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Elden Ring: Nightreign release date knocks back an Estus and takes a swing at May 2025 There’s a beta this weekend, but only on disgusting consoles Image credit:Bandai Namco Elden Ring Nightreign will release 30th May 2025 on Steam, developers FromSoftware and publishers Bandai Namco have announced. In a few short months, you and up to two friends will be called upon to rush a few bosses on a large, shrinking map set in the same universe as the 2022 open worlder....

Elden Ring: Nightreign tips and tricks More than 20 must-know tips for all Nightfarers Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Bandai Namco Looking for the best tips and tricks in Elden Ring: Nightreign? While Limveld may bear a resemblance to The Lands Between in base Elden Ring , Nightreign is a very different beast - a fast-paced multiplayer take on what was a very deliberate single player experience. As the threat of encroaching darkness constantly draws closer to claim the lives of your Nightfarers, you’ll have to master a new skillset to defeat the Nightlords....

Elden Ring’s latest patch says your mouse might be to blame for performance issues Also, no more lightning perfume bottle fun times Image credit:Bandai Namco Elden Ring ’s got another patch out and it’s tinkered with Shadow Of The Erdtree weapons, fixed some bugs, and still not done anything about the game’s performance issues. That perfume bottle and lightning combo? Binned off. Everyone’s favourite summon Blackknife Tiche? She’s seen a certain health-regen bug fixed, so everyone’s not being duped into thinking she’s been heavily nerfed since the Shadow Lands sprung forth....

Embracer reportedly close down cult RPG maker Piranha Bytes, creators of Gothic, Risen, and Elex Former head opens a new studio Image credit:THQ Nordic The studio-killing fallout of Embracer’s acquisition frenzy continues to fall like ash on the industry. The publishing giant has reportedly closed Piranha Bytes, the studio known for cult RPGs like Gothic , Risen , and Elex , according to a worker who spoke to Polish games site CD-Action ....

Europa Universalis 5 review Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Paradox Interactive A deep and intricate historical simulation that will overwhelm you with menus as much as it will compel you through centuries of global history. Developer: Paradox Tinto Publisher: Paradox Interactive Release: Nov 4th, 2025 On: Windows From: Steam Price: £50/$60/€60 Reviewed on: Intel Core-i7-11700F, 16GB RAM, Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060, Windows 10 Europa Universalis 5 is a forever game. Insofar as you might be able to play this grand historical strategy forever, but also because - my god - it takes forever to play....

Europa Universalis 5 won’t launch with a subscription - but it might get one later The DLC is inevitable Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun / Paradox Interactive Grand strategy country crusher Europa Universalis 5 was announced yesterday , revealing a complex century-spanning historical sim . But one thing we still don’t know is the price or how it’ll be sold. If you want to buy the previous game in the series, Europa Universalis 4 , you’ll find a slew of subscription models and a big library of DLC alongside the base game ....

Everyday Sororicide is a game about women dueling to the death where you can only play once a day Secrets and swords Image credit:Blood Machine/ Snek Every game has its limitations, there is only so many actions you can take, narrative threads to unspool, buttons to press. What about a game that you can only play one round of every day? A game where you “take up the sword against an NPC or another girl-esque thing irl and fight until one of you is holding the lifeless, bloodstained hand of the other....

Ex-Fortnite devs’ ‘collaborative RPG’ Project ORCS aims to let you make your own Baldur’s Gate 3 Roll for initiative Image credit:Lightforge Media Former Fortnite and Blizzard developers have formed new studio Lightforge Games to make a multiplayer RPG that applies the collaborative world-building and storytelling of original tabletop Dungeons & Dragons to the polished video game presentation of its successors in the likes of Baldur’s Gate 3 . Now that Baldur’s Gate 3 has left early access, vid bud Liam reckons it was worth the wait....

Final Fantasy 16 review: if it were half as big it’d be twice as good Clive service game Image credit:Square Enix Developer: Square Enix Publisher: Square Enix Release: September 17th 2024 On: Windows From: Steam , Epic Games Store , Humble Bundle Price: £45/€49/$49 Reviewed on: Intel Core-i7 12700F, 16GB RAM, Nvidia RTX 3060, Windows 11 I’m reasonably sure Final Fantasy 16 isn’t the longest Final Fantasy I’ve ever played, but it feels that way, for a multitude of reasons....

Finally, Wreckfest 2 has added in a spacious family minivan for post-school run muddy motor murdering Right, now we’re out of the headline: IT’S CALLED A PEOPLE CARRIER Image credit:Bugbear Entertainment Sorry I’m late, I’ve got to drop off my non-existent offspring at the place where they learn their times tables soon. Before that, which of you wants to be dunched and bumped into a spin, as mud and discarded metal are flung about like a tornado’s hit a scrapyard?...

Freshly released The Crew fan revival gets early fixes, devs say they aren’t responsible for issues caused by game files from “shady sources” A launcher update and two hotfixes are out already, following “over 10 hours of non-stop tech support” out of the gate Image credit:Ubisoft The Crew Unlimited , a fan project making Ubisoft racer The Crew playable again following its unceremonious shutdown last year, released yesterday, September 15th. There’s been some early issues to rectify, with the developers having put out two hotfixes already and emphasised that they’re “not responsible” for any problems caused by people having grabbed “broken/corrupted game files” from “shady sources”....

FromSoftware aren’t abandoning single player in favour of games like Elden Ring: Nightreign, says Miyazaki Sources claim he said while ripping up a picture of Bloodborne running on Steam Deck Image credit:Bandai Namco FromSoftware boss and treacherous moon denier Hidetaka Miyazaki has emerged from his Nintendo-nuzzling weasel den to reassure the braying masses that FromSoftware’s traditional focus on single player games isn’t going dodo just because they so happened to announce two co-op games - Elden Ring Nightreign and The Duskbloods - in the space of five minutes, then ran away with a bag of money shouting “single player is dead 4eva”....

FTL meets Warhammer 40,000 in tactical space sim Void War FTE! Image credit:Tundra Ahoy, consumer of PC games! I fear that Void War may be highly relevant to your statistically determined interests. It’s a space combat game in which you steer ancient, crenellated starships through a frightful cosmos of blood cultists, imperial zealots, and ravening corsairs. You will warp from node to node on a roguelite system map, with each node harbouring battles, story encounters, and the occasional friendly or at least, not immediately hostile face such as a merchant....

GTA 6 may let you modify its own map using Roblox-style user creation features, claims report Alleged Rockstar interest in multiverse features follows rumours about $2 billion budget Image credit:Rockstar Games Rockstar Games are considering letting GTA 6 players modify the game’s map by way of Roblox and Fortnite-style creation mechanics, according to a report. The idea is that people can make and sell their own “custom experiences”, as they do in those games - expanding upon the existing customisation opportunities in GTA Online....

Herdling is a strangely captivating narrative herding simulator with a new demo you can check out now Have you herd the word? Image credit:Okomotive Herdling is an odd little game. How do you begin to sell the idea that a (presumably emotional) herding simulator might be quite interesting? Yes, people love their farming sims as a band aid form of escapism, but a lot of those games are in the first instance much more about farming and not farm animals, nor the way you interact with said animals....

Here’s a pleasant surprise: the gorgeous Sekiro-like Metroidvania Nine Sols has a prequel manga A real page turner Image credit:Red Candle Games Red Candle Games are probably more frequently remembered as a horror developer, what with their first couple of games being Detention and the slightly troubled (but very good) Devotion . Surprisingly, their follow-up to the latter wasn’t another horror game, but Nine Sols , a Sekiro-inspired 2D action Metroidvania that just looks stunning in motion....

Here’s a second, very tiny look at Remedy’s co-op Control spin-off Still codenamed ‘Condor’, still a co-op Control spin-off There’s a teaser image on the wall. We stare at it and we think that’s the whole multiplayer shooter set in the Control franchise. Then, Remedy sneak a second teaser image alongside some tantalising lore snippets into their latest investor report (Thanks, resetera !) Also there’s an air fryer that turns nuggets into miniature black holes, or something....

Hooded Horse is having a Steam publisher sale, with discounts on Manor Lords, Against The Storm and many more Strategy games to keep you occupied for years Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun / Hooded Horse Indie publisher Hooded Horse have been on a roll of late, publishing wonderful strategy games like Manor Lords , Against The Storm and Cataclismo . Good news, then, that they’re currently running a publisher sale over on Steam where those games and many others in their library are discounted....

How Elden Ring Shadow Of The Erdtree’s new levelling system makes life easier for newcomers… or harder for veterans Want some bite with your bark? Image credit:Bandai Namco Yes, I’ve played a portion of Elden Ring ’s expansion Shadow Of The Erdtree and I think it’s brilliant . But there’s one thing I didn’t flesh out in the preview and that’s the DLC’s standalone levelling system, brought to our attention a month or so ago....

How game developers worldwide are reliving Y2K Japan, from Jet Set Radio to Dance Dance Revolution The makers of Unbeatable, Hyperyuki and Denshattack discuss their influences, from trains and Digimon to music and the Dreamcast Image credit:Acclaim, Inc Many of today’s game designers have, like me, grown up with Japanese Y2K style - the style of the late 90s and early 2000s that gave us not only fear of the end of the world due to a calendar change, but also the WipEout series, futuristic PlayStation 2 ads, and fashion that incorporated everything from glitter to holographic fabrics and cute crop tops....