Author: [email protected] (Ted Litchfield)
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MechWarrior 5: Clans is bringing an RTS-style tactical camera, love for gamepad players, and a new focus on storytelling to the long-running mech sim series
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I thought I had a pretty good idea of what to expect going into a closed door, hands-off demo for MechWarrior 5: Clans at GDC, but then Piranha Games CEO Russ Bullock pulled out from a standard, third-person view of his mech to an RTS-style overview of the map, queueing up commands for his squad…
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Hyper Light Drifter’s long-awaited sequel feels like the first game got caught in a transporter accident with Risk of Rain 2—and I can’t wait for more
Hyper Light Breaker isn’t just translating the beloved 2D pixel art Zelda homage into full 3D—it’s also shifting gears into a completely different style of game from the first’s intricate, handcrafted world with a roguelike structure whose open zones are created anew for each run. We don’t yet know how that ambitious procedural generation system…
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Void Bastards’ space cowboy sequel has 13 different ‘outlaws’ you equip and swap like weapons, but if you play poorly they’ll refuse to work together
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I think I began to get a handle on Wild Bastards’ unique character swapping system just as I ran out of characters to swap. I was down to the last member of my three-cowpoke crew as I faced a tough random encounter, the last thing between me and a successful planetary extraction. Any dreams I…
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There’s finally a demo for the Dark Souls 3 mod that transforms the whole game into a bizarro fan sequel to the series
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Dark Souls: Archthrones feels like a Souls series romhack, mashing up disparate parts of FromSoftware’s body of work in a custom campaign for Dark Souls 3. This is one for the fans, full of clever winks and references to other games in the series, but as one of those fans myself, I sure do not…
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Not only is Rainbow Six Siege free to play for the next week, it’s also just $4 to keep if you like it
We are already two days into a free week for Rainbow Six Siege, Ubisoft’s long-running multiplayer take on its even longer-running tactical shooter series. The free week runs until Thursday, March 21, while you can get the game for keeps for just $4 (85% off) until Wednesday. We are on year nine of this shooter—a…
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‘You will not enjoy videogames anymore if you work in a big game studio:’ New Blood’s boss weighs in on what sets it apart amid an industry crisis
In a recent interview with members of indie collective/developer New Blood, I asked them how they attribute their current success in the face of so much misery, layoffs, and studio closures in the industry. “We’re not beholden to shareholders or investors or anything like that,” said studio boss Dave Oshry. “We get to make what…
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’10 years ago, we were just a couple of friends in my apartment trying to figure out what we wanted to do:’ the studio at the heart of the boomer shooter boom reflects on its first decade
New Blood Interactive and its longtime members have an almost “elder statesman” position in the boomer shooter scene—the indie FPS milieu that celebrates design and aesthetic trends from the ’90s and early ’00s. That status hardly came about overnight, though. “10 years ago, we were just a couple of friends in my apartment trying to…
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Dark Souls 2 modders have finally managed to crank its framerate past 60 without borking the entire game
First reported by GamesRadar, an industrious modder named emoose has finally cracked the 60fps barrier in Dark Souls 2 with their DS2 Frame Unlimiter project, allowing players to enjoy a crispy high-refresh take on Drangleic without breaking the game. For a studio with such precise and intense action gameplay, FromSoftware’s always had a fraught relationship…
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The perfect, simple, microtransaction-free throwback to CoD Zombies has finally launched in early access, and it’s $9
CoD Zombies-inspired wave survival shooter Hellbreach: Vegas is finally out in early access after a ton of previews and playtests, and the co-op shooter is a fantastic get for its $9 launch promotional price—it’s also a nice throwback in its business model too, with all cosmetics and unlockables in the game gated entirely by gameplay…
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Disgraced former WWE boss Vince McMahon has been largely scrubbed from WWE 2K24
First reported by VGC, former WWE boss Vince McMahon’s likeness has been mostly removed from WWE 2K24. McMahon recently stepped down from his position of executive chairman of the WWE following a lawsuit by a former employee alleging sex trafficking and abuse by McMahon and others at the company. McMahon, who operated as both the…