I've worked from home for most of the past decade, but it was during the pandemic lockdowns that I was finally indoctrinated into the world of co-working streams, pomodoro timers and lofi beats to chill/study to. I'm better now, but I absolutely see the appeal of Spirit City: Lofi Sessions, a "gamified focus tool" that just launched on Steam.
The original Gigantic blended MOBA and hero shooter ideas together at the height of the gold rush in both genres, but failed to carve off a large enough audience of its own and sadly shut down in 2018.
As of today, it's back as Gigantic: Rampage Edition, with new characters, a new mode, and an upfront fee in place of its former free-to-play model.
Paradox have a reputation for updating their games in perpetuity, with both free patches and DLC, even if players would rather they stopped. Star Trek Infinite is bucking that trend, it seems.
The grand strategy game was released last year and has only received a few patches since, and now it's been confirmed that it will receive no further updates.
The Battlefield series increasingly seems like a square peg held by a publisher that only owns round holes. Created by EA Dice, overseen now by Respawn CEO Vince Zampella, recently worked on by EA's founded-and-shuttered Ridgeline Studios, and now EA Motive are the latest to be stuck with the beleaguered milsim.
In an update announcing that seasonal updates for Battlefield 2042 were drawing to an end, EA say that Motive Studio - best known for the Dead Space remake - are "building a team focused on Battlefield at their studio."
Ubisoft Massive's open world action-adventure Star Wars Outlaws will release on 30th August 2024, according to a new story trailer which introduces us properly to "emerging scoundrel" Kay Vess, aka Hannah Solo. If you haven't had the pleasure, Kay is a budding crook on the run from her underworld boss, a journey that sees her tangling with several other Star Wars crime syndicates on various planets. It really feels like they're keeping a lot of the headline Star Wars stuff at a respectful distance for this one: yes, Jabba the Hutt makes an appearance, but there's nary a whiff of The Force, Jedi or Sith in the trailer and not once does anybody build a Death Star.
If you're from the USA, Britain or France, and also possibly a Victorian time-traveller, you might be familiar with the dunce cap - a conical humiliation bestowed on struggling or misbehaving schoolchildren, who were then told to go sit in the corner and think about their sins. Well, get ready for the dunce cosmetic. In Sumo Newcastle's Deathsprint 66, an 8-player on-foot racing game based on Stephen King's dystopian novel The Running Man, players build a Hype multiplier by combo-ing stunts such as railgrinds, and also, murdering each other.
In many ways Children Of The Sun is a highly relatable game. I do not have telekinetic powers that allow me to control the path of a bullet from a sniper rifle, and I was not part of a murderous cult that killed my father-figure. But if I did and I were, you can bet that I'd go on a rip-roaring rampage of revenge! Stepping into the be-grimed trainers and unwashed jacket of the protagonist - a misused girl whose vibe is that of a member of Gorillaz - you shoot a single bullet from your gun and control it in first-person as you zip it through the heads, hearts and hands of cultists placed around a level. It's a satisfying Sniper Elite meets Superhot puzzle of ultraviolence, and it's neat.
Rebecca (RPS in peace) was our resident monsterfucenjoyer for a while, and she was well up for Sucker For Love: First Date, but was slightly disappointed that as a horror-themed dating sim it leaned away from the dating and well into the horror. Now the sequel, Sucker For Love: Date To Die For has revealed a release date of April 23rd, and seems to be leaning into horror even more, while also still being a dating sim featuring an eldritch goat god with massive cans. Yet the presser also says "no scares this time". I am confused, which is why it's probably good there's a demo on Steam to sort of give you a taster.
Sega and Creative Assembly have released the first proper trailer for Total War: Warhammer 3's forthcoming Thrones of Decay expansion, which pits the human Empire, Chaos Nurgle faction and industrious Dwarfs against each other in what the press release terms "a showdown of mohawks, maggots and machines". Alliteration, is it? Well, two can play at that (strategy) game: the new expansion explodes upon the extensive environments of this elaborate ex-tabletop experience with an eccentric... ensemble of new legendary lords, battle units and campaign features, plus various free bits for owners of the base game.
9-3 to me, Creative Assembly! Find the Thrones of Decay trailer below - sorry, I just need a few minutes to massage my temples.
The multiplayer FPS which fools would tell you is named PUBG: Battlegrounds has added destructible terrain in an update today, letting you dig your own hole or punch through to enemies. Some might tell you this is inspired by Fortnite or Minecraft, especially considering you can dig with a pickaxe, but in my heart it's further confirmation that Plunkbat is a stag & hen weekend simulator. After all, you can have your stag do at Diggerland. Awright lads, where we digging?