Doom is back, and this time it’s bringing its signature blend of demon-slaying chaos and heavy-metal energy to medieval times. Doom: The Dark Ages launches on May 15 for PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PS5—unless you’re eyeing one of the pricier editions, which grant early access starting May 13. Naturally, our attention is on the PC edition and, of course, where to get it for the best price.
A performance and settings guide for a ropey PC port of a Final Fantasy game? Sweet, I haven’t done one of these in four whole months. In fairness to Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, which Nic says can be great as a game per se, it does make some> effort at settling into Windows. It has rebindable M+K controls. It has DLSS. It has generally more consistent framerates than FFXVI, which could bait you in with silky visuals before grabbing your head and shoving it into the cold ice bath of sub-30fps.
Yet it also steps back from that game on its supported tech, while raising its hardware requirements so far above Final Fantasy 7 Remake that it won’t even launch on a lot of older graphics cards. Even so, hitching and microstuttering issues from FF7 Remake return once more, along with plenty of other signs that this PC version didn’t get the love that a lot of other erstwhile PlayStation exclusives – like Horizon Forbidden West or God of War Ragnarök – did for their ports.
If you turn 33 years old in the next couple of months then, sorry, you are dead. I don't make the rules, that's just how Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 explains the lack of elders in its very French yet very JRPG world. The fantasy game will see you journey across a dangerous landscape to stop the mad "paintress" who's magically culling humanity at younger and younger ages every year. We've been keeping a weary middle-aged eye on its development, and yesterday it got a release date. It's too late for most of us in the RPS treehouse. But watch the trailer for yourself, maybe you'll make it.
Typical, really. I get all excited about sharing details from a preview event for upcoming FPS Doom: The Dark Ages, then it turns out the gameplay reveal video is going public before the embargo anyway. Then> the alleged release date allegedly leaks, allegedly. How am I supposed to present myself as a font of knowledge now, Id? Fortunately, we had a roundtable interview afterward with executive producer Marty Stratton and game director Hugo Martin. Sweet, job-justifying details!
Writing up the interview in full would involve typing out the words "awesome", "slaughter", "core pillars", and "iPod" more times than anyone realistically needs to read. Instead, here's a list of every detail I found interesting that isn't already covered in the showcase.
Assassin's Creed Shadows has a lot riding on it. Between its multiple release date delays in response to Star Wars Outlaws not selling as well as Ubisoft would've liked, and Ubi potentially being bought by Tencent as they clamour for help, there's a sense that Shadows needs to deliver not only a great game, but corporate redemption.
I've now played Shadows for four hours, having dipped into a bit of prologue action, some open world exploration, and a questline as both the hulking Yasuke and the lithe Naoe. Have Ubi delivered? I think there's a strong chance. What I played was a lot of comforting Creeding, carried along by a gorgeous interpretation of Edo Japan, and some subtle tweaks to up stealth stakes. Although I do think the two protagonists are a split personality that doesn't quite> work for me.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is billed as a faithful recreation of 15th century Bohemia, with an open world setting derived from primary sources and historical consultancy that seeks to "challenge misconceptions", but I'm enjoying it partly for the inconsistencies. As I amble into a random village, my eye is caught by what feel like carefully observed period flourishes: a particular arrangement of crops in a sloping field, a woman praying at a shrine by the gate. Some of these sights and sounds unlock codex entries, layering up the pedagogic texture.
Some eager beavers who bought the GeForce RTX 4090 at launch were, quite infamously, rewarded for their investment with a defective power adapter, one that that could melt the plastic in their £1679 graphics card like it was Ronald Lacey’s face. Nvidia reckon that won’t be an issue with for the imminent RTX 5090 and RTX 5080, though, even with the former’s drastically increased 575W power limit.
The high-end prebuilt PC market is a battleground for premium prices, but catching a solid deal can save you a significant chunk of change. Case in point: Dell is offering the Alienware Aurora R16 GeForce RTX 4090 gaming PC for $2,899.99, a full $1,000 off the usual price. It's a rare sight to see an RTX 4090 gaming rig dip below the $3,000 mark, especially given the recent uptick in standalone GPU prices.
Fanatical has kicked off its Lunar New Year sale, packed with fantastic discounts perfect for anyone on PC who’s ready to expand their ever-growing Steam library. Go ahead, tell yourself you’ll play these games right away—we’ve all been there.
On this Sunday, I find myself deeply nostalgic for chunky scart cables, terrible bookmarks though they may make. Book for now!