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Keita Takahashi is probably one of the most recognizable names in games, in no small part thanks to a game that needs no introduction, Katamari Damacy. That game was made at Namco, before it became the Bandai Namco we know today, and Takahashi actually left the studio back in 2006 around the time they merged, and in a recent interview with GameSpark (as translated by Automaton), the developer has shared the reason behind his departure.
I’m going to let you in on a little secret: I love Silent Hill 4: The Room. It was actually the first game I played in the series, and when I did I wasn’t aware that it wasn’t universally loved or even liked at its release. Not that knowing other people’s opinions would have changed my mind about it, I’m the kind of person that will ardently defend a 6/10, but still, I think there’s a lot to love about it… unless you played the game on PC. For a long time, it was missing a few things that were featured in the PS2 version of the game, but GOG’s Preservation Program is adding them back in.
Who can say what made Ubisoft change their minds on Steam Deck support for Assassin’s Creed Shadows, the pretty good samurai stealther that previously stated an intention to go without. Perhaps a high-ranking executive, visiting family to invite them to a trip on his spare yacht, had his frozen heart melted by the sight of a Naoe-cosplaying granddaughter clutching a Steam Deck OLED in her clearly-too-small-for-it hands. Perhaps.
It works, is the main thing. And works well – remarkably well, actually, considering not just the previous denial and 11th hour U-turn, but the game’s high PC system requirements and at least partially mandatory ray tracing. This does come at the cost of a severely stripped-down quality settings menu, and you’ll still need to sign into a Ubisoft Connect account even if you own Shadows on Steam, but there’s no doubt that its Steam Deck Verified status is deserved.
The villagers of Wyndham are miserable. Stuck in a military cordon with little to do except look up at the exploded power plant that put them there, escape made even less feasible by the bandits and forest cultists on the other side, even the stiffest upper lips are starting to sag. One such fed-up chappie moans that it’s so bad, he’d rather be back in Swindon.
First off, way to disrespect our towering cultural contributions, philistine. He’d have a much better time if he actually did make a break for those big metal gates to the outside, because while Atomfall is an unexceptional FPS and only a decent survival game, its sheer openness and barrels upon barrels of on-tap intrigue make it worth poking your head in. If, that is, you’re able to go looking for answers unprompted.
Six years ago Nightdive Studios announced they were doing a remaster of sci-fi sequel System Shock 2, which they were calling System Shock 2: Enhanced Edition. But back then they were also busy working on a full-blown remake of the original System Shock. Turns out that first outing to Citadel Station took priority. But now that they’re done with that, the studio has finally revealed a release date for the sequel’s remaster, which they’ve sneakily renamed System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster.
I have recently immersed myself in the pleasantly numb Monster Hunter Wilds loop of smashing Arkvelds to bits. They are, as far as I can tell, the most profitable creature to bully, and I now find myself skinny dipping in the gulf of meaning that lies between the regal, resentful, mildly sassy chains hanging from the creature’s armour set, and the deeply sad and laboured motions with which it swings its bodily inspiration for those chains.
I get the sense that the series’ solution to the uncomfortable implications of its lizard bashing has been, over the last few entries, to evil-fy its creature design to the point where it engenders less easy empathy. There’s a lot of ugly, bugly bastards in Wilds, is what I’m saying. Less deep, sad lizard eyes and more chittering chitin and fuck-you dragon stares. The Arkveld’s design is so threatening that it invites nothing if not: look mate, if four of us manage to take you down with scissors whittled from Original Recipe Chatacabra marrow, it’s your own fault here, ya bish.
In Remedy’s Control spin-off FBC: Firebreak, trios of gadget-toting humans from the Federal Bureau of Control descend to the shapeshifting halls of the Oldest House, fighting eldritch Hiss invaders and possessed objects such as swarming Post-It notes. Where Control cast you as the FBC’s newly appointed director, equipped with executive perks such as telekinesis, the folks who make up the Firebreak initiative are regular office shmucks brandishing comparatively straightforward guns and bludgeoning implements. They’re here years after Control’s denouement to do some clean-up, with the Oldest House still under lockdown while the FBC seek a proper, lasting solution to the Hiss menace.
Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord, is coming up to three years now, but at the Future Games Show this evening, all these years on, developer TaleWorlds Entertainment announced that the strategy action game will be getting its first bit of DLC, War Sails. If you can’t gather from the name, featured image above, and trailer below, the DLC is all about boats; sailing ’em, fighting with ’em, trading with ’em, you name it, these boats can do it (within reason).
Frosthaven – the sequel to Cephalofair’s knock-a-horse-out massive board game – is getting a digital version from Julian Gollop’s Snapshot Games. You can sign up here to its closed beta kicking off March 27th, and it’s coming to Steam early access later this year.
Like predecessor Gloomhaven, Frosthaven is a tactical RPG where you’ll resolve story events and encounters between dungeon delving, retiring old characters and unlocking new classes as you progress. New to Frosthaven is a fleshed-out management game that has you build up and protect an outpost, while dealing with harsh seasons and invaders.
InZOI kind of looks like an exercise in pushing the uncanny valley to me, something I’d wholeheartedly respect if that were definitely the intention behind the game, but I have a hunch that it really is just meant to be The Sims, but if it looked like real life. Whether that’s enough to win over Sims lovers or not, I’m not sure, its early access release isn’t until next week so we’ll all know more then. However! You do now have the opportunity to try and test the limits of its character creator, as like a few games have done in recent years, its Create a Zoi feature is available to download as its own thing… if you’re happy to do a bit of homework.
