If Overwatch slash fiction existed [it obviously does – ed.]>, and there were posited romances between Junkrat and Roadhog [there are so many – ed.]>, then their lovechild [I believe that would be “mpreg” – ed.]> would be Apex Legends newest character, Octane.

Masked, shrieking, obsessed with goo and stimulants, and sprinting on two metal legs after an explosion stole his flesh ones, Octane looks like he s burnt out on Burning Man and acts like a drug-obsessed Roadrunner. He s quick much quicker than most of the other characters in Respawn s first-person Battle Royale thanks to a suite of syringes that he can jam into his chest in order to get a six second speed boost.

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If the recent months of Epic Games hot takes and flamewars hadn’t given you at least an inkling that Epic are the gods of hellfire and they bring us fire, they’re now flooding the world with lava. Fortnite Battle Royale today launched its new ‘The Floor Is Lava’ event mode, which is a bit like that childhood favourite game except the lava is real and it is slowly rising higher and higher, drowning the land as the circle closes in. Soon, everyone will be forced into something something [remember to come back and finish a ha-ha-hilarious joke about removing choice which SLYLY can also be read as a comment on Epic Games store exclusives -ed.]>.

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It’s been three years of guns shooting bullets at bullets shooting guns which shoot bullets, and Dodge Roll Games are finally ready to put their bullet hell roguelike Enter The Gungeon to bed. On April 5th, the game’s third anniversary, they’re rolling out one final free expansion-ish update to the game, called A Farewell To Arms. It’s adding two new playable characters, a new secret floor (and corresponding boss), new features and of course a pile of new guns and items to play around with. It will also include the “community-inspired” Rainbow mode.

Update: More info on Rainbow Mode below – confusingly, it doesn’t have anything to do with the popular mod of the same name.>

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Sekiro hurts. It is a painful, graceful game about being a sword-swinging barbarian who must learn how to dance. Even more than its Dark Souls predecessors, it forces you to play on its terms: learn the steps or die. Fools sometimes say suffering leads to wisdom or insight. Well, you won t gain enlightenment through the hundred deaths of this ninja follow-up. But you will learn how to do a lethal salsa. And when you finally stab your hairy dance partner in the eye, you will be awash in adrenaline. A deluge of battle endorphins that lasts long enough to enjoy after you ve samba d back to the rooftops to peer at the setting sun. For some of us, that’s nirvana enough.

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Fantasy folk and cyberpunks have much in common. They wear studded leather/pleather gloves, they can work wonders with the right incantation/code, they lust for gold coins/credit card numbers, they’re a grubby lot whose morals can be overwritten by the promise of a big haul, and they’re mega-horny. So how come fantasy nerks get to do all the dungeon-crawling? Italian studio RuneHeads say thee nay, making a first-person, turn-based, grid-wandering, roguelikelike dungeon-crawler that’s set not in a medieval fantasy world but a cyberpunk future with neon lights and PVC tity armour galore. Conglomerate 451 is its name and coming to early access soon is its game. For now, hark, a trailer.

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Hot diggity daffodil, says I, reading a GDC email two weeks ago. A new and unannounced Divinity: Original Sin 2 title , what a day! Eagle eyed readers will have already spotted that the email did not in fact say hot new in-depth RPG Divinity: Original Sin 3 revealed , and Divinity: Fallen Heroes is indeed not that. I got a hands on with an early alpha build, and what it is, is sort of XCOM but for Divinity. Or, to put it another way: did you like the combat from Divinity: Original Sin 2?

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The Overwatch League stage one playoff finals will probably be the Vancouver Titans and New York Excelsior, but this stage has been so topsy-turvy that I m willing to eat my words, said I, last week. So here I am, munching, because it was yet another week of upsets culminating in an incredible showdown between San Francisco Shock and, well, still Vancouver Titans. Apparently no amount of shake-ups could knock them off kilter.

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I haven’t played more than a couple of hours, but I’m going to go ahead and declare that 2017’s Seven: The Days Long Gone was largely overlooked. It’s a stealthy isometric RPG with parkour and techno-wizadry, which is basically just a list of words I want to get in a bath with. Now even more so, thanks to a free Enhanced Edition update that adds new opponents, weapons and more to the main game, and a seven (seven!) hour romp through a submarine in the Drowned Past expansion.

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My favourite XCOM is XCOM: Enemy Unknown*, a pure and direct, no mess/no fuss modern-day remix of metagame-augmented turn-based tactics. My second-favourite XCOM is the polar opposite, XCOM 2 DLC War Of The Chosen, an absurd explosion of superheroics that throws internal logic to the wind.

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Some might tell you that taking a badger to a gun fight is poor tactics, but when the badger also> has a gun, as he does in new RPG Grimshade, it’s genius. Released today, it’s a JRPG-ish steampunk fantasy adventure with turn-based tactical combat, and a menagerie of human and furry characters, including mustelid sniper Charlie. I’ve had the chance to play a little of it so far, and some purple prose (admittedly delivered by an overly dramatic villain) aside, it seems like an interesting little romp, and a solid debut from new studio Talerock. See the launch trailer below.

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