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You might remember Stacklands, a joyful survival village builder in which you stack and combine cards to craft and advance your society. WitchHand, which released this week, takes the same concept and applies it to developing your own witches coven.
An upcoming game about taking planet-wrecking corporations to court hopes to go beyond its onscreen battles by raising money for real-life environmental aid. Behind All Rise is a team including both climate experts and top-notch games talent with credits spanning Horizon Forbidden West, Thirsty Suitors, League of Legends and Paradise Killer.
Former Fortnite and Blizzard developers have formed new studio Lightforge Games to make a multiplayer RPG that applies the collaborative world-building and storytelling of original tabletop Dungeons & Dragons to the polished video game presentation of its successors in the likes of Baldur’s Gate 3.
Romance sim masquerading as fantasy RPG Baldur’s Gate 3 is putting vaseline on its lips, wiggling a little bit of tongue out and practising in the mirror for its next big update. That’s right, just in time for Valentine’s Day (or maybe just after), Larian are dropping the “Improved Smooches” patch.
When playing any character-driven videogame I sometimes experience a sensation akin to my eyes unfocussing, and remember that I’m not, strictly speaking, controlling a body in a world, but interacting with a simulation that includes representations of a body and a world. The character is just an interfacial node in a vast tangle of visible and invisible elements; by moving the character, I cause objects, surfaces, creatures to load or unload, spring into motion or change colour and a million things besides.
Some games foreground these interdependencies by fictionalising the simulation as a giant organism or ecosystem, a more intriguing kind of “living, breathing” environment which is aware of your presence within it. Amongst these games is Ultros, a side-scrolling, psychedelic metroidvania – or as developers Hadoque might prefer, “gardenvania” – which launches next week.
Take your protein pill and put your headphones on for the free demo of Asterism, an “interactive music album” exploring a solar system one song at a time. Each visit to a planet lasts as long as the song, whisking us through scenes reflecting the lyrics and mood, rendered with a mix of 3D computer art and a range of handmade physical mediums. I was delighted from the first twang. And impressively, it’s mostly the work of one developer, Claire Morwood. Do have a look!
In an upsetting confirmation that February is in fact winter (and that the year doesn’t just start with summer like my brain thinks it should) publisher Whitethorn Games held a 2024 Winter Showcase, where they revealed the existance of a game that answers the question “what if the slimes in Slime Rancher were in mortal peril, and had swords?”. The answer is apparently “be ruddy heroes in a cute Soulslike”. I think this game, too, looks very cute, although Slime Heroes doesn’t have a release window yet.
You know what does have a launch date now? Botany Manor, a lovely 3D puzzle game about growing plants, which I first learned about via the Steam Next Fest demo, and with which I immediately fell in love. I am heartened to know it is coming out really quite soon – April 9th. A mere two months from now!
First spotted when James and Liam (RPS in peace) covered the PC Gaming Show 2023, Mullet Mad Jack is a roguelike FPS with a Steam Next Fest demo out right now. And my goodness me, it rules. The retro anime aesthetic is cool, sure, but I particularly love its setup, which forces you to blast through corridors as fast as you possibly can. Yeah, this is extremely a bit of Edders, and it’s gone straight on the wishlist.
Against The Storm is a peach; a fantasy citybuilder that was excellent in Early Access, a Bestest Best when it hit 1.0, and which has been tweaked and improved through post-release patches.
The patches won’t stop, either. In a 2024 roadmap, its developers have outlined two further free updates still to come, as well as confirming that paid DLC is in the works.
