They’ll longship it in September Our former editor Katharine “Thorsbane” Castle has long since quit these turgid shores for the sunny uplands of Eurogamer, where the consoles multiply like rabbits, but her legacy endures. For instance, it’s thanks to her that I know and am excited aboutRoots of Yggdrasil, a roguelike deck-and-city-builder which casts you as a posse of vikings in a flying longship, touching down on floating islands to found a quick settlement and harvest some magic before the apocalypse - here known as the Ginnungagap, a swirling purple void - catches up with them....

You have some options to smooth it out, though Edwin’s been appreciatingthe acrobatic twist thatFlintlock: The Siege of Dawnputs on the Soulslite formula, but not everybody’s magical zip-zooping has been going as smoothly. Following the Steam and PC Game Pass releases yesterday, there are widespread reports of heavy stuttering spoiling the fun; I’ve given both versions a test, and indeed, Flintlock does have a serious case of the framerate stammers. Especially the Game Pass build, which issignificantlyworse for it....

Kicking its way onto Steam next year Devolver have just announcedForestrike, a 2D kung-fu game where you’renotsmashing buttons in a beat ‘em up format. Instead, you use your supernatural time-bending abilities to tactically dispatch goons in aroguelikebash through increasingly difficult levels. It looks like a mixture of things:Sifu,Katana Zero, Aesthetically Cool Stuff In General. In Forestrike, you play as Yu, a martial artist who’s trying to free the emperor from an evil admiral’s influence....

This is “exactly the sort of consumer harm” they said the deal would lead to The US Federal Trade Commission have slammed Microsoft’srecently announced Game Pass price hikesas “exactly the sort of consumer harm” they claimed would result from the Xbox publisher’snow-completed acquisition of Activision-Blizzard. In a letter sent to the US Court of Appeals this week,shared around online by Gamesfray, FTC counsel Imad D. Abyad characterises the pricing changes as a straightforward exercise inenshittification....

Just a little sin I am burning the Bishop while he sleeps. I’d say it’s nothing personal, but quite a lot in medievalmanagement simNorlandis personal. He shouldn’t have slept with the Queen’s sister, for example. He shouldn’t have insisted his lover subsequently pay him for a confession to absolve herself of the guilt accrued from sleeping with him. He shouldn’t have felt safe in a room next to the Queen, a woman described as “reckless” in her character traits, and who is perilously close to having a nervous breakdown....

“I’d rather have my lines have a little bit of dirt and grit on them” Many moons ago, I remember having a chat with Brendy aboutFPSMetro Exodus’s choice to have characters frequently speak over each other in conversation. It’s something I always appreciate in films (Brendy mentioned Fleabag, I brought up Shane Meadows), and although the flow of many ofExodus’ scenes were quite awkward, it was still refreshing to see a game break away from the common, unnatural back-and-forth line delivery....

Fowl deeds Like many an addled follower of the games industry, I have recently fallen under the spell ofBalatro, and especially, its jokers. The mechanics and overall presentation may be exquisite, but it’s the thrill of discovering another mutant jester modifier that has me lunging for the Steam Deck in my sleep. Well, now those jokers have competition: ducks. Step or rather waddle forward Placid Plastic Deck - A Quiet Quest, a quacked-up card battler which somehow takes inspiration from both thePokémonseries andInscryption....

This guide is for a previous day! Looking for today’s solution? Check out theConnections hint and answers for Thursday 12th December! Want a hint for Connections today?Piggybacking off the monumental success of daily puzzle gameWordle, the New York Times has another fantastically popular word game out now. It’s calledConnections, and if you haven’t played it before, now’s the time to start. In this guide, we’ll give you a handy hint selection for today’s Connections puzzle on Friday, July 19th, before revealing the group themes and the Connections answers themselves....

I’m happy here To see this content please enable targeting cookies.Manage cookie settings Despite not having played it myself, I gather that Bobo Bay is inspired by the Chao Gardens fromSonic Adventure. My ambivalence towards said hedgehog has not prevented me locating meditative joy in gallivanting about Bobo Bay, stealing creatures from the nearby forest, and stuffing cakes in their faces. The snacks boost your Bobo’s stats, which help them crush the cuddly competition in a series of races....

Knowledge trees Ho, wayfarer! Beware slight spoilers for Alan Wake 2 in the passages ahead. Deep in the Dark Place ofAlan Wake 2there is a forest that is not a forest - a zig-zag tunnel adorned with murals of a grisly woodland scene. Entering that tunnel, you find yourself sealed in at either end. But the mural suggests a way out: it changes when you turn around, following an unspoken narrative....

Stuck on the Wordle word for July 19? 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?We have you covered with a group of clues followed by the word if you need it, to help keep your streak firmly in place. Every day,Wordlepresents its legions of players with a deviously simple quandary: can you guess the right five-letter word within just six guesses?...

Do green herbs work for trench foot? “Are we fucked?” What a keen misery is it to realise it’s me rushing for aid - not the rotting horse corpses or the shell-shocked shaking in silent corners - that tips him off to encroaching disaster. I suppose spending so long in hell means gradual adjustments in temperature don’t really register. Not quite threadless, granted. You’ll find maps - good ones at that - marking not just locked doors but specifics....

One of the verbs is ‘punch’! A good immersive sim, by its very nature, offers myriad varied approaches to solving problems. And yet, I find myself wanting to get hyper-specific when writing about theactionofCorpus Edax, because it has an incredibly gratifying metal pipe sound, whether you’re stealthy wrapping it around the back of a blissfully unaware fool’s noggin, or lobbing it directly at their knee caps. In fact - although the game does have a delightful array of classic verbs, along with a few surprises - many of them are simply conducive to a stirring round of fisticuffs, to write my most British sentence of the week....