The WW2 Pacific Theater FPS action of Red Orchestra spin-off Rising Storm [official site] is yours to grab for free right now. The Humble Store are giving the game away to celebrate the impending end of their spring sale. Tim Stone will tell you that Rising Storm is one of the best simulation games and Alec will add that it’s one of the best FPSs, which seems a strong pair of endorsements for a free game. Rising Storm 2 will launch in only a few days, on the 30th, so do come see what the series is about. … [visit site to read more]

It’s probably not fair to either game to invoke No Man’s Sky when talking about upcoming sci-fi survival offering The Solus Project [official site], but both the reddish-pink colour palette and the heavy use of tricorders (let’s not kid ourselves, eh?) does put me in mind of Hello Games’ newbie. The Solus Project is billed as a survival game, but more in the classical sense than the newer DayZ, Rust etc one. Devs Teotl Studios – who you may know from The Ball – and Grip – of Unmechanical fame – are at pains to point out it’s not a sandbox jobbie. It’s a singleplayer, linear game in which you will be attacked not by creatures, but by a hostile environment, as well has having to deal with hunger and thirst. Man, that’s easy: eat fingers, drink wee. Survivalists these days, honestly – no backbone, that’s their problem.

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August was a busy month for the RPS community, with action seen in Dirt Rally [official site], Rocket League [official site], Terraria [official site] and others – including Awesomenauts [official site], Natural Selection 2 [official site] and Killing Floor [official site].

Click on for information about each, along with how you can get involved.

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We’re still combing through the assorted reveals from last night’s PC Gaming Show By PC Gamers For PC Gamers Master Race Master Race No Normals Allowed Alright, but one immediate attention-grabber is the follow up to brutalist WW2 multiplayer shooter Rising Storm (n e Red Orchestra). It’s left me all nostalgic – not because the trailer for Rising Storm 2: Vietnam [official site] has a Creedence soundtrack and a style lifted from the only bits dudebros remember from Apocalypse Now, Full Metal Jacket, Platoon et al, but because this used to be how it went before Modern Warfare was a twinkle in an executive’s eye. There’d be a popular World War 2 shooter, and then once its devs got the itch for something a bit less fusty, they’d excitedly go do Vietnam next. … [visit site to read more]

Ready to discover once-and-for-all whether X-Plane is better than FSX? Whether Falcon 4.0 is better than Milk Float Simulator 2012? Ready to read the word ‘realism’ 46 times in a single hour, and spit feathers on discovering that the sim that caused got you through your divorce has been cruelly cold-shouldered by an idiot with a bus fetish and a sci-fi blindspot the size of the Crab Nebula? You are? Splendid. You’re in the right place.

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Gathering together the best shooters is no easy task, but if you’re looking for a new PC FPS to play, look no further.

Your favourite game is at number 51.

… [visit site to read more]

It has been a decade since the original Killing Floor mod for Unreal Tournament, which was released in much-improved standalone form in 2009. It’s one of those games that quickly turns some people off: the visuals were a bit shonky, it was essentially built on repetition, and the less said about the Dick van Dyke voice-acting the better. But for devotees, Killing Floor is one of those games that stealthily racks up several hundred hours on Steam and swiftly becomes a fixture among like-minded mates, a precision blastathon where the repetition is the whole point.

You got better; the game got deadlier. And Killing Floor 2 [official site] is as straightforward a reload as you’re ever likely to see.>

… [visit site to read more]

As luck would have it, I’ll be in Paris right when monstrous hordes are due to overrun the city. Tripwire Interactive have announced plans to release Killing Floor 2 [official site] onto Steam Early Access on April 21st, and I’ll be on the look out for – wait is that a lady with blue cyberhair in that screenshot – for myself?

The original was a barrel of murderfun, and I’m quite keen to return for more first-person face-shooting. Especially as one of the sequel’s big selling points is that faces (and other bodyparts) will explode in a squillion different gory ways.

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Look, it’s the last day of term and we’re allowed to bring in whatever we want. Pip’s batting an avocado about, John’s cradling what appears to be a small hairless cat with opposable thumbs, Graham and Adam are kicking some kind of spherical egg between themselves, and me, I’ve brought in a video to watch. It’s about zombies and monsters and big guns and cool swords totally murdering zombies like schhhhing!> in Killing Floor 2 and before you ask, yes, my mum did say it’s fine if I watch it okay.

… [visit site to read more]

I do enjoy how Killing Floor’s monsters look like people in Halloween costumes, the sort of thing one could make with a few hours and some household supplies. Given me a black bodysuit, some tights, cotton wool, pipe cleaners, socks, and wire coat hangers, and I’ll make you a Crawler that’ll win you pity in your office costume contest. Unsurprisingly, Killing Floor gets into Halloween in a big way.

The co-op survival FPS’s annual spooky event launched yesterday, and KF is also part of Steam’s ten-game Free Weekend Weekend, so all and sundry can come fight the horrible, horrible dolls that are murderous and horrible.

… [visit site to read more]