I realised it was perhaps foolish of me to start this series before a bank holiday and a week’s stay-cation, but I’m going to play the game every day while I’m gone, and will try to file a post as often as I have time to.
What’s this? Your deals herald is a day early with this week’s best PC gaming deals? Fear not, for it is the long Easter weekend, my friends, which means we’re all going to be too busy stuffing our faces with chocolate eggs and the best Easter gaming bargains to do any work tomorrow. Plus it’s a bank holiday. And an extra day off can only mean one thing – an extra day of deals! Because that is what I live for now. And man alive, is there an Easter sale bonanza going on this weekend. Everywhere you look it’s deals, deals, deals. So let’s dive straight in and cram as many deals eggs in our gobs as possible.
I have a lot of conversations with a lot of people about what RPS is, and after years of trying to sum this dumb website up, I’ve settled on using the same answer each time. I say: ask ten people to describe what RPS does, and you’ll get ten different answers. One will say we’re that website which writes silly, in-jokey nonsense about PC games. The next will say we’re some blog which is always going off on another consumer rights diatribe. Another will talk about how we’re about championing indie games and giving everything a fair shake if it interests us. The next will say we’re a games site that’s home to strident feminism, while another points out that we write in-depth, researched pieces taking down mainstream media misreporting about games.
Someone will always point out that we’re about holding developers accountable.
Someone will always point out that we’re about some sort of unfathomable endless bear.
Look at that list and look at the author of the posts. Jim had the ambition and the drive to make RPS happen. Kieron was the famous name that brought in early readers. Alec was the breakout hit. But it was John, wasn’t it, that defined almost everything that RPS is. Today’s his last day on the site – come say goodbye.
Look, pal, for eleven years you’ve been promising to take me down to Paradise City, where the grass is green and the girls are pretty. Eleven long years of delayed plans and broken promises. Well, you better make good on it soon, because Criterion Games have announced that they will shut down the original Burnout Paradise‘s multiplayer servers in August. The open-world car ’em up will still be playable in singleplayer, and the recent Burnout Paradise Remastered won’t be affected by this, but you promised to take me down to Paradise City, not Paradise City Remastered. Oh won’t you please take me home?
You know what? Sometimes I’m just in the mood for a straightforward point-and-click adventure game. And while I’ll admit I thought the opening of Whispers Of A Machine suggested this was going to be a big twist on the format, and was pretty thrilled by where it suggested it might be going, I’m actually all good with how clear-cut it eventually felt to play. Because there are almost none of these left, just an adventure game that that wants to tell a story. And this follow-up from the Kathy Rain team, Clifftop Games, does exactly that job.
Like a tin of hyperstrength lager lurking behind grubby plastic curtains in the chiller cabinet of a dismal newsagent, Gratuitous Space Battles knew just what it was about, and didn t make any secret of the fact. It was about selecting massive fleets of spaceships, tooling them up with guns, and wellying them into each other like shopping trolleys full of anvils.
I am a sucker for some slick animation, and vampire-slaying action adventure #BLUD looks a treat. It’s a cartoon Buffy-inspired Zelda-ish thingy by Exit 73 Studios, a small team known almost exclusively for their 2D animation work, much of it for TV. They’ve been streaming production of the game (and its huge amount of art) on Twitch for a while now, and today released a proper trailer, showing off the game in motion. While I’m curious what impact its deliciously drawn-out animations will have on its action, it’s a treat to look at. See for yourself below.
Those hoping to dive into Operation Dark Hours, the first eight-player raid mission in The Division 2 will have to settle for grinding more invaded missions next week. Massive announced earlier today that they’re delaying Title Update 3.0 from April 25th to an indeterminate point in May, giving them a little longer to tweak and tune balance on the just-launched Public Test Server. They also outlined some of the ideas they’re floating on the PTS, including sweeping changes to Dark Zone and general PvP balance. You can see today’s full developer stream (and a summary) below.
Free-to-play squad tactics game Atlas Reactor is the next on 2019’s already dark-stained chopping block. Announced today, Trion Worlds have shut off all premium purchasing options in the game, and made everything available through play until the servers shut down on June 28th. They’re straightforward and candid about the reason for shutting it down, saying that “Despite the support of this great group of fans, Atlas Reactor never grew big enough to fund its continued development”. It’s always sad to see another game go dark, especially one as distinct as this.
Today’s The Prophet And The Warlock DLC for Total War: Warhammer 2 may be relatively small, adding just two new Legendary Lords, but the ‘Doomsayer’ update accompanying it is massive>. Creative Assembly have overhauled campaign AI, added new AI factions, new regions and a new system of underground expansion for those sneaky Skaven. There’s even a chunk of free DLC, adding a new Lizardman Legendary Lord for everyone, complete with his own quest chain. Check out the DLC trailer below, as the rats and reptiles recreate a scene from Predator.