A flurry of Pokémon news has confirmed a launch date for the long-awaited Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket, and a look ahead at what's next for Pokémon Go.

Pokémon TCG Pocket, a digital version of the phenomenally-popular trading card game, will go live via the iPhone App Store and Google Play for Android worldwide on 30th October.

As previously announced, you can open two packs of Pokémon cards for free per day - just enough to get you hooked - and it's interesting to see the pack-opening mechanic front and centre in the game's trailer below.

Read more

Hm. Hmmmm. Right. So, what have we got here? There’s my Blood Donor card, which reduces the value of the hearts I play, but also heals me. That’s fine, actually. Reduced score means I can squeeze in another card for more healing. If I can pull my Tarot card, I'll deal damage with each heal, and I’ve already pulled two scratch cards for yet more quick damage. Now, if I can just pull a Jack, I can plonk down the King Of Space And Time for a brutal finisher. That’ll transfer everything on my side over to my opponent’s, forcing a bust for a nice final chunk of hurt and…

Read more

Hm. Hmmmm. Right. So, what have we got here? There’s my Blood Donor card, which reduces the value of the hearts I play, but also heals me. That’s fine, actually. Reduced score means I can squeeze in another card for more healing. If I can pull my Tarot card, I'll deal damage with each heal, and I’ve already pulled two scratch cards for yet more quick damage. Now, if I can just pull a Jack, I can plonk down the King Of Space And Time for a brutal finisher. That’ll transfer everything on my side over to my opponent’s, forcing a bust for a nice final chunk of hurt and…

Read more

Klabater and Weather Factory recently announced the release date for Cultist Simulator on Xbox and other consoles. Following its success on PC and Nintendo Switch, this double-BAFTA-nominated Lovecraftian card game is set to launch on August 8th, 2024, bringing its unique narrative experience to a broader audience.

Enter the World of Hidden Gods and Secret Histories

Set in a 1920s-themed world, Cultist Simulator allows players to assume the role of a seeker after unholy mysteries. Whether you seek knowledge, power, beauty, revenge, or the enigmatic colors beneath the skin of the world, your journey is filled with choices that shape your destiny. As a roguelike narrative card game, every decision influences not just the narrative but the very world around you.

Players will:

• Explore Forbidden Knowledge: Become a scholar of unseen arts, search dreams for sanity-twisting rituals, craft tools, and summon spirits.
• Build a Cult: Indoctrinate innocents and seize your place as the herald of a new age.
• Shape Your Fate: Each choice transforms you and the story, leading to various outcomes.

Cultist Simulator will be available in three distinct editions:

1. Cultist Simulator: Initiate Edition
   • Base game with the first three DLCs: The Dancer, The Priest, and The Ghoul.
2. Cultist Simulator: The Exile DLC
   • A major expansion that shatters and remakes all the rules.
3. Cultist Simulator: Anthology Edition
   • The complete edition, comprising the base game and all DLCs.

Prepare to dream furiously and dive into the depths of hidden gods and secret histories when Cultist Simulator launches on August 8th, 2024, for Xbox and PlayStation consoles.

The post Cultist Simulator appeared first on Gaming Debugged | Gaming Site Covering Xbox, Indies, News, Features and Gaming Tech.

Cryptozoic has released the Flashpoint Crossover Pack for the DC Deck-Building Game. Priced at $24.99, this expansion is now available on their website. The pack introduces players to the Flashpoint comic book series, allowing them to play as Super Heroes from an alternate reality.

The Flashpoint Crossover Pack brings a new element to gameplay with the “Timeline-Up” feature. This second row of powerful cards can be purchased during the game, although they come with negative Victory Point (VP) values, adding a strategic challenge. Players can assume the roles of six oversized Flashpoint Super Heroes: The Flash, Cyborg, Batman, Green Lantern, Captain Thunder, and Superman. These characters are part of the resistance against the Amazonians, Atlanteans, and their allies, enhancing the narrative and engagement of the game.

For Kickstarter supporters, an exclusive edition of the Flashpoint Crossover Pack is available. This version includes unique packaging, foil oversized cards, and additional game cards, appealing to collectors and dedicated fans.

The pack contains a Hoppy promo card, six oversized Super Hero cards, 32 standard game cards, a rules card, and a multiverse divider. Kickstarter exclusives feature two oversized characters, four additional cards, and foil enhancements on all character cards, packaged in special packaging.

China has approved a number of new mobile games for release, most notably Marvel Rivals, Rainbow Six, Dynasty Warriors, and Final Fantasy 14 Mobile.

According to Niko Partners, a total of 15 games were approved yesterday (2nd August), including the still-as-yet-unconfirmed Final Fantasy 14 mobile port.

The news adds credence to a recent rumour that Final Fantasy developer Square Enix had linked up with Tencent to develop a mobile version of its fan-favourite MMO, Final Fantasy 14.

Read more

Activision and Microsoft have reportedly approved the creation of a new "smaller" team within Blizzard Entertainment - mostly comprised of employees from Activision's mobile-focused King division - to develop new "AA" games based on existing Blizzard properties.

That's according to Windows Central's Jez Corden, whose sources say the new initiative reflects an eagerness at Microsoft to "explore and experiment" with smaller teams within the larger organisation, in response to the "monstrously ballooning costs" of AAA game development.

Corden notes Microsoft has seen success with the likes of Sea of Thieves and Grounded, both built by comparatively small teams - and, of course, 2023's Hi-Fi Rush, created by a small team within Tango Gameworks, was heralded as a "break out hit" by Microsoft after its release.

Read more

Balatro is the latest thing that can seemingly run the seminal 90s shooter Doom.

"Literally nobody asked for it, but here it is: Doom on Balatro," announced u/UwUDev on reddit, appending a video that proves they've somehow embedded Zoom into the poker game's Joker collection screen.

"Honestly, I didn't think anyone would care. I'd just done it for fun/challenge, but since the community seems to like it, I'm planning something even more impressive and stupid," UwuDev said.

Read more

Activision and Microsoft have reportedly approved the creation of a new "smaller" team within Blizzard Entertainment - mostly comprised of employees from Activision's mobile-focused King division - to develop new "AA" games based on existing Blizzard properties.

That's according to Windows Central's Jez Corden, whose sources say the new initiative reflects an eagerness at Microsoft to "explore and experiment" with smaller teams within the larger organisation, in response to the "monstrously ballooning costs" of AAA game development.

Corden notes Microsoft has seen success with the likes of Sea of Thieves and Grounded, both built by comparatively small teams - and, of course, 2023's Hi-Fi Rush, created by a small team within Tango Gameworks, was heralded as a "break out hit" by Microsoft after its release.

Read more

Balatro is the latest thing that can seemingly run the seminal 90s shooter Doom.

"Literally nobody asked for it, but here it is: Doom on Balatro," announced u/UwUDev on reddit, appending a video that proves they've somehow embedded Zoom into the poker game's Joker collection screen.

"Honestly, I didn't think anyone would care. I'd just done it for fun/challenge, but since the community seems to like it, I'm planning something even more impressive and stupid," UwuDev said.

Read more

Today The Pokémon Company releases the TCG’s latest special set, Shrouded Fable. It introduces Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’s strangest monster, Area Zero’s Pecharunt, who works in tandem with Teal Mask’s Loyal Three, Okidogi, Munkidori, and Fezandipiti. Which must be a whole lot of nonsense if you didn’t play the most…

Read more...

This week I received a surprise gift from a friend. It was a single card for the Final Fantasy Trading Card Game. Specifically it is for Ysayle, my favorite character from Final Fantasy XIV. Before receiving it I knew the Final Fantasy Trading Card Game existed, but never really gave it any thought, now I’ve fallen…

Read more...

2024’s small but growing avalanche of games that trap you in a room with a nasty little freak continues with Arsonate, in which the nasty little freak wears a gasmask and wants to set you on fire. He wants to do this using cards. There are 47 of them - a forest of silhouettes, laid across the blood-stained table between you. Every turn, you flip a tree card to reveal a flame. When the flames spread to a player’s Tower card, it’s game over.

Read more

Chaotic poker-themed roguelike deckbuilder Balatro quickly captured hearts and frazzled minds when it released earlier this year. However, nowhere in Katharine’s (RPS in peace) review does it address the one eternal issue: can it run Doom?

Read more

2024’s small but growing avalanche of games that trap you in a room with a nasty little freak continues with Arsonate, in which the nasty little freak wears a gasmask and wants to set you on fire. He wants to do this using cards. There are 47 of them - a forest of silhouettes, laid across the blood-stained table between you. Every turn, you flip a tree card to reveal a flame. When the flames spread to a player’s Tower card, it’s game over.

Read more

Chaotic poker-themed roguelike deckbuilder Balatro quickly captured hearts and frazzled minds when it released earlier this year. However, nowhere in Katharine’s (RPS in peace) review does it address the one eternal issue: can it run Doom?

Read more

Chaos and comedy. Death and rebirth. Luck and, uh, running out of luck. A good roguelike doesn't treat the player like other games do. Roguelikes won't guide you helpfully along a path, or let you cinematically snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. They're more likely to dangle you deep between the jaws of defeat and fumble the rope until you go sliding down defeat's hungry gullet. This is their beauty, and it's a part of why we keep coming back for another go. Next time everything will go right. Next time you'll find the right pair of poison-proof loafers, the perfect co-pilot for your spaceship, a stash of stronger, better ropes. Next time.

Here's our list of the 19 best roguelikes on PC you can play in 2024.

Read more

League Of Geeks are going "into hibernation". The Australian developers behind fantasy strategy games such as the animal-themed Armello and hellish remake Solium Infernum said that their remaining staff are going to take an extended break, and they're not sure "when (or if)" they will revive the studio.

Read more

Chaos and comedy. Death and rebirth. Luck and, uh, running out of luck. A good roguelike doesn't treat the player like other games do. Roguelikes won't guide you helpfully along a path, or let you cinematically snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. They're more likely to dangle you deep between the jaws of defeat and fumble the rope until you go sliding down defeat's hungry gullet. This is their beauty, and it's a part of why we keep coming back for another go. Next time everything will go right. Next time you'll find the right pair of poison-proof loafers, the perfect co-pilot for your spaceship, a stash of stronger, better ropes. Next time.

Here's our list of the 19 best roguelikes on PC you can play in 2024.

Read more

League Of Geeks are going "into hibernation". The Australian developers behind fantasy strategy games such as the animal-themed Armello and hellish remake Solium Infernum said that their remaining staff are going to take an extended break, and they're not sure "when (or if)" they will revive the studio.

Read more

Balatro is getting a physical edition.

The creator of the viral Poker game, localthunk, confirmed via a note posted to the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, that fans will soon be able to pick up a physical copy of the game on PS5, Switch, Xbox Series X/S, and last-gen consoles.

As an extra sweetener, each "special edition" will come with a pack of 10 bonus Joker/booster cards.

Read more

I liked Fights in Tight Spaces. It mashed together two things I'm fond of: Roguelike deck-builders and badass secret agents. FITS gave me a turn-based experience that made me feel like Jason Bourne, punching and kicking and weaving my way around enemies on cramped battlefields. I stepped around their punches and redirected them back at them. I slammed their heads into walls and tables. I dodged bullets - whoa. I even booted people off the wings of aeroplanes. I survived insurmountable odds. FITS did what it promised and fulfilled my hand-to-hand spy-fight fantasy. But where does the series go from here? Well, the answer is hundreds of years back in time, to medieval times, to Knights in Tight Spaces.

KITS swaps suits for suits of armour, guns for bows and arrows, and stark primary colours for a more wood-carved, tavern-table look. Underneath, though, the core is more or less the same. It's still turn-based, still grid-based, and you're still fighting in tight spaces and building a deck with card-based abilities. And it's not just a reskin. KITS has changed the formula in ways that make a surprising difference.

The biggest difference is the game no longer revolves around one character - you are no longer the lone spy infiltrating an enemy base. Instead, and as in the grand tradition of fantasy role-playing games, you now do it with a party, which makes for a fundamental shift in gameplay. There are a few elements to this.

Read more

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, we lean on sailor superstition to scare a boat full of pirates, we voyage across space in vast gothic monasteries, and we learn a hard lesson about communication in an outrageous kitchen.

What have you been playing?

If you fancy catching up on some of the older editions of What We've Been Playing, here's our archive.

Read more

I love Uatu, the Watcher. I love to reference him in conversations. I like to use him in elaborate Marvel-themed analogies when winning arguments. I love to put him in articles, although he often gets edited out. Uatu is one of my favourite Marvel characters. I am Uatu 4 Life.

Now, if you play Marvel Snap, the collectible card game based on Marvel's heroes, you'll know that there's an Uatu card in there. He's interesting, too. Uatu comes with one cost, two power, and when he's in your deck he reveals the right-most location to you at the start so you can plan ahead a little. Uatu's one of the first cards people generally get to play with, and he speaks in a cool voice when you use him, and the reveal effect is nice and dramatic. But there's a problem. He's not a junk card, but he's a card you should probably move past pretty early on in most cases. There are better cards out there that do more useful things and give you a bit more bang in the early game.

Here is my specific problem, though. As an Uatu mega-fan, I am never going to not use him. And this means that my deck basically has one fewer functional slots than most people's decks. Call it fan tax: a seat is always reserved for Uatu, and so my other cards have to work around him.

Read more

Hello reader who is also a reader, and welcome back to Booked For The Week - our regular Sunday chat with a selection of cool industry folks about books! Did you know that the word ‘book’ is actually an ancient Sumerian greeting, short for: ‘can I have that book back I lent you eight months ago you said you’d have finished in like, two? This is going to be another one of those, isn’t it?.’ Truly, language’s many permutations are a font of limitless wonder. This week, it’s Pony Island, The Hex, and Inscryption maker Daniel Mullins! Cheers Daniel! Mind if we have a nose at your bookshelf?

Read more

While trying to keep vaguely up on both games discourse and terminology over long periods of time, I frequently find myself noticing terms enter common usage, get used a bunch, then fall out of favour again. I think this is partly because games discourse is cyclical, and partly because writing and talking about the same things a lot means that when a neater phrase for something complicated pops up, it gets assimilated quickly. Mostly, though, I think it’s because of my brain doing the thing where, say, you notice a yellow car on a walk and then see dozens of them. I was going to write a car make there but I don’t know any. Uh, (looks at monitor), Asus? Do Asus do cars? The 1994 Asus Gremlin. What a ride!

Read more

If you somehow haven’t fallen down the Balatro hole just yet, that slope is about to get a whole lot slippier. The mesmerising roguelike spin on poker is easy enough to lose an entire afternoon to by itself, but now it’s been combined with the granddaddy of all computer-related procrastination: classic Windows Solitaire.

Read more

Developer LocalThunk's Balatro might have hit a bit of a bump last week after an unexpected ratings change, but that hasn't stopped the acclaimed poker-inspired rogue-like deckbuilder from selling over half a million copies in ten days, according to publisher Playstack.

That's an impressive figure for what's a fairly unassuming card game at first glance. Balatro, if you're unfamiliar, challenges players to progress through a series of stage-like Blinds by exceeding each one's target score. A maximum of four poker hands can played each blind, and failure to reach the target, in classic rogue-like fashion, results in a game over.

As you can probably guess, though, there's a lot more to it than that, with successful Blinds rewarding in-game money to spend on the likes of fancy combo-boosting cards, exotic upgrades, and, crucially, a heap of rule-bending Jokers that quickly turn a relatively unremarkable set-up into an outlandish game of ludicrous, score-busting synergies.

Read more

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.

Playstack addressed the issue in a lengthy statement shared on social media, explaining Balatro's temporary removal from console stores had so far only happened "some countries". It admitted it could not "estimate with complete confidence which stores" had been impacted, adding, "Our hope is that only a minority of stores will be affected". It says it remains "highly confident" Balatro will remain available on PC, including Steam.

The cause of all this frustration is an unexpected "overnight change" to Balatro's age rating, which has been bumped from 3+ to 18+. According to Playstack, this change stems from an unspecified ratings board's "mistaken belief that the game 'contains prominent gambling imagery and materials that instructs about gambling'".

Read more

A week into Balatro - Balatro were jesters and fools in ancient Rome; I googled it - I'd say that this is the Goldberg Variations of Poker. It's Poker: Possibility Space Edition. It's a roguelike deckbuilder that starts with the basic poker hands and then allows you to level up the winnings of those hands, add new cards to the deck and alter existing ones, and bring in a range of jokers that modify the game rules in bizarre ways. And yet, it's still poker underneath it all. (Actually, the solo dev says it's Big Two, and I will take their word for it.) So, like the Goldbergs, it's expansive, ingenious, eager to turn every closet over and every pocket inside out. But also, like the Goldbergs, its invention is a thing of precision, of sounding out specific possibilities. So it feels really, really big - bottomlessly big - and also extremely compact: localised, particular.

Over the last few weeks it has taken over the gaming world completely, and I can see why. A poker roguelike is such a brilliant idea you almost don't need to make it to see how clever it is. There are a few of these, and Balatro is comfortably the best I've played. It really is ingenious - and it's also ingeniously simple. Let us get into this.

It's poker. Honestly it is. And for the first rounds of a new run, before you've started to flare things in weird directions, you'll be playing pretty straight poker. You are dealt cards. You make poker hands. A flush? Nice. A straight? Absolutely fine. When it comes to real poker in the real world, I am the earnest, plodding friend of two pair. Two pair is it for me: nice try, not going to blow people's minds, you did your best.

Read more

I'm not surprised that I'm playing so much Balatro, because the deck-building poker game is fantastic and it seems just about everyone is playing it. What surprises me is that I'm playing in a way I rarely play roguelikelike games: launching enthusiastically into Endless mode. Turns out, what I want from Endless modes is an end. A brutal and hilariously sudden end.

Read more

Today's the day of the RPS Game Club liveblog, where we'll all pile into a single article to talk, in real-time, about February's game pick, Cobalt Core. We'll be kicking off shortly at 4pm GMT today (Thursday February 29th), so go and grab a cuppa, switch on some appropriate music, and we'll get this liveblog started.

Read more

Rocket Rat Games co-founder John Guerra remembers the exact day he started working on Cobalt Core's first prototype. He and his fellow co-founder Ben Driscoll had just spent a week playing Daniel Mullins' mysterious roguelike deckbuilder Inscryption at the end of October 2021, but the combination of a bad storm and a power outage ended up forcing Guerra to decamp from his home in Massachusetts and stay with some family until it all blew over. "I got back late on Halloween, just in time to put out a bowl of candy for some kids, and then the next morning we started Cobalt Core," he tells me.

The pair had been working on a range of different prototypes in the months leading up to this lightbulb moment. As development on their debut game, the spaceship building puzzler Sunshine Heavy Industries, began winding down, "we were throwing all kinds of stuff at the wall," he says, including games in 3D, a platformer, with Driscoll revealing they even had "a Terraria-like one for a couple of weeks" with a grid-based world that characters bounced around in. But it was playing Inscryption that brought everything to a head. Both had spent hundreds of hours with Slay The Spire, but "Inscryption proved to us that there was still a lot of space to explore in the genre," says Guerra. And with increasing calls from Sunshine Heavy Industries players begging them to let them fly the ships they were creating in its shipyard sandbox, "you can kind of see how that went from A to B".

Read more

I seem to be on a highly irritating "refuse to play games as they were intended to be played" spree lately. A couple of weeks ago, it was "I refuse to leave the prologue area in Skull And Bones", a decision that has sadly been born out by Ed's review. Then it was "I refuse to play Helldivers 2 as a co-op shooter", which again, is a stance I am sticking with, even as I am overrun and sat on by Terminid Chargers. And now it's "I refuse to play Cobalt Core as a roguelike deck-builder, because it secretly isn't one". Come now, squint at the header image so that the text and numbers fade away, and all you can see are coloured shapes. Pay attention to certain underlying rhythms while playing. Need I say any more?

Read more

The roguelikelike deck-building poker game Balatro is frankly the only game I care for right now. My head fizzes with ideas for fiendish combos and deeply illegal hands. I'm delighted by its deserved success, with the makers boasting that it sold enough to become profitable within one hour then sold 250,000 copies in 72 hours. In a recent interview, the developer claims that part of why it's so damn successful is because they've barely played other roguelikelike deckbuilders so it's free to do its own thing outside genre conventions. What's interesting to me in this is how Balatro has built on a game which did influence it, the slot machine-building game Luck Be A Landlord.

Read more

Hello folks. With the end of February fast approaching, here's a reminder that we'll be diving into our reader liveblog discussion for February's RPS Game Club pick, Cobalt Core, this coming Thursday, February 29th, at 4pm GMT (which is 8am PT / 11am ET for our American friends). Looking forward to seeing you there!

Read more

I know this sort of thing has been said before around these parts, but in scanning through the endless reams of Steam Next Fest demos earlier this month and trying to work out what these games are and whether they're worth downloading, I truly believe it's a sentiment that's worth repeating. When I first saw the name C.A.R.D.S RPG: The Misty Battlefield appear on the Next Fest landing page, I instantly thought, 'Yes, here we go, now we're talking'.

Well, my first thought was actually, 'Gee, if only there was an easy way to know what this game's about based on just the title alone,' but that's just me being facetious. Ultimately, I have a lot of respect for this kind of naming convention, and the fact it's also being made by the Octopath Traveler developers Acquire is really just the icing on the cake.

Read more

There's a little masochistic streak in me that croons with joy whenever I reach the moment of impending doom in turn-based strategy games. You know the moment I mean. The one where the world fills with enemies patiently bobbing and snarling while you try to conjure up an impossibly perfect set of moves that'll keep things going for one more turn? Cobalt Core is great at this. I've only played a couple of runs so far, but boy, you'd better believe I know when the end is drawing near. It's hard to miss, because the entire screen fills up with rows of damage numbers beaming down onto your hapless little spaceship.

Read more

As promised last month, a new thing we're doing for RPS Game Club this year is asking you, our dear readers, what you think of each month's game pick in dedicated posts like this. Not just to foster some good old fashioned discussion among your good selves in the comments, but also as a way for those who aren't able to join us for the end-of-month liveblog session to still take part in what everyone has to say about it. We'll also try and stuff as many of your thoughts and observations into the liveblog discussion proper, too, to try and make it feel as communal as possible (and not just us waffling on about it for a full hour).

So, folks, tell us what you think about the excellent Cobalt Core below. What you like, dislike, your favourite moments (or your most hated moments)... Anything goes.

Read more

Every year, there are a couple of game soundtracks I become properly obsessed with. In 2022, I more or less had the music of Tunic and Citizen Sleeper on repeat whenever I left the house. In 2021, it was Chicory. In 2020, it was Coffee Talk and Signs Of The Sojourner, and in 2019, it was all Mutazione, all the time. 2023 was a pretty great year for game music as well, as we not only got Alan Wake 2's exquisite musical set-piece that's honestly just been getting better and more insane as time's gone on, frankly, but also the toe-tappingly brilliant soundtrack of Cobalt Core, which has somehow risen even higher on my forever playlist after revisiting it for this month's RPS Game Club.

Composed by Aaron Cherof, Cobalt Core's music alternates between high-energy battle tracks and calmer, more relaxed ambience. It's so dang good, and an absolutely perfect backdrop for sliding in and out of oncoming missile fire in its roguelike spaceship fights. So come along and jam to some of its best tracks with me below as I pick out some of my musical highlights.

Read more

There's a particular boss encounter in Balatro that always feels like it's cheating a bit. In this mesmerising poker roguelike, each stage is made up of three blinds - small, big and boss - with the blind essentially being a high score you have to hit by playing different kinds of poker hands - your traditional flushes, straights, pairs and so on. Each hand has its own number of chips and multiplier bonuses associated with it, and Balatro's whole deal is about shuffling closer to victory by making the most of the cards you're dealt. While some blinds are tiny, stretching to just 300 or 450 early on in a run, they quickly start ramping up into the tens of thousands as each successfully defeated boss blind ups the ante and the accompanying stakes. Reach an ante of eight, and bingo, you've won a run of Balatro.

The boss blind I keep coming a cropper with, though, is The Flint. This sucker not only halves a hand's chip score, but it also cuts its multiplier in two as well, and I've yet to figure out exactly how to defeat it. Sometimes it appears with a blind of just 600, but other times it's been an enormous 22,000. In fairness, all bosses have little tricks like this. Some will debuff certain card suites, making them useless in your overall score count. Others may only let you play one hand type the entire match, while the cheeky Tooth will deduct you $1 for every card used. But Balatro isn't simply about beating the odds with smart and intelligent card plays. It's about bending, twisting and abusing those odds to your will - also through smart and intelligent card plays. Cheating isn't just encouraged in Balatro. It's damn near mandatory, and it's all thanks to the brilliantly conceived joker cards that give the game its Latin-based name.

Read more

I promise I'm not trying to turn RPS into a Soggins the Frog fansite, but... If you have a) been enjoying Cobalt Core as part of RPS Game Club this month, and b) especially like it when Soggins turns up with his ship of malfunctioning missile launchers, then I implore you to make Sunshine Heavy Industries your next port of call in your Steam library. It's what the Cobalt Core devs Rocket Rat Games made first, and you can immediately see a lot of shared DNA between the two games - not least its chunky, charming pixel visuals and some crossover between its cast of characters - including our pal Soggins.

It is, I should stress, a very different game to Cobalt Core - it's a sandboxy spaceship builder with zero combat involved, for starters - but I've been playing it again this week ahead of some other Game Club-themed articles I've got cooking, and I've been having a lovely time with it. Not least because I get to spend more time with Soggins the very smug frog, all while listening to even more excellent chill tunes from Cobalt Core composer Aaron Cherof.

Read more

If you've been enjoying the excellent Cobalt Core as part of this month's RPS Game Club, you may well have stumbled into Soggins the frog along your travels. Running into this hapless buffoon is always a delight in Cobalt Core, as he's one of the few special characters who doesn't instantly attack you on sight. Rather, the task here is always to try and save him from his own idiocy - namely, his malfunctioning ship that keeps firing his missiles right back toward him. He's an ungrateful little sod if you do rescue him from certain doom, but I kinda love him for it anyway - and thanks to an industrious pair of modders, you can now have Soggins join your crew to inflict his own special brand of personal chaos on you.

Read more

You might remember Stacklands, a joyful survival village builder in which you stack and combine cards to craft and advance your society. WitchHand, which released this week, takes the same concept and applies it to developing your own witches coven.

Read more