The beta for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive s shiny new UI, Panorama, is now available to players who fancy a preview. Valve is touting it as the most substantial change to the look and feel of CS:GO since the game was released in 2012. Every part of the UI has been updated, so it might take a bit of time to get used to.
It was a matter of time before battle royale got spun up from a top-down perspective. True, the surprisingly fun surviv.io was the first to get there – but that’s essentially a 2D port of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, and nearly as shallow as that description implies. Dota 2 is the first game to tackle the genre with a little more depth: I’ve been playing its Underhollow mode, with strangers.
I do not advise playing Dota 2’s Underhollow mode with strangers. (more…)
It took six blooming years for Valkyria Chronicles to appear on PC – it was worth the wait – so we should be expecting Valkyria Chronicles 4 to arrive in 2024. But no! It s launching on PC a lot sooner than that, on September 25, the same day it releases on consoles. Well, that s a relief. The world probably won t be here in 2024.
Symmetra has always been a bit of an odd-hero-out among Overwatch s roster of characters. She was the only support character not capable of healing her teammates, leaving players unsure of what her role was. Despite a previous rework, she was rarely played. At lower levels she was sometimes chosen in very specific situations, usually as the first point of defence on certain maps, but her pick rate plummeted the further up the rankings you went. In the Overwatch League, she was the only hero to never be played at all.
Yet she was also one of the most hated characters in the game. The main point of contention was her auto-aim primary fire, which locked on to enemies within range and charged up, doing more damage over time. Players who thought the game should only reward a narrow definition of skill, hinging on aim and reflexes, became vitriolic. No aim, no brain, Symmetra main, became a meme, often seen in match chat whenever someone got frustrated. And that was a milder comment; when I chose her after the rework was announced (but before it was playable on the test servers), one member of the opposing team told me: People who play Sym are f*****s and shall be executed. (more…)
Games. You want them, Itch.io sells them, and to facilitate that process it’s put 606 of the things on sale.
I like that they’ve taken the polar opposite approach to Steam’s shenanigans for their own summer sale, and surrounded the discounts with absolutely zero guff. I know some people buy into the badges and whatnot, but after years of Valve’s bombarding me with cutesy treehouse animals, those avatars have started landing on the manipulative side of corporate fun. Read on for my picks from this refreshingly minimalist sale, which include the likes of heart-squelching rhythm action-game Thumper and soul-squashing robo-shooter The Signal from T lva . (more…)
Over on Reddit, prospective vault dwellers have been diligently constructing a map for Fallout 76. It pays to be prepared for the apocalypse. Despite the fact that the Fallout spin-off was only announced just before E3, the user-created map is already in its sixth iteration. It s all speculation at the moment, but thanks to West Virginians chiming in, it might also end up being pretty close to Bethesda s version. (more…)
Since pretty much day one, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds has been wildly popular enough that discounting it was about as logical as spending $3,600 per month on candles. But lately, two things have happened: 1) Fortnite is considered flavourtown these days 2) Plunkbat just passed the 50 million Plunkbatters milestone.
To celebrate/rezeitgeist, it’s now available for a third off for the next fortnight (ohhhhhhhhhhh>) – making it $20 Plunkbucks instead of the usual $30. That’s 18 Plunks Sterling or 20 Plunkos, depending on exactly where you intend to Plunk from. (more…)
Stress and madness simulator Darkest Dungeon is taking a trip to the farm in its latest slice of DLC: The Color of Madness. Out now, it sends adventurers to a comet-cursed farm where they ll need to kill its denizens and survive an endless tide of monsters old and new, all trying to reach the resting place of the comet. Sounds like a lovely day out in the countryside. It s also accompanied by a rather hefty balance patch. (more…)
Ubisoft has tried to fill Assassin s Creed Odyssey, which is set in 5th century BC Greece, with as many Greek actors as possible. This, of course, sounds like common sense, but it s lamentably worthy of note in an industry that s often dominated by Americans, regardless of the setting. (more…)
Last year, we identified three core areas we want to do more of at RPS: hardware, video, and guides. We’d dabbled in all three previously but hadn’t had the chance to fully commit. Last November we hired our hardware editor, over the past six weeks we’ve hired two video producers, and now we have our first guides writer: please join me in welcoming Dave Irwin to the team. (more…)