Like many, Theme Hospital was a mainstay of my middle childhood. Bullfrog's appreciably wacky approach to a hospital management sim has ensured that, to this day, management sims are one of the only strategy-adjacent sort of strategy games that I really enjoy. And a few years ago, a new stuidio emerged to take up that odd torch, providing us with Two Point Hospital.
Alas, BioWare aren't attending EA play this month, which means no major look at Dragon Age 4 is in the cards. Instead, they've shown off more concept art for another of the series' familiar organisations. It's the stealthy and stylish Antivan Crows this time around—the assassin faction that we've yet to see all that much of in previous games. It's a tiny scrap of information, but hey, I think the Crows are cool as heck and I'm pretty psyched that they could be getting some time at center stage.
In this summer's episode of speedrunners doing the darndest things, I've been gifted yet another absolutely ridiculous feat of level skipping. Wiggling their way out of bounds isn't a new trick for speedrunners by any means, but what's waiting beyond the walls in stealth romp Styx: Shards Of Darkness was not at all what I expected. As part of Summer Games Done Quick earlier today, speedrunner "Tohelot" shows off how he's able to skip through sections of the game by activating secret logic flowcharts that can be found physically hanging around beneath the level.
Razer's bundles are a great way to get PC peripherals at a discounted price, and today a great one with a wireless mouse, wireless headset and case has appeared at Sam's Club in the US. The cost is $49.91, which is great considering the Basilisk X Hyperspeed mouse costs $45 and the Hammerhead True Wireless earbuds cost $55.
Note that if you order this online, you'll need to pay $8 shipping if you're not a Sam's Club Plus member, but you'll still end up well ahead compared to buying these three items separately!
The MSI Optix G273QF gaming monitor has been discounted today to £222.50, which is £26 cheaper than we've ever seen it before - and way below its similarly specced rivals. This 27-in 1440p 165Hz model is actually part of the same breed of Fast IPS gaming monitors like the LG 27GL850 and Dell S2721DGF, both of which are popular choices for the category and retail for north of £300, so this kind of price is really unprecedented!
It's officially official, "Oculus Rift is no longer available" says the Oculus website. After signaling the Rift's retirement last year, Oculus have now ended sales for the headset on their website. New Oculus users will now be looking at the cheaper, more versatile Quest 2 headset. Corpo parent Facebook does require an account to use the Quest 2, but RPS still reckons it's the best low-cost VR headset you can grab right now and a worthy successor to what used to be one of the the best VR headsets.
Another E3 has come and gone without Rockstar Games talking about Grand Theft Auto VI, but that sure hasn't stopped everyone else from chatting about it. Rockstar still haven't actually announced their next crime 'em up in any official capacity, but most folks are operating under the assumption that they must be working on it. They must be, right? There've been all sorts of GTA 6 rumors over the years, though new reports have now cropped up suggesting an eventual 2024 or 2025 launch date for the assumed GTA 6 and a modern Vice City setting. Here's what's being said and who's saying it, in the absence of Rockstar announcing anything themselves.
Extraterrestrial colony sim RimWorld sure does have a spot on several "best of genre" lists [best management games, and best building games, and more] here in RPS territory and—would you look at that—the best only get better. RimWorld has announced its upcoming Ideology expansion which will let you create colonies of "tree-worshipping cannibals who carve skulls into every piece of furniture, or blind tunnelers who shun the light, or transhumanists obsessed with perfecting the human form using exotic technology". Ludeon Studios say they're looking to launch the expansion, and the major 1.3 free update alongside it in "about 2 weeks". Just enough time to plan exactly what kind of oddball ideological mashup you want to saddle your next colony with.
As predicted, this weekend I have mostly been playing Fossil Corner, a game in which you are a retired paleontologist who was going to go on a cruise and then decided they just love fossils too much. So now they have gone back to quietly unpacking and categorising them in their garage.
You get a box of shells (and later, when you get well good, trilobites, those little whiskery arthropods that look like woodlice) and organise them by generation, observing one change per step in the family tree. A pattern might change in one direction, for example, or a shape might flip in another. Maybe a triolobite gets a different number of segements, or some cool little horns. It's very satisfying. And after each box you solve, you get to keep a fossil!
Sundays are for going to the dump to shift all my junk. Before you sling bin bags over your shoulder, let's read this week's best writing about games.