Supercars are boring. That one on Forza Horizon 5’s front cover? Don’t care how fast it goes, mate. Oh, goes from 1 to 60 in 2.7 seconds does it? Yeah, well, that's how long it takes to prepare this knuckle sandwich. No, but seriously, they’re all the same to me: just wedges of carbon fibre with wheels. I’m sure the engineering is marvelous and the innovation groundbreaking. But let’s be honest, in videogames they’re virtually all the same.

My Forza Horizon 5 fantasy doesn’t involve Lamborghinis or Ferraris. In fact, it’s the complete opposite of opulence. Mexico’s roads are for me and my mundane companions. The Volvo Estate, the Ford Focus, the Honda Civic. The everyday vehicles that make up for their lack of speed with heaps of character. I just wish there were more to choose from.

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Robots in space. A classic, isn’t it? Add in some flowers, music and puzzles, and you get Growbot - a 2D point and click puzzler where you play as Nara, a novice growbot on a journey to save her world. The space station where Nara is completing her training is attacked by Crissy, the very first growbot who disappeared years ago and has now returned to wreak crystal-themed havok.

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Despite my interest in pirates, piracy is probably the least interesting thing about Sea Of Thieves. It's not just its excellent ocean that I want to enjoy without pointless random murder. It's the sailing. The thrill of moving around and operating this vehicle, hearing it creak as you turn a wheel, and whoosh as you catch the wind.

Sailwind is all about that. You sail a boat. Nobody will attack you. There are no monsters to fight, or guilds to appease. It's just you, the sea, and the skills that will take your boat across it well enough that you don't starve on the way.

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Are the tiny computer people who write all the information down on the hard disks inside your PC old and tired? Yeah, mine too. Well, I have good news! The superb Samsung 870 Qvo 2TB SSD is the cheapest it’s ever been here in the UK. RPS Supreme Overlord Katharine checked it out way back in 2020 (wait, that’s only last year) and proclaimed it “a bit good.”*

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If you haven’t heard, we're in the middle of an indiepocalypse. It’s probably not the kind you’re thinking of; it doesn’t spell doom for the independent games scene. This one is a monthly compilation of games all in one conveniently packaged digital zine, from a variety of diverse creators. That> Indiepocalypse.

Indiepocalypse is composed of 10 games every month, one of which has been commissioned by Editor in Chief Andrew Baillie personally. Started in February 2020, the zine has already managed to rack up 22 issues, as well as one bonus issue. You never know what you’re going to get from one issue to the next, each one platforming small games that likely wouldn’t succeed elsewhere. There’s no exclusivity clause either, meaning developers are free to do what they want with their games outside of the zine. Most importantly, every developer included is paid. Baillie spoke to me about how and why Indiepocalypse started.

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There’s something about Call Of Duty: Vanguard and its multiplayer modes that feels thin. Much like my time with the game’s campaign, I’m left wanting. This is a World War II veneer glossed over a Modern Warfare canvas, with familiar pacing and shooting, but ultimately lacking the weight of Infinity Ward’s reboot.

As a Call Of Duty multiplayer experience, Vanguard delivers. But what it delivers is a stop-gap. An FPS experience that isn’t concerned with pushing the series forwards, or taking risks. Fans will have fun, sure, but its deathmatches and dominations are stuck in the past. Not to mention Zombies, which is too eager to turn back the clock.

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New World, Amazon Games' opening move into game dev, was not always an MMORPG. It used to be a survival horror game. According to Katy Kaszynski, senior producer at Amazon Games, the team got really far down that road. "They created it. That was before my time, but that game was almost done," Kaszynski tells me, just after delivering a presentation on New World's development at this year's Develop Conference in Brighton. "They really thought it was going to go alpha, launch, and they were going to ship that out."

A survival horror is pretty different from the jaunty, vaguely piratical, magical fantasy RPG that New World is today: lush forests, sunny grassy plains, and factions engaged in an endless war for territory. So what happened? According to Kaszynski, it's all down to Amazon's first 'Leadership Principle': Customer Obsession.

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Paradox Interactive say they're happy with progress on Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2, but they're still refusing to say who's making it. The topic came up again during the Swedish publisher's Q3 interim report, in response to the question, "Any news on Bloodlines 2 or its developer?"

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The Game Awards, Geoff Keighley's yearly excuse to invite friends round, has announced this year's nominees. The contenders for the Game Of The Year award include Deathloop, It Takes Two, Psychonauts 2 and Resident Evil Village. Deathloop leads the nominations with nine.

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A report by the Wall Street Journal has brought to light several new examples of alleged misconduct by Activision staff, including rape and sexual harassment. The report also highlights several instances where Activision CEO Bobby Kotick was reportedly aware of the allegations but did not inform the company's board of directors and, in one instance, intervened to prevent an alleged harasser from being fired.

In response to the report, employee group A Better ABK have called for Kotick to be replaced as CEO and are organising a staff walkout.

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