My guess is that when you were a kid, right, you were one of two types. You either used your action figures to play out imaginative (if potentially weird) stories, or you picked one of them up and went “I bet I can make Lion-O’s legs go in the splits so far that they fall off”, before proceeding to test your hypothesis.

Players of The Sims can broadly be divided into these two categories as well. And as far back as the first in the series, the latter set have been pushing the game to its tensile limits by introducing play challenges. In these, you create a Sim, or a family of Sims, and then play their lives out according to a set of very prescriptive and often torturous rules. Now, in the age of The Sims 4, these challenges have been refined. Sub-rules have been added. Players try to complete even the most difficult ones in a 24-hour span. It is compelling. And also frightening. Let me introduce you to some of my favourites.

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I have written several times about the tiny Norse boys of Bad North. This mini strategy game sees you marshalling different squads of troops to defend a procedurally generated island from viking invaders.

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Next up in the hack and slashin’ RPG series, Torchlight 3 previously had a change of heart after starting life as an online game called Torchlight Frontiers. Echtra Games have now announced that the currently-running closed beta will wrap this Friday. Now that they’re back in familiar territory, Echtra are planning some livestreamed announcements on the same day to talk about when the game will be “publicly available,” which might be anything from a public beta to an early access launch.

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From those folks at Frogwares wot love doing Sherlock Holmes adventures, comes the next sleuth ’em up based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s gentleman detective. Sherlock Holmes Chapter One is a prequel story to the developers’ other games, this time telling a story of Holmes’ early years standing in for Gerard Way on My Chemical Romance tours. No, not really, but they say that Chapter One will feature a “cavalier young Sherlock” before his reputation preceded him. It’s due out sometime in 2021.

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After a brief moment of uncertainty during its first reveal, I had a pretty good feeling that Minecraft Dungeons would be some nice and breezy block-clad fun. Until I’d seen it though, turning Minecraft into Diablo’s little brother was not an obvious experiment—at least not to me. What other game series should get a spinoff into some totally unlikely other genre?

Minecraft Dungeons isn’t out until tomorrow, but RPS reviews man Nate has already called it some good, simple fun in his Minecraft Dungeons review.

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I’ve been having a bit of a rough time in my quest to become good at Age Of Empires 2: Definitive Edition. After my first ranked win, I had a streak of confidence-fuelled victories, and started to feel like maybe I was the Big Man. But oh, no. I was not. The wins took me out of the world of newcomers, into the wide band of the leaderboard frequented by people who actually know how to play, and I got beaten into the ground with a bastard sword. As ever, my weakness was timidity about being aggressive early. I’d try to “fast castle”, focusing on rapid early economic growth so as to get to the game’s third tech tier, only to have a squad of gits march into my base eleven minutes into the game, because my enemy had thrown everything into a feudal age military rush. But now, it seems, my luck has turned.

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Guinness World Records seems to have gotten a bit copyright cuckoo this weekend thanks in part to YouTube’s automated Content ID system. A bunch of Super Mario Bros speedrunning videos were sent copyright claim notices based on a record holder’s speedrun that Guinness uploaded to their own channel. They say the spree of claims was unintentional and should now be fixed. Whoops.

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It was with raised eyebrows that I met the news of 2K’s plans to re-release all three Mafia games. With the second and third already out, but neither game worth playing at all, it is the first that creates intrigue. This long-loved, but very long-in-the-tooth 2002 mob-me-do, seems like such a fascinating prospect to see given an overhaul. But might eighteen years since its release mean maybe it’s already too late? I’ve been back to the original to see.

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Animal Crossing: New Horizons has become a phenomenon. If you’re not playing it, you’re probably still seeing it everywhere you turn – on Twitter, on Twitch, on the lips of your friends discussing turnip prices. It’s likely enough to inspire FOMO, the fear of missing out.

There are a couple of Animal Crossing adjacent games available on PC. Stardew Valley is one which comes instantly to mind, and other games like Stardew Valley. If you want to truly capture the spirit of Animal Crossing, however, there’s a surprising contender: Red Dead Redemption 2.

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The god game genre hasn’t had many breakout hits, and it’s hard to argue From Dust is one of ’em. But despite a load of hoo-ha about DRM when this first released on PC, back in 2011, it’s probably the most meditative god games I’ve ever played. You’re not omnipotent, you see. You don’t actually have a lot of powers. You can move sand around like nobody’s business, though.

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