Remember Hellish Quart? It’s that physics-based swordfighty dueling game influenced by Bushido Blade, and made by a former animator and motion capture actor for The Witcher 3. Jakub Kisiel is his name, and 17th century fencing is his game. It comes out in early access on December 7th, so keep that date in mind If you fancy challenging your pals to some one on one battles with all manner of ye olde blades.
The war between cheaters and anti-cheat technology might be endless, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have fun with it. I’m delighted to learn about the work of “ScriptKid”, a fella who releases fake cheats that actually sabotage games for would-be cheaters. Wrong’uns go to Google looking for free cheats, find the fake cheat site he’s set up, download and run his fake cheats, then… find they’re forced to jump off buildings to their death in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, or their movement keys screw up, or their gun stops working, or worse. He uploads videos of would-be cheaters getting pranked, and it’s quite cathartic to watch.
The [cms-block] went on sale at 2pm BST today, and by all accounts it sold out pretty much instantly. Unsurprisingly, scalpers have already taken to eBay to try and get as much money as they possibly can for Nvidia’s hot new graphics card – and some mad souls are currently bidding on an RTX 3080 Founders Edition for a whopping $80,600.
Hot god encyclopaedia by way of hack ‘n’ slash roguelike Hades was basically already game of the year when it released into early access in 2018. Its core components were all in place. You fight through a constantly randomised hell filled with monsters and bosses as Zagreus, sarcastic and perpetually titty-out son of Hades. Along the way, you can pick up abilities bestowed by gods from across the Greek pantheon. And it’s all set to an obviously perfect Darren Korb soundtrack.
What does Fortnite need ray-tracing for, anyway? Epic’s blockbuster murderfest isn’t exactly gunning for hard realism, after all. Regardless, RTX ray tracing brings high-fidelity reflections, shadows and ambient occlusion to Fortnite today, alongside support for DLSS 2.0 to run those high-res rays at an agreeable frame rate. Fine, you’ve got me – I’ll admit it does look quite nice after all.
Amazons arrive in A Total War Saga: Troy next week with its first DLC, which will be given away free for keepsies for the first fortnight. Penthesilea and Hippolyta will join the fight against the Achaeans, bringing all-female armies and new focuses. Penthesilea wants to run around with a giant army, while Hippolyta is out to shore up influence by controlling sacred regions and treasures. Meet ’em in the new trailer below.
Spelunky 2 will test your skill and patience, equipping you with nothing more than a whip, a few ropes, and a couple bombs. You’ll have the opportunity to pick up much more though, and some items are more useful than others.
Here’s all the items in Spelunky 2 and where to find them.
For a brief, beautiful moment last night, Sony were good to PC gaming. Their PlayStation 5 Showcase focused on their new console, sure, but they did let the Final Fantasy XVI announcement confirm a PC release, and they did reveal the Demon’s Souls remaster is coming to PC too. For a company cagey about even acknowledging the existence of other platforms, this was delightful. Then Square Enix and Sony both said ‘lol whoops typo, didn’t mean to say that lmao’ and walked back the PC announcements. Which was disappointing.
I have only reached the void while drunk. I had been too conscious before then. I didn’t yet understand.
Post Void, I had thought, was about being fast. I was probably too old to ever be good at it. That never mattered even when I thought it was true, but it isn’t. Post Void is about letting the game take you.
Its hypnotic rhythms, its lurid colours, its cacophony of violence and strangled, somehow endlessly escalating guitars. There is a space in your mind between reflex and conscious decision, between panic and triumph. That is where Post Void is set, I think. It’s certainly where it takes me.
If not for The Bundle, this game would have been the best deal of the year. You should play it.
If you fancy rocking out to a little bit of Quake, the game’s original soundtrack by Nine Inch Nails is available to buy on vinyl now. It’s the hot record for 2020, featuring aptly named tracks like “Life”, “Damnation” and “Aftermath”. Oh and “Quake Theme”, I guess.
When the listing for the record went up yesterday, a cheeky note said that it was supposed to come with essays from former Id Software devs John Carmack and American McGee. Alas, an “unnamed video game publisher made it impossible to include this in the package”. I wonder who it could be?