70 seconds makes all the difference under the new Marvel Rivals approach to rage-quitters

Techno-loving hollowtooth Blade has joined the playable cast of Marvel Rivals, but he’s not what I find most interesting about the free-to-play shooter’s latest update. Developers NetEase Games have introduced a new system of penalties for ragequitters, keyboard-away-frommers, and other craven scumbags who abandon a competitive mode match early on because the dishwasher’s overflowing, or similar.

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Fatekeeper looks like a spiritual successor to Dark Messiah, but where’s the kick?

I was munching crisps while watching a showcase of upcoming games from THQ Nordic last week, letting the likes of a new Spongebob Squarepants game and the Gothic Remake wash over me like barely flavoured fizzy water, when Fatekeeper showed up. I straightened up, just a little. It is a fancy looking first-person RPG made with all the hyper detail and vivid lighting you might expect of a game developed in Unreal Engine 5. It is also conjuring a game worth conjuring: the heavy hitting fantasy brawlabout Dark Messiah Of Might And Magic. As I watched the below trailer, I became more and more cautiously hopeful. Looks slick, but where’s the kick?

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Another Skyblivion dev diary shows off the new dungeons and expanded cities Oblivion Remastered never bothered with

August 2025 now has as many Skyblivion developer diaries as there are modern The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion reimaginings: two, which in both cases remains a weirdly high number. But while last week’s Finishing Skyblivion focused on one volunteer’s attempts at getting the ambitious Cyrodiil-in-Skyrim mod over the line, this other vid makes a very specific pitch to those whose interest may have been diverted by Bethesda’s official Oblivion Remastered, showcasing how Skyblivion looks to more aggressively expand and rework the original RPG.

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This week in PC Games: a new Mafia, a bustling Homeworld homage, a cosmic lighthouse and some strange jigsaws

We enter week one of RPS Post-Graham. The office Slack echoes like the Great Hall of Durin after a Balrog teaparty. Horace coils about the foot of the Treehouse like a sullen Viking serpent. The Maw seems peevish and incontinent, spurning any news we offer it. The wifi network keeps changing its name to “Execute Order 66”.

It is time to smash the emergency glass and bust out a few favourites from my personal collection of morale-boosting videogame intros. Here’s Red Alert, to put some spring in your step; Okami to let the light in; Colony Wars for the WRAAAOW noise at the end. And here are this week’s most interesting new PC games.

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Valve point to Mastercard restrictions as the payment firm deny influencing adult game removals

Financial service giants Mastercard have denied accusations that they sought to influence the recent removal of adult/NSFW games from Steam and Itch.io, claiming that they have “not evaluated any game or required restrictions of any activity on game creator sites and platforms,” and that they allow all lawful transactions. It’s a brief and unequivocal statement, but Valve themselves have since suggested it might not be entirely accurate, telling PC Gamer that Steam’s payment processors objected to the availability of law-abiding adult games by citing one of Mastercard’s specific rules.

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I’m still strapped to a rolling office chair with a ticking timer in a huge scary building

Beware minor spoilers for Chairbound in this piece. I think they’re minor. I have no idea what’s truly significant in this dreary purgatory of flourescent lights and rippled glass facades. Only one thing seems guaranteed: I have to get out of here in 10 minutes or I’m doomed.

I met the weird little girl again. She was loitering in the shadow of a pillar on the eighth floor. I found her goblin-esque during our first meeting, but up close she seems relatively ordinary, a pale 10-year-old in a nightie with shoulder-length hair. At least, until she burbles distorted sounds at me and runs away into the darkness. I gather she is looking for her “toy”. I don’t think it’s the rubber duck I’m holding.

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After three deafening hours of its multiplayer, Battlefield 6 sure looks like a Battlefield game

Battlefield 6 releases on October 10th with the unenviable task of being both a quality combined arms FPS, and a successful apology letter to those burned by the series’ previous missteps. To try out its multiplayer ahead of yesterday’s big reveal event, I had to pass through two separate metal detectors at the venue’s doors, which I can only assume were there to prevent infiltration by disgruntled Battlefield 2042 players armed with tins of orange paint.

Still, try it out I did, with most signs pointing towards BF6 being genuine about its promised return to Battlefield staples. The classic four classes instead of specialists. Destruction that has a point beyond spectacle. And most importantly, large-scale multivehicular warfare that isn’t nearly as organised and cinematic as the choreographed trailer.

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