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The lovely Dordogne finally has a release date The beautiful watercolour vistas ofDordognehave been on my radar for awhilenow, and happily developers Un Je Ne Sais Quoi have just announced exactly when we’ll be able to smoosh our faces in its lovely, puzzle-y paint pot. It’s coming to PC and consoles on June 13th, making it the perfect palette cleanser to all the preceding not-E3 nonsense that will be taking place in the days beforehand....

We’ve got all the exclusive details right here Elite Dangerousfinally lets its players inside its mysterious Thargoid Maelstrom clouds today thanks to the arrival ofUpdate 15, but having now seen what’s waiting inside thee huge gas giants, you know what? The Thargoids can keep this corner of the galaxy. I’m getting the hell out, because I do not have the space legs to tackle the enormous nasties lurking at the centre of them....

Developers Perfect Garbage tease a few details Last month Rachelmade us awareof a life sim calledGrave Seasons, a kind of mash up of perennial favouriteStardew Valleyand, er, the half-season serial killer arc of a police procedural TV show. Naturally this turned my head, like Tarantino walking past a ladies shoe store, and I emailed the developersPerfect Garbageto find out a bit more. They describe the game as “fun, campy and spooky” and hint at yet more secrets to be revealed....

Where did they come from? What are they for? It’s funny how some aspects of game design are so ubiquitous that we stop questioning them, or even noticing them. After decades spent playing video games, I know that if I look behind the waterfall, there’s likely to be some sort of shiny goodie to collect. If I head left rather than right at the start of a level, I’m bound to find a juicy secret....

After two years of Epic early access RPS will mostly be slumbering this Monday, May 8th, as the UK has a national holiday for some reason or other. That means I won’t be around to tell you about a stagecoach’s journey across a decaying land. I’m referring, of course, toDarkest Dungeon 2hitting 1.0 and arriving on Steam for the first time. I’m telling you now, instead. Helpfully there’s already a launch trailer and Red Hook have shared some details of their post-release plans....

I bet it’s good on Steam Deck Previously it’s only been available as a download from its own website, but now Wizards say it’ll come to Steam on May 23rd. From itsSteam page, it doesn’t sound as if it’s getting any particular features for its Steam release. It remains a trading card game that includes a tutorial, 15 unlockable decks, different game modes including Draft and Brawl, and cosmetics, card sleeves and pets to be attained via daily rewards....

Shadow Gambit phishing gambit Mimimi Games, the developers of upcoming supernatural pirate stealth-strategyShadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew, have warned that they’re being “targeted by a phishing campaign.” Apparently some nefarious party is sending out emails with a link to a website that looks nearly identical to the official Shadow Gambit site with the promise of beta access. Mimimi say that the email is not from them and that there is no beta....

The Spider Of Lanka The Case Of The Golden Idolwas one ofour favourite games of last year. It’s a detective game in which you solve a dozen murders, each presented as a freeze frame at the moment of death. It now has an expansion. The Spider Of Lanka offers three more murders to solve and acts as a prequel to the main game. Here’s a trailer: Set in 1741 in the fictional Kingdom Of Lanka, these three murders involve characters some familiar from the main game....

Update 15 brings new tools, new enemies and new missions After beinginvaded by Thargoidsat the end of last year,Elite Dangerousis now letting its players fight back in its next update. Update 15 introduces a new tool to help players finally get inside the mysterious Thargoid Maelstrom clouds that have been cropping up across the galaxy ever since the invasion began last November. However, there are also new enemy classes and Thargoid vessels to encounter, and one in particular - the Hunter-class Glaive - looks very nasty indeed....

Gunning for gold The International Olympic Committee (IOC)previously announceda very odd selection of games for their Esports Series, mostly consisting of regular Olympic-style fare, but digital. Virtual sports, if you like, rather than the typical esports titles you’d normally think of. The training programme Zwift, for example, was the esports stand-in for cycling. Chess.com was representing the - you guessed it - chess section.Just Dancewas the esport for, well, the dancing section, etc etc....

The lowest price we’ve ever seen for this RPS-recommended drive. The Crucial X8 is one of our favourite portable SSDs, having in its corner a tough and compact design, impressive speeds and very reasonable pricing. That last point is especially true today, as the 1TB model of this external SSD has dropped to £61 - nearly half of its original £116 UK RRP. I wouldn’t buy this SSD at this price - but that’s only because I already have this exact model; it’s one of my favourites!...

Tape To Tape is out now Arcadey ice hockey action slams into roguelikelike runs withTape To Tape, out now in early access. Imagine ‘NHL 94 meets Hades’ and you have a vague sense. Across a run, you travel a strange land playing hockey matches and earning upgrades to boost your team with better stats and whole new abilities. It’s an interesting idea and quite a silly game, with a daft tone and some cheery ultraviolence....

Over the last week and a bit, we’ve been steadily releasing abunchofstoriesfrom our big, hour-long chat withXCOMandMarvel’s Midnight Sunsdirector Jake Solomon that took place at this year’s GDC. It was a wide-ranging interview, looking at what Solomon plans to do next now that he’s left Firaxis, and how he feels about his 20+ year career there. You can read thecondensed version of that interview here, but as a treat for RPS supporters, I thought you might like to read our chat in full....