Merry mid-October all! It's chucking it down here. This week I'm mostly playing a game of my own devising called There's A Hole In My Raincoat And I Can't Find It. The Maw is unlikely to be sated by such flotsam, so it's just as well there are also a bunch of new PC games on the cards. Please run your eyes over them while I experiment with putting my coat over a lightbulb again.
On Monday 14th October, embrace the permadeath potential of bonzai windmills in minigolf roguelite Up To Par. On Tuesday 15th October, grow yourself a colony of faeriefolk in Elven City Simulator, butcher Celtic myths in action-RPG Drova: Forsaken King, and befriend a wolf in wistful platformer Neva. On Wednesday 16th October, nothing will happen. Nothing whatsoever - not even the mocking motion of the eternal wind across the bones of our once-noble civilisations as they crumble to filaments and the sun falls hopelessly beneath the scoured horizon and reemerges on Thursday 17th October, when there is a new Mechwarrior game, and also Sniper Killer, in which you play both the titular shooter murderer and a detective trying to catch them. And finally, on Friday 18th October, there's Limb. It's a horror game where you speak to see.
These are just my highlights, as ever. Your highlights may differ. Come, let us pit our highlights against each other in gruelling deckbuildery turn-based combat. Beware, though, that I may play a "Steal" card and pinch any games you suggest for our news liveblog, below. Have a fine week.
Our live coverage of this event has finished.
Key points- 08:09 am 10/18/2024 FRIDAY RAGE-QUITS
- 08:02 am 10/17/2024 THURSDAY KICKS THE SMOKE GRENADE INTO FRIDAY'S FOXHOLE
- 07:50 am 10/16/2024 WEDNESDAY ROLLS A SMOKE GRENADE VERY SLOWLY TOWARD YOU
- 08:06 am 10/15/2024 TUESDAY RETREATS TO THE HIGH GROUND
- 08:11 am 10/14/2024 MONDAY ATTEMPTS A FLANKING MANOEUVRE
MONDAY ATTEMPTS A FLANKING MANOEUVRE
I'm not sure I even have any flanks to flank, this early in the week. FEED THE MAW. Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 08:15 am UTCThe Suicide Of Rachel Foster - "a decent enough first person explorey mystery along the lines of Firewatch or Gone Home, but, you know, not as good as either of those", according to Alice B (RPS in peace) - is getting a sequel, The Fading Of Nicole Wilson.
Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 08:16 am UTCOpen world feudal Japanese village manager Sengoku Dynasty hits 1.0 on 7th November.
Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 08:21 am UTCEvidence mounts that an Until Dawn sequel is in the offing.
Hayden Panettiere seemingly teases Until Dawn 2 in a new bonus video.
Peter Stormare (Dr. Hill) also reposted this on his story.#UntilDawn pic.twitter.com/5iwdXw4lg4
Lessing says: Steam Next Fest is this week too, yeah?
It is indeed - brace for the return of Wishlisted.
Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 08:55 am UTCIn gamejam oddity Creature Packets, you grow critters in the microwave. Ta Warpdoor.
Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 09:24 am UTCThe Spirit Of The Samurai is a gloomy dark fantasy samurai action-platformer with graphics inspired by stop-motion film. It's coming to PC on 12th December.
Spirit of the Samurai | Gameplay Trailer Watch on YouTube Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 14:36 pm UTCBithell Games have annouced Tron: Catalyst, a roguelikey top-down action game based on the 80s sci-fi film. You will: bounce a cyber frisbee off people, ride a lightcycle, and make changes to the world that persist from loop to loop. Eurogamer hath the skinny.
Disney TRON: Catalyst - Announcement Trailer Watch on YouTube Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 08:06 am UTCTUESDAY RETREATS TO THE HIGH GROUND
The Maw is tessellating! All news writers take 10 points of psychic damage and gain +4 Unearthly Symmetry. FEED IT. Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 08:07 am UTC As reported by Eurogamer, Destiny is getting a free-to-play mobile spin-off. It's a collaboration between Bungie and NetEase. Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 08:11 am UTC Former Skyrim and Starfield developer Bruce Nesmith has been talking to Videogamer about whether Bethesda should/could have done more to avoid bugs at launch. At one point, the site asked him whether developers should release a list of all identified bugs at launch, to temper expectations. “It’s an interesting problem, because when you’re in marketing, what you’re looking to do is manage expectations,” Nesmith said. “The players expectations are that the game is flawless, that it has no bugs. That is their expectation. You don’t have to like it, but it’s there. And you aren’t going to achieve it. So what marketing has to do is say, how can we get as close as possible to that expectation. How can we make it so these guys don’t hate us for what’s wrong and love us for what’s right?” Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 08:14 am UTC On a similar note, PCGamesN have been talking to Starbreeze about what the hell happened with Payday 3. “A lot of the problems were due to the fact that we didn’t do our due diligence well enough,” lead producer Andreas Penniger told the site. “We built Payday 3 while trying to understand what we wanted, in parallel. It ended up being a product that people didn’t resonate with. I think we were a bit confident from the success of Payday 2 that we ended up making decisions too quickly.” Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 08:16 am UTC Former Rare boss Craig Duncan is now head of Xbox Game Studios, taking over from Alan Hartman. Ta, GI. Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 08:17 am UTCHighly enticing roadtrip RPG Keep Driving has only just been revealed and it already has a demo.
Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 08:26 am UTCIf you enjoy John Woo movies and/or prodigiously smoky gun muzzles, you might like Cop Bastard, which has a recently updated demo.
Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 08:42 am UTCSpace Engineers, an early access interplanetary sandboxer which a youthful Adam Smith was greatly enthusiastic about over 10 years ago, has received a chunky free update. I haven't played this, but people seem to like it, though it doesn't have the wide-eyed dreaminess of the obvious comparison, No Man's Sky.
Space Engineers | Update 1.205 - Contact Watch on YouTube Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 08:59 am UTCGrid-based tactics game Knights In Tight Spaces has joined the throng of Steam Next Fest demos, deploying its mastery of close-quarter combo effects to bludgeon out some breathing room. I owe this one a write-up from GDC 2024 - it's head-cracking good fun.
Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 09:04 am UTCCrescent Scythe is a just-announced 3D platformer "with major neo-Y2K inspirations, set inside a virtual cyberscape." It looks nicely fluid and spaced-out, though there are bullet hell elements.
Crescent Overload - Trailer 1 Watch on YouTube Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 07:50 am UTCWEDNESDAY ROLLS A SMOKE GRENADE VERY SLOWLY TOWARD YOU
You are powerless to do anything except watch its oddly hypnotic approach, for some reason. Feed it! Nic Reuben 07:54 am UTC Dragon Age: The Veilguard won't have DRM, via Siliconera. "We trust you," says Mike Gamble. Nic Reuben 07:56 am UTCSpace Marine 2's new operations map is adding a massive Hierophant Biotitan boss. Swear I had one of these guys in a massive load of Epic 40K, which was what they used to call Legions Imperalis.
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 - Official Post-Launch Overview Trailer Watch on YouTube Nic Reuben 08:02 am UTC According to Bloomberg, Bandai Namco are cutting their workforce (via circuitous means obliged by Japanese labour protection laws) after cancelling several games. An excerpt: "The Tokyo-based company is taking a traditionally Japanese approach to reducing staff by sending workers to rooms where they are given nothing to do, putting pressure on them to leave voluntarily, according to people familiar with the matter. Since April, affiliate Bandai Namco Studios Inc. has moved about 200 of its roughly 1,300 employees to such rooms and nearly 100 have resigned, said the people, asking not to be named discussing private information. More are expected to leave in coming months, they said." Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 08:03 am UTC I'm savagely addicted to Mechabellum. This isn't really news but it's news to me! It's everything I've ever imagined competetive RTS to be, except my reaction speed being roughly comparable to a piece of Shredded Wheat isn't a hindrance. I'm actually winning. Against other humans! Nic Reuben 08:04 am UTCCan't remember if we've blogged this before, but: look, a site made up of rotatable 3D renders of ancient PC game boxes!!! I couldn't find Homeworld: Cataclysm, sadly, but I wept copiously over the Fallout 2 boxset. I'd forgotten what the back of it looked like.
Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 08:06 am UTC"A bad year to be a bug" is a tweet I saw t'other day, with pictures of Helldivers 2, Space Marine 2, and the new Starship Troopers game. Indeed it is. Helldivers 2 got another patch yesterday. Here's one of those very long videos they like to do.
Helldivers 2 - 60-Day plan conclusion and Patch notes Watch on YouTube Nic Reuben 14:07 pm UTCRogue Flight has a demo on Steam. Graham wrote this up a couple of weeks back - it's a gorgeous 3D space shooter in the Star Fox tradition, "inspired by prestige anime."
Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 08:02 am UTCTHURSDAY KICKS THE SMOKE GRENADE INTO FRIDAY'S FOXHOLE
Whoever wins, we lose. FEED THE MAW. Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 08:05 am UTCMechwarrior 5: Clans is out today, although some folk are having performance issues according to Steam reviews.
MechWarrior 5: Clans - The Invasion Begins Now - Launch Trailer Watch on YouTube Nic Reuben 08:25 am UTCHades 2 has received a major update, adding a new region and weapon plus some new familiars. The patch notes are titanic. Where is Brendy. SAVE US BRENDY.
Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 08:28 am UTC Here's a fun one. Videogamer have published another slice from their chinwag with Bethesda veteran Bruce Nesmith, in which he discusses The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion's infamous Horse Armour DLC, a byword for cheeky monetisation even today. According to Nesmith, "part of the Horse Armour story is you’re going to make mistakes when you’re the first one in the water on something like that." Quite correct - you should never try to make an armoured horse swim. Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 08:32 am UTC Here's a potentially interesting one: KKCKC is a roguelike that takes place entirely on your keyboard. It's, uh, hard to explain. Just look at it. Nic Reuben 08:35 am UTC I played a bit of Silly Polly Beast's demo yesterday. It's a top-down/fixed perspective horror-shooter about a girl who runs away from an orphanage and ends up in the netherworld. A little bit Silent Hill 3, a little bit Alice In Wonderland, a little bit Lycoris Recoil, maybe. Be warned that the story includes threat of sexual assault. Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 08:54 am UTC "The city builder is dead, long live the county builder", declares the press release for County Of Fortune, in which you grow several medieval settlements alongside each other. "As your county expands, unique cultural traits emerge based on the characteristics you cultivate in each settlement," explains the Steam blurb. "These traits influence how your communities develop, making every county region or even village distinct. Will you choose a unified county under a single culture or adapt your playstyle in each region to use strengths of different cultures?" Hmm, I'm not sure "county builder" is such a departure from "city builder", but I'm interested. Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 13:15 pm UTCHarvest Hunt - a first-person survival horror directed by former Rockstar Games developer Valentina Chrysostomou - is getting a big Halloween update on 23rd October. Find a trailer below. I haven't played this but it looks like a graphic novel and seems to involve a lot of lurking in cornfields.
Watch on YouTube Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 18:24 pm UTCFresh from the release of the Silent Hill 2 remake, Bloober have announced a new horror game, Cronos: The New Dawn. Going by the trailer, it's similar to chess-boxing, except that it's actually chess-survival-horror-shooting.
Cronos: The New Dawn - Official Cinematic Reveal Trailer Watch on YouTube Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 19:24 pm UTCBlindfire has surprise launched into early access. It's an eight-player PvP shooter from Double Eleven, formerly developers of Prison Architect 2. The twist is that it takes place in the dark, with maps lighting up gradually and players tracking each other by means of muzzle flash and sonar tech.
Blindfire - Announce & Early Access Reveal - Light Them Up | Xbox Partner Preview October 2024 Watch on YouTube Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 08:09 am UTCFRIDAY RAGE-QUITS
But we cannot rage-quit the Maw. FEED IT. Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 08:14 am UTCrenner says: I'm curious about this Unknown 9 game that came out today but every Steam review seems to be from anti-woke culture warrior dorks. I should probably just give up on the usefulness of that particular Steam feature.
I was trying to preview this at GDC, but they didn't have space for me. I like the looks of the "Jedi fisticuffs" combat but the game as a whole doesn't seem spellbinding. Perhaps we'll manage a write-up at some point.
Unknown 9: Awakening – Cinematic Launch Trailer Watch on YouTube Edwin Evans-Thirlwell 08:21 am UTCFullbright have surprise-released Toilet Spiders, the first in a series of lo-fi shortform horror games. It's about horrible spiders hiding in toilets. Why would you do this to me, Fullbright.
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