Nothing will put me on to a game quicker than having a concept so laser-focused on the thing it's trying to do, and, seemingly, doing it well. This is the case for The Crane Rider's Tale, the next game from the developer of Butterfly Soup, a visual novel/adventure game hybrid that takes cues from Disco Elysium and Zero Escape where a serial killer is on the loose who has killed your friend, so you ferry around your local townsfolk around on your giant crane to figure out who did it, all wrapped up in a medieval Chinese painting and woodblock print aesthetic. It is so much, and so much my exact vibe.

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Marathon and The Lord of the Rings are diametrically opposed narratively, aesthetically, and functionally, yet they have been paired together to underscore a point about the former's relationship to PvPvE gameplay. No, it's not a leap I would have made either, but game director Joe Ziegler did, so let's have a listen to what he had to say about it all.

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The new >Steam Controller verdict> is in: James likes it. And now it’s back out again, as Julian has also been poking and prodding at Valve’s made-for-PC controller ahead of its release on May the 4th. Has this second pair of hands dug up some disagreements, or will they join together in peace for all mankind, and/or gamepads? Find out as we give, for the first time since 2022, >The Second Opinion>.>

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In case you missed it, Valve confirmed the Steam Controller's price and release date yesterday. Naturally, as part of that reveal they've faced a bunch of questions about the other hardware they've got in the works, including the Steam Machine and the more distant next Steam Deck. As far as the latter's concerned, they still aren't saying much, but have at least confirmed they've busy working on both it and making sure current Decks don't keep going out of stock amid the ongoing RAM crisis.

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