The old quote is wrong: neither death nor taxes are, it seems to me, as terrifyingly certain as the Steam Summer Sale. Yes, once more we can add to the heap that is our backlog by buying games for, what, five quid, on average? But there are so many to choose from that it’s easy to get flustered, so who better than the staff of RPS to hand-pick the best ones for your consideration (rhetorical question; do not answer)?

Check out the full list below for a mix of games that should suit all pockets and tastes.

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After months, nay, nearly a year of sky-high graphics card prices, many of us have been eagerly waiting to see what’s next from Nvidia and their GeForce GTX graphics cards, which are currently going by the code name Turing. Whether they’ll become a new 11-series of graphics cards, taking on names like the GTX 1180, or even a new 20-series using monikers such as the GTX 2070, no one knows. One thing is certain, though – they’re almost certainly going to better than all of today’s best graphics cards like the the GTX 1080 and GTX 1070, and our games are going to look all the better for it.

Now, despite Nvidia’s CEO casting the actual release date of their new Turing cards into doubt a few weeks ago at Computex 2018, new information in the form of a leaked picture has since surfaced that may well depict a prototype Turing card in the flesh. Here’s everything we know so far.

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If you fancy playing an RPG as a sleepwalker who can find themself in different places when they wake up, then must find their way navigating by the sun before they starve to death, Kingdom Come: Deliverance now has you covered. Developers Warhorse Studios today patched in a ‘Hardcore Mode’ making the medieval RPG more like a survival game, hiding UI elements like the health bar and compass while making existence tougher. Most interesting to me is Hardcore Mode mandating players pick two negative perks, ranging from a tapeworm to the aforementioned somnambulism.

Oh, and a new trailer gives a look at the upcoming village-building paid DLC. (more…)

Has it really been six months? 2018 is passing in a blur of frozen architects, drug-pushing prophets and accordion duets. Hell, six months ago the RPS Video Department was but a glint in Graham s eye. You may also recall a gathering of the most exciting games of 2018, a rundown of the year as it looked back in January. With E3 done there s a clearer picture of what the rest of 2018 looks like. Many games have slipped to February 2019 – the stampeding bandits of Red Dead Redemption 2 have them running for the hills – but we ve rustled up 15 of the remaining games that fellow video person Noa and I are looking forward to.

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Overwatch‘s post-match Play of the Game replays – snapshots of a particular player’s greatest moment of triumph, shared for all to see – are a brilliant little bit of design. So much so that Blizzard don’t want anyone else using them, according to a patent submitted to the US Patent and Trademark Office back in December of 2016.

This month it was made public, although the patent itself is still pending review. While the patent does not seem to restrict post-game replays as a whole, it would prevent other studios from implementing them in the specific method that Blizzard have worked out.

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In the mid-to-late 2000s, publishers abandoned the CRPG genre an acronym describing the very specific genre of video games adapted from tabletop RPGs to be played on computers which a decade earlier had been a cornerstone of PC gaming. They were more interested in accessible, console-friendly series like Mass Effect and The Elder Scrolls, and PC-centric RPGs all but died out.

Then, around 2012, RPGs made a comeback, largely thanks to the rise of crowdfunding and an endless well of nostalgia. Since then we ve been treated to heaps of good ones Divinity: Original Sin, Pillars of Eternity, Wasteland 2, Torment: Tides of Numenera and there are plenty more in the works. But there s no guarantee that CRPGs are back for good. Some, such as Torment, haven t sold well. The future of crowdfunding remains uncertain. And asking fans to commit 50 hours to a single story is more difficult than ever, given the volume of great games that release every month. So how can developers ensure that the genre stays relevant?

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On the one hand, I do like the sound of a truck-driving game that, so we’re told, focuses more on the aesthetic appeal of a multi-tonne road trip than it does the simulatory side of hauling a big rig around. On the other, pretty much my favourite thing to do in American Truck Simulator is to flick the wipers on it when it rains and dip the headlights when there’s oncoming traffic.

I just hope that upcoming rival Truck Driver, whatever poppier take on long-distance haulage it has planned, doesn’t throw too many dashboard babies out with the suspension calibration and trailer manufacturer bathwater. (more…)

Hallo! Me again, filling in (slightly late) while John is handcuffed to a steering wheel for other duties. The Steam Charts were all shook up (mm mm mmh!) last week by the launch of Steam’s summer sale, including propelling a lump of hardware into the top ten for the first time in ages. A number of older games have rocketed back too, boosted by sale discounts, and displaced several games from their near-permanent spots in the hit parade. Let’s stroll down it and see.

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The next Overwatch hero will be a giant metal ball. No abilities, no voice lines, just a big ‘ol metal sphere. Which squashes people, presumably.

It’s a brave direction to go down, and one that I’m 100% confident I’ve predicted correctly based on a six-second teaser Blizzard released last night. The fan theories about him being a spacemonkey called Hammond are probably nonsense. (more…)

Tee hee hee. A newspaper has used the portrait of a character from Crusader Kings II to illustrate a small article about the history of the fork as an eating utensil. The article is in Bosnian newspaper Dnevni Avaz and shows a picture of everyone s favourite 11th century Doge of Venice, Domenico Selvo. Don t you know him? He s a cool guy. He s humble, shy, just, stubborn and a tough soldier. But, uh, he has nothing whatsoever to do with forks. (more…)