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Palworld was obviously destined for success the moment a million games journalists and Twitter users wrote “Pokémon with machine guns”. (Acceptable alternate nicknames include “Eevees with uzis” and “Abras who’ll stab-ya”.) Having finally launched into Early Access on Steam and Game Pass this week, that prophecy has rung true as the monster-catching survival game has caught (ha, ha) so many players that its servers are struggling to handle the load.
It always breaks my heart a bit when a game I’ve been looking forward to for a while absolutely biffs it on arrival. Having quite enjoyed Golf Club Wasteland a few years ago (now called Golf Club Nostalgia for, I don’t know, reasons), I was quite pumped when developers Demagog Studios announced not one, but two further games set in the same post-apocalyptic universe. The first to come out (albeit only on Netflix at the moment) was the turn-based strategy game Highwater (also a bit of a dud, based on the early Steam demo I played last year), but it’s the second game, The Cub (out today on Steam) that has prompted this current moment of teeth-sucking sadness.
I’ve been playing a bit of it over the last week, and oh man, it’s trying so, so hard to be like Limbo and Inside, but just… doing quite a terrible job of it all. I was looking forward to any excuse I could get to have the soothing sounds of Golf Club’s dystopian Radio Nostalgia From Mars show back in my ear drums, but alas. I simply cannot hear it over the sound of my own screams of frustration.
I disliked turn-based RPG Kingsvein at first. Quite a bit, in fact. An earlier version of this review would have been a very negative on, filled mostly with complaints and annoyances about opaque and frustrating systems, most of which I’ve since got over as the intent behind its design has become more clear.
It could definitely explain some things better, and its inscrutably tiny graphics remain a minor nuisance. But it’s grown on me a lot, and though it may not be quite the kind of turn-based RPG I get on with best, it’s an enjoyable one with a refreshing lack of bloat and timewasting, and with a class and combat system that will be pure catnip to a particular kind of player.
Earlier this week, Blizzard announced what’s coming up in Season 3 of Diablo 4, and underneath the mountain’s worth of lore and loot updates, there was the surprisingly good news that WASD key controls were finally being added to help provide even more accurate and precise movement in the game over the series’ traditional mouse clicks. Not that any of them could decide how to actually pronounce WASD when it came to talking about them on last night’s Developer Update stream, though, as there were competing cries of “was-dee”, “wased” and “double-you-ey-es-dee” all over the shop as they debated this clearly very “controversial topic” live on air. Read on for more details about what they’re hoping to achieve with WASD controls in the game, but more importantly: how do you pronounce WASD? Let’s get a poll up asap.
About 20 years ago, a travel company declared this Monday just gone, the 15th, to be the most depressing day of the year. They call it Blue January. Enter yet more studio layoffs. 2023’s trend continues with Dead By Daylight developer Behaviour Interactive getting rid of about 45 staff, per Kotaku, while CI Games has laid off 10% of its workforce, including from Lords Of The Fallen studio Hexworks and Sniper Ghost Warrior studio Underdog (via GI.Biz).
Back in the depths of 2023’s February Steam Next Fest, Roots Of Yggdrasil was one of a handful of games that really caught my attention. Not because it was another beautiful-looking deckbuilder (though that does seem to be a steadily growing niche of mine these days), or because its colourful, inkwash visuals had the air of a Norse-flavoured Okami about them (though it did also help). Rather, it was the way its roguelike foundations meshed with its freeform, but still very goal-driven turn-based building systems, giving you drive and purpose in your construction choices, while also being light and chill, with just the right amount of existential threat nipping at your heels.
It struck me that if, say, my best puzzle strategy bud Dorfromantik was ever turned into a roguelike, this is probably a good approximation of what it would look and feel like, which is, frankly, yep, I’d like that game right now, please. Happily, with Roots Of Yggdrasil now approaching its early access launch on January 24th, I’m very happy to report that it’s come on leaps and bounds since that Next Fest demo. This is already a very moreish and polished building game, and I’ve been struggling to tear myself away from it as I guide my longboat of magic Vikings away from their impending Ragnarok.
After quite a while using the Fnatic Streak65, a 60% keyboard with Cherry brown switches, I have moved on from fruit (technically drupe, according to Google) and into a vegetable era. My Streak’s brown switches became a bit loud and quite rattly, which, as someone with hearing declared by an audiologist to be so sensitive that I give myself tinnitus, started to get to me.
So I type this to you now as someone who’s graduated to Kailh low profile switches, which is proving as nutritious for my finger pads as I’d imagine its leafy homophone would be. Here’s hoping that there’s more low profile mechanical keebs out there in a few years, as the options seem very limited at the mo.
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 was featured in this evening’s Xbox Developer Direct. Ninja Theory gave a further glimpse of the things they show when talking about Hellblade: motion capture, graphical fidelity, mental health representation, and stabbing. They also provided a release date: May 21st, 2024.
Tonight’s Xbox Developer Direct brought an update on Avowed, Obsidian’s first-person fantasy RPG. A new trailer provided a substantial look at combat, including pistols, dual-wielding swords and wands, as well as a slightly updated release window: this autumn.
Today’s Xbox Developer Direct stream offered updates on some of 2024’s biggest Microsoft games, including MachineGames’ Indiana Jones And The Great Circle, Obsidian’s Avowed and Ninja Theory’s Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2. If you missed the stream and want a quick roundup of all the news, games, release dates and trailers featured, we’ve gathered it all together in this post.
