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Gaming
Releases, platforms, and the people making the games.
270 stories archived
Bungie set a date for Marathon season 2 and ramp up the challenge for the end of the current one
In the blink of an eye, Marathon season 2 is almost upon us. Bungie have shared more concrete words of what to expect in the upcoming season, titled Nightfall, mostly related to how the big reset will work, but also how this season will be wrapping up too. Read more
"Predatory as hell" Subnautica 2 EULA sets $50 max damage payout limit, bans VPN use, and has fans very concerned
Subnautica 2's EULA - that’s end-user license agreement - has been picked apart by curious fans, who have discovered a handful of eyebrow-raising clauses such as a ban on VPN use as well as a maximum payout of $50 in the case of a user suffering damages. Read more
No, Mixtape will not be delisted "due to music licenses expiring"
Mixtape publisher Annapurna Interactive has laid out in no uncertain terms that no, Mixtape will not be delisted "due to music licenses expiring". Read more
Canned Lord of the Rings MMO now formally cast aside, Amazon claim they've still got a game "that does justice to Tolkien's world" in the works
Amazon's Lord Of The Rings MMO, previously thought dead amid mass layoffs, is now very much conclusively deceased. Though, the coporation say they're still exploring "a compelling new game experience that does justice to Tolkien's world". Read more
Phasmophobia admits it "missed the mark" and prepares "to earn back this community's trust"
Phasmophobia maker Kinetic Games has apologised to players for issues with its long-awaited 'Player Character Update', admitting it "missed the mark" and "didn't deliver on our promises to you". Read more
After seven hours in early access, Subnautica 2 feels more like a remake than a sea-quel, but it has plenty of room to grow
Like the original Subnautica, released into early access an unnecessarily long time ago in 2014, Subnautica 2 pumps fresh life into the often-grindy survival genre by depriving it of air. Out in early access today, it's a familiar but engrossing meditation on ocean exploration, with a backstory that inclines towards the abyssal dread of SOMA. You begin the game as a crash-landed space colonist, downloaded into a 3D-printed body by "Noa", a softly overbearing corporate AI. Your goal as Noa's "Qualified Investigator" is to work out why your ship crashed, and what happened to all the other colonists Noa revived before you. Read more
Terraria marks 70 million sales and 15th anniversary with a promise to "continue beyond" its next big update
Terraria developer Re-Logic has insisted that it is committed to ensuring "the world of Terraria remains and will remain vibrant" as the sandbox game marks its 15th anniversary. Read more
I've cruised from St Louis to Chicago in American Truck Simulator's Illinois DLC, out today, and visiting the Windy City doesn't disappoint
Alright, first of all, a disclaimer. I can't confirm whether American Truck Simulator's version of Chicago - famously nicknamed the Windy City - is authentically blustery. For one, you can't get out of your lorry in ATS. Sure, the flags you can see from inside the cab are fluttering, but that could be some form of arcane developer trickery. For two, I've never been to real world Chicago, so have no idea just how windy it is as a point of comparison. What I can confirm, having hauled some pickups from St Louis to Chicago in ATS' Illinois DLC - out today, May 14th - is that driving into the latter for the first time is as memorable an experience as the best of the truck sim's other motoring metropolises. Read more
Xbox is now XBOX, apparently
Xbox has been rebranded as, er, XBOX. Read more
Moss: The Forgotten Relic is a shinier, VR-less fusion of the two beloved puzzle platformers that's out this summer
There's always a twinge of sadness when a game designed for VR later gets ported to be played on a regular screen, primarily because it's just not technically the realm the game was made for. That's sad to me! On the other hand, I do not own a VR headset, so I do win in those instances as well. Like today, for instance, as the Moss series is getting a VR-less version, with both games combined into one neat package. Read more
The Subnautica 2 fish self-defence debate rages on, as the game's non-violent themes clash with player desire to fend off underwater threats
Subnautica 2, like its predecessors, has a strong theme of pacifism running through it. Rather than killing aggressive fish, the game instead provides tools for players to avoid or distract creatures to save their own hides. Now that the Unknown Worlds’ controversial sequel has launched, however, this dedication to non-violence has proven frustrating to a subset of the community. Read more
For Control: Resonant's creative director, the series has always been "the Remedy version of an RPG experience"
I wouldn't label Remedy's Control as being much else outside of a shooter. It flirts with horror, it dabbles in sci-fi, but if we're talking mechanical genres, shooter fits it best. Then the sequel, Control: Resonant, got announced and turned out to be an action RPG. The bones of the original game are still evidently there in some ways, though in a recent interview, creative director Mikael Kasurinen shared that right from the series' early days, he's long thought of it as an RPG. Read more
Nintendo denied touchscreen-specific patent as the legal battle against Palworld developer Pocketpair continues
That Nintendo has been battling Palworld developer Pocketpair over "Pokémon-style monster capture and throwing mechanics" for a while now isn't a secret. The results (so far) aren't what the Japanese platform holder would have hoped for, however. Over the past few days, Nintendo has been dealt another blow after trying to obtain a touchscreen-specific patent. Read more
More gorgeous laser puzzles await you in The Talos Principle 3, the "final chapter" in the series
"What differentiates a story from the real world, or a simulation?" ask developer Croteam in a very Baudrillardy way in their announcement post for The Talos Principle 3. "The real world goes on and on, but a story must have a clear beginning, middle, and end. And so the Talos Principle, a story we have worked on for more than a decade, must also come to an end." Sad! But they're right, all things must end. Read more
Time to re-Kinect? Sell-out family console Nex Playground is about to release in the UK and Ireland
Nex Playground, the family-focused and camera-based console that's had considerable success in the US, is about to be released in the UK and Ireland. Pre-orders begin today at Amazon, Argos and Smyths Toys, and the Nex Playground will launch at an unspecified point in late June. Read more
Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight feels like an Arkham game because Rocksteady co-developed it
Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight releases this week on Friday 22nd May (tomorrow, 19th May, for Deluxe Edition owners), and a recurring talking point around the game has been how alike it feels to play as the celebrated Batman Arkham games developed by Rocksteady Studios. Turns out there's a good reason for that: Rocksteady helped make it. Read more
"This is gonna break your mods": Stellaris is getting nomad empires, aka "moving planets", despite Paradox previously deeming this "impossible"
Sci-fi 4X strategy game Stellaris is getting a Nomads expansion on June 15th that lets you jettison traditional ideas about territory and play as a wholly mobile civilisation - travelling around the galaxy in Arkships that serve as colonies, shipyards, and military or science vessels. You know the old Terran saying: home is wherever you park your trillion tonne hermetically sealed artificial habitat. Here's another, related Terran saying: a trillion tonne hermetically sealed artificial habitat parks wherever the hell it pleases. The expansion will launch alongside free Stellaris update 4.4, named Pegasus. Developers Paradox have put together a choice of nomadic lifestyles, with inspirations that appear to range from the Mongolian Empire through Eldar Craftworlds to the work of Douglas Adams. Read more
California bill pushing to keep games playable after server shutdowns passes key hurdle, paving way for full assembly vote
A Californian bill aimed at game preservation and backed by the Stop Killing Games campaign has been voted through by a state committee focused on the fiscal cost of proposed legislation - thereby taking a key step closer to becoming a proper law. The bill, as we've previously reported would require that studios either take action to keep games running after server shutterings, or provide full refunds if it passes in its current form, and faces opposition from the Entertainment Software Association. Read more
Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi praises AI-generated FF6 remake teaser, is promptly told "please stop" by SaGa's Akitoshi Kawazu
As Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3 nears completion and we continue to wonder about the long-rumoured FF9 remake, series creator Hironobu Sakaguchi has praised a teaser for a hypothetical remake of FF6. The problem is it's fully AI-generated. Read more
Subnautica 2's first update will add a sprint button, because players are building their bases too big: "they might want to go a little bit faster"
Subnautica 2 splashed into Steam early access yesterday, sending tidal waves of money into the bank accounts of developers Unknown Worlds and publishers Krafton. You planning on paying that $250 million performance bonus, then, Krafton? Now that the game has been on sale for a whopping 17 hours – roundabouts how long it takes to clean out the current early access build - it's time to start squawking like seagulls for patches, updates and expansions. Fortunately, creative media producer Scott MacDonald told RPS and other journalists a little about Subnautica 2's first patches in a roundtable interview last week. The short version is that the initial update will mostly add stuff to the progression and base-building systems, alongside tweaks to the voice logs, some extra lore, and an on-foot sprint mechanic. After that, there's a co-op-focussed update with proximity voice chat, emotes, and player revives. And after that, we enter the realm of proper expansions with new vehicles, biomes, leviathans, tools, resources, and the continuation of the story. Read more
Forza Horizon 6 makes a viable Steam Deck game, assuming you can find room to park it
Forza Horizon 6 is already Steam Deck Verified, which I’m forced to concede makes much of this article surplus to requirements. Yes alright, big green checkmark, you can convey the meaning of "it works" without publishing an entire performance and settings guide, or indeed needing to spell out the words "it" or "works". But then we’ve known that since March anyway, so I guess we’re both stating the obvious. Or are we? FH6 may follow Forza Horizon 5 down the smoothly tarmacked road of full Deck compatibility, but it still requires some extensive quality-lowering to escape sluggishness – its brisk pace on desktop PCs being much harder to match on handheld hardware. At the same time, sticking the Very Low preset on and being done with it robs the game of most of its Forza-standard lustre, at least traces of which can be kept without sending framerates off a cliff like a confused satnav. Read more
The Adventures of Elliot's development team has quietly been mastering the modern minigame, and its latest action-RPG once again shows us how it’s done
I still think the best example of the Switch 2's funky new mouse JoyCon exists in the horribly named Bravely Default Flying Fairy HD Remaster. If you've followed me from my old haunt at VG247, you'll have heard this before, but I think it bears repeating: the best demo of the new hardware doesn't come from the Switch 2 Welcome Tour or something like Drag x Drive, it comes from a re-release of a 14-year-old 3DS game. Yes, really. Read more
Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight review
There's something that really stood out for me as someone in the UK who collected American comics at the end of the 1980s. It's that each new comic you got was a doorway to a world of absolute chaos and gimmickry. I'm not talking about the comic stories themselves, but about the American ads that were suddenly blaring out of the alternate spreads. Topps bubble gum cards. Garbage Pail whatevers. Endless enticements to buy Bayou Billy on the Nintendo Entertainment System. You'd be reading about Batman, knocking gloomily around some Gotham spire, and then you'd turn the page and, WHAMMO, something completely bizarre was being pitched at you. Read more
Forza Horizon 6 is lightweight enough to perform on just about any PC - though its new ray tracing modes slam on the brakes
Forza Horizon 6’s bootful of PC-specific tech features was apparently stuffed enough to warrant a big, colourful blog post about them. Ultrawide support? Yes. DLSS 4 and FSR 4? Both. Ray tracing? A resounding hai, those souped-up lighting and reflection effects escaping FH6’s car-ogling mode and adorning its open world for the first time in the series. Actually playing the thing, however – and/or spending enough time in its benchmarking tool – reveals that its PC performance highlights mainly concern the absolute basics. On standard settings this is most definitely a smooth-running game, one that’s capable of scooting along on budget builds and handheld PCs while zooming through frames on powerful graphics cards. But, that’s not necessarily with the help of bleeding-edge tech. Upscalers like DLSS disappoint more than they impress, and the performance tax levied by those RT effects will drag you down from supercar luxury to framerate poverty. Read more