Rock, Paper, Shotgun

It's been a while, but I'm finally back on the Nancy Drew mystery game train. Choo choo, next stop: San Francisco! This has pleasing synergy with my real life, because I'm currently watching through Monk, a popular detective show also set in San Francisco. Mr. Monk would be displeased by the house Nancy finds herself in this time, which is a mansion being converted into a B&B. The owner, Rose, is working on a shoestring budget and has decided that the best player to add to her renovation team is a young-adult woman who's a friend of a friend. It all makes sense!

Nancy Drew: Message In A Haunted Mansion is the third game in the Nancy Drew mystery series of puzzle games, and boy does the weird first-person fixed camera work against you here. It's also a more disappointing plot than the previous games, but it adds in a new time system that, much like Stay Tuned For Danger, is an ambitious move - and in this case I think it sort of works. It's a mixed bag, is what I'm saying.

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Rock, Paper, Shotgun

I’m not saying it’s some kind of electronic commerce conspiracy orchestrated by Big Graphics Card, but I’ve noticed that most of the best Amazon Spring sale deals on gaming monitors are for 4K screens. On the one hand, aww, because everyone likes a bargain 1440p-er. On the other, woo, because gaming-spec 4K monitors are usually some of the most financially devastating PC hardware pieces you can get. Anything that makes these super-sharp displays more affordable is, therefore, quite welcome. 160Hz, UHD visuals for £399? Sure, why not.

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Rock, Paper, Shotgun

If you're an MMORPG fan who's been waiting patiently for news of Riot Game's swing at the genre, then I'm afraid you'll probably have to wait quite a while longer. Riot co-founder Marc Merrill announced that the project has been "reset" and won't appear for "likely several years", with one of the main reasons being a "need to do something that truly feels like a significant evolution of the genre".

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Rock, Paper, Shotgun

In a powerful move, one of the two devs behind Cryptmaster announced the delightful typing-based dungeon crawler's release date last night during his acceptance speech after it won the Independent Games Festival award for Excellence In Design. Powerful. May 9th is the day, so you have time to practise your touchtyping with Mavis Beacon. I really enjoyed playing Cryptmaster's Steam Next Fest demo, so I'm excited for the full game.

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Rock, Paper, Shotgun

The winners of the 2024 Independant Games Festival were announced at GDC last night, and it was Visai Games' Venba that came home with the Seumas McNally Grand Prize. The cooking adventure was up for four IGF awards in total, including nominations for Excellence in Audio, Narrative and Visual Art. But there was no runaway winner at this year's IGF Awards, with all prizes going to completely different indie games. Come and celebrate the full list of winners below.

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Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Last time, you decided that highlighted interactive objects are better than retrievable reusable ammo. I understand why you decided that. Your fondness for this thing makes perfect sense. It is very helpful. An immensely practical thing. And still... ah, we must move on. This week, I ask you to pick between two right different right-clickings. What's better: drawing Frog Detective's magnifying glass or drawing Blade Runner's gun?

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Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Bungie’s reboot of their nineties pre-Halo debut shooter Marathon seems to be slowing down its pace a little in order to get across the finish line, with a change in director and a delay meaning the multiplayer-only loot-shooter reimagining of the FPS is now expected to arrive next year - or potentially even after that, according to recent reports.

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Rock, Paper, Shotgun

We’ve known that a Marvel game from former Uncharted writer-director Amy Hennig has been in the works for years, learning in 2022 that it will focus on Captain America and Black Panther during World War 2. Thanks to a proper reveal during today’s State of Unreal event, we now know that it’ll be called Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra and we’ll be able to play it sometime in 2025.

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Rock, Paper, Shotgun

This article's headline is the characterisation of Everdeep Aurora given to me by publisher Ysbryd Games, but bizarrely enough, it reminded me initially of Bloodborne. A 2D platformer from Nautilus Games, Everdeep Aurora begins on the surface, where a ruptured crimson moon fills the sky with blazing meteors. That menacing moon is the first hint of Bloodborne, obviously. The second is the lamp-lit, locked-up house to one side, whose unseen occupant tells you to get lost, adding that they don’t believe all this crazy talk about the apocalypse.

I thought at once of the wealthier residents of Yharnam, feasting and laughing hysterically behind the shutters of their fancy townhouses on the night of the Hunt. There are no pitchfork-wielding mobs or werewolves stalking the vicinity, however. But there is a frog by a campfire, who tells you that everybody else has sought shelter underground, and hands you a drill so you can follow them.

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Rock, Paper, Shotgun

After channelling the atmosphere and gory terror of Dead Space (though alas, not its reception) in 2022’s sci-fi horror shooter, The Callisto Protocol is apparently now looking to the likes of Hades to inspire a new roguelike spin-off set in its universe, currently codenamed Project Birdseye.

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