There’s a new game from Fullbright on the way, revealed tonight at the PC Gaming Show, called Springs, Eternal. The studio’s obviously best known for narrative focused games like Gone Home and Tacoma, and Springs, Eternal unsurprisingly looks like more of that, albeit with more of a lo-fi, not-quite PS1 but certainly lower poly kind of vibe, this time set in a hot spring. Sure!
If you were Senior Floor Manager of Earth, and a weird planet innocently appeared on the fringe of our solar system, what would you do? I would probably not zip out there and plant a factory on that planet, in much the same way that I wouldn’t high-five a bear-shaped shadow on the edge of a campsite. But I am not the modder behind beloved Factorio mod Ultracube, who is now part of game developer Dubious Design.
And it’s all on the cartridge, too.
DMM Games, Tookyo Games and Spike Chunsoft are releasing a physical version of SHUTEN ORDER on both Switch 1 and Switch 2 in Spring 2026, the companies have announced.
Both the Switch 1 and Nintendo Switch 2 Edition will be getting a physical in the US courtesy of PM Studios, with Reef Entertainment’s European release sticking with just the Switch 2 version.
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Hi, this is Emeric Thoa, creative director at The Game Bakers, and I’m joined by Art Director and Writer Mathieu Bablet. Today, we’d like to tell you a bit about the story of Cairn and its main character, Aava.
So far, we’ve been highlighting the ultra-realistic climbing simulation in Cairn — a completely new climbing system that’s easy to pick up but creates surprising tension when you venture onto the walls of Kami, the mountain no one has ever reached the summit of.
But Cairn is more than just a climbing game. As you climb Kami, you’ll also have to survive in the mountain — finding food, water, and places to rest. It’s also a human adventure: the story of a determined alpinist, and perhaps more than that — a reflection on mountaineering itself, on what drives people to push themselves beyond their limits to climb mountains.
Cairn tells the story of Aava, an experienced mountaineer determined to do the impossible: reach the summit of Kami, alone.
Emeric: How would you describe Aava — her personality, her motivations?
Mathieu: Aava is a climber with a mind of steel, forged through years of climbing that have demanded a lot from her as she kept breaking records. She’s demanding, perfectionist, and can’t stand failure. And when she conquers a difficult route, when she pauses for a moment on a ledge with a breathtaking view, she feels free. It’s for moments like these that she climbs — that’s her main drive.
Emeric: What I love about Aava is feeling her determination — even though it sometimes makes her a bit tough. Was it intentional to make her somewhat solitary?
Mathieu: After watching a lot of documentaries about climbers and mountaineers, one clear pattern emerged: this discipline, as liberating as it is, comes with its share of sacrifices and trade-offs. You have to harden your body, harden your mind, and sometimes set your emotions aside. Such individual feats often leave marks on the people around these athletes.
Emeric: That said, not all climbers are the same. In Cairn, Aava crosses paths with a certain Marco — who is he?
Mathieu: Marco is also a climber, younger than Aava. In fact, he’s a bit like Aava before she became the accomplished mountaineer she is in the game. He’s carefree, someone who climbs purely for the joy of it, not for the pride of reaching the top. Through him, Aava rediscovers a bit of the simple pleasure of climbing.
Emeric: And there are other characters and encounters Aava will have along her ascent?
Mathieu: Cairn is a true adventure game, with an emotional and meaningful story. Even though it’s a solo ascent, Aava will meet people on the mountain and reveal more of her personal story. This happens through exchanges with those she’s left behind — Naomi, who regularly checks in on her, and her agent Chris, who’s constantly chasing after her! But also through encounters with other climbers on the mountain — those alive like Marco, and those who never made it back down. And then there’s the troglodyte civilization, or what remains of it — incredible climbers and rock carvers who lived in seclusion high in the mountains. Cairn is the story of Aava and her passion for the mountains, told through these encounters and places to discover — showing what drives humans to go beyond their limits to reach new heights.
Emeric: We could have made Cairn just a climbing simulation, but for the whole Game Bakers team it was important to go further — to tell a story that moves us. Mathieu, for you, what’s the most important part of this story?
Mathieu: For me, Cairn is about Aava’s obsession — a kind of relentless drive that keeps her from thinking about anything but the ascent of Kami. That feeling of determination is what I want players to experience throughout the game, along with all the consequences that come with such a quest for the absolute.
Emeric: That’s also what made me want to create a game like Cairn. I was fascinated by that very tangible sense of determination you find in mountaineering stories (like in Taniguchi’s manga The Summit of the Gods). It made me wonder — what would I be willing to give everything for? What’s my summit? And what’s yours?
Get ready for the climbing thrill when Cairn hits PS5 on January 29!
Crank up the pounding metal riffs and make sure you’re covered in spikes. Carmageddon: Rogue Shift, a roguelite-infused take on the old school automotive murder-battler from Redout devs 34BigThings, has just been revealed and is set to smash onto the scene early next year.
Destiny has always been the “we’ve got Star Wars at home” looter shooter, and with Destiny 2: Renegades, Bungie has decided to lean into that directly with a crossover expansion. Weirdly enough, so far that decision seems to have kinda worked out alright! Renegades doesn’t solve many of Destiny 2’s longstanding issues, including the fact that it’s been awkwardly spinning its wheels for over a year now (reminiscent of the MCU post-Endgame), but embracing the cheesiness and over-the-top drama of Star Wars is at the very least a surprisingly nice change of pace in what has become quite a predictable universe. The story is silly, to be sure, but introduces a few new mechanics and weapon types that are a welcome change, and there’s an impressive level of enemy density throughout practically all of the activities that keeps the action interesting. I’ve still got a lot more questing and looting to do before my final review, but so far this expansion has been a pretty compelling breath of fresh air in a game I’ve otherwise been far less excited about than usual.
If you’ve read any of my previous expansion reviews (of which there are a lot), then you’ll already know I am one those weirdo Destiny fans who has stuck with this game through thick and thin – so it should mean something when I tell you that saying I am also a Star Wars fan would be such a massive understatement that I’m actually too embarrassed to elaborate further publicly. But even with my undying love of space wizards, I was initially mortified to learn Destiny 2 was planning a crossover with it. For me, it was the ultimate sign that Destiny was out of ideas, had gone “full Fortnite” in a way that seemed cheap and tacky, and was making one last desperation play during the slow death it’s been suffering for a number of years now. And, yeah, that all pretty much turned out to be true. But when I found myself watching two lightsaber-wielding foes square off in an epic cutscene while listening to the John Williams-esque music this expansion makes heavy use of, I’ll admit it won me over… at least a little.
Renegades does go out of its way to include every little Star Wars reference to a degree that can feel a bit forced – a crutch that’s continuously leaned upon in lieu of any original ideas. For example, you find yourself trapped in a garbage compactor during the very first mission, rescue someone from off-brand carbon freezing, and make a jump to lightspeed while a brooding, masked villain angrily watches you escape his grasp. It’s extremely on the nose stuff, and I was just as likely to experience a full-body cringe as I was to smile about it. But the complete “screw it” energy at play here as it full-throatedly embraces all the corniness and drama for which Star Wars is known does have a certain kind of refreshing charm that’s at least a distinct direction for Destiny 2. I’ve been complaining about this game feeling stale for at least five years now, so I’ve got to give Bungie a bit of credit for trying something new here.
There are also a fair number of new mechanics that I wasn’t expecting, like a shielding system for certain enemies that forces you to deal a whole bunch of damage in a short span of time before you can actually hurt them, AT-ST-inspired walkers that have some unique attacks I wasn’t expecting, and even some new weapon types, like battery-powered guns that can be fired until they overheat and need to cool down. None of this is massively game-changing stuff, but they’re decent little tweaks to the sandbox that are welcome additions. Of course, there’s also a ton of stuff that hasn’t changed at all, and even while you’re facing off against a new kind of enemy in theory, you’ll still be fighting the same Cabal armored warriors and bony Thrall monstrosities you’ve been shooting for over a decade, which has made this feel like a cheap reskin at times.
I’m still fairly early into my space opera journey (I haven’t even crafted my lightsaber yet!), so I have a whole lot more to play before I can definitively say where Renegades lands. But so far this expansion seems much better than I expected… though that’s partially because I expected very little. I’ll have much more to say once I’ve completed the campaign and begin to dive into the endgame activities. For Light and Life!
For gamers of a certain age, Warhammer Quest is a name to conjure with. The original 1995 release was the premier dungeon-crawler of its day, a rare cooperative title in an age of head-to-head conflict games. Once it was out of print it became, and remains, highly collectable. But in 2016, publisher Games Workshop resurrected the brand with the well-received Silver Tower. Darkwater is the latest iteration, with a few new tweaks and a lot of new toys on board to try and uphold its considerable legacy.
Games Workshop is rightly known as the premier producer of plastic miniatures and, even by its own exalted standards, the range of figures included in this set are a little bit special. Six of them are heroes, the remainder are their enemies, servants of the noxious, squelchy plague god of the Warhammer universe, Nurgle. The Nurgle range has always been a terrible beauty, crammed with unpleasant details of open sores and drooling maws and there’s plenty of that on display here. But what makes these stand out is a sense of character, something that’s often missing in modern, dynamically posed figures.
These pop out of your tabletop with an air of individuality, particularly the heroes who display a fine mix of old-school adventurer alongside the current sensibilities of GW’s Age of Sigmar setting. Facial expressions and poses seem to tell you something about each of them, from the dour scowl of mercenary Bren Tylis to the gloating grin of the central villain, Gelgus Pust. And it’s worth noting for less experienced modellers that the box’s claim of push-fit is largely true. Most of the figures are fairly easy to assemble, although a couple will benefit from a drop of polystyrene cement. Painting them is another matter, however, as the level of detail may be a bit daunting for novices.
Outside of the miniatures, GW boxed games often skimp on the remainder of the components. That’s not the case here: this is a lavish production at every level, and you can see where the considerable asking price has been spent. Once you’ve lifted the figure sprues out of the box, the cards and punch-out tokens have their own carefully packed sub-box, with the cards for each of the game’s campaign acts presented in their own sealed envelopes. Although the cards could use more, and more varied, artwork, they’re sturdy, shiny and clear to read.
Most surprising of all is the book of maps that are used in the skirmish scenarios that make up most of the game. While this is hardly a new idea, most examples are clunky and spiral-bound. This one is hard-bound, yet it still lies flat, making it an absolute pleasure to use. And the maps within are full of the kind of detailed art that we should also have seen on the cards, effectively evoking the plague-corrupted environments of the game’s setting, the Jade Abbey. More detail on the setting and narrative are provided in the game’s rulebook, offering up a great foretaste of the adventures to come.
Warhammer Quest: Darkwater is a cooperative board game, but you’ll play with four heroes in every game, so it’s best with two or four players: solo is possible, but you’ll end up juggling a lot as the campaign progresses. It has two game modes, a one-off skirmish fight or a longer campaign game. The focus is definitely on the latter mode, as single fights can be unbalanced depending on the scenario you end up playing, and you don’t get the fun of slowly building up your characters and revealing your own narrative of attempting to free the Jade Abbey from Nurgle’s putrefaction.
A campaign consists of three acts, each of which sees you dealing out 14 random encounter cards from that act’s deck, with a boss card beneath. You then get a choice of two possible encounter cards for each adventure, and this is an important decision. Many of the encounters aren’t skirmish fights but little narrative snippets or mini-games. Most of these are of the push your luck or risk versus reward variety, but there are a couple of the more imaginative designs that made Silver Tower’s scenarios such a pleasure.
When it comes to battle scenarios, it’s important to read the cards carefully and consider how the fight might play out. They offer a variety of maps, of enemies to fight, sidequests, victory conditions and special rules. These cause them to vary wildly in difficulty, and some can be almost impossible if you haven’t found certain rewards for your party. This is a big deal because the price for failure is high: you lose some rewards and get to try again, with a second fail ending the campaign.
Duking it out on the map is based on a set of rules from another game in the series, Warhammer Quest: The Adventure Card Game (see it at Amazon). Each hero has three action cards: move, attack, and aid. Using one requires you to expend energy, which is most commonly obtained by exhausting one of said cards, either for the action you’re taking or one of the others. Essentially this boils down to heroes taking three actions each turn, which can be any combination of the available options, although some of the rewards you can get later in the campaign complicate the picture a little.
Combat involves you rolling dice, almost always a pair, hoping to achieve a target number depending on what you’re fighting. Many enemies have a defense value that cancels out an equal number of hits, meaning you’ll have to hit on both dice to hurt them. Between the probabilities involved and the flexibility of the action system, this provides a satisfying balance of decision-making and randomness. This is not a deep game by any means, but you’ll often be torn as to how to best distribute your actions, while the turn limit on completing each battle can lead to some thrilling, high-stakes rolls towards the close.
Between each hero’s turn, the monsters get to activate. How they behave depends on a dice roll, and most enemies switch between a sedate black die and a more threatening red die with each passing battle round. Mostly they’ll move toward a target at variable speed and try to attack, although all the monsters also have a special effect: horrible little pox-wretches spawn new companions, while the tough daemonic cankerborn blast all nearby heroes with an area effect attack. This roll can have a major impact on the difficulty of a scenario, as monsters sometimes do nothing and sometimes unleash a terrifying onslaught, a quirk that the rules put down to their chaotic nature.
One flaw in this system and the map design is that most of the boards have one or more choke points caused by impassable hexes, and most of the scenarios require players to get somewhere and do something in order to win. The result is that both players and monsters get funneled toward the tight corners and scenarios can bog down in repeated roll-offs until you either clear the enemies or the time runs out. Some character abilities and items can bypass this – the dwarf ranger Drolf Ironhead can move through the odd impassable hex – but while this gives some scenarios the feel of a spatial puzzle, in others having one or two characters get a shortcut doesn’t make much difference to achieving the goal. This issue also causes a sense of repetition, despite the fairly varied scenario design.
Victory, and the completion of sidequest goals, results in reward cards being doled out to the adventurers. Like the scenarios themselves these vary in power, with better items being available later in the campaign, but the more impressive items are often one-shot, while more minor power-ups can be re-used. They all add more tactical options to battles, which is absolutely a good thing. Weighing up whether or not to throw your magical one-off widget into the mix in an attempt to save a scenario that’s going south is always a knife-edge decision and adds extra frisson to the dice-rolls that usually result.
Even on-board battle scenarios only last about 30 minutes so, when you mix in the much shorter mini-game encounters, playing through an act doesn’t take all that long. “Saving” the game state between sessions is a minor pain but perfectly possible. All the adventure cards have their own text preamble to set the scene and, as you progress through the campaign, there are secrets to uncover and some new playable characters to unlock. The unfolding narrative isn’t going to win any literary awards but it’s effective at giving your playthrough a solid storybook backbone. Nurgle is a particularly fun opponent to tackle, his servitors by turns fatherly and feculent, so freeing the once-pristine Jade Abbey from their clutches feels like a worthy goal.
Total War: Medieval 3 is in early pre-production, Creative Assembly have revealed during Total War’s 25th anniversary showcase, with release still years away. It’s to be the “rebirth of historical Total War”, and CA are unveiling it earlier than they’ve ever announced a Total War game before, so that you crafty peasants can offer more feedback throughout development.
In the dock.
While the Switch and Switch 2 are portable systems that come with their own built-in screens, I’ve often been drawn to pairing Nintendo’s hybrid consoles with portable monitors when I’m on the road and away from my TV.
One of my favourite choices for the original Switch is the Espresso V2, a premium 1080p screen which doesn’t even need the dock – you can connect the console via a USB-C cable and power the screen using another USB-C-based power brick.
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