Blizzard may have abandoned their plans for a fully-fledged Overwatch 2 PvE mode, but they do still want to tell us some stories. They've just announced Overwatch 2: Invasion, a big update that'll include three story missions, a new PVP game mode, a new Support hero and a handful of hero-specific training missions. It'll land on August 10th.
If you're like me and thought that Starfield was just gonna be a shooty shooty space cowboy game, then think again. Revealed during the Starfield Direct that happened just after the Xbox Games Showcase, Bethesda highlighted a number of different playstyles that Starfield will be able to facilitate when it launches this September, including everything from being gung-ho all lasers blazing to a stealthy assassin.
Frank Herbert's weirdo sci-fi epic is a great shout for a survival game and an MMO in many ways. You've got warring factions, you've got a hostile desert planet, you've got canonical giant monsters that can form regular events for players. You got yourself a video game, baybeeeee! Or at least, Funcom do, them being the devs what are making Dune Awakening. In a little spotlight feature at the PC Gaming Show they talked a bit more about the game, and boy, sure seems like a lot of cool stuff is possible in theory.
One big mystery in tonight's Xbox Games Showcase was the announcement of Kunitsu-Gami: Path Of The Goddess, a new game from Capcom. It's some sort of action game seemingly steeped in Japanese mythology and it has monsters and an awful lot of masks and that's about all we can say for certain right now. But it is very pretty! It looks neat! See for yourself in the trailer below.
I'd rather just saunter around space looking at pretty planets in Starfield, but I guess in a game as big as Bethesda's sci-fi behemoth they want fighty fighty spaceship battles. During the Starfield Direct that ran just after tonight's Xbox Game Showcase, the folks over at Bethesda explained just how ship combat works, and it's more than just holding down the trigger and aiming in the right direction.
Who would have thought a bathtub would make a great little tugboat, but after seeing Critter Cove's protagonist toot his way around a sunny archipelago, it makes perfect sense. Announced during the PC Gaming Show, Critter Cove is an upcoming life-sim where making strange contraptions is all part of the fun. Check out the trailer below.
RPS' coveted game of the year 2022, Vampire Survivors, is getting another update, which means there are now even more reasons why you should play this game if you haven't already. Like, seriously. The big 1.5 Overwhelming Update brings with it new brain-overloading shenanigans which you can see in the trailer below, first revealed at the PC Gaming Show. Oh yeah, and the update is available today (June 11th)!
Of the many Starfield elements deep-dove into during the Xbox Games Showcase's Starfield Direct, the ship building was one that we’d previously seen a decent amount of. Yet it also cemented, in quite gleeful fashion, the design tool’s potential as a foundry for some truly wretched space boats. Just, awful. Consider my interest renewed as a result.
Cheery RPS fanzine PC Gamer has their own NotE3 show, don't you know, which this year was packed with almost two and a half hours of fresh(ish) PC gaming announcements. There sure was a lot to get into - and many of the games we saw didn't actually tell us anything new about them. So we've done the hard work for you and rounded up all the biggest and best announcements that caught our eye. So whether you're in need of a quick refresher or you missed it altogether, here are all the most exciting reveals from the PC Gaming Show 2023 that are worth knowing about.
Atlus have become a Persona factory in recent years, producing not only the mainline urban fantasy RPGs but spin-offs like Persona 5 Strikers and the recently announced Persona 5 Tactica. Thankfully they're working on something entirely new, too.
During tonight's Xbox Games Showcase, Atlus announced Metaphor: ReFantazio, a new "high fantasy" RPG from Persona 5's director and character designer.
Okay, so you're not being chased by an army of murderous robots that are only seconds behind you, but you're still jumping around trying to find a new home for the last of humanity who managed to escape a doomed planet. Earthless is a roguelike deckbuilder from Blackbird Interactive, although you wouldn't know it from the cinematic teaser trailer shown at the PC Gaming Show tonight, which was heavy on the dramatic yet hopeful voiceover. As the captain of the fleet, your job is to lead everyone to a safe harbour.
I honestly thought that 11 Bit Studios would have a tough time making Frostpunk 2 stand out from the original game, but from the looks of the sequel's new trailer, it certainly stands out all right. It looks like a very mean game, and I'm sure I'm going to love every second of it when it comes out, which was confirmed as 2024 during the PC Gaming Show. You can check out the trailer below.
If owning forty thousand hammers sounds ludicrous to you, come have a peek at the new trailer for Warhammer Age Of Sigmar: Realms Of Ruin. This accompanies news that the fantasy RTS will run a multiplayer open beta test over the weekend of July 7-10. That will let every orrible scrote in to play 1v1 matches as either the Orruk Kruleboyz or Stormcast Eternals. That's basically Orks vs. Space Marines except their swords aren't chainsaws, okay.
Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty got a new trailer and release date earlier this evening. Developers CD Projekt Red then followed up by sharing the expansion's system requirements, which includes a GeForce GTX1060 6GB or Radeon RX 580 8GB in order to hit 1080p at 30fps as minimum spec.
CDPR also say they're amending the system requirements to the base game and will no longer supporting hard disk drives.
When Mimimi Games announced their latest stealth strategy game Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew back in January, I was pretty darn stoked. You can also imagine my excitement when they said it would be out later this year, too. Not in 2024, or several years down the line, but in the next 12 months. Absolutely my favourite thing in the world, reveals like that. Can't get enough of them. So picture how I must be feeling right now, having just heard Shadow Gambit's actual release date at tonight's PC Gaming Show. Time to mark your calendars, folks. We'll be stealth murdering our way around its Lost Caribbean on August 17th.
The studio behind Don't Starve and Oxygen Not Included today announced their next survival game, a sandbox spaceship game named Dread Pilots. Klei Entertainment this time will send us into a hostile pocket dimension known as the Dread, aimed with only our wits and our wee ship. It's on you to explore, trade, steal, upgrade, avoid, befriend, ally, and murder your way to survival. The game is due to enter early access next year so for now, content yourself with the announcement trailer below.
If you ever became Grand Champion in the combat arena in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, then you will recognise the little cone-headed gimp who made a surprise cameo in tonight's Starfield deep dive, streamed as part of the Xbox Games Showcase for not-E3. In the case of the upcoming space-themed mega-RPG, he'll attach to your character if you choose the trait Hero Worshipped. He still has stupid hair in Starfield, too.
When solo developer Gareth Damian Martin started teasing they were working on another project together with Citizen Sleeper's composer Amos Roddy and character artist Guillaume Singelin last month, I didn't even dare to hope that it might be another Citizen Sleeper game. I adored the first one - and even picked it for May's RPS Game Club - but the prospect of a sequel seemed almost too good to be true. Happily, tonight's PC Gaming Show brought the news I was waiting for. After a dramatic animated trailer reveal, I'm happy to report that Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector is indeed a real thing, and I spoke to Damian Martin earlier this week to find out all about it.
The Roman Empire may have fallen long ago but Rome has stood for almost three millenia. Think you can do better? Newly announced citybuilder Nova Roma will challenge you to start your own new Roman city away from the crumbling Empire, trying to not just survive but thrive, pleasing both your citizens and the gods. It's made by Lion Shield, the studio behind 2017's lovely medieval fantasy citybuilder Kingdoms And Castles. Check out Nova Roma's announcement trailer below!
Though Baldur's Gate 3 has been in early access for almost three years, it hasn't yet given us, uh, Baldur's Gate. The city which gave the series its name will be a big location in the full game when it launches in August, and today developers Larian showed off its fancy new modern form. It's come a long way since the days of BioWare making Baldur's Gate games in the Infinity Engine. See for yourself in the trailer below.
As promised, Bethesda gave us an extended look at Starfield this evening as part of a dedicated presentation attatched to Microsoft's larger not-E3 showcase. Alongside a fresh look at the game's 1000 planets, combat and skill trees, we were given a closer peek at arguably the most important part of the whole game: its character creator.
Described as the "simplest character creator" the team have ever made, Starfield will let you dig into the finer details of your space captain's face, right down to their teeth for reasons I can't quite work out yet. An improvement on the creators found in previous Bethesda games, there's nothing here that looks particularly innovative compared to other open-world games of this ilk. What's interesting is that this time around, the team have used the in-game tool to create every last one of Starfield's NPCs.
What happens when some folks who previously worked at Blizzard on games including Warcraft 3 and StarCraft 2 go independent with a new studio to make a new real-time strategy game? They make a game which looks quite a lot like 'Warcraft 3 meets StarCraft 2'. That's Stormgate, and you can see that for yourself in the first gameplay trailer, below.
The gang behind Exo One, a game about drinking in dramatic sci-fi vistas while flying and rolling a strange craft across alien planets, have announced a spin-off. It is not a spin-off I would have expected. Exo Rally Championship is an off-road rally racing game where you'll zoom across exoplanets in a six-wheeled car with manoeuvring thrusters. Soar over low-gravity worlds! Dodge through a meteor shower! Gasp at the pretty landscapes! Have a look in the trailer below.
Looks like I won't be regretting every in-game decision I've ever made with Stoic's new game Towerborne. It's an action RPG that looks much more light-hearted than the studio's previous Viking-ish trilogy The Banner Saga, where I killed every character I loved and made a host of bad choices. Announced during the Xbox Game Showcase at this year's not-E3, Towerborne looks much more family-friendly. Which is lucky because you'll be wanting to grab family members, as it's also a co-op adventure. Check out the trailer below.
You'll be meeting lots of NPCs on your jaunt around space in Starfield, but during the dedicated Starfield presentation as part of not-E3, we got a look at one group of rag-tag space folks in more detail - Constellation.
Described in the showcase as a team that's sort of a "mythical group" and "the last true explorers in the galaxy." Their whole deal is that they're trying to grapple with humanity's biggest questions and are on big ol' space quest to find answers. They're concerned with weird artifacts, ancient alien intelligence, and a bunch of other space anthropological happenings.
"So why go this big with Starfield?" asks Bethesda Softworks' lead landscape artist Matt Carofano at the beginning of a segment in tonight's Starfield Direct. "Because we want to give you freedom on a galactic level," is the unsatisfying response.
Starfield features over 1000 planets to visit, each procedurally generated upon your approach but populated with handcrafted elements. Your "freedom" upon landing on these planets - many of which seem near-barren - is whether you spend your time doing some quests, 'surveying' the local flora and fauna, or shooting rocks with your space laser.
What's a captain without a crew? At the combined Xbox Games Showcase slash Starfield Direct tonight, Bethesda did a deep dive on a few aspects of their upcoming space RPG Starfield - including the companion system. Although, given that you assign them to different tasks on your ship and various outposts, it might be more appropriate to call them "employees". Although again, you can romance some of them, which is definitely an HR issue.
I've been itching to get my hands on League Of Geeks' new roguelike colony sim ever since I first clapped eyes on its 70s anime-infused visuals back in November last year. The good news is that you'll soon be able to do exactly that, as tonight's PC Gaming Show confirmed that Jumplight Odyssey will be getting a Steam Next Fest demo on June 19th. That's just over a week away at time of writing, and having played an early version of that demo myself, I'm pleased to report that it's shaping up very nicely indeed - even if my first attempt ended in catastrophic disaster after I was boarded by half a dozen crews of angry green alien lads.
I do love me a game from The Chinese Room, and Still Wakes The Deep looks to be a right old trip. Announced during the Xbox Games Showcase at this year's not-E3, this first-person horror adventure casts you as a worker on an off-shore industrial oil rig and something seems to have slithered aboard from the depths. Check out the trailer below for some major chills.
Don't Nod are really out here publishing games aren't they? They've already got their ghost-hunting RPG Banishers: Ghosts Of New Eden on the go, and there's also the recently released Harmony: The Fall Of Reverie, and now they've announced dizzying climbing adventure Jusant. You can watch the trailer below, but if you're scared of heights then maybe give this one a miss. Hey, I'm just looking out for you.
I love magical realist Southern Gothics. Kentucky Route Zero, Norco, and Where The Water Tastes Like Wine are some of my favourite games, so Compulsion Games' South Of Midnight immediately has my attention. Announced during the Xbox Games Showcase 2023 as part of not-E3, this new action-adventure looks like it's got major bite and you can check out the trailer below.
Arguably the main event of this year's NotE3 and Summer Game Fest season, tonight's Xbox Games Showcase had more fresh game announcements than you can shake a Series X at. If you missed it or just want a handy recap of every new trailer that went down, we've got you covered. Here's everything that was announced at the Xbox Games Showcase 2023.
2017's Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice did well critically and commercially, and it wasn't a huge surprise when Senua's Saga: Hellblade II was revealed three years back. It's been a little while since we heard more from it, but a cinematic trailer cropped up at tonight's Xbox Games Showcase, and wouldn't you know it, but we got a release window for 2024.
Avowed was announced back in 2020 when a brief teaser trailer made it look like Obsidian's take on Skyrim. A gameplay trailer shown during this evening's Xbox Games Showcase did little to contradict that notion, aside from the non-snowy setting, I suppose, making it seem like Obsidian's take on Oblivion instead.
When Clockwork Revolution's announcement trailer started playing in the Xbox Games Showcase today, I almost thought was a follow-up to BioShock Infinite. An opulent oversaturated city with a hanging railway, heaps of gadgets, a taunting antagonist, a protagonist with reality-altering powers, and a giant baddy with a gunarm? Surely BioShock? Nope! It's a new first-person steampunk RPG from InXile Entertainment, the makers of Torment: Tides Of Numenera. And two of its lead developers worked at Troika on their steampunk RPG, Arcanum: Of Steamworks & Magick Obscura. Come have a watch.
I've spent around an hour with Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, the one and only expansion for Cyberpunk 2077 starring your boy Idris Elba. Yes, I saw him in the game, and yes, he fits in great. But what really struck me about the new DLC was how it had morphed the overall combat into a chunkier, more flavoursome affair. Whereas before your guns had about as much impact as the buzz of your phone in silent mode, they now feel like they've got some real weight behind each trigger pull. The new area of Dogtown is pretty sweet, too.
It's probably quite difficult, after you've mapped more or less the entire planet, to work out what to add to a Microsoft Flight Simulator sequel. The answer turns out to be: jobs.
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 was revealed at tonight's Xbox Showcase and it'll include the ability to not only fly all sorts of aerial vehicles, but to fly them with purpose - whether an air ambulance, aerial firefighting, crop dusting, hot air ballooning, or about a dozen other roles.
I'm a fan of Monkey Island, as many of you know, and so hearing the opening bars of the Monkey Island theme during the Xbox Games Showcase tonight was an instant little serotonin booster. Turns out Sea Of Thieves is finally doing the most obvious pirate crossover ever with a free three-part Tall Tale expansion called The Legend Of Monkey Island. Featuring many of your favourite Monkey Island characters (including Murray the demonic talking skull), the first part of The Legend Of Monkey Island will arrive on July 20th - and will be on Game Pass on day one.
A new trailer for Cyberpunk 2077's Phantom Liberty announces a release date of September 26th. It also gives a glimpse of what's waiting for V as she ventures into the brand new district of Dogtown to rescue the president. I hope so much for a gang of wild skateboarders. The trailer also introduces us to the new character played by Idris Elba (Stringer Bell in The Wire, Luther in Luther, Knuckles in Sonic The Hedgehog 2).
