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Gamescom Opening Night Live 2024 is done and dusted for another year, but it's certainly kicked off this year's Gamescom with a bang - and we've got all the news, trailers and announcements right here in one handy summary. Whether you missed the show itself or just want a handy reminder of everything announced at Gamescom Opening Night Live this year, read on below.
Of course, alongside the main show, this year's ONL also had a 30-minute pre-show that was stuffed with announcements as well, which we'll quickly run through here before getting into the detail of the main show announcements below. Here, we got new trailers for Dave the Diver's latest crossovers, spooky co-op adventure Begone Beast and construction sim Roadcraft, alongside Italian Soulslike Enotria: The Last Song, Cairn (that shouty, but lovely looking climbing game from Summer Game Fest), life sim Inzoi from PUBG publishers Krafton, as well as a Terry showcase for Street Fighter 6.
There were also new game announcements in the pre-show in the form of Sniper Elite Resistance (coming 2025), the Donkey Kong-esque platformer Nikoderiko: The Magical World (with music from David Wise, no less), "first person farming horror allegory" We Harvest Shadows, the also quite spooky-looking Aila, a tease for the sequel to Journey to the Savage Planet (aptly named Revenge of the Savage Planet), action RPG Tribe Nine from the creators of Danganronpa, and the Lashana Lynch-led Directive 8020: A Dark Pictures Game.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle - the Microsoft-owned-Bethesda-release set to arrive on Xbox and PC this year - is also coming to PlayStation 5.
At this evening's Gamescom Opening Night Live event, host Geoff Keighley revealed that everyone's favourite fedora sporting professor will be cracking his whip on Sony's platform as well.
In addition to this news, Bethesda announced a release date for the game. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle will release across Xbox Series X/S and PC on 9th December. Its PS5 release will then follow a few months later, during the spring of 2025.
To this day, I still hold Indy responsible for my penchant for hats. I have been enthralled by Indiana Jones ever since I was a little girl - but despite this deep affection, coming away from a hands-off preview of MachineGames' Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, I just can't let myself get overly excited about the upcoming release just yet.
While I'm still looking forward to playing another narrative-driven adventure game, with that fun 'afternoon popcorn flick' energy Great Circle undoubtedly has, my immediate reaction from this first extended demo is to worry this is all it will be, leaning just a little too heavily on fan nostalgia and a tried and tested formula, but without the innovation to truly set it apart from the rest. (And, given the game is currently set to release this year, I really hoped to see more gameplay than I did.)
The demo, which is also being shown at this year's Gamescom, begins with Indy entering a large room within the Sunsparker Chamber, a mysterious underground temple and one of "several well guarded secrets and hidden ruins" you can expect to discover. With the camera in first-person, our archaeologist - gamely brought to life by a still-recognisable Troy Baker - looks around the ancient room before gameplay switches to a cutscene. Indy approaches a statue set upon a plinth at the back of the room, in a scene immediately reminiscent of Raiders of the Lost Ark - which is fitting, given the Great Circle is set between the events of this film and The Last Crusade.
Developer Ustwo Games has revealed its widely acclaimed Escher-esque puzzler Monument Valley will return for a third outing on 10th December, and it'll be exclusively available to Netflix subscribers on Android and iOS devices.
Monument Valley 3 is described as protagonist Noor's "most extraordinary adventure yet", and it'll see players searching for a new source of power before the light of the world fades forever.
It promises "stunning new art styles and impossible landscapes", alongside "innovative mechanics and fresh ways to approach challenges". And one of its biggest new features comes in the form of sailing, with players able to roam the world - and solve some of its puzzles - by boat.
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Just when Geoff Keighley had started to fade from your memory, he comes rubber-banding back with a vengeance - snap! It's Gamescom week and it kicks off with Opening Night Live this evening from 7pm UK time (other Opening Night Live timings here). A pre-show with additional announcements will begin at 6.30pm UK. We'll be watching and reporting on it live, as always, right here, so you can either keep abreast of announcements while you do something else, or you can join in with your thoughtful and amusing comments. Please keep us company. Please.
What do we expect to see today? Well, probably Geoff Keighley, but also the new Indiana Jones game, Monster Hunter Wilds, and Dune Awakening. We're also expecting Little Nightmares creator Tarsier to unveil its new project, which could be exciting. On top of that: Diablo 4 expansion Vessel of Hatred, Civilization 7, hero shooter Marvel Rivals, Lost Records (the project made by the creators of Life is Strange), Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 (which was recently delayed), and Black Ops 6. Keighley's best pal Hideo Kojima has also been tweeting enigmatic silhouetted pictures of actors who are presumably playing roles in Death Stranding 2.
And before you ask, "Yes, there will be new game announcements," Keighley said on X.
MachineGames' Indiana Jones and the Great Circle will reportedly launch for PlayStation 5 in the early half of 2025, following an Xbox Series X/S and PC release at the end of this year.
That's according to industry insider Nate the Hate (one of the first people to break the news of Microsoft's multi-platform plans at the start of this year) who made the claim on social media. "MachineGames' Indiana Jones and the Great Circle will release on Xbox & PC this holiday (Dec) as a timed console exclusive," they wrote. "After this timed-exclusive window expires, Indiana Jones & the Great Circle is planned to come to PlayStation 5 in the first half of 2025."
Nate the Hate's claim tallies with a report by The Verge back in February, which said Microsoft was planning to go beyond its initial slate of comparatively low-key multi-platform releases by launching some of its flagship games on competing consoles. These were said to include Starfield and MachineGames' Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, with the latter supposedly due to arrive on PS5 "some months" after its Xbox and PC release.
A new "modern camera" mod is now available for Silent Hill 3 and Silent Hill 4: The Room on PC.
Modder ZealotTormunds has developed a mod that gives Silent Hill players both a first-person perspective and a more contemporary over-the-shoulder camera.
Both Silent Hill 3 and 4 typically use fixed camera angles. By freeing up these locked perspectives, Zealot provides players with the chance to get a closer look at the game's textures, enemies, and environments.
During Lockdown, the only thing more scarce than flour was Switch fitness game Ring Fit Adventure. It was the perfect thing at the perfect time: a game that provided a home workout in a period when you had to stay home. Strap the controller to you, grab the oversized resistance wheel thing, and get moving. Everyone wanted one, and the desire for it lingered long after Lockdown. Today, Ring Fit has sold more than 15m units - it's one of the most successful games on Switch. Nintendo sensed there was a market and Ring Fit proved it. And it's not just Nintendo: companies like Peloton, with its uber-expensive exercise bike and integrated workout platform, have shown people will pay significant amounts of money to gamify their fitness needs, and it's into this exact space a new challenger has arrived.
It's called Quell and it's currently £190, and I tried it this week and I really liked it. The topline thing you need to know is that it delivers a punishing workout. It's more intense than Ring Fit; after a short demo plus a 20-minute regular session, I was dripping sweat freely on the rug in Quell's smallish London office. There was no air conditioning - enough said. That's not to say Ring Fit can't be intense but it's generally a calmer experience. Quell is designed to push it up a notch.
The second thing to know is that Quell feels more actively gamey than Ring Fit, which I was quite surprised about. It's built with roguelike principles in mind, so you try to see how far you can get in the game but also build and customise a loadout as you go. Do you want this power or that one? That kind of thing. And then between runs, you equip the items you earned, affecting your power and statistics, adding a layer of role-playing game progression to the mix. "Real fitness. Real gaming," is the company's motto, so you get a sense of the areas it's trying to push on.
It's rather appropriate that the idea for Paper Trail - a game where you have to fold paper to solve puzzles - came from a brainstorming session where Newfangled Games' founders and brothers, Henry and Fred Hoffman, folded the paper of their hand drawn levels, then noticed that the puzzles on the front and the back could combine to make an even bigger puzzle. This one magic idea stuck from the off - but Newfangled Games' debut indie didn't always look like the polished puzzler it is now. There were some conceptual design bumps in the road, a trip to Boxpark Shoreditch, and a Netflix deal to chase before they could reach Paper Trail's true potential.
In the release version of Paper Trail, you play as Paige, who runs away from the 'forgotten seaside town' of Southfold to pursue her dream of attending university and becoming an Astrophysicist. Instead of just catching the train like the rest of us, Paige bends the space-time continuum to fold the world around her. You see her rural world from a top-down perspective, like looking at a piece of paper, and then you fold the world, just like that paper, to reveal the pattern on the other side to create paths, move objects, and combine symbols. A simple mechanic that creates some deceptively hard, but rewarding, puzzles. However, initially, Paper Trail was more of a sidescroller, but "there wasn't a huge amount of variety you could do with it," Henry Hoffman tells me as I chat with him on a video call. "It was interesting one-off interactions, but it didn't really have any scope beyond that."
So then Paper Trail transformed into more of a Metroidvania, where you fold the map itself rather than the levels. "And it's funny," Henry tells me, "because we weren't aware of Carto at the time, and I don't think Carto had come out, but that's very much what that ended up doing, where you're zooming out and manipulating the environment and rearranging." But this map folding didn't work for them either, "because there wasn't any real immediate feedback from folding the macro environment," Henry explains. "You would do that and then you wouldn't really see exactly what had happened, it would be a little bit confusing and disorienting."
The enhanced version of classic point-and-click adventure Broken Sword - Shadow of the Templars now has a release date: 19th September.
This "Reforged" version will be available across PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Series X S, Nintendo Switch and PC (Windows, macOS and Linux).
The game's redrawn visuals have been upgraded to 4K, but there's also a new story mode UI including subtle hints aimed at new players.
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 get sweaty in a new fitness game called Quell; we mull the ways in which Dungeons & Dragons combat is exciting but also frustrating; and Ian goes digging through the crates and revisits a classic.
What have you been playing?
Catch up with the older editions of this column in our What We've Been Playing archive.
HIGH The golf segment.
LOW Literally waiting on the bus.
WTF Why is there not an effective synonym for shadow?
SCHiM makes an excellent first impression.
Shown from an isometric perspective, SCHiM’s world feels alive — cars buzz down busy streets, children play in the park, and birds fly through the sky. Each of these elements casts a shadow, some of which appear to be alive with great blinking eyes peering back and forth. Taking control of a displaced shadow, the player must leap between other shadows in pursuit of their missing human.
The story begins in childhood. A young boy and his shadow explore and play before he eventually grows into a teenager, young adult, and finally a man. Told entirely through pantomime, I watched as the man went through hardship before ultimately losing connection with his shadow. Each stage of SCHiM involves the player controlling the estranged shadow and pursuing him across city streets, construction sites, and beaches in an effort to reconnect. While the thematic elements at work here are not particularly unique, they are relatable, especially with the state of the world today.
Represented as a frog-like being, the player-controlled shadow can only survive in shadows cast by objects in the world. Missing a jump and ending up between shadows on “land” spells almost instant death – mercifully, the developers allow the player a single ‘safety jump’ to course-correct after a miscalculation.
In this situation, both planning and opportunism became my biggest allies. I surveyed my environment, analyzing things like the patterns of pedestrians, the flow of traffic and the flight path of a bird, waiting for my moment to strike. As the world wheeled around me, indifferent to my presence, I keyed into its rhythms, readying myself to spring forth. There is an almost tactical nature to this process that belies the simplistic, cutesy façade of quaint towns and living shadows.
Unfortunately, failure in these instances grinds play to a halt. More than once, having missed a critical jump, I found myself simply sitting, waiting for the next passing vehicle or cyclist to hitch a ride on. At times, these waits were so protracted that I wondered if I’d taken a wrong turn and hit a dead end. Many of SCHiM’s levels are expansive, and despite a button dedicated to moving the camera in the direction of the goal, I would often find myself lost. The top-down perspective with a limited window into the world only exacerbates this issue.
I found SCHiM to be more successful when it broke out of the monotony of open, sunny city streets and moved the action to more linear levels with intentional theming — things like a rainy night with shadows appearing and disappearing with each lighting flash, or a burning building with dynamic shadows that ebbed and flowed with the light provide welcome mechanical mix-ups. Unfortunately, these more tightly-designed stages are the exception rather than the rule, making up a disappointingly small percentage of the overall experience.
Beyond the general platforming that makes up most of SCHiM‘s play, there is also a mechanic by which the player can influence the object they are currently inhabiting. For example, it’s possible to raise the forks of a forklift when in its shadow, thereby creating a bridge to my destination. Some of these are more kinetic, such as a clothesline that acts as a trampoline, or a carousel that can be used as a slingshot to launch the player across the map. These moments, bouncing through the environment, skipping from shadow to shadow fluidly, find SCHiM at its best, and the juxtaposition of realism and whimsy provides real joy when the developers fully explore their mechanics of light and shadow.
Unfortunately, mechanics like these feel underutilized. Sometimes I could prod a bird into flight, but more often than not it would simply chirp, content to sit in the grass. Most of the inhabitants of SCHiM react this way – a dog might bark or a person might sneeze, but rarely do they provide a useful reaction. I sometimes found myself unsure where to go next, only to discover that I was supposed to interact with an object but had forgotten the mechanic even existed because it so rarely produced results.
SCHiM is built around contrast — light and dark, youth and age, harsh reality and naïve whimsy. Unfortunately, this dichotomous nature leaks into its mechanics, leading to an overall sense of inconsistency. The moments of touching beauty and joyful movement it sometimes creates stand in stark opposition to the frustration and confusion when play breaks down. This juxtaposition doesn’t make SCHiM a failure, but it casts a shadow over the experience that’s hard to see past.
Rating: 6 out of 10
— Ryan Nalley
Disclosures: This game is developed by Ewoud va der Werf and published by Extra Nice. It is currently available on PC, XBO, XBO/X/S, PS4/5 and Switch. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the XBX. Approximately 4 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was completed. There are no multiplayer modes.
Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated E and contains Mild Violence. The official description reads as follows: This is an adventure platformer in which players assume the role of a shadow creature reconnecting with a character who has lost their shadow. From a ¾-overhead perspective, players explore city locations and interact with shadows/objects to solve puzzles. A handful of sequences depict characters in mild peril, including a child inside a burning building.
Colorblind Modes: There is not a labeled, official colorblind mode, however SCHiM allows players to customize every color on screen. Each level is presented in a limited, high contrast color palette, and every color can be changed using a color wheel style mechanic. It should be noted that the color scheme changes with most levels and these settings are not pervasive.
Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: There is no spoken dialogue in the game, therefore there are no subtitle options. All audio cues are accompanied by a visual element, so this game is fully accessible.
Remappable Controls: Yes, this game offers fully remappable controls.
Journey Beyond the Edge of the World is a narrative-driven first person retro-sci-fi adventure set aboard a decommissioned fishing trawler that’s lost at sea in uncharted waters.
Taking place in 1953, in Journey Beyond the Edge of the World, players must navigate treacherous waters, solve environmental puzzles, and uncover hidden secrets to reveal a dark mystery. The rest of your crew has disappeared and … Read More
The post Journey Beyond the Edge of the World – Alpha Demo first appeared on Alpha Beta Gamer.Security: The Horrible Nights is a pixel art horror adventure where you’re a security guard in a hospital and every time you die an entirely new story begins.
Currently in development by Professional Villains (creators of The ER and Anglerfish), Security: The Horrible Nights is a horror game about a security guard in a hospital where anything can happen. Your job is to monitor … Read More
The post Security: The Horrible Nights – Beta Demo first appeared on Alpha Beta Gamer.Scarlet Deer Inn is a beautifully animated narrative-driven cinematic platforming advertise where the character sprites are made from embroidery.
Drawing inspiration from Slavic folklore and the works of Studio Ghibli, Scarlet Deer Inn is a cinematic platforming adventure where a mother of two finds herself locked in a dark dungeon. The demo features an extended town-based section where you can talk to residents and complete … Read More
The post Scarlet Deer Inn – Alpha Demo first appeared on Alpha Beta Gamer.
When it came to choosing a developer for Indiana Jones and The Great Circle, I firmly believe MachineGames was the right team for the job. No-one has a better track record than the Wolfenstein developer when it comes to punching Nazis, or tracking down mysterious and ancient artifacts in elaborate ways to keep them out of the hands of said Nazis. Having now seen a demonstration of the new Indiana Jones game ahead of its reveal at Gamescom Opening Night Live, I can say that MachineGames has absolutely nailed the tone - but I’ll need to see more before I’m convinced this is a truly great game.
MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best action-adventure games, Best puzzle games, Best single-player games
What is the Indiana Jones and the Great Circle release date? Announced back in January 2021, not much was known about the upcoming Indiana Jones game apart from Machine Games, the developers of the modern Wolfenstein games, was handling it. Given Machine Games’s affinity for blasting up Nazis, this pairing feels like a natural fit for cinema’s greatest archaeologist.
We finally got a glimpse of the action-adventure game at Xbox Developer Direct 2024, showing off one of the most anticipated upcoming games set to launch later this year. There’s quite a lot to unpack in the presentation, including information about the Indiana Jones and the Great Circle release date, gameplay, and what to expect from the story.
MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best action-adventure games, Best puzzle games, Best single-player games
Oh, and new Indiana Jones And The Great Circle trailer! Great. I’ve been looking forward to a nice, juicy chunk of extended gameplay. You know, something to really convey the flow of the game, rather than the admittedly impressive but nonetheless very fragmented snippets we’ve gotten so far. Now to sit back and…oh, wait. Hang on. It’s just actor Troy Baker telling me about all the great acting he’ll be doing. It is great, by the way. He’s doing a fantastic job. Maybe just, you know, a crumb of acknowledgement or elucidation over the whole ‘interactivity’ part?
Anyway, don’t mind me. I’m just an old fool who likes to press buttons. And, to be fair, it's not like Machinegames don't have a great track record. Anyway, here’s some good news: The game releases December 9th this year. Have a release date trailer.
MachineGames have made a decent living as the creators of satirical alternate histories in which you messily murder Nazis using mighty double-handfuls of shotgun. There are Nazis to fight in Indiana Jones And The Great Circle - a globe-trotting, tomb-robbing adventure featuring a Lost Ark-era Harrison Ford - but as you'd expect from a Lucasfilm adaptation, there's rather less of the bloodshed.
Silent Hill has a messy, up-is-down relationship with time and history, so let's go about this hands-on with the Silent Hill 2 Remake in a messy, up-is-down way. Developed well over two decades ago, the original Silent Hill 2 is the magnum opus of Polish horror stalwarts Bloober Team. Running on then-innovative "Unreal Engine 5" technology created by Jazz Jackrabbit publishers Epic MegaGames, it's a wonderful abyss of a game that remains perfectly playable today, given a certain amount of tolerance for the quirks of the era.
It begins with your character, James Sunderland, descending from the road towards the eponymous Midwestern nowhere-town. Like many games of the period, Silent Hill 2 uses a third-person, over-the-shoulder manual camera, which allows you to glance fearfully up at the monstrous pine trees that fringe the path - each rising from a bulging tide of fog that menaces with the suggestion of approaching figures. There is moisture everywhere, gushing from drain pipes and dribbling down concrete barriers. As you amble into the murk, deathly chords and groaning, unmechanical motifs reverberate from somewhere deep underground.
When Bloober and Konami announced that they were remaking Silent Hill 2 as part of a comprehensive series reboot, it made immediate if slightly deflating sense to me. Silent Hill 2 is the more feted of the Hills - if I were a calculating franchise custodian tasked with 'bringing back' one of the acclaimed original trilogy, that's probably the instalment I and my spreadsheets would fix upon. I mean, it's the game with Pyramid Head in it - the nearest thing Silent Hill has to a mascot, and it's not like there's an issue of cutting out plot material: each game in the Silent Hill series is, on some level, a distinct story with a distinct protagonist.
Still, the decision to 'skip' the first game in the series, whose world, narrative themes, music and art direction set the parameters for all the rest, made my brain itch a bit, and when I ran into Bloober's creative director Mateusz Lenart and lead producer Maciej Głomb at a Konami event, I had to ask about it.
Good job, everyone! The cat talk in the comments has never been stronger. I miss my cats back in England very much. Though I did visit a cat cafe recently, and I got to boop some sphinx kittens on the nose. Life pretty much peaked then, so I'm in a bit of a slump right now. So do me a favour and sound off even more than usual about what your fur babies have been up to lately! And also, if you feel like it, let us know what you're playing this weekend too. Here's what we're clicking on!
Earlier this week there was some minor Discourse about the removal of the Erotica photography tag from the Dead Rising remaster. Some readers characterised this as a familiar species of cultural hypocrisy regarding video games - emphasising violence is A-OK, but for the love of god, don't mention sex. Good news, those people: Dread XP's latest horror signing The Lacerator has both. It casts you as hirsute 1980s porn star Max - surname not given in press release, but presumably something like Jackin' or Girth - who has been abducted by a large scary individual called the Lacerator.
Over 2000 hours spent in various factory games makes me a bit of a purist, I suppose. In theory, I should then be the ideal reviewer to enjoy Shapez 2. But I'm also the ideal reviewer to tear it apart over the most minor hiccups and defects. I'm the Anton Ego of factory games. I don't like food, I love it. If I don't love it, I don't swallow.
Ah, you needn't worry. This is by far the most fun I've had reviewing a game, and Shapez 2 has, in my mind at least, turned the holy trinity of factory games (Factorio, Satisfactory, Dyson Sphere Program) into a holy quartet. Its pared back, everything-is-free-forever approach is quite liberating, and I've never had so much fun placing conveyor belts in my life. But 40 hours into my save file, I've often found myself yearning for a bit more creativity in the challenges, a few more curveballs sent in my direction.
In Shadows Of Doubt you can fall from the roof of a corporate office building during a routine investigation, shatter all the bones in your frail detective body, wake up in a clinic fully healed, and then sprint out the door without paying your sky-high hospital bills while the clinic's auto-turret shoots at you for doing a medical dine and dash. The early access game is on our best immersive sims list for a reason, you know, and now it has an autumn release date for the final version, along with a new trailer.
The search for the cheapest and yet best quality supermarket drink-as-you-go coffee continues. I know it's the first time I've made you aware of this project, but it's been going on since I moved to Glasgow. So far, Lidl's own brand remains the clear winner, a solid 8 on the taste meter at just 59p. But while writing this, I'm sipping an "Intenso" Arctic Coffee from Morrisons, which is giving the Lidl frontrunners some stiff competition at last, albeit at 145% the cost. Will one true victor emerge? Find out next week! For now, here's what we're all clicking on this weekend!
Sometimes I want to play a video game, and sometimes I just want to assemble a quiet little Dutch town with iron bridges, fountains and dinky trams bustling about like bumble bees. The project in question is Tramstertram. Aside from being a terrifying feat of punmanship, it's a browser-based building toy from Matt Stark, creator of the really rather lovely Viewfinder.
Oh, and new Indiana Jones And The Great Circle trailer! Great. I’ve been looking forward to a nice, juicy chunk of extended gameplay. You know, something to really convey the flow of the game, rather than the admittedly impressive but nonetheless very fragmented snippets we’ve gotten so far. Now to sit back and…oh, wait. Hang on. It’s just actor Troy Baker telling me about all the great acting he’ll be doing. It is great, by the way. He’s doing a fantastic job. Maybe just, you know, a crumb of acknowledgement or elucidation over the whole ‘interactivity’ part?
Anyway, don’t mind me. I’m just an old fool who likes to press buttons. And, to be fair, it's not like Machinegames don't have a great track record. Anyway, here’s some good news: The game releases December 9th this year. Have a release date trailer.
MachineGames have made a decent living as the creators of satirical alternate histories in which you messily murder Nazis using mighty double-handfuls of shotgun. There are Nazis to fight in Indiana Jones And The Great Circle - a globe-trotting, tomb-robbing adventure featuring a Lost Ark-era Harrison Ford - but as you'd expect from a Lucasfilm adaptation, rather less of the bloodshed.
Silent Hill has a messy, up-is-down relationship with time and history, so let's go about this hands-on with the Silent Hill 2 Remake in a messy, up-is-down way. Developed well over two decades ago, the original Silent Hill 2 is the magnum opus of Polish horror stalwarts Bloober Team. Running on then-innovative "Unreal Engine 5" technology created by Jazz Jackrabbit publishers Epic MegaGames, it's a wonderful abyss of a game that remains perfectly playable today, given a certain amount of tolerance for the quirks of the era.
It begins with your character, James Sunderland, descending from the road towards the eponymous Midwestern nowhere-town. Like many games of the period, Silent Hill 2 uses a third-person, over-the-shoulder manual camera, which allows you to glance fearfully up at the monstrous pine trees that fringe the path - each rising from a bulging tide of fog that menaces with the suggestion of approaching figures. There is moisture everywhere, gushing from drain pipes and dribbling down concrete barriers. As you amble into the murk, deathly chords and groaning, unmechanical motifs reverberate from somewhere deep underground.
When Bloober and Konami announced that they were remaking Silent Hill 2 as part of a comprehensive series reboot, it made immediate if slightly deflating sense to me. Silent Hill 2 is the more feted of the Hills - if I were a calculating franchise custodian tasked with 'bringing back' one of the acclaimed original trilogy, that's probably the instalment I and my spreadsheets would fix upon. I mean, it's the game with Pyramid Head in it - the nearest thing Silent Hill has to a mascot, and it's not like there's an issue of cutting out plot material: each game in the Silent Hill series is, on some level, a distinct story with a distinct protagonist.
Still, the decision to 'skip' the first game in the series, whose world, narrative themes, music and art direction set the parameters for all the rest, made my brain itch a bit, and when I ran into Bloober's creative director Mateusz Lenart and lead producer Maciej Głomb at a Konami event, I had to ask about it.
Good job, everyone! The cat talk in the comments has never been stronger. I miss my cats back in England very much. Though I did visit a cat cafe recently, and I got to boop some sphinx kittens on the nose. Life pretty much peaked then, so I'm in a bit of a slump right now. So do me a favour and sound off even more than usual about what your fur babies have been up to lately! And also, if you feel like it, let us know what you're playing this weekend too. Here's what we're clicking on!
Earlier this week there was some minor Discourse about the removal of the Erotica photography tag from the Dead Rising remaster. Some readers characterised this as a familiar species of cultural hypocrisy regarding video games - emphasising violence is A-OK, but for the love of god, don't mention sex. Good news, those people: Dread XP's latest horror signing The Lacerator has both. It casts you as hirsute 1980s porn star Max - surname not given in press release, but presumably something like Jackin' or Girth - who has been abducted by a large scary individual called the Lacerator.
Over 2000 hours spent in various factory games makes me a bit of a purist, I suppose. In theory, I should then be the ideal reviewer to enjoy Shapez 2. But I'm also the ideal reviewer to tear it apart over the most minor hiccups and defects. I'm the Anton Ego of factory games. I don't like food, I love it. If I don't love it, I don't swallow.
Ah, you needn't worry. This is by far the most fun I've had reviewing a game, and Shapez 2 has, in my mind at least, turned the holy trinity of factory games (Factorio, Satisfactory, Dyson Sphere Program) into a holy quartet. Its pared back, everything-is-free-forever approach is quite liberating, and I've never had so much fun placing conveyor belts in my life. But 40 hours into my save file, I've often found myself yearning for a bit more creativity in the challenges, a few more curveballs sent in my direction.
In Shadows Of Doubt you can fall from the roof of a corporate office building during a routine investigation, shatter all the bones in your frail detective body, wake up in a clinic fully healed, and then sprint out the door without paying your sky-high hospital bills while the clinic's auto-turret shoots at you for doing a medical dine and dash. The early access game is on our best immersive sims list for a reason, you know, and now it has an autumn release date for the final version, along with a new trailer.
The search for the cheapest and yet best quality supermarket drink-as-you-go coffee continues. I know it's the first time I've made you aware of this project, but it's been going on since I moved to Glasgow. So far, Lidl's own brand remains the clear winner, a solid 8 on the taste meter at just 59p. But while writing this, I'm sipping an "Intenso" Arctic Coffee from Morrisons, which is giving the Lidl frontrunners some stiff competition at last, albeit at 145% the cost. Will one true victor emerge? Find out next week! For now, here's what we're all clicking on this weekend!
Sometimes I want to play a video game, and sometimes I just want to assemble a quiet little Dutch town with iron bridges, fountains and dinky trams bustling about like bumble bees. The project in question is Tramstertram. Aside from being a terrifying feat of punmanship, it's a browser-based building toy from Matt Stark, creator of the really rather lovely Viewfinder.
Shapez 2 will launch in Early Access on August 15th, bringing the relaxing, shape-cutting factory builder into 3D.
In a new post, its lead developer has laid out what to expect from Early Access. In the main: a polished, 40 hours-or-so experience with no known major issues, and a post-release roadmap waiting to be defined by player feedback.
Shapez 2 will launch in Early Access on August 15th, bringing the relaxing, shape-cutting factory builder into 3D.
In a new post, its lead developer has laid out what to expect from Early Access. In the main: a polished, 40 hours-or-so experience with no known major issues, and a post-release roadmap waiting to be defined by player feedback.
I’d initially assumed that puzzle game Sliding Hero counts was a Sokoban-like, until I realised that it’s actually you, not endless boxes, that do the sliding here. Still, I wasn’t entirely convinced. The only thing that’s fun to slide back-and-forth indefinitely is a lounging cat on a smooth kitchen worktop. Still, after messing around with Sliding Hero’s Steam demo, I think this one might have much longer legs than its restrictive-sounding concept suggests. All the better to endlessly slide with.
I’d initially assumed that puzzle game Sliding Hero counts was a Sokoban-like, until I realised that it’s actually you, not endless boxes, that do the sliding here. Still, I wasn’t entirely convinced. The only thing that’s fun to slide back-and-forth indefinitely is a lounging cat on a smooth kitchen worktop. Still, after messing around with Sliding Hero’s Steam demo, I think this one might have much longer legs than its restrictive-sounding concept suggests. All the better to endlessly slide with.
Afil games publishes no-frills puzzle games, like Sokobalien. Honeyland is no exception. In this ,your goal is to get your bear to its Honey. You do this by playing cards with direction arrow and a number. The bear moves in the direction of the arrow, relative to how it is facing. The number corresponds to the number of spaces the bear moves. The goal is to play the cards in the right order to get the honey, and that is it. Later on, special cards, like jumps, are introduced, biut the idea is the same. Play the right cards in the right order to get the honey.
There are thirty increasingly tough levels, and nothing else. Still, Honeyland is not a bad game. It is only five dollars, after all. You could much worse for the money. I give this a Recommended with a seven back end score. I could continue and ramble on to meet word count, but after a recent disaster of a review, I’m going to play its safe for awhile.
Overall: Honeyland is a no-frills puzzler that delivers a decent puzzle game, and nothing else.
Verdict: Recommended
| Release Date | 7/11/24 |
| Cost | $4.99 |
| Publisher | Afil Games |
| ESRB Rating | E |
The post Honeyland Switch Review appeared first on The Game Slush Pile.
The Japanese indie developer SAT-BOX is getting lazy in my opinion. I have given them two must plays in the past, one for Extreme Bike X and one for Sushi Shot. However, they increased their pace to two games a month. As a result, their usual decent quality is slipping drastically. How do I know? Enter Sushi Drop, which uses all of the same assets as Sushi Shot, including music, sushi and UI. This is on top of the fact the game is a mediocre stacking game, where you drop sushi into order to build a high tower of sushi.
There are two main modes in Sushi Drop, Score attack, where you just build as high a tower as you can, and Battle, where you take turns dropping sushi until one of you drops a sushi off the board. The problem here is the physics, it sucks and makes no sense. Why does some sushi stick in place and other pieces do not? Don’t know. See the yellow egg sushi about the salmon piece in the pic above? Normally, it should slide off, but it does not. Therefore, The physics inconsistency sinks the game instantly. This is regardless of how good the rest of it, and the rest of it is honestly alright.
SAT-BOX needs to slow it down and take their time. Sushi Drop is mediocre at best, and I know they can do better, they have done better. This gets a Not Recommended with a five back-end score. If they patched the physics to make things consistent, I’d probably give Sushi Drop a much better verdict and score, but as it is, it gets what it gets.
Overall: Sushi Drop could have been a lot better, and should be a lot better. But terrible physics sinks it. SAT-BOX, do better!
Verdict: Not Recommended
| Release Date | 8/8/24 |
| Cost | $7.00 |
| Publisher | SAT-BOX |
| ESRB Rating | E |
The post Sushi Drop Switch Review appeared first on The Game Slush Pile.
Title: Deliver Us The Moon
Type of Game: Adventure, Sci-Fi Thriller
Developer: KeokeN Interactive
Publisher: Wired Productions
Released: October 10, 2019
Platforms Available: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC, Nintendo Switch
Platform Reviewed: PlayStation 5
Level of Maturity: Mature
Reading Time: 7 minutes
Few game titles say as much about their content as Deliver Us The Moon. The developers from the KeokeN Interactive team have thought deeply about the state of our planet and, according to the result, have yet to come to a very positive conclusion. Their title offers a near-future vision in which planet Earth lacks essential resources and is depleted by the insensitive use of these resources. The situation is even so serious that humans are slowly approaching extinction.
As a result, people are starving or being plagued by unprecedented natural disasters. Mainly, severe sandstorms are typical. 2030 becomes the pivotal year in this dire scenario when a complete collapse occurs, leaving humanity without power and minimal chances of survival. However, man has once again shown himself to be an extremely resilient and adaptable organism capable of facing all kinds of disasters using science and technology. Thus, the WSA organization enters the scene, making it possible to colonize the Moon to extract helium-3.
This offers a solution by sending the energy produced back to Earth. Unfortunately, everything lasts; even for a while, this efficient process is hit by complications. After 22 years, life on the Moon has died down, and supplies have been cut off. Earth is on the verge of extinction. At this point, a former WSA employee enters the scene to investigate what has happened on the Moon and try to restore the power supply.
The initial tutorial and introduction to control principles take place during one of the giant sandstorms on the spaceport. The early minutes make it clear that Deliver Us The Moon is heading in the direction of an adventure game full of exploration, journal reading, and mystery solving. The actual commissioning of the rocket module and subsequent launch is one of the most gripping moments of the entire game. However, the episode on Earth is only a short chapter of the title; the rest of the game takes place in space. Anyone expecting some scared horror experience will be disappointed. Deliver Us The Moon is a pure thriller that tries to build its atmosphere based on a serious theme and, in particular, an empty sense of loneliness.
You won’t come across a single survivor throughout the entire game. During the mission, you must make do with radio communication from Earth or replaying footage that sheds light on the facts that occurred on the Moon. The gameplay itself is then one of the problems. You are not on a trip but on a rescue mission. During this, you must operate various devices, find the most suitable routes, repair broken systems, provide oxygen to individual modules, etc. Everything looks quite lovely at first glance. Unfortunately, the developers failed to use several promising mechanisms to the maximum.
Thus, many activities are annoying with illogical sequencing or ridiculous results. Moreover, what the player is supposed to do is not always entirely clear. The irritating and outdated time pressure system in the form of lack of oxygen must also add to the big minuses. Thus, nothing is more frustrating than having to solve a logic puzzle in a weightless state in a time limit, which unfortunately isn’t as logical as it should be. The gameplay is not downright disastrous, but let’s say it is somewhat unbalanced. The developers failed to follow through on several promising themes and were left halfway in many ways. On the other hand, Ily appreciates the story’s presentation. It is revealed through on-board diaries or video footage, especially holograms, most of which I don’t even want to believe are optional as they illustrate significant moments and push the player’s experience further. This was also the case, by the way, with Deliver Us Mars, a sequel I’ve already reviewed and recommend watching.
The most exciting thing about the whole title, however, is the treatment of the game environment, which, although somewhat sterile and monotonous, especially in the climate of complexes or orbital stations, is most in line with the theme. The most beautiful moments are then shown to the players during the ascent to the lunar surface, which are very emotional and impressive. In short, the Unreal Engine has done a decent job. In addition, the developers have gone the extra mile with the concept of gravitational attraction.
During gameplay, you will experience weightlessness and the different gravity on the Moon. I also appreciate the hilarious and atmospheric soundtrack accompanying the player on this rescue mission. It’s a pity that the soundtrack has been unnecessarily neglected, as much more could have been done here. The game’s downside is the optimization itself, which is relatively good in the case of the reviewed PS5 version. Apart from a few glitches, I didn’t notice anything, so there is nothing to complain about here.
Deliver Us The Moon is a above-average sci-fi adventure game that particularly benefits from an attractive setting and a compelling story that makes players think. The developers brought some interesting ideas, but failed to make the most of them at 100%. The result is still good but not extremely engaging and a bit repetitive gameplay. Even so, the title offers some memorable moments, vistas and delightful feelings that many space fans will appreciate.
Steam (PC): Available for $24.99. You can purchase it directly from Steam.
Xbox Store (Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S): Available for $24.99. Check it out on the Xbox Store
PlayStation Store (PS4, PS5): Available for $24.99. You can find it on the PlayStation Store.
Nintendo Shop (Switch): Available for $19.99. Purchase it from the Nintendo Shop.
GOG (PC): Available for $24.99. Purchase it from GOG.
Epic Games Store (PC): Available for $24.99. Purchase it from the Epic Games Store.
Official Page: Visit the official Deliver Us The Moon page for more information.
Subreddit: Join the discussion on the Deliver Us The Moon Subreddit.
The post Deliver Us The Moon – A Breathtaking Space Mission To Save Humanity appeared first on WePlayGames.net: Home for Top Gamers.
Title: Deliver Us Mars
Type of Game: Adventure, Puzzle, Sci-Fi
Developer: KeokeN Interactive
Publisher: Frontier Foundry
Released: February 2, 2023
Platforms Available: PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PC
Platform Reviewed: PlayStation 5
Level of Maturity: Teen (T)
Reading Time: 6 minutes
I recently got my hands on the sequel to the exciting Delivery Us the Moon (2018), which takes us to Mars and continues the original story, which was very marginal, and only with this installment did the authors manage to come up with a decent script. If you’re considering this game, I recommend watching some gameplay or playing the original game to make the transition as smooth as possible and keep the story in your head, even if it’s unnecessary.
I have yet to play Deliver Us The Moon as I’m not interested in it yet, but after playing Deliver Us Mars, I will change that as well. But let’s take it one step at a time. Given the real-world developments, the prospect of space exploration and colonization is becoming more and more common. The game under review is about Mars -where we’re not likely to go right away, but that moon might have already been done in this century. But back to the review.
Mars sent a distress signal, and our adventure began. The story’s protagonist, Kathy Johannson, takes her ship, the Zephyr, to the red planet to solve the mystery. Over time, she discovers that a mysterious company called the Outward has stolen the A.R.K. colony ships crucial for populating the planets. Fans of the previous installment will appreciate the return of mechanical companion A.S.E., who will assist throughout the story.
If you’ve played Delivery Us to Moon, a lot of people were disappointed with the game time from what I’ve heard; here, you can look forward to roughly double that, about 8-12 hours, but of course, it will depend on how well you can complete the logic puzzles. As I mentioned at the beginning, Kathy sets off to Mars to solve a mystery but secretly hopes she might also find her father, who abandoned them for unknown reasons. Claire, Syrah Ryaen, and her mechanical sidekick A.S.E. (drone) accompany her on this journey.
After landing on the planet, plenty of logic puzzles and challenges keep the story moving forward. The logic tasks, often like puzzles of varying difficulty, sometimes give you a real hard time. On the other hand, the skill challenges will have you finding loopholes and paths with your drone, laser cutting parts of objects and stacking them up to set a path to traverse or, more often than not, jump over. Jumping and climbing is one of the main focuses of this gameplay. Rest assured that your ice axe will be chopping into rocks far more often than into enemies’ skulls.
This is where you’ll especially appreciate playing on a gamepad on consoles like I did on the PlayStation 5. There are times when the controls will annoy you, not with the difficulty, but with the controls themselves, which is a little annoying, but it’s nothing that I minded too much. What I’d like to add is that the game can be played in three modes: resolution mode with 30fps and higher resolution, Raytraced with 30fps and average resolution but as the name suggests with raytracing on, and lastly, performance mode with steady 60fps with which I also played the game and in my opinion, this is the most enjoyable way to play this game on a console.
If you’re not jumping, you’re moving around a well-crafted red-planet landscape. You won’t just be walking; you’ll also be riding rovers. When the sandstorms start, you’ll be treated to beautiful graphics. During your adventure, you will find many places where your chin will drop very low. However, only some things are handled as this interesting game deserves. This is where the more minor team and budget are felt the most. Bugs and glitches will appear in every game, and one would understand it, but there are some weirdly empty spaces here. The “city” itself is lifeless, and that’s a bit of a bummer.
On the other hand, you’ll appreciate, for example, the ship controls, where you’ll set the start step by step, which feels incredibly believable. I played this part of the game twice. I felt like I was driving a spaceship.
Here, we have a somewhat linear game with a good story and lots of jumping and climbing. All this is complemented by the attractive Martian setting and the authors’ efforts to capture the atmosphere of the place. Weaker characters might even shed a tear, as the story occurs almost in a family circle, and some decisions get you. Give Deliver Us Mars a play; it’s short and even better priced than the A.A.A. games. My tip, though, is to play the predecessor beforehand. May you enjoy your expedition to Mars.
Steam (PC): Available for $29.99. You can purchase it directly from Steam.
Xbox Store (Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One): Available for $29.99. Check it out on the Xbox Store.
PlayStation Store (PS5, PS4): Available for $29.99. You can find it on the PlayStation Store.
Epic Games Store (PC): Available for $29.99. Purchase it from the Epic Games Store.
Official Page: Visit the official Deliver Us Mars page for more information.
Subreddit: Join the discussion on the Deliver Us Mars Subreddit.
The post Deliver Us Mars – Amazing and Atmospheric Space Adventure appeared first on WePlayGames.net: Home for Top Gamers.
Improve your daily Wordle with our general tips, designed to help you make the most of even the trickiest situation. Or if you like the idea of more specific help, take a look at a brand new clue for the August 21 (1159) game instead. Need something more specific than that? Then click your way to today's Wordle answer and enjoy a guaranteed Wednesday win.
This was a real game of extremes for me today. I found nothing on the first row. Nothing at all. But by the third, I'd suddenly got it all. I'm not even sure why today's answer popped into my head, really. Maybe I was just lucky my second guess nudged me in that direction. The good news is you don't have to be lucky—our hints and tips are here to help.
This organic substance is spread on top of soil to help it retain moisture and improve its overall quality. Leaves and straw, amongst other things, are a common component.
No, there is no double letter in today's puzzle.
Playing Wordle well is like achieving a small victory every day—who doesn't like a well-earned winning streak in a game you enjoy? If you're new to the daily word game, or just want a refresher, I'm going to share a few quick tips to help set you on the path to success:
There's no time pressure beyond making sure it's done by the end of the day. If you're struggling to find the answer or a tactical word for your next guess, there's no harm in coming back to it later on.
Here's the word you've been looking for. The answer to the August 21 (1159) Wordle is MULCH.
Knowing previous Wordle solutions can be helpful in eliminating current possibilities. It's unlikely a word will be repeated and you can find inspiration for guesses or starting words that may be eluding you.
Here are some recent Wordle answers:
Wordle gives you six rows of five boxes each day, and it's your job to work out which five-letter word is hiding by eliminating or confirming the letters it contains.
Starting with a strong word like LEASH—something containing multiple vowels, common consonants, and no repeat letters—is a good place to start. Once you hit Enter, the boxes will show you which letters you've got right or wrong. If a box turns ⬛️, it means that letter isn't in the secret word at all. 🟨 means the letter is in the word, but not in that position. 🟩 means you've got the right letter in the right spot.
Your second go should compliment the starting word, using another "good" guess to cover any common letters you missed last time while also trying to avoid any letter you now know for a fact isn't present in today's answer. After that, it's just a case of using what you've learned to narrow your guesses down to the right word. You have six tries in total and can only use real words (so no filling the boxes with EEEEE to see if there's an E). Don't forget letters can repeat too (ex: BOOKS).
If you need any further advice feel free to check out our Wordle tips, and if you'd like to find out which words have already been used, you can scroll to the relevant section above.
Originally, Wordle was dreamed up by software engineer Josh Wardle, as a surprise for his partner who loves word games. From there it spread to his family, and finally got released to the public. The word puzzle game has since inspired tons of games like Wordle, refocusing the daily gimmick around music or math or geography. It wasn't long before Wordle became so popular it was sold to the New York Times for seven figures. Surely it's only a matter of time before we all solely communicate in tricolor boxes.
© Future
As a writer, words and I basically go hand in hand. It's like bread and butter, or salt and pepper. You don't have one without the other. So, it's not really surprising that Leximan, a magic-based 2D puzzle game that requires you to string together words to cast spells and solve puzzles, piqued my interest. As a lost child in search of some help in a new world, I began my journey with nothing but a book tucked under my arm. What then continued to play out was nothing short of a chaotic adventure embedded with hilarious Undertale-esque dialogue.
However, as excited as I was to start my magical journey, I very quickly learnt that I am not the most responsible of wizards. Each time you interact with a character, you're given a selection of dialogue options which help personalise the experience. As is tradition, I went with the most sarcastic, ridiculous responses available with nothing but self-satisfaction fuelling the decision. However, even though these options were funny to me in the moment, I couldn't help but feel like exiling my character to a shadowy basement after I made too much mess and spawned one too many demons stung a little.
Because of how fun these character interactions were, and how much thought had been put into creating such an eclectic cast, I wanted to make sure I spoke to everyone I possibly could. Usually, in a game littered with characters, I waste no time with small talk. If you aren't going to offer me anything of substance, or you don't look like the type of character to generously gift me a helpful item, there's a high chance I will just walk past you. Not so in Leximan. Even though the character design is simple (after all they are just made up of a few black and white squares on the screen), each one I spoke to had such a personality it felt like a waste to not chat with them.
The most important character interactions, though, ended with a fight. Luckily, combat is where Leximan shines. Each time you meet a character who isn't super stoked to encounter the chaotic wizard, you'll need to pick letters or halves of words floating around at the bottom of the screen. These are randomised per round, so you won't have a huge variety but it's still fun to play around with.
Once you've strung together a word from these premeditated letters, you'll be able to cast a spell tied to that word and see how it damages your opponent. Things like fire will have you hurtling fireballs or setting your opponent alight, but you don't exclusively have to cause damage directly. You'll also be able to conjure items like grenades and missiles to do your bidding for you.
Given how limited the letters and word fragments you're given are, I found it pretty easy to find amusing ways to manipulate them and try to push Leximan to its limits in terms of what I could cast. But despite my desperate efforts at being quick-witted, the team behind the game was always one step ahead. I swear, every word I pulled together—thinking I was hilarious for even trying—already had a result behind it. Even when I frustratedly mashed together letters knowing that it didn't make sense, Leximan was prepared with a patronising message saying something like I tried my best but better luck next time.
After getting this response one too many times, my drive to keep producing ridiculous responses slowly faded. Eventually, I found myself relying on simpler responses too much.
I became something of a pyromaniac, casting some form of fireball whenever I could. Or, going so far as casting a battery of magic missiles to quickly put a stop to whatever fight I found myself in. But regardless of how often I was using the same spell, putting them together by spelling them out myself never lost its charm. Basically, if there's something that Leximan has taught me, I need to learn more words. As a reward, I'll get to cast cool new spells against my enemies. But until then, I won't stray from using the same sequence of fire, and then missiles to oppose whoever is stopping me from becoming the greatest wizard of all time.
© Knights of Borria
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