Poor Bing Maps. Microsoft Flight Simulator‘s usage of the mapping services data is so bloody awe-inspiring that any errors or gaps in the data stand out like giant, monolithic thumbs. It is missing some major landmarks, where the autogen tech has swapped out famous stadia and shiny palaces with bizarre, brutalist replacements. And the slightly humiliating solution the community has come up with is to use Google Maps to fill in the gaps.

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As we all know at this point, I am a big fan of the ants in Obsidian’s new early access survival game Grounded. But the ants aren’t the only thing I ask about when I interview Obsidian’s Adam Brennecke, the game’s lead designer.

In Grounded you play as a child, or group of children working together, who has been mysteriously shrunk down so that a normal suburban garden becomes a huge jungle. It’s a great idea, but I’m curious where Grounded came from conceptually. Did they set out to make a survival game that eventually became about being tiny and encountering giant ants and spiders, or was there a particular idea or concept that came before that? It turns out it’s the former.

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Last night, we got a first look at some gameplay for Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, showing off loads of the exciting bits from all nine episodes of the Star Wars films that we’ll get to play through. Riding banthas, cool lightsaber fights, and rides in a bricky Millennium Falcon are but a few of the things we can expect when the game launches in spring 2021. Check out the new trailer from Gamescom Opening Night Live below.

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Of all the self-indulgent fancies which games companies blow marketing budgets on, my favourite is League Of Legends putting out K-pop from a virtual girl group of real singers pretending to be League wizards. K/DA is their name, and last night they released a new single to herald a new EP. Yes, a whole EP of songs from people kinda pretending to be video game characters. The thing is: K/DA’s first song, Pop/Stars was pretty great. See what you make of the latest, The Baddest.

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The majority of us try to get through life without any unnecessary conflict. It’s a hassle that most can do without. That’s why I love games that allow for some tomfoolery. All the fun of being a bit mean, without any of the consequence. Although, I should say that I’m not talking about choosing the renegade option in Mass Effect; I’m talking about some wholesome rascality, like snatching a sock from the clothesline of an old lady or swiping spectacles from a child.

Untitled Goose Game embraces the art of mischief, without any malevolence. While you’re encouraged to be a sleepy English village’s number one nuisance, you’re not an evil goose. You’re a goose who just likes a bit of a laugh. A member of the gaggle that likes a giggle.

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As a nice little Gamescom surprise, Bloober Team today announced that Observer: System Redux will also be coming to PC. The original Observer from 2017 was a lovely little cyberpunk horror game starring Rutger “crying in the shower” Hauer, and the upcoming System Redux is an expanded and prettied-up version – but was only announced for next-gen consoles. Well, Bloober today not only confirmed a PC release, they released a demo so we can see for ourselves. System Redux won’t be a free upgrade, but it does have a discount if you’re quick.

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Following a brief and vague announcement last year, publishers Nacon today revealed that Blood Bowl 3 is coming in 2021 with more violent fantasy American football. Cyanide Studio’s latest adaptation of the Games Workshop tabletop warsportsgame is building on the latest version, with the new teams and rules of the Second Season Edition. Today’s new trailer doesn’t have any of the game in action, but it does show some downright unsporting equipment like lawnmowers and tentacles.

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The horribly squidgy world of tiny tots and giant cannibals will call us back for Little Nightmares 2 on the 11th of February, 2021, Bandai Namco announced today. The first game was wonderfully unpleasant and yup, the puzzle-platforming horror sequel looks it too. We’ll be playing as a new wee kid this time, with our old littl’un tagging along to help us with yet more oversized terrors. Here, meet some of them in the new trailer below.

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It seems a developer has managed to leverage two bits of my Ancient Egypt-related childhood nostalgia in one go today. Triskell Interactive and publisher Dotemu used an animated trailer that reminds me of famous Val Kilmer musical Prince Of Egypt to announced a 2021 remake of absolute stone cold classic citybuilder Pharaoh. Well played.

Pharaoh: A New Era was revealed as part of Gamescom this year, in the wake of the Gamescom Opening Night Live show (and we have rounded up every trailer from that for you already). The trailer is almost entirely just nice scenes of life in Ancient Egypt that bare no relation to the game, but we did get, conservatively, about five seconds of the game in action, which is enough to get me very excited.

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Fuzzy freelance coppers-for-hire Sam & Max are back from their ten-year hiatus. They’re getting a new game, see – and for this case, you’ll need a big plastic headset strapped to your noggin. Announced during tonight’s Gamescom festivities, Sam & Max: This Time It’s Virtual will let you join the duo as a nameless third wheel sometime next year.

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