Rock, Paper, Shotgun

There’s nothing like a spot of cheery post-apocalyptic city building to keep you going in this fine year we call 2020. After a year of Epic exclusivity, Surviving The Aftermath has arrived in early access on Steam. It’s one of those strategy and management games where you can build a colony for some apocalypse survivors to hang out in, with the ultimate goal of restoring some civilisation to the doomed world. So, you know, good practice for the years to come.

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Deck-building roguelikelike Monster Train last night officially launched its mod support, after a short beta, opening it up to all sorts of player-made newness. Possibilities include new cards, new monsters, new looks, and so on, and I see some folks have already made a whole new playable faction. After seeing how much Slay The Spire mods shook up that other card-slinging dungeon-crawl, I’m dead keen to see what happens here. I’m already digging that fan-made faction, the floor-shifting Arcadians.

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Old Gods Rising

came out relatively recently, but I’m asking if you have played it because I think more people should.

It’s a first person exploration game with a few puzzles, where you play as a disgraced TV historian (as in, historian who had a TV show not a historian specialising in TV) who has been called to serve as the expert on a film set. The filming is taking place at a small and obscure UK university. Except when you turn up, the place is deserted. The director calls you on a long range walkie talkie and directs you around to look at a few locations, while claiming to be stuck at a farm location nearby. And needles to say, some strange things are afoot.

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Is there anything scarier than buying products at below the recommended retail price? Almost certainly, which is why I’d hesitate to call the Epic Games Store Halloween Sale particularly spooky. It is, however, taking a massive knife to game prices across the platform, with some pretty hefty discounts of up to 80% going on a number of range of fantastic games until the sale wraps on November 3rd.

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Alright, listen. The 2018 Mortal Engines adaptation might’ve been largely forgettable, but it did a damn fine job of bringing the book series’ ridiculous towns-turned-monster-trucks to life. Now, one Planet Coaster architect has crafted their own version of London-Upon-Wheels, wrapping their fantasy amusement park around a multi-tiered truck of a city. It’s just a shame there’s no way it’ll ever move. Unfortunately, Planet Coaster just wasn’t built for that.

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Have I mentioned I used to work with sled dogs? While it’s only the most interesting thing I’ve done in the last ten years, I reckon I’ve bored the ears off everyone I know gabbing about it ever since. The Red Lantern, then, is a game for the part of me that’s desperate to pack on fifteen layers and get back into the snow with a band of huskies, riding off into the Alaskan sunset of an Epic Games Store release today.

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Like most jolfing pitches, playing a round of What The Golf? on PC has, until now, the domain of those snooty folks up at the Epic Games Store country club. But no more! The king’s game has been democratised, and you can now thwack in a few holes with Triband’s wonderful ball-smacker over on Steam, arriving with the tools to hand-craft your own golfing nightmares.

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The Old Gods bloody love the circus, apparently. For the final Hearthstone expansion of 2020, Blizzard are taking us way back to 2016, the last Worst Year Ever (in real life), when C’Thun, Yogg-Saron, and the eldritch squad first came to Hearthstone. Today they announced Madness At The Darkmoon Faire, arriving in November. Thankfully, Hearthstone was one of those constants I always went back to in 2016, with the tentacle-infested expansion playing a big part of my first year at uni when I should’ve been revising for exams.

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As I have now stepped through the dread portal to my 30s, I have noticed with horror that I sometimes start sentences with, “When I was young”, which is basically the same as, “In my day”. Might as well fall into my own grave now. But I do think – no, honestly, listen – that children’s entertainment isn’t as fun and grim as it used to be. Every parent I know complains mightily about a small pig at the moment, but if you go back in time then you have to pass through the terrifying talking phone on Wizadora and the unrelenting misery of The Animals Of Farthing Wood before you even get to old women being eaten by wolves.

Point is, I am firmly of the opinion that kiddies are made of sterner stuff than we often give them credit for – and if we’re going to teach them that monsters are real we should then take the next logical step of teaching them that you can kick seven shades out of the monsters, cut them open and get your granny back. All of which is to say that I have played the first four or so hours of Immortals Fenyx Rising, and I think Ubi’s Ancient Greek-themed action adventure (no not that one) might have managed the titanic feat of being something that children and adults can genuinely both enjoy.

Spook-o-ween is almost upon us, dear readers. And while there’s not a single fun-sized Snickers in sight, trotting up to old Mr Epic Games Store’s front door this week has treated to two new freebies – Double Fine’s charming Costume Quest 2 and the decisively less whimsical Layers Of Fear 2. Same as before, they’re yours to keep until this time next week, when they’ll be replaced by two new frightful freebies.

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I have watched the trailer for Tenderfoot Tactics three times now. It looks: weird. It’s a turned-based tactics RPG with lots of roaming in a minimalistic yet super pretty open world. You play as a goblin escaping some spooky fog that has doomed your homeland, and along your adventure you collect other goblins to help you figure out what it’s all about. Have a gander at the launch trailer for yourself below.

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Call of Duty: Warzone

just received a brand new shotgun, with Infinity Ward patching it in with little fanfare to speak of. That doesn’t mean you should ignore the JAK however, as it’s a real beast when set up correctly. There are a few different builds to run with, given that slugs, frags and dragon breath are all an option here. In this in-depth best JAK-12 Warzone guide I’ve highlighted the best all-round option for running the JAK-12 when playing Warzone. You’ll find info on what attachments to use and why, as well as some stats for the new shotgun.

• Best JAK-12 loadout in Warzone
• Warzone JAK-12 stats
• Best Perks for JAK-12 loadout in Warzone

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I won’t lie to you listener, the ratio of games to not-games chat on this week’s episode of the Electronic Wireless Show is pretty… it’s pretty low. This may be the least amount of games chat we’ve ever done. Nevertheless: here is a podcast. This time it is about autumnal games – not games about the season, but games that are cosy, that are good to play when the evenings are drawing in and wish you had a log fire to sit in front of.

Although perhaps not, because on one of many tangents Nate describes how one time a pigeon wrapped in a binbag fell down the chimney in his childhood home. So. Other topics not related to games include hyperforeignism, and what member of a family is, psychologically and emotionally speaking, representative of the concept of autumn. There is also a very tense Cavern Of Lies, where Matthew does impressions of Baldur’s Gate characters (only slightly undercutting the tension). Reminder: Matthew is, incredibly, not a professional voice actor.

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Frankly, it’s about time someone took the expansionist nations of Sid Meier’s Civilization VI down a peg. This month’s free update for the hegaxonal society generator adds the Pirates multiplayer scenario, daring you to wear in those sea legs by becoming the most feared fleet commander on the high seas. Plunder trade routes, inspire fear, flee the forces of burgeoning imperial powers… hang on, Sid, haven’t we been here before?

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The [cms-block] continues to be sold out almost everywhere, but when it does finally come back in stock, is it worth spending that little bit extra on one of the more expensive versions of Nvidia’s new flagship GPU? I’ve been testing the enormous MSI GeForce RTX 3080 Gaming X Trio to find out.

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Mojang have decided that as of next year all of their games will require a Microsoft account to play, including Minecraft Java Edition. Don’t panic just yet, because while this does mean that you’ll need to log in with Microsoft to play the Java edition, it’s not being merged with the Windows 10 (or Bedrock) version of Minecraft. You’ll still be able to mod your game and use Java servers. Mojang simply say that one of the big reasons for the move is increasing account security.

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A new 14-minute gameplay video gives a close look at the oozing sphincters and glistening meaty protrusions of first-person shoot-o-adventure-horror Scorn. It’s still Gigered to the gills, as expected, but I will say even I was surprised to see door control systems activated by frigging an orifice with a gristlegun.

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In Genshin Impact, each element has varying effects. Pyro, Cryo, Hydro, Electro, Geo, Dendro, and Anemo will all have different properties which interact with each other in unique ways. Here’s all the elemental reactions in Genshin Impact, and all their effects.

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Is the tense tactical zombo shooter GTFO too easy for you? Well, that shouldn’t be a problem much longer, because today’s update adds levels with multiple routes that can make it even harder. It’s part of the new Rundown, Contact. Just like previous Rundowns, this is a big update that wipes away the old levels making way for some brand new ones – this time with a new enemy, as well as new weapons and new tools to help fight it.

Oh, and if you’re bored of looking on LFG sites for pals to play with, GTFO finally has a matchmaking system, too.

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It’s no surprise that Kojima Productions are working on a new project, seeing as Death Stranding came out almost a year ago and Hideo Kojima has muttered about new things for a while, but it is now official. Today they declared “a new project is in development” and put out a hiring call for new staff. No hint of what the new game is, mind. I dream of: a Death Stranding sequel where an adult BB carries a now-elderly Sam back across America, strapped to his chest. Come on Hideo, you know you love echoing stories and characters.

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Roguelikes! Getcha roguelikes here! It’s a good time to be a fan of permadeath and trial and error. Yesterday, the excellent ScourgeBringer left early access, last week we got Noita, and today the colourful and chaotic platformer Gonner2 launched. I only played snippets of the first game, and it’s as weird and wonderful as it looks. The original Gonner had players travelling through procedurally generated worlds looking for a head armed with nowt but a gun and a backpack. The sequel seems to have pretty similar vibes, and it looks great.

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Have you ever found a lost phone? If you’re not a complete wrong ‘un your first instinct was likely to find some way to reunite it with it’s owner. But there’s another urge, bubbling away just under the surface of your otherwise squeaky clean sense of morality. It’s okay, you can admit it: You sort of wanted to take a peek. It’s only natural.

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As it was leaked, so it shall come to pass. Red Dead Online has been updated with a Halloween-themed Outlaw Pass. The new Outlaw Pass has 20 ranks to climb with unlockable rewards and will run through November 16th. A new zombie game mode has been added as well and—wait, hold on. No, it isn’t a follow up to Undead Nightmare, the well-liked zombie expansion for the original Red Dead Redemption.

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Ubisoft’s PC game launcher Uplay is getting a makeover and a name change to extremely straightforward Ubisoft Connect for PC. It may not have a terribly cute nickname, but Ubisoft Connect is bringing cross-progression between PC and consoles, meaning your game’s save data, for new Ubisoft games when it launches on October 29th.

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Call of Duty: Warzone’s Zombie Royale is absolute mayhem. I love it. Dropping into Verdansk armed with nothing and ending up with a horde of zombies bearing down on you like ravenous dogs is a terrifying thrill. I’d actually say the feeling of terror I’m always in whilst playing Zombie Royale is an ideal horror experience. Aside from the unfortunate supply box jumpscares, the feeling of constant insecurity thanks to the fact that literally anything can happen and the chaos can always claim you gives me a truly immersive, creeping horror experience. I’m scared to move, I’m terrified of going outside, I’m constantly twitching, checking my six just to make sure a zombie isn’t getting the jump on me. It’s bloody brilliant, and I’ve been on it almost constantly since launch. With that in mind, here are some Zombie Royale tips and tricks to help you not die.

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Don’t stress, Darkest Dungeon 2 is on its way. Red Hook Studios announced today that the sequel to their strategic dungeon crawling game will launch in early access in 2021. A new trailer for the grim strategy series confirms that yup, things sure will continue to be bleak for your long-suffering party of adventurers.

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Not-so-serious publishers Devolver Digital have announced today in a not-so-serious post that they’ve acquired Serious Sam developers Croteam. Seriously. Well, the tone of the announcement isn’t serious but it has seriously happened. It’s a business love story for the books.

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Iä! Iä! The great wurm turns again, the cosmos lurch uncomfortably, and we awake anew with new faces and only fleeting memories of who we once were. Why, here comes news of Arkham Horror: Mother’s Embrace, a video game inspired by a popular Lovecraftian board game, Arkham Horror. Yes, yes, it was based on a different Lovecraftian board game when it was initially announced in 2018, Mansions Of Madness, but what does that mean now? The past is swallowed and we can never recover ourselves.

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Gather ’round and take a seat, Steam have now kicked off their first Digital Tabletop Fest, an event of panels, announcements, and demos for games that “run across the lines between digital and physical games”. From now until next Monday you can catch panels from the likes of developers adapting tabletop RPGs, building digital deck-builders, and other such table to screen fare.

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When I first joined RPS two(!) years(!!) ago, one of the very first things I wrote about was RB: Axolotl, a visual novel about a bunch of axolotls living in different corners of a tank and having very intense, obsessive relationships with each other. At the time it was just a demo, but now it’s a full game. I’m still playing my way through it, but indications after several hours so far are that the completed RB: Axolotl is weirder and darker than I could ever have imagined from the demo. This isn’t a bad thing, to be clear.

I came to RB: Axolotl because I love and fear axolotls in equal measure. They are extremely cute and interesting but also unholy horrors of evolution that should not be. I stayed because the game had a similar thematic tension: initially it is a cutesy VN about a pink axolotl named Axy, who is trying to show off for the girl axolotl he likes. But then you meet the other axolotls in the tank. You encounter a mysterious external entity, RB (which stands for Rock Bottom). RB: Axolotl is, essentially, a perfect example of what I find so fascinating and worthwhile about visual novels.

32GB of RAM is more than what most gaming PCs really need these days, but if you’re determined to future-proof your PC or have your eye on playing hardcore simulation games such as Microsoft Flight Simulator on max settings (and fancy some added RGB lighting to spice things up a bit), then you can currently get a 32GB kit of Corsair’s Vengeance RGB Pro RAM for £120 over at Aria PC. That’s £5 cheaper than what you’ll find over on Amazon UK at the moment, too.

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Bethesda and ZeniMax intentionally sabotaged Rune 2 by secretly snapping up its developers days before launch, the game’s publishers have claimed in a lawsuit. The Viking fantasy action-RPG launched in November 2019 then, the very next day, developers Human Head announced they were shutting down but their employees had been hired for a new Bethesda studio. This was quite a surprise, even to the publishers who had been relying on Human Head to support the game after launch. They sued to regain control of the game’s code and continue updating it, and now are going after Bethesda and Zenimax too.

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Amplitude Studios’ strategy game Humankind is offering a playable peek at their vision for the next era of civilisation ’em ups. The strategy romp has a new trailer out along with a free demo that you can play in your browser so you can decide for yourself if it’ll take the strategy crown. Sega announced today that they’re planning Humankind’s launch for sometime in April 2021.

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So, as you might already know, there is another big Minecraft update on the way – version 1.17, a.k.a “Caves & Cliffs”. As the name suggests, it’s going to be focusing on the underground (with a lesser focus on mountains and such), and that’s welcome news for long-time players. Especially since the Nether, Minecraft’s weirdo hell dimension, got a makeover in version 1.16, it’s become painfully obvious how little the regular underground has changed for very many years.

And as ever, the new feature brush is not being applied lightly – there are going to be 4 new mobs added piecemeal in the months leading up to the presumed full release of the update in mid-2021, as well as somewhere in the region of 30-odd new blocks and their derivatives. And that’s all grand. There’s even an axolotl being added – one of my favourite beasts, and the first amphibian in the game. But thinking about it has made me realise that these big updates are a bit of a double-edged sword, at least for me.

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The last month or so has been a delightful time for roguelite fans (hello). We recently had the excellent Noita and Hades leave early access, and now the fast-paced action platformer ScourgeBringer has joined them.

Today saw the dashing and blasting and slashing roguelite reach its 1.0 release. As with most games escaping their early access shackles, ScourgeBringer got a big update today, too, adding in a new realm with new bosses and enemies to take on.

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When I first saw Asus’ ROG Zephyrus G14 laptop back in January this year, I was struck by just how ‘normal’ it looked. Sure, it had a mad LED matrix display on the back of its lid, but at a glance, I’d have pegged it as a regular everyday laptop that was only fit to play the smallest of 2D indie games. Instead, it had an RTX 2060 graphics chip and one of AMD’s new Ryzen 7 4800HS processors inside it, giving it some serious gaming chops underneath its (relatively) plain-looking chassis.

Genshin Impact ain’t a small game. It’s actually pretty darn chunky, and your device might struggle with it if it’s an older one. We’ve put together a quick rundown of the recommended and required specs for the game. Can your PC or Mobile run Genshin Impact?

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Back when Fortnite first came out in 2018, it had the very polite install size of around 20GB. Having not played it for ages, I had no idea that it’d managed to beef all the way up to 90GB. Thankfully, that’s not the case any longer, though, because today’s update chopped it all down by 60GB. On top of that, it added a load of snazzy new Halloween stuff, too.

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In Genshin Impact, you’re asked to input your birth date. Does this mean you get presents from Paimon? Maybe she leaves you alone for one damn second on your birthday? Well, we’ve found out what happens on your birthday in Genshin Impact so you know whether or not to lie about it.

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