Would you like to take a guided tour of the pyramids of Giza as Queen Cleopatra? Assassin's Creed: Origins is getting a free update in early 2018 that will let you do just that.

Discovery mode will strip out all of the game's combat and quests so you can wander peacefully around Ubisoft's huge recreation of ancient Egypt in 20-minute guided tours with voiced narration and custom animations.

In a brief demo shown at a preview event yesterday, Origins hero Bayek watched a body undergo ritual evisceration as a voiceover respectfully detailed the process. Ceasar, Ptolemy and Cleopatra were listed as unlockables on the character select screen, though it's not clear yet how they will be unlocked, or whether they will come with specific tours of their own.

Ubisoft says that it has consulted academics to ensure the accuracy of these tours, and it sees discovery mode as an extension of the series' excellent in-game historical databases. The team considered the mode after hearing stories of teachers using their games to excite students about history. Tours that remove the all the inconvenient stabbing should make the game more classroom-friendly.

I think the mode will have wider appeal beyond the classroom. Open worlds are getting prettier every year and I like the idea of having the option to absorb the ambiance of a virtual world without angry guards interrupting. As for what Assassin's Creed: Origins is like to play with the rest of the game turned on, stay tuned for some hands-on impressions soon.

My brief playthrough of The Evil Within 2 at Gamescom was familiar but frightening. And while I didn't see much of its mysterious bosses, James got shown a little more during a hands-on last week. We've not seen much of mysterious priest Father Theodore before now, but the henchmen featured in the following trailer look pretty darn terrifying. 

I mean, as if being tooled up with flamethrowers wasn't enough, what in the world (or otherworld, perhaps) is that flesh/gore breathing apparatus/mask thing all about?

Don't get me wrong, old Theo himself—with his dulcet tones and self-aggrandising persona—seems pretty terrifying himself, but I shudder to think what the rest of his so-called "acolytes and disciples" are like, given how awful those fire-belchers look.

Despite being the work of Shinji Mikami, the first Evil Within better reflected Silent Hill as opposed to Resident Evil. From the little I've played, The Evil Within 2 takes that likeness one step further—which the above's nods to the occult, sacrificial ritual and, you know, fleshy gorey bad guys, looks to underscore. 

The Evil Within 2 is due October 13, 2017. This is, of course, a Friday.

Last December, RollerCoaster Tycoon Classic—a remaster of 1999's RollerCoaster Tycoon—launched on mobile devices. Tomorrow, it arrives on Steam. 

Remastered by series creator Chris Sawyer, RCT Classic aims to "combine the best features" from the 18-year old original and its successor RollerCoaster Tycoon 2. And it comes with the game's Toolkit, Wacky Worlds and Time Twister expansions in tow.

Here's the trailer for RTC Classic's mobile iteration:

Speaking to those expansions, Wacky Worlds adds an extra 17 park scenarios to the base game, as well as famous landmark pavilions—Big Ben, the Statue of Liberty, etc.—each with its own specific challenges. Time Twister adds 14 scenarios based around historical and/or fantasy themes; while Toolkit offers up a Park Scenario Editor. 

If the latter is your cup of tea, this story from Michael Koczwara about an RCT player's ten-year quest to build the perfect theme park is fascinating.

Head to the following link for RollerCoaster Tycoon Classic's Steam page.

Cheers, Destructoid. 

At E3 this year, Bethesda unveiled the Creation Club—a mod-driven initiative for Fallout 4 and Skyrim in response to its ill-fated paid mods scheme of 2015. The developer maintains this iteration is not a paid-mods scheme, and Fallout 4's portion is now live. Skyrim Special Edition's isn't just yet—the main game has not yet been updated—but its dedicated Steam page has been rolled out.

"Get Credits to be used in Creation Club—a collection of all-new game content for Skyrim Special Edition," so reads the Steam page's blurb. "Content is fully curated and compatible with the main game and official add-ons. Using Creation Club is easy—browse the selection in-game by category and use Credits to download the content. Credits can be purchased in packs of various sizes, and you’ll receive a discount on larger packs."

Similar to Fallout 4's Creation Club, credits can be purchased in packs of 750, 1500, 3000, and 5500—which translates to £5.99/$7.99, £10.99/$14.99, £18.99/$24.99, and £29.99/$39.99 in real money. Chris spent $15 in the wasteland and subsequently wrote about whether or not he got his money's worth. 

Despite Bethesda's reasoning, its Creation Club has been divisive, to the point where this No More Creation Club News mod has, at the time of writing, been downloaded 28,906 times in less than four weeks.  

Assassin's Creed: Origins lands one month from today, bringing with it puzzle-filled pyramids, Witcher-like investigation, and Caesar and Cleopatra. Expect new words on that from our Tom over the next few days. If you're yet to sample what's come thus far, though, the Assassin's Creed series is on sale now through Friday on Steam. 

Despite their age, that means netting both Assassin's Creed and Assassin's Creed 2 for just £2.71/$3.39 with a 66 percent discount, and Assassin's Creed Revelations for £4.07/$6.79. 2014's Liberation and the standalone Freedom Cry are going for £5.43/$6.79 and £4.07/$5.09 respectively, while the Climax Studio-led China Chronicles spin-off is just £2.71/$3.39. 

Black Flag, Rogue, Unity and Syndicate are also subject to two thirds price drops, selling for £5.43/$6.79, £5.43/$6.79, £8.49/$10.19, and £13.99/$15.99 in turn. And, if you're feeling extra flush, the Assassin's Creed Bundle gathers those four games and costs £30.01/$35.78. 

On Black Flag, here's a snippet from Tom's 2013 review: 

Whatever Assassin's Creed was trying to be in 2007, it's now buried under generations of feature creep, but that's no bad thing. Black Flag is best regarded as a collage of the games and technologies Ubisoft have cultivated over the past decade. There are strong notes of Prince of Persia in the platforming challenges of the archipelago's Aztec ruins. You can put on hunters' rags and travel the world in search of rare prey. The sailing is a great element unto itself. Some of these aspects have been bettered in other games, but by brute force, Black Flag's varied components merge beautifully to create rich and constantly interesting world. 

Head this way for Steam's Assassin's Creed sale. 

You might reasonably think that the orcs of Middle-earth are, in general, warmongers. They quite clearly like to dive headlong into battle and kill people and burn and pillage and partake in all the parts of war that typically constitute mongering. But it turns out that there is a particular tribe of Orcs in the upcoming Middle-earth: Shadow of War that really enjoys the rough stuff. They are—you guessed it—the Warmonger Tribe.  

The Warmongers bring fury, so the trailer says. They also bring doom. Additionally, they bring "a storm of terror, misery, and slaughter." And of course, they bring war. The upside is that they appear to bring war to their orcish cousins as much as anyone else, which by rights should enable the good guys to adopt a policy of containment and monitoring: Establish a defensive buffer, keep a tactical force prepped to plug the holes, and let the whole thing burn itself out. 

You might think that doesn't sound very much in the keeping of Tolkien's heroes, but to that I say, have you checked out Shelob lately? 

In any event, I'm sure you won't have to worry too much about all being quiet on the Mordor front: Joe recently gave Shadow of War's stealth mechanics a go and ended up murdering a battalion of Orcs and riding on the back of a dragon.    

The Warmongers will presumably be the last of Shadow of War's Orcish tribes to be revealed. Warner has been rolling out a new one every couple of weeks—Terror, Machine, Marauders, Dark, and Feral—and the game will be out on October 10, which is a mere two weeks from today. 

We've seen some really good Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus teasers showcasing characters old and new: The Milkshake Nazi, Big Brother, Blitzmensch, and the "interesting" characters of the new American revolution, to name a few. This video is different: It's 23 minutes of straight-up gameplay that shows off a little bit of everything, from stealthy silenced pistols to dual-wielded automatic shotguns. 

You'll also catch a glimpse of bits and pieces of the game that don't rely on a pulled trigger, like the weapon upgrade screen, the newspapers that can be found and read, and the obligatory "align the overhead crane so you can get across the room" puzzle. But it's really all about the action, and while I don't think you can get a true feeling for how a game plays by watching someone else play it, this does look pretty great. 

It also does a fine job of illustrating the truth of the statement that there are a lot of things you can do with a hatchet and a Nazi, too. 

A cutscene kicks in at around the 13:30 mark, followed by more gameplay of a slightly different sort. It's great stuff, very Tarantino-esque, but it's a bit spoilerish too. If you want to experience the twists and turns of Terror Billy's Adventures in The Big Easy, you'd be best to stay away from it. 

Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus comes out on October 27.   

Monolith announced a plan last month to commemorate executive producer Mike Forgey, who died of cancer in 2016, in the upcoming Middle-earth: Shadow of War as a new character named Forthog Orcslayer. Forthog would be available for $5 as DLC, and funds raised prior to December 31, 2019, would go to Forgey's family. But there were complications. 

The big issue was that, while Forthog would be available for purchase worldwide, Monolith said that funds going to his family would come only from sales in the US, excluding several states. Naturally, that led to questions about the fate of the rest of the money: Publisher WBIE issued a statement saying that neither it nor Monolith would profit from sales of the DLC, but questions about how exactly the funds would be handled persisted. It didn't look good. 

So today, Monolith changed the plan entirely: The Forthog Orcslayer DLC will be free for everyone, and instead of raising funds, WBIE will make a donation to Forgey's family. 

"Although we decided to donate all profits to the family, we only planned to actively promote this donation in the U.S. (excluding certain states based on their charitable promotion laws). We hoped this approach would raise as much money as possible for the Forgey family in compliance with the law," community admin GypsyWB explained. 

"Our decision not to promote the donation outside the U.S. (even though we intended to donate the money) caused many to question where funds from other territories were going. Answering that direct question itself could have triggered compliance obligations or put us in violation of cause marketing laws in some of the 241 territories in which the content was available." 

The situation was made worse by a "factually incorrect tweet" saying that funds raised by international sales of the DLC would not go to the Forgey family. "For absolute clarity; our intention was always to give all profits from the DLC, worldwide to the Forgey family," GypsyWB wrote.

"We now recognize that tying our donation to sales of the DLC was not the best way to achieve our goal of offering financial support to the family and creating a lasting memorial to Michael Forgey. We sincerely apologize to the fans and to the Forgey family for the confusion we created."

The amount of the donation that will be made to the family hasn't been disclosed, but anyone who wants to kick in some extra can do so at Forgey's YouCaring page. Everyone who's already purchased the DLC will be given a full refund. 

To the delight of countless smog-choked digital civilians, an eco-friendly expansion is coming to Cities: Skylines next month. The Green Cities expansion will cost $12.99 and arrive on October 19, publisher Paradox Interactive announced today. 

As previously reported, Green Cities adds 350 objects and assets to help you clean up your no-doubt horribly polluted cities, including self-sufficient buildings equipped with solar panels and rooftop gardens, sustainable power plants and spiffy little electric cars. As revealed in the announcement trailer above, there are 200 new buildings and 100 other assets in total. New visual options, more parks, and new services such as recycling are also included, along with three new scenarios and four policy options.

"Players can go completely green as the urban population grows," Paradox says,  "and create more diversified cities with new specialized options for all zones, such as a combustion engine ban in the inner city or waste filtering requirements for industrial buildings." 

As always, a free update will also accompany the expansion. This update will add a smaller selection of electric cars, road mods, beautification items like trees and parks, and changes to noise pollution. 

With Call of Duty: WWII multiplayer beta preloading now live, Sledgehammer Games has revealed details about what players can expect when they dive into the action. The list includes updated system requirements with a new "recommended" spec, and a quick rundown of PC-specific features, and a few that won't be seen in the beta. 

The minimum spec was announced a couple of weeks ago, but I'll hit it again to ensure that everyone is up to speed: 

Minimum: 

• OS: Windows 7 64-Bit or later
• CPU: Intel Core i3 3225 or equivalent
• RAM: 8GB RAM
• HDD: 25GB HD space
• Video: Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 @ 2 GB / GTX 1050 or AMD Radeon HD 7850 @ 2GB
• DirectX: Version 11.0 compatible video card or equivalent
• Network: Broadband Internet connection
• Sound Card: DirectX Compatible

Recommended:

• OS: Windows 10
• CPU: Intel Core i5-2400 / AMD Ryzen R5 1600X
• RAM: 12GB RAM
• HDD: 25GB HD space
• Video: Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 / GTX 1060 @ 6GB or AMD Radeon R9 390 / AMD RX 580
• DirectX: Version 11.0 compatible video card or equivalent
• Network: Broadband Internet connection
• Sound Card: DirectX Compatible

And the PC-specific features you'll be able to play with in the beta:

• Native 4K Support
• Framerate Cap Slider (up to 250FPS)
• FOV Resizing
• Keyboard/Mouse Fully Re-mappable
• Controller Support
• G-Sync Monitor Support
• Ultra-Wide Monitor Support
• High-resolution Mouse Support
• Advanced Video Settings

One thing that won't be available in the beta is aim assist. That shouldn't be an issue unless you're playing with a controller, but really, why are you using a controller if you're playing on a PC? Come on now.

"We’ve worked hard to tune the gameplay experience to PC, and throughout Beta and after, we’ll continue to optimize gameplay for PC. For this reason, we have disabled Aim Assist during the PC Open Beta," Sledgehammer explained. "It’s important that we ensure the optimal gameplay experience natively for PC players, and we made this decision with that objective in mind. We believe this will help us to deliver the most helpful performance data possible so that we can fully optimize for launch."

Also absent will be multi-monitor support, although it will be offered at launch, and HDR support, which may or may not be ready when the game goes live: "We are working to support HDR at launch," Sledgehammer said. The Headquarters "social experience" won't be active for the beta, nor will supply drops or loot.

The content of the PC beta will be identical to that of the console beta, with four maps (Pointe du Hoc, Ardennes Forest, Gibraltar, and Aachen War—Operation Breakout), four modes (Team Deathmatch, Domination, Hardpoint, and Kill Confirmed), five Divisions (Infantry, Expeditionary, Airborne, Armored, and Mountain), and player progression up to level 35, with unlockable weapons, equipment, and "scorestreaks."

The Call of Duty: WWII PC multiplayer open beta begins on September 29 and runs until October 2. The full game release is set for November 3. Don't forget to update your drivers.