Oh, nice! After trying to highlight a few games that have PC demos recently (I do like a demo – it’s far friendlier than a refund scheme and can actually be really interesting as a piece of curation or editing in and of itself, although obv it then requires more work and doesn’t contain the possibility of someone forgetting to get a refund or straying outside the no-questions refund period) there’s now one for the sci-fi adventure, Prey [official site]. (more…)

The open-world supercop superfights of Crackdown 3 [official site] need a little more time to become more super, and so has been delayed. It was due on November 7th but has been pushed back into spring 2018. Before then, it was due in 2016. The delay is because the makers want Crackdown 3 to be a good game but it needs more time, yeah? The usual reason for a delay. The usue. The ushe? The usge? The uzhe? The youzhe? The yuzh? The yoozh? The se? The /ju /. Point is: Crackdown 3 is delayed because making games is difficult and making good games is moreso. (more…)

It s hard not to get excited about LawBreakers‘ [official site] simple hook: flying military grunts with rockets strapped to their feet zip around zero gravity arenas dodging grenades and pumping bullets into each other. I’m happy to report that it’s as fun as it sounds, and its ideas set it apart from other games in the genre. Yet what has impressed me more is how polished it is away from those aerial segments, which actually only make up part of the action. Far from a one-trick pony, LawBreakers is a rock solid shooter with game modes that necessitate team play, and although it’s not fully complete yet (there’s ranked play coming soon) it’s got enough variety to keep me coming back for more. (more…)

Swords. Castles. Peasants, knights, shieldmaidens, queens, kings, princes, bandits and men at arms. Games often draw on certain aspects of medieval history, whether they’re using it to add colour and flavour to a limb-lopping action game, swords ‘n’ sorcery platformer or fantasy RPG. But there’s more to the period than grim warriors, noble (and cruel) kings, and dank dungeons. A few games, including The Witcher 3 and Crusader Kings, dig beneath the surface to capture some of the mystery and wonder of a time thick with superstition and folklore, but the middle ages have many more tales to tell.

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Lionheaded bullfrog Peter Molyneux and his 22Cans studio today launched the PC version of their hike ’em up The Trail: Frontier Challenge [official site]. It’s a game where players walk a path across a wild frontier, not to be confused with walking simulators where we get to have a lovely wander where we please. Along the way, folks get to collect stuff, take up a profession, craft, trade, dress up, and build a home. The Trail first hit pocket telephones last year, and has been reworked a touch for PC. (more…)

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

Overtly Lovecraftian, subtly Thiefesque, Eldritch [official site] is a glorious experiment in lo-fi stealth-horror.

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Let’s all go on holiday! To a twisted horror-world that exists solely as the manifestation of a fractured and agonised mind. Sure, the walls will probably bleed and that clock over there is definitely screaming about the severed threads of temporal stability, but there’s so much to see and do. And let’s not forget all the wonderful people we’ll meet as we hike from one attraction to the next.

There’s Stefano Valentini, for instance. He used to be a photojournalist but now he’s an artist who likes nothing more than creating tableaux of peoples’ dying moments. And because it’s not every day you stumble across someone’s dying moment, he’s taken to creating some magical moments of his own. By murdering people. The Evil Within 2 [official site] looks as gruesomely and gloriously daft as the first, and I am totally on board with this nasty disciple of Sander Cohen.

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The Skaven ratmen are seen as rumour, hearsay, or heresy in the world of Warhammer. Who’d believe that an empire of giant pestilent rats lies beneath our feet? Similarly, Sega have tried to play it cool with the Skaven in Total War: Warhammer 2 [official site]. After five months of teasing a mysterious fourth faction — which has clearly been the Skaven, clear since the chuffing announcement trailer — today they finally confirmed that yup, that ratty rabble will round out Total Warhammer 2. You never really know they’re real until they’re rolling towards you with doom-blasting hamster wheels and vast abominations, as the other factions experience in this new trailer: (more…)

The Black Mirror, the horror adventure series kicked off in 2003 by Future Games then followed by two sequels from another studio, is returning this year with a reboot. The new Black Mirror [official site] is set in a new place with a new story so it’s basically a new game with an old game, but it has drafted some familiar help. Black Mirror is being made by King Art Games, who made a lot of Black Mirror II and went on to create adventure games including The Book of Unwritten Tales and The Raven. Black Mirror is due on November 28th. For now, here’s the announcement trailer: (more…)

As mega-hit Battle Royale ’em up Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds [official site] has rolled on through early access, it has mostly kept to its plan to releasing one big content update every month (one was a week late) and smaller tweaky fixy patches every week. That is changing. Developers Bluehole Studio today announced that they’re easing up on the patch pace a little, no longer sticking to that strict schedule, as they found it was making them rush and could cause problems. This is certainly true. One Plunkbat patch earlier this month brought terrible lag problems, which were quickly fixed but sure sucked. I’m okay with a little more caution. (more…)