This week’s least discouraging game releases, plus our weekly newsblog
At intervals in our relentless battles with the Maw, we lose people. Sometimes, it’s because those people have succeeded in levelling up out of games journalism, or found their way into another echelon of the craft. Other times, the losses are more abrupt and arbitrary. In each case, one short term response isintensification. Those of us who remain must be rockier, paperier and more shotgun than ever before. With that in mind, here are this (four-day) week’s new PC games of note.
28th May brings a welcome dose of calm in the shape of Populousy god simReus 2, in which you are a bunch of feelgood chthonic monsters tending to a 2D planet. On the 29th May, there’s a couple of turn-based tactics games -Capes, which features superheroes, andTrash Of The Titans, which features racoons (Nic: “pop this in ur maw roundup it looks exquisite”). They’re joined byNine Sols, a Sekiro-inspired metroidvania from the developers of horror game all-timerDevotion.
On the 30th, we’ve gotSkald: Against The Black Priory, a party-based CRPG which has been recommended to me by both journalists and developers, and[ECHOSTASIS], a mind-diving sci-fi FPS puzzle extravaganza with a corroded CRT aesthetic so swish I’m willing to forgive the dizzy parenthetical all-caps title. Closing us out on the 31st, there’s the early access release ofSelaco, an original shooter created in GZDoom, which has won the enthusiasm of no less a sinful icon than John Romero.
As ever, you can follow our efforts to report the news and appease the Maw in the below weeklong liveblog, and recommend games or topics for coverage in the comments thread that dangles from this post like a Barnacle’s tongue. Have a good week all and best of luck to James Gournalists everywhere.
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Manor Lords first major patchis out now on the main branch. Edwin wrote about what it contains earlier this monthwhen it entered beta.
–Graham Smith
IGNreport that Take-Two are planning on killing or selling Private Division. Private Division is their indie publishing label, and the umbrella underwhich Kerbal 2 developers Intercept Games and OlliOlli developers Roll7 sit under. Both of those studiosare reportedly experiencing layoffs and expected closure.
–Graham Smith
Wildermyth’s developers say they’re done with the project after the release of the Omenroad DLC earlier this month, and have no plans for a sequel or new project. As such,they’re putting the company into hibernation.
–Graham Smith
–Graham Smith
Nightmare Kart, the freeware PSX demake racing game formerly known as Bloodborne Kart,is out nowafter its lawyer-prompted delay.
–Graham Smith
I haven’t embedded any music in a while. Let’s finish the day with a banger.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Just a quick Friday night note to say thanks everybody for sticking with us during a rough-and-tumble week of On-going Business Developments and associated absences. A couple of us are taking much-needed holiday next week but I’ll be around stinking the place up till Thursday, when (eek) I get on a plane to Summer Games Fest.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Please do bear with us, little ones, for we need a little extra time to prepare your visit.Rest assured, we promise to show you a proper welcome.#LittleNightmaresIIIpic.twitter.com/fqxsOPzkFD
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Playdate recently recovered over $400,000 worth of stolen handhelds, “hastily dumped at a random restaurant this morning.”
Did you hear the story about how $400k worth of Playdates were misdelivered by FedEx to a construction site near our warehouse? And then someone just… stole them? Seriously.Well, guess what got hastily dumped at a random restaurant this morning?Welcome back stolen Playdates!pic.twitter.com/LseJKp9sOO
–Nic Reuben
–Nic Reuben
Mech sequel Daemon X Machina Titanic Scion got announced
–Nic Reuben
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
A couple of new trailers for Bloober’s Silent Hill 2 remake, which launches on 8th October. Here’s theSteam link
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
God of War Ragnarök has been announced for PC - here’sthe Steam link, which amusingly abbreviates it to Ragnark. Kratos certainly looks pretty ragnarked in the screens.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
–Nic Reuben
WE HAVEN’T ACTUALLY WRITTEN RULES FOR FRIDAY YET. UH, PLAY SNAP FOR THE WINNER?
–Nic Reuben
If you’ve still got enough faith in the future of the Silent Hill series to stay up around midnight UK time for a reveal, you can find Konami’s Silent Hill transmission stream below. It goes live in about nine hours
EDIT: Sure hope there’s some sweet tray-trays! We love a good tray-tray here at the Maw!
–Nic Reuben
If you need something cosy, Dear Villagers has just signedCaravan SandWitch, a “hopeful post-apocalypse” game set in a “Florence-like world” in which you are a bright-eyed sort who drives a chubby yellow minivan and is looking for their lost sister. Here’s the tray-tray (© Nic Reuben).
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
We’re late to the party withMaster Key, but if you like Zelda puzzles and hate colours, this seems like it’ll appeal.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
SNAKE EYES - DRAW A LOATHING CARD, MOVE TO THURSDAY
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
No Man’s Sky Adrift update leaves you completely alone in its universe, except for sandworms and ghost ships. No shops or shortcuts means it’ll be a new survival challenge, too.
–Matt Jarvis
Theme Hospital-like inn sim Tavern Keeper puts you in charge of a pub for fantasy adventurers straight out of D&D. It looks extremely charming, and it’ll hit early access later this year after a decade (!) in the works.
–Matt Jarvis
PlayStation VR2 PC adapter certification has surfaced in South Korea, marking one more step towards official support for the PS5 headset after Sony revealed they were testing compatibility for “accessing additional games on PC” earlier this year.
–Matt Jarvis
Ex-Forza Horizon devs and Skins co-creator want you to ‘fall in love with’ the characters in their story-led open-world driving game, newly announced to have Amazon in the driving seat (passenger seat? backseat? boot? apply the most suitable car metaphor as required) as publisher.
–Matt Jarvis
–Nic Reuben
Amnesia devs Frictional arehosting an escape room mod jamusing their HPL engine, running from June 28th until August 28th. Pls can somebody make me a mod that turns the Bunker into a chatroom?
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Blackbird haveshared more plansfor updating Homeworld 3 - they include less “claustrophobic” maps (apparently some players have been finding the new emphasis on astral terrain a bit stifling), mod tools and hyperspace jumping in Skirmish, which will allow you to dunk your fleet right in the middle of the other side’s resourcing operation."
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Steam may soon get video clip recording, according to the creator of SteamDB.
Steam is still working on clip recording. It supports background recording, includes timeline markers in supported games for various events.Clips can be shared similar to screenshots, via the Steam community.pic.twitter.com/0Rxj3nauTO
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
ROLL A ONE, ADVANCE TO WEDNESDAY
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Theme park toolkit Planet Coaster is95% off on Steamright now - that’s one pound entire fifty in britnuggets. You’ll likely never create anything as wonderful as the below ALIENS ride, but at that price, not much harm in trying
–Nic Reuben
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
PCGamesN points us toward afree prologue for Strong Fortress, a jolly-looking wave-defence top-down shooter that reminds me of the posher Flash games I used to write about in the late noughties.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
“Quad-A” galleon-smasher Skull And Bones isgoing free for a week from 30th May to 6th Junevia Ubisoft Connect and Epic. Our reviewer Ed Thorn wasless than wowed, and I’m not sure I’ll be taking the plunge even at those seabottom-prices, butI did find the opening area oddly captivating.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Konami are doing a Silent Hill livestream on 30th May, replete with both “game updates” and “new merch”.
Consider this your invitation letter to Silent Hill. ✉️Tune in May 30 at 4 p.m. PDT to our SILENT HILL YouTube channel for the second installment of the#SILENTHILLTransmission where we’ll share game updates, a deeper look at the film, and new merch.#SILENTHILLpic.twitter.com/5RHc2nGUWB
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Black Ops 6 is very much a Black Ops game, going by this hectic conspiracy theorist trailer, which lends credence to the rumour that the new shooter is set during the first Gulf War. CW for Thatcher cameo.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
Reposeis a first-person dungeon-crawler made up of static, black-and-white backdrops which looks exceedingly Mood. Alice0mentioned it in a Screenshot Saturday Mondays round-upa little while back, but it’s news to me.
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
ROLL A SIX, JUMP ONE SQUARE TO TUESDAY
–Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
