Ah, life on the farm. Working with your hands in the slurry, watching the pigs wallow in the antibiotics, drinking a shot of warm, unpasteurised milk straight from the teet. What simple pleasures farming sim Stardew Valley affords us. Perhaps a few more, says developer ConcernedApe aka Eric Barone. He recently tweeted some upcoming changes, including new town events and the ability to change professions later in the game. (more…)

Nine Parchments is a new co-op spellcaster from the makers of Trine. Four cranky wizards can accidentally shoot each other with beams of ice, orbs of fire and crackles of electricity while battling monsters. Our professional warlocks – John, Alec, Katharine and Brendan – have had a go.>

Brendan: Right, which of us have played Magicka? (more…)

‘Twas the night before Plunkbat, when all thro’ the houseNot a computer was stirring, not even a mouse;The stockings were hung by Steam with care,In hopes that Playerunknown soon would be there;The lads were nestled all snug in their beds,While visions of spicy drops danced in their heads.>

Barring last-minute setbacks and disasters, version 1.0 of Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds will leave early access and launch tonight. For us in the UK, it’s actually at 7am on Thursday. Remember to leave a can of Red Bull on the mantelpiece for Plunky Claus and to update your drivers. (more…)

Tekken 7 is a strong fighting game, strong enough to break your ankles. My exploits have included having a robot s head thrown at me and haymakering a Swedish ninja. It s been emotional. But winter has descended on the fighting ring, and there is too much resentment and anger in the air of Tekken. So I dressed up as Santa Claus and visited all the good boys and girls of online multiplayer, to deliver the joy of Christmas.*

*The chance to knock Santa unconscious. (more…)

“I didn’t get the crystal but I had a lot of fun.” So says one character in thecatamites’ RPG Magic Wand. Fun is the real objective, or is it the MacGuffin? I thought the crystal was the MacGuffin. Who can say?

The creator of Murder Dog, Space Funeral and (my personal favourite) Crime Zone has included his latest release and 50 Short Games in a brand new winter bundle, perfect for gifting to that one relative or friend who doesn’t yet know about the wonders of leg horse. To be clear, there’s no leg horse in this bundle, but you can meet that noble beast in Space Funeral. It’s free!

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It’s an odd feeling, in a way, that ‘Rockstar releases VR game’ isn’t the biggest news in the world. One of the most successful games companies in history embracing what we were told was gaming tech’s most significant leap forwards in generations, and, well, there it is. L.A. Noire VR is out now, y’know. Deck the halls? (more…)

The lock on this door of the calendar is very complex but aesthetically pleasing.

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Desert Golfing–the best mobile game of 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and every year until I die–has now arrived on PC. It’s an arcade-y side-on golf ’em up whacking the ball along a seemingly endless desert, each hole filling one screen. Click and drag to set your shot’s strength and direction and away you go. It’s often simple and calm but the procedural generation can spit out some fiendish levels full of pits, jumps, cliffs, overhangs, and slopes. No courses, no pars, just thousands of holes of golf stretching out before you and a score tracking your strokes. Simple and tricky and peaceful and wonderful, and now on PC. (more…)

You know what I love about the winter holidays? Shooting people in various 20th century European locales. If you too enjoy sending small chunks of metal through the air at high velocity towards a fellow human being s vital organs, perhaps you will like the upcoming DLC for Call of Duty: WWII. It s called Resistance and has three new multiplayer maps, a new mission for war mode and another chapter for the daft Nazi zombies mode. Inspect the liver-puncturing possibilities in the trailer below. (more…)

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

Let s play a little game: how much of Fahrenheit (or Indigo Prophecy for US folk) do you remember? I remember:

• Mopping up blood
• Having sex in a dirty old train
• Mixing antibiotics with alcohol and dying alone in my flat

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