“Hotline Miami meets Diablo” in Slaughter Void’s ultraviolent psychedelia

Nothing is more powerful, Hotline Miami and its -likes teach us, than a good corner from which to lurk and swing sharp objects at conga lines of investigating idiots, each somehow convinced that although he just watched four mates get blade-battered in that exact spot by some murdercrazed invisible entity, he will personally be the one that overcomes the unassailable instant death corner with all his favourite bits intact.

Perhaps this is the Slaughter Void this lethal arcade action game speaks of, although, hang on: it’s got its own creation myth, in which a betrayed deity unleashes her anguish and makes everything at least 60% more violent and shit than it was previously. The claret-spattered cosmic psychedelia was enough to sucker me in alone, but there’s some nicely written fiction here too. It’s the kind that just pokes its horns through the walls occasionally, giving you enough of a sense of the entire beast to feel like you’re entering somewhere with history, without bogging down all that good good corner slaughter.

Read more

As if 14 jobs wasn’t enough work, Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time is getting an open world roguelike mode

You would think that being able to take on 14 different jobs would be enough to keep most people busy in Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time, but to Level-5 it seems like that won’t be enough. Last month, the developer announced that because the RPG has done so well, they’ll be releasing a free update/ bit of DLC called Update the World, and they’ve now offered a couple of details as to what that’ll be.

Read more

Sinister Sodies is a snappy claymation match-3 game that reminds me of when Flash games were still a thing

Match-3 games are probably the purest out there, at least in terms of genre. They are so instantly understandable by pretty much anyone, no wonder there’s a seemingly infinite number of them available on our phones. The issue is that most of them can’t match up to the heights of a classic like Bejeweled, though at least every once in a while we get delightful spins on the genre like Spirit Swap. Now, there’s a new, quite tiny new kid on the block in the form of Sinister Sodies, a match-3 game where you set out to “purify your carbonated concoction before time runs out.”

Read more

Best deals for PC gamers today: boutique rigs and game bundles

Today’s lineup mixes boutique muscle with budget-friendly firepower. The RUSH Mk. IV from MAINGEAR is a top-tier build I’m personally using—and it shows. Built, optimised, and debloated on the same bench it was assembled on, it’s the kind of machine that screams craftsmanship. You’re paying for a system that’s more than parts in a box: it’s pristine cable management, smart airflow, clean software, and solid support from people who actually know what they’re doing.

Read more

Hunt: Showdown 1896 is back online with its 2.4 update after Crytek rolled it back because it was so broken

Crytek had a little bit of an oopsie yesterday with the Hunt: Showdown 1896’s 2.4 update yesterday. As soon as it arrived, there were reports of server problems and issues with buying Blood Bonds. This led to Crytek trying to fix it, taking the game’s servers offline to do so, except when the shooter was brought back online, it wasn’t with a fixed version of the new update, but version 2.3. However! It looks like the team continued work on getting it fixed (hope you didn’t have to crunch too hard, Crytek staff), and the update is back and available to download.

Read more

Your Steam Deck will soon get some helpful accessibility settings like UI scaling, a screen reader, and more

Last week, Valve added in a feature that lets you browse Steam via a multitude of different accessibility tags. This week, it’s making Steam itself more accessible! Or more specifically, Steam in Big Picture Mode, and on devices running SteamOS, i.e. the Steam Deck of Lenovo Legion Go S. Valve shared word of the new accessibility setting in a blog post, though for now these are just a part of a beta update, so not everyone will have them just yet.

Read more

Dune Awakening will get a big update in early July, and Funcom have a three-pronged plan to improve deep desert PvP

Dune: Awakening developers Funcom have revealed in a post-launch Reddit AMA that they’re currently aiming to release a fresh update full of quality of life-related tweaks in early July, as well as adding “new contracts across the board” down the line.

However, if you’re after big new stuff to do, you’ll have to wait for the major updates that’ll be releasing alongside the game’s DLCs.

Read more

In case you were wondering, no, the Nintendo Switch 2’s microSD Express cards aren’t good for the Steam Deck

I swear I don’t actually have anything against the Nintendo Switch 2, other than its suspect attempt at Zoom Meetings But Games and some slight jealousy that it got DLSS support before a PC handheld did. Even so, I do feel obliged to warn Steam Deck owners – and, in fact, anyone who has any current portable PC – away from microSD Express cards, support for which is one of the Switch 2’s key storage upgrades.

Read more

Rematch devs apologise for lack of launch crossplay, outline plans for training bots, user-created clubs and tournaments

Rematch, the game about kicking it in the goal from Sifu and Absolver devs Sloclap, have launched today, June 19th. The folks behind it have rung in that occasion by outlining a bunch of their future plans, as well as saying they’re very sorry you can’t currently show off your mouse and keyboard skills by nutmegging some fool who owns one of those ex-boxers.

Don’t worry, though, crossplay and a bunch of other stuff are in the works for future updates to the foot-to-ball thing Nic and James dug the beta of, and that currently sits fourth in Steam’s top sellers list.

Read more

Ara: History Untold gets a beefy update that promises “significant micromanagement reduction” and more competent AI not-Civs

Ara: History Untold is a game I briefly gave a go last year, back when Civ 7 was still a game we were all yet to play and have a vast slew of different opinions about. I thought the little I played was alright, but didn’t stick with it that long, slipping back into the pair of comfy slippers that were Civ 6.

Now, though, Ara’s just gotten a big update, and it looks like it should solve some of the issues that folks flagged with the base game.

Read more