Following up yesterday’s news on Ghost Story Games’ upcoming Judas, courtesy of the Ian Games Network, another interview with the Friends Per Second podcast, via SkillUp on YouTube, has shed light aplenty on the upcoming Bioshock-ian FPS game. The hosts played the game for 5 hours at Ghost Story Games in Boston, then interviewed director Ken Levine. Here’s a crunchy chipstick of a take to kick things off with; Judas is, says Ralph of SkillUp, “Definitely not Bioshock in space”. I...haven't played it, have I, so I'll put my cynicism in its horrible little cage for a bit. Aesthetically, at least, Judas does look to have a lot going for it.

Not least because of the giant robot dog that takes on the role of Bioshock’s bathysphere this time around. Riding the dog sounds to involve a pixel art minigame that has you collect fuel pickups. You’ll ride the dog between the “districts” of the city-sized spaceship Mayflower. We also got a few details on what exactly those districts might entail. The hosts mention a “birthing district” and “milk district”. Whatever you think the “milk district” might be in terms of a Bioshock-ian dystopia, it sounds like you’re probably right. The hosts made a face. I made a face. I’m sure you are also likely making a face right now.

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V Rising confirmed it would reach 1.0 on May 8th just a couple of weeks ago, delivering changes to the survival action RPG's PvP and endgame.

There's an extra sweetener in 1.0 announced today, however: a Castlevania crossover where players can fight Simon Belmont and make off with his whip.

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Diablo 4 is headed to Game Pass in just a couple more days, on March 28th, giving the stingy-but-curious like me a chance to click demons to death at lower cost. As preperation, Microsoft have outlined the steps necessary to link your Game Pass account to a Battle.net account - because what is a launcher for, if not launching other launchers.

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Lego Fortnite's latest update lets players construct their own vehicles. The Mechanical Mayhem update, out now, adds three vehicle builds, and new items which let players craft their own custom designs. It's the second major update to the blocky survival game since its launch last year.

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On March 31st, Ubisoft's open world racing game The Crew will be turned off for good. As of right now, no one can buy the ten-year-old racer, but come the end of the month, even those that did buy it will no longer be able to play it.

On April 18th, The Crew Motorfest will arrive on Steam after several months available via the Epic Games Store and Ubisoft's own launcher, providing a new venue to buy the third entry in the series. Or perhaps that should be "rent".

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I find myself increasingly turned off these days by simulations that boast of endless butterfly effects. I guess my misgivings can be boiled down to "a chain of dominoes is still a chain of dominoes even if it's 1000 metres in extent". Without some reason to care supplied by a narrative or broader question of theming and aesthetics, it all risks being admirable of execution but also like sheer technical maximalism - systems for the sake of systems. What do I care if I can make the 567th domino fall over by kicking the first?

Still, I'm very interested to see more of City 20. In development since 2018, it's the work of Untold Games, a studio hitherto known for VR projects, location-based "immersive experiences" and ports of games such as Journey To The Savage Planet. As a piece of mechanics, it's a top-down sandbox survival experience with a highly reactive environment and procedural storytelling, influenced by the likes of Rimworld (and not, the developers insist, created using latter-day generative AI tools). As a story scenario, meanwhile, it's inspired by Cold War conspiracy theories about Soviet "secret cities" given over to uranium enrichment and nuclear experiments. The titular City 20 is one such burg, though not a direct recreation. As the game begins, a nuclear accident has led to a radiation spike and a partial evacuation: you play one of the poor suckers who didn't make the last bus out of town.

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Good news for people who don’t cringe violently every time they encounter the phrase “Narrative Legos”! We’ve finally got some more details about the extremely Bioshock-adjacent Judas, courtesy of the Ian Games Network, who spent six hours playing the game and chatting to Levine at Ghost Story Games in Boston. It’s a massive interview, but very broadly, it's an FPS game that gives you guns in your right hand and “various organic powers” in your left. It’s got a big focus on story and choosing your own path through character interaction, and it also has roguelike elements. “The ship is different every time you die and come back, the ship layout can be different," says Levine.

Judas, it turns out, is the name of the woman you’ve likely already seen in the trailers, who is also your player character. The game takes place aboard the Mayflower, a spaceship the size of a city doing that thing from Hitchhiker’s Guide with the hairdressers, only the Earth seems to have been in actual danger this time. You start the game being resurrected, or “reprinted”. You’ll then start chatting to holographic projections of the three leaders of the ship; all of which have different goals, roles, and Bioshock-ian quirks. They’re at odds with each other, and you’ll get to decide who to work with and against, hence “Narrative Legos” and “No two playthroughs ever…” yadayada, which is a phrase that seems almost quaint in terms of comparative obnoxiousness.

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Fantasy craft-o-building survival sandbox game Enshrouded today launched its first big content update, two months after entering early access. You can now enter the Hollow Halls, a series of challenging dungeons scattered around the world with new enemies and rewards. Or at the opposite end of the intensity spectrum, you can now decorate your home with loads of lovely potted plants then sit down on a chair to admire them. Come watch this video showing off these changes and many more.

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If you’ve read my duology on spending far too long queuing in Hitman, you’ll know I’ve a predilection for the virtual people watching of NPCs in games that have some sort of schedule system. "It’s a wholesome pursuit of game design knowledge!" I stammer, as the guards approach. "It gives me a greater appreciation for the obscure details lurking in the hidden corners of virtual cities!" I protest, as I’m clapped in chains after being caught staring through a blacksmiths window for four hours watching him eat the same heel of bread, rubbing my hands together and grinning manically. Imagine my glee, then, when an early quest in action RPG Dragon's Dogma 2 not only condoned my weird hobby, but actively encouraged it.

Alfred is bardic beggar you’ll likely first encounter by Vernworth’s city square water feature. He’s doing a spot of medieval busking, spinning some brilliantly localized rhyming yarns to whoever will listen. He also periodically asks for beer money, even if you think he’s shit, which is a great pitch. Onlookers come and go, but after listening to him gas up the nobility with tall tales for a spell, you’ll likely spot a particularly enthusiastic permanent fixture off to the side. Have a chat, and he’ll tell you he reckons there’s something fishy about Alfred. He never sees much patronage from busking, but he never seems short of coin. Follow him around for a bit and see how he makes his money, won’t you? My annoyance that I’d just given Alfred several hundred gold immediately dissipated at the prospect of some quest journal-sanctioned stalking.

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While the PC release of Horizon Forbidden West: Complete Edition has effectively made my PS5 ownership pointless, I can’t stay mad at it. Besides being a sumptuous, endlessly satisfying sci-fi romp with one of the prettiest open worlds in gaming, it’s also a very respectable porting job, with stable performance that scales well on aged PC hardware all the way up to glistening 4K rigs.

There are some imperfections, but generally, this shouldn’t be a repeat of Horizon Zero Dawn’s need for a post-launch patch regimen. On all the hardware I’ve tested, Forbidden West looks good to go, especially when choosing the right settings can smooth out performance even more.

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