Cantata, the upcoming game from Afterschool Studio, is releasing in early access on the 12th of May. It's a turn-based strategy game set during a surreal and futuristic war, where, shocker, the aim is to kill your opponent. The twist is that while you’re building your base in each encounter, you’ll also need to manage logistics. The maps in Cantata are bigger than most other strategy games, so you’ll have to construct a supply chain alongside your army to keep your base expanding. And it’s all wrapped up in a unique and colourful aesthetic too.

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Well, well, well. Last night CD Projekt said they're working on a new Witcher game. All we've got to go on is a cryptic image of a lynx-like Witcher medallion sitting in a bed of snow. Some of us from the Treehouse ran through what we'd like to see from The Witcher 4, including some truly insightful quotes about leg muscles from myself. One thing I failed to mention, though, was Roach, Geralt's horse.

I'm sure Roach has a great personality, I'm sure he's very kind. But from a purely professional standpoint, I can't stand him. He's hardly smooth in the stirrups, nor can he really climb anything substantial. That's why I'd like Roach swapped out for Elden Ring's Torrent, a horse-goat that corners like Colin McCrae and double jumps like Super Mario. The Witcher 4 deserves a super horse like Torrent.

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In the comments under my interview with the Paradise Killer devs last week, someone suggested posting more of the answers as like a B-side. I thought this was an excellent suggestion, for three reasons: 1) it's a much easier post to write on my part compared to doing the full interview; b) Oli Clarke Smith and Phil Crabtree said a bunch of interesting things that I wasn't able to cram into the article; iii) it might give you a sense of how weird interviews actually are.

This transcript is just two questions and a follow-up, but runs to over 1500 words. The whole conversation I had with these two dudes was over 40 minutes long. So much of interviews gets discarded (like tears in rain etc) and the process of distilling it all down to a few quotes can be, to put it succinctly, a pain in the hole. Especially if your interview subject talks quickly. Top tip to people who don't like interviews: talk slowly. It'll be over faster.

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Starship Troopers - Terran Command, an upcoming RTS based on the film series, has been delayed to June 16th 2022. Well, in the grand scheme of delays, that’s not too bad. The original release date for Starship Troopers - Terran Command was March 31st, just nine days away. Publisher Slitherine Games and developers The Artistocrats announced the news in a Steam post for the game, pinning the reason on “further polish and bug fixing.”

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Last night, CD Projekt announced they were working on a brand-new Witcher game. Details are thin on the ground at the moment. All we have to go on is a cryptic piece of artwork showing what appears to be a lynx-like medallion peeking through some snow, and a declaration that it's going to represent a "new saga" of The Witcher series. Heck, we don't even know if it's technically going to be called The Witcher 4 yet (it probably isn't, in fairness), but for sake of ease that's how I'm going to refer to it for the time being.

Still, talk of a new saga has got me thinking. Does that mean we'll simply see a new protagonist in the existing Witcher timeline we know and love? (Ciri, perhaps, or young hot Vesemir?) Or will it go earlier, maybe tying into the upcoming Netflix prequel The Witcher: Blood Origin that's set 1200 years before the events of the books? Or something else entirely? We probably won't know the answers for some time, but until CD Projekt have more beans to spill, RPS asks: what would you> like to see from a new game in The Witcher series?

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Microsoft recently announced that they’d cracked how to get Game Pass games running on the handheld Steam Deck. Great! It involves installing a beta version of Microsoft Edge (less great!) and, by way of a Game Pass Ultimate subscription, streaming those games to the Deck in a browser. Not running Game Pass games locally, in other words, but running them well enough to be playable, and with seamless compatibility for the Steam Deck’s controls.

After having gone through the lengthy setup process (explained below, if you want to try streaming Game Pass games on the Steam Deck yourself) and playing for a while, I can say it’s a good enough start in bringing Microsoft’s library to Valve’s handheld. Between this and the Epic Games Launcher, it’s a relief that the Deck’s default SteamOS won’t be limited to Steam games after all. Still, a beta is a beta, and there are very much some kinks to work out.

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It's incredible to me that the last Lego Star Wars game came out in 2016. This was Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens, based on the first game in the new trilogy. For whatever reason, the other two films never got their own games - I just assumed that was because nobody liked the films that much. The truth is, developers TT Games have been working on them all along, albeit as part of Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, a mega-game including all nine mainline films in the franchise.

It's been in development for a while, and has been delayed several times, allegedly resulting in extensive crunch. It's finally coming out on April 5th, but having played about an hour of Episode IV, this is not the Lego Star Wars-ing I remember. The plots are the same, of course, but much of its mindless minifig bashing has now been swapped for... over-the-shoulder third-person shooting? I feel a great disturbance in the Force.

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Sundays are for slopping vinegar over fish and chips. Before you pour, let's read this week's best writing about games (and game related things).

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I loved Long Live The Queen and Black Closet, two games with heavily branching and systemic narratives and a lot of juicy melodrama, mystery and romance. Now developers Hanako Games have released something new. Night Cascades is a lesbian romance about two women investigating a supernatural mystery in an alternate 1980s, and it looks great.

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Here we go: spring starts on Sunday. At long chuffing last! Not to be a downer, but winter has DRAGGED during the pandemic. Usual winter activities crowding into hot rooms with steam rising off people's soaking wool jumpers, the smell of wet dog in the air, and just so much closeness and breath has been as appealing. But now, spring! Soon, maybe even warmth? For now, what are you playing this weekend? Here's what we're clicking on.

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