May 2022

Steam Deck news followers may recall Epic Games deciding against making Fortnite compatible with the Deck, citing cheating concerns despite simultaneously making sure its own Easy Anti-Cheat system could work on the handheld. That hasn’t changed, but there is now at least one legit way to play the crossover-happy battle royale on the Steam Deck, as it’s just launched on Xbox Cloud Gaming.

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A niche genre. Games that are best enjoyed with a notepad often involve some mystery, or require drawing strange symbols or shapes that can't be quickly or easily replicated on your PC. They might involve hurried arithmetic, amateurish maps, doodled floorplans, scatter-brained lists. In these cases it transpires that the giant machine whirring three inches from your nose just won't cut it. Sometimes you gotta use a pencil. Here are the 9 best games to play with a notepad.

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Blizzard has been in the news a lot recently, not only for its upcoming acquisition by Microsoft, but also due to the multiple reports of a toxic workplace environment and allegations of sexual misconduct that came to light last year. Then, in January, Blizzard boss Mike Ybarra released a blog post laying out the steps he said will "rebuild trust" in the developer. This included plans to hire new team members, whose roles would focus on improving the company's workplace culture.

Following the arrival of Activision Blizzard's new chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer Kristen Hines last month, Blizzard has welcomed Jessica Martinez as its "first Vice President, Head of Culture."

Martinez's arrival will mark "part of [Blizzard's] ongoing initiative to create a more diverse, equitable and inclusive workplace culture where people at every level can learn, grow and bring their most creative selves to their work," Blizzard says.

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Hello! Welcome back to our regular feature where we write a little bit about some of the games we've found ourselves playing over the last few days. This time: tomb raiders, diving headers and power washers.

If you fancy catching up on some of the older editions of What We've Been Playing, here's our archive.

I had a brilliant time this week thinking back to the trio of Tomb Raider games Crystal Dynamics made back when Eidos was still in the frame.

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Summer Game Fest have announced the show will be back for the third time on June 9th to beam Geoff Keighley straight into your peepholes. Proceedings kick off at 11am PST/2pm EST/7pm BST/8pm CEST and are streamed live from Los Angeles across YouTube, Twitch and other platforms like Twitter and Facebook.

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Having a good keyboard can make a big difference in your day-to-day life, especially with so many people working from home now.

A keyboard with fast switches can improve your gaming experience, and the smoother the switches the easier typing can be when you're working. Finding the right size is important too, as some might need a full set of number keys while others can go without and will appreciate the extra space a tenkeyless keyboard offers.

Logitech have a big range of gaming keyboards with different sizes and switches, wired and wireless, all with lots of extra functions that make working and gaming a breeze. Currently there are discounts of up to nearly 50 per cent on Logitech keyboards at Amazon, and we've picked out some of the best ones down below.

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Three games have been added to the Video Game Hall of Fame: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Ms. Pac-Man, and Sid Meier's Civilization.

The Strong Museum's World Video Game Hall of Fame, based in Rochester, New York, has inducted 36 games since it began in 2015.

Now it includes three seminal games, all deserving of their place.

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The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has opened a probe into Sony's recent acquisition of Bungie.

In January, Sony announced its plans to buy Destiny maker Bungie for a tidy $3.6bn. And, as has become the norm for deals such as this, the FTC has opened an in-depth investigation into this takeover.

According to sources (via The Information), this investigation may set the closing date of this deal back by six months, if not more. While we were never given a firm date of when Sony had hoped to have this deal all squared away by on its initial announcement, reports now state that any closure will be happening early next year.

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This week on the Eurogamer Newscast, we're discussing Square Enix's surprise sale of its western studios - Guardians of the Galaxy developer Eidos Montreal and Marvel's Avengers maker Crystal Dynamics - and what this might mean.

Will a leaner, more focused Square Enix now itself be sold to an interested party (*cough* PlayStation)? Is this actually good news for mothballed series such as Deus Ex? And on a related note, we talk about the latest rumblings of a Ubisoft acquisition - and whether we think the Assassin's Creed creator is the next big games industry acquisition.

Joining me to discuss all of that are Eurogamer news reporters Ed Nightingale, Victoria Kennedy and Ishraq Subhan.

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Nintendo has released an extended look at gameplay from the upcoming Mario Strikers Battle League, the next entry in the Mushroom Kingdom-based football series.

For now, the trailer has only been released in Japanese, but it's still fairly clear what's going on. Characters shown off include Mario, Luigi, Bowser, Peach, Rosalina, Toad, Yoshi, Donkey Kong, Wario and Waluigi.

Mario Strikers Battle League was announced a couple of months back with a launch date set for Nintendo Switch on 10th June, though we've heard little about it since. Once again, series stalwart Next Level Games (of Luigi's Mansion 3 fame) is on development duties.

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Pokémon Unite may be getting a new game mode, according to dataminers.

Prolific data miner ElChicoEevee has unearthed files that point to playable wild Pokémon, suggesting a new mode may be on the way to capture and control them.

That includes legendary Pokémon like Zapdos, Articuno, and Regigigas.

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Over 3000 of Activision's employees are currently working on Call of Duty alone. To put that in perspective, that is more than the entire population of the village that I live in.

To put those numbers into a different perspective, that is over 30 percent of Activision's entire workforce (which, is roughly 9800), and close to half of its total developers (6800).

"We are working on the most ambitious plan in Call of Duty history, with over 3000 people now working on the franchise and a return to the Modern Warfare setting that delivered our most successful Call of Duty title ever," Activision wrote in its 2021 annual report (via Tweak Town).

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The infamous, one-of-a-kind golden Wii meant for the Queen has been put up for auction.

This unique promotional console was crafted by THQ back in 2009 as a stunt to launch a mediocre minigame collection. The publisher famously tried to send the console to the Queen - though it never reached royal hands.

Now, the console - arguably, a piece of gaming history - has been listed on auction site Goldin. As of the time of writing, the bidding stands at £2k.

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343 Industries has admitted the launch of Halo Infinite season two has been "bumpy".

The new multiplayer content launched this week, but fans have been unhappy with various changes and updates.

Head creative Joseph Staten acknowledged fan feedback on Twitter: "Hey Spartans, this week has been bumpy. That definitely wasn't our goal.

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The roguelike Freelancer mode planned for murder ‘em up Hitman 3 has been bumped back until the second half of this year, IO Interactive have announced. The delay was shared as part of Hitman 3’s May roadmap. Luckily, IO have brought forward the release of the tropical 'Rocky' map they showed off in January. There’s Ian Hitman for you, always improvising.

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Video game documentarians Noclip have released more than an hour of footage from Arkane Studios’ cancelled Half-Life 2 horror spin-off, Ravenholm. The video was originally captured for Noclip’s 2020 documentary about the history of Arkane, the studio behind the much beloved Deathloop and Dishonored series. Ravenholm did feature, albeit briefly, in Noclip's original documentary, but now Noclip producer Danny O’Dwyer has decided it's time to show off a bit more of it, interspersing his gameplay footage with some critical context for what’s going on and the ideas behind it. Have a watch of it below:

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More footage from the set of HBO's upcoming The Last of Us TV adaption has come to light, and it appears to confirm that we will be seeing more of the original game's backstory when it airs.

The footage in question was shot in downtown Calgary and shows Military forces moving through the city's streets.

As the trucks make their way through, red flares go off from the nearby buildings and celebratory gunfire can be seen and heard. The extras making up the crowds on these streets appear to be shouting "Freedom!" and "Fuck FEDRA!".

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You might have seen that last week we refreshed our Supporter program, introducing game giveaways and kicking off a newsletter that'll be arriving in all subscriber's inboxes, and alongside all that there's this: the Eurogamer Weekly, a quick digest of what's been going on that's going to premium subscribers on Fridays before being rolled out to everyone a few days later.

Weekly recaps the week on Eurogamer for you. We look at the notable news, reviews, features and videos you might have missed. Don't have time? Don't worry, we've got your back. It's hosted by Eurogamer veteran Bertie Purchese and features a rotating roster assembled from the Eurogamer team and beyond.

This time out Bertie is joined by editor-in-chief Martin Robinson - that's me! - and reviews editor Chris Tapsell as we rattle through some of the week's highlights and dive a bit deeper into the intriguing Citizen Sleeper.

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The Metroid series skipped the N64, with the first 3D entry being the GameCube's Metroid Prime.

That is, until now! Mexican indie developer Luto Akino has been putting together his own version of what a possible Metroid 64 may have looked like.

Akino has shared a video of his work on Twitter, which shows a wonderfully polygonal Samus Arun exploring some caves (spotted by Kotaku).

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Gary Chang lives in a tiny apartment - 344 square feet - in Hong Kong. And Gary Chang is an architectural designer, so he's taken a space that's just about suited to a single room and allowed it to become every room in the house as needed. Bedroom? Pull down the bed. Kitchen? Pull back a wall to reveal a range and a sink. Bath? Pull aside a different wall. Laundry and utilities? Pull - you get me.

I watched a brilliant documentary on Chang's apartment last night. And by the end of it I thought: cor, maybe we're all thinking about this home stuff wrong? Maybe Chang's etch-a-sketch lifestyle is the way to do it. Focus on what you love and conjure the idea of rooms around that and that alone. Opt for a house that slides into place only when you want it to be there.

Harmoniously - a suspicious kind of harmony really - I then spent today playing Loot River. Loot River is an inventive and deeply satisfying roguelite, a top-down affair with a touch of Souls to it. There are a lot of these. But Loot River has a big idea, and it's an idea Chang might approve of. The game plays out on dungeons made of floating tiles - tetrominos put you in the right headspace, but there are lots more shapes - and as you move around with the left stick, you can move the tile you're on with the right, sliding it through the water from one spot to another.

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A new report has revealed that, despite a strong start, Outriders failed to make a profit in 2021.

The report comes from developer People Can Fly (via Tweak Tower). Here, the company revealed the game is yet to make its publisher (Square Enix) any revenue. This was something that was suspected in August last year, when the developer said Square Enix was yet to pay it a royalty fee.

But, even in the several months following that initial statement, no royalty fee ended up coming People Can Fly's way in 2021.

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Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands tees up a flurry of intriguing narrative ideas, a veritable world of possibility full of fascinating concepts and mind-blowing potential outcomes. And then…it does nothing with them, culminating in an ending that fails to realize its own potential. Let’s chat about it.

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I answer the questions dutifully—“Where are your parents from?” “My dad is from Bangladesh, my mom is from Bulgaria”—but growing up in predominantly white Long Island made me embarrassed that anyone ever had to ask. I’m pale. My hair is thin and bleached blonde, and I could never grow it out to lie strong and curled…

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Blizzard Entertainment has announced that it’s hired Jessica Martinez, a 14-year veteran of The Walt Disney Company’s employee experience team, to be its new (and first) vice president of culture. 

The studio announced this news in a tweet, as reported by Eurogamer, revealing that this new hire comes as part of its “ongoing initiative to create a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace culture where people at every level can learn, grow, and bring their most creative selves to work.” 

"When you create a people-first environment where teams feel safe, valued, and work together toward a shared purpose, everyone thrives–the employees, the players, and the business.” pic.twitter.com/qDonVr8nJz

— Blizzard Entertainment (@Blizzard_Ent) May 5, 2022

Blizzard says Martinez and the Blizzard leadership team – her official title is Vice President, Head of Culture – will be responsible for growing and implementing the studio’s culture strategy, “ensuring alignment across all teams and functions, and revamping learning and talent development programs.” 

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is now the most successful video game movie of all time, at least by box office numbers, in the U.S. (although it’s easy to argue it’s also the best movie adaptation of a video game, too). 

Having now earned more than $331 million at the global box office, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is now one of the highest-grossing video game movies of all time. Funnily enough, it took this record from the first Sonic the Hedgehog movie, which held the record after earning $319.71 million in box office sales back in 2020, according to a press release. 

News that Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is the highest-grossing video game movie of all time in the U.S. isn’t too surprising, especially considering it scored the best opening weekend for any video game movie ever, also taking that record from the first Sonic the Hedgehog movie. Stateside, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 has earned more than $150 million in theaters, according to the movie’s official Twitter, which used this impressive number to reveal that it’s the highest-grossing video game movie of all time in the U.S.

“When you create a people-first environment where teams feel safe, valued, and work together toward a shared purpose, everyone thrives–the employees, the players, and the business," Martinez said. "Making the values of our connections show up in what we do is how we bring humanity back to business."

Jessica comes to Blizzard with more than 14 years of experience at The Walt Disney Company, where she was a leader in strategy, communications, operations, and employee experience. She served as Chief of Staff and was a key strategic advisor to both the Chief Security Office and the Chief Technology & Digital Officer for Disney Parks & Resorts.

After you move house there's a weird period where you keep trying to get pans out of the fridge or cutlery from a drawer that doesn't exist. In fact, I'm lagging several years behind and still trying to get cutlery out of the drawer in my flat share in London four years ago. Yesterday I walked straight into the sofa for no earthly reason. In this time of doubt and not knowing where your own two feet are stepping, I present to you three new indie games to help you plan your footwork. And all for under a fiver! Howzat then?

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Over time, you notice the decay less. Once, after years of unknowingly peeling back the skin of your mousepad's gel wrist rest, your forearm finally and suddenly cut deep, splitting the subcutaneous barrier and gouging into the innards, tearing out chunks and spraying you with viscera. Not so much anymore. The wound is still there, it still festers, your wrist still grates, but over time, you notice it less.

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PAX East 2022 may be over, but we’ve still got plenty of things to talk about from our time in Boston. We have a bunch of videos in the pipeline that I can’t wait to share with you (including a fun piece exploring PAX staple collectible Pinny Arcade) but for now I think it’s about time we spoke about one of the best bits of in-person shows: the booths.

Now, we already highlighted most of the booths at PAX East in our show floor tour that we published during the event itself, but we wanted to focus on some of our favourites in a little more detail. Come and see them (and their carpets) in all their glory below. I'm not kidding about the carpets. They were astounding.

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For those keen to have a go at Eurogamer's Game of the Year for 2021 but have only had access to a PlayStation console and have therefore been unable to do so, I have good news. Unpacking will be coming to PS4 and PS5 on 10th May. Yay!

In addition to this news, Witch Beam artist Tim Dawson shared some more information about the real-life origins behind some in-game items on the PlayStation blog.

"People often describe the game as feeling very personal, and we think it is, but personal can mean different things," Dawson wrote.

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You can now play Fortnite on Xbox Cloud Gaming for free on both iOS and Android devices as of May 2022.

Apple removed Fortnite from its App Store after a disagreement about how much of a cut Apple was receiving from in-game purchases. The game is no longer available on Google Play Store either.

However, thanks to the game’s inclusion via streaming on Xbox Cloud Gaming, you can now play Fortnite on iPhone or iPad running iOS, and on Android devices.

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Once in a while, the Go Battle League of Pokémon Go will run an interlude cup – Flying Cup is one of those that comes and goes, and if flying-types are your cup of tea, you’ll definitely want to build yourself a reliable team.

The rules of the Great League in Pokémon Go apply here - meaning you have to come up with the most effective team possible at 1500 CP and under - however, each Pokémon must be a flying-type.

If you’re looking for other Go Battle League recommendations, see our Ultra League page.

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It's been over two months since Elden Ring released, so you're probably ready to try something different by now. If you are, or you just want a new game to play in between Malenia attempts, you can get some new titles for your library for less this weekend with Games Planet's weekend sales.

There's a big selection of games to choose from, whether you want more single-player RPG action or something completely different that's much more relaxing. Here are some of the highlights from Games Planet's weekend sale.

From Games Planet's weekly deals page, two major games series have big discounts on some of their best entries. First up is Capcom's Monster Hunter games, where you use a variety of different weapons to hunt and capture huge monsters for rewards. You can get 2018's Monster Hunter World 53 per cent reduced for £11.66 and also Monster Hunter Rise Deluxe edition that was launched in January for 62 per cent off, now just £22.49.

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With Steam Deck finally becoming more widely available, it's a great time to take a look at the storage expansion options for the portable PC. After all, even the most capacious 512GB Steam Deck isn't going to cut it the deeper you delve into your library, especially as an increasing number of games are certified for Steam Deck. That's why we've collected the best value Micro SD cards for Steam Deck, focusing on high-performance cards to ensure fast load times.

As you might expect from a handheld that brings portable PC gaming to a lower price point, Valve have opted for the more common UHS-1 standard rather than the faster but more expensive UHS-2. That means you don't have to spend a lot to get a fast memory card, but it does mean that Valve have had to perform some minor wizardry to keep games loaded onto the Micro SD card feel as quick to load as those on the internal storage.

That leads us onto the recommendations. We've focused our efforts on cards between 128GB and 1TB in size, as these currently offer the best value per gigabyte (which we've calculated for each pick).

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Today, Ratalaika Games released a brand new teaser trailer for their upcoming 2D Side scrolling space shooter, Remote Life. In the teaser, we get a glimpse of all the shoot ’em up gameplay the game has to offer, featuring plenty of unique weapons, level design, and enemies.

Alongside the trailer, a release date of May 27, 2022, was also revealed, with Remote Life starting out at a price tag of $18.99. You can get a look at the trailer’s action, as well as an official description of the game, right down below.

Remote Life is a 2D Side scrolling space shooter for PC (Shmup) that can be played with Gamepad (Twin Stick), or with Keyboard & Mouse.

The Graphics are huge 3D pre-rendered sprites and are gorgeously animated. It is full of cool menacing Monsters. The backgrounds look fantastic and fit perfectly to the Alien world. The Bosses look so infinity creepy and scary that the cg-artist had to design them with closed eyes ;).

There are an immense number of weapons. You are surrounded by such a Brutal-Frenetic-Sci-Fi-Techno-Alien World that is so brilliantly credible that you can almost smell the gasses that the aliens create when you blast them off. The soundtrack fits perfectly to the theme and the pace of the game. This game is is a full immersion in an unseen world.