Category: Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Vampire Survivors was our best game of 2022 and one of the best roguelikes, period. And over the years it’s received a slew of updates that make it a bit bigger and a bit better, but nothing that’s been mega substantial. That is, until today’s announcement that it’s getting an Ode To Castlevania expansion, classed by developers Poncle as the game’s biggest DLC yet. More characters, more weapons, a weapon selector, an enormous stage. I simply can’t wait to devour more packets of crisps as I play this.

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RailGods Of Hysterra is one of those games that, as it were, shovels a bunch of relatively dried-up concepts into the squirming furnaces of something appealingly ghastly. On the one hand, it’s burdened by talk of “crafting”, “base-building” and “survival” – all things I have enjoyed but am currently weary of, and which together make the game sound interchangeable with half of Steam. But it’s elevated, on the other hand, by talk of living helltrains that eat crocodiles for breakfast. Without further ado, here’s a trailer.

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In a climactic scene of the original Final Fantasy VII, hero and amateur snowboarder Cloud Strife stands with his fellow adventurers as they are about to face a final, possibly fatal battle. With the steely glare of a polygonal warrior on the verge of killing god, he turns to them and says: “Let’s mosey!” It’s an unintentionally comical moment – an easy-going phrase, as if they’re all going to the shops and not jumping into a big glowing pit at the end of the world.

It’s a result of the RPG’s famously rushed translation. But maybe not in the way you think. A fan translation of Final Fantasy VII has now fixed a bunch of mistakes that were present in the original, and “let’s mosey” is one of them. The fix? Have Cloud say it way more often.

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Earlier this month, we learned that Star Citizen studio Cloud Imperium Games were mandating overtime for employees in the lead-up to their fan convention, Citizencon, which was held this past weekend. Additionally, this TOIL (time off in lieu) wouldn’t be made available until the release of space game Star Citizen’s accompanying single player campaign, Squadron 42.

At CitizenCon over the weekend, CIG head promiser Chris Roberts said that he’s “confident” that Sqorty-two will release next year, 2026, via Ian Games. CIG also released a video of the entire first hour and fifteen of the game, which you can watch below.

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No cool industry person this week, I’m afraid, but I do have a consolation prize for you. A comment from valued RPS community member #1694 a few weeks back reminded me that I once spent a long time tracking down good SF/Fantasy/Horror short story magazines. Partly for pitching purposes, and partly because I was just really excited such things still existed.

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Deadlock gives me the shakes. Valve’s not-so-secret third-person MOBA shooter is a fiercely competitive game of push and pull through monster-peppered city streets. You’ll get into hectic scrapes with a giant blob man and come out of it sweating and swearing, and possibly alive. It is tactical, deep, instinctive, and an interesting work-in-progress. It elicits adrenaline almost as much as it forces murder economics down your piehole. This is the kind of game that puts you into a blistering, exciting (and confusing) battle for survival, then displays a graph when you lose. I need to get as far away from it as possible.

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Deep beneath my desk lies a secret shame: impenetrable black thickets of power leads, sprouting forth across two overlapping extension units. Such a failure of cable management pierces my conscience like the beat of Poe’s tell-tale heart, and yet I’m forever powerless – as in, I can’t be bothered – to do anything about it. Yet even I was soothed by the Steam Next Fest demo for Plug It In, a chilled-out puzzle game about clicking chunky plugs into the right outlets.

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You probably still know Fullbright as the studio behind Gone Home, a delicately experimental first-person yarn about a girl exploring her family home after travelling overseas, and learning about the turmoil in her absence. Picture that game in your mind: the quietness of the hallways versus the crash of a thunderstorm outside, the sickly-sweet 90s décor, the fairy lights and screwed-up balls of paper, the gentle amber pressure of cloistered teenage memories. Now, imagine a faint scuttling behind the skirting boards. A rattling in the pipes. Was there a toilet in Gone Home’s autumnal mansion? I can’t recall, but you should probably steer clear.

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Following their remasters of Star Wars: Dark Forces and PO’ed, the sickos at Nightdive have done it again, this time with 1995 FPS Killing Time. Despite being one of the eight people in the world with a 3DO in the house, I missed this one the first time around. Let’s learn about it together. Best start with the trailer.

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Genre tags are slippery, fickle things at the best of times, but I feel like each one I use to label Dunebound Tactics almost diminishes it, as I’m sacrificing something precious for the sake of powering on through the arid sands of easily comestible, digestible, poop-estible online content. Ah well, circle of life and all that. Plus, at least it’s thematic: you’ll have to make sacrifices yourself if you want to progress across its unforgiving deserts. This one’s got shades of roguelite, RPG, strategy, and turn-based tactics. Nothing too uncommon, but it’s the shades of Red Faction, Frostpunk, and Sunless Sea that have me interested.

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