Rogue-like deck builder Slay the Spire, one of the best games of the year so far, and Early Access multiplayer shooter Squad are the two early unlocks for the latest Humble Monthly Bundle, and you can grab them both right now for $12. Considering Slay the Spire's lowest-ever price is around $10 and Squad's is around $18, you're saving a pretty penny, here.
Slay the Spire is the kind of game everyone should play, even if you don't like deck builders. As Evan wrote in his review, it's one of "the most elegantly designed games in recent memory", and has basically spawned its own genre. Even with its current 50% Steam sale, $12 is the cheapest you can get it right now.
Squad isn't as big a home run, but it's still intriguing. It's a slow-paced 40v40 shooter with maps modeled after Afghanistan and Iraq, and it entered alpha way back in 2014. In 2017, it made our list of the best multiplayer FPSs you probably aren't playing, and it's gotten plenty of meaty updates since then, including tutorials and modding tools.
You can buy both games for $12 right now on the Humble Bundle site, and you'll also get a cache of mystery games that unlock in a month's time. The money actually buys you a month-to-month subscription, but you can cancel anytime, or just pause your subscription if you don't fancy any given month.
Zachtronics is easily best known for puzzle games like Opus Magnum, which we were quite impressed with back in 2017. Its other games are in a similar vein, tricky puzzles that make you feel like you've earned a degree when you master them. On August 12, Zachtronics is releasing a very different style of game.
Eliza, named for the in-game AI, is a visual novel about an artificial intelligence counselling program. The game will follow Evelyn Ishino-Aubrey, a human proxy whose job "consists solely of reading a script provided to her in real-time by an AI, leaving her no autonomy over what she says." It looks as if the Eliza program will show a deep amount of data on its subjects as you talk with them—heart rate, respiration, vocal distress, and more. It's almost uncanny to look at, knowing what technology we already possess is capable of. An AI-directed counseling program may not be so far off in our future.
Eliza's description expresses the same reservations, hinting at the themes it will address (the trailer is quite brief). Would AI counseling be an equalizer that helps those without access to counseling receive it? Or would it be "another vector for technology companies to gain control over our lives and humanity?" The game takes place in Seattle, where Evelyn will reconnect with people from her past and also get to know those who use and benefit from the Eliza program.
If Eliza's narrative has anywhere near the intricacy of Opus Magnum's puzzles, we should be in for an interesting examination of artificial intelligence and its impact on the human psyche. AI has the ability to reduce labor costs, making so many industries more accessible. Though Eliza does retain the human element through Evelyn reading a script as directed, it seems.
As we see with everything from the Steam Store's algorithms to Amazon's recommendations, human intuition is difficult to replicate and machines have a way of misinterpreting and misjudging. As Eliza's page asks, "Is AI-driven counseling better than nothing? Is it worse than nothing?" Something tells me that won't be a straight-forward answer.
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds has settled into a regular update cadence. Every month there's a new PUBG update and a new set of patch notes to look over, detailing new season details, balance changes and bugfixes. We're picking out the important details and compiling them here.
Survival Mastery
We are excited to introduce the Survival Mastery system, where players can develop their less-than-lethal aspects of PUBG gameplay. This companion system to Weapon Mastery, which allows players to progress their skill in gunplay, will also introduce new ways for players to express their personalities on the Battlegrounds with new rewards and PUBG ID.
Survival Mastery is a new progression system where players increase levels by gaining XP based on the players’ survival patterns. The system operates all the time without being affected by seasons. The Level cap for Survival Mastery is 500.
Players can earn XP in the following situations:
Looting
Using items during combat
Combat
Reviving a teammate
Match summary timeline
The match summary timeline recaps all survival actions performed in a match. Players can check survival actions they have performed in their previous match in a timeline sequence from Mastery > Last Match Tab. The activities below will be shown in the timeline, along with other XP earning activities:
Landing point
Location where players perform certain actions
Damage dealt and received
Distance a player travels using vehicles
Surviving Blue Zone phases
Survival Style
In Mastery > Survival tab, players can check their recent survival playstyle from the analysis of all players’ data. Survival style tracks your recent playstyle by analyzing data of all the players playing PUBG. It includes the following information (The 3 most prominent of these traits will be displayed):
Average engagement length
Average engagement distance
Items looted per game
Distance traveled per game
Hot drop rate
Damage taken per game
PUBG ID
A new system where players can express themselves while show their progression and Survival Mastery rewards. PUBG ID includes Survival Mastery Level, Player ID, Emblem, Background, and Poses. Players can view and change from Mastery > Survival tab.
Players are able to view the PUBG ID of other players who were either a teammate from the previous match, the player who killed you, or a player you killed.
EmblemsFor every 10 levels (5, 15, 25…), players are rewarded an emblem.
BackgroundsFor every 10 levels (10, 20, 30…), players are rewarded a background
PosesFor every 100 levels (100, 200, 300…), players are rewarded a pose. Poses are the highest reward in the system and players can change their pose using the Survivor tab and PUBG ID. Player poses utilize the player’s equipped clothing. Other skins such as vehicles and weapons aren’t currently utilized for poses.
BP RewardsBP will be granted for levels without other rewards
New weapon: DBS
The DBS is a double barrel pump-action bullpup shotgun that can only be initially obtained from Care Packages. DBS has two internal magazine tubes that allow the user to load up to fourteen 12-gauge rounds. Thanks to those combined firing mechanics, DBS can produce massive bursts of damage in a short time span.
Upper rail of the gun allows a Holographic, Red Dot Sight, and 2x to 6x Scopes. Maximum effective range to deal damage with the DBS is 100 m.
Gameplay
Improved shotgun consistency
Hit probability increased, especially in medium shotgun range
Damage drop-off over distance increased
Minimum per pellet damage within effective range of each shotgun increased to 4
Except the Sawed-Off, which is 3
All shotguns fire 9 pellets total per round
Adjusted shotgun balance: All shotgun pellets now use more realistic ballistic curves (speed decrease over time). All shotguns had their recoil effects updated.
Damage multiplier changes:Headshot: From 1.5 to 1.2Torso: From 1.0 to 0.9
S686:Maximum effective range set to 80 mIncreased reload speed by 20%
S1897:Maximum effective range set to 80 mPump action speed increased by 20%Pump action will no longer temporarily un-ADS the player
Sawed-Off:Maximum effective range set to 80 mMaximum increased probability range set to 50 mIncreased number of pellets fired to 9Decreased damage per pellet from 22 to 20
Duckbill attachment: Pellet spread multiplier increased from 0.8 to 1.0
Updated Weapon impact effects:Both decals and particle effects are now more directional allowing players to better understand the direction shots are coming from. Size and characteristics of the effect depend on both the surface being hit and the class of the weapon being fired.
Quality of Life improvements for healing items:Healing items can now be activated while moving and your player will be reduced to walking speed and continue using the item while you move at walking pace. Previously, you had to come to a complete stop to start healing.
Canted Sight reticle type:Can now be adjusted, along with brightness, similar to the Red Dot
Sound
Reduced the volume of the Red Zone
Footstep sounds volume and attenuation have been re-balanced
Footstep sounds will be more drastically reduced when players move to the outer limit of footstep audible range
Different sound effects are played when landing from falling, dependent to the surface material type
The current season of both the Survivor Pass and Survivor Title System will end on October 16th KST
Survivor Pass: Starting October 2nd, two weeks before the end period of Aftermath, there will be an on-screen message, pop-up and countdown on the Survivor Pass banner in the lobby to notify players of the pass end timing
Premium Pass and Level-up items can be purchased until the Pass period ends
UI/UX
Added background blur effects to make the duo/squad team UI have better readability
Improved visibility of the fire mode indicator on the HUD to further differentiate firing modes
Decreased brightness of equipment icons
Added headphone icon to the UI right of the health HUD to indicate when the Instant Volume Reducer (F7) is enabled
A system message at the bottom of the screen has also been added when activating/deactivating this function
Performance
Minor performance optimizations that will improve FPS in areas where many players are in close proximity to one another
Made visual improvements to shadows and enhanced rendering performance
Deployed tentative change on the test server mitigating an issue which causes loot to appear late, mainly after landing from your parachute
Custom match
IMPROVED ZOMBIE MODE
Zombies now have stronger physical capabilities
Increased the running speed by 1.5 times
Increased the jumping height by 2 times
Increased the speed of attacks by 1.5 times
Zombies now have much more health and stronger healing power
Increased strength by more than 2 times
Can recover health automatically when they are not engaged in combat
No fall damage when falling from high locations
Receive less damage from guns, except for headshots
Zombies can now drive vehicles
Moreover, we are developing a virus infection feature, which is one of the core elements of PUBG Zombie (PUBZ) content. Internal tests are ongoing for various features to make the zombie mode matches more diverse and exciting. We look forward to your feedback on the improved zombie mode
PUBG PARTNER ICON
In Custom Matches, an icon will be displayed in front PUBG Partner’s nicknames. This icon will only be shown in the match information section and waiting room
Skins and items
Once Update 4.3 is released to the Live Server, you will find the following new items in the store:
Halloween themed items
12 new Twitch Broadcast Royale items
3 Pan skins and 1 set celebrating the PUBG Classic
New BP purchasable items: Beryl & S12K BattleStat skins, 2 Madsy shoes
New BattleStat skin: SCAR-L BattleStat skin
Reduced the probability of receiving a locked crate from the random crate purchase by 50%
Replay System
The replay system has been updated. Replay files from previous updates are now unavailable for use.
Bug fixes
Fixed an issue where character footsteps cannot be heard when walking backwards against corners of objects.
Fixed an issue where the smoke UI timer doesn’t sync correctly when the replay is skipped in replay mode.
Fixed an issue where the Flare Gun firing animation is obscured when in the prone position.
Fixed an issue where grenade damage in rare situations could be received through objects.
Fixed an issue where an incorrect kill distance was shown when a disconnected player is killed.
Fixed an issue where UAZ wheels wouldn’t get destroyed after being punched multiple times.
Fixed an issue where skull icons are incorrectly displayed on the minimap in Simplified Chinese language version.
Fixed an issue which caused an excessively bright light effect in the side mirror of motorcycles.
Fixed an issue where players could not be damaged by other players punching them inside vehicles.
Fixed an issue where parachutes were not displayed in training mode with a fully equipped bag.
Fixed an issue where players are forcibly removed from training mode when vaulting over a certain wall.
Fixed an issue where zombie players occasionally appear to be human in zombie mode.
Fixed an issue where the lung capacity icon does wouldn’t display correctly when holding breath while swimming
Fixed an issue which prevented footstep sounds from playing in specific situations when running through certain puddles
PUBG's update 4.2 brings a lot of adjustments and tweaks. Objects that were previously indestructible can now be destroyed, including traffic cones in Mylta. Car engines can now be toggled with "Z" which allows for some interesting silent tactical maneuvers by rolling down slopes with the engine off. There are also dynamic weather effects on Erengal that transitions overcast weather to rain, hail, and fog. A few changes to master volume controls should be helpful as well.
Oh, and there's been a fix to a fun old audio annoyance: "constant collision noises could be heard when a vehicle was stationary against an object or terrain."
Gameplay
Vehicle Handling Improvements
Improved vehicle handling of the Scooter, Snowmobile, Snowbike and Motorcycle with Sidecar, thus improving overall driving stability. Motorcycle with Sidecar off-road driving control and stability has been greatly improved.
Altered Blue Zone Edge Visual Effect
To improve the gameplay experience, the rolling shimmer effect seen while at the edge of the Blue Zone will no-longer be seen at the center of the screen where the player is aiming.
Improved Visibility of Reticles Against Bright Backgrounds
Visibility of all sight and scope reticles against bright backgrounds (such as Vikendi snowfields) has been slightly improved.
Throwables Friction Adjustment
Adjusted the friction force of throwables to make rolling movement more consistent and predictable.
Smoke Grenades
Friction force has been increased to slow rolling speed and cause them to roll a shorter distance after impacting surfaces.
Stun Grenades & Frag Grenades
Friction force has been decreased to speed up the rolling speed and increase distance they can travel after impacting surfaces.
Vehicle Engine Toggle
Vehicle engines can now be turned off/on by pressing ‘Z’. The engine can be turned off while driving, after gaining momentum and can be used for quiet, tactical maneuvers. Once the engine is off, pressing ‘W’ to accelerate or ‘Z’ will start the engine again. Vehicle engines will automatically be turned off if the vehicle stays at a standstill for 8 seconds, or 2 seconds after the driver disembarks.
Sound quality of life improvements
Added master volume preview
The master volume can now be previewed while in the menu, to better allow users to set their preferred maximum volume level. This can be founder under Settings – Audio – Sound – Master volume and by clicking on the ‘play’ button.
Added Instant Volume Reducer
This new feature temporary decreases the volume of games sound effects to facilitate more clear communication with teammates. Use ‘F7’ to reduce game master volume, while maintaining the volume of voice chat. Use ‘F7’ key again to return to the original volume
Overcast Weather added to Erangel. When a match starts with overcast weather on Erangel, the weather will change dynamically over the course of the match between overcast, windy, hail, light rain, heavy rain (rain with lightning and thunder), and fog.
Destructible objects on Erangel
Additional destructible pylons and barricades have been added to Erangel. They can be destroyed by vehicles, weapons and explosions, but do provide a limited amount of cover until they are destroyed. Some existing objects which were previously indestructible are now destructible, such as the traffic cones in Mylta.
Vikendi Ambient Noise Adjustment
Volume of Vikendi’s ambient wind noise has been reduced.
Removal of PUBG Esports Signage
As MET Asia Series and PUBG Nations Cup have now concluded, in-game signage across various maps and the starting plane has been removed.
UI/UX Adjustments
In-game HUD Improvement
Helmet and vest health is now better visualized on the UI, along with Backpack capacity. Weapon firing mode is now represented visually by icons, instead of text.
To reduce unnecessary clutter, certain HUD and UI elements are no-longer displayed when waiting to start a match. Game version number, server identifier and other information is now located beneath the minimap, instead of the HP bar.
Store UI Improvement
BP purchasable items are now marked with a BP icon in Store to better differentiate BP and cash items.
Performance
Made performance improvements to mitigate client hitching/stuttering in certain situations.
Custom Match
Added Erangel Visual Update option to Custom Matches. Erangel Visual Update will be called “Erangel” and the previous version will be called “Erangel Classic”. All game modes will be playable on both Erangel variants.
Team leaderboard UI seen in observer mode has been changed to allow 4 character team tags (previously 3).
Replay
The replay system has been updated. Replay files from previous updates are now unavailable for use.
Skins & Items
New skins are available at in-game Store once PC Update 4.2 hits live servers.
New BP purchasable items
Vector & SLR BattleStat skins
2 Madsy Shoes
Twitch Broadcaster Royale Group 9 skins
More information will be released via an official announcement for Group 9 of Twitch Broadcaster Royale skins will be released after Update #4.2 arrives on live servers.
Added Regional Esports Baseball Bat skins in celebration of 2019 Phase 3 of PUBG Esports. Added Rabbit Season Set items, which can be found in the Featured Page of the in-game Store.
Bug Fixes
Fixed an issue where other players would appear to enter the ground temporarily when the network environment is poor.
Fixed an issue in which throwables appear to shake or display incorrectly when the network environment is poor.
Fixed an issue where throwables would roll a longer than intended distance on slopes.
Fixed an issue when walking backwards against the corner of objects, you couldn’t hear your own footsteps, although they were audible by other players.
Fixed an issue where the item use sound was not audible when using an Adrenaline Syringe or Med kit with the -KoreanRating launch option.
Fixed an issue where First aid kit, Adrenaline Syringe and Energy drink could sometimes not be heard from while in spectator view.
Fixed an issue where Aqua Rail’s speed while reversing was almost same as when moving forward.
Fixed an issue where constant collision noises could be heard when a vehicle was stationary against an object or terrain.
Fixed an issue where vehicles can jitter and start rolling slowly while parked on an angled slope.
Fixed an issue where weapon scope zoom was reset after performing specific actions.
Fixed an issue where character animations are skewed when using an emote while affected by a Molotov.
Fixed an issue where dropping weapons could only be heard by the player dropping the weapon.
Fixed an issue where a faintly cross-shaped line was visible when the Holographic Sight reticle is set to max brightness.
Fixed an issue where the BRDM-2 can sometimes sink if landing in water from the parachute.
Fixed an issue where an active boost gauge would display when the UI was disabled.
Fixed an issue where a placed marker’s location would change on the compass in some cases after opening the map and inventory in sequence.
Fixed an issue where the Canted Sight binding would reset if set to alt + mouse wheel.
Fixed an issue where the incorrect player name would display when spectating a disconnected player.
Fixed an issue where raindrops could pass through certain vehicle roofs.
Fixed an issue where character head models are not shown in replay or spectator when players enter the motorbike sidecar seat.
Fixed an issue where footsteps could in some situations be heard intermittently from dead players.
Fixed an issue where the key guide text was shown when spectating after dying in a squad match
Fixed an issue where throwables couldn’t be directly picked up and equipped in the item slot when the backpack was full.
Fixed an issue where the healing amount while using multiple bandages with the auto-bandage feature was less than if using them individually.
Quick analysis
PUBG 4.1 revamps a lot of weapons and crams in loads of small quality-of-life features. Some standouts include the ability to heal while moving slowly, continuously use bandages, see the trajectory arc of the crossbow, and auto accelerate with cars like you can while running.
This update also brings the first big rebalancing to vehicles, so read through that carefully to understand how they'll work going forward. There are also big changes to Erangel's blue zone that should speed up matches.
For the complete rundown, including visual updates, UI updates, and bugfixes, check here.
Weapon & Item Balance UpdatesBuffs
Increased base damage of Kar98k from 75 to 79.Increased per pellet base damage of S12K from 22 to 24.Increased per pellet base damage of Sawed-off from 20 to 22.Increased per pellet base damage of S686, S1897 from 24 to 26.Increased effective damage over distance for all SMGs.
ADS zoom for default crossbow sight increased by 3%.Laser sight attachment dispersion multiplier for pistols was decreased from 0.5 to 0.3 (non-ads shooting with pistols will now be 70% more accurate when laser is attached).
Nerfs
Reduced base damage of M24 from 79 to 75.Reduced base damage of Beryl M762 from 47 to 46.Reduced base damage of AKM and Groza from 49 to 47.Reduced base damage of M416, G36, QBZ, SCAR-L and AUG from 43 to 41.Reduced maximum bullet travel distance of all shotguns from 1000 m to 150 m.
Changes
Duckbill attachment now distributes bullets vertically instead of horizontally.Crossbow will now have a visible tracer following the trajectory of the bolt for easier aiming.Added top rail to Uzi to allow Red Dot and Holographic Sights attachments.
Vehicle Balance Update
Buffs
Improved handling of RWD vehicles (Buggy, Mirado, Rony, Motorbike, Snowbike, Snowmobile, Scooter, Tukshai).Regular and three-seater motorbikes stabilization improved.Increased maximum speed of Scooter from 90 to 105 kph.Greatly improved handling of Buggy and Increased Buggy’s wheels durability by 50%.Increased max speed of Buggy from 92/115 to 100/125 kph (no boost/boost).Increased HP of UAZ from 900 to 1200.Increased HP of Tukshai from 500 to 1000 as well as increased max speed of Tukshai from 70 to 85.
Nerfs
Decreased HP of Mirado from 1000 to 900.All motorbikes will now consume roughly 50% more fuel than before.Decreased acceleration and boost multiplier rate for Dacia. Maximum speed will stay the same.Dacia and Mirado vehicles speed will now be reduced by around 15% when driving on surfaces like sand, mud, grass, dirt.When driving on rocky surface with any vehicle, friction will be decreased by 10% making them more difficult to control.
Introduced BRDM-2 specific vehicle damage modifiers per game mode.Increased damage taken in Solo mode by 80%.Increased damage taken in Duo mode by 40%.
Changes
Implemented new Buggy and Mirado sounds.Visual effect while using boost has been removed and replaced with high RPM engine sounds.Improved aiming while inside vehicles to be more steady.Improved the FPP camera view inside most vehicles.
New Features
Added auto-acceleration to vehicles (identical to auto-run feature)Auto-Acceleration can be activated with ‘=’ key just like auto-run.
Added “locking” mechanism to BRDM-2.Only teammates will be able to enter BRDM-2.When all teammates exit the BRDM-2, it will unlock, allowing any player to enter.
Added Car Audio feature to play preset music while inside a car.Only the driver can control this feature.Car audio will stay turned on even after players exit the vehicle.Turning the audio On/Off while inside a vehicle will play random music every time.Use F5 key to play or stop the music, Use F6 to change music. The mouse wheel can be used to control music volume.Music will stop playing automatically after a full song.Music can be stopped by destroying or flooding the vehicle.
Healing and Boost Item Improvements
Healing and boost items can now be used while moving.You’ll be limited to walking speed only.Press the use or run/jump keys to cancel healing/boosting.
Bandages will now be used continuously until the player fully heals to the maximum of 75% health, or runs out of bandages, without the need to manually use bandages multiple times.Press the use or run/jump keys to cancel healing.
First Aid Kits can no longer heal additional damage you receive after the healing starts.Previously, if damage was taken after the 2-second healing period had started, any additional damage received would be healed if the total healing amount was still 75% or less.
Med Kits and Adrenaline Syringes now stack in the inventory, rather than occupying one inventory space per item held.
Visual Effects Improvements
Optimized and reworked the visuals of the Molotov Cocktail.Optimized and improved weapon and vehicle shaders.
Optimized and improved Frag Grenade explosion effects.Different effects will be used depending on the surface the Frag Grenade explodes upon.
Optimized and differentiated muzzle flash effects for each weapon.
Radio Message Marker Distance Adjustment
The maximum range of automatic marker placement using Radio Messages has been reduced from 500m to 300m.
Erangel Blue Zone Balance Changes
"We’re making changes to the Blue Zone on Erangel thanks to player feedback and changes in gameplay since the most recent Erangel rebalance. The experimental Blue Zone was trialed on the test server during the Erangel Visual Update, and based on player feedback we have applied a few more adjustments."
The size of the safe zone in early phases has been reduced.Blue Zone waiting time in early and mid-game phases has been reduced.Movement speed of the Blue Zone during some mid and late phases has been decreased.Blue Zone waiting time for the final phase has been reduced.
Turntable Added to Erangel
Added a new playable Turntable which can be found across Erangel.Turntables are spawned randomly on Erangel. Press the use key to turn the music on/off.Turntables can be destroyed.Music played on the Turntable can be heard by all nearby players.Music will stop playing automatically after one song.
House Party is a pornographic Steam game that aims to recreate the rowdy depravity of '90s comedies like American Pie by setting you loose in a houseful of deranged partiers, most of whom will have sex with you so long as you say and do the exact right thing. Until last week, these characters were purely fictional stereotypes—the macho guy, the obnoxious bro, or the jealous younger sister—but several weeks ago, House Party's developers added a new guest voiced by and modelled after a real person.
Her name is Lety, and on YouTube she has over 63,000 subscribers who watch her play games, or model swimsuits, or review TV shows. Over on Patreon, though, subscribers pay a cumulative total of $10,000 a month to access Lety's nude photoshoots and her community Discord, and she also writes adult comics. While she's no stranger to taking her clothes off on camera, Lety is one of the first people to loan her likeness to a pornographic videogame where her in-game character does a whole lot more than that. "It's one for the history books," Lety tells me. "Some super, super weird history book."
Heads-up: This story talks a lot about sex, in case that wasn't obvious.
Open House
Being able to have this kind of connection through a weird, goofy sex game is just really exciting to me.
Lety
Back in November, the developers of House Party held a contest players could enter to be added to the game and win $1,000. Considering House Party owes much of its success to a horde of YouTubers who introduced it to their audiences, it only made sense that the front-running contestants were people like Lety and Arin Hanson and Dan Avidan, the duo behind Game Grumps (who will be added in a later update) whose 17-part video series on House Party has been watched over 20 million times.
For Lety, though, it wasn't just a good marketing opportunity but a chance to become a permanent fixture in a game she'd been a fan of since it was a janky, crass one-man project shared around on image boards like 4Chan. Since then, House Party has grown to become an immensely popular porn game selling more than 500,000 copies.
To be clear, though, House Party is still janky and crass. It launched on Steam Early Access in 2017 before Valve overhauled its restrictions on adult content. Though porn games weren't supposed to be on Steam, House Party somehow fell through the cracks and gained notoriety when Valve threatened to remove it unless it censored all the sex. In 2018, however, Valve reversed its position on explicit adult content and House Party players could go back to playing its uncensored version.
Today House Party remains an Early Access game—and not a particularly great one. The idea is that you're invited to a house party with a dozen other guests who each have distinct personalities and stories. It's like a point-and-click adventure set in a sandbox sim. You talk to each guest to learn about them and, if you choose, what you need to do to get their clothes off and have sex with them—or you can just start masturbating on people without consent.
Completing character quests typically devolves into brainless, trial-and-error puzzle solving that I find annoying, and some of the tasks are extremely sleazy. You can help Ashley get revenge on her older sister by stealing her phone and sharing her nude photos with other guests, for example, or you can secretly follow phone-obsessed Katherine around with a signal jammer to coax her into a private room so you can get her to take topless pictures. Though the people at the party are all awful in their own ways (one owns an amateur porn website that frequently hosts revenge porn), the worst guest is you—a cruel asshole who will say or do anything if it means getting laid.
But thousands of people, like Lety, love that House Party is janky, weird, and sordid. During its early development, Lety became one of the bigger faces in the House Party fanbase, so when she first heard of the contest, she knew she had to enter.
Winning meant that Lety not only got to be in the game (and win a thousand dollars) but also determine her character's personality, dialogue, and overall story. Unlike the extreme stereotypes the other guests are based on, Lety says she wanted to make her character more authentic to her actual persona. "That was a major challenge for me," Lety says. "I'm really introverted and anxious. Like, even in college, I'd get invited places and I'd always turn it down. I had no idea what I would even do at a party or what it would be like, and eventually I was like, okay, that's going to be it. That's going to be my character. I'll be the super awkward girl that fucks everything up."
Digitizing Lety
As an adult model everyone knows what my naked body looks like, so it was super important to me to get that right.
Lety
Writing and voicing her dialogue in an improvised home studio was just half of the challenge. Lety also had to take high-resolution photos of her face from "20 different angles" so the third-party animation studio developer Eek! Games used could properly model her face and body.
"As an adult model everyone knows what my naked body looks like," Lety says. "So it was super important to me to get that right. So, in making the model, I took HD photos of my skin to be mapped onto the character. I even added the weird birthmark thing that I have on my back."
"I think the whole design process from taking like the first photo of my face to the finalized model took about half a year," Lety explains. "I remember when we were like five months into the process, I decided to show off some photos with my patrons on Discord, to show them what my model was going to look like. And a bunch of people called out that it was missing this little beauty mark I had, literally, between my butt cheeks, and it's smaller than a grain of rice. And everyone was like, it's missing the beauty mark on your butt, man!"
Unlike the other guests, Lety isn't invited to the party until you break into Ashley's laptop and trick her into coming by pretending you need an "emergency Spanish tutoring session." A few minutes later, Lety awkwardly arrives with a bag full of Mexican-themed trinkets like a bottle of mezcal, spicy peppers, and a wall-mounted talking fish wearing a sombrero. Her story involves the player helping or sabotaging her awkward and bumbling attempts to socialize at the party—with the obligatory sex if you manage to say and do the right things.
Lety's character background might seem like a thin punchline to a joke, but she says she wanted to use it as a platform to show off another part of herself: her Mexican heritage. "What a lot of people don't know is that I'm actually Mexican," Lety tells me. "But growing up in Hispanic neighborhoods here in [Los Angeles], I got bullied a lot for looking different and not being a 'real Mexican' because I'm a lighter-skinned Hispanic. But yeah, when I was presented with an opportunity to create a character that would potentially be seen by millions I just had to have my character speak Spanish. It's very important for me to kind of show people and have people see that like, hey, lighter-skinned Mexicans do exist."
Recently I did a photoshoot where my entire body was Thanos' face, and then I sat on all the Avengers before Ant-Man crawled inside my ass and expanded and killed me.
Lety
That Lety poured so much of her personal identity into her in-game character surprised me, if only because pornography is often so fabricated, with actresses and actors using psueodonyms or playing specific characters in unlikely situations. Lety says even her photoshoots are often bizarre works of fiction. "Recently I did a photoshoot where my entire body was Thanos' face, and then I sat on all the Avengers before Ant-Man crawled inside my ass and expanded and killed me," Lety says.
But it feels like there's a distinction between someone passively looking at a nude photoshoot and actively having sex with a digital representation of a person. There's also the prevalence of online sexual harassment to consider, something that women content creators are often subject to. Despite those unknowns, Lety said she had "no reservations" about being a character players could have sex with. "I was immediately just like, let's fucking do it," she says. "This is fucking awesome."
Unlike how it tries to simulate social situations, having sex in House Party is more akin to an interactive cutscene. Players can choose from a variety of positions and acts like doggystyle or going down on certain characters, but all the movement and gyrating happens automatically. "I didn't have much input over the actual sex acts I could perform, that's actually all done by Take One," a motion capture and animation company that also worked on The Witcher 3, Lety points out. "The only real input I gave is that I wanted to be able to do everything, 'cause like, what's the point of being in a sex game otherwise?"
Doing the deed with in-game Lety is surreal—especially if you try to talk to her while she's giving you a blowjob because she even went so far as to make it sound like her mouth is full. But it's clear that the developers at Eek! Games have stumbled into a strange new frontier of pornography into which others will likely follow. Though its simulation of sex might be crude, that it's a conduit for a new and uncharted kind of connection between a creator like Lety and her audience is significant.
"I'm super excited that people have this opportunity to interact with me," she says. "Like, some parts of my character are exaggerated for comedy's sake, but I feel the core personality is super true to who I am, and now people have a chance to kind of get to know me beyond just watching me in a video or seeing me as a photo on their screens, so being able to have this kind of connection through a weird, goofy sex game is just really exciting to me."
Going on a killing spree in an RPG is nothing new, but there's often a limit to your reckless carnage. Typically in RPGs there are NPCs marked as Essential, and they're usually quest-givers. After all, if you deliberately or accidentally kill someone who can send you on a quest before they send you on that quest, you won't be able to complete it. For a side-quest, you'd be out of luck, but for a main quest, you'd be completely stuck.
Speaking to Polygon, Obsidian's senior designer Brian Heins confirmed that in The Outer Worlds, you'll be able to kill anyone you want. And to protect your ability to complete quests, there are back-up systems in place.
“Anyone you see, you can kill, [so] there’s got to be a way to get whatever they were going to give you, whether it’s a terminal entry or you can loot something off of their body or there’s a chest in their office that you would now lock-pick to get the information from," Heins told Polygon.
That often adds more complexity to the quest because it may need to be reflected in dialogue further down the questline. If you kill a quest giver and loot their body or pick a lock on their safe to acquire the quest item, for example, another NPC involved in the storyline can't talk about how you were freely given that item by the quest-giver. Because it didn't happen that way.
It's a lot of extra work for the designers and writers and even the QA department, who stumble across bugs as a result of the added wrinkles to the story. "So a conversation that they started out writing as very compact and concise now starts growing much bigger, because they have not had to handle a lot of other states,” Hines said.
Mimics are the worst, tricking oblivious adventurers into becoming a snack. This Skyrim mod appears to be based on the most grotesque of the lot of them: Dark Souls' mimics. There's not one part of them that isn't incredibly unsettling, but it's that horrible, diseased tongue that turns my stomach.
Skyrim modder Mihail created them for the original version of Skyrim, but they've recently been added to Skyrim Special Edition, letting you ruin your dungeon dives once again. You can download it here.
Other creatures from Mihail's menagerie include some lovely flying stingrays and this intimidating robot. It's big, it's angry, it breaths fire, and it's not half as scary as a mimic.
As one empire falls and another begins to take form from the ashes, warlords across ancient China do battle on the field and at the negotiating table. Choosing which one of them to take control of in Total War: Three Kingdoms isn’t a throwaway decision and shouldn’t be made based on which colour you prefer, although yes, Kong Rong’s particular shade of blue is very tasteful.
Every warlord comes with their own faction benefits, unique units and buildings, perks and penalties, and starting positions which will affect not just your playstyle but your overall objectives and how to go about them. Here’s the cliff notes on each of the base game’s warlords.
Cao Cao—Strategic Mastermind
Cao Cao is a great pick for your first Three Kingdoms campaign. He’s endowed with great diplomatic perks, a couple of strong unique units, and starts the game in a strong territorial position. If you haven’t got stuck into a campaign yet, treat yourself to his advantages.
Starting position: Cao Cao begins with three regions already under his control, and a bit of breathing room in the first few rounds before the likes of He Yi to the south and that bloody, /bloody/ Yuan Shao in the north start to close in and start to make his life more difficult. The territory to his east is especially easy pickings unless the aforementioned warlords move in and take them over.
Hero class and playstyle: Cao Cao is one of five Commander class heroes and is thus pretty great at inspiring his troops, at the cost of being a bit useless at melee. It’s therefore best to keep him surrounded by melee units. Cao Cao also enjoys -10% unit upkeep and +15 military supplies, and has access to two cavalry units from the start of the game that are otherwise unlocked at level 3 and level 6. Coupled with that reduced unit upkeep cost, that brings a huge advantage to early game combat, meaning it’s easy to gain quite a bit of territory in the first couple of years while everyone else is still yawning and stretching.
It’s not all about fighting with Cao Cao, though. His faction specialisation is Credibility, which means he gains more over time as a passive bonus, has an influence over diplomatic relations other than his own, and he can kick off proxy wars to weaken opponents without getting his hands dirty.
Unique features: Cao Cao has two unique building types. Farming Garrisons are really handy because they allow soldiers to work the land and increase food yield in the region of the garrison while also being on hand to defend it. Tungtian Conscription, in the military building branch, increases recruitment rate at the cost of population growth, but also boosts seasonal retinue and food production. Those two buildings work brilliantly together to keep Cao Cao’s aggressive expansion rolling without compromising the basics of land and population management.
Liu Bei—Virtuous Idealist
After Cao Cao, lovely Liu Bei is probably Three Kingdom’s second-most favourable warlord for beginners and those looking for an easier ride in the early game. His unique resource, Unity, becomes increasingly powerful as the game progresses, and his unique ranged units give him an early game edge on the battlefield.
Starting position: Beginning over in the northeast of the map, Liu Bei starts nice and far away from that big bully Dong Zhuo, but he’s likely to face conflict with ultra-aggressive Yuan Shao and his many vassals before too long. With that said, he, er, doesn’t actually control any territory at the beginning of round one, so his first job is to wrestle control from the local militia - luckily he begins with the most powerful army of all the leaders. With that done, Liu Bei must decide whether to side with Cao Cao or Tao Qian in the next few turns.
Hero class and playstyle: Like Cao Cao, Liu bei is a Commander and thus receives a bonus to inspiration in his troops and gets -50% militia infantry upkeep and +4 public order just for being such a swell guy. After taking his initial territory, it’s best to keep the region of his overall control quite low in the early game and focus primarily on generating his unique resource, Unity. It’s accrued by keeping generals satisfied, which in turn is achieved by completing unique assignments. Unity grants bonuses to just about every other kind of income, and can also be used to take control of Han Empire territories without actually invading them.
Unique features: Liu Bei begins with two archer unit types which don’t unlock for the others until levels 3 and 6, which is especially handy for him given that archers have increased range in Three Kingdoms versus prior TW games. His unique building, Shu Han Tax Collection, increases peasant tax income at the expense of public order, and he has two unique diplomatic/settlement options, Confederate and Integrate, which allow him to gain new territories outside of battle by flexing his diplomatic muscle and spending Unity.
Sun Jian - The Tiger of Jiangdong
Sun Jian is a super-aggressive warlord with plenty of perks for going after territories early and maintaining a large army. Inevitably, it’s a risk-reward tradeoff that’s perhaps better suited to players with either a lot of Total War experience or a few prior Three Kingdoms campaigns under their belts.
Starting position: Down in Jianling, Sun Jian begins in enemy territory and must make his way south to reach his family. Tough start, then. After that his initial dilemma is to side with either Yuan Shu or slightly closer neighbour Liu Bao. These two are at loggerheads from turn one, so your decision isn’t just about buddying up to a friend but also about who you make enemies with from the outset.
Hero class and playstyle: Sun Jian is a Sentinel class, which gives himself and his troops great staying power on chokepoints. He’s all about Heroism, a unique faction resource that reduces unit upkeep cost, improves recruitment and boosts public order. It’s achieved by sustaining fewer losses than the enemy in battle, so Sun Jian should be played super aggressively to keep those bonuses rolling in.
Unique features: Mercenary Captain Retinues are recruitable immediately for Sun Jian and don’t need any mustering time, while his unique archer, infantry, and cavalry units give him the chance to create a well-rounded army right at the beginning of the game using better units than his opponents have access to until later levels. His Mercenary Outpost building boosts income from commerce and mercenary replenishment. It really is all about keeping a big army rolling into enemy territory with Sun Jian, then.
Gongsun Zan—The Ironfist General
Here’s a military-minded warlord for players who like to focus on their armies and let generals take care of civic governance too. He’s particularly strong in defense, so if you’re sick of being routed by the Yellow Turban Rebellion or some particularly nasty neighbours he’s a good pick.
Starting position: Gongsun Zan’s start position in Youbeiping Commandery in the northeast corner of the map is relatively safe in the early game, but expansion’s going to be tricky. Liu Yu is just to the west, and he’s not going to go easy on the territories separating you. At the beginning of the game you’re not in an amazing position to invade enemy ground either, so a long-game approach is best.
Hero class and playstyle: As a Vanguard, Gongsun Zan’s fantastic at breaking through enemy troops but is weak to other generals, so a bit of micromanagement is required on the battlefield. He doesn’t have his own unique faction resource, but is able to use generals in administration posts and gains 50% to his reinforcement range. This is really handy when defending, since you don’t need to move armies as close to your battling units in order for them to become effective.
Unique features: The Military Government unique building is a real highlight of Gongsun Zan’s perks, increasing income from all sources and public order. Meanwhile, his two mounted archer units offer great mobility and range in the early game before other factions unlock them.
Yuan Shao—The Dragon of the Yuan
A real early and mid-game threat who can grow into an almost insurmountable force if left unchecked thanks to his knack for forging alliances, Yuan Shao is also handy on the battlefield as one of the game’s five Commander class warlords.
Starting position: Yuan Shao starts in a really favourable position which plays to his strengths. All around him in the north of the map are agricultural provinces which can be easily taken over, and weaker factions he can steamroll into vassals thanks to his diplomatic silver tongue. Before long the whole Wei Commandary should be in his control, and also early on he’ll have to choose to side with either Gongsun Zan and Han Fu.
Hero class and playstyle: Another of Three Kingdoms’ Commanders, Yuan Shao can inspire his troops better than most, and can use his two unique polearm infantry units to keep him safe in battle. He’s also able to recruit captains who bestow bonuses to specific unit types, and that offsets his relative weakness to other Commander warlords in battle. Since he enjoys a morale bonus and a 50% reduction to hiring and maintaining captains’ units, it’s a wise idea to keep a medium-to-large army around him at all times. Doing this as early as possible lets you capture a fairly large territory, and brandish that power to vassalise other states.
Unique features: Yuan Shao’s captains replace the traditional heroes and buff combat units when enstated. His two unique units, both polearm infantry, have great melee range, while the Yuan Administration Office available to him boosts income, public order, and pedigree growth.
Yuan Shu—The Ambitious Powermonger
Not to be confused with Yuan Shao the other ambitious powermonger, Yuan Shu has great bonuses to prestige, income and public order but, bless him, he’s not so hot at the negotiating table.
Starting position: Yuan Shu starts the game right in the thick of it. With Dong Zhuo bordering his lands to the north, Liu Biao to the south, and He Yi surrounding him across the east, his expansion potential is extremely limited. His Guanxi trait makes him particularly prone to falling out with those around him, so overall he’s one of the most challenging warlords to take control of. In the early game, it’s about carving a route out of that hostile circle then holding onto your territory in the following fallout.
Hero class and playstyle: Yet another commander, Yuan Shu has a few battlefield bonuses but he’s really more about increasing legitimacy as quickly as possible and convincing other factions of his claim to the throne. He goes about this by his unique faction resource, Legitimacy. Building it up increases prestige and income, but boy do other factions hate you for it.
Unique features: Two unique assault infantry units are available to Yuan Shu from turn one, and these are a nice fit with his decreased melee ability as a Commander - keep them close to him on the battlefield. They’re especially hard to rout since their morale’s so high. The unique Zhong Administration building increases income but—curses!—decreases that all-important Legitimacy, so it’s only to be used when you’re in an economic bind.
Kong Rong—The Master Scholar
Kong Rong’s an interesting warlord whose strengths lie primarily outside the battlefield, making him a great pick for those looking to win a campaign without stomping everyone into submission on the battlefield.
Starting position: On the northeast coast, Kong Rong begins hemmed in by other factions and fighting the Yellow Turban Rebellion. Not an easy ride in the early game, then. There’s some easily attainable land on that eastern outcrop, but except for that it’s hard work expanding Kong Rong’s borders the traditional way. Another warlord for experienced players, although things do get easier once the Yellow Turban Rebellion are sent packing.
Hero class and playstyle: Kong Rong’s class is Strategist, and that allows him to strengthen his own troops and actively weaken enemies, but he’s no great shakes in direct combat so it’s best to keep him placed behind his entire army. His real strength is in brokering trades, however. His unique resource, Trade Monopoly, can be deployed during diplomatic talks to greatly increase the income from trades - legend has it he’s a descendent of Confucius himself, so that figures. Using that trade power, Kong Rong can easily become one of the richest warlords on the map, but he can’t directly declare himself Emperor however much he has in the coffers. Instead, he has to take the capitals of the existing Emperor. That’s the interesting wrinkle with Kong Rong - he’s suited to a /mostly/ non-violent playstyle.
Unique features: Two crossbow units comprise Kong Rong’s uniques, both offering great range and great attack stats against armoured units. He can also create a unique Academy of Culture, buffing growth of population, income and public order, access to a unique Educational Program task which increases income from trade. Loves a trade, that Kong Rong.
Liu Biao—Gentleman of the Han
Frankly, Liu Biao isn’t the most interesting warlord. Like a handful of others, he doesn’t gain access to a unique faction resource. Like a handful of others, he’s a Commander class. And like Kong Rong, he can’t declare himself Emperor. Not the most bristling with individual personality then, but Liu Biao’s academic focus offers a different approach to victory.
Starting position: Starting in the middle of the map, surrounded by major players Sun Jian and Yuan Shu, and weeping as the Han Empire lies dismantled, Liu Biao is another warlord with an uphill struggle from turn one. He also has rebels in his Commandery to deal with, so that’s item one on the agenda. After that, Liu Biao’s best bet for expansion is to head east or west before his neighbours gobble up those territories for themselves.
Hero class and playstyle: Another Commander, Liu Biao is one to keep away from direct combat on the battlefield and instead employ to support melee units. Instead of a faction resource, Liu Biao has additional positions in his court for academics, who in turn provide bonuses to Harmony, knowledge, and abilities. Since he also enjoys a +10 satisfaction bonus and +2 public order, Liu Biao’s in good shape to extract the most from the territory he holds and run an efficient empire. Since he can’t declare himself Emperor though, he’ll have to get his hands dirty at some point and take the Emperor’s capital by force in order to win.
Unique features: His two unique units are both heavy infantry with wooden weapons, who are particularly adept at dealing with cavalry. His Lodging building increases character experience and income from commerce.
Ma Teng—Protector of the West
Based in the northwest, Ma Teng has some hostile neighbours and favours a nomadic playstyle based on keeping large armies outside his settlements - something he’s able to do more easily than most thanks to his faction perks.
Starting position: Beginning right next to Dong Zhuo just before the tyrant’s downfall, Ma Teng starts turn one wrestling for control of the Wudu Commandery with rebels. Shortly afterwards he must decide whether to engage in a war with the splinter factions on his doorstep, or leave them to it and pursue territorial gain in slightly easier territory to the west. The risk in doing that is that one of those splinter factions might become insurmountably powerful if left unchecked.
Hero class and playstyle: Like the two other Vanguard class warlords, Ma Teng’s very effective when fighting enemy troops on the battlefield, but weak to other generals. No matter, though - he’s suited to keeping several large armies at once, and filling them with powerful cavalry units. Instead of a unique faction resource, Ma Teng’s armies forage for food when encamped and he gets a bonus to military resources, meaning it’s easier to keep armies at a high headcount when marching far from friendly territory. Due to his three unique cavalry units and +10% shock cavalry bonus, you should stack those armies with horsemen.
Unique features: Ma Teng’s three unique units - horse archers, shock cavalry and melee cavalry, all enjoy -10% upkeep cost and bring great range and mobility to battle. And since they’re available well before other factions will have access to similar troops, Ma Teng holds a military advantage in the early game that can be exploited to mop up some of Dong Zhuo’s old territories. His Xiliang Supply Lines provide food and military supplies to his armies—but also provide the latter to enemy armies.
Zhang Yan—King Of Black Mountain
If you’re looking for a playthrough full of careful settlement micromanagement, devilish negotiation and lots of trading, Zhang Yan probably isn’t going to do it for you. Perched up on the Black mountains in the very north of the map, he’s all about ambushing opponents.
Starting position: This is as far north as any warlord gets, and as such the Black Mountains aren’t a terrible starting location in terms of imminent threats. Zhang Yan’s expansion options are limited by having nowhere to go further up north, though, so he will need to take on at least one powerful warlord to make progress on the map. Further south is Yuan Shao too, who’ll likely pose a significant problem to him after the first few turns - particularly if he seals a few alliances with your neighbours.
Hero class and playstyle: Along with fellow bandit warlord Zheng Jiang, Zhang Yan is a Champion class and thus excels at taking on enemy generals at the expense of being weak to other units. He’s best defended by the rangy spear and glaive infantry retinues. His big strength is in the ability to ambush enemy armies, attacking them from both sides and thus starting each battle with a big advantage. In lieu of any unique faction resource, this little perk must be fully embraced to make any headway with Zhang Yan, so it’s worth building up a well-balanced army as early as possible and picking off marching enemy units to weaken your neighbours. His armies don’t receive any penalties for fighting or travelling in forests, and he gets +25% post-battle income. Battling, then, is the bread and butter of this warlord’s campaign.
Outside of combat, Zhang Yan has the unique ability to negotiate with the Yellow Turban Rebellion, and can even form an alliance with them, which strengthens his position considerably.
Unique features: Black Mountain Marauders, Outlaws, and Hunters comprise Zhang Yan’s unique units, and these all reduce enemy troop morale by scaring them. Couple this with that ambush ability and you have a formidable military force.
His unique Black Mountain Hideout building offers three different paths, and three sets of perks: either better diplomatic relations with the Yellow Turban Rebellion and an increased spy limit, higher army limit and loot income, or increased public order, administrator slots, and better relations with Han Empire factions.
Zheng Jiang—The Bandit Queen
Zheng Jiang’s campaign is rated as the game’s absolute hardest, so it’s probably not a brilliant idea to select her if you’re embarking on your first campaign or still learning the mechanics. Like Zhang Yan she begins up in the Black Mountains, and she’s all about increasing her unique faction resource, Infamy.
Starting position: This is as tough as it gets. Up in the mountains, and already at war not just with Dong Zhuo and the Han Empire. There’s a glimmer of light in Zheng Jiang’s early dilemma with the possibility of joining forces with fellow bandit Zhang Yan, although particularly bold players can reject that alliance and take over his territory for their own. No territory nearby is particularly easy to come by, but heading east probably offers the easier path.
Hero class and playstyle: Another Champion class, Zheng Jiang can be used to wipe out enemy generals if you micromanage her on the battlefield and keep her away from direct combat with other troops. Again, it’s best to protect her with infantry units who have a decent range.
To prevail with Zheng Jiang you should focus on generating her unique faction resource, Infamy. This will grant you a lot ofof bonuses for prestige, satisfaction or tribute in diplomacy, but it does negatively affects relations with other factions. Don’t sweat that too much though - you’ve probably already pissed off all your neighbours. Infamy’s gained by winning battles and occupying settlements, so it doesn’t pay to be a pacifist with this warlord.
Unique features: Zheng Jiang's unique units are Hidden Axes and the Fists of the Bandit Queen, and can be used very effectively to charge enemy troops. Her Bandit Lair speeds up replenishment, at the expense of income.
No Man's Sky's latest big update has been cooking away since Hello Games released the excellent Next update last year. Beyond introduces sweeping changes to multiplayer and No Man's Sky's social layer, which was essentially non-existent at launch, and VR support.
Instead of releasing it bit by bit, Hello Games has saved up three updates and rolled them into one mega update. We've only been given a brief taste of it, 15 minutes in No Man's Sky VR, but it seems like a perfect match.
"No Man's Sky is such a great fit for VR that suddenly experiencing it in virtual reality felt completely natural to me," Chris Livingston wrote in his hands-on. "The key to tricking your brain in VR, I've found, is for the experience to feel as intuitive and normal as possible. Even though work on No Man's Sky VR isn't yet done, I already felt perfectly at home inside it. Whatever voodoo is required to make a game feel just right in VR, Hello Games seems to have nailed it."
The rest of the update remains a bit of a mystery. Hello Games teased its plans back in March, saying it was working on a "radical new social and multiplayer experience which empowers players everywhere in the universe to meet and play together," but we've not heard much since.
GTA Online's Diamond Casino has proved to be a popular destination. The once disused building opened its doors last week, beckoning players in with the promise of riches and lots of things to spend those riches on, including some new luxury apartments. According to Rockstar, GTA Online's citizens are wild for gambling, resulting in the game's busiest single day and week since launch, six years ago.
Rockstar hasn't revealed player numbers, though it once again shot to the top of Steam's top sellers. SteamDB also shows a spike in player numbers, the largest one since launch, so we can expect a similar trend on consoles.
It's impressive for a game of its advanced years, but GTA Online has been consistently drawing in players since launch and sees regular spikes. It helps that GTA 5 is one of the best-selling games of all time.
While GTA Online's in-game currency is used to purchase chips, netting you one chip for one dollar, Rockstar also sells that in-game currency. While Rockstar is no doubt enjoying the fruits of that right now, it has barred the update from launching in more than 50 countries with stricter gambling laws.
Chris Livingston visited the casino with a bag of money and big dreams, but he left unimpressed. To spice things up, he reckons GTA Online's casino desperately needs Red Dead Online's horses and poker, because right now it's a bit dull. I say it needs to go further. We're talking about a game where you can race cars in giant tubes suspended in the sky, so a regular casino seems a bit conservative.
Part of the fun of RPGs is that they're dress-up games. You can put on clothes, hats, and armor, and change your looks, hair, and makeup. But while dressing up is fun it's often just about looks—usually, putting on a certain outfit doesn't mean NPCs are fooled into thinking you're someone else.
While I was exploring the city of Fallbrook on the planet Monarch in The Outer Worlds, I got to talking with Catherine Malin, proprietor of Malin's House of Hospitality. She's extremely likable but... well, not exactly hospitable. In fact, she's a bit of a crime boss, and after charming my way into her good graces she offered me a dirty job. She asked me to eliminate the owner of a nearby factory, a guy named Clive. She wanted to run the business herself.
She didn't care if I killed Clive or just drove him out of business by sabotaging his factory with falsified financial records or by poisoning his alien pigs, so long as he was gone. Malin made a few suggestions about how I might go about getting inside the factory, though. I could shoot my way in, or try to sneak in through the sewers, or just walk right in the front gate—disguised as a worker. That last one sounded good to me, and I acquired a disguise from a local merchant (though I had to lie to him to get it).
I was surprised to discover the disguise wasn't a factory worker outfit, but an ID cartridge. The description of the item reads:
"The Holographic Shroud developed by Phineas Welles uses the biometric information stored on a corporate identity cartridge to construct a crude holographic disguise. You cannot appear as a specific individual, but will pass as a corporate employee - from a distance."
With the cartridge in my inventory, I headed down the road to Clive's factory. The corporate guard stopped me at the gate, asking for a keycard I didn't have, but a quick lie convinced her it was my first day on the job and she gave me one. With my disguise and an ill-gotten keycard, I was now free to enter and roam around the factory, looking like I belonged there.
For a while, at least. With the disguise in effect, a meter appeared in my HUD, along with three pips (we'll get to those pips in a minute) and the meter drained whenever I was moving, signifying the hologram was getting closer and closer to losing power. And it drains quickly.
If someone spots you when the meter is drained, they'll challenge you with a speech check. As my meter was expiring I was close to a sentry bot, so I ducked through a door, which turned out to be a closet, which was then blocked by the bot (who was in turn blocked by my companions) meaning I was basically stuck. I had no choice but to explain myself as my meter died. Luckily, I was able to persuade the bot with the old robot paradox trick ("Everything I say is false") and it left me alone.
When you pass a speech check, your disguise meter refills to the top. However, you use up one of the three speech pips. In other words, you can be caught and challenged only three times before the disguise runs out completely and you have to take a different approach to infiltration.
If you're spotted with an empty meter and you try to avoid the interrogation—by running away, for example—this will make the nearby NPCs even more suspicious. Eventually they'll give up trying to get close enough to talk and they'll just turn 100% hostile. This happened to me, too, though I was close enough to Clive's elevator to reach his office before I was killed.
What happened to Clive? Well, it's in the video. I'm not sure if he's got a strong head for the factory business, but he certainly has a strong head for point-blank sniper rounds.
I'm a little disappointed the disguises in The Outer Worlds aren't, you know, disguises. There's something satisfying about putting on actual clothing or a set of armor and really fooling people into thinking you're someone else. But this hologram system is fun, and it adds a ticking clock plus the chance to flex your dialogue skills, so I'm still looking forward to being a master of disguise when The Outer Worlds arrives this October.
