S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl, the beautifully grotty sci-fi shooter sequel from Ukrainian studio GSC Game World, has been delayed once again. It’s a relatively good-spirited delay, though: first off, it’s not that long, with the previously planned September 5th launch pushed back just a few weeks to November 20th. There’s also clever little in-universe announcement video (one which gives the fourth wall a study kick on its way out), and an accompanying promise of a meaty “developer deep dive video”, set to reveal much more of the game’s radioactive hellscape on August 12th.
Yet again, some good food. Following the news earlier this week that 241 Bethesda Games Studios staffers had formed what was at the time the biggest wall-to-wall under Microsoft, The Verge reports that over 500 World Of Warcraft developers have voted to form their own union, alongside the Communication Workers of America (CWA).
Animal caretaking sim Zoochosis is about being an ordinary zookeeper working in an ordinary zoo. What’s that? There are no ordinary zoos? My mistake. Let me start again. Animal caretaking horror game Zoochosis is about being a stressed-out zookeeper in a hideous zoo where the giraffes have tendrils coming out of their chests and the kangaroos have rows of chattering teeth in their marsupial pouch. There, got it right in the end. We’ve known about the development of this terror-heavy tourist attraction since its announcement early this year. But now the upcoming horror sim has been given an autumn release date in a new trailer.
I’ve never been a poetry guy, not because I don’t like it, I’ve just never gone out of my way to read them over books or whatnot. The poems I’ve engaged with the most are those read out during wedding ceremonies, those that pop-up before the start of a horror game, or The Tiger by 6-year old Nael that occasionally pops up as I’m doomscrolling. But thanks to the multiplayer web game “fridge poetry”, where you drag words to create poems, I might become a day-to-day poem guy. Going off my first effort, I don’t think many will appreciate my career switch.
Grit And Valor 1949 certainly evokes the tactics of Into The Breach, with its stompy machinery and floating tile battlegrounds. But, despite all appearances, this one isn’t actually turn-based at all. A tiley, tiny real time strategy then? Aye, and one that’s actually pretty frantic as it happens. Missions are snappy, intense skirmishes. You’ll fight off waves while trying to protect your useless, freeloading command vehicle. This threat, combined with on-the-fly tactical consider-me-do’s like utilising cover and keeping rock-paper-scissors matchups in your favour ends up spawning something quite distinct. Please, do stomp on, preferably with less hypens for all our sakes.
Capcom’s turned back the clock with Kunitsu-Gami: Path Of The Goddess, bringing to us an action RPG tower defence hybrid that’s very 2000s and very welcome in this age of open world, live service-ness. And for some, it’ll deliver what’s needed: a fairly good time. A time marked by a loop that does hack ‘n slash, management, and a dash of base repairs to an average degree. For me, though, and possibly many others, I simply don’t think this mix ever truly captures what makes even the simplest of tower defence games so captivating.
All 36 employees of Humble Games publishing have reportedly been laid off. According to business developer Nicola Kwan, staff were informed at 9am this morning, and told that “the company is shutting down.” Humble dispute this in a statement made to Game Developer, claiming that the publishing label is “undergoing restructuring,” as opposed to a full shutdown.
Humble’s statement – which you can read in full here – attributes the events to “challenging economic times for indie game publishing,” saying that “Humble Games has made the difficult but necessary decision to restructure our operations.”
The latest free update to The Sims 4 will let you “define the conditions under which your Sims become jealous”. That’s handy. The new feature, called “Romantic Boundaries”, will give you some settings to tweak that determine whether a Sim will be bothered when they see their partner flirting with the neighbour, or kissing the neighbour, or getting into bed with the neighbour, or becoming a blur of obscene pixels with the neighb- okay Cindy, stop! I’m not comfortable with this. When I said we could open up I didn’t mean with Nigel.
“Do you fancy playing as a couple of skellies named ‘The Boner Brothers’ riding a bike and sidecar while chunky bastard-metal blasts out, also they’ve got a gun, also they can do tricks?” asked Motördoom, to which I became so instantly hyperactive I somehow worked out how to headbutt my own face. Of course I want to put a chainsaw on the front of my bike, Motördoom. Obviously I want a rougelike-able upgrade that perchance may set my demonic enemies on fire. Yes, I’d like to combine a sick manual with an action game killstreak for a very large combo, Motördoom. Is this what overly concerned parents thought PS1 games were actually like? If I got a disc with this demo on as a kid, I’d be significantly radder than I am today. Gnarly, even. Made of gnarls.
In the heyday of Sierra’s adventure game years, there was a series called Space Quest that featured an intergalactic janitor named Roger Wilco. The series was more satirical than King’s Quest, less preachy than Police Quest, and not quite as adult as Leisure Suit Larry. Spearheaded by Scott Murphy and Mark Crowe – a pair of devs who called themselves “Two Guys from Andromeda” – Space Quest was renowned for its humour, and there was a nice sense of progression throughout most of the series, with Roger Wilco leveling up from working class spaceman to the head of his own Star Trek ship.
Tachyon Dreams Anthology, a collection of three short games previously released on Itch.io, is clearly channeling Space Quest. Made by indie dev Cosmic Void, AKA Aviv Salinas, each episode of Tachyon Dreams puts you in the shoes of an intergalactic dishwasher named Dodger, who’s almost like an alternate Roger Wilco if you squint. Dodger’s just chilling on a spaceship clearing plates when all of the staff around him disappear, which is basically what happened to Roger at the start of Space Quest I. Guided by a sentient computer, Dodge has to travel through time and space, and his quest eventually leads him on the trail of the Margdonians, a mysterious race that once cultivated the galaxy.
The plot, which starts with time travel and ends with Dodger literally contemplating his past while sitting on the porcelain throne, doesn’t quite hit the mark set by any of the Space Quests. But the game’s visuals are 100% reminiscent of a lost Sierra adventure from 1987 made with the company’s then-famous AGI (Adventure Game Interpreter) engine. Even Dodger’s walk cycle channels Roger Wilco’s, though Dodger is several pixels larger than Roger ever was. I’m not sure if Tachyon Dreams Anthology was made in AGI Studio, gamemaking software that’s been widely used amongst Sierra fans, but it certainly looks it. Cosmic Void’s expert use of AGI’s 16 colours is especially impressive, and I really appreciate the pixelated depictions of the galactic sky, swathed in lovely shades of blue and magenta. (Anyone who wants to see similar visuals in something that resembles a ’90s game rather than an ’80s one should check out Twilight Oracle, one of Cosmic Void’s other projects. Alice B (RPS forever in peace) liked the demo!)
