Hack and slash 'em up The Slormancer is a new Diablo-y action RPG that's just battled its way into early access. It's got oodles of loot, dungeons to crawl, and plenty of stats to stare at while you ponder how best to defeat the evil warlock from the past. It's now launched in early access so you can get in on the action now while the developers spend time buffing up their own build for a couple years.
Thanks to the endless work of prolific modders, is there anything you can't do in Skyrim? Not anymore, no. You can have Half-Life's gravity gloves. You can create new voice lines. Now, at last, you can also pet the dog. Even the Dragonborn's best friend deserves a few good pats on the head between biting skeevers and fighting vampires.
Last time, you decided that wall running is better than breaking the fourth wall. So we've settled what should be done with walls, then. Something to build on, or at least within. Next comes a question of purpose or identity. What's better: fruits, or NPCs saying your custom names?
As if making games weren't labor-intensive enough, upcoming adventure game Harold Halibut is made with characters and sets built by hand. Harold's retro-future space adventure is full of metal and textiles and little clay folks with intricate faces. A new story trailer for the adventure game gives a proper long look at all the lovely handcrafting and dives into the story of humanity's escape to space during the Cold War.
Gearbox Software have become the latest company to be snapped up by the monolithic Embracer Group, joining a lineup which includes THQ Nordic, Deep Silver, and Coffee Stain. The Group announced their intent to purchase the Borderlands and Duke Nukem Forever gang in February, and yesterday said the acquisition is now complete. Gearbox say their plans include making new-new games as well as revisiting older worlds in some way.
Capcom, bless their hearts, really like the idea of Resident Evil multiplayer. They keep making multiplayer spin-off games and putting multiplayer modes into singleplayer games, even if few players are as enthusiastic about them as Capcom. The upcoming Resident Evil Village will have a multiplayer mode too, Resident Evil Re:Verse, and that will start an open beta test overnight - which you can preload now. Re:Verse is a third-person shooter with six-player deathmatch starring RE heroes who can transform into RE monsters because why not?
15 years feels like both a long time and none at all, considering how much was crammed into them. In the 15 years since I first played Mount & Blade, there's little that hasn't changed in games, and yet it still has very few direct competitors other than its own sequels.
It also feels like 15 years since Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord entered Early Access in late March 2020. At that time, it felt far too leaky to write conclusively about. Even after some urgent patching, I had too many reservations to give it more than a "wait and see" recommendation. But how's it looking now?
Last month, Crusader Kings 3's 1.3 patch broke mods that allowed players to have same-sex concubine relationships in the medieval strategy game. Paradox Interactive told us they didn't intend to break mod functionality, however, and now they say there's a new patch in the works that should fix them. They plan on making same-sex marriages moddable for the first time in CK3 as well.
Recently Call Of Duty: Warzone had been plagued by two guns: the FFAR and the AUG. If you wielded both of these hunks of metal, you'd be able to delete enemies at all ranges. Nothing came close. In an attempt to fix the game's stale meta, Raven Software have hit them both with nerfs. But the question remains, is it enough?
Ever since I was small, I've had a thing about maps. I love a good map, me, and at school I was one of those freaky kids who actually liked studying geography. Not only do I love looking at maps and trying to memorise the locations of places I've never heard of, but I'm consistently fascinated by the way contour lines on ordnance survey maps can turn a flat image of the world around you into a three dimensional one. When I get to spend time poring over video game maps as well, it's a little slice of heaven.
By this measure, I should absolutely adore indie puzzler Carto, which is all about rearranging squares on your map to forge new paths and discover lost lands so you can make your way back to your gran. It's a lovely chill game that's very relaxing and gentle to play, but I have big beef with it, too.