Last year (wahey), you narrowly decided that giving items to other players is better than throwing grenades back. I feel glad for your family and friends, who doubtless received wonderful gifts for Christmas rather than regifted junk. You're a little sweetie. Well, 55% of you are little sweeties. The rest... best not to dwell. Let's open this new year with a question of beginnings. What's better: a fresh new MMO server, or Viscera Cleanup Detail's Sniffer tool?

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Last year (wahey), you narrowly decided that giving items to other players is better than throwing grenades back. I feel glad for your family and friends, who doubtless received wonderful gifts for Christmas rather than regifted junk. You're a little sweetie. Well, 55% of you are little sweeties. The rest... best not to dwell. Let's open this new year with a question of beginnings. What's better: a fresh new MMO server, or Viscera Cleanup Detail's Sniffer tool?

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Den Of Wolves developers 10 Chambers have Thoughts about open betas, and whether they are genuinely designed to test for technical difficulties or are simply there to boost pre-orders. That's in addition to a grab bag of new details about the forthcoming meatpunk shooter's missions and possible map fixtures such as in-game augmented reality devices.

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In 2024, I am learning to do cryptic crosswords. Last year I complained about Puzzmo's crossword clues being very US-centric and Excors commented that US and UK puzzles seem very different, both in their form and in the fact that UK crosswords are often crytpic. Which is true! Often if you see a "quick crossword" in a UK paper that means "crossword with clues that are general knowledge questions and not an archaic set of riddles - you know, for if you're waiting for the kettle to boil, or are an idiot". So I decided to look into how you actually do cryptics. It's way harder than I thought, but at the same time I did not realise it's just smug puns.

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In 2024, I am learning to do cryptic crosswords. Last year I complained about Puzzmo's crossword clues being very US-centric and Excors commented that US and UK puzzles seem very different, both in their form and in the fact that UK crosswords are often crytpic. Which is true! Often if you see a "quick crossword" in a UK paper that means "crossword with clues that are general knowledge questions and not an archaic set of riddles - you know, for if you're waiting for the kettle to boil, or are an idiot". So I decided to look into how you actually do cryptics. It's way harder than I thought, but at the same time I did not realise it's just smug puns.

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I greet news of the completion of a Unity remaster for The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall with equal parts excitement and horror. Excitement because I have never played Daggerfall and it is one of the weirder, more fantastical Elder Scrolls RPGs - the one with multiple endings which sequels have explained away as somehow all> being canon thanks to a metaphysical event called a Dragon Break, whereby timelines branch and reconnect. And horror because I have never played Daggerfall, which is said to be 620,000 square miles in size, and I'm getting to that point in life where I seriously ask myself whether I can finish certain games before I perish.

Still the journey is more important than reaching the destination, right? Perhaps I can treat it like an occasional walking sim.

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I'm a sucker for games where swords are the pointy death delivery devices they truly are, rather than the big, blunt sticks so many turn them into. First Cut: Samurai Duel seems to be aiming its blades at my heart, then. It's a 2D sidescrolling swordfighter in which each connecting blow means instant death, and it has a January 17th release date.

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Frogwares is "now the sole publisher of The Sinking City on all platforms", says the developer. This brings to an end several years of uncertainty and litigation, which saw the Lovecraftian RPG delisted from Steam several times and at one point restored by its publisher via an allegedly pirated version of the game.

The downside is that an updated version of the game is coming to all storefronts in the coming weeks and it won't be compatible with old save files.

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Vampire Survivors was a big enough sensation that it instantly inspired a horde of similar games to spawn. 20 Minutes Till Dawn was one of the more worthy: a topdown, 2D roguelite with a similar sense of spectacle and progression, but with traditional weapon aiming.

It's currently free to keep from the Epic Games Store.

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The player-voted Steam Awards have reached their conclusion, and the results are about as weird as the nominees. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that the weirdest game possible won in several categories, such as Red Dead Redemption 2 for the Labor Of Love award and Starfield for "Most Innovative Gameplay".

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