Planet Zoo is a deeply warm-hearted game. While it’s set up to give you as much freedom as possible in every aspect of your zoo’s design, it still steers you firmly towards being good to the animals which live there. Unlike Frontier’s other animal husbandry game, Jurassic World Evolution, where everyone knows the management layer is just a way of killing time until the inevitable monster deathmatches, Planet Zoo does absolutely nothing to signpost “nightmare animal supermax” as a valid playstyle. Personally, I think that’s a good decision.

But as I already mentioned, it puts a genuinely phenomenal range of construction tools at your disposal: if you can think of a habitat concept, the chances are you can build it. And inevitably, when a game gives me that much freedom to do my own thing, it’s only a matter of time before I move things into deeply unsettling territory. This week, I had Planet Zoo’s new Southeast Asia DLC pack to play with, featuring eight new beasts and a huge bundle of new construction assets. I made a new zoo, in sandbox mode. And while it was pleasant enough for the animals which lived in it, I did everything I could to inflict profound psychic damage on the visiting public. Come take a tour with me.

Read more

A lovely thing about sifting through heaps of text at your own pace is you get to luxuriate on the details and flourishes that catch your personal fancy. A drawback is that sometimes such fixation comes at the expense of pertinent detail. For example, in my previous runs of Disco Elysium, I think I may have gotten distracted by talk of tightrope walkers and hand grenades, and completely glossed over a line telling me that the game takes place in spring.

That's no longer an issue thanks to Disco Elysium: The Final Cut, a free update that adds voice acting to the game's dialogue.

Read more

After announcing retro-styled shoot 'em up Sol Cresta as an April Fool's joke last year, Bayonetta devs PlatinumGames have used this April Fool's Day to... announce retro-styled shoot 'em up Sol Cresta? Supposedly for really reals this time? A collaboration with Hamster Corporation, it's inspired by 80s shmups Moon Cresta and Terra Cresta, and supposedly launching this year. For real. Maybe. April Fool's Day is bad.

Read more

While I am definitely a Sonic apologist, I acknowledge that the little blue fella’s output has been less than stellar in the last 20 years. For every highlight, like a Sonic Mania, there’s been countless lowlights, like Sonic 4, Sonic Forces, and Guns For Some Reason Sonic. Funnily enough, over the last decade, the literally quick on his feet hedgehog has been at his most consistent when behind the wheel of a car.

Read more

What a grand day it is when past me gives present me the gift of having put us on the mailing list for a swell little indie game. As past me knows, I do really enjoy a cute but tricky puzzler, which is just what Wildfire Swap looks to be. Only you can stop these wildfires by swapping tiles on the board to contain them without letting houses catch fire. This puzzler is out now, so you can go scratch your head over these grim but cute conundrums yourself.

Read more

Futuristic delivery driver adventure Cloudpunk is dropping off what it calls a "sequel-sized DLC" that's apparently longer than the original game. In addition to continuing Cloudpunk's story with Rania the driver, the City Of Ghosts DLC also adds new areas, vehicle customisation, and street races. There's no expected delivery date just yet, but Ion Lands say it'll be avaialable on PC "soon".

Read more

Imposter simulator Among Us has just pressed the big launch button on its new airship map. The new playground for sneaky assassinations has its own new chores to complete and shortcuts to memorize. Along with the new map, the big update also brings the account system Innersloth have been working on which allows reporting other users for their bad behavior. Worse behavior than crew murder, that is. They've given a rundown on both today with the map's launch.

Read more

As it does, No Man's Sky has expanded its universe with a biggo new update. This time, it's beefed up with a brand new game mode called Expeditions. A bit like a seasonal event, Expeditions give players a bunch of time-limited goals and set them off along the same path together. They seem like they'll channel the energy of some massive community scavenger hunt, everyone knocking around close to one another as they zip from goal to goal, which actually sounds like good fun. The first Expedition has just kicked off and is set to run for two months.

Read more

Perhaps we'll come to see these years as a golden age of destruction. Between the roguelikelike witchery of Noita and the heists of Teardown, it's a great time for games where simulated materials and physics come together for destruction that's so much more than decorative. Now, after leaving early access in October, Noita has released its final major update, and it's another big'un with more ways to destroy and be destroyed.

Read more

During CD Projekt Red's company strategy video yesterday, the studio covered all sorts of ways in which they feel they got things wrong during Cyberpunk 2077's development. Not just development, but Cyberpunk's marketing too. In the future, they say they'll wait until much closer to a game's launch to start firing up trailers and demos and in depth looks at gameplay. That means if there's another big Witcher game out there on the horizon, we may not hear about it for quite a while yet. Honestly? Good.

Read more