We’re not only midway through the week, but also midway through December now, which means that the spectre of Christmas is looming ever closer. Sounds like a good time to check in with some of the very best deals on digital downloads, right? That’s just what I’ve got for you, conveniently enough.

Once more into the breach, my friends, for another mid-week digital deals roundup. Let’s get to it, shall we?

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Yesterday, the very fabric of society was threatened when some people disputed, with terminally dangerous inaccuracy, my 100% objectively and factually correct assertion that the currently-free Assassin’s Creed 4 is the bestest best Assassin’s Creed game of all time. Some of these anarchistic perverts argued that this year’s Egypt-set Origins was the better man-stabber, despite its complete absence of ghost pirate ships and Welsh accents, and rest assured they will suffer for this blasphemy.

But I am a merciful dictator of gaming opinion, so before they are all rounded up and fired into the sun, I shall first allow them to enjoy the bountiful contents of Asscreed Origins Update 6. Also known as patch 1.1.0, this 1.2GB bundle o’fixes includes significant graphical improvements and the aforementioned new difficulty mode. Enjoy it while you still draw breath, heretics. (more…)

SpellForce 3 might sound like the name of a magically-inclined superhero team — and it absolutely should be — but it s actually a chimera, a beast created by smashing together an isometric RPG and an RTS. You ve got your jolly old fantasy adventures, pilfering dungeons and beating up hardworking goblins, and then you ve got outposts to build, trees to chop down and troops to train. Considered individually, neither layer is going to set the world on fire, but SpellForce 3 is the poster child for being more than the sum of its parts.

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The unexpectedly good Resident Evil 7 Biohazard has expanded again, last night launching one free new chapter and one paid one. The free bit is Not A Hero, the long-promised chapter starring veteran Resident Evil beefman Chris Redfield. That one is fairly action-focused, as you might expect, though it’s not a pure blastfest. The new paid expansion is End of Zoe, playing as another Baker family member using his beefy fists to pummel swamphorrors and save Zoe. I believe that’s the very end of Resident Evil 7, and what better send-off for the redneck horror game than backyard wrestling? (more…)

Perhaps it’s a little disingenuous to describe Overwatch‘s latest winter mode as an Evolve-a-like, considering there’s no real ‘evolving’ mechanic. Still, it’s the comparison I expect most people will make: a team of 5 Meis must hunt down a Winston, who runs around chomping down meat until he’s ready to flip the tables on his pursuers. Think Pacman, but with more costumed gorillas.

The mode’s live now as part of the winter event, which also brings the usual cosmetic gubbins – including a skin that lets you dress Ana up as an Owl. Oh, and Mei’s snowball fight has been brought back from last year, too.

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Round up your chums for a spot of adorable ultraviolence, as the wonderful Gang Beasts has launched out of early access. Gang Beasts is a multiplayer arena fighting game where players will hurl each other off the tops of speeding trucks, out windows, and into industrial grinders, grabbing and grappling in physics-simulated fisticuffs. Pummel your pal into exhaustion, hoist them up, go to throw them out the arena, but they recover in time and grab onto the edge and somehow fling you out… it’s brutal and it’s funny. And it’s properly out now. (more…)

Readers, I think I’ve found it. The perfect gaming headset. For me, anyway. Thanks to a simple strip of fabric, Steelseries’ Arctis 7 is hands down the most comfortable gaming headset I’ve ever used. Instead of cushioning that damnable headband with memory foam and other such gubbins you normally find in online mattress ads, Steelseries’ so-called ‘ski-goggle’ design puts all the weight on a stretchy piece of material that wraps tightly, but snugly round your skull, while the main aluminium frame sits suspended above your head. No pinching, no headache, nothing. It’s beautiful.

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There were 30 of us left, down from the 50 we had at the start of Fortnite Battle Royale s 50 vs. 50 mode. Almost all of us had managed to home in on the new safe zone before the circle closed in. We got to work immediately, silently intuiting what was needed. Walls. Many, many walls. And some elevation — stairs, in a pinch — that would let us see over the trees, and see the other team charging towards us. They came from every direction, announcing themselves with furious gunfire and a barrage of rockets.

Our makeshift fort changed as we needed it to. A new wall here. Some shelter to heal a downed teammate. A bit of cover for people to reload behind. I ducked and narrowly avoided coming face to face with a rocket, but then the wall behind me came down and bullets started to fly towards me. Seconds later and I was brought back into the fight by one of the players who had become a dedicated medic. The siege continued.

Fortnite s never been this good before.

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I’m about to show you a trailer. 20 seconds into that trailer, I imagine you’ll have some kind of reaction. Maybe you’ll crack a grin. Maybe you’ll make a soft, cooing noise of appreciation. Maybe your mouth will drop open as you gasp, your mind reeling with all the possibilities that one simple game mechanic presents.

However you react, I bet you’ll decide that Baba Is You is a puzzler you want to play.

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If life has grown a little too familiar and comfortable in Ark: Survival Evolved, you might fancy going somewhere weird with its new expansion, Aberration. While Ark’s original land is an island paradise (aside from all the deadly dinosaurs and murderous survivors, obvs), Aberration is set inside a busted ark where life has been forced to develop underground across an elaborate cave system. Along with new alien species to collect and/or murder, this caveland brings new tools for getting around, from climbing picks to wingsuits. (more…)