“There’s good energy” for the team right now, says game director In more ways than one, today’sTotal War: Warhammer 3expansion marks a milestone for game director Rich Aldridge and his team at Creative Assembly. Omens Of Destruction’s three headline legendary lords each bring new campaigns and units for their respective factions, but it’s the fourth lord - a Khorne champion free to all players - that I imagine Aldridge will end up remembering the most fondly....

Blippo is really fun to say I have to write at least 250 words for a news post. Rock Paper Shotgun’s CMS (content management system) even has a built-in widget that shouts at me if I don’t write at least 250 words. “Page 1 body content is quite short” it says if I go under. How cute is that “quite”? I love being fooled into getting charmed by automated systems via colloquial British understatement....

A standalone release with a brand new mode Hand-drawn “over five years”, Short Trip is the work of developer Alexander Perrin. And in it, you use the left and right keys to drive a tram across a sketched mountainscape. As you trundle past trees and nice cottages, you’ll drop off cat passengers and pick up new ones. There’s no ultimate aim here, besides chilling out, absorbing the wonderful aesthetics, and feeling more zen once you’ve had your fill....

Now “focusing on the development of a single independent game” Bulletstorm, Painkiller andOutridersdevelopers People Can Fly are “suspending or parting ways” with over 120 people, shelving one video game project, downsizing another, and “restructuring some of our support teams” in the face of market turmoil. “This action became necessary as external market pressures persisted beyond our forecasts,” writes chief executive officer Sebastian Wojciechowski onXitter. “The video game market is still evolving, and we have to adjust with where things are today....

Spore without the boring bits? Infamous evolutionary flopSpore, for all its flaws, still had a lot of magic to it. It was fun to design your weird creatures, to watch them try to walk, and - in principle - to turn your humble creations into a spacefaring species. Curiosmos is a very different game, but it has a little of the same appeal. It’s a galactic playground in which you smash meteors together to make planets, then tinker with the ecosystems of those planets to make life and watch that life evolve....

Finally, a weapon to surpass the Reaver Ever wondered what the intro cutscene toLegacy Of Kain: Soul Reaverwould sound like voiced by Solid Snake actor David Hayter? Quite specific of you, but a new documentary from Noclip might just have what you’re looking for. The Past, Present & Future of Soul Reaver interviews key developers from theactionadventure game, and about halfway through host Danny O’ Dwyer gets hold of some archive materials, including old audition tapes....

All the better to Hyper Light Fixit The “Breakers” of the title are an organisation of warriors and explorers attempting to save the world after a war. What those Breakers do, and where its similar to its predecessor, is explore a world full of strange, abandoned buildings, with a plentiful sense of mystery. You’ll also scavenge items that you can use to create your character build and change how you approach combat, and that combat is a mixture of ranged and melee with combos and parries....

A daft joke and an annual RPS Christmas tradition Creation is an act of kindness. One person sloughs off a piece of themselves, shapes it, wraps it, and sends it out into the world in the hope that it might mean something to someone else. Other people do this for us all the time and mostly we don’t even notice. The work is unseen and unremarked upon even as, through repetition, we come to depend upon it....

Need some Connections hints today? Read our guide for help with Connections #548. This guide is for a previous day! Looking for today’s solution? Check out theConnections hint and answers for Thursday 12th December! Looking for a hint to help with today’s Connections puzzle on 11th December?Connecting words isn’t easy, so if you’re struggling to find the puzzle solution, this guide can help you out. Connectionsis a word puzzle game published every day by the New York Times (NYT), the hosts of the endlessly popularWordlepuzzle....

Here’s how to Ascend your class in Path of Exile 2 by completing the Trial of the Sekhemas Trying to figure out how to complete the Trial of the Sekhemas in Path of Exile 2?As you progress throughPath of Exile 2, you’ll soon feel the need to Ascend and take your character class to the next level. This can be done via the Trial of Sekhemas, one of the Ascendancy Trials included in Path of Exile 2’s Early Access....

Here’s a guide on how to use the Witch’s skeleton reinforcements to pummel your foes Looking for the best Witch build in Path of Exile 2?As the Witch, you’ll raise skeletal minions to subdue all enemies inPath of Exile 2. The Witch serves as the only class in the game that starts with a small army at her disposal, and this army will only grow in size and power with every level....

Choose between Standard, Hardcore, and Solo Self-Found Leagues in Path of Exile 2 Curious about the Path of Exile 2 game modes and endgame?Before jumping into the campaign, you’ll have to choose a game mode, a.k.a. aPath of ExileLeague. Different Leagues come with different difficulty levels and social options, so it’s important to know what you’re getting into. Pick the best option to help you reach endgame, and when you do, you’ll be able to dive into various endgame modes such as the Breach and Delirium challenges....

Developers apologise for delayed replies to support requests Back when I playedPath Of Exile 2at Summer Games Fest, I fought a cave-dwelling boss who summoned hordes of grotty subterranean wildlife to swamp me. Fortunately, I was rolling a Witch - perhaps thebest beginner POE2 class- so I could summon an army of skeletons in response. A similar horde vs horde encounter is underway at POE 2 developers Grinding Gear Games. The game launched in early access over the weekend, and has already drawn so many players that the developers are emergency-hiring additional staff to cope with the waves of support emails....