In a shock to absolutely no-one, I was an emo kid growing up. While my Catholic all-girls high school forbade the use of fluorescent dyes and facial piercings, my weekends were spent perfecting my cheap eyeliner (quite the task when you have a tremor) and haunting Glasgow city center. While you'll be happy to hear I no longer spend my days skulking around indoor malls, I've never quite let go of that gothic aesthetic - it's never been just a phase. So, when I first saw Reignbreaker, a counterculture-inspired roguelike bearing similarities to Hades, it was like a good ol' blast from the past.

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To borrow Digital Extremes’ own words, they’ve certainly pushed the boat out with Warframe 1999. The Metal Gear Solid-inspired questline has exploding motorcycles, the game’s first-ever dating sim, and a pounding, industrial metal soundtrack that’s absolute perfection. But none of that means anything without a solid cast of characters - in this instance, The Hex, our merry, Guardians of the Galaxy-esque band of protoframe misfits. It’s a star-studded cast both in and outside of the game, with Final Fantasy 16 and Expedition 33’s Ben Starr captaining the squad as the rough-and-ready Arthur, and Cyberpunk 2077’s Alpha Takahashi causing chaos as Aoi. They’re pitted against Resident Evil’s Nick Apostolides, the seemingly harmless frontman of boy band On-Lyne who, it turns out, isn’t just a pretty face.

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It's no secret that the League of Legends Vanguard hasn't exactly gone as planned. With players claiming it's bricking PCs, asking you to delete core Windows systems, and locking HDMI drivers, things keep going from bad to worse. Following a series of claims that the new anti-cheat isn't causing these issues, Riot has doubled down, stating that it has "not confirmed any instances of Vanguard bricking anyone’s hardware."

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If there's one game that has dominated my X (formerly Twitter) feed of late, it's Dragon's Dogma 2. As someone who is often slightly intimidated by the sheer size of sprawling open-world adventures, the hype has certainly infected me, and I'm halfway to pre-purchasing my own copy ahead of launch. But, when I noticed that the 2016 iteration of the original, Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen is currently going for the price of a coffee, I decided that might be a better place to start.

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I wanted to love Redfall. I previewed the game almost a year ago today in Bethesda's dimly lit London studio, and while I didn’t walk away with the highest hopes, a part of me dared to dream that we’d finally get a new, good vampire game. Unfortunately, it largely failed to deliver, and early previews of Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 haven’t done much to rile up my inner Beast either. So, when EvilVEvil crossed my desk, I was excited to sink my fangs into a different vampire adventure - and I walked away with my hunger somewhat sated.

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I am, admittedly, very bad at horror games. I remember playing Resident Evil Village when I stayed with my mom, and she checked on me multiple times because of just how much I was screeching (that baby haunts my dreams). New horror roguelike Harvest Hunt is looking to cause just as much distress all over again - thankfully, I live alone now, but is that a blessing, or a curse?

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