The thing you need to understand about Fogpiercer is that this deckbuilding roguelike, in which you control a train battling Mad Max-style road bandits, knows the secret joy of artillery. It is one of the few games that recognises that while it's satisfying to hit an enemy with a shell from a howitzer, it's even more satisfying to target the space next to them and use the force of the blast to give them a sideways shove into a wall.
It's a mechanic that puts Fogpiercer into the same fine company as Into The Breach.
Why is everything rolling sideways on my desk all of a sudden? What’s this mysterious force, dragging my chair towards the wall? Why are all the cars in the vicinity tumbling and rolling in the direction of *checks press release* ...North Carolina, USA? It can only be gravitational disturbance caused by the impending 1.0 release of a massive strategy project. This time it’s Heart of the Machine, a “4X-style”, “dimension-busting” sci-fi game developed by Arcen Games and published by Hooded Horse.
I assumed, from its pretty hardcore cinematic - as well as everything else I'd read - that Menace was like XCOM for people who didn't like themselves. I was well up for that, filling each requirement perfectly. I love XCOM, with its super granular tactical turn-based goodness, and let's be honest, I'm only so-so.
The head of Hooded Horse, a publishing house best known for Manor Lords and the upcoming Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era, Tim Bender, gave an interview to PC Gamer. During the conversation, he criticized the vast majority of indie publishers and essentially urged developers to self-publish their games.
In the midst of increasing AI usage across the board, one publisher is taking a firm stance against the technology, labeling it "cancerous." It has therefore issued a total ban on the use of AI in the games it publishes.
The publisher in question is Hooded Horse, known for supporting countless indie games, some of which are immensely popular and successful. Some of its most notable published games include Manor Lords, Against the Storm, Cataclismo, Endless Legend 2, and Darkwood 2, among others. It's certainly one of the most prominent indie publishers on the market, and it's now using its position to fight against what it perceives as a harmful technology.
In an interview with Kotaku, chief executive Tim Bender said the only thing AI ever did was "[make] our lives more difficult."
"I fucking hate Gen AI art," Bender said, adding that Hooded Horse's publishing contracts include a clause for "no fucking AI assets."
Bender went on to say that the publisher "got to the point" where it communicates to its potential partners that no AI should be used, even as placeholders, because there is always a chance it would "slip through" into the final build.
"Because of that, we’re constantly having to watch and deal with it and try to prevent it from slipping in, because it’s cancerous," he said.
Bender concluded by saying that it'd be a "betrayal" of all the people in the company's marketing team who produce all sorts of promotional art if they were to be forced into working with something that relies on generative AI. "I wouldn’t be able to face them if we had that," he said, indicating that this is more of an ethical stance than a PR-related one.
Enforcing these rules is difficult, but I for one believe it's the right course of action. Sure, some of these devs will use AI and mask it well, especially as the technology gets better, but it's important to have rules in place that openly stand in defiance of this worldwide corporate push toward a reality where things are purely artificial, built on the foundations of millennia of human work and effort just so some CEO somewhere could rake in even more cash than he does now.
At least before that selfsame CEO had to produce something of value, something original and striking enough for people to want to experience, so he could rake in the cash. Now, it's a machine doing everything, regurgitating borderline stolen art into pure slop for the enjoyment of absolutely no one and in the service of exclusively a small portion of people who never cared about art in the first place.
Hooded Horse, a publisher that made a name for itself when it picked up Manor Lords and has since been known to have a keen eye for strategy and city-building games, has drawn its line in the sand on GenAI tech. In an interview with Kotaku, Hooded Horse's chief executive officer, Tim Bender, made it clear that the publisher will not sign studios that use GenAI. The studio has even gone so far as to add a "no f***ing AI assets" line into its contracts, banning any studios that work with it from using generative AI technology in the process […]
In the midst of increasing AI usage across the board, one publisher is taking a firm stance against the technology, labeling it "cancerous." It has therefore issued a total ban on the use of AI in the games it publishes.
The publisher in question is Hooded Horse, known for supporting countless indie games, some of which are immensely popular and successful. Some of its most notable published games include Manor Lords, Against the Storm, Cataclismo, Endless Legend 2, and Darkwood 2, among others. It's certainly one of the most prominent indie publishers on the market, and it's now using its position to fight against what it perceives as a harmful technology.
In an interview with Kotaku, chief executive Tim Bender said the only thing AI ever did was "[make] our lives more difficult."
"I fucking hate Gen AI art," Bender said, adding that Hooded Horse's publishing contracts include a clause for "no fucking AI assets."
Bender went on to say that the publisher "got to the point" where it communicates to its potential partners that no AI should be used, even as placeholders, because there is always a chance it would "slip through" into the final build.
"Because of that, we’re constantly having to watch and deal with it and try to prevent it from slipping in, because it’s cancerous," he said.
Bender concluded by saying that it'd be a "betrayal" of all the people in the company's marketing team who produce all sorts of promotional art if they were to be forced into working with something that relies on generative AI. "I wouldn’t be able to face them if we had that," he said, indicating that this is more of an ethical stance than a PR-related one.
Enforcing these rules is difficult, but I for one believe it's the right course of action. Sure, some of these devs will use AI and mask it well, especially as the technology gets better, but it's important to have rules in place that openly stand in defiance of this worldwide corporate push toward a reality where things are purely artificial, built on the foundations of millennia of human work and effort just so some CEO somewhere could rake in even more cash than he does now.
At least before that selfsame CEO had to produce something of value, something original and striking enough for people to want to experience, so he could rake in the cash. Now, it's a machine doing everything, regurgitating borderline stolen art into pure slop for the enjoyment of absolutely no one and in the service of exclusively a small portion of people who never cared about art in the first place.
City builders and colony sims thrive on the satisfaction of the moment when you can finally watch your happy, healthy citizens buzzing about their daily tasks after days, weeks, and months of struggle. But the best games like Rimworld often have a darker side, and Architect of Ruin embraces that to its fullest. Putting you in charge of a growing cult, it's up to you to lead your followers to glory as they rebuild and revive an ancient temple under the watchful eye of a wrathful god, and it's already found a spot on my wishlist.
After a 2025 that was largely quiet on the Manor Lords front until the very end of the year, developer Slavic Magic and publisher Hooded Horse are intent that 2026 will see more regular updates for the breakout, million-selling medieval city-building game. As part of that new-look process, Hooded Horse is now handling its developer diaries, and CEO Tim Bender is back to give us a fresh look at what the team is currently hammering away at in the workshop. On the table for the next Manor Lords update are improvements to the progression for housing and workshops, and a deeper trade system that opens the door to more economic competition between rivals.
I often think about what XCOM 3 might look like, and ponder if we'll ever actually see it. At least there have been plenty of other excellent strategy games inspired by the iconic alien-battling series to fill that void, and another I've been eagerly awaiting the full release of is the ambitious Terra Invicta. While developer Pavonis Interactive is most well-known for making the beloved XCOM Long War mod, its new game escalates proceedings out of the realm of individual skirmishes and launches it into the stars in true grand strategy fashion.
Saturdays are for putting your hand in a bucket of ice, swallowing a mouthful of honey and lemon, and breathing a sigh of relief. All that practice you put into your welcome handshake and 'Here comes trouble!' paid off. Almost every member of the treehouse has been successfully greeted home.
Manor Lords and Terra Invicta publishers Hooded Horse are imposing a strict ban on generative AI assets in their games, with company co-founder Tim Bender describing it as an “ethics issue” and “a very frustrating thing to have to worry about”.
The second alien fleet appears on the edge of our solar system around two hours into my first game of Terra Invicta, which leaves early access today, but I don’t have time to fret about them because I’m busy jockeying with the Protectorate for the keys to Mozambique. The Protectorate are a secret org who believe human beings are incapable of defeating the game’s extra-terrestrial creatures. As such, they feel we must aspire to become the very finest doormats, appeasing the invader in return for continued existence as a subordinate species.
Saturdays are for eagerly sitting beside the front door to the Treehouse ready to jump up and greet writers as they return home. Sure, most of the team aren't due back until Monday, but this way I can get really good at saying 'Here comes trouble' in just the right intonation. 'Here comes trouble.' No, that's not it. 'Here comes trouble.' Better, but it still needs work.
Most anticipated? Oh reader, you gentle, innocent child. Hark at you, ambling in here with supple joints, eyes clear as springwater, and the scent of hope in your hair. I have grown old, dear reader. I no longer feel this emotion called "anticipation", anymore than I remember the taste of strawberries in the Shire. Years of waiting for another Legacy of Kain game have broken my spirit. My heart is a sponge of sorrow. My beard coils round my ankles like a listless cat. All has become grey.
It's easy to forget that Manor Lords was created by just one man. When it first started, developer Slavic Magic was the name for Grzegorz Styczeń's solo studio. Since the game's success - it's a regular feature on our list of the best city building games - he's expanded to hire more developers, but the team remains small. However, Styczeń excels in listening to the community, and the latest update is no different. It makes numerous quality of life improvements and fixes so many bugs that I barely know where to start.
When the last big Manor Lords update launched in October, nearly nine months after its previous overhaul, lead developer Greg Styczeń said he was "rethinking what went wrong to ensure it won't happen again." The medieval city builder, which has largely been very well received by players, saw its Steam ratings dip as frustrations grew around the lack of communication. In an attempt to course correct, publisher Hooded Horse has stepped in to help, and it's now got a rundown of what's on the table for the next patch, which it says is "getting very close."
I'm about an hour into Whiskerwood, the new city builder from Minakata Dynamics and publishers Hooded Horse, and I've already made an absolute mess of my coastline. A clever and charismatic hybrid of Against The Storm, Robin Jarvis novels and the settlement of North America, Whiskerwood puts you in charge of some mice building colonies on cuboid islands. The islands are lovely so far, their Minecrafty nooks and crannies crying out to be decked with gardens and windmills and cobblestone paths. But you've got taxes to pay, so the first thing you do is sink a bunch of mineshafts at random, scooping out coal and copper for the literal fat cats back at court.
