New features, new monsters and, of course, a brand new island are what await you in Temtem today, as the Kisiwa Island update has arrived. Crema’s early access Pokémon-like MMO has introduced a whole new area to explore, with 23 new Tems for you to add to your collection. There’s a bunch of other good stuff in this update, too, including a new chat and club feature, as well as an increased level cap for all you seasoned Temtem tamers.

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It shouldn’t cost money to beat up strangers. At least, so reckons Fantasy Strike, a stripped back fighting game from the folks at Sirlin Games, ditched its pricetag in an update earlier today. All modes and all characters – including two new lads Quinn and Onimaru – are now free to beat up without spending a penny, with a suite of cosmetics and a premium subscription now available for those who’d like to chip in for a little more.

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If you’d told me before today that it’s possible to make an upbeat and friendly 3D platformer based on the works of Franz Kafka without undermining the nature of either, I would have found it hard to believe. And yet here we are.

I’ll confess that it’s been a long while since I’ve read The Metamorphosis, and I never had particularly strong feelings about it (save for borrowing a friend’s: “Why apples? If I was after a giant beetle I’d throw… flaming hot knives”). But it’s clear that Ovid Works love Kafka’s books, and their upcoming Metamorphosis is both a solid game and a creative remix of his ideas.

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Ubisoft’s problems seem pretty deep-seated and long-running, what with the dozens of allegations of sexual abuse and discrimination, prolific executives resigning, and the CEO vowing to make “profound” changes “at all levels of the organisation”. From the outside, it sure looks like a cascade of institutional problems which often ignore or punish victims while perpetrators suffer few consequences. This view is further fed by a new Bloomberg report which talked to a number of current and former employees. It also claims that plans for female protagonists in some Ubisoft games were pushed out or reduced by this environment.

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Rock Of Ages 3: Make & Break

has smashed through Steam’s castle gates – presumably squashing the little papercraft Gabe that resides within, killing him instantly. As per the name, Ace Team’s latest boulder-pusher lets you construct your very own delightful fantasy hillsides, each doomed to be crushed by your apocalyptic orb of choice. It’s been a perilous month-long tumble through open beta, but finally, Rock Of Ages 3 is ready to get rolling.

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I really haven’t given Caves Of Qud a fair chance. It’s a bizarre roguelike, an open-world exploration RPG, and a sort of sandboxy world simulation. A big reason I haven’t given it the time it deserves is because there’s so much to it that I fear I’d never come out again.

Fortunately, on Saturday its developers Freehold Games released its “biggest update ever”, the Tomb Of The Eaters. It’s a good opportunity to demonstrate how huge, detailed, and wonderfully strange it is.

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I’ve had the luxury of a few days to sit with my thoughts on Necrobarista before having to tell you wot I think, and wot I think is this: the game tricked me in the best possible way. Of course it’s a game about death, it’s set in a café that predominantly serves the recently deceased. Many of its characters are wrestling with their own mortality, some after already having kicked the bucket. But it soaks the player in such warmth and charm and humour that it managed to entirely bypassed my anxiety on the topic without shying away from addressing it properly.

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Attention all [cms-block] hunters, the excellent WD Blue SN550 is going cheap over on Amazon again, and you can currently grab a 250GB stick for as little as $44 right now – a very agreeable saving of $11. Plus, if you’re quick, you can get a similar saving on the top 1TB model, which is currently down to $106.

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As next-gen consoles and their super fast SSDs inch ever closer, it’s never been more important to have one of today’s best SSDs for gaming sitting inside your PC. SSDs are much faster at opening and saving files on your PC than traditional hard disks, which means quicker loading times for games, and less time spent waiting around for things to happen. Windows also loads in a flash on an SSD, and they generally make your PC feel much snappier and more responsive.

SSD prices keep on falling, too, making it a great time to upgrade your PC with one of our best SSD for gaming picks. Regardless of whether you just need some space for that all-important game download or you’re about to build a new PC from scratch, here are the best SSDs for gaming you can buy today.

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If you see the name “Menelaus” and find yourself scratching your head over how to pronounce it, then have no fear: play any more than eight seconds of A Total War Saga: Troy, and you will never forget. That’s because the extremely bellowy king of Sparta can’t seem to take a breath without hollering his own name on the exhalation. He’s like an incredibly angry Pokémon. In fairness, though, he’s very cross, because noted Trojan sex enthusiast Paris has run away to the other side of the Med with his wife Helen, and the whole incident has made him look a right boafus. Cue the Trojan War.

Just as my first go at Troy saw me play a battle built on the feud between bronze age miseryboys Achilles and Hector, this second demo, which allowed me four hours to guzzle down as much campaign play as I could, focused on the even more cataclysmic beef between Menelaus and Paris. I got to play a good chunk of game with each of them, but Menelaus got the lion’s share of time. And while my inner roleplayer wanted to really get into the sandals of this insecure, shouting Greek fight aficionado, it transpired that the real joy to be had was in playing him as a sort of cheeky, opportunistic rock salesman. (more…)