Look, do you like Fire Emblem? If so, do you believe the series peaked with the release of Thracia 776, twenty years ago? Well, if that’s you, then great. You’re gonna adore Vestaria Saga I: War of the Scions. On the other hand, if you’ve never played a tactical RPG of this broad type (think Disgaea or Banner Saga) before, it might be wiser to back away. This is a game for, and by, hardcore Fire Emblem fans, made by series creator Shouzo Kaga and a small team of dedicated followers.

What if you’re somewhere in the middle? Well. More general tactics game enthusiasts will find plenty to love here – but they’ll have to be prepared to get accustomed to some typical Fire Emblem idiosyncrasies which Vestaria never bothers to explain.

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Australia is still burning, but over the last couple of days they’ve actually had some rain! While this is a big help to certain areas, there are still 83 fires blazing around the country, and there’s a lot of people and wildlife still in trouble. It’s good job then that there are even more game devs, companies, and communities banding together to help out our friends down under.

A new Humble Bundle, a donation from the makers of Warframe, and a charity initiative run by Eve Online players are just three more ways the games industry is raising money, and you can get involved to show your support too.

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Over the break we had a chance to do some serious scientific study of this business we call games, and it turns out that games are actually good. 2020 in particular has a healthy mix of big budget bonanzas and smaller indie plates to suit everyone’s discerning tastes. And, as you know, the RPS treehouse is the most discerning, so to make it easier for you we’ve got a big ol’ list of the games we’re most looking forwards to this year. It’s traditional.

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At the end of last year, I put together our official RPS Rig, which included everything you needed to build a gaming PC for less than 1000, including your monitor, mouse and keyboard and all the extra peripherals that go with a modern PC. However, many of you asked what that rig would look like if it was just the PC that cost 1000 (you know, minus the monitor and all that jazz) and, well, it would probably look something like UK system builder Wired2Fire’s Predator build.

It’s a bit more expensive, with the base build on test here coming in at 1280 at time of writing, but that extra cash gets you a Ryzen 7 3700X CPU, 16GB of RAM, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Super graphics card, plus liquid cooling. With a spec like that, Wired2Fire’s Predator PC is primed and ready for top notch 1440p gaming and has buckets of processing power for whatever you want to throw at it. Here’s wot I think.

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The 127-cell honeycomb below is a fancy form of wordsearch in which every cell is used, and words can curl and zigzag but never overlap. Each hive foxer has a theme (some previous ones: sheep, mazes, earthquakes, and The 39 Steps). Identifying this theme is a vital part of the defoxing process. Today s puzzle is made up of 17 answers. (more…)

In a desperate bid to stave off bankruptcy, troubled British airline Flybe has taken to leasing spare aircraft to anyone with a chequebook and a gold braid encrusted pilot’s hat. Possessing the requisite accoutrements, Flare Path Sky Tours yesterday took temporary possession of an elderly Twin Otter called Tarka. The plan is to use said mustelid in conjunction with browser-based flight sim GeoFS to conduct a whistle-stop circumnavigation of the largest island in England. Anyone interested in participating in this potentially edifying jaunt should make for Solent Airport sharpish. (more…)

Following last night’s announcement that Cyberpunk 2077 is delayed from April into September, CD Projekt gave a wee update on when we should expect its mysterious multiplayer aspect: probably not until 2022, at earliest. They’d never said when to expect the project (which is officially codenamed Cyberpunk Multiplayer) but we do now know when not to expect it. The Witcher devs also expanded on why it is they’ve chosen to delay their new open-world RPG’s launch, saying it really just has a lot to polish because it’s so complex.

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The Apex Legends Grand Soir e has arrived, and it’s all a tad familiar. Yes, the trailer pleasingly revealed Pathfinder’s true nature as a Teletubby. But planned events for the two weeks include ‘fighting at night’ and ‘fighting with shotguns and sniper rifles’. This is a perfectly acceptable use of people’s time, but it’s also a missed opportunity for Respawn to peel back the masks behind each legend and see what makes them tick.

Here is my alternative lineup of pleasant and wholesome activities.

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In the land of Skyrim, it turns out, you’re never more than a hundred feet from a vampire. The Elder Scrolls Online has planned a series of updates dubbed “The Dark Heart Of Skyrim”, where you’ll spend the rest of the year rooting out the bastards from the land of the Nords. That starts with the Harrowstorm dungeon DLC at some point in February, to be followed by the chunkier Greymoor expansion on May 18th. One daddy vampire is a particular problem, and Greymoor is all about romping through ice, snow, and underground caverns to stop him. Unlike how these numpties completely fail to in this trailer.

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Koch Media have announced the very first DLC for Shenmue 3, Battle Rally, will be released on Tuesday 21st January. By the looks of things it’s inviting players to take part in a race (on foot I think?), and you’ll even be able to play as different characters for the first time. Sorry Ryo.

“Battle Rally offers fresh gaming activities in a race unlike any other, as contestants engage in head-to-head battles whilst racing their way through the course,” they tweeted.

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