Gwan Play is an endful stream of game retrospectives. One a day, on one day, perhaps for all Wednesday.>

Christmas simply isn’t Christmas without Dracula Cha Cha, I said in 2014. Dracula goes for a stroll on a chilly Winterval day, collecting presents, smashing snowmen, deploying his Dracula Karate against Christmas trees, and bopping to Green Door. Ah, it’s all so merry! I always play it round Christmas. But I never did mention that a new version followed in 2015 to add more levels and such traditional Christmas activities as bowling and defending your thesis. G’wan, play it. … [visit site to read more]

Have You Played? is an endless stream of game retrospectives. One a day, every day of the year, perhaps for all time.>

I like to argue about how Quake 3 is better, because I’m an early-’00s scamp, but the truth is that I love Unreal Tournament, too. Particulary its sniper rifle, particularly Facing Worlds. … [visit site to read more]

Given its pretty open-crimeworld shininess but blah reception, Mafia 3 [official site] seems likely to fall in the category of ‘games to maybe pick up cheap on sale and pootle around over Winterval while clutching our bellies and groaning ‘I should never have drunk all that eggnog”. In which case, you might be interested to know that an update yesterday added races and car customisation. This update comes a month after an update added dressing up, another feature I’d sorta expect to see in a sandbox. But hey, now players can design super cool radcars. … [visit site to read more]

Darkest Dungeon [official site] is the year’s best dungeon crawler, sez we, but I must confess I find it a bit of a grind at times. So, good news: developers Red Hook Studios have announced plans for a mode which won’t necessarily be easier but will cut the game’s length down from 80-ish hours to around 40. They’ve also revealed a smidgen more of its upcoming vampiric DLC, The Crimson Court, by showing off the grizzled vampire hunter who may well come after your party. Lovely! All this plus details on yesterday’s patch (controller support!) below. … [visit site to read more]

The top-down shanking simulator Prison Architect [official site] has received an update that introduces needs for the prison’s staff, including the desire to go for a whizz, eat food in the canteen and the need to feel safe while working. The game was supposed to be fully cooked, or at least that’s what developers Introversion said in August with their 2.0 “final” update, saying that it wouldn’t be getting any more features. But they’ve gone back on their word, the dogs>, saying that this feature has been “something that has been niggling away in the back of our minds”. … [visit site to read more]

Merry Civmas, everyone! Sidta Claus has arrived with bulging Sid Meier’s Sack full of Sid Meier’s Presents for Sid Meier’s Civilization 6 [official site], giving all of Sid Meier’s Players a big update with Sid Meier’s Fixes and Sid Meier’s Tweaks, while Sid Meier’s Flush Sid Meier’s Players can Sid Meier’s Buy new Sid Meier’s DLC. The most exciting of the two new DLC packs adds Poland as a playable civilization, ruled by Jadwiga, while the other adds viking-y scenarios. But first, the foundations: let’s rap about AI improvements. … [visit site to read more]

We’ve just got the hot scoop that our RPG of the year, Sorcery! [official site], is to receive a free update tomorrow, that adds in a whole new super-hard New Game Plus mode, along with a sprinkling of other extras.

… [visit site to read more]

Warning! There are plentiful spoilers ahead for all Dark Souls games.]>

You’ll meet his acolytes first giggling ogresses in matted, sagging corsets, their belts jingling with torture implements, and red-cloaked porters who shoulder cages full of chopped-up bone and flesh. Deep in Undead Settlement an area you’ll reach, in a portentous reversal of a key moment from the original Dark Souls, when two gargoyles carry you down the cliff from Lothric Castle you’ll find rooms hung with carcasses, neatly bundled up in sackcloth for transportation.

Beyond that there’s the Road of Sacrifices, with its mutant carrion birds and its lone madwoman in rags armed with a butcher’s cleaver, a road that takes you via the Crucifixion Woods to the grounds of a befouled cathedral. And then there are his rings, obtained from the colossal fusions of wolf and spider which haunt that cathedral magical artefacts that impart a little of the master’s terrible hunger to the wearer. Aldrich, Saint of the Deep. Aldrich the man-eater.

… [visit site to read more]

Shantae: Half-Genie Hero [official site], the crowdfunded fourth game in the platformer series starring a genie who can transform into animals, launched today. I’ve not paid much attention to the revamped re-releases of Shantae’s old handheld games I’d seen bouncing on PC but I’ll take Half-Genie Hero raising $776,084 on Kickstarter as a sign that many folks think the series is quite good and want more. Half-Genie Hero is the first in the series made for big screens so let’s have a gander in the launch trailer below. … [visit site to read more]

Astroneer [official site] is so lovely. It’s a really pretty game with this fondness of geometry and at the moment, in its early access phase, it’s forgiving enough that I can potter in my sleep-deprived state without getting confused. There are also ace caves to explore and weird plants and ribcages and hostile fungi to find. To explain what I’ve been up to in the last day or so I’ve made a video explaining some basics and showcasing my base! … [visit site to read more]