I can’t keep up, readers. A constant hoseworth of new games is one thing, but between mega bundles and a dozen streaming events, this month has become an avalanche of games. The Steam Game Festival has flung heaps of promising games in our direction. Frankly, far too many of them look good. My brain cannot parse this kind of volume.

So. Let’s stick with the action games, yeah? Yes, it’s a nebulous category. Yes, I’ve cheated and put in at least one that you could argue technically doesn’t belong. But do you really have time to worry about that, when you could be playing more of these demos instead? Exactly.

(more…)

I feel like I missed out on a lot of the old Star Wars space battle games because, well, most of them are older than me. But with Star Wars: Squadrons on the way, it seems I’ll finally get a chance to have a go at one of those dedicated Star Wars flight sims. It all sounds pretty good, too – on top of the flashy trailer we saw at EA Play last night, the game’s director has given fans some proper details on what it’s all inspired by, how combat works, and the importance of managing your ship’s power.

(more…)

“I want that sweat-dripping, shin-splitting, hair-raising… FOOTBALL”. So says the terrifying hivemind in this Fifa 21 and Madden NFL 21 combo-trailer, which you really must watch even if you have no interest in either game.

Fifa 21 is coming out for PC (and current gen consoles) on October 9th. I will not play it, because I am scared.

(more…)

You know what takes a lot of managing? All the demos in the Steam Game Festival: Summer Edition. There are blimmin’ 900 of them. And coincidentally, I have gone through and collected some of the best demos on that theme.

Rockets, monsters, pirates, wine and fish: what do all these things have in common? You’re in charge of their efficiency, that’s what. If someone wants to speak to their manager, that’s you, that is. Because these are management games, and they’re all about making things efficient. They range from the educational to the absurd, the clean-cut to the deeply weird, but they all managed to bathe my brain in the lovely feelgood chemicals that only come from making things work just right>. Or at the very least, the abrupt mirth that comes from things going horribly wrong. Let’s evaluate their performance:

(more…)

Since the Steam Game Festival: Summer Edition has so many demos in it, we’ve all run off to harvest our own little crop to recommend, picking different genres as our guiding principle.

As ever, though, the concept of “genre” has tripped me up like a rake in the dark, and left me flailing to define what connects the six games below. I guess, if there’s a unifying concept, it’s plopping buildings down. Although whether you do that from the top or the side, and whether you use those buildings to create resources, to make little fightoes to attack other buildings with, or to do a bit of both, varies from game to game. Altogether, if you like to wolf down big plates of base-building, with optional side orders of logistics and violence, there’s going to be something in this pack of treasures for you.

(more…)

Look, we thought there were only going to be a few dozen demos in the Steam Game Festival: Summer Edition, and then they only did about a thousand of them. This seems unfair. No one can play all of those in a weekend! So we’ve taken the divide and conquer approach at RPS.

In order to bring you, our valued readers, the best possible bang for your buck (but like, the eye bucks of spending time reading) we each bravely traversed the wilds of the Steam Game Fest to bring you our favourite demos broken down by genre.

(more…)

Readers, I have put on my waders and made my way into the deep mill pool of the Steam Game Festival: Summer edition free demos. There are a lot, so I confined myself to RPGs. This isn’t an exhaustive list, of course, even though I got overexcited and did far too many, but it’s hopefully going to give you a place to start.

If you saw RPGs and thought “Christ, she’s done a list of all elves and wizards and that” then you’re wrong>. There’s only, like, two elves, and the rest is an array of witches, sentient animals, magic paintbrushes and surreal dreamscapes. Wares to suit every purse (especially because these demos are all free for the weekend, right?). If you can’t be bothered to read the lovely words I spent ages writing for you, hit the jump to the bottom of page 2 and you can see the full list.

(more…)

The Oxford English Dictionary defines “strategy” as “any game that centres puzzle-solving or cerebral thought”. I’ve taken that surprisingly liberal definition, ran off to the Steam Summer Games Festival, and come back with an armful of videogames that vaguely fall under that umbrella. Some of them are definitely skirting the edges and getting their feet wet, but you should play them anyway.

Below you’ll find a digital board game, a cute puzzler, surreal turn-based tactics, cowboy-based tactics, and… Genesis Noir. I’m really quite excited about Genesis Noir.

(more…)

Profits from sales of Minecraft and Minecraft Dungeons on digital stores today will be donated to several racial justice causes, in celebration of Juneteenth. The annual event on June 19th marks the day in 1865 that a Union army general formally announced to Texas that all Texan slaves were now free, and has grown to be celebrated countrywide. Mojang have also switched one of the groups they’re donating to, from the initially-announced Black Lives Matter Foundation to the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation. That’s… a whole story in itself, an expensive case of mistaken identity.

(more…)

Roman’s having a day-off today courtesy of annexe regular, phuzz. (more…)