A corn dog is something I’ve never eaten, because they’re not really a thing in UK. I am morbidly curious about them, although I cannot ascertain their texture just by looking, which worries me. A Khorne dog, however, is a texturally simpler proposition. You can tell just by looking at today’s new legendary hero for strategy gameTotal War Warhammer 3 that he’d be quite difficult to chew, should you get to that point. Either way, the price is definitely easy to swallow – he’s completely free as part of today’s patch 5.1.0, which also brings substantial changes to multiplayer.
Aside from its naturally satisfying rhythm and the cool audio dings of success that usually accompany it, I find something innately hilarious about parrying. Yes, yes, it’s a deeply skilled expression of martial prowess that turns your enemy’s aggression back at them. But it’s also a pleasingly low-effort method to make your opponent look very silly – the combat equivalent of waving your outstretched hand and shaking your head in unison. I assume so from videogames, anyway. In reality, I could not parry a nerf dart with a metal bin lid.
Roguelikes! They’re all the rage lately, whether it’s a pure run-based game like Hades 2, a devilish combination with something like the settlement-management of Cult of the Lamb or the application of the genre’s live-die-live-again loop to add a new bit of spice to a familiar series like The Rogue Prince of Persia. Into that last category comes a new contender: Diablo 4, which will soon introduce a new wave-based roguelike mode in its next season.
The developers of multiplayer aerial combat sim War Thunder have apologised after a picture of the real-life Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, which killed seven crew members when it exploded just 73 seconds after launch in 1986, was used in artwork promoting the game’s recent Seek & Destroy update.
The end of EA’s decades-long FIFA deal in 2022 means there’s currently a FIFA-shaped hole in the world of video games that isn’t quite filled by EA’s not-FIFA replacement EA Sports FC 24 and is yet to measure up the efforts of whoever the footballing organisation gets to make the next officially licensed FIFA game. So, naturally, FIFA is looking to help plug that gap in the meantime by hosting a virtual World Cup in car-football game Rocket League.
Open-world zombie adventure Days Gone might not technically feature any zombies, but at least the discourse around a potential sequel is constantly reanimating. Via Xitter, the original game’s creative director John Garvin has encouraged fans to “never say never” about a Days Gone 2, while reminding us that a full outline for the game had already been completed prior to his departure from developers Bend Studio in 2020.
Even with the caveat of “I’m not holding my breath”, Garvin’s take is an altogether more hopeful one that that of fellow Bend alumni and Days Gone game director Jeff Ross, who in May tweeXed a collage of popular PlayStation characters – sans his own post-apocalyptic motorcycling hero, Deacon St. John. “A lot of people still ask me if there will ever be a Days Gone sequel, so I submit this poster as evidence it will never happen”, Ross wrote, along with an apparent pop at Sony Interactive execs (including Hermen Hulst, co-CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment) for never being “fans” of the game.
I have recently moved to an area that’s surrounded by forest, or at least, by swathes of greenery that feel like forests when you’re far enough inside them, even if they don’t meet whatever quantifiable definition is currently in vogue. My dreams are ablaze with scenes of sunlight percolating through shifting layers of beech and oak, with visions of dirt paths winding through bramble. Now, here comes Engraving to transform all those dreams into nightmares.
Among Elden RingShadow Of The Erdtree‘s more fearsome bosses is the Dancing Lion, a festive prancing terror inspired by Chinese Lion dances. Looking at it, you might expect this costumed nuisance to be another grafted abomination, its layers of papier-mache, binbags and repurposed carpets hiding a rippling quilt of flesh and bone, perhaps a real lion that has been shaved and stitched to its theatrical double. The truth is more appalling still: it’s just two guys in a lion suit. They aren’t even sewn together mouth to backside, like in the Human Centipede. Way to bait-and-switch, From!
Despite an overwhelmingly strong reception with critics, Shadow Of The Erdtree is currently sitting at a ‘mixed’ review rating on Steam, with nay-sayers citing performance issues and overbearing enemy design. The Elden Ring DLC is currently metacritic’s highest rated expansion of all time at 95, beating out the The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt’s Blood And Wine’s 92. However, roughly a third of the 41,000 user reviews on Steam are negative.
Hello reader who is also a reader, and welcome back to Booked For The Week – our regular Sunday chat with a selection of cool industry folks about books! I do not have a completely true fact to share about books with you this week, because I just read a book telling me that sharing facts about books is actually destroying the online book facts industry. Check back next week, by which time I may have finished another book debunking these claims. This week, it’s the developer behind Sluggish Morss, Dujanah, and the upcoming Judero, Jack King-Spooner! Cheers Jack! Mind if we have a nose at your bookshelf?
An eclectic collection for your pile of shame, although Jack joins this column’s pile of shame with all the other guests who’ve failed to name every book ever written. Will we somehow track down someone for next week who recognises this most secret of goals? The faithful shelf-heads among you may have noticed I’ve changed the fifth question, as is my want. Maybe I’ll change some other questions too, just to keep you guessing. Or maybe I won’t, but doesn’t the possibility I might fill you with a thrilling uncertainty about what the future might bring? Book for now!
