Palworld CEO says “many” clones of Pokémon-with-guns game are coming, with “Genshin Impact-level” successors Working with budgets ‘ten times larger’ than Pocketpair, apparently Image credit:Pocketpair Palworld , the viral survival game that stirred up controversy (and found plenty of success) on the back of being a Pokémon-a-like - with added guns and factory labour, mind - is now due to become the inspiration for its own generation of clones, according to the head of its developers....

Plants vs Brainrots codes (February 2026) Get some killer resources in Plants vs Brainrots with these redeemable codes Image credit:Yo Gurt Studio If you’re strapped for cash in Plants vs Brainrots and need some codes to bolster your arsenal, you’ve come to the right place. If you can imagine Plants vs Zombies, but instead of fighting legions of the undead, you faced off against a coffee cup that’s trained in the art of assassination and a shark sporting a fresh pair of Nike Airs, then you’ll have a pretty good idea of what Plants vs Brainrots is....

Play as a sheep with a Cloud Strife Buster sword in this fast and fluid action roguelike Stand-Alone’s Next Fest demo is still live and bleating Image credit:Lifuel Steam Next Fest may be over for another few months, but dozens of demos are still alive and kicking, it seems - which is good news for me, who still has a good half dozen on my to do list, and also good news for you, as it means you still have time to check out the really quite good demo for Stand-Alone , a fast, 2D hack and slasher where you play as a robot-powered sheep packing a very large sword....

Please, call a job cut a job cut Reimagine harder, BioWare Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Electronic Arts Bioware released a statement yesterday. It talked of “turning towards the future”. It dreamed of “a more agile, focused studio”. Nowhere in the post did the word “layoffs” appear. But this is what the post was actually about. The closest it got to addressing the facts of what happened to an unspecified number of workers is the phrase: “we don’t require support from the full studio....

Razer BlackShark V3 gaming headset review Jaws of victory Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun Razer BlackShark V3 specs: Connection: 2.4GHz wireless, Bluetooth, USB Microphone: Detachable Drivers: 50mm Frequency response: 12Hz - 28kHz Battery life: 70 hours Price: £143 / $140 Like the Turtle Beach Vulcan II TKL keyboard – except as astute readers will notice, this is a headset – the BlackShark V3 Pro is something I’ve welcomed into my everyday PC kit for months, yet apparently needed the invention of a new review format in order for me to talk about it....

Reschedule those sailing lessons, as Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord’s War Sails DLC has been delayed Oh bannerlord have mercy Image credit:TaleWorlds Entertainment To be a person that looks forward to video games and DLC for video games is to also be a person that must do so knowing that, at this point in time, they are likely to be delayed. It is what it is! Perhaps the dismantling of our current economic system and rebuilding one that doesn’t put profits first would mean developers could take their time, but that’ll probably also take a while....

Riot’s fighting game Project L finally gets a name, but not a good one How do you say “2XKO” anyway? Image credit:Riot Games Project L , Riot’s long-gestating fighting game which is focused on 2v2 tag team fights, finally has a real name. It’s “2XKO”, which is both awkward to type and to say. A trailer introducing the name 2KXO.Watch on YouTube In a separate video previewing the year ahead , executive producer Tom Cannon says the name outloud, confirming at least that it is pronounced Two-Ex-Kay-Oh, and not, say, Two Times Kay-Oh or Double Knock Out or, I guess, Toox-Koh....

Rumoured Assassin’s Creed Black Flag remake teased by actor who’s pretty chill about loose lips sinking ships Joke’s on you, Matt Ryan, I’m never not busy pirassassining Image credit:Ubisoft Yaaar, me hearties. Pull up a barstool and take another swig of grog. I be hearin’ fresh tales of a treasure that’s reportedly still in development at Ubisoft. These whispers be comin’ from Matt Ryan, the voice actor behind Assassin’s Creed Black Flag ’s swashbucking stabber Edward Kenway....

RuneScape makers Jagex are being bought by the multibillion sports giant behind Six Nations and LaLiga Private equity firm CVC reportedly spends £900m on veteran MMO developers Image credit:Jagex Jagex, the British developers of veteran fantasy MMO RuneScape , have announced their acquisition by a potentially surprising new owner: the private equity firm best-known for owning major sports brands including Six Nations Rugby, Spanish football league LaLiga, French football governing body Ligue de Football and the Women’s Tennis Association....

Sapphire Nitro+ RX 7900 XTX just dropped below MSRP for a limited time It’s the absolute best price on the market right now. Image credit:RPS Photo Composite / Sapphire Image credit: Samsung Sapphire Nitro+ AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX Vapor-X Gaming Graphics Card $999.99 (was $1,099.99) See here I think what really makes this one stand out is the way it’s built. Nitro+ is basically what happens when a graphics card decides it’s done playing nice....

See you in Hell, graphics cards, as Doom: The Dark Ages’ path tracing update is out today Here’s what it looks like, and how it runs Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun / Bethesda Softworks In curling monkey paw news, Doom: The Dark Ages no longer requires mandatory ray tracing effects – because you can now replace some of them with path tracing , RT’s even more extravagant (and even more demanding) tech-sibling....

Should you bother with… path tracing? Lights, camera, more lights, seriously just lights everywhere Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Nvidia Path tracing has been back on the PC hardware agenda recently, with Nvidia’s sales pitch for the GeForce RTX 5080 and RTX 5090 more than lightly based on how good they are at shotgunning this premium graphics tech down your eye stalks. Yet beyond the sparkling glamour of marketing slides, however, path tracing remains exceptionally niche: nearly six years since Quake II RTX served as the tech’s de facto gaming debut, you can still count the number of compatible games on your fingers....

Sons Of The Forest Kelvin guide: How to heal Kelvin, can he die, and do you need to feed him? Learn everything you need to know about Kelvin in Sons of the Forest Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Endnight Games Want to know more about Kelvin in Sons Of The Forest? Kelvin is king in Sons Of The Forest . An ally who survives the helicopter crash at the start of the game, Kelvin is your first companion in Sons Of The Forest, and he’s incredibly useful....

Square Enix announce mass layoffs, with over 100 UK staff reportedly expected to be at risk Desire to consolidate around the company’s Japanese base and cut costs cited as reasons behind the move Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Square Enix Final Fantasy developers and publishers Square Enix have announced plans to lay off staff, with workers across “nearly all areas” of their Western business arms being affected. More than 100 UK staff are reportedly expected to be affected, with an indeterminate number of US-based workers also reportedly facing a future that’s up in the air....

Steam Families launches into beta, making it easier to buy and share games with your kids It also brings new parental controls and family sharing options Image credit:Valve Valve have launched Steam Families on the Steam Beta Client, a suite of new and refreshed family sharing options that replace Steam’s existing Family Sharing and Family View features. The idea is that you’ll now have a single location where you can manage your family’s games from, as well as have more control over what and when other family members can play....

Steam now lets you hide individual games from people’s prying eyes And tracks your shopping basket across all devices After several months on the Steam beta build , Valve last night officially launched an update which revamps the shopping experience and lets you hide your shame. Two universal conveniences: your shopping basket is now shared across devices, so no losing track of things you meant to buy later; and buying gift copies is now less faffy....

Survival game City 20 is The Sims set in the world of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Blood in the sandbox Image credit:Untold Games I find myself increasingly turned off these days by simulations that boast of endless butterfly effects. I guess my misgivings can be boiled down to “a chain of dominoes is still a chain of dominoes even if it’s 1000 metres in extent”. Without some reason to care supplied by a narrative or broader question of theming and aesthetics, it all risks being admirable of execution but also like sheer technical maximalism - systems for the sake of systems....

System Shock remake’s next update will rework the final boss battle and add a female character option Update 1.2 cometh next week Image credit:Nightdive A big ‘ol patch is coming to the System Shock remake next Thursday, headlined by “[reworking] the entire final fight with new mechanics and a unique flow” and adding a female character option for our hacker. Update 1.2 will also tweak and fix and fiddle with heaps of other things....

The combat in Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn feels a bit floaty, but at least its café staff have ten hands How do you take your soulslike? Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun / Kepler Interactive How do you like your coffee? For those who answer: “served by a barista with ten arms wearing a mask adorned with intense scarlet lipstick”, you are in luck. The multi-limbed coffee shop owner of Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn is, indeed, a reassuring sight, since they are the ones who sell the player fashionable jackets and trousers to wear while you axe enemy heads to bloody fragments....

The Finals stops players taking unfair advantage from controller aim assist A bigger update is coming next week Image credit:RPS/Embark Studios The Finals has a new patch and though it’s not a big one, it’s arguably a substantial set of changes. Specifically, update 1.4.1 addresses various issues with aim assist and zoom snapping - features designed to support those who play with a controller whether on PC or console. “These changes are the result of an in-depth review of how aim assist works — something we’ve only been able to validate with a player base as large as ours,” says the patch notes ....