Hey Priceless Pals: welcome back to this corner’s celebration of all things spooky, scary, and Halloween. Last week was a kind introduction to the reason for the season: spooky stories to play in the dark. Well, we’re still riding that spooky rather than scary vein, but I’ve got to say: these games are scarier than last week’s.

I am a fan of the creeping, gnawing sort of scary that never really gives you the relief of a big scare. Jump scares are fun and all, but it’s the anticipatory rush that gives it the edge in the first place. I find that horror is much more satisfying when it forces me to sit with something uncomfortable in anticipation of something bearable. Bring on that almost-endless, awkward, off-putting, unresolved tension baby!

So, that being said, here are some games that won’t scare the pants off of you, but they sure might unsettle you.

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Prison Architect will bring an expanded version of its Psych Ward update to PC on November 21st as DLC, following its release on consoles back in distant 2017. Produced by UK studio Double Eleven, who have been working on the game since Paradox bought it from creators Introversion in January, it’s the first proper paid DLC for Prison Architect on PC. What’s more, it’s going to be banged up good and proper with a free content update (whose details are not yet clear), and there’s another expansion on the way in 2020.

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The next expansion for BattleTech will bring new mechs and characters from its tabletop days as well as new weapons, Paradox announced today at their PDXCON fanfest. Heavy Metal is the expansion’s name, and adding more dirty gert lumps of metal is its name. Our boy Nate, who is out at PDXCON in Berlin, tells me one of the new weapons coming in Heavy Metal “Reminded [him] of the tiny ‘Noisy Cricket’ gun in Men In Black.” As well as new ways to murder robots, it’ll have new story reasons to do it, with a new Flashpoint “mini-campaign” featuring ye olde folks from Wolf’s Dragoons.

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A few minutes ago, Crusader Kings 3 was announced at PDXCon in Berlin, with an actual choir of hooded figures>, and this splendidly grim trailer. Predecessor Crusader Kings 2 is still going strong after nearly eight years, with its last expansion launched last November, but now it’s time for that old warhorse to be put to pasture. Or perhaps become pope. Either way, it’s free to play now.

But what’s in store for budding Dukes, Caliphs, and Holy Roman Emperors in CK3? Luckily, I spent the start of the month with Paradox in Stockholm, where even a thematically appropriate run-in with blood poisoning couldn’t stop me soaking up all there was to know about the grand strategy behemoth under construction. I ll be posting some longer pieces getting into the meat of the game in the weeks to come, but for now, here s a summary of what we know so far:

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PDXCON, Paradox Interactive’s convention in Berlin, just kicked off its announcement show with the news that Surviving The Aftermath, the post-apocalyptic colony manager announced last week, s out in early access today. Despite its name, and the fact it’s a survival-based settlement builder, it’s not got much in common with last year’s Surviving Mars, and is being produced by a different team, Finnish studio Iceflake.

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The next Stellaris expansion will be Federations, Paradox announced today, focusing on making the game spacefriends groups more complex and interesting. Federations will come in several flavours, for starters, like a trade league or research cooperative. They’ll also be able to level up to unlock new type-specific perks. Spacepolitics will expand with the option for a galactic senate too. Finally, after three years of focusing on the mystery and wonder side of sci-fi, Stellaris will capture the intrigue of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.

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Ah, what a lonely weekend. Most the gang are away down in that London for EGX, and our Brendan has bid us farewell. Video games. Video games can provide comfort.

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

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Humble’s game subscription service Humble Monthly will soon relaunch with a higher price as Humble Choice. Rather than giving a fixed bag of games (usually 8) for $12/month, each month Humble Choice have a choice of 10 games and let you pick some to keep. You’ll get 3 on the Choice Basic tier for $15/month, or 9 for $20/month on Choice Premium. Humble describe this as an “upgrade” but unless the Choice games are significantly better or more expensive than Monthly’s offerings, it sounds like a price rise disguised as a hot rebrand.

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Of the one billion potential guns in Borderlands 3, few rise above the level of vendor trash. Some of the Legendary gear rises just a bit too high, Gearbox say, so they’ve stomped it down a bit and buffed others to reach “an acceptable medium”. Which seems a bit of a shame. If Borderlands is a wacky game of reckless silly gunmurder, as Gearbox pretend, why not buff everything to the highest level of daftness? Cowards. It’s a cooperative game, not a competitive one, COWARDS.

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Obsidian Entertainment are blasting off to The Outer Worlds, and prematurely zlorped their launch trailer out. The new first-person RPG from the gang behind Fallout: New Vegas and Pillars Of Eternity explores a silly sci-fi world of aliens and moonmen, striking a tone I would crudely say looks to me like ‘New Vegas in space with Borderlands wackiness’. You will tut at me, and probably be correct to, then go “Ah no, I get it” after watching the trailer below.

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