Rock, Paper, Shotgun

I think this Doom and Wolfenstein Mayhem Bundle from Humble is an easy win if you’re even remotely interested in first-person shooters. For $28 / £21.16, you get fifteen titles spanning decades of FPS history. From the original DOOM to the more recent Wolfenstein reboots, this is a complete collection of mayhem. It’s also the lowest price I’ve seen for a bundle with this much legacy and content in one place.

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What do people that play Frostpunk call themselves, frostpunks? Feels too obvious, but I'm going to do it anyway. Breaking news frostpunks! There's a new big Frostpunk 2 update that's just arrived in the game, adding some pretty big additions and changes,so let's jump into them. First up, The Pit! No, it's not just some hole to chuck things in, it's a large new map with a "distinctive 'proto-crater' pit counted as mountain terrain," to be found within.

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Mafia: The Old Country will release on August 8th, developers Hangar 13 and publishers 2K Games have confirmed, and look, here’s a trailer featuring much headlong bloodshed in the villas, citrus groves and *squints* mysterious firelit dungeons of early 20th century Sicily.

With GTA 6 now releasing in 2026, the new Mafia is the criminal enterprise to beat this year. Rather than trying to fill the hole left by the Rockstar colossus, it’s playing things small with “a focused, linear experience that combines quality storytelling, authentic era immersion and a refined take on the familiar Mafia gameplay,” according to Hangar 13 president Nick Baynes.

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The horizon glows red. Europa Universalis 5 is posturing itself as the next grandaddy of grand strategy. It follows 12 years of updates and expansions to Europa Universalis 4, so it has some catching up to do. But much of the historical simulation is in place, along with new features and a fresh focus on the rowdy populations you'll be lording it over. Like its predecessors, Europa Universalis 5 will be a deeply complex game. I'm going to do my best to explain it.

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Paradox have announced grand strategy game Europa Universalis 5, following some teasers last week. It's the next big entry in the series of complex globe-spanning historical simulations, and having played a little as the hapless ruler of Korea in the 14th century, I can confirm that it is so far as chunky, complicated, and deep as usual. The changes in this sequel won't look wild or revolutionary to a dabbler, but seasoned tyrants might find a lot to pique their interest. Come see a trailer below.

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We all know that Palworld developer Pocketpair are currently dealing with a lawsuit from Mario maker Nintendo. Specifically, it's over patent rights, rather than something like copyright infringement which everyone was expecting given the liberties that Palword takes with its Pal designs. In November it was confirmed what those patents are, partially relating to the fact you could throw out your Pals from a ball and they'd appear, similar to Pokemon Legends Arceus. That feature was patched out from Palworld though, and in a new post Pocketpair has confirmed that this is because of the ongoing lawsuit.

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3D platformer Paperklay has perhaps the least appealing protagonists I've seen in a game recently. I hate avian buddy duo "Chick & Nugget" and all their works, beginning with the ghastly 3am pun that appears to have spawned them.

Look at that ampersand, dangling in the middle like a chunk of gristle. What an absolute crime against typography. And chickens. And platform game levels made of paper and card - you'd never put an actual chicken nugget on dioramas like these, the grease would ruin it. I also mistrust Chick's beady black eyes, and I can't abide the fact that Nugget is wearing a fragment of eggshell for pants. That's like a human child using a placenta as a necktie! Argh!

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Earlier today there was a mighty eruption of Death Stranding 2: On The Beach previews, featuring commentary on the new game's themes and social relevance from erstwhile Metal Gear Solidifier and Kojima Productions boss Hideo Kojima. Themes and social relevance, eh! Kojima is one of the few bigwigs who will engage openly with such things, which is perhaps less praise of Kojima than a judgement upon the hesitant and anodyne way other blockbuster game creators discuss the impact of their work.

In this case, Kojima has talked at some length about how Death Stranding 2 builds on and, at times, resists the first game's theme of connection, based on his experiences of the Covid pandemic and his dislike of the "metaverse" - that ageing umbrella term for a newly monetisable "web 3.0" fauxtopia of networked technologies, ranging from VR to cryptocurrency, which many large video game publishers have sought to normalise in their hunger for profit growth.

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Doom: The Dark Ages releases next week, and with it the realisation that Doom Guy has come a long way since the murder of his beloved rabbit Daisy at the hands of hell. While FPS Pigface is naturally a genre descendant of Doom, I cannot say for certain if the evil rabbit that commands you to go do sledgehammer murder in its Itch.io combat demo is a descendant of Daisy. Either way, it's an ominous critter. "You know what you did to deserve this," says the rabbit. A free sledgehammer? Thanks rabbit! I knew I was good this week.

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"Attacking is the most consistent element of Elden Ring Nightreign’s gameplay," says director Junya Ishizaki in a new PlayStation blog, explaining the choice to have players revive each other by hitting wounded mates with swords - a famously crucial tenet of the hippocratic oath. "We tested to see if it would work for resuscitation, and we discovered a wide variety of tactics depending on range, frequency, and probability, so we formally implemented it. We also found it quite amusing (laughs)."

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Today, 8th May, is a day of compound darkness, for it sees the release of (at least) two games with "midnight" in the title: Midnight Special from Scared Stupid Inc, and The Midnight Walk from Moonhood. A coincidence? Absolutely not. This is clearly an occult configuration of daunting power. It's also an opportunity to briefly compare two video game aesthetics, each comparably dense, tasty and insidious.

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Necromancy is a dark art, forbidden by the mages guild in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered. At least, that's what characters in the open world RPG will tell you, before selling you a spell that lets you raise skellingtons from the dirt. You can be promoted to the head of the Mages Guild, in spite of all those corpses you keep bringing back to life. Necromancy banned? Seems like no one cares.

Well, one modder has fixed that. The mod, simply titled "Necromancy Is Actually Banned", will see you expelled from the Mages Guild if you perform any necrotic abracadabras in sight of a fellow member. You can also get fined by the guards.

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Sharpen your stake and pack some silver bullets because Humble Choice just dropped a May lineup packed with blood, brains, and pure gaming mayhem. For just $11.99 / £8.99 a month, you’re getting eight standout games plus a bonus month of IGN Plus thrown in at no extra cost. That’s over $280 in value, all for the price of a decent lunch.

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This is just a quick write-up, because it's outside office hours, but... Mobius Digital, creators of wondrous virtual orrery and gravitational stageplay Outer Wilds, are making a new game.

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There's a new king of RTX 5080 laptop deals, and it's this HP Omen Max 16 configuration. At $2,609.99 shipped with promo code PC10DEAL, it undercuts the competition by hundreds of dollars without compromising on power.

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Sony have announced a new PlayStation studio made up of former developers of Destiny, Halo, League Of Legends, Fortnite, and Roblox, plus a few industry newcomers. Called teamLFG - where "LFG" stands for Looking For Group, not the other, naughty phrase you're thinking of - they're based in Bellevue, Washington, and are dedicated to "exceptional action-based gameplay, moment-to-moment game feel, and richly social virtual worlds". Uuuuuurrrgh. Their first project is a "comedic" and "lighthearted" team-based action game set in a new science-fantasy universe.

The PlayStation blogpost announcing all this is a wearying paean to an idea of the live service game that dates back to the original Destiny in 2014. It's written in the style of a cyborg that is trying to remember how to love. There is, however, a spark of eccentricity at the end that makes the labour of being preached to about engagement processes worthwhile: the team claim to be inspired by "frog-type games". What is a frog-type game? A Frogger homage? A real estate sim about Finishing Rooms Over Garages? Did they just misspell "frag"? The mind froggles.

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Cough! Splutter! Sneeze! Excuse me, it's mighty dusty in here all of a sudden. Exceedingly dirty alleged leaked images of both the Asus ROG Ally 2 and what could be Microsoft's rumoured "Project Kennan" gaming handheld have burst forth from the tissues of the internet in a shower of dead skin particles and grime.

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The second trailer for Grand Theft Auto 6 came out yesterday. The open world crime 'em up looks as flashy and expensive as you might expect from a Rockstar game, and we now know more about the game's story, particularly the two sexy reprobates you'll be playing as in the streets of Vice City and the swampy countryside beyond. They are horny, jacked, thicc, and pretty as a picture of your prettiest purple petticoat. They are also, so far, extremely boring.

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Walmart's dropped the price of this INIU 25000mAh 65W power bank to just $32.99, down from $59.99 when you sign in and clip the on-page coupon.

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Fanatical's new Bethesda bundle deal is a rare case where you get full control — pick the games you actually want, from Fallout: New Vegas and Oblivion to Dishonored and The Evil Within 2.

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Sponge away the dross and ephemera of my life and you're left with a series of moments in which I wonder: is now the right time to get into Legend of Heroes? I've been planning to play Nihon Falcom's 17-part RPG series ever since a respected peer gently suggested that my enthusiasm for Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest marked me out as a Basic Bitch, and that if I ever want to experience a real role-playing game, I should give LoH a go.

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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.

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Polar Star is, basically, rock paper pistol, but with a few dab-handed puzzle twists that make it instantly compelling. You're a saloon dwelling varmint sat at a table with nothing but your six shooter and a glass of whiskey for company, and you're accosted by a chain of ne'er-do-wells. Perhaps there's a bounty on your head. Perhaps it's their whiskey you're drinking. It's not clear, but it seems nefarious. You know what ne'er-do-wells are like.

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Last month, Blizzard announced the first of their planned collaboration events/themed cosmetic greed-jamborees for action RPG Diablo 4. Kicking things off is Berserk - Kentaro Miura's dark fantasy manga about a large man swinging a large sword at demons, full of panels that are very good at conveying thrilling duels with a bunch of slash marks and captions that say 'snick' a lot. I'm no superfan, but I do own a few books, and the original anime is one of my favourites - even if its brilliant theme song lied to me re: having zero problems in life as long as I'm wearing my glasses.

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Last month, FromSoftware announced that Elden Ring would be coming to the Nintendo Switch 2, which is wonderful for that plumber guy, but mostly meant piss all for us PC people. The thing is, this version of the game actually comes with some new stuff, and I like new stuff, and publisher Bandai Namco only vaguely said all the new bits would be coming to "other platforms". But! I bring good news, as yes, the Switch 2 Tarnished Edition extras are coming to PC as part of a Tarnished Pack DLC.

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Alright, look, I get it. There's a lot of farming sims already. There's even the odd anime inspired farming sim here and there. But Tales of Seikyu, which fits into that second camp, is different, I promise, because it has dating - and I think you can date an anthropomorphic otter man. I'm not talking queer slang here to be clear, though the character does kind of fit that meaning too. I'm talking about a man that looks like an otter, who walks around on two legs.

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While Bungie is obviously quite busy presumably stressing over lukewarm responses to its next game Marathon, they're still working on a bunch of Destiny 2 stuff. The studio revealed a plethora of expansions today, all of which are building up a new "multi-year saga" called the Fate Saga. We'll get to it in a moment, but one of these expansions might raise an eyebrow, as it is quite literally a Star Wars crossover, but is also described by narrative designer Alison Luhrs as one that will push the Fate Saga "forward in important ways and introduce characters that we're going to spend time with for years to come."

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I think this Alienware AW3225QF is one of the most impressive displays I've seen hit the $900 mark in a long time.

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I'm a bit of a sucker for weird genre combos. With the amount of games getting released every single day that often combine the same kinds of genres, you start to get hungry for mashups that make you go, "hang on, would that even work?" So when I saw Drop Duchy release yesterday, which mixes Tetris, land-grabbing strategy, deckbuilding and roguelite gameplay, I asked that exact question. Turns out the answer is yes!

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Stellaris is one of those forever games where occasionally I'll see that it's released something new and think "dang, that old dog is still truckin' along?" It seems to be that time of year again, as both a big update for the game as well as a new expansion dropped yesterday. Paradox previously described this as a "phoenix update" to try and sort out a bunch of the game's long-running issues, as well as make some tweaks to help bring in new players.

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Rockstar have released a second trailer for Grand Theft Auto 6. It's one of those cinematic clip shows of scenes from the game, setting up the story and relationship between dual protagonists Jason and Lucia. It's horny and boring at the same time. Nope, there's still no word on a PC release, sorry.

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I think this Alienware Aurora ACT1250 deal is exactly what I'd recommend to anyone who wants a top-end desktop without falling into the rabbit hole of part-picking and compatibility headaches.

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What in the name of jumping jellybeans is happening to The Maw? Our grizzled regular column summarising all the latest game news is going through some sort of midlife crisis and doesn't know what it wants to be. I can hear it grinding its molars, squelching its many news bladders, and unfurling its long, insipid tendrils. The usual Mawkeeper, Edwin, is away today, so it's up to me to soothe the beast and tell you all the new games being released on PC this week, as well as a hint for some anticipated strategy game news from Paradox Interactive.

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I have an unhealthy habit of throwing money at several solo tabletop RPG projects a year, whether or not I actually plan on playing them: tables and lists corresponding to dice rolls are one of my favourite ways to consume microfiction, and I get a real buzz out of TTRPGs as discrete creative writing artefacts, if not necessarily functioning games. Naturally, I'm all over Spindlejack - a print and play solo game set in the Citizen Sleeper universe that you can download for free here on itch.io.

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I once got in a heated debate with Graham over whether the chest-high walls in the Gears Of War series could accurately be called 'massive'. The Gears men are massive, I argued. So it stands to reason that any wall that could provide adequate bullet cover to a massive man must itself be a massive wall. No, said Graham. They're famously normal size walls, hence why the massive men have to squat down like they've just had a bowling ball lobbed at their kidneys. Well, we can finally examine the true scale of these walls - in 4K no less - with Gears Of War: Reloaded. A "faithfully remastered" version of the 2006 large man action game, coming to Steam on August 26th this year.

I couldn't find a trailer so enjoy this extremely old one and just imagine it looks nicer. Bit nicer. Little bit nicer. That's it, now you're thinking like a customer!

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Well! A one-week Sunday Papers break turned into three, prompted by the seemingly endless school holiday at Easter. Now I return and-- Monday is another holiday? Blimey. Nevertheless, let's do some links.

Polygon, one of the last video game outlets with a reputation for long form reporting and feature writing, was sold to Valnet, a content farm best known for paying writers terribly and being founded by porn peddlers. Most of the staff were immediately fired. Local arsonist believes smouldering rubble has "a lot of potential and could be much more."

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Do you ever think to yourself, "gee, I wish that LA Noire actually looked like a noir film and also everyone is a furry"? Then boy howdy do I have the game for you: The Shadow Syndicate. It just got announced yesterday at the Gamescom Latam showcase, and I should say it's not exactly like LA Noire in that you don't have to try and read the faces of motion capture actors overperforming their hearts out. What it does have is some detective work, gunplay, and even some Max Payneish bullet-time. How can you not be into that mixture?

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I'm not sure how they have time for it, but as part of a livestream held earlier today, HoYoVerse revealed yet another new game. This one isn't a completely new world, it's actually another Honkai game, though right now it doesn't have a name. A very short teaser was shared for it which literally just called it a "brand new Honkai game", but there were a couple of signs that it was one anyway. Namely, the presence of a couple of characters, Kiana and Blade.

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Well, this is all a bit awkward. Yesterday, you might have seen claims that Chrono Trigger writer Yuji Horii accidentally confirmed that a remake of the beloved JRPG is in the works. It all read a bit suspicious right off the bat, because it initially just came from a Reddit post from someone who attended a panel Horii was speaking at during Napoli Comicon without any video evidence. Then some other posts started cropping up, alongside commenters saying they were also there and that this was true. Except, it isn't true, because it was all a translation miscommunication.

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We're not too far off Elden Ring Nightreign now, with the spinoff game due out right at the end of the month. Some of you might have even played some of it already, unlike James, who struggled to play any of it at all when the test was held back in February. Considering how few of us have actually spent any time on it overall though, quite conveniently FromSoftware and Bandai Namco shared a little overview trailer yesterday that dove into what you'll be doing in the Fortniteish Souls game.

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