Admittedly, I wouldn’t mind getting lost in Röki‘s mysterious forests. Making an appearance during today’s Guerrilla Collective steam, Polygon Treehouse’s chilled fantasy has found its way out of the gamedev forest, emerging from the treeling with a new trailer and a release date that’ll bring the folklore adventure to Steam and GOG in a little over a month.
I would not describe System Shock as easy-going, laid-back, or a game for elevator music. Yet here comes a new trailer out of notE3 suggesting that being pursued by the hordes of a sexy murderous AI might be quite calming. Presumably for players who get well into being called “insect”. I see you.
The halls of the mountain king never looked quite so clean. As part of the Guerrilla Collective’s big not-E3 Showcase, Dwarf Fortress co-creator Tarn Adams ran us through the early stages Dwarf Fortress’ prettied-up new paid edition – casually commentating over the genesis of an entire fantasy world before closing on a merry band of dwarves striking their first picks against a colourful new mountain home.
Oh iPhone users, you’re in for an absolute treat. Slay The Spire has done one of those sneaky surprise launches, making the excellent deck-building roguelike available to download and play on iOS right now. Created by Mega Crit, the game challenges you to battle your way up the Spire – a tower filled with all kinds of monsters that you can defeat using your carefully crafted deck of cards. It really is great, and incredibly addictive.
It may be the middle of June, but Sea Of Thieves is preparing to get unseasonably spooky. Next week’s update for the high-seas pirate sandbox is Haunted Shores, a ghastly update that’ll set the Flying Dutchman’s spectral fleets loose upon the open ocean. Horrifying stuff, perhaps – but with eight new sea shanties, at least you can face the terrors of the depths with a song in your heart.
Of all the sports put on hold during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, motorsports have gotten off rather lightly. Between existing “sim-racing” scenes and the relative ease of plugging a steering wheel into a PC, even a calendar event like Le Mans 24 can find new life over the internet. The 24-hour endurance race kicked off in rFactor 2 this afternoon, giving esports drivers a shot at knocking their real-world contemporaries down a peg on the gruelling digital tarmac
Every weekend, mysterious tentacle-faced merchant Xur pops up in a corner of Destiny 2 selling a selection of Exotic gear. For the past eight months, his stock has been a bit rubbish. He’s sold fixed armour rolls with bad stats, see, which are useful if you don’t have the item at all but worse than any random drop. Good news: Xur has started selling armour with new, better rolls, making him again worth visiting even if you have it all.
If you exist in almost any corner of the internet which serves the intersection of video games and social justice, you’ve likely seen the Bundle For Racial Justice and Equality from the good folks over at itch.io. The bundle has been, by all accounts, an overwhelming success. I got to watch the donation amount tick over the million-dollar mark, then the two million-dollar mark, and now, the five million-dollar mark. I think this bundle might be the greatest bundle in the history of bundles, even if you’re only going off the sheer number of games you get for your money. Here I will recommend some of my favourites.
“But Kat,” you are saying. “Your column is about free games and in order to claim the bundle I’d have to pay real human money?” Great point, straw-friend. This is where, for the first time in my life, mathematics comes into play. $5USD for 1,639 games and counting! Why, that means that each game averages out to costing $.003USD. In this instance, to me, and only this once, that counts as priceless. I stand by it. Or, perhaps, you just don’t know where to start with the games available in the bundle and a short list of recommendations would help. Here is a small collection of the bestest best (almost) free games available in the Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality.
Hello to you all on this, the first (second?) weekend of notE3. Mate, to hell with it, I’m calling it E3 – see our E3 2020 tag for all our news and thoughts so far from this week/fortnight/month/season. In particular, consult our E3 stream schedule for all the marketing events going on this weekend. So many shows.
What are you playing this weekend? Here’s what we’re clicking on!
Ahead of its early access launch next week, a new vid for Hardspace: Shipbreaker details the delicate process of cutting up an industrial transport ship for salvage without accidentally blowing it up. Coming from Homeworld 3 and Deserts Of Kharak developers Blackbird Interactive, Shipbreaker is a first-person sim about the fine art of space salvage. Buy old ships, crack ’em open, strip them for parts, and try not to trash your haul. It looks pleasingly methodical.