A team of enterprising modders are looking to unite two of the internet’s favourite dating games - Baldur's Gate 3 and Stardew Valley - in one beautiful thirst trap. The mod set to launch a thousands AO3 ships is Baldur’s Village, which transports your favourite adventuring companions to the pastoral climes of Stardew’s farming towns.
Distinguishing one metroidvania from another is a dicey challenge, and not just because there's a 37.8% chance that saying the word "metroidvania" will cause RPS regular Sin Vega to materialise in the mirror and assassinate you with cheesewire. Metroidvanias stand apart for me only in hindsight - it's all about the precise ratio of abilities to ability gates, of jump-doublers to overhangs, all things that take time to assess properly. Echo Weaver sets itself apart early, however, by declaring that "time is your currency" and that "when faced with eternity, knowledge is the only gear you need", a phrase that, admittedly, I would probably have extended to "...oh, and a spacetime-folding glaive that works like a throwable fast travel point".
Distinguishing one metroidvania from another is a dicey challenge, and not just because there's a 37.8% chance that saying the word "metroidvania" will cause RPS regular Sin Vega to materialise in the mirror and assassinate you with cheesewire. Metroidvanias stand apart for me only in hindsight - it's all about the precise ratio of abilities to ability gates, of jump-doublers to overhangs, all things that take time to assess properly. Echo Weaver sets itself apart early, however, by declaring that "time is your currency" and that "when faced with eternity, knowledge is the only gear you need", a phrase that, admittedly, I would probably have extended to "...oh, and a spacetime-folding glaive that works like a throwable fast travel point".
Last week Dan Henderson, a former product manager at PC water-cooling manufacturer EK Water Blocks, made a public post on LinkedIn, in which he described almost four months of no pay, and being “strong armed and bullied into signing a new contract through fear of losing my job and also financial ruin.” He also accused the company - one of the biggest in the space - of “blatant racism...psychological manipulation, plain bare faced lying, [and] severe unprofessionalism.”
A couple of weeks ago I told you about an aquarium-having simulator that is as detailed as it is janky. I was charmed by Aquarist and it's basic-asset using weirdness, and I intended to write a lot more about it. But our adventures in fish keeping are stalled because, well, when something is adorably janky it might turn out that the jank gets in the way of you progressing or playing the game. In the real world, a bug stops me progressing past a very early point of the story. In the world of the game, my father has locked me in his fish basment and will not let me leave.
A couple of weeks ago I told you about an aquarium-having simulator that is as detailed as it is janky. I was charmed by Aquarist and it's basic-asset using weirdness, and I intended to write a lot more about it. But our adventures in fish keeping are stalled because, well, when something is adorably janky it might turn out that the jank gets in the way of you progressing or playing the game. In the real world, a bug stops me progressing past a very early point of the story. In the world of the game, my father has locked me in his fish basment and will not let me leave.
Well, this was unexpected. Malakai Makaisson is the single best campaign experience I’ve had since strategy game Total War: Warhammer 3 launched, and might just be up there with some of the best in the series’ history. That’s over ninety lords he’s given both barrels to getting here and, honestly, I wasn't sure Creative Assembly still had it in them. Not the talent, mind, just the passion. And nothing says passion like the amber mohawk of a furious dwarf quivering in the wake of a shakily-built zeppelin's explosive payload. Warhammer!
Well, this was unexpected. Malakai Makaisson is the single best campaign experience I’ve had since strategy game Total War: Warhammer 3 launched, and might just be up there with some of the best in the series’ history. That’s over ninety lords he’s given both barrels to getting here and, honestly, I wasn't sure Creative Assembly still had it in them. Not the talent, mind, just the passion. And nothing says passion like the amber mohawk of a furious dwarf quivering in the wake of a shakily-built zeppelin's explosive payload. Warhammer!
Twitter user pl_evil has helpfully translated a recent letter to shareholders from Bloober Team, showing that their new game "Project C" will be revealed later this year. This will be the studio's next original game, after they wrapped up Layers Of Fear last year with, confusingly, Layers Of Fear (the natural progression for a series: Layers Of Fear, Layers Of Fear 2, and then Layers Of Fear again, although it was going to be called Layers Of Fears at one point).
Bloober Team are currently doing a lot of IP work for other people, with the Silent Hill 2 remake due out later this year, and a game codenamed "Project R" in concert with Skybound Entertainment. Skybound are The Walking Dead company, so I wouldn't give you long odds for a bet on what Project R is about. Neither would I be surprised if Project C is unveiled this summer by a man named Geoff with shiny shiny trainers. I'm interested to see what it is, and honestly I'm hoping it's a brand new standalone thing, rather than a forced sequel to Observer or 2021's The Medium (where I got the header).
Amazon have SHOCKED and RATTLED the world of buying things off the Internet, by announcing that Prime Day 2024 – their latest of their Prime-members-only sales events, which usually take place in July – is taking place in July. And yes, we’re only hearing about this a mere month after the last big Amazon discount splurge, Spring Deal Days. My life is a calendar where every square has "deals" written on it in increasingly scratchy Biro.
Still, let’s keep it summery, eh? Prime Day 2024 may not be a surprise (and is still lacking a specific launch date), but unless the US government announces a second June-based Black Friday or something, it likely represents the next mass serving of PC gaming deals for you to take advantage of. SSDs, graphics cards, or anything else that’s been unusually pricey lately are all but guaranteed to get slashed back down, so there are definitely worse times to be in the market for an upgrade than Prime Day.