A second visit from the deals herald in a single day? Well, I never. It’s for good reason, though, as Humble have just announced that October’s Humble Monthly bundle will be headlined by none other than the stompy mech strategy titan, Battletech. Our Alec (RPS in peace) grew to be quite fond of Battletech when it first came out last year, so much so that he went and plonked it straight into our 50 Best Strategy Games hall of fame. You’ll need to be a Humble Monthly subscriber to get it, of course, but if you’re not you can join up right now for just $12 a month.

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If I had asked people what they wanted, father of the assembly line and horrible anti-semite Henry Ford supposedly said, they would have said faster horses. As cool as nitrous-enabled horses sound, I think old Hitler-fancier Ford was trying to insinuate that the masses can t imagine the next technological revolution; they can only think of a better version of what they ve got.

Maybe that s why we as a species are so stuck on the concept of mechs: if we think about future warfare, all we can imagine is BIGGER PEOPLE!

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Stompybot squad management sim Batteltech was great, but it was clearly missing something. Not so today, with the release of the Urban Warfare expansion, second of three planned for the squad tactics game’s season pass. No longer limited to rolling hills, mountains and military bases, this expansion adds the future cityscapes of other ‘Mech games. While developed by Harebrained Schemes, this is also a Paradox joint, which means even if you don’t buy in, you’ve got a massive feature-heavy free update to dig into. Below, a launch trailer and some gritty details.

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BattleTech is letting folks channel their inner Godzillas on June 4th with its second expansion, Urban Warfare. Its biggest addition is a new and deliciously destructible set of city environments, with rooftops to jump-jet onto or embarrassingly fall off. As expected, there will also be a pair of new ‘Mech types, a set of new smaller vehicles (including cars to step on, though I don’t think they count), and an all-new mission type. There’ll also be some new story-based Flashpoints, building on the previous expansion’s big new system. See the announcement trailer below.

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Lovely as it was, Harebrained Schemes’s BattleTech felt like it trimmed back many of the tabletop game’s wilder elements. RogueTech, a messy compilation of mods organised by “LadyAlekto” and crew, reinstates these complex rules and lets you bolt just about anything onto your big stompy bots up to and including the contents of the kitchen sink. If riding a clattering, improvised pirate ‘Mech into battle with a hot-rod engine and a Gauss shotgun loaded with silverware appeals, this mod is for you. Just don’t expect the galaxy to play fair, or make much sense.

There’s no story to RogueTech beyond the one you write, no goals past the ones you set and no coherent canon. It just gives you a big messy galaxy full of mercenary contracts, and the looming threat of bankruptcy if you don’t play your cards right. You’ll probably die horribly, but you’ll come away with some fun tales to tell. Below, three stories of my own attempts to lead a squad through missions and gain a foothold, plus a quick guide to how to install and play the mod yourself.

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The doors have been opened, the games inside have been devoured, and now it’s time to recycle the cardboard. Below you’ll find all of our picks for the best PC games of 2018, gathered together in a single post for easy reading.

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There are too many games. November is over, but it was a big month, and our giant collective digi-trough runneth over with shooters, stabbers and clickers. It s repulsive and very wasteful, quite frankly. Thankfully, the RPS podcast (aka the Electronic Wireless Show) is here to snort up the good uns and stamp all over the bad uns. This week the pod squad are running through as many newly released games as they can, from Hitman 2 to Darksiders III to Just Cause 4 to well, lots more.

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Flashpoint, the first expansion for wonkily-explained, slow-burn stomp-o-strategy gem BattleTech, does exactly what I wanted it to: gives me a cast-iron reason to keep playing indefinitely.

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Lasers are nice, but if anime has taught me anything, all you need a blade the size of a truck. Released today, Flashpoint is the first of three planned expansions for Harebrained Scheme’s stompybot mercenary manager Battletech. There’s three new mechs (including the melee-loving Hatchetman above), a new mission type geared towards lighter mechs, sunny tropical planets and a major extension to the post-story endgame. The titular flashpoints are a set of mercenary mini campaigns with decisions to be made, and potentially big rewards. Plus, a huge new patch is out.

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Is… is it over yet? Are the Black Friday and Cyber Monday PC gaming deals finally finished? Just a couple more hours to go now, you can do it deals herald, you can get through this. You’ve got a week and a half holiday coming up soon, just get through the afternoon and then you can go and lie in a dark room and not dream about Cyber Monday graphics card deals you might have missed for the seventh night running.

Ahem. Sorry, I don’t know what came over me there. Probably the Cyber Monday PC gaming deals fatigue settling in, or the Black Friday fever dream I seem to have been living this past fortnight. But your deals herald is stronger than that. Nay, THE DEALER is stronger than that, and with a renewed sense of vigor that may in fact be frenzied despair, I thus present to you the final monolithic installment of our Black Friday and Cyber Monday PC deals bonanza. Gone are the deals swept away by the ever-grabbing hands of internet shoppers. All that’s left is the best of the best that are still up for grabs, from graphics cards and monitors to SSDs, gaming headsets, CPUs and mice and keyboards and more. If you’ve yet to do your Cyber Monday shopping, act fast, as these PC gaming deals won’t be around for long.

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