As has been the case with all of Hollow Knight: Silksong's sizeable updates this far, Team Cherry have put out some tweaks as a Steam beta shot to the upcoming patch three's chaser. As of now, opting into playtesting this "interim update" offers some extra controller support and fixes, but the devs say more'll be added before the full patch goes live to everyone.

In case you need a refesher, the metroidvania's first patch made a couple of its early bosses a bit easier. Meanwhile, its second patch didn't do any balancing, but did bring handy fixes to problems like the Savage Beastfly boss cheekily hiding below some lava.

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Hello reader who is also a reader, and welcome back to Booked For The Week - our regular Sunday chat with a selection of cool industry folks about books! Having finally read The Epic Of Gilgamesh recently, I feel I should in be awe at how the proliferation of certain themes and dramatic modes throughout history speaks deeply to the truths of the human experience. However, gaming has taught me to recognise a dirty asset flip when I see one. For shame, much of storytelling.

This week, it's Saltsea Chronicles, Mutazione, Thronglets, and much more's Hannah Nicklin! Cheers Hannah! Mind if we have a nose at your bookshelf?

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Sundays are for laughing at your sat nav's American voiceover lady when, as you're visiting Northamptonshire for the first time, she pronounces Towcester as toaster. That can't be how it's said, you snort, surely everyone from there would have to follow-up revealing their hometown by insisting they weren't born in a bread slot. Silly sat nav, get out of here! You then end up at a racing circuit. Adrian Edmondson is chatting to a local radio host over the tannoy. The host pronounces it toaster. You ask a passerby. They pronounce it toaster. You wonder if your sat nav wife will take you back.

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I think Q-UP might be gaslighting me. It most certainly is a real video game, I played it myself. And yet it presents an entirely different vision of reality where it is the coin flipping eSport of choice. The worst part is that it nearly convinced me that such a reality is a pretty good one. Perhaps even more than half!

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I am genuinely unsure if MiHoYo are capable of making a game that doesn't heavily borrow from a different game you probably already love at this point in time. Denying The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild's influence on Genshin Impact is like denying the sky is blue! Only recently was Honkai: Nexus Anima revealed, a game that takes Pokemon and shoves it into a blender with Auto Chess. And now there is Petit Planet, a game I can only describe as Animal Crossing but if it was in space, I guess.

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Have you, like me, been unable to get that one TikTok sound out of your head that mixes Anri's iconic anthem I Can't Stop The Loneliness with the screams of Hollow Knight's very own Hornet ever since Silksong came out? It's a surprisingly good combo, but it also serves as an unintended reminder for something: these particular screams of Hornet's are nowhere to be found in Silksong. You know, the classics, like "SHAW," and "Adino!" not to mention the unforgettable "Hegale!" So of course there's a mod for that.

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It's been no secret that Remedy's FBC: Firebreak landed like a piece of haddock at the fishmongers. This shouldn't necessarily be a complete surprise, after all this is their first attempt at a live service game that's all them (they also helped to make CrossfireX, and that didn't go very well either). Still, to Remedy's credit they've also committed to bring changes to the game, and those changes are coming in the form of a big update titled Breakpoint next week.

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Heart Machine have had a busy year. It was only in January that they launched Hyper Light Breaker into early access, a surprise follow-up to their beloved indie action RPG Hyper Light Drifter. That launch didn't go amazingly due to a myriad of reasons, and even now the game hasn't completely managed to find its footing yet. And then there's Possessor(s), their search action (not Metroidvania) game that at long last has a release date!

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Aha! I have at last wrested control of the WAWAPs from the intruders! Let the smiley faces return! And also, be a star and let us know what you're getting up to this weekend? I've missed our chats.

Here's what we're all clicking on this weekend!

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The city-building genre is grossly overpopulated. Competing Simvilles predicated on wholly opposed theories about plumbing and traffic wardens stretch as far as the eye can see. As such, the genre must imitate real-life urban centres of the 20th century, and begin expanding vertically. Enter Stario: Haven Tower, the new strategy management sim from Chinese developers Stargate Games, in which you build upward through the realms of Sand, Mist, Rain, Frost, and Clear Skies until finally, your city stands among the Stars.

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