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Once in a while I have to figure out how to recommend a game I know I’m never going to touch again. Orten Was The Case is an adventure game, which triggers a reflexive “ugh”, and it’s a big elaborate puzzle, which I have limited patience for, and it’s a time-loop game, making it a cool and well-realised concept that happens to be a poor fit for my scattered brain. I wish I enjoyed it as much as some of you will, because it’s clearly a bit special.
Following two years in early access, roguelite citybuilder Against The Storm has finally reached its 1.0 milestone. It’s a combination of genres that seem to pair together as naturally as sausages and strawberry jam. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a fan of both of these things as separate entities, but together? My assumption was that they would prove too strange to stomach, but much like the cursed pork and berry snack that became a staple of my university diet, the result is a thrilling concoction that delights the palette. I’ll say it right up top: Against The Storm is one of this year’s best.
Every weekend, indie devs show off current work on Twitter’s #screenshotsaturday tag. And every Monday, I bring you a selection of these snaps and clips. This week, my eye has been caught by games touching on chat around GTA 6 and Furiosa, along with spaceships, fungal horror, and the developer’s dog. Come admire all these attractive and interesting indie games!
I’m in a weird place with the Meta Quest. It’s really its own platform these days, with its own specs and increasingly divergent library of games. At the same time, the Meta’s standalone headsets are by far the most popular PCVR devices. Therefore, most PCVR gamers will also have access to the Quest’s handful of VR exclusives. Generally, this column sticks to covering games you can play with any PCVR headset, Quest or no. But since I reviewed the Meta Quest 3 last month, it feels odd not to check out at least one of its new titles, especially when it’s probably the most notable VR release of the year – Assassin’s Creed Nexus.
Also, I’ll admit, a VR Assassin’s Creed game intrigues me. The idea of cavorting across historical rooftops and shanking templars in the sternum sounds brilliant. It also sounds like barf city. Most VR games limit the need to move around as much as possible, so translating a game as kinetic as Assassin’s Creed into VR seems mighty challenging.
Fae Farm and Dauntless developers Phoenix Labs have cut 34 jobs following an internal review. It’s a sad end to a busy year for the Canadian studio, who bought their independence back from previous owner Garena in February, and laid off 9 per cent of their workforce in May.
This week is the week of The Games Awards, aka Geoffest, aka the Ke3ghleys – an absolute banquet of trailers, release dates and game announcements for the Maw. There are a few reveals in the offing. Some, we already know about, and may even have written up in advance; others, we’ll learn about together with your good selves when the livestream begins at 4.30pm Los Angeles time on 7th December, which equates to 12.30am on 8th December (ouch) in the UK. There’s the trifling matter of the first GTA 6 trailer on 5th December, too.
Some games out this week that we’re keeping in the corner of our eye, in case they turn on us: A Highland Song (5th Dec), Blood West (5th Dec), Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader (7th Dec), Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora (7th Dec).
Gosh, Micro SD cards are so cheap now. Right now you can get a fast and capacious 512GB Samsung Evo Select memory card for just $24.99 after a $10 price drop. That’s an absurd price for this amount of storage, especially for an A2-rated card that’s ideal for Steam Deck, ROG Ally and Nintendo Switch.
It’s door number three! This one leads to a night out. Can you pet a dog? No. But you can pet the rats.
AMD’s Ryzen 7 5800X3D processor is well-known for offering a sharp upgrade to gaming performance over all other CPUs compatible with the company’s now defunct AM4 motherboard platform. These days the processor costs around £290, but today the price has dipped to £271 – making it a good time to get that final CPU upgrade for your Ryzen 1000-5000 system.
Perhaps the Last Of Us TV show on HBO getting it right was the dawn of a new era of good TV based on video games, but I still approach each adaptation with trepidation. That includes Amazon’s Fallout series from Westworld and Person Of Interest writer/director Jonathan Nolan, which just got its first trailer.
