RuneScape co-creator returns with a new free-to-play fantasy MMO, a decade in the works

Brighter Shores aims to offer a cosier, less grindy experience than the genre’s classics The co-creator of long-runningfree-to-playfantasyMMORuneScapehas revealed the project his new studio has been working on for the last ten years. Surprise! It’s a new free-to-play fantasy MMO. But Andrew Gower and developers Fen Research insist thatBrighter Shoreswill balance its nostalgic feel with a fresh approach to the well-worn genre that Gower himself helped wear in over two decades ago....

March 15, 2024 · 2 min · 384 words · Nicholas Brown

Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection devs "working to address" bugs following disastrous launch

You might be better off playing the originals “At launch, we experienced critical errors with our network infrastructure. The result was incredibly high ping, matchmaking errors, crashes, and servers not appearing in the browser,” Aspyr explaineda post. “Since launch, we’ve been working to address these issues and increase network stability, and we will continue our efforts until our network infrastructure is stabilized to prevent further outages.” “Asides from all the issues mentioned by all the players, this repack breaks most mods for PC due to changes in the file system that to me, make no sense, since the game is as buggy as the previous version or worse,“saidmodder Harrisonfog of theBattlefront 2 Remaster project....

March 15, 2024 · 2 min · 325 words · James Washington

Stardew Valley creator confirms harvesting in a certain direction is faster - but not for long, as 1.6 fix due

Eric ‘ConcernedApe’ Barone has been teasing incoming patch notes for the massive update If you’ve ever suspected that harvesting crops inStardew Valleyis faster in one direction than another, validation is at hand. The belovedfarming sim’s creator has confirmed that the long-rumoured quirk is real, as its incoming 1.6 update prepares to fix a bug dating back almost a decade. Eric ‘ConcernedApe’ Barone dropped the detail on TwiXXer as part of an ongoing tease of patch notes and features for Stardew Valley’smassive 1....

March 15, 2024 · 2 min · 397 words · Jose Cox

Trying to emulate Hollywood movie soundtracks is holding video game music back, says Final Fantasy composer

And surprise, surprise, he doesn’t think soulless AI can write a decent score, either Developers happy to mimic the style of Hollywood blockbusters in their video game soundtracks are stopping video game music from advancing, one of the best to ever do it -Final Fantasycomposer Nobuo Uematsu - has said. Uematsu, who I probably don’t need to tell you has written some of the most iconic pieces of all time in the likes ofFinal Fantasy VII’s One-Winged Angel,Final Fantasy VIII’s Liberi Fatali andFinal Fantasy X’s To Zanarkand, told Japanese outletNewsPicks(translated byAutomaton) that the industry had become “satisfied with movie soundtrack-like music in games”, which risked reaching a point where “game music cannot develop further”....

March 15, 2024 · 3 min · 499 words · Lydia Benson

While Waiting challenges you to make your own fidgety fun as you puzzle through life's little pauses

Don’t delay in playing its Steam demo What do you reach for when you’re waiting in line at the supermarket, or waiting in a shop doorway for the rain to stop, or even while you’re waiting for a game to finish downloading? I don’t mean to assume, but let’s face it, it’s probably your phone, where some idle doomscrolling likely awaits you, or some other, time-wasting distraction that will help fill the dead air between one task and the next....

March 15, 2024 · 3 min · 613 words · Colleen Knight

Wordle hints and answer (#1000): How to solve the Friday March 15 Wordle

Stuck on today’s Wordle word for March 15? 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?...

March 15, 2024 · 6 min · 1240 words · Tyler Zuniga

Anime RPG Granblue Fantasy: Relink gets its biggest update yet with free new quest

Plus fixes for progression blocks, multiplayer balancing and camera Granblue Fantasy: Relinkhas received a sizeable game update, which adds a new, difficult quest, The Final Vision, some additional camera and aim sensitivity settings, and new Steam trophies. That’s in addition to a brace of bug fixes, character-specific balancing tweaks for multiplayer, and assorted quality-of-life improvements, including visual and audio indicators to indicate when you’ve lost your buffs. Our Alice B described Cygames' latest as a “slick JRPG wedded to the rule of cool” in ourGranblue Fantasy: Relink review, noting that “the combat is kind of weightless, but it’s layered and fun - if you can be bothered to get to the bottom of it”....

March 14, 2024 · 3 min · 484 words · Melissa Blake

Ascendant Infinity’s lunkhead tone belies an intelligent team shooter

PlayFusion’s loudmouthed FPS lets you make the calls I promise that I mean this as an actual compliment, but having played an early build ofAscendant Infinity– Cambridge-based PlayFusion’s debutFPS– the impression I keep coming back to is that it’s a lot smarter than it looks. Further clarification: by “it,” I mainly mean its characters. By the time of Ascendant Infinity, Earth has spent a millennium sliding deeper and deeper into post-apocalyptic hellishness, the few survivors being those who’ve awoken from a cryogenic freezing programme that began in the late 1980s and overran by 800-odd years....

March 14, 2024 · 5 min · 967 words · Daniel Cruz

Best early weapons in Elden Ring

Here are the best early weapons you can pick up in the starting areas of Elden Ring Looking for the best early weapons in Elden Ring?Whether you’re a returning player looking to start a freshElden Ringplaythrough before jumping into theShadow Of The ErdtreeDLC, or you’re new to the franchise, finding the best early weapons can set you up for success as you explore the challengingmapof the Lands Between, before moving onto tougherareas....

March 14, 2024 · 7 min · 1481 words · Eric Burke

Dungeons & Dragons survive-o-life sim coming from Disney Dreamlight Valley studio

Drizzt Dreamlight Valley The studio behind unexpectedly decent Mickey Mouse life simDisney Dreamlight Valleyare venturing into another fantasy land where anthropomorphic animals adventure with human chums, the Forgotten Realms setting of Dungeons & Dungeons. Today Gameloft announced they’re making a D&D game offering a “hybrid of survival, life simulation and action RPG”. They don’t have much more to share about the game, not even a name, so presumably it won’t be out for some time....

March 14, 2024 · 2 min · 308 words · Krista Nielsen

Epic's spring sale is underway, and Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is free to keep

That’s a good deal The Epic Games Store’s spring sale is underway, from today until March 28th. That makes it twice as long asSteam’s spring sale, which also started today. I’m not sure if that makes it twice as exciting, but here’s what does:Deus ExMankind Divided is free to keep for the next week. Asreported last week, you can head to theDeus Ex: Mankind Divided store pageand press a button to add it to your account for free....

March 14, 2024 · 1 min · 148 words · Hannah Tucker

Final Factory's blend of space station building and exploration will launch in April

‘Factorio in space’ blasts off April 9th Final Factoryhas already impressed via a couple of demos. It’s effectively ‘Factorioin space’: you construct space bases by chaining together machinery, protect by commanding ships and turrets to fight off alien invaders, then explore the galaxy to secure more resources. It’s now got an Early Access release date: April 9th. As per the genre stalwarts, everything you do can be automated, and much of the game is about improving the efficiency of your space station and other constructions while advancing through a huge tech tree....

March 14, 2024 · 2 min · 252 words · Craig Schwartz

Helldivers 2 Cutting Edge warbond is out, sparking fresh debate about the Illuminate faction

All the lightning guns, laser rifles and fancy armour you can eat Helldivers 2’s Cutting Edge Premium warbond, aka DLC battle pass, is now available to buy in-game, and it is chock-full of oddball gadgetry such as lightning shotguns, burst-fire laser rifles and experimental armour. As with the Arc Thrower stratagem, the lightning shotgun fires arcs of electricity that conduct between players and enemies alike, but there’s a fresh armour perk, Electrical Conduit, which reduces arc damage by 95%, allowing close-knit teams ofHelldiversto roll around the battlefield frazzling themselves without much penalty....

March 14, 2024 · 2 min · 396 words · Anne Wilson