Silent Hill f loves combat so much, it feels like it’s fighting itself

Prior to getting a big, fat, four-hour demo with it at Gamescom, I was worried that banging on about Silent Hill f’s newfound enthusiasm for monster fighting – with all its parries, zippy dodges, and slow-mo focus meters – would be doing a disservice to its bolder, more ‘interesting’ series departures, like the new 1960s setting or its deep embrace of homegrown Japanese culture and myths. A certain missing of the point, like setting out for a lovely drive through the Scottish highlands then stopping to gawp at a lightly crashed Peugeot on the hard shoulder.

But no. Combat is as deeply ingrained within Silent Hill f as guilty moping was to Silent Hill 2, and from what I’ve played, doesn’t work nearly as well.

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Out very soon, Helldivers 2’s giant Terminid caving update is a feast of nods to Aliens and Dune, plus dragons

Helldivers 2‘s homaging of Starship Troopers and/or parodying of real-life fascist interventionalism continues with Into the Unjust, a sizeable game update that will take you out to the Terminid Hive Worlds for a spot of cave combat. According to multiple geographers interviewed by RPS, caves are located underground. That’s going to cause problems if, for example, your entire military strategy depends on being able to call in air support whenever you choose. The same geographers also allege that caves are dark. That’s going to cause problems if you like to see the things you’re shooting at.

Helldivers 2 Into the Unjust launches 2nd September, and why read the rest of this evidently stupid news piece when you can just watch this seven minute “deep dive” (comedy whoopee cushion sound effect)?

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This week in PC games: a MGS3 remake, new Blumhouse horror and some freshly peeled spaceships

Well, it happened again: the Maw devoured a Monday. My recent, highly suspicious news article about a sudden “bank holiday” was, of course, a hasty PR smokescreen to avert a stock market crash. In Horace’s name, we have now forced the Maw to sick up the missing Monday, but locating the gag reflex of a cosmic monster has its risks, and there have been a few casualties.

Mark has theoretically been “on holiday” since last Wednesday, returning tomorrow, but that’s another piece of disinfo – he’s actually stranded somewhere in the Cretaceous period. James, meanwhile, has come down with a case of the Schrödingers, neither away at Gamescom nor back at his desk. I am going to email him shortly – fingers crossed the quantum binary collapses in a way conducive to preview write-ups. As for this week’s new PC games – here you are. I’ve included the regurgitated Monday, but please handle with care as it’s still rather radioactive and, er, talkative.

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Hollow Knight: Silksong is faster, prettier, and harder, yet still feels like a safe sequel

I woke up far too early this morning, to stand in a queue for far too long, all to play fan-vexing (and newly release-dated) soulsvania Hollow Knight: Silksong on the Gamescom show floor. No pre-release review codes? Pah – I couldn’t even get a demo appointment at the most demo appointment-centric games event of the year. How’s that for rejection.

Anyway, Team Cherry might just not be that into me, but I might well be into Silksong. It’s a little quicker, a little more dynamic, and to these fingers, a little more difficult than the first Hollow Knight. But it entirely preserves that tight-as-a-drum feel of the original’s sword swishing, and deploys it against insectoid baddies that challenge and frustrate in practically identical ways.

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There’s a new Platinum game hidden in the Metal Gear Solid 3 remake that’s actually a remake of a rework of a Zone of the Enders 3 prototype

Did you know that the original Metal Gear Solid 3 on PS2 had a reworked Zone of the Enders 3 prototype hidden in it? I didn’t. The secret minigame in question is “Guy Savage”, a barebones hack-and-slasher featuring hook swords, bestial transformations and zombie coppers. It’s framed as a dream of Naked Snake’s – triggered by a combination of torture and an unhelpful reference to Dracula from radio contact Para-Medic during a codec conversation before saving.

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