Skywind is a mod that brings Morrowind into the Skyrim engine. It’s like someone at Bethesda took the Morrowind and Skyrim design documents and riffle shuffled them as a party trick, and then forgot to unshuffle them. Somehow–probably through a montage–those files ended up with modders. A less tired Craig would probably recount that montage, but that show-off wasn’t up late playing Starbound and eating takeaway, so you just get facts and trailers. The last time I reported on Skywind, it was just an empty world. You could run around, but you could not do anything, but more recent updates have begun the task of integrating people, monsters, and quests. Which means it might be worth installing. There’s a wee video to demonstrate some of that work. (more…)

Its first half emerging from the depths of Kickstarter, Broken Sword: The Serpent’s Curse brings one of adventure gaming’s most beloved couples back to start a new journey into myth and legend. Has history been kind to its own champions though? Here’s wot I think.>

(more…)

You can tell turn-based zombie RPG Dead State’s been in development for a while. It has been the subject of three RPS interview features in its lifetime, including one by co-founder and current panel-beater, Kieron Gillen, who conducted the original interview using carrier pigeons. We’re doing it all electrically nowadays, which means I’m able to easily inform you that a demo is being prepped for backers and pre-order types. It should be out for you lucky people in January 2014, and will also be available as a Steam Early Access game. (more…)

We learned late last month that metroidvania-meets-Spelunky-and-other-stuff dig-em-up SteamWorld Dig, the 3DS hit, was making its way to PC. Today it’s arrived, on Steam, and I’ve finished it all over again. Here’s wot I think:

(more…)

After a potentially disastrous misjudgment last time around, the Greenlight train appears to be largely back on track. And by that, I mean it’s knocked out another 100-strong batch in a single go, some parts of which are even vaguely recognizable. I’m especially glad to see The Stomping Land, Krautscape, Paper Sorcerer, Stasis, Driftmoon, and The Girl and the Robot get Valve’s lambda-shaped stamp of approval. Also, the greatest news of all: War of the Human Tanks finally passed muster. Can War of the Too Human Tanks be far off?

(more…)

So we see in the news again that PC shipments are falling. Doom! Doom! Abandon website! Or, indeed, perhaps not.

The estimated number of PCs shipped in 2013 is thought to be around 300 million, according to regular soothsayers, IDC. That’s the level in around 2008, and they’re not expecting that number to significantly rise… Or fall.

(more…)

Once upon a time, “early access” meant “a glorified demo with maybe a few features toned-down or MIA.” These days, however, it’s increasingly become a legitimate look behind-the-scenes of the game development process, a chance (for better or worse) to pay a penny to give our thoughts. On one hand, it aids game development on multiple levels, but on the other, there’s ample room for abuse of the system. I cannot in good conscience discuss these things without offering that disclaimer, and neither, apparently, can DayZ creator Dean “Rocket” Hall. In a recent forum post, he was quite upfront about it: DayZ Standalone will be a mess on day zero, and many of its new features might not blossom into full fruition for months to come.

(more…)

When I wrote my Homeric epic about attending League of Legends’ Championship Series, one of my biggest fears was that Riot’s stranglehold on its own game’s eSports scene could eventually suffocate pros and the scene itself. A game creator, after all, will inevitably have different priorities than a dyed-in-the-wool sports organization – especially compared to the way eSports leagues currently operate. And yet, here we are. LCS season 4 contracts are now in the hands of pros, and they contain some sticky stipulations. The most worrisome among them? The one that forbids all contracted pros from streaming DOTA 2, Hearthstone, World of Warcraft, StarCraft, Heroes of Newerth, World of Tanks, and many more for the duration of the season.

(more…)

Now that I’ve written that headline, I actually really want a Christmas special in which giant robots grapple with issues of strained family ties, unconditional kindness despite all that, and ultimately, the merciless slaughter of the entire human race. Who wouldn’t> be able to identify with that? In the meantime, however, I’ll just have to settle for Hawken’s Operation Frostburn, which buries the grimy, gloomy mech shooter under colorful mountains of Christmas cheer. Details and video of the corresponding “Wreckage” update below.

(more…)

For a while, I was a proponent of Bohemia releasing an Arma game that was just a platform for the fans to build upon, and it almost happened with Arma 3: they released the game with a few showcases and Steam Workshop integration, but held the campaign back to work on it post-release. Except doing that made me realise that it does feel incomplete without something official to ease into. Survive, the first episode of the campaign, turned out to be a cracking few hours of island-based action. It reminded me that Arma’s sandbox could easily be used to create a tightly controlled story, as opposed to the sandboxy mods usually install. I’m excited to hear that the second part, dubbed Adapt, will be arriving on January 21st. (more…)