Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Armchair History Interactive would like to you know that their upcoming strategy game Master Of Command is full of smart, unforgiving systems. I know that because they emailed RPS saying that our "strategy features often spotlight smart, unforgiving systems".

I imagine several other outlets also received this exact email but this didn't stop me thinking "you know what - they're right! I am> strategy-clever and tactics-tough! And what better way to show that than by covering this game, completely of my own volition and with no outside influence from cleverly worded PR emails playing on my sense of strategy-knower's pride. That'll show those fatcats down at the community historical strategy club treasury committee. Who's "making too many explosiony noises during this serious reenactment of the Somme" now, eh?

Truthfully though, I probably would have covered this without the email. It looks suitably grand, and I really dig the idea of a strategy where the management isn't about empires, but the personal journey of your army on campaign. Plus, you get to play uniform dress-up. Here's a trailer.

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Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Deep beneath the smog of a plausibly denied planetoid, there lurks a space hulk full of dessicated hand monsters, shorn dreadlocks and long-emptied Pulse Rifles. The vessel mostly lies silent, but every so often, an ancient server deep within the core crackles awake, beaming an ominous signal far out into the void, and the chitinous corridors come alive with flamethrowers and squelchy stabbing noises and oh, so much screaming. Also, the coveted chirping of Steam achievements.

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Rock, Paper, Shotgun

"Fine" is a funny word. It can mean something is sublimely crafted, but it can also be used in a withering sense. It's fine. This is fine. But there's another, calm and casual sense in which you can say something is fine. Like when a friend handing you some tea apologises because they "only have semi-skimmed milk". S'fine. Or when they say "nah, let's go to a different pub". Sure, fine! You're just happy to hang out. Kaizen: A Factory Story is a fine game. It is a puzzler that makes me feel OK about not finding the perfect solution.

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Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Great stealth games are basically forever games. Whether or not they're boosted with regular live service jabs like a Hitman, it always feels like it's worth returning to a Dishonored, or a Metal Gear, or a Desperados 3. Always ways to finesse or experiment or utterly style on encounters you've slipped your way through dozens of times before. If you love stealth, you've likely got a library full of such games you've been meaning to get back to at some point. If you don't, you've likely been put off somewhere along the line by the sort of tired and punishing design tropes Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream is full of. Naturally, I don't think it's worth your time either way.

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Rock, Paper, Shotgun

A battle between three former Subnautica 2 developers and their publishers at Krafton intensified over the weekend, after an internal document appeared online showing how the scope of the survival game has reduced during development. The source of this document remains unknown. In fact, quite a lot of facts about the document remain unknown. Nevertheless, Krafton have since leapt at the chance to confirm its authenticity.

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Rock, Paper, Shotgun

One of the European Parliament's vice presidents has voiced his support for the Stop Killing Games campaign, and said he's signed the group's petition to the European Commission to stop publishers rendering online games unplayable by shutting down their servers.

The petition surpassed a million signatures recently, though there are concerns that some of the signatories are fake. It has received some pushback from bodies representing game publishers, so it's no surprise the organisers have welcomed an endorsement from Nicolae Ștefănuță.

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Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Morning all! The working week once again looms above us like a bulldozer driven by raucous and somehow loveable sheepdogs in top hats and cufflinks. Quickly now, lob a few new PC game releases under the caterpillar treads to slow its passage. It's not clear where those sheepdogs are going, but your and my wellbeing are clearly of secondary importance.

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Rock, Paper, Shotgun

It's time. Elden Ring Nightreign's gotten a randomiser mod, just in case the base game isn't quite maxing out your unexpected chaos-per-run meter at this point, despite its revamped bosses.

While FromSoft's roguelike-ish twist on the established souls formula already switches things up in a manner that's a bit like a randomiser mod makeover of one of the series' traditional entries, modder thefifthmatt has still found ways to tinker with it.

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Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - Definitive Edition is out August 14th, with a 30% discount off the $30 label price for owners of the Anniversary Edition. That discount applies to both Steam and GOG, and will be available for the "foreseeable future" (Fateweaver noises). Other currencies aren't listed.

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Rock, Paper, Shotgun

You wouldn't believe how close I was to forgetting to poll everyone today for Playing This Weekend. In fairness, no one reminded me or sent me their paragraphs. What, so it's my responsibility to remind everyone> to remind me? F'gawdsake.

Anyway, right on time as usual, here are the games we're clicking on this weekend!

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