doesn’t need to explain why its schoolyards, warehouses and backlots are devoid of human life. It’s a skateboarding game, who cares? Nevertheless, a little bit of worldbuilding has landed Tony’s kickflip adventure squarely in reality, revealing that at least one of the game’s school stages has been closed for Covid-19.
We’ve got some new passengers aboard the Monster Train, folks, so let’s clear some seats and make some room. The Friends & Foes update arrives today, bringing a party of new heroes aboard the one-way trip to hell – alongside two new baddies, a more chilled-out final boss, and some shiny new artifacts to pick up along the way. Choo-choo, deckbuilders.
Packed your bags? Shined your fangs? Good stuff – you wouldn’t want to be late for A Monster’s Expedition now, would you? Alan “Draknek” Hazelden (of A Good Snowman Is Hard To Build and Cosmic Express fame) and friends are taking us to a monstrously delightful puzzle archipelago next Tuesday, navigating a peculiar museum of old humanity by way of log-pushing puzzle-solving.
. Almost, at least. The Dutch indie duo may have gone their separate ways, but they’ll stick it out to release one last game, frenetic puzzle-shmup Ultrabugs. But it’s their second-to-last game that may be most interesting, however, with an unfinished build of roguelite tower-defense FFFLOOD finding its way onto Itch earlier this week.
343 are finally getting weird with Halo: The Master Chief Collection, and that’s great. But they were never going to hold a candle against the game’s modders, who’ve lately decided what Halo 3 really needs is to turn everyone into a rat. That’s exactly the premise behind Rat Slayer, an upcoming mod that – daft as it is – never dared to consider whether John Halo isn’t already just two-dozen rodents wearing a man-shaped suit of power armour.
Now there’s a thought to keep you up at night.
Tigers and elephants join the battlefields of Total War: Three Kingdoms today in its first expansion, The Furious Wild. It expands the Three Kingdoms map into the jungles of Southern China and adds four playable Nanman factions, with dozens of new units including the aforementioned beasts. The expansion costs cash but a free update launching alongside has brought plenty of newness for all players, including new playable character Shie Xie, a rework of the campaign map, and new battles to control gates in key passes.
This week the podcast moves out of Nate’s dad wheelhouse and into Matthew’s film wheelhouse. It’s a bumper and bumpy ride this week, as we discuss video game adaptations of them there Hollywood talkies! This does end up involving quite a lot of Star Wars chat, because there are so many Star Wars games. Tangents this week include Nate going on about Gimli a lot, the terrible Mothers’ Day present Matthew nearly got for his mum, and what film series LEGO should tackle next (spoilers: it is the work of Lars von Trier)
With Intel’s Gamer Days promotion slashing prices across all manner of gaming hardware over the past few days, there are now more gaming laptop deals for under £1000 / $1000 than ever before. To help you find the best ones from around the web, I’ve sifted through as many as I can find to pick out the laptops I think represent the best value for money. While most will struggle to play games on max settings, there are still a couple of RTX 2060 laptops to be found in this price range, as well as plenty with high refresh rate displays. So read on for all of this week’s best budget gaming laptop deals happening in the UK and US.
Thursday’s rolled in once again, which means it’s time for another giveaway on the Epic Games Store. This week, turn-based stomper Into The Breach is dropping in for free. It’s had its moment in the spotlight before – as one of the platform’s 12 free days of December 2019 – but those time-traveling mech rascals are trying their luck with another timeline, delivering some stellar tactics puzzles for free ’til Thursday 10th.
One of the biggest discounts that’s come out of Intel’s Gamer Days promotion is up to £300 / $400 on Razer’s Blade 15 laptop. There have been loads of different models on sale over the past couple of days across a wide variety of UK and US retailers, so I thought I’d gather together all the very best deals from across the web into one handy location. All of them come with a free copy of Marvel’s Avengers, and if you’re in the UK, there are lots of great Razer bundles around, too, which get you a Blade 15 laptop, plus a Razer headset and mouse and mouse mat all in one package.
