Rock, Paper, Shotgun

"A wordless world that speaks": Lofsöng is like a Playdead game set in a Brutalist nuclear exclusion zone

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell — Fri, 24 Apr 2026 12:30:00 +0000

Lofsöng is an ash-blown, top-down exploration game set on an Earth ravaged by nuclear winter, whose Brutalist structures form a sleeping, sunken language, revealed by sound. You are a "childlike figure" – notice the qualification – accompanied by a magic origami sculpture that refolds into such unlockable forms as gliders and sailboats, allowing you to zip ever more gracefully among the post-apocalyptic monoliths.

Masters of Albion and Sintopia show god games are nothing without a deity's twitchy fingers

Julian Benson — Fri, 24 Apr 2026 12:00:00 +0000

I've been thinking a lot about hands this week. Weird little things, covered in fingers and nails, always clenching and unclenching. Though, for once, they're not on my mind because I can't shake the realisation that they're basically boney squids attached to my wrists. No, I've been thinking about hands because I've had my dirty mitts all over Masters of Albion and Sintopia, two god games which put meat-hooks front and centre.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's first birthday is here, cue an anniversary patch giving everyone in the J'RPG special hairdos

Mark Warren — Fri, 24 Apr 2026 10:56:34 +0000

It's been a year since Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 rocked up and had Nic say lots of nice things about it. Developers Sandfall Interactive have decided to celebrate both milestones by putting out a patch that adds in a bunch of fresh trims for the RPG's litany of head hair havers.

Woot have knocked 72% off this potent analog gaming keyboard

Reece Bithrey — Fri, 24 Apr 2026 10:54:58 +0000

One of the first times I remember seeing an optical analog gaming keyboard hit the mainsteam was the Razer Huntsman V2 Analog launch in 2021 - what feels like naffing ages ago now. Since then, we've seen keyboards gain more controller-like tech, like rapid trigger inputs and Hall Effect switches, but optical analog boards are where it all started, and the Huntsman v2 Analog remains a fine option today - especially when it's going cheap.

When this keyboard was new, it retailed for $250, although with this current discount, a brand-new one (with its 1-year Razer warranty) is down to $70 from Woot. That works out to 72% off, which I needn't say is quite something.

Save 35% on one of the best budget racing wheels of all time for console and PC sim racing

Reece Bithrey — Fri, 24 Apr 2026 10:17:52 +0000

The Logitech G29/G920 racing wheel design has been around for the best part of a decade, and has introduced countless people to the world of sim racing - myself included. It's a humble but well-made wheel with gear-driven force feedback, a full set of on-board controls, and convenient compatibility with console and PC (the console depends on the model you choose; both work with Windows) that makes it a versatile choice for sim racers just starting out. What's more, at £169 from Amazon for both G29 and G920 variants, it's the lowest this wheel has been since Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Don't miss The Third Shift, a Game Boy horror museum that cleverly entangles Resident Evil-style CCTV perspectives with point-and-click investigation

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell — Fri, 24 Apr 2026 10:10:25 +0000

The most horrifying thing that ever happened to me while playing Game Boy was a school 'friend' flicking the power switch while getting off the train, just as I'd finally beaten that one maddeningly obscure block puzzle in The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening. He's lucky he's not buried somewhere under the railway lines between Shipley and Baildon. There were Game Boy horror games, but they were mostly crammed-down approximations of Resident Evil and the like, and I found them about as spooky as a frowning Potato Head. The Third Shift is out to address this lapse, and so far, it is doing it extremely well.

Leaked Xbox Game Pass Starter Edition looks to bundle a small library of games with your Discord Nitro membership

Mark Warren — Fri, 24 Apr 2026 09:24:02 +0000

Days after announcing a price cut for the existing Xbox Game Pass tiers, which'll no longer get new Call of Duty games at launch, it appears Microsoft have an all-new tier lurking up their sleeves. Dubbed Game Pass Starter Edition, leaks suggest it'll be something akin to the the established baseline Essential Game Pass tier, but bundled in with a paid subscription to Discord Nitro.

Former PlayStation head isn't sure how Sony can recoup those big budgets without first-party games coming to PC

Oisin Kuhnke — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 22:04:05 +0000

Last month, a report emerged that claimed that Sony would no longer be putting its first-party games like Ghost of Yotei on PC, with online games like Marathon being the exception. The PlayStation maker is yet to confirm or deny this, and the report even noted that Sony's strategy is "constantly shifting," meaning this may end up proving untrue. But former Sony Interactive Entertainment Worldwide Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida says he's not seen any proof of PlayStation changing their strategy this console generation.

Shapez 2 leaves the factory floor today as it launches into 1.0

Oisin Kuhnke — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 20:42:05 +0000

I delight in looking at shapes, I suspect we all do. They are the building blocks of life, often turned into literal building blocks handed to us as wee babes to help us make sense of the world. Games like Shapez 2, then, feel like a natural through line from this point, a mechanical orchestra that lets you put all sorts of shapes together to build factories that produce more shapes endlessly. And now that line has seen its end, as Shapez 2 has left early access today, arriving at its 1.0 release a little less than two years on from its original launch.

500 FINGER FILLET is a knife game take on Buckshot Roulette where you must stab your hand 500 times

Oisin Kuhnke — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 19:12:25 +0000

I have never played the knife game, the game where you rest your hand on a table, splay out your fingers, and stab the gaps between with a knife, increasing your speed as you go. The reason I have not played the knife game is because I like my fingers, and do not trust my own fine motor movement enough. Good thing video games exist then, 'ey? Specifically, it's a good thing 500 FINGER FILLET exists, or will exist somewhere down the line, a roguelite clicker where you have to stab yourself in the hand 500 times to escape a deadly trap.

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2's gun toting, bird flipping, violent sheriff featuring DLC gets a release date

Oisin Kuhnke — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 16:59:04 +0000

After a rough launch last year, work on Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 continues, with the game's first DLC, Loose Cannon, having now settled on a release date: April 27th! That's soon, like next week soon as long as my materially non-existent calendar is right. A new trailer and a fresh bout of details about the DLC were shared too, offering some insight into what you'll actually be doing.

Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced doesn’t include the Freedom Cry DLC, Ubisoft say they made a “clear choice” to focus on Edward’s adventure

Mark Warren — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 16:15:00 +0000

Yep, after years of messages in bottles washing ashore in the form of reports claiming Ubisoft are remaking Assassin’s Creed Black Flag, it’s finally coming on July 9th. I've seen the newly dubbed Black Flag Resynced and all the tweaks Ubisoft have made to the very good pirate game which also features some assassinating.

A few things have stuck out to me. Most notably, what I didn't see.

Land ho, Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced's system requirements have washed ashore

Mark Warren — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 16:15:00 +0000

Mayhaps ye have heard the legend of Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced, the remake Ubisoft havefinally revealed today, April 23rd, after years of reported and leaked whispers. Ahead of this Black Flag remake's arrival on July 9th, its required PC specs have slipped into port.

What is best in life? A free Conan Exiles update that completely revamps the game's graphics and more

Oisin Kuhnke — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 16:12:26 +0000

I know that Conan Exiles exists because everything must be based on some kind of pre-existing property. Still, the fact it's managed to continue to exist for a whole decade tickles me. What do you mean this game based on a 100 year old character that most people probably link to Arnold Schwarzenegger above anything else is still going strong? So strong, in fact, that it is getting a big update next month that revamps the survival game's look and makes various nice sounding tweaks. For free!

"The best game ever": Old World designer dreams of making a sequel to Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri that "renews the mechanics"

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 14:32:13 +0000

We called Mohawk's strategy game Old World "almost the perfect blend of Civilization and Crusader Kings III" back in 2021. As such, the opinions of people who worked on Old World are of interest to me. Here's one: designer and programmer Daniels Umanovskis would very much like to make a sequel to the undersung Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, because it is "the best game ever".

Europa Universalis 5 is getting its first big DLC in May, a race to save the crumbling Byzantine Empire

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 13:52:08 +0000

Unreasonably grand strategy game Europa Universalis 5 will get a Byzantine Empire-themed expansion called Fate of the Phoenix on May 6th, developers Paradox Interactive have announced. Not heard of EU5? Back in October, our reviewer Brendy called the game "a deep and intricate historical simulation that will overwhelm you with menus as much as it will compel you through centuries of global history."

Brendy is gone now (RPS in peace), reduced to a mocking cackle on the wind, and I alone stand in my ignorance between you and this very first EU5 "Immersion pack", in which there is Hellenism, bureaucracy, and the opportunity to "restore the Pentarchy to strengthen the Eastern Church". I don't even know what "byzantine" really means, other than being a word I use to describe Paradox grand strategy games. Was Europa Universalis 5 insufficiently byzantine before? Ach, here's a trailer.

GTA: Carcer City, a San Andreas mod which turns Rockstar's dark snuff game Manhunt into a full-on open world, has a demo out

Mark Warren — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 11:45:12 +0000

If you've ever longed to see Rockstar's controversial early 2000s snuff game Manhunt get a fully-blown crossover with its slightly more jovially murdery sibling Grand Theft Auto, a San Andreas total conversion mod that's recently released its first playable demo might be up your alley. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to put some distance between me and that probably very bloodstained alley.

£69 for one of my favourite wireless office mice is quite the steal

Reece Bithrey — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 11:06:21 +0000

I've used Logitech's MX Master office mice for the best part of six years by this point, beginning with the MX Master 3, then the 3S and now the MX Master 4. Weirdly, the best one to pick up from a value and features standpoint is the MX Master 3S, which I noted in my original 2022 review to have the same excellent ergonomics as its predecessor, versatile wireless connectivity, a zippy 8000 DPI sensor and much more. For £69 from Amazon (nice), it's a return to one of the best prices I've seen on this rodent in a few weeks and in a general sense.

"Unlocked the toilet door in the Euro Trash mission to prevent soft-locks" read Samson's latest patch notes, which also introduce special drift cars

Mark Warren — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 09:58:43 +0000

If you've spent days trapped in a loo after Samson cheekly locked you in one during a mission, then I bring good news. Liquid Swords' latest patch for their buggy crime sim's freed you from your bondage, while also adding some new tuned cars for you to race around while you celebrate no longer being stuck in the shitter.

This 512GB SanDisk Ultra Micro SD card has dropped to its best price in months on Amazon

Reece Bithrey — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 09:39:41 +0000

Flash storage prices bad - I get it. You don't need me to keep wittering on to prove how iffy things have been in recent months, although with RAM prices lowering and some 'deals' beginning to emerge again, there may be some light at the end of the tunnel. Thus, Exhibit A - this 512GB SanDisk Ultra MicroSD card is £50 on Amazon. Okay, okay, yes, you could pick these up for £30-£40 last year, I admit, but this is the best price this card has been since January, where it's otherwise between £75 and £80.

Crimson Desert's latest patch adds new difficulty options, lets you adopt a pet bird, and unglues cats from shoulders

Mark Warren — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 09:08:35 +0000

Another Crimson Desert patch is upon us, with developers Pearl Abyss delivering more of the additions they outlined earlier this month. Though, they didn't get as deep into specifics on the likes of new difficulty settings and extra pets back then as they have in their latest notes, which also run down a raft of fixes for the red pudding.

Ecco the Dolphin: Complete revealed, a mixture of remaster and brand new game spanning every Ecco game from the 8 to 16-bit era

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell — Wed, 22 Apr 2026 17:43:16 +0000

It's happening dot gif - we are getting more Ecco the Dolphin. As teased in January, series creator Ed Annunziata and development studio A&R Atelier are working on a remastered collection that includes Ecco the Dolphin and Ecco: The Tides of Time, together with a brand new game. The collection also features "meta quests" that allow players to weave "custom courses" through "any combination of levels from any game in the franchise and share them with the community."

A little bit Black & White, a little bit Fable, Molyneux's citybuilder Masters Of Albion has the potential to break free of its influences – but it has a lot of work to do

Julian Benson — Wed, 22 Apr 2026 17:00:00 +0000

Every time the ghoul smacks his hands against my crypt, a red light pulses and sends cracks spiderwebbing across my screen. If I don't beat down the undead creature soon, he'll break into the tomb and kill my character in his sleep, forcing me to restart the day. It should be easy to kill the monster, after all, I've two strapping heroes nearby, multiple ballista towers, and my godhand courses with lightning. But, for some reason my heroes have decided to attack other, less threatening monsters, my towers aren't shooting the ghoul, and my lightning bolts refuse to strike.

Masters Of Albion, the new god game from Peter Molyneux's studio 22 Cans, fizzes with promise, but it has a lot of kinks to work out in early access if it's going to become more than a bucket of enjoyable mechanics. I don't mean for that to sound dismissive. There is a lot of fun to be had in this fusion of city builder, crafting, tower defense, god game, but it's also far from finished.

How many pampered hikers can you freeze in alpine tycoon game Above the Snow?

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell — Wed, 22 Apr 2026 14:31:15 +0000

I recently spent time in a mountain youth hostel, which offered a choice of hikes up nearby peaks together with the regulation climber's breakfast of imploded sausage plus violently oversugared orange juice. The worst thing that happened to me there was that I bunked next to an older German man who talked in his sleep. He sounded pretty distressed about something, possibly the sausages. I'll be inflicting far worse on my guests in Above the Snow, a tycoon management game in which you build, decorate and populate an alpine resort.

After an hour in the beta, The Expanse: Osiris Reborn is both a limp Mass Effect and a leaden interpretation of a very good TV show

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell — Wed, 22 Apr 2026 14:00:00 +0000

It's early days for The Expanse: Osiris Reborn, but I can say confidently after an hour with a beta version that I don't want to have sex with anybody in it. The TV show (I've not read the books – bite me, beltalowda) has a terrific cast of seasoned character actors portraying cheesy, hard-wearing oddballs from all around a colonised, fiercely class-divided solar system. Owlcat's third-person RPG adaptation is set alongside the events of the show's first season, and you catch wind of the Canterbury's destruction and mysterious events on Eros in newscasts, while exploring the beta level: a wheel-shaped Pinkwater mercenary spacebase off the shoulder of Jupiter.

The next Frostpunk game isn't a city builder, 11 Bit Studios reveal, alongside a modern "reimagining" of survival game This War Of Mine

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell — Wed, 22 Apr 2026 13:23:05 +0000

11 Bit Studios have confirmed that they're making a brand new Frostpunk, alongside a "full" reimagining of their 2014 survival story This War Of Mine, and two other "completely new" games codenamed P14 and P12. No, they're not talking about the already known-about Frostpunk 1886. The forthcoming Frostpunk project will apparently expand the doomy city-building series "into a new genre." Please not roguelite. Please not deckbuilder.

Ubisoft have reportedly cancelled Alterra, a life sim blending Animal Crossing with Minecraft, after almost three years of dev work

Mark Warren — Wed, 22 Apr 2026 11:59:15 +0000

Ubisoft have reportedly cancelled an unannounced life simulation game dubbed Alterra, which devs had spent nearly three years weaving into something that combines aspects of Animal Crossing with Minecraft's voxel building. The cancellation reportedly hasn't resulted in any immediate layoffs.

A legend gets cheaper as the Logitech G502 Hero gaming mouse cuts 22% off from Amazon

Reece Bithrey — Wed, 22 Apr 2026 11:26:52 +0000

The Logitech G502 Hero has been around for eons by this point, with former RPS chief Katharine's original review of this mouse taking place back in October 2018 (when I was just 16 - god, I feel old). Nonetheless, by being an elder statesman of the gaming rodent world, it means this mouse can often be found at quite heavy discounts. Currently, it's just £27 from Amazon, which as per my price tracking graphs, tells me it's the best price we've seen the G502 Hero since Black Friday 2025. Not bad at all.

£520 for this Asus Prime RTX 5070 GPU and a free copy of Pragmata feels like a solid deal at the moment

Reece Bithrey — Wed, 22 Apr 2026 11:07:45 +0000

It's been a bit of a miserable time for shopping for components like RAM, SSDs, and GPUs - well, essentially anything that needs memory to function - as shortage-spiked prices remain high across the board. It means my usual task of deals-hunting on these types of items has turned more into a form of damage limitation against these rises, and this Asus RTX Prime 5070 graphics card for £520 from CCL feels like the best price it's likely to be for some time. We have seen the 5070 for well under £500 in the past, but in the current climate, this is about as low as we can hope for.

Adding naval warfare in time for Crusader Kings 3's Silk and Silver expansion would have blown Paradox's "schedule out of [the] water"

Mark Warren — Wed, 22 Apr 2026 10:48:21 +0000

Naval warfare won't be coming to Crusader Kings 3 with the big merchant republics expansion Paradox are set to roll out towards the end of this year. The studio say that they want to make sure they do sea battles justice, and so didn't want to shoehorn them into a DLC which already comes with "a fair amount of risk", while also blowing up their planned development timeline.

Steam, Minecraft, Roblox and Fortnite risk "becoming onramps to abuse, extremist violence, radicalisation or lifelong harm", claim Australian government

Mark Warren — Wed, 22 Apr 2026 09:52:42 +0000

Update: Roblox and Epic have responded to RPS' reach-outs about the Australian government's transparency notices.

Arcade roguelike KAZ will probably break my arrows keys, and yet here I am wanting to play another round

Oisin Kuhnke — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 21:55:59 +0000

The less buttons I have to press a game, the better. I am not doing a bit here, no japes to be found, a refined, paired down control scheme is like a cherub's smile to me. KAZ, then, is arguably almost the perfect game, perhaps three buttons away from such a status, as it only requires four of them. Those will be the up, down, left, and right arrows keys (or the WASD keys, depending on your hand preference (and okay you do also need to press enter occasionally, I'm getting away from myself here)).

Casualties: Unknown is Noita for furries, and oh so deliciously miserable

Oisin Kuhnke — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 20:37:09 +0000

"This game contains depictions of violence, self harm, and general misery," opens Casualties: Unknown, a short but still considerate content warning for the survival game ahead. Boy howdy is that last one accurate! We'll get back to that, first, how about some setup.

Take a flight to the uncanny valley with Aion 2, the MMO all about verticality that's going global this year

Oisin Kuhnke — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 19:05:32 +0000

The concept of an MMO getting a sequel is always a strange one to me, but nonetheless Aion 2 is here. Or at least it will be, sometime this year, as NCSoft have confirmed that "the only MMORPG built around a world where the sky is the battlefield" (perhaps an odd place to plant your flag) is getting a global release on PC later this year.

"Mythology, by its nature, is told and retold": Hades 2 dev on changing its controversial ending

Oisin Kuhnke — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 18:00:00 +0000

Last year, Hades 2 left early access, and Mark liked it! He did note, however, that its ending was potentially going to end up polarising, and with the accuracy of The Fates, this came to pass: Supergiant changed the game's true ending a month after its 1.0 launch because enough people didn't like it. This didn't land with universal praise either, for a myriad of reasons, but it stuck, and in a recent interview, the developer's creative director Greg Kasavin shared his thoughts regarding the process of making such a change.

Endless Legend 2's answer to the common 4X problem of "goldfish" AI is a cunning system of badges, from Pleasant to Bully

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 17:30:00 +0000

The least involving part of any 4X strategy is very often diplomacy with AI civilizations. Even Endless Legend 2, a game with a faction of coral people who can make other people like them by infesting their territory with spores, does settle into a formula. You make friends with other leaders forever or you define them as enemies and obliterate them. Maybe you grease the wheels by offering some minor nation a palmful of glowy rocks in return for passage through their lands.

Developers Amplitude are trying to give Endless Legend 2's diplomacy more consistency and flavour, however, by giving the world itself a memory. As of the game's latest update, you'll find it harder to cuddle up to other factions after spending 20 turns incinerating their dominions. Even worse, you might be permanently branded a Bully.

Enshrouded approaches the Roblox event horizon with the addition of Adventure Sharing in its latest update

Oisin Kuhnke — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 16:51:22 +0000

Roblox is the carcinisation of video games. It is an endpoint that, despite many varying diverging paths, many games ultimately end up at, even if they look noticeably different. Enshrouded is now approaching its own carcinisation with its latest update, Forging the Path, which introduces the awaited Adventure Sharing feature.

Call of Duty won't hit Xbox Game Pass at launch going forwards, as Microsoft's subscription service gets a price cut

Mark Warren — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 16:19:28 +0000

Microsoft have announced some changes to Xbox Game Pass. As of today, its Ultimate and PC Game Pass tiers are having their prices slashed, but neither will get Call of Duty games at launch going forwards. Instead, new instalments in the shooter series will hit Game Pass about a year after release, with already released CoDs remaining available to play as normal.

Unionised Build a Rocket Boy staff take legal action against MindsEye studio, accusing management of breaking the law with "invasive" surveillance software

Mark Warren — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 15:25:32 +0000

A group of unionised staff at MindsEye developers Build a Rocket Boy are taking legal action against the studio, claming that management's installation of surveillance software on their work devices violated data protection laws. The staff, represented by the IWGB Game Workers Union, claim Build a Rocket Boy haven't been transparent about what data was collected by the software and how it was stored.

"Not all machines are twisted mechano-socialists": Helldivers 2's latest warbond brings back a mech suit from the original game

Mark Warren — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 14:16:49 +0000

Helldivers 2's latest warbond is set to deliver two new exosuit stratagems, bringing a bit more variety to the robotic getups you can summon to help fight Super Earth's enemy of the week. One's the Helldivers 2 debut of a mech from the first game, while the other's got a big shield. Unsurprisingly, the gear pack they're part of is dubbed Exo Experts, and it's set to arrive next week.

Off the Grid studio Gunzilla faced a forced shutdown petition over alleged unpaid bills, and are accused of owing one company over $100,000

Mark Warren — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 12:33:36 +0000

Gunzilla Games, the studio behind NFT-infected battle royale game Off The Grid, have been accused of owing a marketing company over $100,000 and is facing more allegations from workers that their pay has been delayed. Gunzilla have also faced two instances of legal action over alleged unpaid debts to other conmpanies, who petitioned UK counts to consider pushing the studio into enforced liquidation.

Are Pragmata’s hack-filled shootouts thrilling, or fatiguing? How Capcom’s shooter tackles the age-old challenge of blending action with puzzles

RPS — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 12:30:00 +0000

Pragmata is the new third-person moonbase shooter from Capcom in which you play Hugh, a gruff spacedad, with a small girl android named Diana riding around on your back. The game's core gimmick is that Diana can (and, indeed, must) hack the robots you're battling to nix their shields and so forth, using a real-time holographic minigame in which you move around a grid to reach a green square. There are also simpler varieties of hack for opening doors and springing traps.

Crusader Kings 3's latest batch of major expansions invite you to choose between God and gold, with playable popes and money-grabbing republican merchants

Mark Warren — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 09:43:34 +0000

Paradox have revealed the next round of expansions coming to medieval monarch strategiser Crusader Kings 3 as part of its fifth chapter of add-ons. The two major DLCs it includes - dubbed By God Alone and Silk & Silver - will let you play as two new types of ruler, theocratic religious bigwigs and money-driven republican merchants.

Save 45% on this capable ultralight Turtle Beach wireless gaming mouse in a limited-time Amazon deal

Reece Bithrey — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 09:10:46 +0000

The Turtle Beach Burst II Pro is one of the newer kids on the block in the burgeoning category of ultralight gaming mice, and is a veritable treasure trove of features, with a sub 60g mass, a zippy 30,000 DPI sensor and comfortable frame. When this rodent was first released, its only real problem was its price - an issue that has since been addressed with a hefty 45% discount that's brought it down to just £66 on Amazon. A far cry from its £120 RRP.

How to buy a used graphics card: spotting scams and dodging duds in the memory shortage crisis

Jon Martindale — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 16:20:58 +0000

Oh boy, you’re looking to buy a new graphics card in 2026. As exciting as that is, howeber, there is one big catch: you have to buy a new graphics card in 2026.

The impact of ongoing memory shortages is as well-documented as it is terrible, so you should already know that a new-new GPU means sky high prices. Used graphics cards have therefore become an increasingly attractive option, despite relative price bumps of their own. But where you might score a discount by buying through classified ads, you must also contend with rampant scammers, potential mining and AI-use degradation, and the usual concerns with second-hand anything: is it actually in "good condition?"

Fortunately, even in the cowboy world of used components, there are some general tips and advice worth considering to help find your way to a pre-loved GPU that will give you many years of enjoyable playing. Hopefully, without any panicked calls to a customer service helpline.

This week in PC games: the "final" Molyneux game, ski resort management, Game Boy horror and a glamcore heist sim

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 15:40:41 +0000

Happy this week, all! I return from my holiday in the mountains with spirit restored, skin bronzed, and knees destroyed and reforged into coiled springs of purest Adventure. Such wonders are my knees today! I rejoice in their knobbly tenacity and tensile splendour. I go out into the street in my pants and laugh, laugh at all the pathetic urban weaklings with quadriceps like overboiled spaghetti that could not bestir a butterfly's wing. I line up this week's new PC games and shoe them into the Maw like sparkling meteors.

The shake up to Arc Raiders Expeditions may turn the extraction shooter into a week-long bloodbath, but it could pair well with the "significant changes" planned for its skill tree

Julian Benson — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 13:45:00 +0000

Embark Studios are making a big change to Arc Raiders Expeditions, the recurring event where players opt to reset most of their account data in return for some sweet, sweet skill points and buffs. It may seem like a small change – with you earning rewards for damage dealt within the event, instead of wealth accumulated – but it could turn the game that's become known for its friendly, helpful community into a bit of a bloodbath.

The games industry will never "get back to normal", lament Tony Hawk devs Iron Galaxy, as they make another round of layoffs

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 13:10:00 +0000

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3+4 developers Iron Galaxy are laying off an unknown number of people, as they struggle to "adapt to the climate" of a videogames industry that is refusing to "get back to normal". This follows a round of 66 job losses at Iron Galaxy last February, which were described as a "last resort".

If Windrose isn't quenching your sealord fantasies, maybe carving out your own Libertalia in pirate citybuilder Corsair Cove will

James Archer — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 12:31:23 +0000

As if catching the same briny breeze as early access darling Windrose, unannounced but blatantly obvious Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag Resynced, and, uh, Soulframe, there’s yet more pirates coming in yet more pirate games. Publishers Hooded Horse have announced Corsair Cove, an island citybuilder and freebooter colony management sim in the works at Tropico 6 and Park Beyond devs Limbic Entertainment.

Soulframe's latest major update is a broadside of pirate weapons, class abilities and outfits, plus falling alien skytowers

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 11:38:32 +0000

Pensive and flamboyant action-RPG Soulframe has just received a new update that adds a pirate class, together with rapiers, cutlasses, and a flouncy sailor's outfit. The class in question is the Duelo pact, which boasts of "swashbuckling abilities": these include an artful dodge that spawns a decoy phantom, an enemy-slowing sword flourish, and the old classic 'flintlock to the face' manoeuvre. They're also introducing a haunted shipwreck environment, plus a bunch of new enemies, another siege infiltration activity, and the ever-popular quality-of-life improvements.

"WHY ARE ALL GAMES ABOUT PIRATES NOW," I lamented to James, before starting this article. James ignored me, being engrossed in his own piece on forthcoming Tortuga-tender Corsair Cove, but the large green parrot on his shoulder screeched "pier pressure!" Mortally wounded by the pun, I staggered across the swaying deck to the Captain's cabin, only to be knocked flat by a barrage of yo-hoing from Ollie's on-going game of Windrose. Flopping around on the planks like a walloped albatross, I cried out to Mark for a restorative glug of rum, but alas, we've not seen him for days; he was last spotted paddling in the spectral wake of Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced.

There's a hefty Amazon Resale discount going on AMD's excellent Ryzen 5 9600X

Reece Bithrey — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 10:06:51 +0000

AMD's Ryzen 5 9600X has traditionally been the most affordable entry point into Team Red's latest generation of processors, which yielded modest gains in gaming performance over the 7600X but much larger gains in its efficiency to make it a more optimal choice. It's usually been a deal when I've spotted it at £160-£180 in the past, although you can currently snag an 'As New' condition for £131 on Amazon with its Resale section (formerly the Amazon Warehouse). There was a deal running to get a new one for £135 earlier today, which went very quickly, and this is technically even cheaper than that was.

The horrible Construct cyborgs of tactics game Menace are getting a rework for "style" and "variety", while the devs put a bullet in the promotion tax

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 09:38:14 +0000

Grim and grubby mercenary tactics game Menace is getting a big update that removes a "not-so-popular" promotion tax, gives all units the ability to clear away wrecked vehicles, and reworks the major Construct enemy faction, deemed by developers Overhype to be "severely lacking in uniqueness, variety, and style".

The Sunday Papers

Julian Benson — Sun, 19 Apr 2026 09:00:00 +0000

Sundays are for watching Youtube videos about different types of laminate primer and working out if you've taken on too much by redecorating the kitchen. One video will recommend one brand and 120 grain sandpaper, another will talk about MDF undercoats and sugar soap, a third will say to ignore the haters and just use a vinyl wrap.

What are we all playing this weekend?

James Archer — Sat, 18 Apr 2026 07:01:00 +0000

I don’t know about you, readers, but this past week’s gone by in a bit of a blur. Did I volunteer to take WAWAPs for today, or was I forced at Ziff Davis canteen sporkpoint? I can’t even remember, but perhaps relaxing with some PC games – and/or reading about what you’re all playing – will help lift the brainfog.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 director "really proud" the gay romance he pushed for, which is somehow totally different to "woke" games' representation, is up for awards

Mark Warren — Fri, 17 Apr 2026 16:40:13 +0000

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is up for a couple of awards from Gayming Magazine for its portrayal of the LGBTQ+ relationship Henry and Hans can have, if you opt to pursue it. Daniel Vávra, the game's creative director, current Kingdom Come movie maker, and also sayer of many GamerGatey things in the past, has done a tweet about these nominations.

"It's been an interesting year": the jailed creator of Fortune's Run has passed parole and is back working on her Deus Ex-style FPS

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell — Fri, 17 Apr 2026 15:57:02 +0000

Last January, the lead developer of very good immersive sim shooter Fortune's Run revealed that she was going to prison for three years, having been convicted of an unspecified violent crime several years prior. The game's early access development was put on hold as a consequence. A parole board has since reviewed Dizzie's case, however, and granted her release after roughly a year in the clink. She's now keen to start working on Fortune's Run once more.

Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era is a strong comeback for a strategy RPG series with few modern competitors, though it could explain itself better

RPS — Fri, 17 Apr 2026 14:00:00 +0000

It's been over a decade since the last Heroes of Might & Magic game, and more than 25 since we set foot in the fantasy world of Enroth, the setting of the first three titles in the strategy series. So there is a lot riding on Heroes of Might & Magic: Olden Era, the reboot of the series from developers Unfrozen, backed both by a collaboration between Ubisoft and Hooded Horse, and the series' creator Jon Van Caneghem. Who better to tell if this venerable and cherished jewel within PC gaming's crown has polished up nicely than two people who have barely played the series before? Edwin and Julian have been playing the Steam Early Access build ahead of its launch on April 30th.

Bake it away, toys.

With the right settings, Pragmata can hack it on the Steam Deck - more or less

James Archer — Fri, 17 Apr 2026 12:41:09 +0000

Sci-fi dadblaster Pragmata is Capcom’s second smooth-running RE Engine game in two months, dishing out loads of ray-traced frames on muscular PCs while still running at a decent clip if you don’t quite meet all of its minimum system specs. But what happens when you dip even lower, down towards the realm of shared RAM and integrated graphics in which the Steam Deck resides? That’s mostly fine too. Probably didn’t need the dramatic buildup, did it.

Battlefield 6 will have big maps up the wazoo by the time 2026 is done, including ones aimed at naval fights between folks in camo trunks

Mark Warren — Fri, 17 Apr 2026 11:45:00 +0000

Following a tactical bong-rip with Battlefield 6's second season earlier this year, EA have whipped out the big guns for the 2026 roadmap they've put out. It promises a lot across the rest oif this year, with the main things being a bunch of big maps and the introduction of naval warfare.

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced is "not an RPG", Ubisoft assure level-up haters in alleged leak that also spills the release date

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell — Fri, 17 Apr 2026 11:15:00 +0000

Assassin's Creed: Black Flag Resynced will be a "solo adventure and character-driven experience" and very much "not an RPG", Ubisoft have reportedly stated in a leaked presentation that also gives away a release date – July 9th, 2026.

It's not much to chew on, but it suggests that the Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag remake won't be embracing the elaborate equipment management, regional recommended levels, and other Final Fantasy-ass paraphernalia foisted on the series by Assassin's Creed Origins and its successors. To put it in nautical language, they are setting course away from the Shoals of Progression, straight down Ezio's Run into One Hit Backstabber's Bay.

Rally Point: Genre-crushing choose-your-own strategy Heart of the Machine might be peak Arcen

Sin Vega — Fri, 17 Apr 2026 10:38:58 +0000

Centuries ago, before 2022, before the Good Darkness of 2020, before the Before Times of 2015, the ancient age before even that of 2013, and perhaps, some fringe scholars suggest, even before the beginning of this sentence, there was Arcen Games.

After a month of haggling with players, Mega Crit make Slay the Spire 2's beta patches official, with big character reworks alongside new art and scoring systems

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell — Fri, 17 Apr 2026 09:29:18 +0000

Slay the Spire 2 has received a major update that rolls all of the additions, tweaks and fixes from recent beta updates into the main branch of the game - though developers Mega Crit are at pains to repeat that "this is still an Early Access game, so just because something made it from beta to main does not mean it's set in stone".

Firaxis reveal Civilization 7's not good enough at building attack maths, tanking its late-game performance - a patch/tutor is here

Mark Warren — Fri, 17 Apr 2026 09:22:58 +0000

Band of soldiers + building. What does that equal, Civ 7? It's ok, stop panicking. I know you've been struggling with some late-game maths, and Firaxis have gotten you a tutor in the form of a fresh patch, which also rolls out 2K's teen accounts. The latter allow parents to cut off access to a few elements of the strategy game, in an effort to keep under 18s safer from forces that aren't nuke-happy Confucius.

Phasmophobia is getting an Alan Wake 2 crossover event next month, which would be cool if it wasn't one time only

Oisin Kuhnke — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 21:56:46 +0000

To be a live service game, in any shape or form, is to seemingly make some kind of agreement to eventually make some kind of licensing deal. And it is happening again. This time with Phasmophobia and, to its credit, the quite thematically appropriate Alan Wake 2, which is coming to the co-op horror game as part of a limited-time event.

Infamous Keepers is a reverse dungeon crawler where you have to survive after mass layoffs and oh no is this a games industry metaphor

Oisin Kuhnke — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 20:29:41 +0000

Infamous Keepers, I think, might be a game about the games industry. It's not about making games explicitly, not in the slightest. It is a tower defence roguelite, one where you run a dungeon, with this as the narrative setup, however: "Your employer, the Dungeon Company, has recently gone through massive layoffs, putting their dungeons to the test by closing the portals that connect them… if a team of heroes makes it all the way through, you can kiss your career goodbye." You do have to replace a few words to get back to our reality, but there's certainly a resemblance to the one we live in.

Whip out your old film camera and enter a Makoto Shinkai-esque world in Opus: Prism Peak, which is out today

Oisin Kuhnke — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 19:07:41 +0000

As trendy as it's sort of become as a feature, photography modes in most games don't interest me much. They've either got too much freedom, making the act of taking photos boring, or so many limitations it hardly feels like photography at all. Limitations are good! You can't get good photos without them, I just prefer having an actual lens, even a digital one, to look through. So whenever a game that's actually about photography, like Opus: Prism Peak (which is out today), rocks up, my curiosity will always be a little bit piqued.

"I'd say mission achieved for this one": Stop Killing Games on the latest European Commission public hearing

Oisin Kuhnke — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 18:02:45 +0000

Right, how about a little Stop Killing Games progress update? Earlier today, a public hearing was held today that included three European parliament committees, IMCO, JURI and PETI, discussing the European Citizens Initiative Stop Destroying Videogames. Both Stop Killing Games founder Ross Scott and group organiser Moritz Katzner made an appearance at the hearing, which you can watch in full here, with the pair hosting a press conference (or as Katzner put it a "fancy Twitch stream") to discuss how it went. Bottom line: in their eyes, good!

"War is our reality": 4A reveal Metro 2039, a horror FPS inspired by Russia's invasion of Ukraine

James Archer — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 17:15:20 +0000

As teased earlier in the week, Metro 2039 has been fully unveiled as a "harrowing" singleplayer horror-shooter that – following the roaming Metro Exodus – takes the FPS series back to the ruins of a nuclear-ravaged Moscow. Per Kyiv-based developers 4A Games, however, it will be "told from a distinctly Ukrainian perspective," exploring the threat of autocratic tyranny with very much intentional parallels to Russia’s ongoing invasion of 4A’s home country.

Set for release this Winter, Metro 2039 casts you as The Stranger, a mentally troubled (and, unlike original protagonist Artyom, fully voiced) survivor forced back down into the metro’s depths. Besides mutated monsters, he’ll also find himself up against the Novoreich, a new Fuhrer-led regime that’s seemingly managed to unite the underground’s warring factions – but with a campaign of "propaganda and misinformation" keeping everyone in line.

Cyber Knights: Flashpoint's latest update lets you two-time a pair of warring factions or ignore them completely

Oisin Kuhnke — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 16:13:53 +0000

Don't you just love the smell of free stuff in the morning? That's exactly what developer Trese Brothers is offering up with the latest update for Cyber Knights: Flashpoint. The new update for the RPG is more of a wholesale expansion, or a new era as the devs describe it, called Ward War. It's all about territorial disputes, leaving you with the choice to pick a side, pick both sides, or just fob it off for something else entirely.

YouTuber who showcases "adult-oriented" Resident Evil Requiem and Stellar Blade mods claims Capcom's laywers asked him to take down over 1,000 videos

Mark Warren — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 15:57:50 +0000

A YouTuber who showcases mods which stick characters from games like Resident Evil Requiem and Stellar Blade into skimpier costumes claims Capcom's legal team have sent him an email asking him to to pull over 1000 videos featuring "adult-oriented" mods for the publisher's games offline.

Even with ray tracing to buff out its bots, Pragmata performs a treat on PC

James Archer — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 15:30:36 +0000

Capcom’s hardware redemption continues with fatherly hack o’ shooter Pragmata, a smooth and low-end-friendly PC performer that’s far more Resident Evil Requiem than Monster Hunter Wilds.

It’s maybe not quite on Requiem’s level of framerate abundance, and Pragmata struggles a teeny bit more on underpowered handheld PCs – which we both know means the Steam Deck – during its tougher stretches of polished moonbase corridors and electricity-spewing robofoes. But it does run well, especially by AAA standards, and matches Resi’s feat of producing a ray tracing setting that looks nice without pulverising your graphics card with a thousand gleaming hammers. Progress!

The Outer Worlds and Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag share an unlikely lesson: we make our own pirates

Jeremy Peel — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 15:00:00 +0000

“Let’s call this round a draw,” says Coach Stilley, his amiable New York drawl soothing what could have been a tense standoff. “You head back to your end of the field. I’ll regroup my team, and we’ll see where things take us in the second half. What do you say?”

We’re several star systems away from New York, in the Halcyon colony set up by The Outer Worlds’ megacorps. And Coach Stilley’s team, the Firefly Freebooters, haven’t played tossball in a decade. Instead, they’re pirates-for-hire – carrying out raids for the highest bidder. What’s more, the players that made up Coach’s offensive line are lying dead at my feet – sizzled by my spaceship’s self-defence system during an attempted boarding.

Valve look like they might be rolling out 30-day Steam price tracking for everyone, making it easier to spot when game discounts are at their discountiest

Mark Warren — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 14:12:37 +0000

Some digging through the Steamy innards of Steam could point to Valve having plans to roll out 30-day game price tracking beyond the European countries it's currently a feature in. That'd make it easier to tell at a glance whether the discount that's tempting you towards blowing some cash on another addition to your backlog is actually the boon you think it is, or an increase on some previously lower price.

Minos review - Theseus can have the minotaur, this roguelike tower defense gets just too punishing

Julian Benson — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 14:00:00 +0000

The mercenary I'm watching stalk the corridors of the dank labyrinth is right to be scared. He's already seen the rest of his party impaled by pressure plate-triggered spike traps, crushed by heavy stone doors, and drawn off the path to the minotaur's lair by a siren song-emitting statue. Alone in the ever-shifting maze, he continues on his mission to kill the Cretan king Minos's bull-horned son, Asterion. He doesn't even realise that he's about to turn the corner into range of a waiting ballistae.

I almost feel sorry for the sellsword. Almost. The blood bonus I'll receive for killing all the labyrinth's invaders with traps alone will make for a nice reward. Maybe I'll invest the gore in a mulcher or a boulder trap…

Homeworld junkies rejoice, brilliantly brutal sci-fi strategy sim Nebulous is finally getting its singleplayer campaign

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 13:00:00 +0000

Hooded Horse and Eridanus Industries are finally adding a singleplayer narrative campaign option to Nebulous: Fleet Command, the outrageously nerdy space navy strategy game that makes Homeworld look like bashing rubber ducks together in a star-spangled bathtub. The first act of that campaign launches on May 29th, and puts you in charge of a fleet operating behind enemy lines in a wartorn star system, over the course of 17 missions.

You know what this means, don't you? It means I have to remember how to play Nebulous: Fleet Command, a year on from my last session. Let me experiment with pushing these dashboard buttons REACTOR PURGE INITIATED hang on, I've got this WARNING: TORPEDO TUBE BLOCKED, LAUNCH IMMINENT oh fak fak fak run! Run on through to the next paragraph, before they seal off the deck!

Cyberpunk 2077's funkiest vehicle modder has resurrected a cut police gunship from the RPG's very first trailer

Mark Warren — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 11:16:16 +0000

As you may have gathered by this point, I'm a sucker for a cool Cyberpunk 2077 mod. Hence, when I saw that the modder behind some of the RPG's most unique custom vehicles had dug up some of CD Projekt's abandoned models to bring to life a flying police interceptor that never made it into full game, you best believe I stuck that on my must cover list. It's called an and they've also put together a short quest to unlock it.

I'm sad to report that when I worked on Black & White 2's expansion I was never offered a weed-laced chilli con carne

Julian Benson — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 10:06:10 +0000

You may not be remotely surprised to learn that while making Black & White, the god game in which you can care for a three-story tall cow, many of the developers at Lionhead were smoking marijuana. As Peter Molyneux tells it in a recent anniversary piece for Eurogamer: "If there's any stimulant that aids creativity, it's weed."

The developers interviewed do point out that this wasn't everyone on the team. "It would get to six o'clock, which was the official end of the day, and the 'normal' people with families would go home, and we'd just skin up," says Mark Healey, who went on to found Media Molecule. "I'd just sit down in the office smoking a big fucking reefer."

While you may not be shocked by this revelation, I have to tell you, it's thrown me into something of an existential crisis. You see, in 2006, I spent a week doing work experience at Lionhead's offices and I was never once offered a toke, let alone a bowl of the weed-laced chilli con carne that apparently came out at office parties.

"We had this problem before in the games we created with CD Projekt": Blood of Dawnwalker CEO defends use of AI voice placeholders to save time

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 20:12:30 +0000

Open world vampire RPG The Blood of Dawnwalker makes use of AI-generated voice acting, Rebel Wolves CEO Konrad Tomaszkiewicz has revealed, but doesn't actually feature it in-game. The devs deployed the soul-regurgitating tech to create placeholder voice performances early in development, in order to tinker with quests and the like without re-recording the associated dialogue.

Tomaszkiewicz says this has kept costs down, citing his experience at CD Projekt working on The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Cyberpunk 2077. He claims that all of the sinister chatbot tomfoolery has since been erased, and that every voice line in The Blood of Dawnwalker is now the product of genuine human lips and lungs.

If you need more Shakespeare with your Slay the Spire, check out demon lawyer deckbuilder The Killing Stone

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 18:00:00 +0000

Slay the Spire 2 may yet prove this year's best deckbuilder, but The Killing Stone is more intriguing. It's also heckin' Elizabethan, if you opt for the "period" dialogue option. The setup, in present-day English: it's the 17th century, and you are a student of the great occultist Mariken Svangård. As is the fashion among occultists, your mentor has just popped her clogs in mysterious circumstances, and you've come to a bizarre mansion in the Antarctic circle to pay respects and meet her relatives. It turns out that Mariken has somehow sold their souls to various demons, foremost among them a snickering, one-eyed fiend who looks like Guido Fawkes by way of Doctor Strange.

Euro Truck Simulator 2's rumbling into the heart of Turkey with the freshly announced Soul of Anatolia expansion

Mark Warren — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 16:05:46 +0000

Just as SCS Software step into to make it easier for me to recover from my reckless rig road rage, they've decided to pull the cover off another upcoming addition to Euro Truck Simulator 2's ever-expanding map. This freshly revealed DLC's dubbed Soul of Anatolia, and it'll let you drive on past the Balkans and much further into Turkey than you previously could.

Samson's second update continues to swat serious bugs, and its street races have been tweaked into ideal day-ending money-makers

Mark Warren — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 14:21:30 +0000

Liquid Swords continue to chip away at the biggest issues Samson, their bitesize tale of a small-time crim pulling jobs to gradually remove the debt albatross from his neck, has faced since it launched the other week in a state the ranged from harmlessly quirky to frustratingly broken. The second of these patches picks up the first's problem-eliminating baton, but also sees the devs start to make some more in-depth tweaks to mechanics that work fine, but leave a bit to be desired.

Revisiting Atomfall’s pasty-pocalyse survival jaunt a year on, I’ve finally been seduced by its hallucinated monks and jarred brains

Mark Warren — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 14:00:00 +0000

When I finished my first playthrough of Atomfall for review last year, I felt like Rebellion’s pasty-littered survival game was just starting to properly get its hooks into me.

I’ve dug plenty of short games over the years - Return of the Obra Dinn and The Red Strings Club are a couple of examples - but with that brevity comes the challenge of delivering on the promise of your premise in a briefer window than longer games are afforded. The base version of Atomfall instead reached its destination just as it was truly getting into its stride. The fact that the destination was more mundane and forgettable than the game had built it up to be only marked out that feeling of wasted potential more starkly. It was a good game, but one I couldn’t recommend without considering adding the phrase ‘for what it is’.

Horror RPG Look Outside's chunky new 2.3 update gives you even more reason to share soup with the cursed folk living in your basement

Mark Warren — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Funky horror RPG Look Outside has just gotten a big update, with some fresh additions, enough balancing tweaks to kill any window-looking monsters, and some extra "nasty surprises" for its cursed mode. Seriously, these are some looooooooooooooooooong patch notes for the Devolver-published flick of spooky pixel artist Francis Coulombe.

If these leaked GTA Online sales figures are legit, you can see why Rockstar are holding off GTA 6's PC release

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 11:37:04 +0000

Yesterday, hacker group ShinyHunters made good on their threat to release data stolen from Grand Theft Auto VI developers Rockstar Games by way of a third-party service. Rockstar don't seem bothered by the leak, with one representative calling it "a limited amount of non-material company information", and the alleged secret titbits now in circulation certainly aren't on the same scale as the infamous 2022 leak of WIP footage from GTA 6. Still, there are some interesting gobbets in there. One is that Rockstar's cashcow GTA Online makes a lot less money from microtransactions on PC, despite its steady following on services like Steam.

With DLSS 5, Nvidia look to rewrite the truth before our eyes

Michael Cook — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 10:20:56 +0000

Earlier this year Nvidia announced DLSS 5, a new version of their DLSS technology: a layer of graphical magic that uses their GPUs to do improbable things to the resolution and framerate of your favourite PC games (unless your favourite PC game is Slay the Spire). Nvidia are in a strange space at the moment - now one of the most valuable companies to ever have existed, they're also one of the drivers of the AI boom and all of the horror and chaos that comes with it. PC gamers, once their core market, are now finding it harder than ever to afford their products, as Nvidia spent most of the last decade overselling first to crypto miners, and then to AI startups. On paper, DLSS 5 is a chance for a simple PR win, a positive example of using AI to improve the performance of modern videogames. Instead, they offered an opportunity to make every game you own slightly uglier, and only if you can afford the dual-GPUs it requires to run.

DLSS 5 is fascinating not just as an extension of Nvidia’s AI-first business philosophy, and not just as a sign of the slowdown in hardware advancement, and not just because of what it says about our desire for 'more real than real' graphics. DLSS 5 also reflects the world we find ourselves in today, perhaps the most neatly-packed microcosm I’ve seen to date. But for those wondering, yes, you do need to have read DLSS 1-4 to understand the plot of DLSS 5, so let’s start with a quick recap.

Beautiful, flawed MMO Book of Travels is now a $5 singleplayer RPG, in a break from the industry trend of killing off struggling online games

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 09:34:40 +0000

I've long been an embarrassed fan of Book of Travels, the "tiny MMO" with heady artistic influences from Swedish indies Might & Delight. It's a world of enchanted string, vast cutaway forests, tinkling tea sets, and sleepy quasi-Orientalist cities. Our former news writer Lauren Morton called it "the cure for my break-up with MMOs" back in 2021. But it's never quite accomplished its ambitions, with the developers laying off around 25 staff following a difficult early access launch, and postponing the rollout of new areas and features.

Star Trek: Resurgence isn't going to live long and prosper - it's being delisted from Steam around three years on from release

Mark Warren — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 09:02:18 +0000

Update: It's now been pulled from sale on Steam.

Original story follows:

Star Trek: Resurgence, the Telltale-style Trek game which came out back in 2023, is set to be delisted from Steam soon. Unlike the mysterious spate of Disney delistings the other day, Resurgence developers Dramatic Labs have been upfront about the reason it's being pulled.

Labyrinth.os is a dungeon crawling ode to late '90s and early 2000s uncanny CGI

Oisin Kuhnke — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 22:00:01 +0000

Labyrinth.os is the kind of game where I'm not entirely sure I can tell you what it is exactly. It is, as the game's itch.io page says, a "new 3D Dungeon Crawling Dream for Windows Machines." A brief, seemingly in-world description explains the setup for the game too: "Before dying out, the smartest of the world from before left a machine, A machine with the power to restart the world, The Thirteen Architects who were built to maintain this machine dubbed it: The World Egg." But beyond that, it stays shrouded in mystery up to the point of playing it, which is the exact kind of game that draws me in quickest.

"You cannot create art like this": The Blood of Dawnwalker director on making AAA games that aren't just interested in money

Oisin Kuhnke — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 20:34:12 +0000

If the *waves hands frantically* general state of the games industry hasn't made it clear already, it cannot be understated how much of a priority making money is for the suits that own all these game studios. Who cares if the thing is good! Will it make lots of money? And judging by a recent interview, The Witcher 3 director and director of the upcoming The Blood of Dawnwalker Konrad Tomaszkiewicz takes issue with this frustrating fact.

Hades 2's second post-launch patch adds in more prophecy conclusions and flirtier friends

Oisin Kuhnke — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 18:00:03 +0000

The work of an early access game, even when it's hit 1.0, is never truly done. That is certainly the case for Hades 2, which has received its second post-launch patch today. Nothing mind blowing has been added in with this one, but there does seem to be a few more narrative threads tied up, and a number of quality of life changes.

I hope you're hungry, because Dosa Divas storms out of the kitchen today

Oisin Kuhnke — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 17:15:12 +0000

I expect that writing this up is about to make me quite hungry. Dosa Divas! It's the latest small-scale RPG from Outerloop Games, the same devs behind 2023's Thirsty Suitors. Where their previous game was all about battling off unsuitable suitors, food takes centre stage in Dosa Divas, pitting you as a pair of sisters and their trusty ancient spirit-mech who are "on a mission to defeat a rotten fast food empire and reconnect communities with their traditions." And it's out right now!

"I wanted you to feel bad": former Battlefield audio designer recalls punching himself to record more realistic gunshot screams

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 17:00:00 +0000

Arc Raiders audio director Bence Pajor has spoken on the Game Makers Notebook podcast about his earlier career at DICE, working on sound effects for the Battlefield FPS series. The discussion includes some insights about how Pajor – a former Swedish military sniper – created effects for soldiers getting struck by bullets. Amongst other things, he experimented with punching himself hard enough to elicit cries of pain. It's not clear whether the resulting recordings made their way into any Battlefield game - one of Pajor's designer colleagues found them so unpleasant that they asked for them to be removed.

Disney yank a bunch of games from Steam, including bonafide classics Star Wars: Dark Forces, Outlaws and High School Musical 3: Senior Year Dance

Mark Warren — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 16:32:03 +0000

A bunch of older games linked to or published by Disney have just been delisted from Steam in one fell swoop, with the original 90s versions of Star Wars: Dark Forces and Outlaws among their number. These 15 make up the second round of Disney-related games to be yanked from the storefront this year, with 14 having gotten the hook back in January.

Marathon's next experimental mode goes all in on sponsored kits, which sounds great for scaredy-cats like me

Oisin Kuhnke — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 16:05:20 +0000

There's another experiment on the way to Marathon. Last month, Bungie started testing a duos mode in the extraction shooter. According to an update from Joe Ziegler, that mode will be making its way into the game as a full feature in season two, with Bungie "diligently working on delivering that to all of you who are eagerly awaiting its return." But with this update comes the next test: a new mode that forces you into using sponsored kits.

Phew, American Truck Simulator's latest beta update will tow me back to the road when I inevitably roll it trying to take a turn at 80 mph

Mark Warren — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 15:26:12 +0000

I'm happily trucking down the highway in American Truck Simulator. The radio's on, it's a while to my next mandatory break, and there's not too much traffic. Things are going we-OH NO, OH BALLS, THAT'S MY TURN! I'M JERKING THE WHEEL VIOLENTLY, I'M TURNING, I'VE FORGOTTEN TO BR. Right, now my truck needs to be turned the right way up. Usually, I'd need to be dragged all the way to the nearest service station, but thanks to a new feature SCS Software are starting to roll out to their truck sims, I can now be neatly plopped back onto the road.

STALKER 2’s latest update adds an easily missed new questline, while dispersing accidental mutant crowds

James Archer — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 15:06:51 +0000

Get in here, stalker. STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl just got its meatiest patch in months, the Sealed Truth update, which has added a spooky, story-based new questline along with various bug fixes.

The new quests, which take you deep into the monster-infested bowels of the X-18 laboratory (previously visited in STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl), seemingly play up HoC’s horror side, and word is it’ll loosely tie into the plot of the incoming Cost of Hope expansion. Which sounds good, although you might need to fire up an older save to kick it off, as it’s seemingly only available for a brief period early in the game.

Idols Of Ash review - a terrific spelunking horror game that makes you choose between a rock and a giant centipede

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 13:00:00 +0000

When I think of Idols of Ash, I think of seven sounds, listed here in order of deepening dreadfulness. The first and nicest sound is the clink of my silvery grapple sinking its hook, interrupting the rush of air past my ears as I fall. That's the second, less nice sound. The third sound is a distant, tectonic groaning, disconsolate and wakeful: it could be the wind again, pushing through some unaccountably musical lungful of stone. Yeah, I'm sure that's all it is.

The fourth sound is definitely not the wind: a squeaky, squidgy rumination, like the cooing of idle pigeons. You hear that cooing and you start running, because it generally precedes the fifth sound, the stiletto rattle of chitinous feet. When the legs are close, there's the sixth sound, a rasping, gaping hiss, and it's time to yeet yourself into the chasm while hurling your grapple towards the nearest jutting surface. With any luck, you will not then hear the seventh sound: the thud of your hook bouncing off the rock.

A Storied Life: Tabitha review – a cosy yet pensive puzzler where the biggest challenge is getting someone else's story straight

James Archer — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 11:43:39 +0000

It is, as I write this, one year to the day since I and two fellow, newly-orphaned siblings finished the process of auditing, packing, and clearing out our childhood home. The final task: enduring the fearsome rattling and suspect braking of our dad’s neglected Renault Megane, just long enough for it to sputter to someone mad enough to buy it off us. The irony, that this clanking full-stop on the end our bereavement’s lengthy administrative aspect could so feasibly kill me, was not lost.

That process, from the last beep of hospital machinery to the unhaggled exchange of French scrap metal, took 11 months, so it’s good that A Storied Life: Tabitha condenses its own house clearance to just a couple of hours. Posthumously asked by an elderly friend to give her cottage a tidy, you spend half your time in A Storied Life rummaging through her things in a kind of reverse Unpacking, selecting which bric-a-brac to throw away, which to keep, and which – with her blessings – to auction off for cash. The other half is spent taking inspiration from the objects you’ve kept to rewrite her water-damaged memoirs, a bittersweet series of word puzzles that still achieves a certain warmth – provided you can come to terms with the peculiar writing style.

Bloodborne on PC remains a pipe dream, but the newly announced movie at least means taking your mouse and keyboard to the cinema is an option

Mark Warren — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 11:06:42 +0000

Bloodborne. It's still not on PC and doesn't look to be getting a remake which might bring it to PC any time soon. There is some good news, though. Sony have announced an animated film adaptation of the game about crimson juice and goths in hats is in the works.

Krafton are no longer listed as Subnautica 2's publishers on Steam and the Epic store, following a quiet switch

Mark Warren — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 09:35:12 +0000

Update: Krafton have issued a response to Europeanvideogamer about the storefront switcheroos. The publisher said that they're "currently focused on successfully supporting the Early Access launch of Subnautica 2", and that they have "nothing further to share at this time".

Original story follows:

Krafton have quietly disappeared from the publisher sections of Subnautica 2's Steam and Epic Games store pages. The changes appear to be recent, with SteamDB suggesting the former was made just last week to that platform's listing. Developers Unknown Worlds - now once again operating under CEO Ted Gill, amid long-running legal action between parent company Krafton and three current and former studio leads - are now cited as the game's sole publishers.