I’ve installed and wearily deleted a dozen shooters in the last 8 months or so. I wish I could replace all their million unnecessary gigabytes with more of Syscrusher. It’s simple enough that to describe it would almost be a disservice. You use a pistol, shotgun, autogun (“NEATO”, as your character responds to its description), and rocket launcher to fight a linear path through the robots defending the tower of a malevolent AI....

Switch players have been able to wrangle with Triangle Strategy since March, but we don’t have long to wait until it’s available on the ol’ personal computers. I’m looking at you, Steam Deck. The game was developed by the team behind Octopath Traveler and Bravely Default. Triangle Strategy’s all about the moral choices you’ll encounter at various points during your questing through the continent of Norzelia. You’ll need to guide protagonist Serenoa, and his mates Roland and Frederica, to sort out the strife among three powerful states: Glenbrook, Aesfrost and Hyzante....

Taiko no Tatsujin: The Drum Master is a rhythm game inspired by traditional Japanese drumming. It features a grinning mascot-like drum, an appealingly colourful art style, and soundtracks inspired by Japanese pop. It has none of the story hijinks of something like Elite Beat Agents, but still has a great, upbeat energy. It’s also more approachable than something like Guitar Hero, as you’re only having to deal with hitting the drum or the edge of the drum rather than five separate buttons....

It’s also referred to as a “console exclusive” for PlayStation, which means it’ll probably come to PC. At the time of writing, there’s very little information available about Rise Of The Ronin other than what’s in the trailer above. I do really like that trailer, though. There looks to be a lot of variety in the combat, from stately clashing of samurai swords to bombastic grapple manouvers and swift transitions between blades and bullets....

Funcom are best known for their online games like Conan Exiles and The Secret World. From Funcom’s press release announcing the purchase attempt, senior vice president of Tencent, Steven Ma, says “We are impressed by Funcom’s strengths as a developer of open-world multiplayer, action and survival games," and “We are glad to deepen our relationship with Funcom.” Tencent are already the majority shareholder in the Norwegian game company as of October 2019, currently holding 29% of shares....

Broforce and Genital Jousting developers Free Lives are behind Terra Nil, and it’s another typically diverse experience from them. I can only think that the staggering heatwaves being experienced throughout much of the US, Europe and the rest of the world recently have driven people to take to Steam, to find some escapism in taking charge of making the environment something approaching pleasant again. Terra Nil certainly makes you feel like you’re scoring wins for an environment even if it’s not the environment....

Best action games As usual, we’re keeping our definition of ‘action’ fairly broad, but there are a few hard and fast rules we’re sticking to here. We’re not including any FPS games in this list, but third-person shooters are fair game, as are action RPGs. You won’t find any platformers in here, though, or any Metroidvanias, as we already have dedicated lists for both of those. We’ve also focused on action games that we’d recommend you still play today....

For example… The towns Seonon is a blend of a proud stronghold and a ruined craphole. Okay, so, I actually think putting so much work into the towns was a mistake. One of the main things I appreciate about Bannerlord’s, predecessor Warband is that it minimised the trudging. I hate trudging. It is the bane of RPGs to trudge joylessly about, back and forth, just to replenish ammo and health sticks, to convert your hard-won rat kidneys into space doubloons, or tell Stamps McGee that you’ve found his stamp collection....

Thankfully there are plenty of excellent PC alternatives for you to flex your green thumb, and we’ve gathered the absolute cream of the crop below. Not all of them completely focus on farming, but we’ve made sure that farming plays a central role in every single one of them. We’ve also included games with other must-have Stardew traits, such as cozy communities of people to befriend, some fishing, a little bit of mining, collectibles, and maybe a cheeky bit of romance....

Steam returns with actual hundreds of free demos for its Autumn Festival. I am but one woman, so I could never get through them all, but I have played what I would characterise as a lot over the past two days. My own personal labour of Hercules was undertaken so that I could bring you, the reader, a list of my favourite demos to provide, if not an exhaustive list, then at least a jumping off point....

Version 3.01, released yesterday, will allow those who have previously completed The Callisto Protocol to access a New Game+ mode. There’s no detail on how exactly it modifies the game versus your first playthrough, but you’ll be able to collect “all weapons, upgrades and Callisto Credits” from the first Reforge station according to the patch notes. Other updates in the patch include general performance improvements, some crash fixes, and a handful of smaller adjustments....

The ten minute trailer begins with a group of survivors running through an abandoned neighbourhood, then they run across city streets, before finally topping it off with more running, this time through the back alleys. I joke - but most of it is just running about. There’s a full, solid minute dedicated to weapon customisation menus. A few seconds are reserved for combat, although whoever’s playing takes care of them pretty quickly in just a couple of shots....

Around 8-10 hours into the game, there’s an extended portion of the campaign that sees your band of Blue Fox mercenaries bringing an entire region of DioField Island to heel because they’re, err, pro democracy. Of the cast’s central quartet, only one stands up as a voice of reason when motions are made to quell these despicable riots, but he’s repeatedly shot down every time he tries to offer an alternate view....

“It’s not about punishing any other platform, like I fundamentally believe all of the platforms can continue to grow,” he told GQ. “But in order to be on Xbox, I want us to be able to bring the full complete package of what we have. And that would be true when I think about Elder Scrolls VI. That would be true when I think about any of our franchises.” Some of those franchises already have existing deals with Sony, mind you....

Developers Anders Groenningsaeter and André Read from Wield Interactive looked to the past as they refined The Fertile Crescent’s economy. “Since childhood, André and I have been equally fascinated by RTS games and the Bronze Ages,” Groenningsaeter explained to me. “How we’ve been inspired by history has shaped the game. During the Bronze Ages, the usage of coins hadn’t taken root yet. It was still to a large extent a barter economy, and food played an important role....

Here’s the launch trailer: The Metroidvania elements probably don’t need explaining at this point, but each region of the map consists of different rooms containing special encounters, optional challenges, new powers and routes to unlock, and a boss fight. Where it differs from most of its peers is that The Knight Witch is not a platformer. You fly rather than jump, and you’ll need to juggle shooting with dodging the patterns of bullets fired by the mechanical golems invading your home....

The Last Spell is a superb turn-based tactical defence game, overburdened with too much salt. Or rather, with the precursor element from which salt is derived: extreme difficulty. This is not a “game is too difficult” sulk for the same reason that I continue to use salt in cooking. The Last Spell is a game about desperate last stands. It needs to be difficult and its systems have been designed around that fact....

“A murderous gang of convicts has captured Mackenzie,” Hinterland explained yesterday. “Desperate to escape one of the darkest corners of Great Bear Island, he must somehow survive his fiercest enemy yet. Can Mackenzie recover the Hardcase, continue his search for Astrid, and also save the innocents caught up in this deadly confrontation?” Hinterland previously said the episode features an hour of narrative cinematics, over 40 minutes of new music, and about 7-10 hours of play....

Here’s the tweet, which contains a logo and a little music: That’s not a lot to go on, but we do know that this will be the first Need For Speed game developed by Criterion since 2012’s Need For Speed: Most Wanted. There have also been persistent rumours and leaks concerning the much-delayed game. Earlier this year, reports suggested the game would combine a “photo-realistic” art style with “anime elements....

Get the RTX 3080 Ti from Scan for £1049 For the record, Katharine wasn’t so keen on the card when she tested it for the official RPS RTX 3080 Ti review - but I have a slightly different opinion. It’s my view that pretty much any Founders Edition card sold at RRP is a reasonable value, given that third-party RTX 3080 Ti and RTX 3090 cards are selling for anywhere from £1500 to £2000 or more....