Category: Rock, Paper, Shotgun

It’s been a harrowing few years in our real world, and I often feel like I’m just trying to keep my own little flame of hope safe from the howling winds of indifference and despair. So Darkest Dungeon 2, a party-based dark fantasy roguelite centered on the idea of doing just that, ended up being a bit too familiar and also a bit therapeutic. Having well over a hundred hours in the first game, I was also pleasantly surprised by some of the ways this carriage-bound journey into existential dread changes up the formula… and not so much by a couple of others.

Just like its predecessor, Darkest Dungeon 2 leads with vibes and attitude. Every bit of art and atmosphere is subtly (or not-so-subtly) menacing, worn down, and melancholic, with Wayne June’s unmistakeable narration laying out the compelling story of a quest for answers that went too far. The background on how the world got this way is doled out in tiny morsels of tragic exposition after the conclusion of each run, so I always had new details to look forward to whether I won or lost. It’s very clear that reality is, as they would say in the Bay Area, “hella broken,” and that it’s somehow your fault as the nameless financier of these soul-rending expeditions into the darkness. But the nature of your crimes takes a long time to reveal itself.

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During the noughties, developer ID Software adapted some of their iconic shooters into curious mobile spin-offs with Doom RPG, Doom 2 RPG, and Wolfenstein RPG. These mixed old-school Doom engine graphics with old-school dungeon-crawler design, letting you shoot monsters at a considerably slower pace. Over a decade after their initial releases, developer GEC.inc unofficially ported Doom RPG onto PCs and now the team is back with a port for the sequel.

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Capcom are holding an open beta for their upcoming hadouken ‘em up Street Fighter 6, commencing on May 19th and concluding May 21st. The open beta will include all of the same content from December’s closed beta test, but now more fans can jump into the fray to whack foes in online matches. To participate in the punchin’ n’ kickin’, players need to register their Capcom ID and link their preferred platform which includes PC and consoles.

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Western Digital, the PC storage giants behind some of the best gaming SSDs, have released an update on a data breach that occurred in late March. Uplifting news, it is not: the “network security incident” was a large-scale case of digital thievery, with the culprits stealing a database containing the names, billing and shipping addresses, email addresses, and telephone numbers of customers to WD’s online store.

The plundered database also included encrypted and salted passwords and partial credit card numbers, according to the statement. Western Digital are contacting affected users directly, and have temporarily shut down their store.

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Every PC* needs fans, so why not pick up some of the best value options for a historic low price? Arctic’s P14 140mm fans are great performers as both radiator and case fans, although they’re intended primarily for the former. They’ve attracted strong user and critical reviews since debuting a few years back, as they offer a good balance of airflow, pressure, noise and price, and now you can pick up a five-pack for just £22 – a solid £5 off their normal cost, and the cheapest they’ve been since 2020.

*OK, there are some passively cooled PCs, but most of us have at least one case or radiator fan contributing to our airflow needs!

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We’ve covered the EVGA Z20 mechanical keyboard a couple of times here on the RPS Deals beat, thanks to its quality design, full-size layout and extremely low asking price, and now we have an alternative deal for those that prefer the lighter feel and softer sound of membrane keyboards.

The EVGA Z12 is the firm’s rubber dome offering, and it’s down to £20 at Amazon UK, a heavy reduction from its £60 RRP and a few quid less than it’s been over the past few months.

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It’s funny how some aspects of game design are so ubiquitous that we stop questioning them, or even noticing them. After decades spent playing video games, I know that if I look behind the waterfall, there’s likely to be some sort of shiny goodie to collect. If I head left rather than right at the start of a level, I’m bound to find a juicy secret. There are conventions. Traditions. I can’t remember a time when games didn’t have giant lifts – and yet, I’m not entirely sure why they’re there. I’m not talking about the regular kind of lifts that you pile into, usually at the end of a level, to transition from one part of the game to another; those ones have historically been used to hide lengthy loading times, like the interminably long lifts of Mass Effect.

What I mean is the lifts that are essentially tennis-court-sized moving platforms, usually with little more than a flimsy guard rail around the edge to stop elevator enjoyers from plunging down the shaft. Even more specifically, I’m talking about the diagonally moving elevators that trundle slowly into the depths, often to some nefarious laboratory. There’s a good example in the Resident Evil 2 remake, where you fight the final boss on an inclined elevator as it slowly, ever so slowly, descends towards the train that will grant your escape. So where did these giant elevators come from? And why do developers keep putting them in their games? I set out to answer both questions, and went somewhere unexpected.

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Last month Rachel made us aware of a life sim called Grave Seasons, a kind of mash up of perennial favourite Stardew Valley and, er, the half-season serial killer arc of a police procedural TV show. Naturally this turned my head, like Tarantino walking past a ladies shoe store, and I emailed the developers Perfect Garbage to find out a bit more. They describe the game as “fun, campy and spooky” and hint at yet more secrets to be revealed. Appropriate for a game where, every time you start a new run, one of the townsfolk starts killing everyone else.

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RPS will mostly be slumbering this Monday, May 8th, as the UK has a national holiday for some reason or other. That means I won’t be around to tell you about a stagecoach’s journey across a decaying land. I’m referring, of course, to Darkest Dungeon 2 hitting 1.0 and arriving on Steam for the first time.

I’m telling you now, instead. Helpfully there’s already a launch trailer and Red Hook have shared some details of their post-release plans.

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The Case Of The Golden Idol was one of our favourite games of last year. It’s a detective game in which you solve a dozen murders, each presented as a freeze frame at the moment of death.

It now has an expansion. The Spider Of Lanka offers three more murders to solve and acts as a prequel to the main game.

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