Team Fortress 2 [official site] recognises that yes, Smissmas is a time for gibbing your fellow man then leaving their labelled hunks under the tree, but also somethings for coming-together. Valve’s free-to-play FPS has kicked off its Christmas event with an update bringing the traditional assortment of new icy items but also handy features for casual play. A new team autobalancing systems gives players gifts if they even up teams, while Casual matchmaking now keeps players together after matches to pick a new map and go again. This should mean more fun, less yelling, and an end to the Red and Blu sides of the family glaring at each other across the lounge on Boxing Day. … [visit site to read more]

It’s easy to forget that as we sleep soundly in our beds, the screaming, blazing grindwar of Battlefield 1 [official site] is still happening on foreign servers. It’s a good thing the combatants enjoy it. And, lucky them, there’s a new game mode being introduced as part of a Christmas event, as well as some other bits and bobs for the troopers. Snuggle up and I’ll tell you all about it. … [visit site to read more]

Overwatch [official site], aka The Shooter Whose Locker You Leave Perfumed Notes In, will be getting a server browser next year alongside other updates, says Blizzard in a developer update. It’ll let you set your daft custom games as ‘public’, and they want to have a working version of it running in “early 2017”. There’s other small changes on the horizon for our best multiplayer shooter of the year, including the ability to have up to four emotes equipped at a time, which is downright obscene. … [visit site to read more]

When people tell me working from home must be great, they don’t expect me to rave about the delights of office chairs, office coffee machines, office clothes, and office deskmates on the rare occasions I’ve done freelance odd jobs in offices. Mate, I’d love to work in an office. No, from the looks on their faces, their idea of offices must match up fairly well with those in Yuppie Hell [official site]. It’s an upcoming survival horror RPG about a chap starting a new job at a huge corporation which, turns out, is cursed by a witch. That’ll be why the photocopier is crawling around on four giant hands. … [visit site to read more]

While checking some 2017 release dates for a feature it looks like Birthdays The Beginning [official site] – the sandbox sim from the creator of Harvest Moon where you can create and curate worlds full of plants and creatures – has slipped back a couple of months. The game was previously scheduled for March, 2017 but is now pegged for May. … [visit site to read more]

We have, at last, reached the end of 2016. I’m not going to do a top-ten list both because a lot of the games I might put on this list are things I’ve already covered elsewhere in previous columns, and because I think some of the most interesting things to happen in 2016 were about trends rather than single hits. But here are a few highlights of the year past. … [visit site to read more]

Celeste [official site] is simple enough. It’s a platformer about climbing a mountain in which you can jump, air-dash to clear larger gaps, wall jump, and hold down right-trigger on the controller to cling to vertical surfaces until your stamina runs out. You leap between platforms, you avoid the spikes, and it’s all very pleasant.

That’s how it begins, anyway. By the time I reached its third area, the last included in the preview build I’ve been playing, I’m fleeing from mirror-world clones of myself that mimic my movements and destroy me on touch and navigating the world via blocks full of colourful stars. With each twist introduced as I climb its mountain, Celeste climbs higher in my estimation.

… [visit site to read more]

Back when simulated man Tim Stone declared War Thunder [official site] one of the best sims, it wasn’t even out of beta. Now, after four years in open beta, Gaijin Entertainment have declared their free-to-play aeroplane-a-tank battler is… well, not done>, but officially ‘released’ and out of beta. War Thunder is still missing several long-planned features, like proper shipfights, but they are coming. … [visit site to read more]

Where we are, it’s cold outside right now. So cold that we’re all huddled around the fire, unwilling to explore the winter world. Our Advent Calendar celebrates the best games of 2016 and behind the 21st door you’ll find…

It’s the best use of nature in a game…Firewatch [official site]!

… [visit site to read more]

Sci-fi sandbox Starbound [official site] may have left early access and officially launched in July (it’s “sincere, incredibly ambitious sandbox that’s as full of charm, and space-faring pirate penguins, as it is stuff to build and places to explore” is Wot Fraser Brown Thinks) but content updates keep on rolling. The latest has added ancient vaults full of nasty enemies and lost technology, terraforming so players can give planets makeovers, weapon upgrades to juice up old favourites, and, of course, Space Santa. … [visit site to read more]