Since 2016, players poking into data files from Counter-Strike: Global Offensive have found traces of a mysterious Survival Mode. Valve have never announced any such mode for their FPS and none of the traces in data files definitively confirm either what the mode is or that it’s definitely coming, but folks have enjoyed speculating. In a new video, the fan behind the Valve News Network pulls together traces of Survival mode, objects including crate beacons and sonar-scan grenades, and an island map to conclude that Valve are likely working on a Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds-style mode for CS:GO. I’m not convinced but was interested to see VNN lay out the argument. (more…)

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

I d love to play a modern version of Battle Engine Aquila, and I d be eternally grateful if anyone can tell me if such a thing exists. Each level tasks you with either obliterating or protecting a futuristic army base, which you do from the skies in jet mode or – with a tap of a button – a spider-like tank that blasts foes from the ground. (more…)

I wish my cat was more like those in Monster Hunter: World, the upcoming dino-pant crafting action-RPG that’s making its PC debut next year. Not once has she cooked me a delicious artisanal steak, nor joined me on my monster hunting expeditions riding a tiny lizard monster of her own. Her only skills are plaintive meowing and dog taming, which is admittedly fairly impressive for a real-world feline – though I’ll cop to being a little biased.

Sorry, you’re probably here to hear about the latest Monster Hunter trailer rather than my pets, aren’t you? It’s just below the jump, and shows off what you can get up to with your Palico pals.

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Video games certainly went za-za for zombies a few years back, during a time when we could kinda sorta still daydream that the annihilation of the human race won’t be caused by greed and hubris, but that’s no reason to discount every game with zombies in it. Look at They Are Billions, an interesting-looking real-time strategy game which sends thousands of the shambling devils against you and your steampunk settlements. It launched into early access last week and slammed right into Steam’s top 10, which is quite an accomplishment. Go on, let’s have a peek. (more…)

Ho ho hello readers! It’s Father Christmas here! I hope you’ve all been good boys and girls this year! Now, let me see, what have you all been wishing for? Goodness gracious, it’s all PC games! Well, I wouldn’t know much about those I suppose, but let’s have a look… (more…)

An option to pick which map you’d like to play will indeed come to Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds, developers PUBG Corp. have confirmed, but not in time for the game’s launch out of early access. Right now on the test servers, which feature both the original island map Erangel and its desert-y sibling Miramar, players don’t get to pick which map and weather/time-of-day variant they’re placed on. Well, officially they don’t: unofficially, many players will quit if they don’t like the map, resulting in smaller Battles Royale for those who stay. I’ll be glad to have this resolved. (more…)

You’re already in the car when you spot the first sign that something might be wrong. A matchbook hidden in the armrest of the passenger seat; someone has written ‘HELP’ on it. Oh no.

Hitchhiker doesn’t look like a horror game, at least not in the ghoulish and grotesque sense. I don’t think> it’s about serial killers collecting victims along backroads. Instead, it looks like a conversational mystery, unfolding as much in the exploration of your own character as in the discovery of any sinister qualities relating to the driver. Its website describes it as a blend of Firewatch and Twin Peaks, and the trailer does a good job of getting that across. The first chapter (one driver) is due next year, with a full season of drivers to follow.

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Modern-day thrillers are a rare pick as source-material for games, and it’s a terrible shame. There’s so much interesting stuff that we’ve had little chance to experience first-hand. Tales of dogged investigators, unnerving murderers and the mundane, familiar world they weave their way through.

New Ukrainian studio Storymind Entertainment might be onto something, if the slick-looking trailer for their upcoming crime-busting action-adventure My Eyes On You is any indication, although they might want to hire a better translator first. And a new voice cast.

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Technically this was released last Christmas but it feels every bit as fresh and relevant now as it did then. Media-collage-abusing developer Jack King-Spooner (creator of Dujanah) wishes to share with us the tale of three shepherds on a long winter’s night, awoken to share stories gifted to them by the heavens above.

And it all begins with the most grungy, urban retelling of The Little Match Girl that I’ve ever had the fortune to hear.

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What’s behind door number seventeen? Why, it’s a little more conversation, a little less action

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