As well as it runs on your average desktop PC, it wasn’t until I began playing Diablo IV on the Steam Deck that its demon-thwacking really clicked for me. Largely because this was my first experience of it with gamepad controls, and using thumbsticks and face buttons to move and toss out spells just feels more… I don’t know, direct? Like I’m actually controlling my Necromancer and her boney bodyguards, not just clicking a unit and watching their animations.
It helps that Diablo IV’s Steam Deck performance is surprisingly spry, with fast 45-60fps framerates within reach even when leaving the majority of graphics settings on Ultra quality. Unlike all of the other best Steam Deck games, there’s no native support for its Battle.net launcher, but with some resourcefulness, that needs only be a temporary barrier.
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they’ve been chewing over.Today, Ollie wants to explain why Breath of the Wild will remain his go-to open-world Zelda, despite Tears of the Kingdom’s improvements…
I’ve been playing The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom on and off for more than 40 hours since its launch. I know this is a pittance compared to some people, but for me, it’s a significant chunk of time. Around hour 35, however, a nagging thought was working its way into my mind and I couldn’t shake it. Now I’m at the point where I’m able to fully articulate what it was that I was feeling, though I suspect you probably won’t like it:
Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One and Game Pass players have been enjoying searching the No Man’s Sky universe for their one-of-a-kind Sentinel starship ever since we launched the free Interceptor update just a few weeks ago. And before that the Fractal update brought the Wonders Catalogue and much much more.
Today we’re peeling back the curtain on more of the mystery started in the Interceptor update in our latest expedition – Singularity. It is chapter two of a four-part narrative that will play out throughout the year.
Like all No Man’s Sky expeditions, Singularity draws Travellers together from all systems to a specific starting point in the universe, this time to investigate the curious robot heads that were bamboozling those who came across them in Interceptor with cryptic binary messages. We want to keep the mystery, but this is a story about AI corruption, robotic uprisings and strong hints of what’s to come in No Man’s Sky.
Throughout the five week long expedition, the whole community will be working with Nada and Polo on the space anomaly can try to breathe new life into the galaxy, and work together for some exciting rewards. Ultimately, it will be up to the community as a whole to make a major choice in the end result which may have wide-reaching effects on what’s to come…
It wouldn’t be a No Man’s Sky expedition without a generous bounty of limited-time bonuses and souvenirs, and Singularity is no exception. Among the many spoils on offer as a reward for your efforts is a magnificent robot suit, our first custom set in years.
Singularity will answer some burning questions posed in Interceptor, but don’t expect all the ends to be tied up neatly. Woven into the adventure are more strange clues to decipher that hint at a deeper story to come.
No Man’s Sky comes complete with all 21 major updates up to and including Waypoint, our 4.0 update.
Inspired by the adventure and imagination that we love from classic science-fiction, No Man’s Sky presents you with a galaxy to explore, filled with unique planets and lifeforms, and constant danger and action.
In No Man’s Sky, every star is the light of a distant sun, each orbited by planets filled with life, and you can go to any of them you choose. Fly smoothly from deep space to planetary surfaces, with no loading screens, and no limits. In this infinite procedurally generated universe, you’ll discover places and creatures that no other players have seen before – and perhaps never will again.
Embark on an epic voyage
At the centre of the galaxy lies a irresistible pulse which draws you on a journey towards it to learn the true nature of the cosmos. But, facing hostile creatures and fierce pirates, you’ll know that death comes at a cost, and survival will be down to the choices you make over how you upgrade your ship, your weapon and suit.
Find your own destiny
Your voyage through No Man’s Sky is up to you. Will you be a fighter, preying on the weak and taking their riches, or taking out pirates for their bounties? Power is yours if you upgrade your ship for speed and weaponry.
Or a trader? Find rich resources on forgotten worlds and exploit them for the highest prices. Invest in more cargo space and you’ll reap huge rewards.
Or perhaps an explorer? Go beyond the known frontier and discover places and things that no one has ever seen before. Upgrade your engines to jump ever farther, and strengthen your suit for survival in toxic environments that would kill the unwary.
Share your journey
The galaxy is a living, breathing place. Trade convoys travel between stars, factions vie for territory, pirates hunt the unwary, and the police are ever watching. Every other player lives in the same galaxy, and you can choose to share your discoveries with them on a map that spans known space. Perhaps you will see the results of their actions as well as your own…
No Man’s Sky’s next big update is about AI and robot uprisings.
The update, out today for all formats, is dubbed Singularity. It is the 10th major update for the long-running space exploration game.
Singularity forms a part of a much longer narrative arc that kicked off in the Interceptor update and is set to play out as the year goes on.
Players investigate curious robot heads that are delivering cryptic clues across the galaxy. The story is about AI corruption and robotic uprisings, with Hello Games teasing “strong hints of what’s to come in No Man’s Sky”.
“Throughout the five week long expedition, the whole community will be working with Nada and Polo on the space anomaly to try to breathe new life into the galaxy, and work together for some exciting rewards,” Hello Games explained.
“The expedition concludes with the player having to make a choice which will have far-reaching consequences…”
The idea is by the end of the season, the No Man’s Sky community will have worked together to uncover clues that lead to hints at future updates and more story.
New rewards include No Man’s Sky’s first new full character customisation set in years.
Synapse’s State of Play reveal illustrated a potent combo of sidearm and telekinetic-infused combat. Last month at PlayStation Showcase, developer nDreams used the release date announcement to dig into the story of a lone operative diving into another’s mind to avert global catastrophe, and the reunion of two high-caliber voice talents who find themselves again involved in a black ops-style mission, but this time on different sides of a battlefield. And now, thanks to a hands-on with a specially-curated playable demo, we have a better understanding of how Synapse gameplay unfolds.
Let’s break down the core gameplay loop. It’s driven by tactical combat, using your base abilities of bullets and TK plus interactive objects to clear out multi-leveled arenas of enemies. Those encounters are punchy bursts of action which increase in complexity and intensity. You’re outnumbered, continually outflanked, attackers able to short-range teleport to better position themselves. The odds are put back in your favor through steadily unlocked abilities and randomized buffs, all tools built to nudge you into being as enjoyably, efficiently creative with your skills as possible. Synapse has the DNA of a roguelite.
Let’s dig deeper. A run will have you fight a growing mix of enemy types across multiple levels, the sequencing of those stages randomized and pulled from a large pool of potential locations. Completion of any opens a door to the next, at the threshold of which you’re offered one of two possible two Traits. These add fun modifiers for the rest of your run. Clutch an object with TK to kick in slo-mo. Add a curve to your bullets. Turn TK-grabbed foes into short-term friendlies or targets for other assailants to draw fire away from you.
Synapse’s mini-map is thoughtfully executed. Flip your TK hand palm up for a radial-style device to materialize upon it. A 3D space floats above it, pinpoints enemy locations and collectables. It’s an interaction with the same simple satisfaction – and muscle memory – as checking your watch for notifications.
Revelations is Synapse’s name for permanent upgrades split across three skill trees, for your TK, weapons and general resilience respectively. These trees are available between runs and will grant you, amongst others, the ability to grab enemies (and toss them around like rag-dolls) or their grenades (catching them mid-throw), increase your weapon loadout. You can activate Shrines that’ll spawn within levels, granting you a health boost or new weapons.
All are unlocked and used during my hands-on, early access granted thanks to a generous dose of XP (called Defiance in Synpase) for the purposes of the demo. But before I step into several arenas to play around with my powers, I need to learn how the core mechanics work. Cue tutorial and the base mechanics.
Movement is an uncompromised first-person shooter, character movement and camera operated by the Sense controller sticks, with comfort settings also offered. You can also pick which of your hands does what. Gun hand is
is self-explanatory but doesn’t work in isolation: guns need to be reloaded by way of partially ejecting them then slamming magazines back into position. You can use your other hand. Or any solid surface, which includes cover points and an enemy’s noggin. Reloads continue to feel satisfying throughout the run.
Your other hand is where multitasking takes off. It can be used to grab cover, your Sense controller movement mirrored in-game to pull you out, up or to the side of whatever you’re ducking behind. As long as you’ve got your finger pulled down on the Sense controller trigger, you’re anchored. It’s a design brought over from nDreams’ previous PS VR title Fracked. A nice feature that gives you mobility options while stationary.
The game’s music is being scored by Paul Weir, who also composed No Man’s Sky. The direction he was tasked to draw inspiration from was the cerebral blockbuster movies of Christopher Nolan, lending a Zimmer-like soundtrack to Synapse.
It’s this hand, along with PS VR2’s eye-tracking, that powers TK. You learn very quickly what is interactive in Synapse: crates, platforms (and later, enemies and their grenades). In a world that’s wholly monochrome, objects made for manipulating are suddenly outlined in vibrant color. Grip with the Sense controller, and you’re free to shift the item as telekinesis intended.
The item’s movement and velocity is dictated by your hand’s movement and speed. Hold a crate steady and close, and you have mobile cover. You could toss a fastball and use this flying box to cannon into – and aimed right, one-shot kill – enemies. The delicacy and precision that TK physics offers is impressive. I’ll admit I spend longer in the tutorial than I need to, just carefully stacking crates or attempting to juggle three in the air, spinning each faster and faster as I catch and release them, tossing them higher and higher.
Two examples of using TK during combat: crates can be held and swiped back and forth, knocking enemies down like skittles. Barrels can be an explosive way to take out foes well hidden behind cover.
There’s smart use of the Sense controller’s adaptive triggers as well, with volatile objects such as barrels and live grenades requiring a lighter grip if you’re to hold them safely. Pull fully on the trigger and you’ll crush them, leading to explosive results. Perfect to toss then squeeze as they arc over the heads of congregating shooters, though a stray bullet from either side can as easily ignite a barrel.
Even in these early encounters, the action ramps up quickly, requiring you to think even quicker, pinpointing possible configurations of useful items, enemy locations, your route through and around any danger. All familiar ingredients of a roguelite, but TK gives Synapse a unique flavor.
And I’d be remiss if I didn’t take the time to acknowledge Synapse’s art direction. Monochrome levels with pops of vibrant color initially echo the best showroom OLED TV demos in showrooms, but the more I took time to soak in my surroundings, the more I felt subtly unsettled. The studio points out surrealistic art as an initial inspiration, but I realized what the desolate shoreline and rocky outcrops of this first biome was reminding me of. It’s a black and white starkness that harkened the setting of Swedish fantasy film The Seventh Seal. In that, a knight plays for his life in a game of chess against Death.
Perhaps that parallel isn’t an accident. Synapse’s story is one built around a battle of wits between two minds: The Colonel and his invader’s. In actual fact, it’s three different sources: the Colonel’s mind, your character’s own and the AI in control of the system. I’m curious to see what unfolds visually. nDreams promises a strong narrative to pull you in, stating it’ll take three complete runs to uncover the full scope of its story. And even after its conclusion, the game’s roguelite design is built to entice you back into another mind dive.
Some games adapt to VR more naturally than others. Games that take place primarily in a cockpit, like Elite Dangerous or Euro Truck Simulator 2, need relatively little adjustment to make them enjoyable in VR. They don’t require the player to move around much, and their whole shtick about providing an authentic, immersive experience.
Games that require a lot of fast movement, or require the player to keep track of a lot of different objects, are generally harder to make work through VR Goggles. Hence why Amid Evil VR caught my attention. Shooters are common VR fodder, but they’re typically built as VR experiences from the ground up. Amid Evil, on the other hand, is a flatscreen retro shooter designed to be reactive, surreal, and above all, fast. It’s a game where you zip around arcane dimensions like a magic missile, splattering weird little armoured guys with enchanted swords and a staff that fires planets. It’s a brilliant game, one of the best old-skool shooters to emerge from the genre’s revival. But on paper, it’s about as VR friendly as Morpheus.
Blizzard’s $70 action role-playing game leans heavily on in-game monetisation, with plans for various battle passes post-launch.
Available now, however, is the in-game shop, which has become a bone of contention among fans.
Diablo 4’s shop sells cosmetics only. There are no gameplay-affecting items up for sale. While that is very much a good thing, and in keeping with promises Blizzard made before launch, the pricing of some of these cosmetics has raised eyebrows.
Take the Triune Apostate armour set, for example. It weighs in at 2,500 Platinum. Platinum is Diablo 4’s premium in-game currency, and must itself be bought with real-world money. 2,500 Platinum will set you back £20.99 / $24.99 (2,500 plus 300 Platinum “free”).
The Cryptic Hunter mount costs £6.39. That’s a direct payment with real-world money. No need for Platinum.
And of course there’s horse armour for new mounts. The Three-Fold Nightmare Prestige mount and armour costs 1,500 Platinum, or just shy of £13.
If you want to buy all the cosmetics currently available in the shop, you’re looking at spending hundreds of dollars or pounds. One redditor worked it out, and came up with $357 to get everything in the most cost-effective way possible.
As you’d expect, the Diablo community has pointed out just how expensive these cosmetics are, and the fact armour sets are available for just one class only devalues your purchase somewhat.
But others point out that up to $25 for a bundle that includes a skin and a few minor cosmetics is pretty standard these days. Anyone who’s played Activision’s recent Call of Duty games, for example, will be familiar with this sort of pricing.
Of course, the true test of Diablo 4’s monetisation will come when its battle passes launch and we get a sense of whether Blizzard is paywalling the game’s best-looking armour sets, or if the base game itself includes fancy fits that hold their own.
Tetris is grand, but it could do with more chainsaws. Thus (presumably) went the thought process of the developers behind Dr. Fetus’ Mean Meat Machine, a Super Meat Boy spinoff about lining up colourful meaty blobs while dodging buzzsaws and other grizzly hazards. Think Tetris meets match 4 meets Meat Boy slapstick.
A demo came out in April, but publishers Thunderful Games have just announced you’ll get to play the full thing on June 22nd.
It’s incredible to think that Octopath Traveler II came out almost four months ago — how are we this far into the year already? But Square Enix is celebrating its HD-2D sequel today as it’s announced that the game has shipped over 1 million units since its release in February 2023.
Taking to Twitter via the official Octopath PR account, the publisher has shared some brand new art from the game’s lead artist Tatsuaki Urushihara featuring Osvald, Ochette, and Throné.
Counter-Strike 2 now lets players refund their weapons.
Developer Valve confirmed the feature, which Counter-Strike players have long-called for, in the tweet below.
Bought the wrong thing? Meant to buy a different weapon, armor, or grenade? Sell your purchase back and buy again (during buy time). pic.twitter.com/7KJ4WN82XU
“Bought the wrong thing? Meant to buy a different weapon, armor, or grenade? Sell your purchase back and buy again (during buy time).”
Currently, Counter-Strike does not allow refunds under any circumstances, which means if you buy a gun in error you either have to use it or fork out more cash to buy another.
It’s worth noting Counter-Strike rival Valorant, from Riot, does offer refunds.
The update also includes a revised loadout system that lets players select 15 weapons from three categories (Valve demonstrated this in another tweet, below). Mirage has replaced Dust II on the test matchmaking servers, too.
Any 5 pistols, any 5 mid-tier weapons, and any 5 rifles. Today’s Counter-Strike 2 update introduces a revised loadout system where players select 15 weapons from 3 categories on CT and T-side to bring with them into matches. Including the M4A4 and M4A1-S. pic.twitter.com/enl7mW9qnT
