I'm elated I've finished action-RPG NieR Replicant Ver.1.22474487139, but also a bit miserable. I'm not sure how else to sum up this upgraded predecessor to NieR Automata, other than to say that it was utterly brilliant, and yet I never want to touch it ever again.
Razer have released a new version of their ultraportable Orochi gaming mouse today, giving this dinky, mobile-focused mouse a fresh new look, a faster, more responsive sensor and not one, but two different wireless modes that both give you hundreds of hours of battery life. Dubbed the Orochi V2, this thing is properly tiny. Weighing just 65g with its bundled AA battery (60g without) and measuring a mere 10.8cm in length - a good centimetre shorter than your typical gaming mouse - even my tiny girl hands are enough to dwarf this symmetrical, but still very much right-handed gaming mouse, and I can only imagine how titchy it's going to feel for people with normal-sized man hands. Still, if you're after an ultralight gaming mouse that can really go the distance, the Orochi V2 is well worth considering.
When Black Mesa launched in early access in 2015, the Valve-sanctioned fan remake of Half-Life was missing the final chapters set in the alien plane of Xen. Because this part of Half-Life was disliked by many (pssh I like it), the devs wanted to rework it rather than just remake it - a process which ended up taking another five years. Now they've released a playable 'Xen Museum' showing what they were up to all that time, with loads of different versions of Xen's maps from across the course of development. What a delightful idea!
Destroying stuff in video games is a real joy, especially if there's some decent physics-based crumble to be had. Instruments Of Destruction aims to channel this energy into an early access release later this year. It's a game about designing vehicles that live to smash into buildings, and is the work of former Red Faction: Guerrilla lead tech designer, Luke Schneider.
Wallrunning! Survey says: folks are pretty big fans of zooming sideways along buildings. Games that have weird and different ways of letting a player traverse are always the most fun, and it was a shame when CD Projekt Red revealed they'd cut the wall-running out of Cyberpunk 2077 during its development. But, what developers taketh away, modders giveth back - someone has made a basic wall-running mod so that we might do some sick cyberpunk parkour after all.
Here's a great idea for a game: eight seamen set out on an Arctic expedition, but they need to keep stopping their ship to scavenge for fuel and supplies, and also two of the seamen are unholy traitors out to sabotage the crew. That's the idea behind Dread Hunger, a first-person mix of survival and hidden role games which launched into early access last week. It looks pretty neat! And The Terror made the concept seem such fun.
Yes, I know it is now half a year past the prime month for spooky games but ghost sleuthing sim Phasmophobia has not let that stop its continual updates. So I will not let it stop me from talking about them either. As of a beta branch update last weekend, Phasmo's ghosts are, once again, much harder, better, faster, and stronger than before. Yes, all four. I will prove it to you to justify my tortured, dated reference.
Apocalyptic RPG Wasteland 3 is headed on down to Steeltown this summer for its first story expansion, but before that it's getting a very important update. Upcoming patch 1.4.0 will introduce a kennel to keep all your furry, fanged, and flying party members in. Hopefully they all get along. Oh, and you aren't limited to one of a type of creature either. Tame every single cat in Colorado if you dare.
Upcoming PvPvE shooter Scavengers is just about ready to head out into the storm. The battle royaler has your squad of three dropping into a frozen wasteland where you'll try to escape on a drop ship without being killed by 57 other players, the cold, or a ton of different enemies. It sounds like this competitive survival game leans pretty well into its PvE side, which I personally welcome. It's launching into early access free-to-play this Wednesday, April 28th.
Resident Evil Village is creeping up early next month but you don't need to wait for it to spook you. Village's final demo will let you split time between the werewolf-infested village itself and the scary lady-infested castle up above so you can get acquainted with both. The demo is coming up this weekend and Capcom have announced that they're extending it. The 60-minute demo will now be available for a week, running past Village's May 7th launch date.