Yakuza Kiwami 3’s Dark Ties spin-off was originally set to be a video, and here’s why its protagonist sings to a photo of a bald bloke

Dark Ties, the Like A Dragon spin-off game that’s set to arrive alongside Yakuza Kiwami 3 next year, was originally just going to be a video. That was, obviously, until devs RGG studio opted to let folks wander around in the shoes of Yakuza 3 antagonist Yoshitaka Mine, whose karaoke singing to a picture of a follically-challenged gangster they’ve now also explained.

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Civilization 7 update 1.2.5 arrives today, bringing new map types, building UI improvements and Napoleon buffs

Civ 7 beefy update 1.2.5 arrives today, September 30th. Developers Firaxis have laid out its major tweaks and additions, which include new map types and city states, plus a revamp of the construction interface and a hefty helping of balancing.

The polarising 4X strategy nation-builder has gotten the likes of auto-explore and world wonder reworks in its last couple of monthly updates, with Firaxis having settled in for the long haul after an initial flurry of post-release tweaking. 1.2.5 is the first update the game’s gotten since an undisclosed number of workers – “dozens of people”, according to Game Developer sources – were laid off at Firaxis earlier this month, in what publishers 2K told RPS was a “staff reduction” as the studio “restructures and optimizes its development process for adaptability, collaboration, and creativity”.

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Capcom warn that Monster Hunter Rise, World and Wilds might not run on Windows 10 PCs after October 14th

Your cuddly dinosaur aunties at Capcom have warned that they can’t “guarantee” various Monster Hunter games will run on Windows 10 PCs after uncle Microsoft end support for the operating system on October 14th this year.

When that fateful day comes to pass, Capcom “will no longer guarantee that Monster Hunter: World, Monster Hunter Rise and Monster Hunter Wilds will run on Windows 10 systems.” Which isn’t to say that these games will immediately become unplayable, but “future system updates or game title updates may make the game incompatible on Windows 10 systems”.

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I estimate that £100,000’s worth of Warhammer miniatures were slain in Dawn of War 4’s new trailer

In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 4‘s latest trailer, in which an entire nerd cave’s worth of miniatures spanning all four in-game factions are gibbed, gutted and burned in about 90 seconds.

Somewhat to my surprise, this is the first time I’ve watched a Warhammer videogame and tried to calculate the bodycount in terms of tabletop figurine prices. My pen-and-paper estimates are profoundly upsetting, and that was before I looked at Games Workshop’s current catalogue – I think for the first time since 1999 – and adjusted my figures for inflation. Do any of you play physical Warhammer tabletop games right now? How does that balance out, exactly? Do you just sort of… not buy food?

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Messenger is an absurdly slick, perfectly lovely free pocket world exploration game you can play in a browser

Based on time of day and year, global fertility rates, and our own secret, illegal research into RPS supporter breeding patterns, I calculate that there’s a 12% chance you are reading this while carrying or cradling a small child. If that’s the case, then: what on Earth are you doing here? We post all kinds of awful grown-up things on RPS. Mark is threatening to do another salacious mod article and just this very morning, I posted a picture of a xenomorph covered in blood.

This piece should be safe for kids, however, as long as you don’t explain what a xenomorph is or what “salacious” means. It’s about Messenger, a free browser-based game in which you run around a very small 3D watercolour planet, delivering post. I suspect you and your child will enjoy it, unless we’ve already corrupted them and you’re now playing Aliens: Fireteam Elite.

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Randy Pitchford has found his soulmate: an edgy cowboy robot named after money that’s in Borderlands 4’s first DLC

Remember when you were young, and had your first crush? All of a sudden your hormones are going nuts, and here’s this person you can’t think about without your face contorting into a goofy smile, or talk about without bashfully giggling. Well, it seems that’s how part-time Gearbox exec and full-time social media poster Randall Steward Pitchford II feels about Borderlands 4‘s freshly revealed first DLC Vault Hunter.

It’s understandable to be fair. Which of us hasn’t found ourselves gazing longingly at a former casino robot dressed like a goth version of John Wayne, before volunteering to help animate its card-throwing? Sometimes, C4SH rules not just everything around you, but your very heart.

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This week in PC games: Final Fantasy Tactics, VR-free Alien, wooden mice mazes and opulent card games

May Horace save and protect you, my fellow Metamedia Sorcerers, for I come with bad tidings. We are entering a news-lull. While there are some curious, possibly even attention-worthy PC games out this week, none of them are Big. None of them have that triple, quadruple or possibly even quintuple-A bullshit frosting the Maw so delights to batten upon. Last week gave us Tokyo Game Show, a time of relative bounty, but this week, there is a dearth of obvious headline material, and the Creature is already showing signs of discontent.

Its guts stiffen and strain like paralysed icebreakers. Its eyes widen in every mirror. How could it get worse? Oh hell’s teeth, I’ve run out of coffee. We’re doomed! Rohan has deserted us! Theoden has betrayed me! Abandon your posts! Flee, flee for your lives!

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Fallout: London’s first DLC will require a brand new save, Team FOLON confirm, but it sounds like other future add-ons won’t

It’s been over half a year since Fallout: London developers Team FOLON announced that it’d be getting three bits of DLC adding new quests to post-apocalyptic Blighty. The folks behind the massive mod have been relatively quiet in that time, but they’ve now confirmed that the first of these DLCs, Rabbit and Pork, will require you to start a fresh save game.

Also, one reason it hasn’t arrived already is that the team have been working to ensure other quest add-ons won’t force you to go back to square one, whenever they drop.

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Hollow Knight: Silksong pre-patch 3 beta update brings extra controller support and dispels nagging lategame curses

As has been the case with all of Hollow Knight: Silksong‘s sizeable updates this far, Team Cherry have put out some tweaks as a Steam beta shot to the upcoming patch three’s chaser. As of now, opting into playtesting this “interim update” offers some extra controller support and fixes, but the devs say more’ll be added before the full patch goes live to everyone.

In case you need a refesher, the metroidvania‘s first patch made a couple of its early bosses a bit easier. Meanwhile, its second patch didn’t do any balancing, but did bring handy fixes to problems like the Savage Beastfly boss cheekily hiding below some lava.

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