Diplomacy Is Not An Option’s castle-building spectacle-strategy gets a 1.0 release October 4th Fight the proletariat like a British prime minister Image credit:Door 407 We haven’t written about Diplomacy Is Not An Option since it launched in Early Access in 2022, when it was a light and frothy strategy game about smashing thousands of peasants to bits with physics magic. It’s still that, but now it’s getting a 1.0 release on October 4th....
Dune MMO will let you use The Voice, sell bases and drink blood-water - but not kill or ride sandworms (yet) Dune: Awakening’s gameplay trailer certainly looks like those new movies Image credit:Funcom Dune: Awakening , the massively-multiplayer take on Frank Herbert’s sandy sci-fi universe from dong-loving devs Funcom , has shown off some more of its online, open-world Arrakis in a lengthy developer direct. We’ve also learnt more about what we will - and won’t - be able to do during our time exploring the planet....
Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion gets a whole gamejam dedicated to Persuasion Pie, co-hosted by a Don’t Nod developer Timed to coincide with the RPG’s 19th anniversary Image credit:ProstoOsen / Microsoft Among the dorkiest aspects of Bethesda’s winningly dorky The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is the persuasion wheel minigame - also known as Persuasion Pie, also known as the Wheedlin’ Roundabout, also known as the Dartboard of Indoctrination. (Maybe not so much the last two....
Electro Bop Boxing League is a swanky atompunk autobattler with a wonderful sense of fun No punches below the motherboard Image credit:Developer Dob I don’t much enjoy sports sims, but sometimes an imaginative spin on a sport will sneak past my guard. Electro Bop Boxing League has spins aplenty. You probably could have stopped at robot boxers, Developer Dob. You didn’t have to give it a swaggering electro swing soundtrack as well....
Enjoy some Ryanair Boeing 737 safety manual ekphrasis in Johnson A Plane Man and boy is my Johnson tired Image credit:Hyphinett Ekphrasis is a concept from ancient Greece (who bloody loved a good concept) describing the act of creative writing inspired by a work of art. Is a Ryanair Boeing 737 safety manual art? Well, Johnson A Plane Man has done some ekphrasis with it, so I say yes. It’s a short browser Itch game that chronicles the life and times of a man named Johnson, his love for yellow life vests, his existential feelings of confinement (despite the high number of easily locatable exits), and such emancipatory joys that can only be found in yellow slides....
Fallout season 2 radiates NEW VEGAS with a trailer heavy on stupid sexy House and a December debut date Yep, that’s NEW VEGAS Image credit:Bethesda / Amazon If it wasn’t clear already, this chain of episodes is set to take us to NEW VEGAS. I said NEW VEGAS. That’s NEW VEGAS, the setting of obscure 2010 RPG Fallout: NEW VEGAS . Understand? I don’t think you do, so let’s all look over here while I point to this sign....
Fallout: Long 15, a huge NCR-themed New Vegas mod, could end up being this December’s coolest Fallout thing California dreamin' Image credit:ToxicWhiteout / Obsidian Update: Fallout: Long 15’s now out on Nexus Mods . There’s also a launch trailer heavy on country balladry and folks in NCR gear shooting things. Original story follows: With season two of the Fallout TV Show and a Fallout 76 expansion going all-in on Goggins , December’s not short of Fallout things....
Fanatical’s Lunar New Year sale is fantastic, so here’s my top discounted picks Save big on Steam games for the next couple of weeks. Fanatical has kicked off its Lunar New Year sale , packed with fantastic discounts perfect for anyone on PC who’s ready to expand their ever-growing Steam library. Go ahead, tell yourself you’ll play these games right away—we’ve all been there. The sale features a wide range of great games that will be a joy to play whenever you finally get around to them....
Felt That Boxing is a fighting game about foul-mouthed muppets Go Animal Image credit:Sans Strings Studio Nothing funnier than a sweary muppet. Felt That Boxing is a PunchOut style comedy fighting game about a weak-armed muppet learning to stick up for himself and the little ones he loves. It was shown off at Summer Game Fest, and the trailer is worth a chuckle. You play as Ezra “Fuzz-E” Wright, who has opted to fight through the “Tournament of a Million Punches” in order to save an orphanage....
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth continues the series’ streak of iffy PC ports Cloud gaming Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Square Enix A performance and settings guide for a ropey PC port of a Final Fantasy game? Sweet, I haven’t done one of these in four whole months . In fairness to Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth , which Nic says can be great as a game per se, it does make some effort at settling into Windows....
Free Stars: Children Of Infinity, name-swapped sequel to Star Control 2, has tripled its crowdfunding goal The Ur-Quan Masters successor has been a long-time coming <img loading=“lazy” src=“https://assetsio.gnwcdn.com/free-stars-children-of-infinity-header.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=“An alien says “No, human. You misunderstand.” in the sequel to Star Control 2. - 1”> Image credit:Pistol Shrimp Games The sequel to The Ur-Quan Masters has more than tripled its Kickstarter funding goal in four days. Free Stars: Children Of Infinity , which is a sequel to the series formerly known as Star Control , has so far raised $332k (£268k), although it’s still shooting for several stretch goals - including one as high as $4....
Frostpunk 2 will live or die by its faction voting mechanic, and the biggest faction of all is Twitch A chat with 11 bit about integrating the game’s council hall with social media Image credit:11 bit To kick off with some extremely half-arsed mytho-geometry, the original Frostpunk was a testament to both the design utility and the inexhaustible political symbolism of circles. When people wish to found a community of equals they commonly form a circle, with each participant visible and audible to the rest....
Genshin Impact devs’ next game looks so much like Animal Crossing I’m almost not sure why it exists Almost, but I do have one idea Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Team Cherry I am genuinely unsure if MiHoYo are capable of making a game that doesn’t heavily borrow from a different game you probably already love at this point in time. Denying The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s influence on Genshin Impact is like denying the sky is blue!...
Genshin Impact maker will pay a $20 million fine to settle FTC charges that allege they misled players about lootbox odds They’ll also be banned from selling lootboxes to teens under 16 <img loading=“lazy” src=“https://assetsio.gnwcdn.com/genshin-impact-caution-in-confidence-june-2023.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=“Genshin Impact’s “Caution in Confidence” banner as it appeared in June/July 2023, featuring Alhaitham alongside Xiangling, Shikanoin Heizou, and Yaoyao. - 1”> Image credit:HoYoverse Genshin Impact ’s developers have agreed to pay a $20 million (around £16....
Versus £280+ for a Core i5 13600K or 14600K with similar performance! The Intel Core i5 12600K remains a powerful CPU for gaming and content creation even in 2024, and offers better value than successors that use the same socket, like the 13600K and 14600K, due to similar performance at a lower price. Get the Intel Core i5 12600K for £167 (was £189, £221 via Amazon UK) Looking at the specs, it’s clear what sets the (£289) 14600K and (£296) 13600K apart from the earlier 12600K: four extra efficiency cores (that boost performance in content creation workloads but not so much in games) and a maximum rated turbo speed of 5....
GTA 6 release won’t be delayed again now that it has a “specific date”, assures Take-Two boss Also hails second GTA 6 trailer’s impact on popular culture Image credit:Take-Two Interactive Take-Two Interactive’s CEO Strauss Zelnick has served up some dutiful, investor-pleasing sentiments about GTA 6 ’s delay from 2025 release to a 26th May 2026 launch date . Rockstar, he says, are “seeking perfection”, and “consumer anticipation is unprecedented”. As such, “affording Rockstar additional time for such a groundbreaking project is a worthy investment”....
GTA 6’s animations have improved, says original GTA programmer: “things are moving much better” Image credit:Take-Two Interactive One of the programmers behind the very first Grand Theft Auto has praised Rockstar for delaying GTA 6 ’s initial release to May next year, observing (not in so many words) that the developers could have rushed out an early release consisting of a city’s worth of T-posing NPCs and whitebox freeways, and people would still have paid top dollar for the game....
Harold Halibut review: a sweet, restrained story about finding your way home Still waters run deep Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Slow Bros. Developer: Slow Bros. Publisher: Slow Bros. Release: Out now On: Windows 10 From: Steam , GOG , Game Pass Price: £30/€35/$35 Reviewed on: Intel Core i5-11340F, 16GB RAM, Nvidia RTX 3060, Windows 11 Harold Halibut has the vibes of a game that should be 4-6 hours long and is, inexplicably, 10-12....
Helldivers 2 makes its “hardest” difficulties harder and its actual hardest mission easier as servers struggle You might be able to complete that Defend event now, if you can get in Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/PlayStation I’ve been completely hooked on Helldivers 2 since diving into its exceptional Starship Troopers-y bug-blastathon last week, and I’m far from alone - so many people are playing the co-op shooter that developers Arrowhead capped the game’s servers at 450,000 simultaneous players over the weekend to try and alleviate connection and login problems caused by its enormous popularity....
Helldivers 2’s latest patch nerfs Leviathans, and might have snuck that review bomb cape in behind-the-scenes Pillars of freedom from ragdolling Image credit:Arrowhead It’s Tuesday, so Helldivers 2 has gotten a fresh patch. This one makes the Illuminate’s flying death slugs easier to battle and looks like it might have laid the groundwork for the game’s long-awaited review bomb cape. Those Leviathan balancing tweaks have come after players continued to struggle to beat the airborne enemy, despite Arrowhead having previously added a spotlight effect to the attack it can use to one-shot your bottom into oblivion....
