!” every time Godzilla is on screen, let’s read this week’s best writing about games (and game related things!) For Places Journal, Shannon Mattern wrote about ‘Cardboard Media And The Geographic Imagination’. Nieland describes the “visual idiom” of CCA publications as “free of topographic detail, in keeping with [the] modernist grammar” of Bayer’s atlas, an abstract design language that concealed the violence of colonial extraction and uneven development....

The Sunday Papers Image credit:RPS The Sunday Papers is our weekly roundup of great writing about (mostly) videogames from across the web. Sundays are for playing some video games, I think? Seems unlikely but let’s find out. Nash was, in the simplest terms, a big ol’ weirdo. He was world-leading expert in being Jonathan Nash, and no-one was even close. No-one wrote like him, and god knows enough people tried. You wrote a mail to Nash, and you got a Nash essay back....

It would be a crime if it wasn’t UK deals: Logitech G502 Hero - £30 from Amazon UK (was £80) US deals: Logitech G502 Hero - $35 from Amazon UK (was $80) There are very few reasons not to get the G502 if you’re in the market for a straightforward (though still very well-equipped) gaming mouse, especially when it’s down to just £30. It has an excellent sensor, 11 customisable buttons, and you won’t have to worry about batteries....

This week in PC games: Battlefield 6 fends off an onslaught of cool indie RPGs, strategy games, horror games and piss simulators What we’re feeding the Maw Image credit:MicroProse Software Last Monday I spent three paragraphs crying havoc over a shortage of tasty new releases to feed the Maw, our resident headline-guzzling cosmic kaiju. The week didn’t go so terribly in the end. True, the Maw did swallow the colour purple on Friday, but Mark managed to distract everybody with a bulky Baldur’s Gate 3 mod while I administered the emetic....

This week in PC games: Outer Worlds 2, Arc Raiders, occult detectives and some chunky strategy games What we’re feeding the Maw Image credit:Raw Fury Happy this week all! Good news, James has returned from India and appears none the worse for his voyages. I was hoping he’d come back with a top-to-bottom report on Indian game development, but no, it turns out the smirking jackanapes was merely “on holiday”. Still, we welcome him back with open arms and in the Maw’s case, orifices, because it’s another stuffed week for PC game releases....

Toads Of The Bayou is Into The Breach but with aristocratic, pipe smokin’ toads (of the bayou) I was going to do a ‘Kermit/Commit’ bit, but then you’d all just be insufferable about frogs and toads Image credit:Fireshine/Rock Paper Shotgun In all honesty, Toads Of The Bayou could have been several notches less ribbet-ing than its Steam demo ended up being, because its stylised pixel fly-snatchers are just that good. There’s only one of the three characters available in the freebie (one of the others is a toad nun with a shotgun), but he’s got a little cutlass, a flintlock pistol, and a can-do attitude - at least when it comes to either stabbing or shooting things....

Typing Of The Dead meets Resident Evil with co-op in Blood Typers, which has a demo you can play now Coming February 2025 Image credit:Outer Brain Studios Typing Of The Dead released in arcades 25 years ago remains a masterpiece - funny, absurd, tense, and novel. I am keen on any game that aims to follow in its footsteps, and there are a few. The latest is Blood Typers, a horror game where you tippity-tap on your keyboard to fight montsters in a spooky mansion, but this isn’t a rail shooter, so you’ll be typing to explore and navigate, too....

Valheim developers celebrate the game’s fifth anniversary with flower garlands, sweetbread, and Steam Deck optimisations Come for the patch notes, stay for the gift ideas Image credit:Coffee Stain Publishing / Iron Gate I’m going to a toddler’s birthday party on Saturday and I have it on good authority from Alva’s dad that there will be trays of sandwiches and a couple of cakes from M&S. There is no booze provided. I’m not sure if that’s because there should be no booze consumed at a two-year-old’s birthday, or only that we should bring our own....

Valve appear to be blocking mature themed games from Steam early access release Devs report being told Steam is “unable to support” their games Image credit:Dammitbird For a week or so now, we’ve heard rumblings that Valve are preventing the creators of games with “mature themes” from releasing their games in Steam early access. At least two developers have disclosed that they’re affected - Dammitbird, creators of raunchy fantasy RPG Heavy Hearts (do not click unless you are happy to look at a werewolf’s penis), and Blue Fairy Media, creators of The Restoration of Aphrodisia (do not click unless you are happy to read about lewd transformations)....

Valve are now removing a bunch of sex games from Steam to keep banks and card companies happy Affected developers are getting Steam app credits Image credit:CD Projekt Valve have begun removing a variety of sex games from Steam in line with their recent updating of the platform’s rules and regulations to allow banks and credit card companies to essentially forbid certain kinds of “adult content”. In a statement to RPS, a company representative confirmed that games are being delisted as a result of the rules change, adding that the developers in question are being given Steam app credits as compensation....

We now know that Borderlands 4 is a Borderlands game with 4 at the end, coming 2025 very enthusiastic voice yippee Image credit:Gearbox The trailers of Gamescom 2024 want to be here with you, explained Keighley in his opening monologue. They are not directed at you. They are with you. That’s lovely. Thanks videogames. And if - as we surely must - we judge the eagerness of these adverts to spend time with us by how quickly they appear on our screens, then FPS sequel Borderlands 4 surely loves us the most....

What are we all playing this weekend? Well? Do tell! Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Old Book Illustrations/London: R. Ackermann, 1815 Callum I’ve finally acknowledged the summons and come out of indie horror hibernation to face the titan that is Hades 2 . But the trial is already testing me. I booted it up earlier this week, and as expected, it sank its ghoulish little tentacles into my brain and is now casting magical illusions, luring me in with its honeyed words: “Come on, Callum....

Why are there so many bloody roguelikes or roguelites, and what really makes a game roguish? An actually quite constructive chat with devs and publishers Image credit:Edmund McMillen Some days, I think I’d rather gouge my eyes out than read another email about a new roguelike or roguelite. This confuses me, because many of favourite games are roguelikes or roguelites, including Dead Cells , Balatro , FTL: Faster Than Light , and the recent Morsels , a reeking procedural dumpsite that speaks to the overproduction of Rogue/rogue derivatives at large....

Wordle hints and answer (#1150): How to solve the Monday August 12 Wordle Stuck on the Wordle word for August 12? Read our hint or find the answer below! Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun This guide is for a previous day! Looking for today’s solution? Check out the Wordle hint and answer for Wednesday 11th February ! Need a hint for today’s Wordle answer? Wordle is an addicting but challenging test of word acumen....

Wordle hints and answer (#1164): How to solve the Monday August 26 Wordle Stuck on today’s Wordle word for August 26? Read our hint or find the answer below! Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun This guide is for a previous day! Looking for today’s solution? Check out the Wordle hint and answer for Wednesday 11th February ! Need a hint for today’s Wordle answer? Below you’ll find a list of clues to help you solve today’s word and preserve your streak....

Wordle hints and answer (#1330): How to solve the Saturday February 8 Wordle Stuck on today’s Wordle word for February 8? Read our hint or find the answer below Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun This guide is for a previous day! Looking for today’s solution? Check out the Wordle hint and answer for Wednesday 11th February ! Need a hint for today’s Wordle answer? It’s only five letters, but the potential combinations are endless....

Wordle hints and answer (#1357): How to solve the Friday March 7 Wordle Stuck on today’s Wordle word for March 7? Read our hint or find the answer below! Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun This guide is for a previous day! Looking for today’s solution? Check out the Wordle hint and answer for Wednesday 11th February ! Need a hint for today’s Wordle answer? A tricky Wordle puzzle can be fun, but the struggle shouldn’t last too long....

Wordle hints and answer (#1376): How to solve the Wednesday March 26 Wordle Stuck on today’s Wordle word for March 26? Read our hint or find the answer below! Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun This guide is for a previous day! Looking for today’s solution? Check out the Wordle hint and answer for Wednesday 11th February ! Need a hint for today’s Wordle answer? Guessing the Wordle answer once isn’t that hard, but finding the correct solution every day is an immense challenge....