Reality Bytes: I Expect You To Die 3 is a fun telekinetic-Bond spy caper

I Expect You To Die 3: Cog In the Machine is notable if only for being the third entry in a series on VR games. Most VR titles can consider themselves lucky if they get a sequel, let alone attain the hallowed status of “trilogy”. Then again, few VR games have found a formula that is as dependable and repeatable as Schell Games’ collection of spy capers. Much in the same way that the James Bond series has a set structure and tropes, only I Expect You To Die’s blueprint involves pastiche and puzzles rather than cars, gadgets, and variously objectified women.

Read more

Deep Rock Galactic: Rogue Core takes one of PC’s best co-op experiences into a different genre

Having hollowed out the Asteroid of Co-Op (Resource) Extraction FPS, Ghost Ship are sinking their drills into the Planet of Roguelite. The just-announced Deep Rock Galactic: Rogue Core is a crafty feat of genre-splicing in which one to four dwarven miners investigate an alien world whose “core has gone rogue”. As in the original Deep Rock Galactic, which we loved, you’ll be tunnelling down and fighting critters (exact species TBA) while harvesting precious ores. But this time, there’s no returning to the ship once you’ve loaded up enough. The only way out is down.

Read more

Going by its trailer, Dredge’s The Pale Reach DLC is a blend of new and familiar chills

Following boldly in the wake of The Thing, The Terror and, errrr, the experimental artist Ellie Ga, who spent months drawing and sketching aboard a drifting icelocked research vessel, Black Salt and Team 17’s Lovecraftian fishing sim Dredge is heading to the Arctic in its first DLC pack, The Pale Reach. Batten down the hatches and check out the trailer.

Read more

A live-action project in the world of Cyberpunk 2077 might happen

I’ve decided to base part of my personality around liking Cyberpunk 2077. I thought I was long-since past the point when it was possible to construct my identity around liking a piece of media, but here I am, aged 38, researching tattoos.

So the news that CD Projekt Red have partnered with a production company to create a live action adaptation project set in the world of Cyberpunk 2077? I’m onboard.

Read more

Silent Hill: Ascension releases on Halloween

Pre-registrations have gone live for Konami’s Silent Hill: Ascension, an interactive drama for mobiles – I know, shush, I’m sure it’ll come to PCs eventually – which follows a cast of characters around the world who are being tormented by monsters from the eponymous Town of Woe.

My enthusiasm for Silent Hill these days is approximately that of a dog returning to his vomit (or better, a depressive male protagonist with repressed memories that keep reeling him back to the same, misty high street). There have been so many middling sequels and spin-offs. But somehow, I can’t let go. And Ascension does sound quite intriguing, not least for being a crowd-sourced storytelling enterprise akin to a massively multiplayer Until Dawn.

Read more

Diablo 4’s Season 2 update feels like a pre-planned “triumphant comeback” arc

Diablo 4 has been on the back-burner amid the chaos of Baldur’s Gate 3 and Starfield’s launches, but much like an arch-demonness putting together the pieces of an inter-planar conspiracy, Blizzard have been doing a lot of work behind the scenes. The action-RPG‘s next big round of additions, the Season of Blood, launches on 17th October alongside the Steam edition of the game. It introduces a new season journey and questline, a new season event, and some skulking new enemies of the Nosferatu persuasion.

The new quest sounds quite fun from the promotional materials. It sees you investigating a mysterious outbreak of punctured necks, recruiting a local Van Helsing named Erys, and tracking down a Dark Master, while harnessing 22 juicy new vampiric powers care of some pact armour. The latter range from turning into a cloud of bats, through cursing people, to treating yourself to a spontaneous bloodbath so as to enhance your channeled skills, The trade-off is that you’ll have to acquire yet another Diablo 4 resource, potent blood, to perform these tricks.

Read more

The Electronic Wireless Show podcast S2 Episode 33: post-launch second chances ft. Payday 3 and Cyberpunk 2077

The Electronic Wireless Show podcast returns to one of our recent previous messes to discuss Payday 3. More specifically, we look at the post-launch changes the devs are making in an effort to improve matchmaking and wait times. Specifically, we use this to think about games that have changed their reputations after a rocky start, what with Cyberpunk 2077‘s recent 2.0 update. What are the circumstances that allow games to do that? Why are they such outliers? How do we think about reviews in the context of something like No Man’s Sky?

We’ve also been playing some big recent games, so tune in for discussions of Assassin’s Creed Mirage, a call for pirate games, and a hilarious misunderstanding about Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor.

Read more

Dinolords is a retro medieval RTS in which the Vikings ride T-Rexes

“But what if there were dinosaurs???” is a setup that goes a long way with me, as a Jurassic World Evolution player and defiant fan of Capcom’s Exoprimal, and in this case, that setup rests atop a tasty-looking fruitcake of references to Warcraft and Stronghold. Woah there, Dr Grant – what the hell are you talking about? Why, the just-announced Dinolords, of course – a blend of strategy and action-RPG from Northplay and Ghost Ship Publishing, in which you raise troops and build castles to fend off armies of T-Rex-riding Danes. Here’s a trailer.

Read more