Along with outsourcing specialists QLOC 1C Entertainment, the publishers of games likeMen Of WarandKing’s Bounty, have been bought by Tencent. Among the 1C subsidiaries hoovered up are Muve, Cenega and QLOC, the latter of which provide co-development, testing and localisation services to companies like EA, Warner Bros. and many others. This is the second company Tencent have bought this week, with them picking upInflexion Games, the makers of survival game Nightingale....

Keep your friends close… I’ve been playing theSteam Next Festdemo ofThe Wandering Village, a city-builder that has you rustle up a community on the back of a roaming beast. It’s called Onbu and it couldn’t give a monkey’s that you’re on its back just trying to get by. At first, that is. Eventually you’re able to strike up a bit of a relationship with the big lizard and build a sort of symbiotic relationship....

All the Steam Deck games that passed Valve’s tests TheSteam Deckis a fun piece of kit, though the smiles might drop if a certain game turns out to be incompatible with it. Fortunately, Valve have acompatibility review programmein place, which aims to test every game on Steam and categorise them by how affable they are to the handheld PC’s SteamOS software and control setup – as well as how well they perform....

Literally, pulling your character’s face to set his expression Moody new adventure gameWho’s Lila?has an interesting alternative to selecting dialogue options: pulling faces. And you really have to pull the face. Drag your fella’s facial features around to form expressions, and that emotion will be the foundation of his behaviour in conversation. It’s an interesting challenge on a timer, and the intentional performance of emotion feels perfectly sinister when maybe we know a little too much about a missing person....

With GOG also donating their profits from both games Profits from the next seven days of sales fromThis War Of MineandSlipwayswill be donated to the Red Cross to support people affected by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Both developers posted the announcement on Twitter today, with GOG joining in by saying that their share of sales of both games will also be donated. 11bit Studios, GOG and Slipways developer Jakub Wasilewski are all based in Poland....

Flight risk Harriers are rare among the bird family, in that they’re one of the very few birds to have been overtaken in popularity by their namesake fighter jet*. Mention a harrier anywhere outside of an ornithology summit and people will assume you’re talking about the hovering aeroplane rather than the diurnal hawk. Tell somebody your harrier is hungry and they’re as likely to chuck a vole into a turbine as they are to feed it into your pet bird’s gullet....

Learn new draconic incantations at the Church and Cathedral of Dragon Communion Looking for the Church and Cathedral of Dragon Communion in Elden Ring?In ourbest faith build in Elden Ring, we cover a range of draconic incantations that you can buy with Dragon Hearts. To purchase these spells, you must travel to either the Church or Cathedral of Dragon Communion, two ruined structures that house draconic altars. In this guide, we will explain where to find both the Church and Cathedral of Dragon Communion inElden Ring, so that you can learn draconic incantations and unleash fiery fury on your enemies....

How to get the best armor sets in Elden Ring early on Looking for the best Elden Ring armor?Debating just what is the best armor inElden Ringis a tricky conundrum as it depends on whatbuildyou’re optimising for. Due to that, we’ve decided to cultivate a list of the best armor sets in Elden Ring for heavy, light, mage builds and more. This is whilst exploring the best sets to get early in the game for any Tarnished newbies or players looking to restart the game ahead of theShadow Of The ErdtreeDLC....

The best choices of starting origin for beginners, those looking for an extra challenge, and everyone in-between Looking for the best Elden Ring class?Whether you’re an experiencedElden Ringveteran starting a fresh playthrough before jumping intoShadow Of The Erdtree, or you’re a complete newbie, picking your starting class can be a daunting task. With ten to choose from, all boosting differentattributes, there are pros and cons to each class. Below we’ve gone through the best Elden Ring classes for melee, magic, beginners and those that will pose the hardest challenge for any thrill seekers....

We talk to Dan Pinchbeck for Esther’s birthday Influential first-person exploration gameDear Estherreleased commercially 10 years ago this month. But before it was on the front page of Steam and selling like hotcakes, it was a Half Life 2 mod cooked up by designer and writer Dan Pinchbeck and a group of friends. “I was doing a PhD, weirdly, on first person shooters,” Pinchbeck says. As part of that, he had been reading a lot of game studies, but had mixed feelings about sitting back and talking about what could, should, or ought to be done in games....

Your Elden Ring weapons' elemental affinities explained, and how to change them What are affinities in Elden Ring?Affinities are the elemental powers your character has the chance to use to upgrade their weapons inElden Ring. Depending on an item’s affinity, its scaling value can change. This means that you can tweak the attribute scaling of a weapon to affect its attack power, and in some cases, deal elemental damage or inflict status ailments with your attacks....

Which Keepsake should your character start their journey with? Which Keepsake should you pick for your character in Elden Ring?DuringElden Ring’s character creation phase you’re prompted to pick your character’s origin, tweak their appearance to your liking, and finally choose a Keepsake for them. Keepsakes are a single, helpful starting item that, unlike everything else in your character’s loadout, is completely independent of theirorigin class: no matter which class you’ve picked, you can equip them with any Keepsake that’s to your liking....

Use these easy rune farming locations to level up quickly in Elden Ring Want to know the best rune farming locations in Elden Ring?Much like souls in FromSoftware’s previous action RPG titles, runes are a currency inElden Ringwhich also can be expended to level up your character. It’s very important to keep spending your runes as soon as you get them, because they can be lost easily in a game as harsh and unforgiving as Elden Ring....