Open world ecological simulation Pine drops you in the shoes* of a human who lives among intelligent animals, and asks you to carve out your own niche. You ll have to figure out how to navigate the world, craft what you need, and generally survive. And also not get stepped on by a bipedal mammoth. Take a look at the launch trailer below.
*He’s actually barefoot, which is surely a recipe for splinters and stubbed toes.
As well as calling for government regulation of loot boxes under gambling law, Parliament’s Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Committee report on “immersive and addictive technologies” had interesting things to say around other “psychosocial harms” of video games. Steering clear of terms like “gaming addiction,” they presented a surprisingly nuanced view of how certain games can consume people at certain times of their lives for various reasons, and how poorly understood this is. Published this week, the report recommends that the government order research – and that the games industry should help pay for it.
Screenshot Saturday! A day for seeing what s going on with some games that are currently in development, and appreciating them for just what they are right now as well as what they might eventually be. This week: a happy little demon pal, a little combat improvement, and one very fluffy sheep.
This, Too, Has Passed is a melancholy thing. You wander slowly around a world, watching crunchy snow expand in a gentle creep beneath your feet, and occasionally get interrupted with portends of doom. It’s a meditation on the climate crisis and collapse and savouring small things. It s also a B-Side remix to a game that you almost certainly can t play.
If you’ve not been following PC games goings-on across the week, catch up on some of the big stories quick in our noncomprehensive Weekly News Digest. Do also read The Updates Update for some of the week’s notable patches and updates.
One might be forgiven for thinking that Overcooked 2 is already a Carnival Of Chaos, but it s becoming even more so with its latest DLC. As ever, there s new levels and recipes to tackle, and new chefs to do so with. But there’s also a new mechanic: huge great cannons to blast yourself out of. You know, for when your pal is on the other side of the kitchen doing something daft and you have to intervene faster than you can run over there.
In all the hubbub of the week, you might’ve missed some of the patches and updates rolled out to games. Presenting the Weekly Updates Update, a noncomprehensive roundup of new maps and characters and balance tweaks and fixes and such which caught my eye over the week.
Driving games are by their nature chaotic, but that s something of an understatement for Need 4e+9 Speed. Not only are you and up to three pals building the track underneath you as you go, casting colourful ribbons all about the place, there s two very important dedicated buttons: Glitch and Horn.
The chatrooms of lo fi hip hop YouTube radio channels are often very sweet spaces. People mingle, letting each other know what they re up to as they listen to the ambient sounds: work, studying, relaxing. Everyone doing their own thing, but united by some chillhop beats and the virtual space of the chat window.
It makes sense, then, that Kind Words draws attention to the fact that it uses that kind of music in its soundtrack via its subtitle, (lo fi chill beats to write to). It’s a game about sharing uplifting letters with real strangers. You hang out in a hazy, cosy looking bedroom, scribbling away in response to others worries, or ask for responses to your own nagging thoughts. Also there s a friendly postdeer.
Chat app Discord is shuttering its Nitro Games catalogue next month. Subscribers will no longer be able to access a library of games as part of the service, which included titles like Battle Chef Brigade, Tyranny, and the first couple of Bioshocks. Apparently, the vast majority of subscribers never played the games, so Discord have decided to discontinue the approach. Makes sense, though I m assuming that those shunning Battle Chef Brigade had already played it elsewhere, because that game rules.