CD Projekt have formally commented on the presence of references to the Russia-Ukraine war in Cyberpunk 2077‘s recently added Ukrainian localisation, apologising for dialogue lines “that can be considered offensive by Russian gamers”, while reiterating their support for Ukraine.
In case you missed it, the Ukrainian script and menu localisation currently includes a number of antagonistic references to Russians and to the on-going Russian invasion of Ukraine. One dialogue line refers to a particular bandit group as “rusnia”, and there’s photo mode menu text for a squatting character that translates as “like a Russian”. There’s also lore text that apparently riffs on Ukrainian government rhetoric during the war, and a piece of in-game wallart that alludes to the dispute between Ukraine and Russia over Crimea.
El Paso, Elsewhere feels like the cancelled shooter PS2 adaptation of an incredibly short-lived Image Comics horror series from the mid-90s, leaked by a disgruntled developer over Google Drive more than a decade after the fact. It’s something that would have had a six episode animated series, broadcast out of order at 1am. It’s a testament to that moment in pop culture where the coolest thing imaginable was a tortured guy in a trenchcoat, holding a gun in each hand and fighting monsters. Whether you regard this aesthetic with respect or disgust will help you determine whether there’s anything here for you.
You may have read that always-online crime caper Payday 3 has had a disastrous launch, with players forced into long queues for the privilege of playing by themselves. The chaos continues this week, as developer Starbreeze has now elected to take the game wholly offline for several hours at a time across Tuesday 26th and Friday 28th September, while exploring ways to minimise the game’s reliance on internet access.
I’ve been greatly looking forward to Fortune’s Run, despite absolutely sucking at the demo. Scandalously, we don’t appear to have covered this indie sci-fi FPS on these golden pages, so here’s a quick overview: you’re the high-jumping, sword-wielding, bullet-pumping lovechild of Deus Ex and DOOM, galloping through a world that recalls the Imperial bases and sewers of Dark Forces, taking down grungy pixelart sprites by means of precision parries, grabs, combos, headshots, terrain traps and much more besides. Between dust-ups, you can play basketball and leave crayon graffiti for other players care of a Dark Souls-style messaging system. It’s a feast!
The game was due to launch into Steam early access tomorrow, 27th September, but unfortunately, there’s been a delay. Valve’s testers have denied Fortune’s Run approval to launch on the platform. Among the reasons, according to developer Team Fortune themselves, is that Valve don’t feel the game’s content warning for sexual assault is actually necessary.
I’ve read several comments here and elsewhere that Bethesda’s Starfield is “a mile-wide but deep as a puddle”, or variations on that theme. Said commenters might be tickled to know that there is, in fact, a puddle in the game’s Akila City that contains infinite loot: by dint of peering into it, you’ll magically gain access to a nearby store’s inventory. Strip the shelves, then wait a day or two, and you’ll be able to do so again, forever and ever. Or at least, that was the case till this week’s Starfield patch, a small update consisting of exactly ten bulletpoints, including one that tackles “an issue that allowed for a vendor’s full inventory to be accessible”. Boo! Time to go looking for another convenient in-game metaphor, I guess. Perhaps there’s something incredibly clever you can say about all the flying cities.
Before I discuss the flying cities, find the patch notes in full below. Again, this is a smaller update. Bethesda are working on larger patches that include the addition of official Starfield mod support – tentatively dated to arrive next year.
Normally you’d expect to pay the better part of $100 for a new mechanical keyboard, if not more, but today you can find a full-size model for just $30. The Pulsar Gaming Gears PK020 Lunar Alloy is down to that price on Amazon USA following a 50% reduction from the keyboard’s MSRP, making for a great deal on a keyboard that ticks all the boxes and actually looks cool too.
Dead Space co-creator Glen Schofield has departed The Callisto Protocol developers Striking Distance Studios in the wake of the underwhelming performance of their first game.
While Capcom looks to ramp up their presence on mobile with the incoming release of Resident Evil 4 and Village on iPhone, as well as the Pokemon Go-like Monster Hunter Now, the publisher’s president has promised that PC will remain a central focus.
About a third of the way through Mineko’s Night Market, a young boy dressed as a fish says to his octopus-chopping father, “What? I just thought sending the local errand kid on missions was how people acquired stuff on this island.” To many, this will simply be a comic jibe at what you, the aforementioned local errand kid, have been doing for the last eight hours or so. After moving to this rural backwater with your dad in search of a better life, you quickly realise that no one in this town ever gets off their arse to get anything done.
Instead, it’s up to you, Mineko, to fulfil every last one of their desires, whether it’s collecting 50 bits of wood so they can construct a frame for their new house (before asking you for 50 bits of paper to give it some flimsy-looking walls), buying and delivering them a sports drink they could have easily got themselves from the local shop, or crafting a flower box for them because, well, they asked you to. As I said, industry isn’t exactly their strong suit here, and you’d be forgiven for wondering how any of them functioned as human beings before you arrived.
But this line of dialogue also strikes right at the heart of what a joyless experience Mineko’s Night Market is. It reveals the cold, lifeless husk beneath its lovely visuals. It’s nothing but ‘Me, me, me’ and ‘Take, take, take’ in this game, and NPCs offer nothing in return except soul-crushing tedium and a long list of repetitive chores. Animal Crossing this is not, my friends, so don’t be fooled. This is about as far from ‘cosy’ and ‘cute’ as you can possibly get – and that’s despite it having dozens of pet-able cats.
