New RPG Archaelund is Elder Scrolls with its foot stuck in Final Fantasy Tactics

I have a sneaking affection for slightly jarring genre hybrids – games like the relatively recent Disintegration and the much older Battlezone 2, which smush action mechanics together with real-time strategy, or the rather more elegant Puzzle Quest, in which you roll around a parchment landscape fighting wizards using the power of match-3. New open world RPG Archaelund, which launched in early access this week, and was brought to my attention by RPS supporter cpt_freakout, has something of that curious enchantment to it.

You’ll explore its landscape in first-person, roving sandy plateaus and frontier towns that remind me of Morrowind, at times. Bump into a foe, however, and your first-person perspective undergoes a fission reaction, splitting into a full group of warriors who are controlled in top down.

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MSI reveal the Claw, the first Intel-powered Steam Deck rival

MSI are the latest gaming gear makers to unveil a Steam Deck-alike, announcing the Claw as part of their CES 2024 showcase. The Claw – great name, by the way – actually looks and sounds closer to the Asus ROG Ally than Valve’s handheld, being a Windows 11-based device without any flashy hardware tricks like the Lenovo Legion Go’s detachable controllers. All the same, it’s aiming to stand out among these portable PCs through two means: its engorged 53Whr battery, and the industry-first use of a 14th-gen Intel Core Ultra chip as its APU.

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Final Fantasy 14’s new cyberpunk city has me hoping Dawntrail will shower more love on the series’ best entry

Among the slew of reveals for Final Fantasy XIV during Fan Fest Tokyo last weekend was a new town players will visit during upcoming expansion Dawntrail. While a new corner of Eorzea to explore is exciting by itself, the cyberpunk city has added to my hope that the MMO is set to shower a bit more love on the best Final Fantasy game. That’s right: Final Fantasy IX.

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This Slay the Spire-like made to teach a dev’s daughter maths looks like the best edutainment game I never had

If you’re like me, you probably have at least one treasured memory of being allowed to play an edutainment game at school under the guise of learning. What a blast, getting to play video games at school! For me, it was a floppy disk with a bizarre Pac-Man clone where you had to answer maths questions every time you ran into an enemy or obstacle. I’m sure for others it might be unforgiving classic Oregon Trail or globetrotting trivia quiz Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?

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Nvidia confirmed the GeForce RTX 40 Super series, and they’re out this month

Nvidia have resurrected their Super refresh branding for a new trio of GeForce graphics cards: the RTX 4070 Super, RTX 4070 Ti Super, and RTX 4080 Super. The announcement, part of the GPU giant’s CES 2024 showcase, was light on specifics about gaming performance – but all three promise marked improvements on their 40 series predecessors. And, in the RTX 4080 Super’s case, even a big ol’ price drop.

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Screenshot Saturday Mondays: Space, mechs, and photographing draculas

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 with mechs, games set in space, games with aerial action, a game where you take photographs of draculas, and many more. Check out these attractive and interesting indie games!

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Former Activision exec sues Call of Duty publisher for discrimination against “old white guys”

An unnamed former Activision executive is taking the Call of Duty publisher to court in California, accusing the company of age discrimination and violating the state’s whistleblower protection law. Said executive is a 57-year-old who worked at the company from 2014; apparently, he and six other men aged 47 or older were cut from a team of 200, as part of broader Activision Blizzard restructuring efforts last August.

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