The facile part of my brain that likes pretty things is currently whacking my internal dopamine button and I’m grinning like a quokka. That button is well worn after my last look at X Rebirth, where I watched X- Rebirth being unveiled through through tear-rimmed eyes. One eye was soaked in tears from the beauty and excitement from what I was seeing, and the other was full of sad tears because I have to wait until November 15th to play it. Those tears are welling up as I look at the new Gamescom screenshots. Oh god, it’s so so pretty. (more…)

My fingers still feel a deep sense of slithering, shivering wrong> in the pits of their tiny finger souls when they type out the words “Dead Island MOBA,” but here we are. Dead Island Epidemic is happening because Deep Silver’s so obsessed with zombies on islands that I think it wants to create an actual, factual epidemic of Dead Island (and Dead-Island-like) games. If that is indeed the case, it’s well on its way, and Epidemic is without a doubt furthest off the previously established map. On the upside, it’s being developed by Stunlock Studios, the talented team behind the Quinns-approved Bloodline Champions. Also, there’s crafting and you capture points all over the map instead of dragging your weary bones through countless base-busting wars of attrition. Other highly unexpected >features include zombies, zombies, and also zombies.

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Hello, everyone. I come bearing some extremely depressing news. The rapture’s happening soon, but not to us. Hm, well jeez, when I phrase it that way, it doesn’t sound terrible at all. What I mean to say is, Dear Esther developer thechineseroom’s next non-Amnesia game, the super fascinating Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture, is no longer coming to PC – at all, for the foreseeable future. Sony’s nabbed it for its burgeoning army of indie exclusives, so I guess that means it’s not allowed to love us anymore. I reached out to thechineseroom’s Dan Pinchbeck, and he confirmed the bad news.>

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Time to take it down a notch at RPS towers. It’s been an exciting day, full of violence, murder, ghosts, and terrifying screams coming from the basement. What we need is something more sedate. We need castles and strategy, deserts and caliphs. And while those things can be exciting, the Stronghold Crusader 2 trailer is like a relaxing warm bath, showing off the castle building and castle sacking to a tune that melted my brain. Trailer and info below. (more…)

Ah, the cruel annals of (fake) history. Who knows what would be heroes have been lost to the mists of time because an author decided to base their tale around the tall bloke instead of the short lady? What (fictional) victories have been won off the backs of (not-real) unmentioned protagonists? That’s the question Victory Square Games are posing by bringing the charming John Watson to the fore in Elementary, My Dear Holmes. It’s an adventure game in the comedic Lucas Arts style currently just over half way to their $50,000 goal on Kickstarter. What sets them apart, however, is a just wonderful sense of humour.

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Hello! Welcome to Bizarro Land. In this reality, I’m British, everyone else is American, my hair is flat and lacking in ambition, Jim hates both snazzy hats and robots, John is> an adorable kitten, Adam is very mean and also 100 stories tall, Horace IS FINITE, and Alec is still on parental leave… for a brood of fire-puking spider demons (who strongly dislike repeating game titles over and over and over and Space Hulk). Also, two MMOs announced that they’re embracing the all-but-dead art that is the monthly subscription model in the same week>. First it was Wildstar, and now it’s The Elder Scrolls Online. Head below for details while I stop John from spitting up on the rug again.

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Divekick is the simplest game you’ll ever play.

Setting two opposing characters against one another with the same ability, there’s little to learn. There’s no direct control of left/right movement, one button jumps, the other performs the titular maneouvre (thus moving forward) or leaps you backwards if grounded. Each impact with an opposing player is an instant KO and the first to five wins the battle. Characters are different only in the angle and speed of their one attack and the size of their body. Five minutes in you’ll know everything.

Which is why Divekick is the most complex game you’ll ever play. (more…)

Comic books eh, who’d be interested in them? Don’t even move or nuffin’. You’d have to be a real hardcore nerd to take even the barest interest. Oh, that’s all of you, you say? And me as well? Alright then: the fantabulous looking Framed‘s premise is that by rearranging panels in a noir graphic novel you are given control of the direction and tone of the narrative. This forms a puzzle game where the challenge is to keep the main character alive through changing the context of his and other’s actions. It’s such a wonderfully simple premise that the fact I’ve never considered it before, let alone played something like it, is laughable. Potential is dripping from Loveshack Entertainment‘s idea and there’s a trailer in the next frame.

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Robots. Jetpacks. Guns. Men. Parkour. I can’t believe no one put it together sooner. The formula for the ultimate videogame>. Then just stir until your giant wooden spoon explodes from 37 different camera angles, and you have a multiplayer shooting delicacy that’s sure to get tongues wagging. I know mine is. Respawn’s put out another Titanfall trailer, and it’s pure robo-blasting bliss. Also, we get a really nice look at how infantry combat’s shaping up, and it’s basically Prince of Persia with jetpacks. And rockets. And sky-high turbo-leaps that’d make satellites think twice about looking down. And and and and and

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I want very, very badly for Dragon Age: Inquisition to be good. Great, even. Once upon a time, I found myself in a torrid, fiery love affair with Dragon Age: Origins, but things fizzled when DA II rushed onto the scene (though I did enjoy certain aspects of it more than some). To its credit, however, BioWare has been making some seriously promising, er, promises about its impending no-longer-a-threequel. It will have dragons, yes, and ages certainly, but also oh so much more. Player choice is taking center stage again, and it’s a mantra that apparently flows through character customization, party control, story progression, and even your commanding role as the Inquisitor. Watch some of BioWare’s beardliest faces talk about it below.

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