“How have we gotten to 30 years with no RPGs?!” Sonic Team head Takashi Iizuka wants to know why the hell Sonic Team haven’t made their own Sonic The HedgehogRPGyet. He sounds positively hysterical about it, hopping mad, which you know, mate, you’ve been running the show since 2008. You’ve been working on Sonic games since1994. I too yearn to bound through the Star Post portal and into a world where Sonic has to min-max his trainers and do companion quests for Big The Cat....

Zoning out Many years ago game designers advised their peers tomake their prototypes “juicy”. They were talking about the nebulous collection of sensations a player is exposed to when heads explode, coins jangle, and balls bounce.Zenless Zone Zerois a game deeply informed by the philosophy of juice. Like the lootbox hawkers of yesteryear, gacha designers understand the appeal and power of a pleasingly animated gizmo, ker-chunking open and fizzing with potential....

Here’s where all 8 Crystal Tears in Shadow of the Erdtree are located and what they do Do you want to find all of the Crystal Tears in Shadow of the Erdtree?TheElden RingDLC,Shadow Of The Erdtree, has an abundance of new items to find, frombrand new weaponstocookbookstoSpirit Ashesyou can summon into battle. There’s also a fresh set of Crystal Tears you can acquire for your Flask of Wondrous Physick. However, getting them is no easy feat thanks to the enemies holding onto them....

No more Apex Coin freebies Ever since the hat wasinvented by Valve Corporation in 2009, mankind has grappled with questions of fairness, worthiness, and pride – at least as they pertain to microtransations infree-to-playgames. Shooty battle royaleApex Legendsis the latest to posit an answer, that being “the Battle Pass should cost more money”. In apostdetailing BP-specific changes to expect in Apex’s upcoming Season 22, publishers EA announced that the Premium Battle Pass will, from Season 22 onward, only be sold for $10 in real-world cash – a major change from previous passes, that were buyable with in-game currency that could be earned through play....

Still Wakes The Creep I gaze with alarm and approval upon the recent phenomenon of “darkstrategy” or “horror strategy” games, a devilish parade of top-down drag-clickers, fromThe Fabulous Fear MachinetoThe Tribe Must Survive, that strive to find the fear in a genre that typically places you at a managerial remove. The best-known is probablyFrostpunk, with its perpetual raging against the dying of the light, its ceaseless scrape for coal and wood as the temperature falls....

Here’s what the “I’m weary of life” dialogue option does in Shadow of the Erdtree Should you tell Thiollier “I’m weary of life” in Elden Ring: Shadow Of The Erdtree?The poisoner Thiollier, one of several new NPCs in theElden RingDLCShadow Of The Erdtree, presents you with an interesting - and somewhat frightening - dialogue option near the beginning of his questline: the fatalist-sounding phrase “I’m weary of life.” In this guide, we’ll explain exactly what happens when you choose the “I’m weary of life” dialogue option when interacting with Thiollier in Elden Ring: Shadow Of The Erdtree....

Former head opens a new studio The studio-killing fallout of Embracer’s acquisition frenzy continues to fall like ash on the industry. The publishing giant has reportedly closed Piranha Bytes, the studio known for cult RPGs likeGothic,Risen, andElex, according to a worker who spoke to Polish games siteCD-Action. The studio’s existence had been under threat since early this year, after being targeted in Embracer’spurgatorial studio massacre. At that time the German studio were hopeful to avoid being closed down, insisting"don’t write us off yet!...

Patriotism > gravity According to the wikihow page“how to fall safely”, the best way to minimise injury while falling is to stay loose, keep your arms and legs bent, and roll on impact. According to ragdoll-prone shooterHelldivers 2, however, it’s better to stand to attention in mid-air and perform a crisp salute. It’s long been known that the game’s emotes confer unexpected defensive advantages, with emergency hugs sometimes shielding you against artillery fire, but now, one redditor has proven via careful scientific experimentation that they also protect you against the force of gravity....

Here’s how to enter Enir-Ilim, the final legacy dungeon in the Elden Ring DLC Want to know how to get to Enir-Ilim in Elden Ring: Shadow Of The Erdtree?Enir-Ilim is the final region ofElden Ring’s giant DLCShadow Of The Erdtree, and is appropriately tough for even the most experienced Tarnished. Entering Enir-Ilim is a challenge in itself, as the dungeon only becomes accessible after you beat two of Shadow Of The Erdtree’s bosses....

He goes on to compliment this approach for videogames specifically. “It doesn’t stop the action, you get to stop it when you want. Games are about playing.” Sanderson reckons that having to work to piece the mystery together aligns with FromSoft’s approach to mood. “There aren’t a lot of answers, so it creates a game on top of the game.” “Can you replicate this?” he continues, referring to writing traditional fiction, “I think you possibly can....

Need a hint for today’s Connections? Read our guide for help with Connections #394 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....

Need a hint for today’s Connections? Read our guide for help with Connections #395 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....

No controller, Steam Deck or DLSS support right now FromZenless Zone ZerotoThe First Descendant, we seem to be experiencing a free-to-play explosion. Despair, ye time-constrained adults, for your carefully engineered shortage of pocket money offers no bulwark against the onslaught of games that want a slice of your evening or weekend. Today’s big release,Once Human, at least features a giant schoolbus on monster legs, together with a less exciting but customisable van that just has wheels....