But the game itself is in “good shape”, apparently The report in question is from The Verge’s Tom Warren - as sturdy a source as they come. Writing on hisNotepad blog(paywall), Warren claimed that Avowed is in “good shape”, and that the delay is “more a matter of wanting to give the game breathing room during a very busy period for Xbox Game Pass”. As with all current fantasy RPGs, it must also reckon with (perhaps unfair) expectations created by last year’sBaldur’s Gate 3, whose spell and ability combos knock what I’ve seen of Avowed’s combat alchemy into a cocked hat....

The lauded expansion has apparently sold worse than the panned Lightfall On Wednesday, it emerged that Bungie were laying off 220 people - about 17% of their total workforce - across multiple departments including design, art, narrative, and sound. Additionally, they announced the transfer of a further 155 roles to SIE, with the aim to form a new PlayStation studio working on an “untitled incubation project.” CEO Pete Parsonsattributedthe upheaval to dire financial straits at the studio, mentioning “a broad economic slowdown, a sharp downturn in the games industry,” and “our quality miss withDestiny 2: Lightfall”....

Senior Destiny 2 devs behind mystery project leave as part of massive reductions Bungie have reportedly cancelled Payback, an unannounced project in the Destiny universe from formerDestiny 2game director Luke Smith and project lead Mark Noseworthy. Both Noseworthy and Smith appear to have lost their jobs in the course of Bungie’sbrutal cost-cuttingthis week, but Payback’s cancellation pre-dates the layoffs. Envisaged as a Destiny spin-off, rather than Destiny 3, it was apparently dropped “a while ago”....

Alkimia build on the fine work of now-shuttered Piranha Bytes Gothic unfolds in a magically quarantined penal colony, where human convicts mine ore for weapons with which to fight a losing war against the Orcs. Shortly before you enter the picture, however, the overseer wizards screw up their calculations, trapping themselves inside the valley. Then, the prisoners seize control of the mines and form a rogue nation consisting of three factions....

Developers share plans for rebalancing, new voiceovers and chapter 2 Nailgun-toting FEAR-meets-GZDoomFPSSelacois now Steam Deck Verified, allowing you to either impress or appal fellow train commuters with your knack for pixel splatter. That’s not all: developers Altered Orbit Studios have outlined planned features for the next round of updates. They include backpacks that considerately replenish your weapons, fresh story material, a tune-up for the enemy AI in the game’s second chapter, and a “Randomizer” system that scrambles spawns and pick-ups while introducing weapon rarities, for beaucoup replay value....

Existing preorders will be refunded Jail shake-and-breaker management simPrison Architect 2has been delayed indefinitely, a couple of months after publishers Paradox parted ways with original developers Double Eleven. Current developers Kokku will use the additional time “to improve both the game’s performance and its content”. Additionally, Paradox are removing the option to preorder the game until they have a “robust” release timeline. Existing preorders on all platforms will be refunded, and all preorder-exclusive items will be added into the base game....

Is it enough to separate it from Valorant or CS? WithValorant, Riot set out to integrate a bit of hero shooter into the Counter Strike template and made it a little more accessible than CS in the process. Now Mountaintop Studios, a new studio whose ranks include ex-Bungie and Respawn devs, have chucked themselves into the tacticalFPSgauntlet withSpectre Divide. Made with input from former CS pro and streamer Shroud, it looks a bit like a mix of CS and Valorant, but has a big gimmick that sets it apart from the two: you can swap between two bodies....

From the devs behind This Is The Police THQ Nordic have announcedThe Eternal Life Of Goldman, a hand-drawn platformer fromThis Is The PoliceandHollywood Animaldevs Weappy. I caught a brief presentation earlier in the week and yeah, this seems promising. On the one hand, it reminds me of cheery 16-bit hop ‘n’ boppers like, say, the Mega Drive adaptation ofDisney’s Aladdin. On the other, it makes me think of side-scrolling Soulslikes (Scroulslikes?...

THQ Nordic releases first in-game trailer Titan Quest 2! Now there’s a name you can set your watch by. No colons, no bespoke jargon, no tortuous subtitles like “Gaia’s B.O.U.N.T.Y.” or “Hyperion’s Wild Rumpus” - just the steadying prospect of a titanic quest that, who knows, may involve actual titans. The action-RPGbeneath the moniker appears similarly straightforward: it’s about following a plot thread through a mythological world in top-down view, smashing Ancient Greek giga-crabs and the like to obtain shinier, pointier varieties of gear....

“The gameplay is fun” reads the actual Steam page Toonsouls, which you can find on Steamhere, doesn’t appear to screenshot especially well. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big fan of those perpetually disgruntled ghosts and charming goofskulls, but I might not be writing about theplatform gameat all if I hadn’t seen it in motion, where the vision comes together a lot more. TheCupheadinfluence runneth so overly that it feels trite to even point it out, and I do think maybe opting for different music would have served it far better in this case, but you can’t deny that Ghosts n’ Goblins lance throw....

Stuck on the Wordle word for August 2? Read our hint or find the answer below! This guide is for a previous day! Looking for today’s solution? Check out theWordle hint and answer for Thursday 12th December! Need a hint for today’s Wordle answer?Wordleis an addicting but challenging test of word acumen. Luckily, you’re in the right place for some assistance. Every day, Wordle presents its legions of players with a deviously simple quandary: can you guess the right five-letter word within just six guesses?...

Stuck on today’s Wordle word for August 3? Read our hint or find the answer below! This guide is for a previous day! Looking for today’s solution? Check out theWordle hint and answer for Thursday 12th December! Need a hint for today’s Wordle answer?Wordleis an addicting but challenging test of word acumen. Luckily, you’re in the right place for some assistance. Every day, Wordle presents its legions of players with a deviously simple quandary: can you guess the right five-letter word within just six guesses?...

Goo-fing around The firstWorld Of Goowas a cheerful parade of goopy engineering with a sense of never-ending novelty (well, never-ending for about four hours). Every level would introduce a new goo type or a twist on the basic bridge-building puzzle that challenged you to get a gaggle of gurgling balls to the nearest pipe.World Of Goo 2pursues that sense of novelty with just as much twitchy eagerness as its predecessor, throwing new toys and goos at the player in an effort to keep you on your sludge-coated toes....