SteamWorld Dig 2 is a Metroidvania that sees you play as a little Steambot searching for their friend Rusty, who’s gone missing. As suspected, he’s buried somewhere underground, so it’s up to you to get digging and figure out where on earth (in> earth, ha) he’s gone.
In total, 48 million players have used a controller for a game on Steam at some point. Valve have shared that and other big numbers in their breakdown on some new Steamworks tools that help developers see the type and prevalence of controller use for their games. For us routine controller users, that could mean developers investing time in better controller support on PC. Or just reassurance that no, we are aren't the only ones dedicated to our gamepads.
Minecraft Dungeons is digging deeper once again. The Diablo-y spinoff for Mojang's craft 'em up has just launched another DLC and free update. All players will now be able to take on the endgame Ancient Hunts while the Flames Of The Nether DLC will take you deeper into hell to face some bigger baddies.
I suspect we all saw this coming when it was reported earlier this month that Electronic Arts would be deciding the fate of BioWare's sci-fi romp Anthem. BioWare have announced today that they will no longer be working on their overhaul called Anthem Next and will instead be focusing their attention on the next Mass Effect and Dragon Age 4.
Deck-based turn-based spy-based tactical game Fights In Tight Spaces has gone and kicked down the door to early access. I've had my eye on this one for a while now and it sure does look as slick as ever, stylish spy suit and all. The strategic secret agent game has just launched in early access, though you can also still try the demo version before you spring for it.
What's the best thing in video games? Go on, name it. You don't know, do you? Oh sure you might have an opinion on the best game or RPG or FPS or whatever, but what's the very best feature of video games? Reader dear, together we can answer that question. Starting today, join me as I pit feature against feature in wholly logical comparisons until we're left with one perfect thing. Even if I do suspect we'll eventually decide that the answer is orbs.
Let's start with an simple one. What's better: cloud saves, or seeing your own legs in first-person games?
Early this year, CD Projekt Red laid out their plans for releasing bug fixes and patches to Cyberpunk 2077 after its notably buggy launch in December. They've released one major update and some hotfixes so far, but there's been a new wrench in the system. Thanks in part to the recent cyber attack they were hit with, the next big patch is getting pushed back to late March, CDPR have announced today.
I sometimes catch myself starting to call Spiderweb Software's RPGs 'retro', but they're not - Jeff Vogel has just kept on doing his thing across the decades. Especially when Spiderweb keep remaking and remastering old games. Today brings the launch of Geneforge 1 - Mutagen, an expanded remaster of 2001's first game in the five-part fantasy series. I'd hardly say it looks modern but it's definitely newer.
Jagex have released Old School RuneScape on Steam, with cross-platform progression and an event to celebrate the game's eighth anniversary. Seeing all this news about it has absolutely blasted me with nostalgia. The free-to-play fantasy MMORPG is an old version of RuneScape from 2007 that was re-released as Old School RuneScape in 2013. It's been available to download and play online for ages, but I don't think I've thought about it since I was a wee babe in school. Lumbridge! The Grand Exchange! Not knowing what to do and just fighting goblins in a forest! Oh no, I think I'm about to download it on Steam.
Diablo was never supposed to be in real-time. As it was originally conceived by Condor, later known as Blizzard North, Diablo was intended to be a turn-based RPG that borrowed heavily from the tradition of roguelikes. It was Blizzard, flush with the success of WarCraft II: The Tides of Darkness, that suggested Condor make it into a real-time point-and-click dungeon crawler.
"We fought that transition for a long time," Condor founder Max Schaefer told GameSpot in a 2002 retrospective. “The amount of time we argued about it was totally ridiculous, considering it only took us about three hours to mock the game up in real time.”