Epic Games have melted down Infinity Blade twice in one week. First they scrapped Infinity Blade, their mobile action-RPG series, and now they’ve removed the Infinity Blade they added to Fortnite Battle Royale in homage to it. As I explained after Epic added it, Fortnite’s Infinity Blade was overpowered to the point of ruining the game at all levels from pubs to Epic’s $1 million Winter Royale tournament. They had planned balance tweaks to tone down the murdersword but nah, they’ve conceded that they straight “messed up” and should think harder before adding any more of these ‘Mythic’ items.

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What lies behind door 16 is a mystery. Open it and begin your search for answers.

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The creator of Stardew Valley has temporarily set aside working on his next game in favour of making adding more free content to the much-beloved farm-o-craft-a-fight-y life sim RPG. Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone has been mighty secretive about his next game, not saying what it even is let alone when we might get to play it, so it remains in the nebulous future. Before he gets back to work in this mystery game, he plans to form a development team to keep Stardew updates rolling while he’s occupied.

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Sundays are for SHOPPING OH GOD THERE’S STILL SO MUCH SHOPPING. You can also read the best writing about videogames from the past week.

“What the Popularity of Fortnite Has in Common With the 20th Century Pinball Craze” is a Smithsonian headline that made me both curious and vaguely tired. I’m glad the former feeling won out, because Clive Thompson’s historiography of pinball is fascinating.

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You look weary, friend. Is it all these great games? I’ve got just the thing. Pull up a stool and let me serve you a drink.

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Is there anything quite so glorious as being right? The smug playground-satisfaction of pulling out an “I told you so,” or (even better) the long-con revenge of living well? Of course, every good thing has its price. For every instance of being right, there must exist an equal and opposite instance of being wrong. The less enjoyable forfeit of “You were right, and I was wrong. Vanessa Hudgens does play her doppelg nger, Lady Margaret Delacourt, Duchess of Montenaro in hit Netflix original film The Princess Switch, and she doesn’t have a heretofore unknown identical twin.” Sometimes it stings to be wrong. But it means you put yourself out there — and that’s commendable.

When we’re having trouble juggling responsibilities, decisions, and judgement, our good friend Video Games comes in. For some, the holidays are looming ahead. For another few, this means spending time with family. Your experiences could run the gamut! Tensions might be running high. Maybe you need to practice admitting you were wrong. Or maybe you need to practice being right. Maybe you just need a break from deciding anything at all. For whatever you need, I hope here lies the remedy. You decide.

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Christmas is coming and the goose, my friend, is getting fat. Come quick! Look at this fat goose! Whip your phones out and take photos of the big boy wobbling along, this porky honker, the jiggleduck. What a great goose. Get this goose on This Morning.

What are you playing this weekend? Here’s what we’re clicking on!

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Excellent stealthy-stabby sequel Dishonored 2 and its also-excellent standalone expansion Death Of The Outsider have followed in the steps of other games late in their lives and removed Denuvo DRM. Arkane and Bethesda likely figure that you catch more flies with honey than vinegar – those who buy the game and provide a Bethesda store or launcher login will get a pair of new (if minor) perks. You get a Disho-noired black, white & red graphics mode and the option to replay any mission with your choice of powers, plus the pre-order bonus items for Dishonored 2.

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Subnautica – Unknown Worlds Entertainment’s excellent aquatic survival adventure – is currently free to grab and keep forever on the Epic store, making it probably the most tempting reason to look at the shop after exclusives like Hades and Ashen. Released less than a year ago after a lengthy ride through early access, Subnautica is a gem. As someone who doesn’t ordinarily like survival craft ’em ups, I still got into it, exploring its thoughtfully designed cavern networks and alien ruins as I delved deeper underwater. The game is free for the next two weeks, so swoop on down and grab it for free before it goes back up to 19.49/ 20.99/$24.99.

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Seemingly in response to Epic’s grand announcement of their own games store and subsequent PR barrage at The Game Awards, Discord have announced they’re going to be offering a better cut on games distribution too. As of next year, the recently-launched Discord game store will be open for self-publishing, with the company taking 10% (less than Valve’s 30% and Epic’s 12%, more than Itch’s split-how-you-want), leaving developers with 90%. In their announcement, Discord state that “>it does not cost 30% to distribute games in 2018“, >and I’ve doubts it ever did once we went digital.

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