Deus Ex voice actor Elias Toufexis bids goodbye to Adam Jensen and calls the games industry “a disaster zone”

Elias Toufexis, voice actor for Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Mankind Divided‘s cyborg protagonist Adam Jensen, has bid a formal “goodbye, but hopefully not farewell” to the character, expressing hopes that somebody with a lot of money will buy the license and restore poor moody Adam to our screens. Toufexis also shared a few parting speculations about the unannounced Deus Ex sequel from Eidos Montreal that was reported cancelled last week. Toufexis wasn’t involved with this one, and according to him, it likely wasn’t a continuation of Jensen’s story from Mankind Divided.

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Art strategy game Inkulinati gets 1.0 launch in February, still an illuminated manuscript full of warring animals

Not to denigrate either the efforts of either the comms or dev teams, but when a game has been knocking around my consciousness for a while, eventually I just move it it from a mental box marked “in development” to “probably out now, innit” without any input from anyone else. Inkulinati, a turn-based strategy game where you play a medieval artist duking it out with another artist on the pages of an illuminated manuscript, is one such. It’s been kicking about on Steam since at least 2019, and in fairness to me it did launch in January last year – it just went into early access. These factors contributed to me being sort of surprised at the reveal of the actual release date for 1.0, which is February 22nd.

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Disney buy $1.5 billion stake in Fortnite publisher Epic, announce new “games and entertainment universe”

Disney are taking out a $1.5 billion equity stake in Fortnite publisher Epic Games, and have announced “an all-new games and entertainment universe that will further expand the reach of beloved Disney stories and experiences”. According to Disney CEO Robert A. Iger, it’s “Disney’s biggest entry ever into the world of games”. Friends, we are witnessing the birth of a franchising megamoeba of titanic proportions – a new, Unreal Engine-driven “persistent universe” of playing, watching, shopping and other content-tickling opportunities, featuring characters and stories created by Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, Avatar “and more”. Where are your puny gods now?

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Homeworld 3 delayed till May to incorporate player feedback to War Games demo

Homeworld 3‘s release date has been pushed back from March 8th to May 13th 2024, in order to build on player feedback to this week’s Steam Next Fest War Games demo, which will be available till February 12th, 10am PT or 6pm GMT. The associated joint statement from developers Blackbird Interactive and publishers Gearbox arrived within hours of me posting about said Homeworld 3 demo and saying that while I am fully onboard with many aspects of the new space strategy game, I do have reservations about its controls.

Naturally, and self-flatteringly, I’m now petrified that I’m single-handedly responsible for the delay. Please come back, Homeworld 3! I didn’t mean it! I’m pretty sure I’ll acclimatise to the control scheme with practice! True-3D starfleet management is always a bit fiddly! Besides which, I might not get to review it now!! I’m moving flat in May!!!

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Strategy game from hell Solium Infernum gets a week delay to February 22nd

League Of Geeks’s remake of cult strategy game Solium Infernum is having its release date pushed back by a week, the studio have announced. It will now launch on February 22nd, instead of its original date of February 14th – which is a damn shame, if you ask me, as nothing screams “romantic Valentine’s night-in” like trying to backstab your other half in a bid to rule hell in Satan’s absence. Alas, we’ll just have to make do with the altogether more pedestrian date of a regular Thursday in February, as the team need just a bit of extra time to ensure it’s “as polished as possible” before release.

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Paralives heats up the race to be the next Sims with early access release in 2025, confirms no paid DLC

After years without a new The Sims game, it seems like three are likely to land in fairly close proximity – sort of, anyway. We know that Paradox’s ambitious competitor Life By You will arrive this June (assuming no more delays), while EA’s own free-to-play evolution of the OG life-sim series – currently codenamed Project Rene rather than The Sims 5 – is probably still a while off yet. Dropping somewhere in the middle will be Paralives, the promising Patreon-funded up-and-comer led by indie dev Alex Massé, which has been given a fresh look and confirmation of a release date sometime next year.

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Homeworld 3’s new Steam demo has atmosphere, but I’m not sure about the controls

Good news, star admirals with decent CPM! Gearbox and Blackbird Interactive’s strategy escapade Homeworld 3 has a demo on Steam. It’s been live for a few days, actually, but whether due to the bombardment of other Steam Fest goodies or my being led astray by the similar-but-nerdier Nebulous: Fleet Command, I didn’t try it till last night. The demo includes a tutorial mission, four maps and the War Games mode, a one-to-three player affair which essentially turns Homeworld into a roguelike – pitching you up against unpredictable opposition while unlocking new fleets and doling out Artifacts that augment your vessels.

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