Rock, Paper, Shotgun

The showrunner of Netflix’s new Resident Evil TV series really wants to fit Resident Evil Village's most famous big bad, Lady Dimitrescu, on the small screen. In an interview, Andrew Dabb mentioned that he hopes to delve deeper into the voluminous bosom of Resident Evil lore for any future seasons. Watch a clip from the new series below and marvel at some dubious Scottish accents.

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It’s sweltering in the UK, land of drizzle and cardigans, right now, so the last thing we’re desperate to hear about while we’re forcing steaming cups of tea down our gullets is anything with the dreaded word ‘hot’ in it. I’ll let Forza Horizon 5’s Hot Wheels expansion off though. Launching today, it looks like bloomin’ good open-world racing fun, even if there’s too much liquid hot magma on display.

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Kaiju-stomping multiversal turn-based strategy Into The Breach sees the arrival of its free Advanced Edition update today, with new mechs, monsters and missions. Devs Subset Games are also promising more pilots and abilities. Dive into those diverging timelines by watching the update’s trailer below.

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Here's a neat deal found from HotUKDeals user Ken: CCL are offering £75 off orders over £1000 with code SAVE75, making it an excellent time to pick up more expensive items at the British retailer. Ken suggests a particularly nice combo: an MSI Ventus RTX 3080 12GB OC graphics card, a Lian Li O11 Dynamic XL PC case and a ViewSonic 27-in 1440p 165Hz monitor for £1078, down from an original price of £1218.

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Smaller capacity hard drives are getting increasingly irrelevant these days, as capacious SATA SSDs are coming down in price sharply. One such example is the Crucial BX500, a DRAM-less TLC SSD that debuted at £172 for a 2TB model. Today though, that 2TB size is available for £125.99 after a 27% discount. That's a new historic low price and the best SSD deal we've seen since Prime Day earlier this month.

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The game I've done the most virtuacycling in is named after a whole other form of transport, but it is also a great place to ride a bike. When I'm visiting Grand Theft Auto Online for funsies, just to watch mayhem unfold, I like to do it atop a BMX. Sure, everyone in Los Santos wants to murder me, but players are a little friendlier when you're pulling sikk tricks. A little.

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I’ve been looking forward to Stray for years, mainly for the cat-tion adventure premise but also so I could enjoy more of its marvellous presentation. The final product (as reviewed by Katharine) isn’t quite as glossy as the 2016 test footage, but it’s still an impeccably detailed, gorgeously lit slice of cyberpunk – and even so, the PC version can run silkier than a Maine Coon’s coat.

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Communities of modders have created multiplayer servers for a leaked version of EA’s upcoming online free-to-play skateboarding sim skate., a game still in the very early stages of development according to its developers. These groups, including one called Skateclub, are hosting their own servers for the leaked build.

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Cats are masters of their domain. As an owner of two tortoiseshells myself, they've unlocked routes in our house I never knew existed, using the tiny lip of our fridge as a gateway to the top of our kitchen cupboards, bed frames as launch pads to the middle bar of our sash windows (not even the actual window sill, those daft beasts), and don't even get me started on how they managed to get onto the top of our 2cm wide shower rail that one time.

Stray, BlueTwelve Studio's cat 'em up explorathon, puts you in the paws of a similarly savvy feline protagonist. The cat itself is a marvel of digital observation, fully inhabiting all of the best cat-isms I know and love. You can scratch the backs of sofas and knead and shred carpets with alternate squeezes of the trigger buttons, meow at will, lap from dripping water bowls, topple piles of carefully stacked books and push paint cans off the edge of ledges - and, if you leave them idle long enough, they'll stretch and catch flies too tiny to be caught by the human eye. You can also play a mean game of billiards, much to the annoyance of the local robots. I wouldn't go as far as saying it loosened my jaw quite as much as when I first set eyes on Trico from The Last Guardian, all told, but I reckon if BlueTwelve had the same kind of budget and scale as GenDesign and Sony's Japan Studio did back then, then Stray's cat would be every bit the equal of that famous cat-bird-chimera.

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After some unforeseen technical hitches, I'm pleased to say that, finally, the next free key giveaway for RPS premium supporters is now live. Yes, right now, so go on. Hop to it.

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Amazon’s open-world fantasy MMO New World is rocking out this summer with its own version of Glastonbury, dubbed the Summer Medleyfaire. You can already grab your instrument on the game’s Public Test Realm but everyone will have the chance to take part later this month. It’s a hefty one, but you can watch the summer update video below to find out more.

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NZXT, having previously expanded from PC cases and coolers into motherboards, microphones, mice, and keyboards, have now launched a pair of 1440p gaming monitors as well. Far from being just another PC hardware thing to check off, they look like they might be alright?

Both hit the 2560x1440 resolution with a 165Hz refresh rate, with the Canvas 27QHD being a flat 27in screen and the Canvas 32QHD Curved being 32in and… well, curved. They support AMD FreeSync Premium, meaning they should work with Nvidia G-Sync as well, and come with anti-glare coatings to see off reflections.

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Dataminers mucking about with the alpha build of World Of Warcraft’s next expansion, Dragonflight, have happened across some indicators that the option to choose your character’s pronouns could feature in the game. It looks as though character body types will lose their gendered terminology too. Watch the cinematic trailer for Dragonflight below.

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Well, this is a pleasant surprise. When I first sampled the tower defence deckbuilding delights of ORX a couple of months ago, I'd assumed that we'd be playing as the demo's medieval castle builders throughout. Today, however, devs Johnbell have announced a brand-new faction for the game, the sand-loving Dune Reavers. Even more intriguing, though, is that the Dune Reavers aren't actually big fans of building, you know, towers, favouring instead the brute force approach of their large armies. Can you still call it tower defence if there aren't any towers involved? Decide for yourself by watching the new gameplay trailer below.

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I know I've found a new favourite show when it's impossible to stop watching. That feverish ferocity to see just one more episode is the best feeling. As Dusk Falls, an interactive story about a robbery gone wrong in Arizona, managed to evoke that feeling early on and carry it throughout my roughly seven-hour playthrough. Split perfectly into two chunks that cover three chapters each, it's a thrilling adventure that deserves a prime time slot in your evenings over the weekend.

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Elden Ring is challenging, it’s fair to say. That’s why the idea of tackling the game’s die-rise-repeat formula without taking a single hit and never levelling your character’s runes is pretty dang impressive. Well, Elden Ring streamer Ainrun managed to do that, and didn’t skip the Grafted Scion boss like other streamers. Nice.

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Every weekend, indie devs show off current work on Twitter's #screenshotsaturday tag. And every Monday, I bring you a selection of these snaps and clips. This week it's another big one, because my eye was caught by Columbo 64, bullying dice, a variety of horrible horror games, and just some great-looking colours. Come admire!

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The UK government has called for games companies to take greater responsibility in protecting children and young people from harm linked to loot boxes, including mental health issues and gambling problems. Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries said that games companies and platforms needed to ensure parental purchase controls and age restrictions were in place to let kids play without the risk of harm, and to put parents’ minds at ease. Xbox’s parental restrictions on loot box purchases for under-18s were singled out for praise, and the government now say they will legislate if the rest of the industry doesn’t follow suit.

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Sundays are for putting a big pot of sauce on. Before you let it sit, let's read this week's best writing about games (and game related things).

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A new free-to-play game from the studio behind online sci-fi ARPG Warframe was teased during the TennoCon 2022 livestream today, taking the action MMORPG shenanigans into the realm of fantasy. Called Soulframe, we don’t know a lot about it yet, but developers Digital Extremes showed off some early footage. Replace your space pantaloons with your wizard robe before you watch the very first trailer below.

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More of online sci-fi action RPG Warframe’s upcoming The Duviri Paradox expansion was shown off at today’s TennoCon 2022 event. We got to take a look at some of the roguelite flavour that’s been injected into the expansion’s mostly monochrome open-world. Dress like a mime when you watch the trailer below, so you can silently ooh, ahh and quizzically scratch your head.

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Warframe is getting a surprise next expansion called Veilbreaker, today’s TennoCon 2022 livestream has revealed. It’ll be reviving heroes from last year's The New War expansion, and bringing back some old villains, too. Suit up and watch the announcement trailer below.

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There's no way to get around it. I have to, in the process of constructing this post, write the name "Slopper Johnson: Graviton Agent." I don't like the feel of it in my mouth or in my brain, but as a game, Slopper Johnson is too interesting to ignore. It's a roguelike in which you construct your actions during combat by wiring together modules as you would with a modular synthesizer.

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Halo Infinite's many modes and features have been trickling out piecemeal, and next up is the scifi shooter's co-op campaign. Eight months after the game first launched, co-op is now in public beta testing for those who have been signed up to the Halo Insider program for at least three months and who have an Insider XP level of 5 or higher.

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The next free update for The Sims 4 will add options which let you define the sexual orientation of your Sims. That includes support for straight, gay and bi Sims, as well as those who are asexual or aromantic. In a blog post about the feature, design lead Jessica Croft also detailed the system's limitations and said they consider it "a version 1.0".

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Sony have completed their purchase of Destiny developers Bungie. The $3.6 billion acquisition was first announced back in January, and Bungie tweeted yesterday that they were "proud to officially join the icnredible team at PlayStation."

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I know it's trite to talk about the weather but jesus, the weather! One day, fun remarks like this will seem as on-the-nose as expository newspaper headlines and graffiti in zombie films have seemed during the pandemic. What a thrill to live during some bona fide history. So to casually sweep that under the rug with no further thought or action (as genre conventions demand), why not tell me what you're playing this weekend? Here's what we're clicking on!

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As much as I enjoy watching the Tour De France, I have a weak grasp of professional cycling's strategic level. While individual riders get the fame, it is a team sport with complex tactics and strategies across each stage and the overall race—which sometimes leave me flummoxed. So to help me better understand, I've been playing two strat-o-management games: the flashy Pro Cycling Manager 2022 (from the makers of the official Tour De France game) and the board game-esque indie game The Cyclist: Tactics.

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My family is obsessed with Wordle. Their love for the five-letter-word guessing game has become so strong that we've had to create a separate family Whatsapp group for it. Now, Wordle owner The New York Times has partnered with Hasbro to make it into a real-world tabletop game - and I think I might have excuse myself from every family gathering going forward, because I know that someone's inevitably going to buy this for someone's Christmas or birthday present in the future, and it's going to be all they ever want to do and talk about. Help.

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Earlier this week, Unity announced they were merging with mobile ads company ironSource, who are arguably best known for developing a malware installer in 2015. Unsurprisingly, game developers were not pleased. If that wasn't enough, however, Unity CEO John Riccitiello was interviewed by PocketGamer.biz on Wednesday, wherein he called developers who failed to plan monetisation strategies when creating their games were “some of the biggest fucking idiots”. Oh dear.

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For the most part, PowerWash Simulator helps me reach a state of total focus. Grime must be eliminated and I am there to facilitate that request with water and power. But occasionally I succumb to frustration as something I consider pristine isn't determined clean by the little progress bar that usually pats me on the back for jobs well done.

Then I learned that although grime can’t move, it makes up for it with cunning. It cements itself on surfaces in ways you wouldn't expect, as if to belittle my cleaning standards. After many encounters, I've identified this menace as The Underside: a secret boss you'll need to beat to become the ultimate power washer.

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Prettiness, a strong musical score, and being a very welcome product of Persian myth and literature rather than Mount Olympus or Shakesbore again are good reasons to consider The Tale of Bistun. But I am absolutely shallow enough to be immediately invested in a game that implies my overarching goal will be to team up with Shohreh Aghdashloo. It turns out she's barely in it, but by the time I'd figured that out I was already won over.

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Valve recently ramped up production for the Steam Deck, with more and more pre-orders being fulfilled every single day. As a result, a few of us here at the RPS Treehouse have finally received that much anticipated email letting us know that our little handheld baby is ready to be personally delivered by Gabe Newell dressed like a big stork. Editor-in-chief Katharine was the first to receive their shiny new Steam Deck, following hardware editor James who's had a review copy since February, so we were keen to hear her first impressions of the console.

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It’s been more than two years since EA announced their next Skate game, but the devs at Full Circle have sat down to share some more info on what to expect from it. Annoyingly for folks like us who have to write about it, they’ve decided to drop the capital S and add a completely unnecessary full stop to its new name. Yep, it's no longer Skate 4, but "skate.". At least it’s going free-to-play.

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Multiplayer free-to-play brawler MultiVersus is barrelling into open beta on July 26th, with an early access period beginning July 15th for those who played the closed alpha. Warner Bros. Interactive confirmed that progression and unlocks earned in the beta will carry forward when the game launches, so that’s nice. Marvel, not DC, at Norville ‘Shaggy’ Rogers implausibly battling the Man Of Steel in the trailer below.

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DDR5 continues to drop in price, as more kits enter the market and supply increases. Today we spotted a 16GB stick of Crucial DDR5-4800 RAM going for just $70 at Amazon, nearly $20 below its original $89 MSRP set earlier this year. This is an awesome chance to build a new system with 32GB of DDR5.

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One of the fastest gaming laptops is a solid $400 off at Best Buy, bringing an Asus ROG Strix G15 Advantage Edition to just $1250. That's an awesome price* for a laptop that comes with top-end AMD components, including a Ryzen 9 5900HX processor and RX 6800M graphics card, which for context should equal the performance of a good RTX 3080 gaming laptop.

*By comparison, the same laptop costs £1500 (equivalent to $1770) in the UK, so y'all Americans are getting darn lucky with this one.

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UPDATE #2: Hello again folks. Sorry again for all the confusion over this week's free game key giveaway. Thankfully our tech wizards have now sorted all outstanding technical problems, and we will now be holding the giveaway on Monday, July 18th, at 4pm BST / 8am PT. Thanks again for your patience on this. As ever, I'll write another post on Monday a few hours ahead of the giveaway going live to remind everyone when it's taking place.

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Sci-fi MMO shooter Planetside 2 has overhauled its underwater combat with the suitably named Surf and Storm update, live now. The ageing FPS has also brought in water vehicles, updated the island continent of Oshur added last year, and left some bug fixes in its wake. Get your cossie on and dive into the trailer below.

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Matthew is away this week, which leaves me and Nate to take over The Electronic Wireless Show podcast and turn it into a big ol' tower with loads of flamethrowers. That's because we're talking about our favourite towers in games. This means we need to draw a distinction between towers (the gamified concept as most popularly complained about in Ubisoft games) and towers (the architectural thing). Luckily, games have a lot of both.

Meanwhile, Nate's fish issue (fisssue?) is growing worse, I am enjoying the local acts performing on the summer bandstand, and we talk about Lord Of The Rings and Lord Of The Rings related things. What fantasy creature would you like to conjure into real-life existence? We both said orc.

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