The Steam Deck has been delayed until February 2022, but a new update from Valve says that they've now completed their final prototype of the handheld PC before it enters full production.
They're now sending out a new wave of dev kits to creators, and as part of that they're also testing their final packaging. That includes the neat-looking case pictured above.
Please pay attention to the fourth door of our Advent Calendar. But try not to blink. Or do blink, if you want, maybe.
Friday comes around once again, dear reader, and on this particular Friday you find us a much diminished team, since by hook, crook, or coincidence almost all the rooms in the treehouse are empty. A shock indeed. There are at least a few of us left, walking up and down the halls looking for something to do. Maybe we'll find some games to play! Who knows? It is my eternal hope, at least.
It's the launch of a new MMO expansion, and you know what that means: queues. Early access to Final Fantasy XIV's Endwalker expansion kicked off today and players are reporting hours-long waits, frequent errors and more while trying to join servers.
In a forum post, Endwalker's developers say that the game's surge in popularity over the past year means that they're expecting "a number of logins that is yet to be seen since the launch of FFXIV," but that the global semiconductor shortage means they can't fix the issue.
The Last Night was announced at E3 2017 to great excitement, before that excitement was cut short the same day by the re-emergence of pro-Gamergate tweets made by creator Tim Soret in 2014.
The cinematic pixel art platformer has been quiet almost ever since, but rumours began circling this week that it would resurface at the Game Awards later this month. Not so, says Soret. "It will be shown next year, not before," he told PC Gamer.
Electronic Arts have announced plans to build a "connected Battlefield universe", as part of sweeping changes to the development teams behind the military shooter. As part of the changes, Vince Zampella - co-founder of Respawn, developers of Apex Legends - is now overseeing the Battlefield franchise, and Marcus Lehto (best known for Halo) is building a new studio to create narrative experiences within the series.
Hazelight Studios abandoned an attempt to trademark the name of their co-op platformer It Takes Two after it was contested by Take-Two Interactive. In a comment to Eurogamer, a Hazelight spokesperson said they "cannot comment on ongoing disputes" but was "hopeful it will be resolved."
It’s been a little over 9 months since Fights In Tight Spaces first released on to Steam Early Access, and as of December 2nd, it’s kicked open the door and walked into a full release. It’s a unique combination of deck-building and turn-based strategy, presented in satisfying and stylish 3D animation. Sort of Superhot meets Slay The Spire.
In Fights In Tight Spaces, you play as an anonymous secret agent with the aim of assassinating bosses, while moving through the game's multiple chapters. On the way to each boss are several smaller encounters, which act as opportunities for you to get some practice in. You take turns planning the best way to take out roomfuls of enemies, and eventually upgrade your skills and continue the cycle.
I hate to caveat a recommendation with “it gets good later” but unfortunately, the first hour of Chorus (despite the title stylisation, promotional materials do not write it out as Chorvs, cowards) is not good. Yet beyond that lacklustre start is a surprisingly tight arcade space fighter wrapped up in a wonderful bundle of pompous space magic.
Phew. Ready to open the third door? There's still a lot of work ahead of us, but if we go through it all methodically, and make sure it's all in the right place, then we'll be okay. Weird how much you can fit in one box, isn't it?
Pharaoh was one of those citybuilders I never really grasped how to play as a child, but hot damn if I didn't spend hour after hour constructing neat little rows of farms and carving out a warren of roads for my citizens to scuttle about in. It's a game I have very fond memories of, and publisher Dotemu's latest dev diary about the soundtrack for the upcoming remake has cast me right back to those glorious, if rather futile afternoons spent staring at my parent's living room computer. Musician Louis Godart is recreating the original game's music from scratch for Pharaoh: A New Era, but he's also adding some authentic touches of his own to help do those classic tunes justice.
If you weren’t satisfied with only three DLC packs to play with in the hybrid metroidvania roguelike Dead Cells, don’t worry. The teams over at Motion Twin and Evil Empire have got your back. The latest DLC, The Queen And The Sea, has been teased with a tiny new trailer.
The Queen And The Sea is currently planned for a release early next year. It's described as the largest update to Dead Cells yet, and is designed as an ending to the route started by the two previous DLCs (The Bad Seed and Fatal Falls). I think it’s going for more of a The Lighthouse vibe, and not so much The Little Mermaid. You can take a look at the new teaser trailer below.
Neon Giant's first DLC update for The Ascent is out now. They say the Cybersec Pack’s contents include “two new weapons, a new tactical, four new pieces of armor and four new animated weapon skins.” They’ve also put together a new trailer showing off these features, which you can take a look at below.
That's pretty much it when it comes to the DLC pack, but along with it, Neon Giant have also dropped a new patch for The Ascent too. This is the fifth patch for the game since its initial launch near the end of July 2021. This one includes fixes for various crashes, increases to the stability in co-op play, improvements to the audio, as well as other miscellaneous changes.
The patch also adds a new feature called Transmogrification, which you’re probably familiar with if you’ve played games like Destiny 2 or World Of Warcraft. In the words of Neon Giant, this’ll allow players to “change their appearance to match the visual style of any armour currently in their inventory by visiting the Stylist and paying a small fee.” Once that’s done, you can equip any armour you want, and your character’s look won’t change.
When Arnold Schwarzenegger said "I'll be back" in The Terminator, it seems he was actually referring to his appearance in a Belarusian MMO in 2021. the next World Of Tanks Holiday Ops event will be starring none other than the man himself, as he adds another notch to his, admittedly, quite large belt.
The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe is now "content complete" and will launch in early 2022. This news comes by way of developers Crows Crows Crows and a new trailer that pokes fun at themselves for the development delays thus far.
Hitman 3 is getting a second season of updates in 2022, including raytracing and VR on PC. Before the second season, however, comes the season of winter. In a new roadmap video and post, IOI have outlined a new Santa mission for the murder sim, plus the return of old elusive targets.
Cities: Skylines is getting a virtual reality spin-off called Cities: VR. Developed by a different studio than the original game, it looks to let you wander around your city like a skyscraper-sized mayor, drawing out roads with the VR wands. It could be cool, maybe. Watch the trailer below.
Heart Machine's Solar Ash is out now, inviting players on a skating adventure to kill giant bosses. It's a follow-up to their previous game, Hyper Light Drifter, but this time around they've swapped the 2D style for 3D, and are sending you out into a big open world. I'm very much looking forward to jumping into its lush and colourful alien landscapes. Oh, to be a sci-fi skater.
Having released a slew of fixes last week, Dice continues their Battlefield 2042 rescue operation with a big patch that adds weekly missions, visual improvements to maps, UI tweaks, and Portal changes. So yes, there's a lot to get through. Shall we?
As much as I enjoy your Call Of Dutys and Valorants, I just don’t think any multiplayer shooter will eclipse Gears Of War. For me, at least, it comes down to movement. The way the beefy boys slide into cover and bounce off it with ease. The side-steps and strafes in those tight-knit shotgun battles.
Recently, I wondered if there was more to my connection with Gears and its lovely movement. And then it struck me: badminton. Yes, the racquet sport I’ve played for 19 years and consider an immensely important aspect of my life. Turns out they have quite a lot in common, actually.
The release of the new live-action Cowboy Bebop reminded me just how much I love the show, and how hard it is to find anything remotely like it. I think it’s just because of how eclectic the show is. It’s got so many different influences, ranging from Chinese action films to space operas to even the Western. It’s rare to see something with the same tone, because of how many things compose its DNA.
Let me start out by immediately apologising to our podcast editor Alix for the fact that this best cars in games episode of The Electronic Wireless Show Podcast does not mention the Regalia from Final Fantasy XV. Mea culpa. But that glaring mistake aside, we do have a bit of a chat about Forza Horizon 5, and other good cars in games and car games in general. I balance out not talking about the Regalia by not mentioning any vehicles from the Mass Effect games.
We also have a very good Cyberpunk-themed Cavern Of Lies courtesy of Matthew, who has no updates on his Olympic feud this week, but does reaveal (during a long digression about whether or not we, personally, can drive) that it took him nine goes to pass his driving test. Nine honestly seems a bit excessive.
If you fancy some cyberpunk ninja action to spice up your new year, Ghostrunner is getting a new DLC on January 27th. Project_Hel will let players take control of Hel, one of the game's original bosses, as she heads out on her own quest. I hope it's evil. I like seeing what antagonists get up to in their free time.
Hey you, do you want a crystal replica of John Master Chief's helmet and energy sword? No, me neither, but it's something you can get now for some reason. To celebrate Halo Infinite's release, as well as Halo's 20th anniversary, Xbox have collaborated with Swarovski to make the Halo-themed crystals that fans can win via a sweepstakes or charity campaign. You can't buy them. I don't know if you'd want to? They look very expensive.
It's day two of our 2021 Calendar! Welcome to the show! Tell us a little bit about yourself; what's your name and where d'you come from? We're gonna have a lorra lorra laughs tonight, so let's bring on the person you're going to - oh my god he's got a knife!!
Every year, streamers Yogscast host Jingle Jam, a charity livestream. This year's edition has just kicked off, and if you donate a minimum of £35/$47 you'll receive the Jingle Jam 2021 Games Collection. It's a bundle of over 50 games including several indie greats, such as Wildermyth, Heaven's Vault, Northgard and Unrailed.
Townscaper is a delightful toy and only costs £4.79/€5 from Steam. Maybe you really want to play it on work computers, though, so here you go: a Townscaper web demo playable right in your browser.
Another month, another batch of games arriving (and leaving) Xbox Game Pass. Are there interesting games coming to the subscription service this month? Yes, but this is true so often that I've grown blasé. I am a hedonistic king and I have grown weary of pleasure. Stardew Valley, Halo Infinite and Space Warlord Organ Trading Simulator cannot rouse me out of ennui.
"Titanfall is part of our DNA," says the latest announcement from Respawn Entertainment, before going on to reveal that they're having gene therapy. Titanfall 1, the studio's first game, is being removed from sale today and will disappear from subscription services on March 1st, 2022. It's the inevitable end for the wall-running mech battler, a multiplayer experiment that started cutting bits out of itself mere months after release.
ConcernedApe is working away on his next game, but Stardew Valley is still receiving patches. Version 1.5.5 was released today, and while it adds no new content it makes "some important technical changes for modders, some quality of life changes, and some bug fixes" for the farming simulator.
The folks over at Heart Machine have slid back into the fold with a game set in the same universe as their action-adventure debut Hyper Light Drifter. Except this time it’s not a top-down hack-and-slasher, but a stylish skate to save a civilisation on the brink of collapse. Solar Ash sees you flipping onto the backs of massive monsters and felling them like you’re performing athletic acupuncture. So yes, it does retain something from its predecessor, and that’s the element of cool. This is a cool game. One that excels when it lets you off the leash, only, that doesn’t happen as often as I’d have liked.
Digital Extremes have announced the release date for Warframe's hefty new expansion, The New War. On December 15th, players will be able to jump into a fresh set of campaign missions in the looter shooter, but instead of playing as your usual Warframe, you'll hop into the shoes of a bunch of different characters. The devs call it a "cinematic expansion" that's chock-full of story stuff answering "long-standing questions" about the game's universe.
Last year, Overwatch introduced an experimental mode that Blizzard have mostly used to test potential balance changes, and show players what the devs have been messing around with internally. They tend to be fairly minor tweaks, and there hasn't been an experimental update in a little while. But last night we finally got a new one, and from what I've played it's full of daft and fun tweaks. Prepare yourselves for flying Roadhogs and Genjis, nanoboosted Anas, and a handful of wonderfully-timed voicelines.
On Monday, we announced the next free game for RPS premium supporters, the all-new, early access open world strategy RPG, Wartales. This is your reminder that you'll be able to claim your free copy of Wartales today, December 1st, from 4pm GMT / 8am PT.
It's the very first day of the Advent Calender, so to get hyped up we're all going to strap on some medieval armour and charge at our foes waving swords around. Or possibly waving fish around. It's up to you.
After dropping the ball with Solitaire merch, Microsoft have now done right by Minesweeper with an "ugly" Christmas jumper turning one of the most iconic PC games of all time into a blocky Christmas tree. For £58 (plus shipping), you can tell all your festive friends how little work you actually did on your PC in the 1990s. It's not bad!
Ah, gentle friends! That time has come again, and we must celebrate the birth of many sweet video games across this (once again) extremely cursed year. We were lucky enough to feast upon so many pixely entertainments this year; such glorious toys to keep us occupied while other things went totally down the toilet. Yes, let's raise a glass together for The RPS Advent Calendar 2021!
Aliens: Fireteam Elite kicks off its second season on December 14th, adding a new Point Defense mode where players have to protect a handful of locations while fending off pesky xenomorphs. The co-op shooter will also introduce new guns, challenge cards and a place for you to see your alien-bashing stats. What's more, it's coming to Xbox Game Pass too. I was never going to buy this game, but I'd love to try it out. Thanks for that one, Game Pass.
One of the most impressive mods going is the Resident Evil 4 HD Project, a full retexture and visual polish of Capcom's horror shooter, and it's finally nearing fruition. The developers have announced plans to release version 1.0 on the 2nd of February, 2022. The care and attention to detail of this mod is stunning, looking so much nicer than both Capcom's official makeover and the recent Resident Evil 4 VR, and I can hardly wait to play RE4 again with it.
