I love XCOM, X-COM and pretty much any variant thereof. Heck, I’d probably buy X-MOC, a spoof version in which the invading aliens are broad parodies of Z-list celebrities, provided the combat was turn-based and the deaths were permanent. The idea of an alien invasion in a period setting that permits excessive use of fedoras and chain-smoking agents is also pleasing to my aesthetic sensibilities, so it’s odd that The Bureau: XCOM Declassified isn’t causing me to polish my shiniest shoes in preparation for good some old-fashioned investigation and elimination. Like the evidence of extraterrestrials that the agency is so keen to censor or destroy, the footage of the game in action is perplexing, if not outright alarming. It looks> like XCOM but where is the ‘end turn’ button and why do these agents have so much techno-magic? Take a look.

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Prime World is a free-to-play MOBA with a slice of meta-game on top in the form of castle construction and town-building. Expanding the town and modifying its structures provides new talents, which can then be attached to heroes, providing advantages in combat. Sort of like a HOMM and DOTA stew? The game has been in closed beta testing but this weekend, it opens up to the wider world – “The first Open Beta weekend has arrived! The Beta Weekend will start at June 21, 11AM PST (2PM EST) and last until June 24, 1AM PST (4AM EST). No invitation is necessary and no progress will be wiped once the beta ends, so you’ll be able to carry on with your heroes and castle in all future battles after that.” There is a noisy trailer below.

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There are some games I can see coming from over the horizon. The glow of burgeoning hype – and sometimes the glow of special novelty, or sheer awesome – is so bright that you just can’t miss them. Other games, hmm, they pretty much have to be on the same street before I spot them. Whether they will then turn my head as they pass, well, that can come down to any number of things. Usually, though, it’s whether they manage to scatter a few intriguing ideas in my path, so that I have to pay attention.

In the case of Magrunner I’ve been peering at from miles off. Because it just looks that interesting. To use the crude shorthand of thematic conventions, and to get you up to speed: it’s Portal with Magnets versus Cthulhu. That’s a checklist of ideas that I can’t help taking an interest in.

Now that it’s been released, here’s wot I think.>

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Supremely conspicuous online zombie-me-do game The War Z is no longer called The War Z. After what I can only assume was a drunken stumble to the Deed Poll offices, it’s now going by the name of Infestation: Survivor Stories. Phew, that means the litany of dreadful nonsense that’s surrounded the game since it first appears no longer applies, right?!

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Lost Planet 3 footage has emerged via Japanese site 4gamer.net, and when I say footage, I mean actually that. Not cutscenes, 90% company logos, nor close-ups of characters’ faces with worried expressions. The game, moving about. It’s so novel I almost didn’t understand what I was looking at! Although I eventually realised it was building-sized aliens and giant stompy robot suits. VIDEOGAMES!

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Here’s a wee piece of software with an odd status. On the one hand, it’s billed merely as a mod for CD Projekt’s mostly splendid RPG The Witcher 2. Yeah, yeah, people do that for roleplaying games all the time. On the other hand, the mod is made by CDP staffers, so it sort of becomes a sort of kind of official update, sort of. Kind of. “This is a private afterwork project. It is not a patch”, says the description, sternly.

Its primary focus is to remix the way combat works in the game – specifically, “to increase Geralt’s responsiveness and mobility.” We’ve reported on its planned existence recently already, but now we can report on its actual existence. As in, go download this massive sonuvagun right now. (more…)

After eons of hush-hush legal drama and remarkably silent tinkering, Respawn Entertainment finally revealed Titanfall during E3. Gone are the rah-rah-rah military men – neck veins like titanium from a lifetime of barking orders – replaced by futuristic commandos and the mechs who love them. Or at least nearly bro-fist them into their cockpits. There’s some unintentional silliness involved, to be sure, but this one actually looks rather promising. It has agile, Hawken-esque mechs, fleet-footed infantry, a campaign that intriguingly fuses single-player and multiplayer, and – tornado hurricane sigh of relief – it’s not a Windows 8 exclusive. But how exactly does all of that come together? And how far along could the game actually be given that it was caught in the crossfire of a legal battle between Respawn and Infinity Ward until not too long ago? I spoke with Respawn’s Joel Emslie to find out.>

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Back in my day, combining chocolate and peanut butter was the height of invention. Anything beyond that, incidentally, was viewed as witchcraft punishable to the fullest extent of the law – which at that point basically meant having your limbs tied to very determined geese as they yanked you in various directions until it hurt a little. Now, though, we live in a lawless “progressive” society where all sorts of mad alchemical science isn’t just allowed; it’s encouraged! Case in point: Crypt of the NecroDancer combines Dance Dance Revolution and roguelikes. Madness! Heresy! The end of civilization as we know it! Also, pretty cool looking.

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My goodness, I’ve had a good time playing Rogue Legacy. In one of the most enthusiastic previews I’ve written, I declared that were it not to be a hit there’d be no justice in the universe. I meant it. And now it has a release date so you can play too – and it’s next week. 27th June, on Steam. There’s a trailer to prove it.

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Oh goodness gracious me oh my oh tickle me red and green and black and gold and all the colors of the cyberpunk noir rainbow, Bastion developer Supergiant’s Transistor is looking magnificent. Sure, at first glance it doesn’t seem to have fallen far from the narration-prone, hack-’n'-slash-heavy tree, but there’s no denying that this place> feels just as uniquely alluring as Bastion’s pastel paradise. Plus, other bright spots – for instance, the entire combat system – crackle with intrigue, making this one to watch by any measure. And watch it you can, right this very moment. 18 whole minutes, in fact, just after the break.

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