Our weekly news liveblog
Time for another week desperately shovelling quotes, release dates and trailers into the Maw, our weekly news liveblog and also, an abyssal abomination poised to guzzle the waking world and all forms of existence, unless we can satisfy its hunger for headlines. The year is starting to pick up, with a few intriguing titles slated to drop this week in addition to the widely acclaimedPrince of Persia: The Lost Crown, out 18th Jan, which Katharine has called"a deep and challenging Metroid-like with some of the best platforming this side of Moon’s Ori games".
Here are some other new games out in the next five days which we are holding to our ears and shaking gently: Victorian steampunk RPGSovereign Syndicate(15 Jan), analog horror call centre simulatorHome Safety Hotline(16 Jan), 4X god simDominions 6(17 Jan), paranormal spec ops FPSContain(16 Jan, early access), roguelike auto-battlerThe Last Flame(17 Jan, early access), turn-based strategy RPGAll Quiet In The Trenches(17 Jan), post-apocalyptic town builderNew Cycle(18 Jan), comedic action-adventure sequelTurnip Boy Robs A Bank(18 Jan), Pokemon shoxploitation simPalworld(19th Jan, early access).
Our live coverage of this event has finished.
IT IS MONDAY- another beautiful day in the Maw! Every meal a banquet, every paycheck a fortune - I LOVE THE MAW. FEED IT.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Gamestop hasclosedits NFT marketplace.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Overwatch 2 game director Aaron Keller has some follow-up thoughts aboutthe recent announcement that DPS and tank heroes will be given the ability to self-heal, in a bid to make life less frustrating when your support players are goofing off. He notes that “it was a mistake to talk about this lone change out of context, since its a part of a much bigger set coming to Season 9.”
Clarifying a few things with the self-heal. It’s one part of a much larger set of changes coming to the game in S9. Internally we’re talking about, and targeting some of these changes at damage spikiness in game, the role of DPS in securing kills, and the strength of healing.https://t.co/Ay68KOZAFD
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Aspassed on by MP1st, Raven Software lead designer Michael Gummelt has made mention of some cancelled projects on hisLinkedin. These include “an ambitious new Call of Duty: Zombies live service project” and “two highly playable, well-developed prototypes as proof of concept for a revival of a classic Raven IP”.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Against The Stormis getting a 1.1 update. We might wait till the actual release changelog to write this up, but provisional notes include new orders, aka ways for the game’s sinister Queen to boss you around.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
–Jeremy Blum
Ark: Survival Ascended is getting a bunch of new mod tools. I’vedone a proper news post about it.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
As passed on byEurogamer, a rumoured Halo battle royale game from Certain Affinity has been cancelled. The source is insider Shpeshal_Nick, who EG’s EIC Tom Phillips considers “reliable”. I consider EG’s EIC Tom Phillips reliable, so am posting this here.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Asrevealedby former producer Jared Pace and reported byAftermath, a “sizeable portion” of Gearbox-owned Lost Boys Interactive have been laid off.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Katharine’s dug up a promising platformer that’sa bit like Donkey Kong Country, care of the Xitter search phrase"your game is too much like".
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Historical medical management sim War Hospital is out. I wrotea quick piecebased on an hour or two with it.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Alice Bell, meanwhile, has been playing aretro-style point and click adventure called Twilight Oraclethat has “toddler throwing up Skittles” aesthetics. There’s a demo for you to sample, assuming that quote didn’t scare you off.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
And Alice0 hasthoughts on Mobile Suit Baba, a mixture of Into The Breach and Baba Is You, which is very much not a combination of inspirations I ever dreamed would exist.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
The devs behind chill renovation sim House Flipper 2 have outlined their plans for the game’s upcoming updates, ranging from crucial bug fixes to some nasty save problems through to introducing features missing from the first game, such as a before-and-after comparison to view your hard work. Expect a first hotfix later this week, with more to follow.
–Matt Jarvis
A new month,a new rumour around the release date for Elden Ring DLC Shadow of the Erdtree! This one has some credence to it, though, with a recent update to Steam’s backend hinting at a mysterious incoming DLC for the game. If it’s soon, as the update implies, that would also line up with the previous leak of a February launch date, too.
Time will tell, but the signs look good for something - whether that’s the long-awaited expansion or not - headed to Elden Ring very shortly…
–Matt Jarvis
–Matt Jarvis
–Matt Jarvis
IT IS TUESDAY. London shivers in the grip of dire midwinter. All local videogame news writers gain +7 Frostheart. Blow into cupped hands and FEED THE MAW.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
The ex-Witcher bods at Rebel Wolves havenamedtheir upcoming dark fantasy RPG project, as passed on byEG. It’s called… Dawnwalker.
Usually we don’t comment on rumours.However, since we’ve heard something through the grapevine…Yes, we are working on Dawnwalker!pic.twitter.com/oVshT2n0l5
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Cities: Skyline 2 developers Colossal Order areworriedabout a “growing tendency of toxicity” in their community, as passed on byPCGamer.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Voice actor Ned Luke has called out a company called WAME for creating a chatbot based on his voice performance as Michael De Santa in GTA 5, apparently without his or Rockstar’s permission. WAME have now taken the chatbot offline. Cheers,PCGamesN.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
I did not realise that The Division 2 has apublic trello. As reported byMP1st, forthcoming update and live service plans include a wrangle with the community about whether to allow gear-swapping in combat, which the devs worry “would diminish the tactical nature of the game”.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Some morning pick-me-up music - Rush’s YYZ. Please somebody else recommend some music on here because we are trending well into Edwin’s Teenage Listens and it’s only a matter of time before I post some Jethro Tull.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Take Two and Remedy are having a legal battle over the design of Remedy’s latest company logo, which Take Two feel is too similar to the Rockstar Games logo,as reported by Respawn First.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Microprose will releasea “redux” versionof elderly flight sim B-17 Flying Fortress: The Mighty 8th into Steam early access on 23rd January.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Good news, Game Passers.Frostpunk 2is getting aday one Game Pass launch. No word on when that launch is happening just yet, though the YouTube blurb on its first gameplay trailer suggests it will be before June this year.
–Katharine Castle
Total War: Pharaoh is getting a High Tide update with two new playable factions and various new campaign mechanics, units and, er, gods. Here be the trailer.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Rapper T-Pain is contributing to GTA 6 in some way, andsays Rockstar have banned him from playing GTA Online RPwhile he does so, in keeping with Rockstar’s mixed feelings about/outright antipathy towards GTA mod servers in general. TaPCGamer.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Minecraft is collaborating with the BBC again in the shape ofMinecraft Education: Planet Earth III, afree mapin which you play/learn about a series of animals, from great white sharks to Arctic wolves.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Roguelite citybuilder Against The Storm’supdate 1.1 is out now, as Edwin teased was coming yesterday, although PC Game Pass players should tread carefully as the developers had suggested they backup saves before updating.
–Graham Smith
–Graham Smith
Prison Architect 2 will feature robust mod support, including abuilt-in mod editor for PC players, game director Gaz Wright tells us.
–Graham Smith
Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League has a launch trailer now, which aims to “Do The Impossible” aka “make the game look appealing”:
–Graham Smith
This isn’t news but I managed to miss that The Many Pieces Of Mr. Coo came outon Steamlate last year, after the stunning animated teaser trailer that made the rounds seven years ago:
–Graham Smith
Alright, I’m out. I’m going to go watch Nujabes covers on YouTube until it’s time to sleep.
–Graham Smith
WEDNESDAY IT IS. FEED THE MAW.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Blizzard have revealed Diablo 4 Season 3, aka Season of the Construct. It begins January 23rd at 10 am PST/6pm UK, and sees you fighting automatons and the forces of the demon Malphas in the deserts of Kehjistan. Morehere.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Over at the StayPlation blog, Aspyr havedetailedhow they’re updating Tomb Raiders 1-3 for the forthcoming remasters, which let you swap between new and original graphics and control schemes. Go team tank controls!
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
As passed on byEurogamer, Sea of Thieves is getting… fast travel? Per the game’s Season 11 updates, you’ll be able to sink between the waves and resurface at your destination Flying-Dutchman-style after selecting a voyage. You’ll lose all the loot you’re carrying in the process, however.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
A couple of upcoming games I spotted last night. Firstly,dev_hell, a first-person roguelike deckbuilder in which you are a software developer at the worst company ever. The announcement materials compare it to Inscryption.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
And secondly,Star Stuff, a cute puzzler in which you explore a factory that makes stars, programming robots to solve challenges. This one’s got a demo coming on Friday.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Today’s Starfield megapatch has been delayed to “later this week” while they iron out some kinks.
We discovered an issue we want to address before releasing our update into the Steam Beta. We’re aiming to release it later this week but we’ll confirm timing when we know for sure. Thanks for your patience!https://t.co/XnevDP9Baz
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Thunderful - the Swedish group who own the developers and publishers of SteamWorld, among others - have announced that they will lay off 20% of their workforce after a period of “over-investment”. Here’s myfull story for RPS.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
oh my god the Alone in the Dark remake deluxe edition comes with retro skins for Carnby and Hartwoodthis looks amazing, March 20th can’t come soon enough😭😭pic.twitter.com/W8E5ULP12u
–Jeremy Blum
Well then. Little Bat Games have announced Vampire Therapist, in which you “guide vampires through centuries of emotional baggage, decades of delusions and the odd bout of self-loathing with real cognitive behavioral therapy concepts”. Not only is your character a vampire therapist - he’s also a former cowboy. Here’s theSteam page. It’s out June 17th.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
You asked for it.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Embark have updated The Finals with a new Solo Bank It mode, in which 12 players race to amass 40,000 Cash. Here arethe full patch notes.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
The Tribe Must Survive, a tribe-building sim set in the “Lovecraftian Stone Age”, is coming to Early Access on February 22nd.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Bulwark: Falconeer Chronicles, the citybuilding spin-off of Tomas Sala’s aerial dog/falcon-fighting game The Falconeer, islaunching on PC on March 26th. There will also be a new demo arriving onSteamin two weeks time on January 30th.
–Katharine Castle
Gang Beasts co-developers Radical Forge have revealed Southfield, anentertaining-looking mix of the chaotic physics-y sandbox of Human: Fall Flat and the cozy farming of Stardew Valley. You can play with up to four people in co-op, and it’ll be entering Early Access shortly after a Steam Next Fest demo in February. It looks like it could be silly fun!
–Matt Jarvis
If you were hoping to check out Starfield’s biggest update yet today, bad news: its beta release on Steamhas been pushed back a few days. Bethesda put the delay down to needing to address a mysterious “issue”, with an exact release date now TBC, but still expected this week. It’ll bring over 100 fixes and improvements to graphics when it arrives.
–Matt Jarvis
The Finals’ 1.5 update is live, introducing the multiplayer shooter’s first time-limited mode - a solo free-for-all spin on Bank It. There’s also a bunch of balance tweaks, bug fixes and improved cheat detection, plus an expanded store offering.
–Matt Jarvis
Cult of the Lamb’s Sins of the Flesh - aka the sex update -has come.
–Matt Jarvis
Big fan of Endwalker’s low-poly grapes (RIP) being honoured with a lamppost in Final Fantasy XIV’s latest 6.55 patch, as shown here by YouTuberMeoni. The in-joke that gives on giving!
–Matt Jarvis
IT IS THURSDAY. London is still absolutely freezing. Nearby manifestations of the Maw have sprouted dense, violet fur, hindering the action of our particle accelerators. Better FEED IT.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
As spotted byPolygon, Rocksteady’s founders Sefton Hill and Jamie Walker have founded another studio, Hundred Star Games, in London. I wonder if it’s any warmer where they are?
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Is there room in your heart for one more tactical roguelike deckbuilder?Out today in early access, Lonestar is sort of focussed on the bit in any shonen anime where two Dragonball-esque characters have an energy beam stand-off.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Here’s the launch trailer for Helldivers 2… which comes out 8th February.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Are you a fan of Type-Moon’s Fate series? The latest videogame adaptation Fate/Samurai Remnantnow has a demo on Steam.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
I think the “bodycam horror” gimmick is close to running its course, butZoochosisfrom Sparky Marky studio Clapperheadsdoeshave the additional virtue of being heavily inspired by the kennel scene from the Thing. You are a zookeeper. It’s the dead of night, and the giraffes are looking a bit… wrong.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Puzzle game all-timer Threes is coming to Steam.
Threes finally has a page on the Steam store. We’ll be launching it on PC in honor of it’s 10th birthday 🥂pic.twitter.com/XisLWVcDuA
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
It’sreportedthat Dead By Daylight developers Behaviour Interactive are laying off staff - 45 people.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
The Bandai Namco America Elden Ring Youtube account has been quietly/invisibly updated, adding to speculation that a Shadow Of The Erdtree DLC reveal is close.
The Bandai Namco America Elden Ring playlist was updated today… the plot thickens…🤔-Thanks to YuriBrando for pointing out.https://t.co/tSkp2Nb8Gppic.twitter.com/JFSfImB5dj
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Vermintide 2’s long-awaited versus mode appears to be nearing actual release. Here’s an update from FatShark on theclosed alpha.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Lords of the Fallen developers CI Games arelaying off 10% of their staffin the name of “business strength and stability”.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
It’s the Xbox Developer Direct showcase in a few hours time, bringing us more news of Avowed, Ara: History Untold, Hellblade 2: Senua’s Sacrifice and MachineGames' new Indiana Jones game.Find all the streams hereplus starting times and whimsical/obnoxious thoughts from me.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Something called Captain Laserhawk Niji Warrior has beenrated by PEGI, as spotted byGamerant. The name suggests it’s based on Netflix series Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix, itself inspired by Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon. A new Far Cry spin-off, then?
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Here’s a roundup ofeverything announced at Xbox’s Developer Direct this evening. It included a first look at Machine Games' Indiana Jones & The Great Circle, a surprise update from Square Enix on Visions Of Mana, and updated release dates (or release windows) for Indy, Hellblade 2, Ara: History Untold and Avowed.
–Graham Smith
–Graham Smith
Avowed, Obsidian’s first-person fantasy RPG with pistols alongside the swords and wands, isdue to release this autumn. I also apparently have some strong thoughts about its design, which looks extremely Xbox360core to me.
–Graham Smith
–Graham Smith
The Xbox Developer Direct featured the four games they said it would, and a fifth as a surprise: Square Enix’s Visions Of Mana, the first mainline entry in the action RPG series in over fifteen years. It was announced last month but this was the first proper look at its world, characters and combat:
–Graham Smith
IT IS FRIDAY, and in Edwin’s absence today, I will begin the morning’s Maw stirring.
–Katharine Castle
The organisers of GDC have released their annual State Of The Game Industry survey (available to download for free). Topline findings: lots of concern around layoffs, as well as generative AI and game engine pricing changes.
–Katharine Castle
In addition to showing off Indiana Jones last night, Bethesda revealed the next chapter for The Elder Scrolls Online. It’s called Gold Road, and brings 30 hours of new quest adventures to the MMO. It arrives on PC on June 3rd. Here’s a trailer.
–Katharine Castle
Speaking of worries about layoffs, Lords Of The Fallen devs CI Games have laid off 10% of their workforce,according to GI.Biz.
–Katharine Castle
Behaviour Interactive, the studio behind Dead By Daylight, has also confirmed toEurogamerthat they’ve had to lay off “less than three per cent” of their workforce due to “changing market conditions”.
–Katharine Castle
Earlier this week, Build A Rocket Boy secured another round of funding for their open world everything gameEverywhere, as well as their blockbuster game series MindsEye, which will be availableinsideEverywhere. They plan to launch both “in the near future”,they say.
–Katharine Castle
Some lunchtime music for you, inspired by my trip to see the stage play of (the frankly excellent) My Neighbour Totoro yesterday.
–Katharine Castle
The devs behind Diablo 4 discussed lots of Season 3-related details in their Developer Stream last night, but the most important question that arose was:“How the actual heck do you pronounce WASD?“as they talked up its incoming keyboard controls.
–Katharine Castle
At long last, Destiny 2 is finally letting you change your character’s appearance. ReadAlice0’s postfor more details.
–Katharine Castle
The game destined to be a hit from the moment a million people wrote “Pokémon with guns”, Palworld, haspredictably blown up on Steam and Game Pass, selling a million copies in eight hours and bringing its multiplayer servers to their knees.
–Matt Jarvis
Genshin Impact’sincoming 4.4 updatewill end January with the return of its Lantern Rite event, as well as letting you transform into a fish to explore its new area of Chenyu Vale. There you’ll find a new boss to fight, plus some fancy new visual tech around mist and rocks. Shiny!
–Matt Jarvis
Edwin’swrite-up of The Thing-ish Zoochosis yesterdayreminded me of The Thing: The Musical, a genuine work of genius and one of the greatest videos to exist on the internet. Enjoy!
–Matt Jarvis
Last Epoch hopes to bring a time-travelling twist to the action-RPG genre that sets it apart from fellow Diablo-likes, andits latest look ahead of next month’s full 1.0 releasecontinues to look very promising.
–Matt Jarvis
There’s a demo out for Hades-esque action-RPGRealm of Ink, offering one full level and a taster of the game’s three combat schools and pet system.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
OK, let’s do this. It’s Saturday night and I need something soothing to soundtrack our battle with The Maw.
–Graham Smith
Halo Infinite will continue to receive updates, butnot in the previous “seasons” format. Instead, it’ll receive shorter 20-tier battle passes called Operations alongside free updates. 343 Industries say they still have a team supporting the game, but that they also now have teams working on “brand new projects”.
–Graham Smith
Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth features a New Game+ mode like all the other Yakuza games… But you’llneed to buy an extra expensive Deluxe Edition to get it. That makes it a £15 upgrade to an already £60 game. What’s worse, the Steam store page doesn’t make any of this clear.
–Graham Smith
Indiana Jones And The Great Circle is first-person because first-person because it’s part of MachineGames DNA, says the game director, but also becauseit separates it from certain other action adventure games. Hmm! I wonder what games those are?
–Graham Smith
It sure seems like there was aQuake 6 tease during the Indiana Jones And The Great Circle reveal. A small one, but still.
Either that or it’s a team lunch order. GREGG’S STEAK BAKE 6.
–Graham Smith
