Typical, really; you wait decades for a Wonder Boy revival, and three turn up at the same time. Aggelos is the second in a trio of games from different studios heavily inspired by (or just plain remaking) entries from the Master System/Mega Drive cult hits Wonder Boy and Monster World. While Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap was a pure remake, and the upcoming Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom looks to build on the later games in the series, Aggelos is shooting for charming old-school aesthetics paired with modern Metroidvania level design. It’s also out today.

(more…)

Sanhok, Plunkbat s third battleground, is set to launch on Friday. It ll be accompanied by an update that will make performance tweaks, throw new weapons into the mix and update the UI. The map s the smallest of the trio, so matches should shorter, but since you ll still be duking it out with 99 other players, expect the actual battles to be larger.

Take a gander at the trailer below.

(more…)

Nobody of even 10% sound mind would argue that Escape From Monkey Island, the fourth in Lucasarts’ gaggle of madcap, piratical use x on y 90s/00s adventures, is the highlight of the series. Some people of at least partially sound mind, including our John, might argue that it’s not the worst either. In any case, the collector urge is a powerful one – Escape has for some time been exclusively available via GOG, but perhaps the news that it has all of a sudden gone DRM-free will sway the minds of the Steam-or-bust crowd. And perhaps the news that the entire Lucas-Monkey family is currently discounted by over 50% will lure in those seeking a bath of calm nostalgia after the sound and fury and E3. (more…)

Have you ever dreamt about games? Fragmented memories, mashed together into a semi-coherent whole that evaporates moments after waking? OK/NORMAL feels like someone’s fevered dream of early PlayStation-era 3D gaming, condensed, bottled and ready to drink deep from. The first game from prolific YouTube demake artist 98Demake, it’s a short and sweet little interactive nightmare that channels fuzzy memories of blurry CRT screens, early polygon graphics, warped textures and early CD audio, spiced with a dash of vaporwave weirdness.

(more…)

Oh look, this Life is Strange spin-off is due out next week as a freebie. The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit is a two-hour pretend-em-up in which you play Chris, an imaginative kid who fancies himself a superhero on the weekends, and isn t afraid to take on evil beings like the powerful Snowmancer (a snowman) and nasty beasts such as the dreaded Water Eater (the water heater). That sounds like fun. Until you discover the real enemies lurking in Chris modest bungalow. Grief, alcoholism, and neglect are the underlying villains here, if the demo I saw at E3 is anything to go by. More like the Super Concerning Adventures of Captain Sadness, am I right?

*starts sobbing* (more…)

Sure, you might have tamed yourself an entire stable full of T-Rexes, but humans aren’t the apex predators in ARK: Survival Evolved anymore. At least, that’s the only conclusion I can reach when looking at a beastie with claws as big as your enormous dinosaur steed. Announced just today and due for launch this November is the third (and possibly final) expansion to the game, ARK: Extinction, featuring new environments, new tech and some very> large monsters.

(more…)

If Euro and American Truck Simulator left me with a deep envy of lorry drivers and a daydream of becoming one, Bus Simulator 18 leaves me with a deep sympathy for bus drivers and a great terror that I might ever become one. (more…)

The star of Guild Wars 2‘s latest expansion – Path of Fire – was undoubtedly its mounts. The best I’ve seen in an MMO, with a real sense of weight and inertia and with reason to exist beyond getting you quickly from point A to B. On top of the now-standard new zone and story quests, next week’s big update (Season 4, Episode 3: Long Live the Lich) is introducing a ridiculous new mount, and it looks like an absolute joy to ride around on, as you can see in the trailer within.

(more…)

Okay, which of you asked for this? Survival-management game Frostpunk was already bad enough, turning innocent and mild-mannered RPS writers into tyrannical despots desperate to eke out just one more day in the frozen apocalyptic wastes. Today’s update threatens to push them over the edge with a new difficulty level – Survivor Mode – for those who figured even Hard was too forgiving. The new mode removes active pause mode, and limits you to a single rolling save slot. In short, it’s Ironman mode, and they’ve not solved the icing problem.

(more…)

I m not sure how many new features Valve will need to bolt onto Steam to aid in the discovery of games before it actually works, but today we see another one arrive. It s actually a good one this time, though! Creator Homepages are custom hubs attached to developers and publishers, essentially working in the same way as Curator pages. You can follow them and get notifications about new games, while they can create lists and collections, or shine a spotlight on specific games.

(more…)