First, go on then, let’s have the whole trailer again. I already watched it twice this morning. They’re cute and all, but I also dig the idea that they may be another example of Souls using our knowledge and trained behaviours against us. While From didn’t invent Mimics, their take on a monster which pretends to be a treasure chest to devour greedy adventurers sure put me on my back foot....

There were a lot of fun details revealed by that footage. But there is one, small and basically inconsequential, that I cannot stop fixating on. In a few bits of the combat you can see V’s nails. Here’s one of their left hand when the are reloading their shotgun during a firefight: Here’s a much clearer one from earlier in the footage, where they are also in the middle of the fight but have just brutally stabbed someone and are carrying their sword in readiness for another stabbin':...

In the excellent single player story, Julianna remarks how the infinitely recurring Colt only needs to get things right once, yet his Eternalist enemies have to stop him millions of times, every time. The same feeling extends to multiplayer, where Julianna’s frailty is clear and purposeful. For starters, Colt has two extra lives while Julianna has zero respawns. You’re already tougher. Equip the right trinkets and slabs (like the Shift power and speedy sprint trinket) and you can easily become faster too....

That’s Icarus, that is. It’s obviously flawed, wildly frustrating and frequently janky, but it’s also somehow simultaneously good enough to have kept me playing into the early morning on multiple nights without even realizing the time. It’s like Schrodinger’s cat, except if the cat was a bear made of draining thirst meters. I went on to spend another 20 hours (mostly) happily within its grasp. It helps that my Icarus playstyle is ‘hubris’....

However, it also reminded me a lot of Japanese novelist Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s time-travelling cafe book, Before The Coffee Gets Cold. It may not take place at night, but it does capture a very similar chilled out vibe where its cast of regular customers gradually open up to one another. Like Midnight Diner, you have no agency in the story other than to simply consume their hang-ups, regrets and personal revelations, but if Coffee Talk left you wanting more of that cosy cafe ambience, then the time-travelling exploits of Before The Coffee Gets Cold make for an excellent companion piece....

Within, you can find Ares’ treasury, but it is locked behind two fortress mechanisms. If you want to access Ares’s treasury, you’ll need to know how to complete both puzzles in the fort. In this Immortals Fenyx Rising Ajax’s Fort walkthrough, we’ll explain how to complete both puzzle mechanisms so that you can access Ares’ treasury. Note: Spoilers follow, obviously. You’ve been warned. Immortals Fenyx Rising Ajax’s Fort walkthrough video Above is a full video walkthrough of both the puzzles in Ajax’s Fort....

Judero is a fantastical adventure crossing from round Peebles in Scotland’s Borders all the way over to the west coast, starring a strapping Celt named Judero (who may or may not be built upon an old action figure). Something foul is afoot, and off he’ll go exploring, chatting with folks, and getting into fights. It’s a bit like a top-down beat ’em up with very lively bosses, though puzzling and combat-puzzling come in with Judero’s ability to mind-control enemies....

Here’s Frakes with Mysteries Unknown: I hope to see more videos in this series. What fate befell Mylta Power? Who was a mysterious guest at the Paradise Resort? And what is so good about Good Houses? After years of edgy posturing, I’m glad to see the game more willing to accept how silly the bantorama is. Yeah yeah the in-lore fella watching the show is standard wacky nutso but the devs called in chuffing Frakes for a joke....

Set in the 90s, Kathy Rain is about the eponymous edgy journalism student returning to her hometown (on her cool motorbike) after her grandfather’s death then. She’s soon tangled in local mysteries with a suspiciously maybe-supernatural tinge, putting that investigative education to good use. Today’s announcement calls the Director’s Cut “a refined and expanded version of Kathy Rain, created from the ground up in a modern, up-to-date game engine.” They say they’re whamming in new areas, an extended extending, new dialogue, new puzzles, more music, and new motorcycle designs to unlock....

Announced back at Sony’s notE3 PlayStation stream back in June (and confirmed for PC after the fact), Kena is an awfully pretty puzzle/explore/fight ’em up with some strong Zelda vibes. Once set to release on the Epic Games Store this winter, developers Ember Lab this week chose to postpone the game’s launch until early 2021. You probably know the drill by now: 2020 happened, and making videogames in the midst of the hell year has made videogame development a whole lot harder....

One thing to say upfront: I didn’t get to see the game in action, I’m sorry to say, but the concept, at least, seems sound. There was clearly a lot of love for the original film in the room when I spoke to the developers, both from Randy Greenback, who was the executive director of Friday The 13th: The Game and now works at publishing label Good Shepherd, and from Teravision Games’ creative director Luis Daniel Zambrano....

Last Call BBS is a collection of eight small puzzle games tucked away inside the desktop of a ‘90s PC. To access the collection, you need to navigate an old bulletin board system, named Last Call BBS, where you can download each one straight from the wibbly-wobbly online aether. As you might imagine from Zachtronics, the eight games are all focused on automation, programming, assembling, building circuits, and, of course, not one but two versions of solitaire....

Our three protagonists are middle-aged single dad John, ruthless spy Meena, and tearaway teen Donna. Each protagonist’s story has six chapters, with their stories all converging on a seventh, final chapter that ties everything up. Your job as the player is to make dialogue choices (some of which might have ramifications later), walk in the right direction where necessary, and do a few mini-games of the rhythm-game-piano or brushing-teeth-after-breakfast variety....

I’m not sorry! Just look at it: even without the Big Deck, which comes complete with a suitably giant, functioning screen, it’s a beautiful bit of exhibition design. The sprawling, cooly lit space; the neat racks of demo units; the fact that there are actual seats?! People can go to a big event like this and sit down on something besides a revolting floor? Incredible. Bet they’ve even got bottled water that isn’t sparkling....

Take a look at pages eight and nine of the report and it’s clear to see that in the first quarter of the 2021 financial year when Final Fantasy VII Remake launched, that the HD Games Division made a very healthy ¥34.1bn (£250m) and a profit of roughly ¥12bn (£87m). As we move over into the second quarter of the same financial year, when Marvel’s Avengers launched, it’s not as pretty a picture....

Last month, Phil Salvador over at The Obscuritory dove into a long-forgotten part of Maxis’ past. See, between 1992 and 1994, the SimCity devs had a brief stint in creating workplace simulations through Maxis Business Simulations - an attempt to turn their gamier simulations into professional corporate training tools. One of those was SimRefinery, a bespoke oil refinery sim commissioned by Chevron. It’s a great read, but the most interesting thread to follow is what happened after the story’s publication....

My four-year-old kid has a bunch of iPad apps in which he taps and swipes on wounded animals in order to pluck thorns, wrap their scratches in gauze, and comb their hair. Mech Mechanic Simulator isn’t too far off that. In first-person, you walk around a vaguely futuristic garage, take on jobs to fix mechs, scan them to spot broken parts, and then click, click, and drag to remove its parts one by one....

Microsoft announce their intent to buy ZeniMax in September 2020. Last week, both the USA’s SEC and the European Commission gave their stamps of approval to the deal. “The Commission concluded that the proposed acquisition would raise no competition concerns, given the combined entity’s limited market position upstream and the presence of strong downstream competitors in the distribution of video games,” The Verge report the European Commission said. And cheery RPS fanzine PC Gamer note that the Securities And Exchange Commission gave a thumbs-up in the USA last week....

An email to staff from 343 Industries head Pierre Hintze described the situation as a restructuring. Hintze said the decision had been “difficult” but confirmed that “some roles are being eliminated”. The email also clarified that 343 will continue to support Halo Infinite’s multiplayer component. It’s also been reported that creative director Joe Staten will be leaving 343 to rejoin the Xbox publishing team. Staten joined 343 in 2020 to shepherd Halo Infinite’s campaign after the game was delayed following negative fan reaction....

Losing the ability to keep developing Unreal Engine for Mac and iOS could really harm both Epic Games and the developers who rely on them, Microsoft have said in a legal statement supporting Epic. The Unreal lords are trying to get a court to stop Apple from terminating their developer accounts, which is due to happen on Friday unless their lawyers deliver a victory royale. It’s one messy consequence of Epic’s legal battle against Apple and Google over app store fees, which sure has escalated since starting with Fortnite microtransactions....