Rock, Paper, Shotgun - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (Alice Bell)

A screenshot of Eivor the big blonde Viking from Assassin's Creed Valhalla

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla

starts in Norway, spends most of its time in 9th century England, and even has some optional detours to the present day or mythical Asgard if you fancy it. But the latest entry in Ubisoft’s used-to-be-annual franchise about stabbing your way through history just kept making me think of Texas, for two reasons. The first, and most obvious, is Texas as in “everything’s bigger in”. Valhalla just feels like it has more> of everything.

The map is huge, with each area having its own mini-saga of warring locals and power struggles to complete to get them on side. There’s a whole menu of evil Templar agents to hunt down, a la Assassin’s Creed Origins and Odyssey. There are themed gear sets to collect and upgrade. There are side missions a-plenty, ranging from stealing clothes from nudists, to tripping on mushrooms, to collecting Roman artefacts. And stealthy assassinations are back, too. Valhalla is daunting and messy, but it’s also a pick ‘n’ mix of all the best bits from the series. With cool Viking haircuts thrown in.

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Alba: A Wildlife Adventure - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (Natalie Clayton)

Screenshot Saturday Sundays! This past week might’ve been the longest one of our lives, but it looks like we’ve made it out the other side largely unscathed – so let’s all take a moment to cool off and relax with some screenshots, shall we? This week: Bopping birds, Source mod demakes, a crime-fighting frog and AI-generated broken dreamworlds.

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Mass Effect (2007) - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (Alice O'Connor)

Concept art for the new Mass Effect showing four silhouetted characters on an alien planet.

Three years after Mass Effect: Andromeda failed to ignite a new sci-fi RPG saga, developers BioWare today announced they are working on “the next chapter of the Mass Effect universe.” Huh! Sure, everyone expected them to announce remasters of the original trilogy today (because chat about them has been leaking for months) but this was a surprise bonus. BioWare give no hints about the new Mass Effect’s plot, setting, or anything, simply saying they’re in the “early stages” of development. While I imagine it’s yonks away, I’m quite excited.

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Mass Effect (2007) - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (Natalie Clayton)

Talk about the worst-kept secret in the galaxy. After months of rumbling and speculation, BioWare today announced the Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, bringing all three (quiet, Andromeda) Mass Effect games into one remastered collection next year. While not full remakes, the Legendary collection spruces up Commander Shephard’s ageing space saga with better visuals, smoother performance, and all the extra DLC packed into the Normandy’s cargo bays.

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Rock, Paper, Shotgun - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (Natalie Clayton)

Console exclusivity, man, it’s a nightmare to keep track of. With Call Of Duty: Black Ops – Cold War‘s release just around the corner, the latest Activision shoot-man game has come under fire for more PlayStation-exclusive gubbins. Going beyond just a time-limited new gamemode, the latest outcry concerns a host of boons that seem to ensure folks playing on PS4 and PS5 will have an edge on Cold War’s cross-platform battlefields.

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Umurangi Generation - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (Natalie Clayton)

I didn’t think Umurangi Generation could find a way to be more entirely my jam>. And yet, with a heaping serving of skates, spraypaint and giant killer robots, today’s Macro DLC has managed just that. But alongside a new set of maps, lenses, and a toolset that closes the gap with Jet Set Radio even further, this week’s drop is also brazenly radical in capturing our current political hellscape on 35mm film.

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Amnesia: Rebirth - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (Natalie Clayton)

So, you’ve grit your teeth, bit your nails, and mustered up the courage to see Amnesia: Rebirth through to completion. Now what? The scares shouldn’t just end with the rolling of the credits, right? This week, Frictional updated the game with a patch that lets you play custom, player-created stories, along with all the tools you’d need to make a bespoke first-person spooker yourself.

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Rock, Paper, Shotgun - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (Natalie Clayton)

New character customisation options in WoW: Shadowlands.

Just when you think you’re out, World Of Warcraft finds a way to drag you back in. Briefly, at least. Ahead of the release of World Of Warcraft: Shadowlands later this month, Blizzard are re-activating all your lapsed accounts for the weekend, in the hopes that a brief return to boar-slaying will tempt you back to the behemoth MMORPG.

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Rock, Paper, Shotgun - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (Alice O'Connor)

Fiddling crabs in an illustration from 'When Life is Young: a collection of verse for boys and girls'.

Have you said hullo to our newest members of staff yet? They’re right over there. And right in here! Welcome Ed, Jake, and James to the feature we affectionally call WAWAPWAPWPAAWW.

What are you playing this weekend? Here’s what we’re clicking on!

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Rock, Paper, Shotgun - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (Lauren Morton)

Hold up, don’t go racing off into the weekend just yet. The developers of Dirt 5, which just released yesterday, say they’ve received a possible buyout offer from Take-Two Interactive who own the creators of other sporty games 2K and Rockstar Games as well. Take-Two say they believe it would be a “highly complementary fit”. Ah, romance.

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