The biggest stain on Arc Raiders is easily the use of AI voice acting. It stinks! There's no soul to it, and it deprives actors from being able to perform their craft. But, based on some comments from CEO Patrick Söderlund, it sounds like Embark are finally starting to realise that, oh yeah, it is actually better to work with a real human being (though this doesn't mean they're not using AI any more).

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"Popular game, but you do this instead," is a tale as old as time, birthing efforts that range from rote to deliciously fresh. Making comparisons like that is always a gamble, as you're immediately pointing towards the gold standard that your game has to at least be almost on par with, perhaps even better, to make any real headway. And while I haven't played Eye of the Match, it being billed as Papers, Please, but you're a virtual referee for football matches is certainly a pitch I can get behind.

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You know, I wish there were more morally dubious protagonists in the world of video games. I know why there's not, many people want to identify with the characters they're embodying. But then I think about every other storytelling medium out there and how some of my favourite pieces feature people that aren't supposedly good or heroic, and long for the same in games. So, I'm quite interested in WITCHHUNTER.exe, a throwback text adventure game that actually has quite a lot of pretty pixel art where you play as a priest that must uncover witches in a rural town while the Devil tempts you astray.

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Marathon has entered its second week of existence, even if it somehow feels like it's already been around forever (perhaps that's the discourse I'm remembering now that I think about it), and Bungie have been ticking away at updates bit by bit. Just this week an update was introduced that made UESC enemies a tad weaker, and now Bungie have outlined what you can expect from update 1.0.5 which is coming to the shooter next week.

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Broadly speaking accessibility features still have a long way to go in most games, however, one that has been cropping up more and more are phobia-sensitive options. It cannot be understated how many don't like spiders! So the increase in such features is welcome as someone who perhaps doesn't have a phobia but would still like the option to not look at the eight-legged devils. And according to March's Slay the Spire 2 newsletter, sorry, neowsletter, a phobia accessibility mode is on the way.

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Saturday. We meet again. I see you've brought your old friends Blustery Wind and Chill In The Air with you. I expected better of you, you know those two just bring you down. You've so much potential. What don't you hang out with T-Shirt Weather and Gosh, That's Bright anymore? They've got their personified heads screwed on right.

No? We're stuck with this chilly winter for one more weekend? Fine, I didn't want to go outside anyway. I'm happy to stay in and play videogames.

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I regret to announce that I have a theory>. It involves handheld PCs, Project Helix – Microsoft’s next, PC game-running Xbox console – and least likely of all, an apparently sincere attempt at making Windows 11 less of a bulging, AI-infested colostomy bag. That attempt is better known as Xbox Full Screen Experience, and now that it’s finding its way onto portables outside the MS-branded Asus ROG Xbox Ally series (plus big-lad PCs as well), I’m convinced that it was introduced at least in part to test the waters of how a Windows PC/console hybrid could operate.

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