Giant modding project Skyblivion, the one that's recreating all of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion as a Skyrim mod, is beginning to look like a game you can actually play. The team plugging away at this huge overhaul have released another progress video showing that Skyblivion doesn't just look the part, it now plays it too. Quests are being implemented at last and they've proven it by hacking and slashing their way through one.
Back in 2012, Sonic Ether’s Unbelievable Shaders (SEUS) for Minecraft were the best way to give the game a graphics overhaul. Shaders brought a real-world atmosphere to the blocky landscape, with global lighting, glorpy water, and swaying trees. We’ve come a long way since then, but from that first release SEUS has always been the first upgrade I download whenever I return. I did that very recently, and I discovered that all those years of free updates have paid off in a big, big way for the developer. He’s absolutely raking it in on Patreon.
It looks like we'll be waiting a little longer than expected to crawl around as everyone's favourite little cave gremlin, because The Lord Of The Rings: Gollum has been delayed to 2022. When it was first announced back in 2019, developers Daedalic Entertainment had planned on releasing the game later this year. However, the devs have managed to bag a new publishing deal with Nacon, which seems to have pushed back their plans.
After years of searching for Content Island, Sea of Thieves has finally hit land. This Thursday seas* the launch of the game’s “Seasons”, which last three months and have 100 levels for pirates to scale, new events, and more voyages. The free progression system rewards players with cosmetics and gold, and there’s a Plunder Pass for those who want to spend their booty on exclusive doo-dads.
Now that they’ve pulled one last job with Hitman 3, IO Interactive are free to focus on Project 007, the surprise James Bond game they revealed last year. We still don’t know a lot, but IO’s studio director Hakan Abrak hopes that the game could be the first game in a trilogy of Bonds.
Just as I'm about to nod off, a heated argument erupts around the campfire. Not to worry, I think, as I ignore them and close my eyes. Should have worried. The next morning I awake to find one of the arguers rocking back and forth in a stupor, having just cannibalised the other. Okay. Let's, um, march on, shall we? A few days later, an ally morphs into a flesh-eating ghoul. Another slips on a rock and cracks their head, losing the knowledge of vital skills. One fella just leaves. All this, just to acquire an orchid.
The Curious Expedition 2 is, at its heart, a machine for making rip-roaring adventure stories about heroic exploration and/or colonial plundering, depending on how generous you want to be to developers Maschinen-Mensch. It creates some fun narratives, like the one above. But it’s also a roguelike, and it really makes you bleed for them. If I’m honest, I wish it was a little more forgiving.
The recent Hitman games have traditionally come with some pretty good benchmarking tools on PC, but Hitman 3's benchmark tests (yes, tests) are arguably the best yet. The first is pretty standard Hitman fare - a glossy visual showcase that runs through the sweeping, shining interiors of the game's opening Dubai level - but the second Dartmoor benchmark is pure chaos. Everything, and I mean everything>, gets shot to pieces in this benchmark, from its pristine libraries to its marble columns and statues and sparkling chandeliers. It's properly glorious. Painful (think of all those poor books!), but glorious. If you ever wanted a secret taster of what IOI's upcoming Bond game might look like, you should definitely give it a watch.
Apex Legends' eighth season arrives next week, and it's bringing with it a new character, a new weapon, and the biggest changes to its Kings Canyon map yet. If you've seen the Season 8 launch trailer, you'll probably have noticed that new Legend Fuse made quite the explosive entrance to the battle royale, demolishing the side of a mountain where his celebratory gunship went down. Thanks to this, we'll be able to explore parts of Kings Canyon we've never seen next week, because it's opened up a previously unplayable section of the map.
Cyberpunk 2077 is a great game for modding, and players certainly haven't wasted any time adding new features and pretty cosmetics to CD Projekt Red's edgy neon RPG. From a third-person mod, to tweaks that let V have completely chrome skin - they really have been busy. But now CDPR have created an official modding kit for the game, which should make things a little easier for those creative modders.
Biomutant caught our eye three years ago, with ambitious promises of being an open world, post apocalyptic action-RPG with a mutating protagonist who knows kung fu. Now it's got a release date of May 25th, at which point we'll know which of those ambitions survived.