Latest Articles (Page 118)

Alan Wake 2 was one of the most visually stunning games of 2023 - but also one of the most demanding for older hardware. Owing to its use of DX12 Ultimate mesh shaders, the game could run on older hardware but often delivered an unplayable experience, especially on Nvidia's GTX 10-series GPUs built on the Pascal architecture. This is an issue because so many of them are still in use: around nine percent of the Steam Hardware Survey's GPUs are 10-series cards. Last week, Remedy approached us with the chance to preview a PC patch going live on March 6th, which radically improves matters for Pascal users. At the same time, it's a golden opportunity for us to revisit Remedy's other work on the game since launch.

Arcade Paradise was a charming management/simulation game set in an old laundrette. In it, the player had to complete menial tasks in order to earn enough cash to build an awesome 90s video game arcade at the back of the building in an attempt to prove themselves to their cranky dad.

According to SteamDB, Starfield's Steam listing was recently updated, adding an "unknown app" to the Steam backend that's widely speculated to be the Shattered Space DLC.

Still looking for that perfect gift for Mother's Day? How about a curated selection of jewellery inspired by The Sims 4?

It's evident in one of the very early scenes, a flashback where two children (the central character, Cloud, and another main character, Tifa) sit by their village well at night and make a promise together as stars shine overhead. A woman named Elmyra cries at her kitchen table, reading a letter that tells her that her husband has died in a war. Two former friends, Barret and Dyne, try to talk over the trauma of their loss in a prison. A serene gondola ride during a date, fireworks exploding outside while Cloud and a flower girl, Aerith, peer out through the window. 'I want to meet...you,' she tells him, even though they have already travelled together for a while. He doesn't understand, and he won't until it's too late.

The Gauntlet is coming to Diablo 4 next week.

A PC port of Sucker Punch's critically-acclaimed Ghost of Tsushima could be announced as early as next week.

Payday 3's "Operation Medic Bag" patch is now available.

EA and BioWare are "pretty confident" that Dragon Age: Dreadwolf will be released later this year.

Up front: I have never played Final Fantasy 7. I'm one of those unbearable hipsters who has only played 12, and won't shut up about it. But with the new game out, I've discovered that I have fond memories of FF7, this massive game that I have never played. Also: although I didn't play it, there was a period, around its release, when I was super into the idea of it. And I watched it a lot once it was out. And these memories and how odd they are have made me realise that games have changed a lot over the years, and FF7 marks one of the really big changes.

Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley, the lovely looking musical adventure based on Tove Jansson's classic series of children's stories, finally has a released date and will be launching for Switch and PC via Steam on Thursday, 7th March.

Balatro, the poker-themed rogue-like from solo developer LocalThunk that's been a huge critical and commercial hit since releasing last week, has been unexpectedly yanked from sale in some countries, with publisher Playstack blaming the issue on a surprise ratings change.

Ori and the Blind Forest developer Moon Studios has announced its dark action-RPG No Rest for the Wicked will launch into Steam early access on 18th April.

Four new cast members have been announced for The Last of Us Season 2.

Frost Fatales, the winter version of Games Done Quick's Frame Fatales charity speedrunning initiative, is back this Sunday for a week of impressively fast gaming escapades.

Sony's PlayStation Plus Cloud Streaming service was introduced last October for PlayStation Plus Premium subscribers, offering 4K streaming of PS5 titles in addition to the old PlayStation Now 720p PS3 and 1080p PS4 experiences. We've been critical of cloud streaming in the past, as what you gain in convenience you often lose in image quality and latency - so how does the Sony offering compare to the native experience on PS5 on that front? And what about Xbox's cloud gaming offering, dubbed Project xCloud? The latter point threw up an interesting curveball during testing: Microsoft's servers are based on Xbox Series X silicon, but the games being streamed are definitely the Series S versions.

Developers at GTA 6 studio Rockstar Games have criticised the company for telling employees they must return to the office full-time next month, calling leadership's decision "reckless".

Pokémon, Warcraft and Sea of Thieves have joined in with this week's Glasgow Willy Wonka Experience memes.

There's a certain kind of game that has you running in circles. This isn't because it's poorly designed or lacking waypoints. It's because it's frantic, endlessly generous, and loves to throw horrible things in your path. It's unfair in the very best way. It's an arcade game. Specifically, it's a twin-stick.

If you, like me, fell rather in love with Visai Games' narrative cooking game Venba last year, I have good news. Its Cookbook DLC is on the way, with a release date set just two weeks away.

UPDATE 1/3/24: Aspyr has seen all the Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered chatter about the differences between the Epic Games Store version and other versions of the game. And, well, it has left me a tad confused.

Two fake Helldivers 2 games popped up on Steam last night, both masquerading as Arrowhead's hit shooter in a bid to scam people into buying their product. Each title listed Arrowhead as its developer, and PlayStation as its publisher.

There's a lovely line in Rick Lane's review of Star Wars: Dark Forces. Actually, the piece has no shortage of lovely lines, but one stood out for me in particular. "The result is a game that looks sharp and fresh, but crucially, not new."

Hello! Welcome back to our regular feature where we write a little bit about some of the games we've been playing over the past few days. This week: faewilds, tins, and liars.

Crash Team Rumble will have no further content updates after 4th March, less than nine months after its launch.

Destiny 2 is adding a new kind of vehicle - the hoverboard-esque Skimmer - in its next update due on Tuesday, 5th March.

Another Thursday, another Epic Games Store freebie to add to your ever-growing backlog, this time in the form of stylish 3D side-scroller Never Yield.

Vampire Survivors might continue to be suspiciously devoid of vampires, but it does now have a bunch of new cosmic sci-fi bits (clearly last year's Among Us collaboration just wasn't space-y enough), courtesy of its latest free update on Steam, Switch, Xbox, and mobile.

Terminator: Survivors, the previously untitled open-world Terminator game announced by publisher Nacon back in July 2022, has resurfaced with a new cinematic trailer and a Steam early access launch day of 24th October this year.

Toys for Bob - the Activision Blizzard studio behind the likes of Skylanders, Crash Bandicoot 4, and the Spyro remasters - has announced it's parting ways with Activision to become an independent company once more. It also says it's "exploring a possible partnership" with Microsoft as development on its new game gets underway.