Rock, Paper, Shotgun

1990's ActRaiser is special. Most video games released in the late '80s tasked you with saving a princess from a dragon. ActRaiser says, “Hey, would you mind playing God with the people living on the demon-scarred land you just liberated? They're really squishy and helpless. Thanks, you’re a peach."

The game's developer, Quintet, was pretty special, too. Once a branch of Enix before the latter joined with Squaresoft in 2003, Quintet was behind a lot of SNES-era RPGs that are still fondly remembered today, such Illusion of Gaia and Terranigma. They’re all solid adventures that share a canon, albeit vaguely, and tackle some pretty heavy subject matter, including colonialism, poverty, and the slave trade. Alas, Quintet disbanded when Square Enix was born, and most of its team scattered to the winds. There’s been a Q-shaped hole in my heart ever since, so I hope I can be excused for yelling like a madwoman when ActRaiser Renaissance made a surprise debut at the September 2021 Nintendo Direct presentation.

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My heart sinks every time I accept a quest in MMORPG New World, which isn't ideal. These are tickets to adventure, to discovery, to that sweet, sweet EXP. But the more time I spend with the game, the more I'm beginning to loathe them. It's got nothing to do with what you actually do in them, it's the getting there that's the problem. I have to run my little legs ragged and I'm tired. I'm so very tired of it.

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It's that time of year again where we come to you with a single question: would you fill out our RPS Readership Survey, please? It should only take around 5-10 minutes of your time to complete, and it will be a big help to us going forward - particularly when it comes to shaping the future of the RPS supporter program.

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Want to learn how to create the best Childe build in Genshin Impact? Thanks to his unique ability set that enables both close-range and long-range combat, Hydro Bow user Childe (also known as Tartaglia) is especially powerful in almost any situation and is great as a main or sub DPS. As the 11th Harbinger of the Fatui, he’s an incredibly fierce warrior who also cares deeply for those he loves.

This guide will show you how to create the best Childe build in Genshin Impact. Below we'll cover everything you need to know about Childe, including wishing, weapons, artifacts, ascension materials, talents, abilities, and constellations.

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The Dell Alienware AW2721D is one of our top recommended monitors, sitting right in the emerging 1440p 240Hz sweet spot preferred by players of fast-paced shooters and racing titles. Right now, the monitor has returned to the lowest price we've ever seen for it, £550, down from a nominal RRP of over £800.

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Valve have always maintained that the Steam Deck is closer to a conventional PC than a handheld console, and as such should be able to run your existing library of games on Steam. But while the official Steam Deck Twitter is full of videos showing games performing well on dev kits, the compatibility status of many more games remains up in the air. That could just be through a lack of confirmation, or it could be deep-lying technical issues relating to hardware requirements or anti-cheat services that needed tweaks to work on the Deck’s Proton-based OS. Ahead of the planned December launch, Valve have unveiled their plan to bring clarity on whether specific games will be able to run (and run effectively) on the Steam Deck.

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The WD Blue SATA SSD is a great choice if you want a lot of fast storage at a cheap price, and today Newegg are offering $50 off the giant 4TB size when you use the code EMC2AAZA827. This knocks the price to $339, the cheapest we've seen a 4TB drive in some time and $40 below the current Amazon price.

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You know how some games, like, throb? I mean your Thumpers, your Devil Daggers, your Dooms. Games you disappear into, but not in that namby pamby, prancing around fulfilling all your desires sense. I mean games that will eat you alive unless you stop them. Games set in pulsating, hostile dimensions in which you don’t belong; games that fling their menageries at the battered windows of your soul, where survival teeters on a combo of hair-trigger reflexes and total concentration.

Into The Pit is one of those, until it isn’t. You know you’re in trouble when the demonic eldritch hell portal starts feeling too comfortable.

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The recent launch of the Monster Hunter Rise demo on PC has given us a free look at how this soon-to-be-former Nintendo Switch exclusive will run and play when it releases in full in January 2022. This calls, naturally, for some screenshot comparisons.

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If you liked Dark Soulsy side-scroller Salt And Sanctuary, I have some great news. I got hands-on with an early portion of its sequel Salt And Sacrifice, and it seems set to deliver all the things that made its predecessor tick. The punishing enemies, the smooth combat, the vast skill trees, and the interconnected world are all still doing good things, but this time around they've just been joined by a few new additions, or seen some tweaks to keep things fresher, but no less difficult.

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I don't buy video game merch, and if I did buy video game merch I wouldn't buy statues, and yet... my heart melts looking at Machinarium's hot new merch drop. Amanita are selling a limited run of bronze statuettes of the adventure game's adorable scrap robot star, Josef, and I love him. 405 grams of bronze might sound cold to hold but I know he'd warm my heart.

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Be afraid. Inscryption is both a love letter to card games and a twisted, jocular caricature of their numerical excess. It had me grinning ear to ear, sometimes nervously, sometimes with the joy of someone who simply loves thumbing through new cards, even when a rustic antagonist with big hands is reaching for my throat. This is not your average deckbuilder. It's a card game with an escape room built on top, and other sinister secrets buried beneath. The depth of its rabbit hole isn't apparent at first. It starts off as a familiar card battler, if a little darkly themed. You are in a cabin, playing cards against a face shrouded in darkness. It seems like Slay The Spire or Hand Of Fate.

Then the cards start talking.

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In game development, the flow of time itself is convoluted, with projects centuries old phasing in and out, so we shouldn't be surprised that Bandai Namco have delayed the launch of Elden Ring. The long-awaited new game from the makers of Dark Souls was expected to launch on January 21st, but now it's due on February 25th. Sounds like the usual reason: they want more time to make it good, yeah? Oh, and supposed leaked gameplay footage is doing the rounds, though I warn you that it's a bad and disappointing clip.

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Sometimes a game is so clearly desperate for attention that you are loathe to give it any. Like that one guy whose entire brand is getting in loud quote-tweet arguments on Twitter every eight to ten weeks, you know both exactly what it wants, and that you shouldn't go there. For months now I have been getting regular emails from the Succubus devs, all of which contain 112% of my daily recommended nipple allowance, and I know - I know - I shouldn't be writing about it. It is an action-adventure-hell-titty game that is, on every level, very bad. But I am breaking my silence now because the censored version of it is, quite possibly, the funniest thing I have encountered in my recent memory, and accidentally better than anything the devs could have made on purpose. You win, Madmind Studio. You win.

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After months of searching, I'm pleased to announce that the RPS guides team has finally added two fresh faces to its ranks. Please say hello to Rebecca Jones and Hayden Hefford.

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Yesterday, Microsoft's Xbox Game Studios Publishing Twitter account offered what sure sounded like tantalising hints that Monday would bring big news on the mysterious upcoming new Fable game. Like, really sounded like. Like, totally sounded like the sort of obvious hint marketing campaigns drop when they're pretending it's a surprise but want you to know full well what's up. Nope. They've now deleted those tweets and apologised, saying no, no Fable news today. Oh.

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Want a list of songs that play on the Back 4 Blood jukebox? A few missions into Act 1, you’ll come across the Bar Room Blitz mission. Sure, there are some story points about distracting zombies and saving people, but this mission is a smash-hit for one reason. There’s a jukebox that plays some very cool tunes in the background whilst you shoot, slash, and slaughter zombies from every angle. If you really like that one scene in Shaun Of The Dead, then this will be your fever dream.

This guide will show you all of the songs that you can hear on the Back 4 Blood jukebox, so that you can repeatedly replay Bar Room Blitz whilst waiting for someone to inevitably get Simon Pegg and Nick Frost to play the mission on Youtube.

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If your reaction to hearing that the villains of Batman 'em up Gotham Knights are the Court of Owls is "Hoo?", 1) wow, good grief 2) you might want to watch these new trailers. Released over the weekend during the DC FanDome pow-o-rama, they introduce the secret society who pull Gotham's strings, as well as giving us a peek at the game's version of Penguin.

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Sundays are for inhaling the smell of a new book. Before you lean in, let's read this week's best writing about games.

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Rockstar finally announced their long-rumoured Grand Theft Auto remasters a little over a week ago. Official confirmation that they were on the way hasn't stopped the leaks, however. A user of GTAForums has seemingly leaked a more detailed description of the games and their system requirements.

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Dota 2 is getting a new hero this autumn. It's Marci, the mute bodyguard from Netflix's Dota anime, Dota: Dragon's Blood. She'll join the game in an update "coming soon."

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Doom is now playable on Twitter - sort of. Thanks to Tweet2Doom bot, you can send replies to the account with a list of actions - move, turn, shoot, etc. - and get a video clip of Doom showing the results sent back to you.

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Today's DC FanDome event brought another trailer for Rocksteady's Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League. There's still no gameplay, but the story trailer filled out the world, its cast, and heck, it's good fun. Watch it below.

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Yesterday Valve told developers that they wouldn't allow games featuring NFTs or cryptocurrency on their digital storefront, Steam. Since then, Epic have followed up by telling The Verge that the Epic Games Store would be "open to games that support cryptocurrency or blockchain-based assets."

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Minecraft Dungeons has finished telling its story through a number of DLCs that have released over the last year, but Mojang isn't done with the blocky Diablo-like just yet. They're introducing seasonal updates that they're calling Seasonal Adventures, adding progression systems, challenges and more - similar to the new Sea Of Thieves' Seasons. Season 1 will be called The Cloudy Climb, and it's coming this December.

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With Minecraft's Caves & Cliffs part 2 nearly upon us, Mojang have revealed the next big update that will follow it. Named The Wild Update, it'll focus on enhancing some of the existing areas we can explore and, importantly, adding colourful frogs! They'll arrive with the new Mangrove Swamp biome, along with tadpoles, fireflies and more. The Wild Update will also introduce the Deep Dark biome, which was supposed to arrive with Caves & Cliffs, but needed a little more time in the oven.

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For years and years, Minecraft's Java and Bedrock editions have lived apart, but Mojang finally have plans to unite them. They plan to package the two together next year as the Minecraft PC Bundle, so if you own one you'll get the other too. Ahead of this, both Java and Bedrock are coming to Xbox Game Pass for PC on November 2nd, which is lovely news. I've only ever owned Java, so it'll be nice to have the option to jump into Bedrock too.

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A week of goodbyes. Vid bud Colm waved goodbye on Monday, and Friday was the final shift at the news face for longtime evening freelancer Lauren Morton. She leaves us to join cheery RPS fanzine PC Gamer and they'll be lucky to have her, as we were. Say goodbye, gang.

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I'm constantly in awe of the wild tricks that speedrunners discover in just about any game they set their collective minds to. It's always a treat to hear developers being equally astounded though, and Valve's developers are no exception. Three of them recently got to have a chat with Portal speedrunner "CantEven" to ask about extremely calculated trick shots, weird save glitches, and all the other things that game developers don't always know about their own games.

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Twitch were hit by a rather big source code and data breach earlier this month, which they say they've since been investigating. They've updated users again today, reiterating that the breach was made possible by a server configuration change and that they're confident no passwords, login credentials, or credit card numbers were exposed.

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Retro-future sci-fi romp The Invincible is the upcoming thriller from some folks formerly of The Witcher, Cyberpunk, Dying Light, and others. It's based on the sci-fi novel of the same title from the 60s by Polish author Stanisław Lem. The first we saw of The Invincible last year was mostly a teaser set to some nice tunes, but now there's a full cutscene-style trailer to check out and it sure does look like some classic space stuff.

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Valve appear to be laying down some new rules for games on Steam, specifically games that involve trading or receiving cryptocurrancy and NFTs. The change has been shared by SpacePirate Games, developers of Age Of Rust, who say they were notified this week about the new prohibition. Over in the Steamworks portal, a new type of content that cannot be published on Steam has been added. "Applications built on blockchain technology that issue or allow exchange of cryptocurrencies or NFTs."

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Chasing Static is both the name of this lo-fi Welsh horror story and also an accurate description of me attempting to track down a post about it on RPS. Someone's written about it. I just know it. Oh no, we've just mentioned it several times in a roundabout way. Well, I've finally pinned it down—chased the clues and cornered it now that it's launched and I can tell you a thing or two about it. Chasing Static is a swell and spooky story so far with a good chunk of classic horror game puzzling and just a bit of sudden scares. Come on and have a quick look.

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I've returned from my trip to the Lake District, with aching calves and a desire to talk about online shooters with Imogen. On this week's episode of the Ultimate Audio Bang, we don't chat sore muscles, instead, we focus on various Halloween events in games like Apex Legends and Rainbow Six: Siege, our thoughts on the Battlefield 2042 beta, Destiny 2 vaulting yet more stuff, and Call Of Duty: Vanguard finally introducing anti-cheat.

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The year has finally turned, reader. I am having discussions at home about putting the heating on. When I leave the office it isn't dark, but it's fuzzy around the edges. My knuckles are cold. It's the time of year, before the Skeleton War memes begin in earnest, to luxuriate in feeling a bit melancholy. It's healthy to feel sad sometimes, you know. Didn't you watch Inside Out? I did, and in my screening at the cinema a child called out "Where's Bing Bong?" when the heroic Bing Bong disappeared...

This week, I have collected three different puzzle games with very different vibes. I know I'm biased in favour of puzzle games more than the usual reader, but these ones are very good and worth a punt, and at least one should pique the old interest. And they all gave me that happy-sad feeling. Like, I want to wrap up in a blanket and play these games and maybe think about my granny a bit. That sort of feeling.

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What are the best horror games in Roblox? It's October once again, so naturally our minds are turning to Halloween. There are so, so many horror games in the world to choose from, especially since it's a genre that lends itself so well to short indie offerings. What I'm getting at here is that there are tons of scary games on Roblox, and if you fancy giving some a go this spooky season, we've put together a list of all-time favourites and current big trends.

You might have seen "scary corn game" trending in Roblox circles recently, and if you're wondering why that is, it's because no-one can spell or pronounce Kalampokiphobia — the technical name for fear of corn. This game, which originally popped up on the platform earlier this year, looks set to be the big Roblox horror trend this Halloween, egged on by TikTok and YouTube jumpscare videos that have been doing the rounds. It's a pretty standard run-and-hide game with a truly ludicrous (but somehow still a bit creepy) stalker character pursuing you through a disorienting corn maze.

Here's the link.

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It's been a banner week for Japanese indie game releases. First we had the delightful puzzle platformer ElecHead, now we have the latest from Onion Games, Mon Amour. It's a one-button score attack game in the same vein as Flappy Bird, only instead of piloting a dumpy chicken through a bunch of green pipes, here you're guiding a spinning, mustachioed man toward dozens of smoochable women. But before you arch that eyebrow at its somewhat questionable premise, yes, this is another entry from Onion Games where kissing saves the day, following in the esteemed footsteps of Chulip and Dandy Dungeon - and yes, it is every bit as mad and baffling (and exquisitely designed) as you'd expect.

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Want to know the best build for Karlee in Back 4 Blood? Karlee isn’t one of the best characters in Back 4 Blood, but she still has some killer abilities that deserve a spot in your team. Most notably, Karlee can sense nearby hazards and Special Ridden, so you won’t be surprised when a Tallboy smashes around the corner. She also gets an extra quick inventory slot (used for defibrillators and stun guns) and increases the team’s use speed by 50%.

This guide will show you how to make the best Karlee build in Back 4 Blood, so you can stop staring at cards and start using them. Of course, you’ll need to unlock all the cleaners in Back 4 Blood before you can play as Karlee.

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Often a game can feel frustrating because you can't make decisions that you want to. I had this initially with Song Of Farca. It almost kept me from playing it further, until I came back at it with a different attitude instead, thanks to a few conversations I've had lately about player choice versus narrative.

You play as Izy Song, a hacking-based private investigator in a fictional, dystopian island in the near future. And she's kind of a fool.

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Want to know how to play Far Cry 6 in co-op multiplayer? Ubisoft's bombastic open-world FPS franchise is always best played with company. Double the players, double the devastation, after all. And Far Cry 6 has taken after its predecessors in offering players a couple of different ways to play the game in co-op. Whether you're looking for self-contained co-op missions or you want to play through the entire story with a friend, read on to find out how to set up Far Cry 6 for multiplayer.

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