Your friendly neighbourhood Spiderweb is at it again. We missed the original announcement of Avernum 2, which is the sequel to the remake of the expanded remake of 1995’s Exile: Escape From the Pit. I played the original back when I was a rebellious young isometric RPG lovin’ teen and John had a jolly good time with the first part of this rebuilt series back in 2012. Plot-wise, we’re in Empire Strikes Back territory:

Now the Empire will have revenge. They have invaded Avernum, taking cave after cave, destroying your people. Your land needs a hero, and it needs it now. If you can t find a way to stop them, and soon, you are all doomed.

Lawks.

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What do you add to the game that has everything? Starbound’s procedural approach to space makes every planet a unique snowflake in an infinite sea of stars. Evidently, developers Chucklefish don’t think that’s enough and the next hefty update contains all manner of new content. There’s bowling, basketball bug catching, a new playable race, personal ship AI that can take on the appearance of a doltish golden horse, ship upgrades, a new tech system and loads of other bits and pieces. The video below shows all manner of new stuff and has managed to convince me that reinstalling when this goes live would be a fine idea.

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Hello youse.

Have you ever seen the major motion picture Alien ? Or it’s incredible sequel Aliens ? Or it’s disgraceful third film Alien 3 ? Or that other one, where the thing gets sucked out of the thing and the swimming and so on and so forth? Or the one they fight the other type of aliens out of the alien film about the alien who hunts the soldiers? Well, if you’ve seen any of them, you’ll probably enjoy playing this game about wee aliens. It’s called The Awful Green Things From Outer Space.

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Elite: Dangerous is out! Perhaps it’s just me, but isn’t it weird to live in a world where that’s not a bigger deal? Oh, I’m looking forward to getting in there and having a proper play, certainly. But the alpha and the beta and the gamma have been around for months, and somehow it feels like an anti-climax given the long, chilly decades of longing for a new Elite game that preceded it.

This’ll be Half-Life 3 one day. In the meantime, let me tell you about our review plans.

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Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor‘s moment-to-moment biffing is a trick we’ve seen before, but it’s still impressive to watch your wraith-Ranger shift and flip with seamless animations between punching one gribbly uruk and gutting another. Yet it’s the Nemesis system, which gives the action context within the larger army of Sauron and world of Mordor, that makes every assassination matter so much more and which makes Middle-earth the best action game of 2014.

John: The highest compliment I can pay Mordor is to say it was 2014’s Kingdoms Of Amalur: Reckoning. Which is to say, the game I found the most enjoyable, the most effortlessly absorbing, this year. Yes, it’s vapid, but that’s part of its appeal.

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Given the option in an FPS, assuming I’m too far for a shotgun and the game’s stingy with revolver ammo, I’m awfully happy with a sniper rifle in my virtual hands. Great noises, sniper rifles. Popping heads with a bolt-action rifle, nervous that their pals are getting closer and closer, is up there with slide-kick-shotgunning and dual-pistol-side-diving on the list of Cool Ways To Kill Virtual Men. So here, CI Games have announced Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3, and they want this one to be a little less cheap and cheerful.

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Humble Bundles have helped raise $50 million for charity since the service’s launch in 2010. That’s a staggering amount of money, raised by people who love games, through a system that let’s people pay what they want. The money has gone to over 25 different charities, to help fund healthcare, bring food and water to those in need, and to help those with disabilities play games – among many, many others.

To mark the occasion, we asked Duncan Geere to have a chat with co-founder John Graham about the charity efforts, what he thinks of Steam curators, and why the future of digital distribution is colosseum deathmatches.>

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Dota 2’s Shifting Snows patch notes have just been released offering a number of hero tweaks, game balance changes and – if you’re feeling grumpy about the lack of Frostivus this year – the snowy winter map makeover.

Having a skim through what Shifting Snows (or 6.83 to give it its less poetic title) has to offer a few things stood out on first pass, particularly with regard to Pudge, Lifestealer and Sniper.

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I’m playing Satellite Reign right now, so the Bullfrog subversive squad-shooter which heavily inspired it is very much on my mind. SR marks a sea-change: a game that’s been bewilderingly ignored by studios for decades is only now getting the follow-up it deserves. … [visit site to read more]

I spot Adam looking for me in the dark and edge closer. Adam swings blindly and misses. I tackle him to the ground and start kicking. When he passes out, I stop – I wouldn’t normally, but he’s a friend – and start rumbling around in his pockets. Nothing. I check for a plastic bag and – yes! Inside: the rights to review turn-based, permadeath RPG NEO Scavenger. I scurry off into the night… and die three days later from the Blue Rot I caught from Adam.

NEO Scavenger is out of Early Access.

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