Ugh, I do not have the energy to feed the Maw this week. Sometimes the creature manifests as a proper monstrosity, with B-movie prosthetics and sound effects, and sometimes, it's more of an... unfathomable annoyance, like a nose that won't stop running, or a single player game that requires an internet connection. In either case, the Maw must be sated, and fortunately, there are quite a few appetising video-or-computer games out in the next seven days, with at least one behemoth landing on Friday.
Here they are: fantasy medieval survival town-builder Bellwright (23rd April); shamanic metroidvania Tales of Kenzera: Zau (23rd April); gangland horror FPS Jawbreaker (23rd April); cosmic horny simulator Sucker for Love: Date to Die For (23rd April); Pikminish factory RTS Oddsparks: An Automation Adventure (24th April); anime mech brawler Megaton Mushashi W: Wired (25th April); Dragon Ball X Mad Max tank 'em up Sand Land (25th April); not-a-Total-War-killer Manor Lords (26th April).
As ever, this list of releases is but the product of our pitiful brains. Your, vastly more developed intellect may have identified other games that are equally deserving of a mention. It's just as well, then, that the MawTron 5000 comes equipped with a Comments-O-Matic feature - please let us know what we've missed, and have a good week.
Our live coverage of this event has finished.
Key points- 07:58 am April 26 2024 FRIDAY EMBRUED
- 07:14 am April 25 2024 THURSDAY ONCE MORE
- 08:17 am April 24 2024 IT'S WEDNESDAY
- 07:10 am April 23 2024 TUESDAY REGNANT
- 08:57 am April 22 2024 IT'S MONDAY AGAIN
IT'S MONDAY AGAIN
Why do they keep doing this to us. FEED THE MAW.
Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 09:00 am UTCLike a Minecraft slime but not as cuddly, Embracer Group are splitting into three separate companies – Asmodee Group, Coffee Stain & Friends and Middle-earth Enterprises & Friends.
Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 09:02 am UTCUncapped Games boss and former StarCraft 2 multiplayer lead David Kim is teasing a new RTS, which will be revealed during Summer Game Fest in June. Catch word of it in the below documentary.
Redefining the Game: A Paradigm Shift for the RTS Genre Watch on YouTube Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 09:03 am UTC Helldivers 2 players have hit their objective of killing two billion terminids, and done it within a twelve hour stretch. For context, that'd take a single player around 62 years if they killed one terminid a second. There are some rumblings that the counter might have been a bit too generous though, via PC Gamer. Nic Reuben 09:06 am UTCAn English Haunting has a release date, and it's soon! May 15th. I'm stoked for this one - I wrote about the demo as a supporter post and whacked it on our most anticipated list. It's a spooky point and click adventure set in Edwardian England, where you play a professor who has to prove the existence of ghosts. I dunno what else I can say to sell it to you, but here's a new trailer the devs put on Xitter.
Save the date!🗓️
An English Haunting will be available on May 15th!
Here's the new trailer and don't forget to hit the wishlist button!
⬇️👻https://t.co/Q91vpfkYn0 pic.twitter.com/R6Afa9vfaH
I spent a fair bit of Friday trying to pin down a story about cold fusion in Fallout. This being RPS, I suspect there are actual cold fusion experts lurking in the comments - any thoughts on the show's portrayal of it?
Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 15:30 pm UTCVia VGC, an EA Japan exec has complained about the country's ratings board banning Dead Space despite recently approving Stellar Blade, which has a similar level of violence. I don't think this is much of a story, but I keep wanting to write it up because it has me picturing Isaac Clarke with the Stellar Blade lady's bottom, which is making me feel a bit hysterical.
Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 16:57 pm UTCUncover the Smoking Gun has you solve a murder by interrogating ChatGPT-speaking suspects, with AI's habit of just making stuff up apparently just adding to the mystery.
Matt Jarvis 17:21 pm UTCThe co-creators of WipEout and Skate are teasing a sci-fi sports game and roguelike strategy sim from their new studio Starlight Games.
Matt Jarvis 17:47 pm UTCThe Fallout TV show’s popularity has blown up popular mod site Nexus Mods as everyone rushes to play Fallout 4 again (and then remembers they need mods to make it worth playing).
Matt Jarvis 18:12 pm UTCAs Edwin shared earlier, StarCraft 2’s former lead multiplayer designer David Kim is teasing a new RTS he feels is a “paradigm shift” for the genre. We'll hear more this summer.
Matt Jarvis 07:10 am UTCTUESDAY REGNANT
To the barricades, nooze gatherers! We have nothing to lose but our ears, index fingers, select portions of our kidneys and staff discounts with official merch partners! FEED THE MAW.
Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 07:12 am UTCTarnation! The Xbox people are doing another indie showcase next week. They've partnered with Ian of the Games Network, and we can expect new stuff about Vampire Survivors, Dungeons of Hinterberg, 33 Immortals and Lost Records Bloom & Rage, amongst others.
Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 07:15 am UTCEpic have added a setting that lets you hide "confrontational" emotes from other players in Fortnite - instead, you'll see a standing still emote with no sound effect, which surely makes Standing Still the most aggressive emote of all. The setting affects four emotes at the time of writing: Laugh It Up, Take the L, Whipcrack, Make It Plantain. Why is plantain-making considered hostile? I like plantain!
Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 07:17 am UTCCereballers is a brief, free football parody that had me cackling like a witch when I played it in bed last night.
Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 07:23 am UTCThe Book Of Clarence's LaKeith Stanfield is in talks to star in and produce a film based on El Paso, Elsewhere, according to Deadline. WritNelson's conquest of pop culture continues apace.
Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 07:25 am UTCF1 2024 is out 31st May, and here's a video about its new car physics system.
F1 24 Official Gameplay Deep Dive Watch on YouTube Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 07:33 am UTCThe No Rest For The Wicked devs have been steadily hotfixing the game since release. The latest, biggest patch appears to target performance in particular while adding a few new settings.
Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 07:37 am UTCWe missed this last week - I may have been flathunting? - but it's still worth a poke: Arkane Lyon's co-creative director Dinga Bakaba has thoughts on whether multiplayer immersive sims are the genre's next "evolutionary step".
It isn't my nindo, but after experimenting with MP in "DEATHLOOP" I feel there is indeed some potential there. I wouldn't call it an evolutionary step, more like a viable hybridation. The key being making MP systems diegetic enough to create a believable shared narrative/world. https://t.co/vLmtmHd2m1
— Dinga Bakaba (@DBakaba) April 17, 2024 To see this content please enable targeting cookies. Manage cookie settings Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 07:45 am UTCBuilding Relationships lets you play as a house exploring an island and shacking up (hah!) with other houses. Seems very jolly, "secret hellhound" aside.
Image credit: Tan Ant Games Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 08:06 am UTC As part of a Diablo 4 promotion for Duriel the Maggot King, Blizzard are donating food to birds undergoing treatment at Tiggywinkles UK, in the form of thousands of maggots. If you want to join the maggot drive, all you have to do is like this here xeet. They've already hit the 6.66 million mark. Nic Reuben 08:10 am UTC IRIS is a lysergic PS2-style horror joint where you explore dreams with a flashlight, with a free demo steam. Nic Reuben 08:10 am UTCA devlog trailer for zombo-penguin tactics game South Pole Bebop, explaining how it takes inspiration from Into The Breach.
Our Developing Journey | Devlog #1 | South Pole Bebop Watch on YouTube Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 12:47 pm UTC Manor Lords publisher Hooded Horse have shared that the upcoming strategy builder has jumped from 2.5 to 3 entire million wishlists in the past week. Unsurprisingly, it's currently Steam's most wishlisted, ahead of Hades 2, Black Myth: Wukong, some indie about a silky knight, and Frostpunk 2. Nic Reuben 14:06 pm UTCHow has it taken me this long to notice Sweet Transit? The game hit 1.0 yesterday and is as busy with moving parts as Factorio, its developer's previous joint, but much, much less desolate.
Sweet Transit | 1.0 Launch Trailer Watch on YouTube Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 22:00 pm UTCRain-slick townbuilder Against The Storm's 1.3 update is out now, adding a little new content and a lot of quality-of-life updates. Most excitingly, it lets you zoom the camera out further.
Graham Smith 22:00 pm UTCHandsome strategy-RPG Songs Of Conquest will leave Early Access on May 20th with the addition of a fourth and final campaign. There will be post-release updates, however.
Graham Smith 22:01 pm UTCZenless Zone Zero, the next game from Genshin Impact developers HoyoVerse, is now available for pre-registration. The urban fantasy action-RPG is expected to release sometime in the first half of 2024.
Graham Smith 22:03 pm UTCRetro first-person shooter Phantom Fury is out now on Steam. It's a sorta sequel to 3D Realms boomer shooter Ion Fury, with a new engine, a new developer and seemingly mixed results.
Graham Smith 22:06 pm UTCUbisoft have released a bunch of older Anno citybuilders on Steam with a "History Edition" label. Anno 1503, Anno 1602, and Anno 1701 are all included, each packaged with their respective DLC and optimised to support modern PCs and 4K resolution. All three are also currently 50% off.
Graham Smith 07:54 am UTC No more refunds if you go over the two hour grace period while playing a game in pre-purchase or advanced access, says Steam, as spotted by The Verge. Previously, certain players could skirt around this restriction, but Valve closed the loophole today. Nic Reuben 07:58 am UTC Extremely readworthy game studies journal ROMchip are hosting a charity stream on their Twitch channel on Saturday, May 11, 11AM - 11PM. The stream features several developers and other notable industry folk playing and talking about games that mean a lot to them. The line-up includes Bennet Foddy, Brenda and John Romero, Rami Ismail, and Nina Freeman. Nic Reuben 08:02 am UTC I can't phrase this any better than Gamesradar already did, so here's their headline: 'After at least 1,400 layoffs, 7 studios closed, and 29 games canceled, Embracer CEO admits "I deserve a lot of criticism"' Really? Nah, don't be so hard on yourself there Wingefors. We're all '& friends' here. Nic Reuben 08:07 am UTC GTA V was originally supposed to have an 'agent Trevor' expansion, where everyone's favourite player insert/sociopath starred in a sort of James Bond parody. This was originally uncovered by dataminers, but more details were given by Trevor actor Steve Ogg recently, on a livestream reminiscing with his GTA fellow cast members. Thanks, the Loadout. Nic Reuben 08:13 am UTCSafe but cosy Suikoden spiritual successor Eiyuden Chronicles launched yesterday. It's currently sitting at a 'mostly positive' on Steam, and our Edders enjoyed it plenty. Speaking to XBOX Wire, leads at Rabbit & Bear have given more insight into the late Murayama’s design philosophies:
“Murayama always talked about the makunouchi bento when explaining RPGs. He would say that “RPGs had a variety of side dishes, and every one of them is delicious”.
Nic Reuben 08:17 am UTCIT'S WEDNESDAY
...and I am off work flat-hunting, but others are here to FEED THE MAW. Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 08:17 am UTC Creative Assembly have released another deep dive blog into the final paid Thrones of Decay lord, shotgun dwarf Malakai. If you haven't been keeping up, you'll be able to buy any of the DLC lords seperately this time around. I don't want to pick favourites but, I mean, shotgun dwarf. Nic Reuben 13:54 pm UTC Oddsparks: An Automation Adventure is a cute Factorio-ish strategy that launched on Steam today in early access. It's got walking tree trunks with googly eyes, which you'll either find charming or an affront to nature. Why not both, I say. Nic Reuben 14:21 pm UTC Moon Studios' - No Rest For The Wicked - CEO reckons Dark Souls would have benefitted from early access, via Eurogamer. Talking about the benefits of early access on Xitter, he mentions Dark Souls' famously unfinished Lost Izalith as an example. What do you reckon? I'd have loved to see a fully realised Lost Izalith, but think the temptation to sand down a few of the game's more interesting edges would have been too great. There's only so many times one can read 'devs plz nerf basilisk curse'. Nic Reuben 14:26 pm UTC ...and here's that Total Warhammer shotgun dwarf showcase on YouTube, so you can see the angriest ginger mohawked dwarfs to ever seek a glorious death in action. Unrelated, it went live just as the Manor Lords embargo lifted. Nic Reuben 16:46 pm UTCAs Nic shared earlier, the head of Moon Studios - developers behind Dark Souls-like early access game No Rest For The Wicked - has made the fairly bold claim that Dark Souls would’ve been a better game in early access. Hmm.
Matt Jarvis 17:20 pm UTCGTA5 nearly had story DLC that made Trevor a 007-style spy - and even got as far as recording - until it was cancelled and turned into a GTA Online heist, according to new details from the chaotic criminal's actor.
Matt Jarvis 17:48 pm UTCFormer Fable devs over at Fowling Fowl Studios have revealed a new co-op RPG... only to announce at the same time that its development is on hold amid layoffs and a struggle to find funding.
Matt Jarvis 18:13 pm UTCPUBG, the game that Fortnite copied, is copying Fortnite by bringing back the battle royale shooter’s original map for two weeks next month - complete with "vintage" UI and gunplay from, uh, 2017.
Matt Jarvis 07:14 am UTCTHURSDAY ONCE MORE
The Maw's current height is 1000 lightyears. Its current width is that of an espresso served on a Friday in Paris in the year 1965. FEED IT.
Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 07:16 am UTC More free stuff for Total War: Warhammer 3 players. The latest offerings are a balance of golden wizards, plague multipliers and evil crowns. Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 07:19 am UTCIn a Reddit AMA, Assassin's Creed Mirage creative director Stephane Boudon has said that there are no major updates planned for the game but they do have ideas for "how we could extend the story of Basim".
Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 07:25 am UTCHere's the "phase 1" demo for dev_hell, a roguelike deckbuilder about working in software development.
Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 07:58 am UTC The Garry's mod team have apparently recieved takedowns from Nintendo, and are removing all 'Nintendo related stuff' from the Steam workshop. There's some speculation these may have come from a "known fraudster" though, via Nintendo Life. Nic Reuben 08:03 am UTC Tim Bender, the CEO of Manor Lords publisher Hooded Horse, has taken to Reddit to explain why they aren’t yet sharing Manor Lords prices publicly. In short, its to do with regional pricing. "Sharing the US price alone will lead to misunderstandings," says Bender. Cheers for the spot, Ian Games Network. Nic Reuben 08:11 am UTC Insider Gaming looks to have some more details on the upocming Assassin's Creed known as 'Project Hexe'. They say they've seen some footage, and you can apparently possess cats. Nic Reuben 08:32 am UTCThe Last Spell's Dwarves of Runenberg DLC and accompanying free update are out now - read more on Steam.
Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 08:34 am UTCManky submarine sim Barotrauma has a big update too, which adds "two new monsters, a medical system mini-overhaul, extra difficulty settings for campaign mode, and new wrecks and beacons for you to explore".
Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 08:46 am UTCVia VGC, Blizzard are staffing up for an unannounced game - they're looking for a creative director and narrative director, amongst other roles.
Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 11:05 am UTCThe unsettling NPC-killing disease known as Dragonsplague in Dragon's Dogma 2 has now been nerfed in an update across all platforms, according to an update post from Capcom. This was something they announced as planned just last week.
Brendan Caldwell 11:23 am UTC A Gears of War 6 announcement is likely coming as part of June's Xbox showcase, according to JD actor Liam McIntyre, as spotted by PCGN. Nic Reuben 12:00 pm UTCAt last, some decent food: Dr. Robotnik's Ring Racers is out, and free to download. It's a fangame from the Sonic Robo Blast 2 Kart team, built using Doom Legacy, and it looks terrific.
Dr. Robotnik's Ring Racers - Promo (2024) Watch on YouTube Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 15:29 pm UTC People Can Fly have discontinued work on new action-adventure IP 'Project Dagger', via Industry Analyst MauroNL on Xitter. The project was originally being published by Take-Two, but they ended that agreement in 2022. I hope People Can Fly's people can catch a break soon, Outriders was incredible fun in the moment-to-moment. Nic Reuben 20:13 pm UTCBlizzard have announced that their fan event BlizzCon won't happen in 2024. The previously yearly event only returned physically last year, but Blizzard say they're going to focus on smaller standalone events instead.
Graham Smith 20:14 pm UTCPeople Can Fly, the Polish studio behind shooters such as Painkiller, Bulletstorm and Outriders, have cancelled devleopment on a co-op action RPG. The game was being self-published, after initial publishing partner Take-Two dropped out in 2022. People Can Fly have two other projects for Microsoft and Square Enix still in-development.
Graham Smith 20:14 pm UTCKorean MMO ArcheAge is closing down its servers in Europe and North America after ten years. ArcheAge 2 is currently in development.
Graham Smith 20:15 pm UTCCosy survival hamletbuilder Diluvian Winds has released from Early Access. It's about building a home for anthropomorphic animals around the foot of a lighthouse and attempting to survive periodic tsunamis. Cute.
Graham Smith 20:16 pm UTCWonderful third-person climb 'em up Jusant is now available via GOG.
Graham Smith 20:19 pm UTCTopSpin 2k25, the first in the tennis series in over ten years, is currently out via Steam for those who purchase its £90 Deluxe Edition. It'll be out for those who buy its meagre £50 edition at midnight PST tonight. It's the latest in 2K Games' broader franchise of sports-derived microtransaction-delivery platforms.
Graham Smith 07:58 am UTC Bungie are un-setting some weapons they'd previously affectively 'sunsetted' by altering how 'Power limits' work, as part of the Final Shape. The changes are outlined in a new blog, as spotted by Push Square. Nic Reuben 07:58 am UTCFRIDAY EMBRUED
Once again in this harsh world we must draw our breath in pain to FEED THE MAW. Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 08:00 am UTCFallout 4's much-anticipated big update is out - here are the full patchnotes.
Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 08:02 am UTC Escape From Tarkov recently announced a $250 'Unheard Edition', which some players are calling pay to win, via IGN. In response, some players are even considering a lawsuit. Nic Reuben 08:05 am UTCHere's a new trailer for Karma: The Dark World - "a first-person cinematic psychological thriller" and also, a game of Dystopian Future bingo. It's set in East Germany in 1984 and casts you as an employee of the Leviathan Corporation's Thought Police. "What is time?" asks the Steam page. "A measurement of fleeting events we perceive as they pass, where terrible and joyous experiences fade into memory, obscured by a desire to leave our sadness in the past as we struggle to hold on to our fondest moments as they drift toward nostalgia." I think I'm getting a migraine. The trailer seems swish though.
Karma: The Dark World | Down the Rabbit Hole Trailer Watch on YouTube Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 08:07 am UTCcpt_freakout says: Light management game Diluvian Winds also came out today, in case anyone's interested.
This does look nice. It's got a lighthouse in it and everything.
Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 08:11 am UTC Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP is getting revealed SOON™, says Yoshimi Yasuda. That's the one what James Gunn worked on with Grasshopper. Also, the Mindless Self Indulgence guy did some music for it. What a crew! Nic Reuben 08:12 am UTCA new Counter-Strike 2 update which adds the option to put the gun in your character's left hand, amongst other things.
Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 08:27 am UTC The FCC have voted to restore net neutrality rules, reversing a 2018 ruling, via cheery RPS fanzine PC Gamer. Nice going, Fans of Carmageddon Club! Nic Reuben 08:56 am UTCBy apparent popular request, Stray Fawn Studio have added the option to feed villagers to the monster your village is built on in The Wandering Village. The survivors may be terrified into forming a cult. The monster can also get parasites now. I'm pretty sure this started out as a Wholesome Game. It seems to be slowly turning into The Shrouded Isle.
Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 11:51 am UTC 420BLAZEIT 2: GAME OF THE YEAR -=Dank Dreams and Goated Memes=- [#wow/11 Like and Subscribe] Poggerz Edition is a game that exists. I assume you are as enriched by this information as I was. Nic Reuben 14:18 pm UTC Manor Lords is now available to buy on Steam, and unsurprisingly, it's popular. So popular, in fact, that some buyers are having trouble even purchasing it. Nic Reuben 14:58 pm UTC Feast your faces on this new trailer for Fallout Miami, a huge and ambitious Fallout mod (I seem to be writing that a lot that days, modders are truly the best of of us). Cheers for the spot, PCGN! Nic Reuben 15:19 pm UTCFamed Viewtiful Joe creator Shinji Mikami (think he worked on some zombie games too), apparently wanted to leave Tango Gameworks 8 years before he actually did. If you missed it, Mikami left the Evil Within, Ghostwire: Tokyo, and Hi-Fi Rush studio last year.
"I think a lot of people were under the impression that I was the representative," said Mikami, via IGN, "but I was very close to a rank-and-file employee. I had 'producer' attached to my name, but I wasn’t an executive or anything of the sort." Mikami started a new studio earlier this year.
Nic Reuben 15:20 pm UTCA new trailer for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Серце Чорнобиля — Трейлер «Це не рай» Watch on YouTube Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 15:27 pm UTCArrowhead want you to choose the next Stratagem for Helldivers 2, by picking which planet to liberate. Rocket launcher or anti-tank mines? The eternal conundrum.
MAJOR ORDER: Helldivers, it's time to choose between liberating Choohe or Penta. Depending on your choice, you will receive either the MD-17 Anti-Tank Mines or the RL-77 Airburst Rocket Launcher.
(And you'll save the citizens. Don't forget the citizens.) pic.twitter.com/YXSlgTiRuv
Celeste’s slick movement meets Zelda’s hookshot in Oyster Wars, an “intense” platformer by an actual oyster farmer about revenge against Big Oyster - and built on some of Celeste's own player code.
Matt Jarvis 17:22 pm UTCThe Ace Attorney Turnabout Collection - bundling five Phoenix Wright games - is about to disappear from Steam, so grab it while you can (and cheap, for the next week).
Matt Jarvis 17:55 pm UTCA month after the Alone in the Dark reboot’s release - following multiplae delays out of 2023 - it looks like developers Pieces Interactive are suffering layoffs.
Matt Jarvis 21:59 pm UTCEscape From Tarkov's developers have doubled down in their belief that their new game mode is not DLC, but say that paying players will get access to it whenever the game is finished.
Graham Smith 22:00 pm UTCA banned WWE 2k24 modder has been reinstated following player backlash. WhatsTheStatus' mods will seemingly return soon, minus certain creations that impacted the stability and performance of the wrestling game.
Graham Smith 22:01 pm UTCRusty's Retirement is an idle-farming simulator designed to sit at the bottom of your screen while you do other things. It launched on Steam this week. It's like the Petz of crop gathering?
Graham Smith 22:02 pm UTCShinji Mikami, the director of Resident Evil 4 and The Evil Within, left Tango Gameworks - a studio he founded - because he wanted to move away from the survival horror genre. Mikami explained the decision in an interview with Famitsu, now translated by Automaton Media. Mikami has founded a new studio called Kamuy.
Graham Smith 22:05 pm UTCBloober Team, currently working on the Silent Hill 2 remake, also have two other projects in-development. Twitter user pl_evil translated the Polish studio's annual report, which mentions the two games. Project C will be announced this year and is an original IP developed in partnership with Private Division, and Project R is a game due in 2025 based on a Skybound IP. Skybound Entertainment was founded by Robert Kirkman, the creator of The Walking Dead.
Graham Smith 22:07 pm UTCEarly access citybuilder Manor Lords has seemingly had a successful launch, sitting at number one in Steam's top sellers chart. It reached a peak of 170,000 concurrent players today. If you're tempted, read our Manor Lords review first.
Graham Smith 22:09 pm UTCStardew Valley's 1.6.6 patch is out now. The full patch notes detail several tweaks and fixes.
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