Magicraft launched at the beginning of this month, and it’s absolutely amazing. You play as a nerd who gets sucked into another world while in the toilet, and then you pull a legendary wand out of the floor and away you go. It’s hardly a new story, but it’s not about the story.
In fact, Magicraft almost isn’t even about the gameplay. It’s basically a twin-stick shooter in a roguelike fashion. You gain new spells and wands as you go, and also gain modifiers to those spells. Plus, wands can have different mana totals and regen rates as well as other passives too.
You can, for example, find a magical snake spell that seeks out enemies and deals a few hits of minor damage. This isn’t bad on its own, but if you throw in a spell that allows it to poison enemies, then one that lets it split into three once the spell ends, and then a modifier that makes it more aggressively seek enemies out, then suddenly you have a really potent spell.
You can unlock permanent upgrades too, like gaining more wand slots. While you could theoretically swap between different wands for different situations, there are also modifiers that let your wands fire on their own, or have a chance of casting spells when you use other wands.
Add all this together and you’ve got a really satisfying challenge that can be bashed against some of the most absurd-looking magic spells you’ve ever seen in games. There’s also a Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure reference in one of the character skins which is great.
Plus, Magicraft is only in Early Access at the moment, which means that it’s only going to get better and gain more levels, more difficulties to enjoy, and probably more spells and enemies too. Please check this game out, it’s absolutely amazing.
Fire Emblem really changed the way tactics games could be. Suddenly you could care about your units, and also sometimes date them even if you were their teacher, and it’s really suspicious, and you definitely shouldn’t. It also allowed anime to be a viable strategy for, well, strategy games. Symphony of War: The Nephilim Saga is definitely of the same ilk as Fire Emblem, but what makes it great is actually the differences.
The main difference is that you’re not controlling individual units, but small armies. Each piece you’ll be moving around the map is actually a collection of units that you can change up as you want. This allows you to put a bunch of heavily armoured soldiers out front, a few strong attackers in the middle row, and then a cleric or some archers on the back.
It also means you can build a unit full of just archers, or one that’s designed to just sit out front and eat damage because it’s all armour and healers. You can further customise your platoons by giving them different artefacts to change how they play, and you can unlock technology as you go through that’ll give specific unit types more armour, or unlock new weapon types.
Outside of that, the combat also feels a bit different because fights tend to go on a lot longer. You can’t assume that battles will be over in a fight or two, because if they’ve got enough healers or strong enough units, then it could be a multi-turn affair. It’s a really interesting twist that makes it feel as though you’ve got more control over each individual fight, and also allows you to prep a bit more between maps.
There’s still all of the interpersonal chatter that make these games so special, and class upgrades too, but the tactical side of things just feels a bit more nuanced. Symphony of War is a stunning game, so check it out if you fancy an anime-infused strategy hit.
Mega Man games aren’t very good these days. Look, it’s just a sad fact of life, like grey hairs, or throwing your back out because you slept funny. Thankfully, indie games are taking the wheel here, and the best of the bunch is the magnificent 30XX. This is actually the second game in the series, with 20XX being the first, but it’s a strict upgrade in every conceivable way.
This game features two playable characters, Ace, a sword-wielding fighter, and Nina, a projectile master. Each character gains different upgrades as they beat bosses, with Ace gaining things like uppercuts and teleports, and Nina being able to change the way her projectiles work, like turning them into mortars, or machine guns.
What’s really fascinating about 30XX though, is that you can either play it as a roguelike or as a more traditional Mega Man game. Being able to choose either permadeath or a more traditional progression takes away a lot of the frustration that people have with roguelikes, and means that people can enjoy the game in different ways.
There’s also a level editor that actually lets you build out not just levels as you want, but full campaigns if you’re feeling really creative. It’s also fully co-operative, and running around with a mate is an absolute joy, because you both end up with different playstyles innately, and you can resurrect each other if one of you falls.
Also, and this can’t be overstated, the music is absolutely sublime. Every single track is an absolute stone-cold banger that’ll stick with you until the day you die. The visual side of things is just as impressive, with the enemy design being wonderful, and the art style of the levels being a joy to behold. 30XX is an absolutely incredible game, so don’t sleep on it.
If you took Uber and fused it with firefighting, you’d get EMBR. That’s basically the premise of the game here, with random schmucks taking up the mantle of firefighting but on call in a world completely overrun with phone-obsessed un-phased people. Your job is to rescue people from the fires that will try and take down different places, and along with spraying water on the fires, you’ll often need to carry or throw your clients to safety.
You also get to do things like try and find piles of money or valuables and take those as a tip, because you work hard and you deserve it. As you run through the levels, you unlock new tools and abilities, and the obstacles you’ll be facing get more complicated too. EMBR does a great job of balancing the innate absurdity of the premise with a scathing look at capitalism and a very fun gameplay loop to make for a really entertaining game.
Fighting fires should be a terrifying affair, but you’ll end up worrying more about whether or not you can line up the people you’re trying to rescue with the crash mat below, or whether or not you’ve found all of the valuables you deserve. Plus, and this is a big thing, EMBR also has co-op.
If you’re the kind of person who enjoys the general chaos of games like Overcooked, then EMBR is a nice iteration on that style of chaotic cooperation. You need to work together more than anything else, but you’ll also find yourselves getting in each other’s ways a lot. It’s just a very silly game and one that hasn’t had the attention it probably deserves. There’s also a free DLC that adds in a new mode, and we love free things almost as much as we love indie games.
In Tekken 8 what are all the confirmed characters? With some 32 characters touching down at launch, the roster in Tekken 8 is looking appropriately beefy as it boasts a broad mixture of fighters old and new. So with that in mind, join us as we take a dive into Tekken 8 and all the confirmed characters, shedding a light on debuting fighters and old hands alike.
All Confirmed Characters in Tekken 8
Alisa Bosconovitch
Making her third entry in the Tekken franchise, beloved fighter Alisa Bosconovitch is an android that was captured by Lee Chaolan and was subsequently readjusted to fight alongside Lars Alexandersson and his allies against the Mishima Zaibatsu and the G Corporation. With an array of unorthodox moves (including detaching her limbs mid-fight) which blend into a dancing influenced fighting style, Alisa is one of the most unique fighters on the Tekken 8 roster.
Asuka Kazama
A mainstay of the Tekken roster since Tekken 5, Asuka Kazama leverages the fighting style of her surname, blitzing enemies in a storm of roundhouse kicks, rapid punches and aikido style throws. Ever since Asuka’s debut in Tekken 5, her fighting style has been likened to that of Tekken 2’s Jun Kazama.
Azucena
One of the strongest counter-fighters to ever grace a Tekken roster, well-known ‘Peruvian Coffee Queen’ Azucena employs a hybrid MMA powerful fighting style that is predicated on swift counters and lightning quick follow-up strikes. Certainly, more patient players will find a lot to love about Azucena’s calculating fighting style in her Tekken debut.
Bryan Fury
Tekken’s resident nihilistic kickboxing cyborg returns once again to rain misery down upon his opponents and it’s fair to say that since Tekken 7, our lad Bryan has yet to discover any chill whatsoever. With his devastating single shot power strikes, ridiculous leg range and deep throated, supervillain-like cackling, Bryan Fury’s momentum during any given fight can prove extremely difficult to stop.
Claudio Sefarino
A flamboyant exorcist with charm and style to spare, though Claudio Sefarino is a relatively new addition to the Tekken roster – having only made his debut in Tekken 7 – Claudio’s versatile, yet esoteric fighting style is not to be underestimated.
Devil Jin
Representing the dark side of longtime Tekken protagonist Jin Kazama, Devil Jin’s fighting style is actually a throwback to Jin’s fighting style in the earlier Tekken games where it was largely inspired by the Mishima style used by Heihachi and Kazuya. Oh and he can also shoot devil lasers out of his third eye too. So that’s nice.
Dragunov
Embroiled in a seemingly life-long rivalry with Raven, Dragunov is a savage, former Spetsnaz commando that combines a varied arsenal of strikes together with bone-breaking Sambo grappling credentials to make a truly dangerous fighter. In the hands of an expert player, Dragunov can prove to be almost insurmountable.
Feng Wei
A staunch advocate of traditional Chinese martial arts, the pitiless Feng Wei is still very much a problem for every other fighter on the roster. This is due in no small part to his extremely tight and quick strikes which allow him to produce some jaw-dropping and confidence sapping juggle combos.
Hwoarang
Ever since his debut in Tekken 3, Taekwondo expert Hwoarang has presented a problem to both those players who take control of him and also those who end up being his opponents. Largely, this is due to Hworang’s slightly awkward and unpredictable stance changes and kicking combos that in the right hands can fluster even the most masterful of players. For better or worse, I can report that Hworang is as much a pain in the posterior now as he ever was.
Jack-8
Though this is the eighth iteration of the Jack combat robot that made its series debut in the very first Tekken game nearly 30 years ago, it’s fair to say that Jack-8 hasn’t really changed too much from its first iteration. A purveyor of slow, but hugely damaging strikes, Jack-8 offers few surprises in the series’ latest outing.
Jin Kazama
With Jin Kazama now fully mastering a mixture of both Mishima and Kazama fighting styles, Tekken 8 shows Jin as a fighter at the height of his powers, providing players with an immensely versatile and swift combatant that both newcomers and veterans alike will gravitate to. Naturally, Jin remains hellbent on destroying the Mishima Zaibatsu, the G corporation and generally annihilating anything and anyone to do with the Mishima family.
Jun Kazama
Mother to Jin Kazama and not seen since Tekken 2 and the Tekken Tag Tournament games, Jun Kazama makes her return to Tekken 8 in eye-opening fashion. Not only has she doubled down on her traditional Kazama martial arts (which takes generous influences from Jiu-jitsu, Aikido and more), but so too has Jun gained a range of supernatural abilities which serve to round out her impressive fighting style yet further still.
Kazuya Mishima
Tekken’s longest-running and most consistently evil villain, Kazuya Mishima has leveraged the power of his G-Corporation to make him more powerful than ever before, making him Tekken 8’s main antagonist into the bargain. Very much sticking to traditional Mishima style martial arts, Kazuya’s Hellsweeps, charging uppercuts and speedy punching combos are still as dangerous now as they were when he started doing them decades ago.
King
Tekken’s pro-wrestling legend returns once more and for those players who adore King’s face-destroying wrestling moves, complex chain throws, dropkicks and more, they won’t be disappointed with the level of violence that this grizzled ring veteran character can put out. It’s also worth noting that this King is actually the second fighter to wear the famous King mask and has done so since Tekken 3.
Kuma
A massive, overpowering bear with a soft spot for Panda, Kuma’s seemingly unwieldy size belies a monstrous fighter that possesses surprisingly agility and game-changing strength. Just don’t tell him another bear is giving Panda the eyes or, naturally, there will be trouble.
Lars Alexandersson
Determined to lay waste to both Heihachi and Kazuya Mishima, Lars Alexandersson still remains one of the most tactile scrappers on the Tekken roster. Capable of mixing up singular power strikes, with sophisticated grapples and rage-inducing juggle combos, Lars Alexandersson still remains the choice of Tekken veterans everywhere and that doesn’t look to change for Tekken 8.
Lee Chaolan
With his snapping kicks and blazingly fast hand speed, Lee Chaolan’s veneer as an immature, millionaire playboy is one that is soon shattered when he is underestimated. A roundly accessible fighter that is ideal for less tenured Tekken players to get grips with, Lee Chaolan remains a thorn in the side of both Heihachi and Kazuya Mishima as he looks to aid Lars and Jin in eradicating both of the Mishimas from the face of the Earth.
Leo
A masterful practitioner of Baji Quan, Leo’s penchant for dropping hugely damaging elbow strikes into the faces of their opponents is equalled only by the speed in which they deliver them. Fast, surprisingly powerful and nimble enough to get in and out of attacking range at a moment’s notice, Leo is one of the most broadly talented fighters on the Tekken 8 roster.
Leroy Smith
An aficionado of Wing Chun, Leroy Smith is already something of a beloved character despite only making his debut as a DLC fighter in Tekken 7. Using his swift and powerful Wing Chun technique to destroy the gangs which plague his home of New York City, Leroy Smith is on a mission to eliminate the Mishima Zaibatsu that he blames for the rise of crime in his home city.
Lili
Equal parts arrogant, entitled and talented, the aristocratic Lili is an acrobatic fighter who has essentially weaponised ballet as a fighting style, making her a compelling pick for fighters of all skill levels.
Ling Xiaoyu
Another awkward fighter that can alternate stances and attack from different levels at any given time, in the right hands Ling Xiayou can be a truly frustrating fighter to face, thanks to her unorthodox movement that sees her able to frequently move around the sides and rear of her opponents when they least expect.
Marshall Law
Another grassroots fighter that made his debut with the very first game in the series, Marshall Law players know exactly what they’re getting with this lightning fast Jeet Kune Do master and thankfully, little has changed in Tekken 8. Boasting an esoteric array of short strikes, long spearing thrust kicks, acrobatic flips and tremendous juggling ability, Marshall Law maintains his place on the Tekken roster as one of its most well-rounded combatants.
Nina Williams
The Irish striking and grappling machine that is known as Nina Williams is very much on top form in Tekken 8 as she finds herself in command of the G-Corporation’s forces. A strong fighter at both mid and close range, Tekken fans who have used Nina as their main character since the very first game will discover that she’s more deadly in Tekken 8 than ever before.
Panda
Boasting the same fighting style and sharing many of the same moves as Kuma, Panda is a good choice for beginners looking to get to grips with a range of simple, yet highly damaging combos. Though Panda’s normally a chill creature, she just can’t stand overly amorous bears. Which is, you know, fair.
Paul Phoenix
One of the founding fathers of Tekken and a fighter that has been present since its very inception back in 1994, Paul Phoenix still presents a deadly threat thanks to his devastating hybrid of Judo techniques and power strikes. Don’t let his eccentric and occasionally goofy facade fool you – Paul remains one of the most devastating fighters on the Tekken 8 roster.
Raven
If Ninjutsu techniques don’t have a place in the King of the Iron Fist Tournament nobody told Raven. With a fighting style predicated on airborne attacks and with ungodly juggling ability, there’s a reason why many expert and professional players pick Raven as their fighter – and that doesn’t look to change very much for Tekken 8.
Reina
One of Tekken 8’s entirely new fighters and a noted student of the Mishima Polytechnical School, Reina’s Taido influenced fighting style is all about inflicting the most damage possible and often with the least grace. The end result then, is that Reina can often be seen employing gouges, knife-handed chops to the throat, eye-rakes and more in her pursuit of victory at any cost.
Shaheen
Embracing a fighting style which brings together a variety of military combat disciplines, Shaheen’s broad mix of punches, kicks, knee strikes, throws and sliding attacks all add up to make him a decently rounded fighter that anybody can play.
Steve Fox
With his trademark duck and weave evasions that neatly supplement his flawless boxing technique, British pugilist Steve Fox can be extremely difficult to hit and can string together some truly murderous combinations in return. The downside to Steve however and one that makes him largely exclusive to more experienced Tekken players, is that without any means to strike other than his fists (and the odd poorly executed kick) together with his reliance on weaving to avoid incoming strikes, he has quite the learning curve attached to him if wannabe brawlers want to get the most from his creative boxing style.
Victor Chevalier
Tekken 8’s suave Victor Chevalier, who himself makes his debut in the series latest instalment (and voiced by charismatic French actor Vincent Cassel), is quite the innovator of violence. Capable of outputting quite the kaleidoscope of mayhem, Victor can use everything from knives, guns and special secret agent armaments to bring his opponent down at both mid and long range with ease.
Yoshimitsu
Arguably a defining member of the Tekken roster since the series inception in 1994, Yoshimitsu’s downright bizarre, though nonetheless effective fighting style remains very much in place for his Tekken 8 appearance. This means players can expect everything from barrelling leaps that take him across the screen, to deadly sword strikes, teleportations and so much more besides. Even on the Tekken 8 roster, there’s still nobody quite like Yoshimitsu.
Zafina
A mysterious seer that originally made her debut in Tekken 6, Zafina is an adherent to a range of ancient assassination styles that allow her to vary the style of her attacks greatly, making her extremely difficult to pin down and predict as a result.
Even though 2023 has put out some truly excellent video game efforts, 2024 is somehow shaping up to be even better still. From Dragon’s Dogma 2 to Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2, here are the top upcoming games in 2024 to keep on your radar.
Dragon’s Dogma 2
Easily one of the most anticipated titles of 2024, Dragon’s Dogma 2 looks set to be every bit the full-blooded sequel to Dragon’s Dogma that action RPG fans have long craved. An epic, third-person RPG with ample sweep and scope, Dragon’s Dogma 2 builds upon its predecessor by not only bringing back the Pawn system and a range of new vocations, but now players will have the opportunity to take their party of heroes and tangle with towering titans, soaring giant eagles and so much more besides.
Powered by the latest iteration of Capcom’s RE Engine, Dragon’s Dogma 2 also stands a very good chance of being one of the most technically ambitious games of 2024 as well.
Mechanically speaking, though Final Fantasy VII Rebirth hews close to its predecessor, that is pretty much where the similarities end. With the metropolis of Midgar now in the rear view mirror, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth greatly expands its ambitions to the horizons, allowing players to take Cloud, Tifa, Barrett and others into a sprawling overworld as they continue on their heroic journey to dismantle Shinra and save the planet.
With upgraded visuals and the inclusion of the Synergized combat mechanics seen in the Integrade DLC, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth looks set to thrill both Final Fantasy and genre fans alike as it enables players to ride Chocobos, indulge themselves at the infamous Golden Saucer and, finally, meet fan favourite character, Vincent Valentine. You’ll struggle to find a more anticipated sequel in 2024.
Helldivers 2
Marking a departure from the top-down, alien-blasting efforts of its 2015 predecessor, Helldivers 2 instead transplants the action into a third-person, over the shoulder perspective. Make no mistake though, while the perspective may have changed, Helldivers 2 has lost none of the satirical charm or the massive arsenal that so well defined the first Helldivers. As such, players can fully expect to hop into massive mechs, unleash aerial bombardments, fire huge railguns and so much more besides as they attempt to restore ‘liberty’ and ‘democracy’ to the furthest reaches of space.
More than that, Helldivers 2 looks set reignite its own particularly chaotic brand of co-op, alien shooting shenanigans for all new generation of gamers and that fact alone puts it on course to be one of 2024’s most anticipated games. After all, who doesn’t enjoy being teamkilled by your ‘best’ friend after they land a drop ship on your noggin during a particularly challenging boss fight, eh?
Imagine one of the best Metroidvania games ever made was to get a follow up and then, well, imagine no more, because that’s exactly what’s going to happen when Hollow Knight: Silksong releases sometime next year.
Unfurling a vast and opulent underground kingdom in front of the player that is quite unlike any other, Hollow Knight: Silksong soars past its beloved predecessor with more than 150 new creatures to tangle with, reworked crafting systems and some absolutely gorgeous visuals that once again reaffirm the fact that developer Team Cherry is absolutely at the top of its game. Metroidvania titles likely won’t get any better than this in 2024.
Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth
When Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth releases in January 2024, it’ll herald a great many things. Not only will it seemingly bring the story of longtime series protagonist Kazuma Kiryu to a close, but it’ll also signal the debut of the single largest entry that the Like A Dragon series has seen to date.
Perhaps there is no better example of Infinite Wealth’s massive scope than the fact that it plays host to a story that spans from Japan all the way to Hawaii, a first for the series. Beyond its sizable scope, Infinite Wealth doesn’t just bring back the JRPG turn-based combat of the previous game (though Kiryu hilariously can ‘break’ the turn-based system and fight in real-time – he’s just that hard), but it also introduces a vast range of minigames, one of which is essentially Like A Dragon’s take on Animal Crossing.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl
Seemingly in development for around 1,000 years and with its Ukrainian studio suffering additional delays as a result of the ongoing conflict, the fact that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl is going to make a 2024 release at all is a miracle in and of itself. By all accounts too, Heart of Chornobyl is shaping up to be a barnstorming open-world survival horror offering, with a range of complex life simulating systems, an epic storyline, some cracking gunplay and some truly next generation visuals to boot.
With a sprawling 64-km² radioactive zone to explore, Heart of Chornobyl is looking like the spectacle-stuffed and utterly terrifying S.T.A.L.K.E.R sequel that we’ve always wanted.
Representing a perfect match for Ubisoft’s well-loved open-world template, Star Wars: Outlaws unfurls its narrative between the events of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, putting players in the well-worn boots of one Kay Vess, a scoundrel of the Outer Rim who together with her partner Nix, are set to pull off one of the biggest heists that the galaxy has ever seen.
Very much a story driven, third-person open-world Star Wars offering, Outlaws meaningfully separates itself from both Ubisoft’s previous efforts and other Star Wars games thanks to its swashbuckling approach to action which sees players doing everything from taking on bounties, exploring planets, riding speeders and flying deadly intergalactic fighter craft. With no shortage of humour, action and epic spectacle, Star Wars: Outlaws is looking like it’ll very much do justice to its licence – to the delight of Star Wars fans everywhere.
Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League
Even though Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League isn’t the direct continuation to Batman Arkham Knight that many players had originally hoped for, the latest superhero offering from Rocksteady Studios nonetheless has intrigued more and more with every new piece of media that has been released. A squad-based team shooter (of all things) set in a warped take on the DC Comics universe where the Justice League has been corrupted and only the titular group of baddies can win the day, Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League asks players to do pretty much what it says on the tin.
With an emphasis on the sort of high-speed, acrobatic open world exploration that would make Peter Parker sit up and take notice, coupled with a tandem combat system that requires players to fulfil roles of tanking, damage dealing and support, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is one of the most antipated comic book adaptations in quite some time.
Emblematic of the apex of a fighting series that has gone from strength to strength, Tekken 8 very much represents Bandai Namco’s legendary franchise operating at the height of its powers. In every way that a sequel can be, Tekken 8 is overwhelmingly superior to every entry in the series that has come before it.
With a burgeoning cast of some 32 different fighters, an overhauled cinematic story campaign, a newfound emphasis on destructible stages and the most technically accomplished visuals seen in a fighting game to date, Tekken 8 is looking like a resoundingly obvious candidate for best fighting game of 2024 already.
After seemingly being stuck in development hell for far too long, it finally looks like that talented developer The Chinese Room will be the studio that finally delivers Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 to thirsting gamers late in 2024. Now empowered by Unreal Engine 5, Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 is a first-person, non-linear action RPG that puts you in the boots (well, fangs) of an elder vampire looking to establish the order of one of the main vampire clans above any other.
With the titular Masquerade being ever present, where vampires must conceal their savage natures by ensuring that their supernatural activities are never seen by regular humans, Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 is shaping up to be the sort of sophisticated, non-linear vampiric odyssey that fans of both the source material and genre are sure to be enraptured with.
2023 has without a doubt produced a staggering wealth of absolute gaming bangers, meaning that trying to pick out something resembling a definitive list of the best games of 2023 is a little more difficult than it otherwise would have been. Undaunted however, we have nonetheless forged ahead and done just that, so without further ado, here are our picks for the best games of 2023.
Alan Wake 2
With some 13 years and change in the books since the original Alan Wake released, it was honestly a surprise when it was announced that Alan Wake 2 even existed. Initial surprises aside, Alan Wake 2 quickly established itself as one of the very best games of 2023 thanks in no small part to its terrifying survival horror gameplay, cutting edge path-traced visuals on PC and a narrative that oscillates frequently between the grim and the downright bizarre. Simultaneously the best and most outlandish offering that developer Remedy Entertainment has ever crafted, you soon realise that attempting to wrest your eyes from the mad spectacle of Alan Wake 2 is nothing less than blissfully futile.
Another sequel that felt like it would never materialise – such is the vast gulf of the 23 odd years that exists between Baldur’s Gate 3 and Baldur’s Gate 2: Shadows of Amn – Larian Studios’ latest has nonetheless utterly redefined the common notion of what an RPG can be. A massively sprawling genre effort in which player agency and non-linear narrative progression sit at the forefront of its effortlessly engaging experience, Baldur’s Gate 3 has players controlling a ragtag group of adventurers as they seek to vanquish ancient evil all the while attempting to maintain their soul in the process. Opulent, sophisticated and boasting a breathtaking fantasy realm generously stuffed with interesting characters and stories that can be shaped however you please, Baldur’s Gate 3 makes a compelling argument for not just being Game of the Year, but Game of the Decade, too.
Dead Space
EA’s full-blooded remake of its seminal late 2000s survival horror Dead Space is not only welcome, but alongside Capcom’s Resident Evil 4 Remake presents players with a one-two punch of genre excellence. Whisking players onto the decks of interstellar craft the USG Ishimura, players must investigate the mystery behind the ship’s disappearance, only to stumble into a waking nightmare of alien slaughter and murder that must be escaped. Gorgeously realised, relentlessly hyper-violent and with enough jump scares to send Jason Vorhees back leaping into the depths of Crystal Lake, EA’s Dead Space remake is the perfect way for both new and old players alike to experience what EA and Visceral Games created all those years ago.
Final Fantasy XVI
Representing an almost complete antithesis to the much more light-hearted and open-world driven shenanigans of Final Fantasy XV, Final Fantasy XVI instead whisked players off into a relatively linear, dark fantasy fable filled with enough violence, tragedy and swearing to make HBO blush. Though calling it Final Fantasy by way of Game of Thrones is somewhat reductive, Final Fantasy XVI remains a JRPG effort that nonetheless soars on account of its screen-filling bosses, epic encounters, superb voice acting and routinely jaw-dropping audio-visual presentation.
Hogwarts Legacy
It’s certainly fair to say that outside of its dalliances with the LEGO brand, Harry Potter games generally haven’t been very good. At all. Thankfully, that unfortunate streak came to an end this year with the release of Hogwarts Legacy, a third-person action RPG with sky-high production values that gloriously evoked the wonder and charm of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Encompassing a prequel storyline that unfolds during the 1800s, Hogwarts Legacy takes players back to a much earlier era, where dark wizards once more threaten to destroy the world of Muggles and reign supreme. Dripping absolute reverence to its big-screen source material and allowing would-be wizards choose their wizarding house from the start, Hogwarts Legacy not only does tremendous justice to the Harry Potter movies and lore, but so too does it craft a ruthlessly compelling adventure that players, Potter fans or not, have enjoyed the world over.
A larger, more flamboyant and yet more thoughtful sequel that unites Peter Parker and Miles Morales against a common enemy, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 ticks all of the expected bingo boxes one would expect from such a high budget follow-up and yet, it’s really in the little things that Insomniac’s superhero sequel truly soars. Chiefly, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 excels because it recognises that your friendly neighbourhood Spider-Men are more than just the sum of their big, bombastic battles, but rather are defined by the good deeds they do for both everyday folk and the friends that have come into their lives. An engrossing superhero team-up for the ages that boasts real heart, a thunderous story and the most detailed take on New York City to date, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 has set an impossibly high bar for other superhero video games to beat.
Resident Evil 4
Among some groups of Resident Evil purists and crusty old fans of the survival horror genre in general, the idea of remaking something so precious as Resident Evil 4 felt a touch gratuitous and that Capcom would be better served to simply leave the 2005 classic alone. Thankfully, it’s clear that Capcom didn’t listen (or didn’t care) to such musings and in doing so have given players not just one of the best remakes of all-time, but one of the best survival horror games of recent years too. A pitch-perfect remake that deftly maintains the essence of its legendary origins all the while leveraging contemporary game design and technology to make it even better still (including a full rework of the infamously QTE-heavy Krauser boss battle), Capcom’s Resident Evil 4 Remake is as essential as it gets for both Resident Evil and genre fans alike.
In a year awash with licensed titles, sequels and remakes, the presence of JRPG Sea of Stars is quite the refreshing affair. Much more than just an effective palette cleanser for triple A malaise, Sea of Stars is a turn-based JRPG with an eye on the classics of the past. From the developers of 2018’s indie darling The Messenger, Sea of Stars puts players in the shoes of two siblings that must marshal their lunar and solar powers to defeat a nefarious alchemist known as The Fleshmancer. Rife with the charm of JRPG titles from the 16-bit and 32-bit eras, Sea of Stars is a delightful and boundlessly charming love letter to those earlier times and one that clearly shows there is so much life yet in the traditional JRPG formula.
Street Fighter 6
Though the Street Fighter franchise is rapidly coming up on its 40th(!) anniversary, Street Fighter 6 truly shows just how well Capcom’s iconic fighting franchise has matured. Not only does Street Fighter 6 weave fighters both and new into its tapestry of skilful fisticuffs, but so too does it expand upon its classic blueprint with a Like A Dragon style, roaming action RPG scenario and Fighting Ground, an evolved set of traditional modes which allows players to both compete against one another alongside a vast array of different CPU opponents to improve their game. Throw in some eye-searing visuals, the new Drive Gauge system which promotes more tactical play and a trio of different control systems to aid series newcomers and stalwarts alike, it becomes difficult to argue against Street Fighter 6 as the best fighting game money can buy right now.
Building upon its GOTY winning predecessor in all sorts of meaningful ways, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is far from just a straight continuation of Nintendo’s flirtation with open-world game design. With its neat array of physics systems that sit atop a world stuffed with all manner of enticing secrets in every nook and cranny of its creation, Tears of the Kingdom is that rare sort of offering that actively rewards curiosity and experimentation, as players balance delving into dungeons and tackling towering bosses with creating all manner of improbable contraptions to plunder the world of its hidden secrets. To say there is no more essential title for Nintendo Switch owners than The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom sounds like mere hyperbole. It’s not. This is a seminal action adventure offering quite unlike any other that should be experienced without delay.
With 2023 swiftly coming to a close, a quick look back at the twelve months behind us shows a year generously littered with jaw-dropping moments and fist-pumping spectacle. Given the broad swathe of gaming goodness that we’ve all been privy to, here are ten of our best gaming moments in 2023.
Oh, and as a gentle reminder – here be spoilers – so please proceed accordingly.
Taking Your First Steps Into Hogwarts In Hogwarts Legacy
With the Harry Potter movies ingraining its wizarding world into the minds of many young and older folk alike over the last twenty years or so, Hogwarts Legacy was tasked with replicating that most evocative of settings in the sort of highly detailed fidelity that Potter fans would expect. Managing to do just that, the first few steps into not just Hogwarts itself but the surrounding areas of Hogsmeade and beyond, absolutely capture the grandeur of the films with aplomb, thanks to a whole heap of precision detail that brings this digital recreation of Hogwarts to life.
If you’re a fan of either the Harry Potter movies or books, walking into Hogwarts in Hogwarts Legacy is a breathtaking experience to say the least and will likely remain unequalled for quite some time.
Realising You Can Talk To Animals In Baldur’s Gate 3
A social calendar destroying RPG with depth and sophistication to spare, the sheer breadth of shenanigans that you can get up to in Baldur’s Gate 3 is dizzying to say the least. One of the most notable activities that you can get up to in Baldur’s Gate 3 though, is that via various arcane means, you can actually engage in conversation with all manner of different animals.
As you might expect, the results are both varied and hilarious, as you end up chewing the fat with loyal doggos, unhinged street cats and more besides. Perhaps the best thing about this mechanic though, is that not every animal you speak to is necessarily that switched on and so you can quite easily end up in a dialogue that largely consists of feral grunts and instinctual hang ups, totally changing your approach as a result.
The Return Of Suplexes In Resident Evil 4 Remake
Despite the fact that Resident Evil 4 was supposed to be a super serious and po-faced survival horror affair by and large, the fact that you could bust out suplexes like Kurt Angle on your stunned enemies all the way back in 2005 was arguably a defining trait of that original release.
Fast forward some eighteen years and imagine my relief and joy to discover that in Resident Evil 4 Remake you can still cap someone in the knee, wheel around behind them and then hoist them backwards up in the air before dropping them back down to Terra Firma and shattering their skull like an exploding melon. Oh Resident Evil 4 suplexes, how I have missed thee.
Omni-Man’s Television Show Accurate Fatality In Mortal Kombat 1
Continuing Mortal Kombat’s long and proud tradition of introducing celebrity characters as downloadable content, Mortal Kombat 1 has somewhat managed to outdo itself with its presentation of Omni-Man, the brutal Viltrumite that serves as the primary antagonist of Robert Kirkman’s superb Invincible comic and Amazon Prime television show.
Specifically, Omni-Man’s final episode horrific attack on his son Mark is recreated in its full bloody glory here, with the vicious Viltrumite’s fatality being that he holds up the prone body of his hapless opponent as a subway train crashes through them both, leaving Omni-Man’s opponent missing just about everything from the neck down and utterly eviscerating everybody inside the subway train at breakneck speed in the process. It’s simultaneously one of the best and most gruesomely over-the-top fatalities that the Mortal Kombat franchise has ever seen.
Given that decades have passed since the last decent RoboCop game, it’s fair to say that AA studio Teyon had its work cut out, but alas, RoboCop: Rogue City’s first ten minutes absolutely proved the doubters wrong and then some.
Quite simply, this game is weapons grade catnip for RoboCop fans, as you find yourself stomping through a building, blasting punks to pieces through RoboCop’s iconic greenscale UI, chokeslamming them into (and often through) walls and all the while a rendition of Basil Poledouris’ score soars to an epic crescendo in the background. RoboCop: Rogue City makes you feel exactly like RoboCop and sometimes that’s just what you need from a video game.
Beating A Zombie To (Un)Death With Their Own Arms In Arizona Sunshine 2
Essentially Dead Island in VR with a dash of Bandai Namco’s long-forgotten actioner Dead To Rights, Arizona Sunshine 2 is a first-person shooter that prides itself not just on the amount physical destruction you can inflict on your undead foes, but also the creative ways that you can dispatch them.
Case in point – you can hack off the arm of an incoming zombie, pick up that arm and then proceed to bash in the noggin of the face-muncher coming up behind them. It’s unabashedly great fun, not least because it provides a lot more creative latitude for mashing zombies than efforts like this normally provide.
Arguably the highlight in a game that overflows with them, Alan Wake 2’s ‘We Sing’ Initiation sequence is unlike anything I have ever seen and is a gaming moment which bears the oddball signature of developer Remedy through and through. As Alan makes his way through the Dark Place and into what looks like a television studio, he finds his trek through this ethereal place interrupted by a thunderously live action, 20 minute long sequence in which the cast of the game perform a cool jig to ‘The Herald of Darkness’, a track that was written and largely performed by The Old Gods of Asgard – Remedy’s favourite fictional band that is actually the alter-ego of Finnish rock band Poets of the Fall.
It’s a gloriously wacky and creatively brave scenario to say the least and one that will linger long in the consciousness of players for years.
Even though Splinter Cell: Blacklist is well over a decade old at this point (oh, how time flies), it would seem that the team behind Assassin’s Creed Mirage hasn’t forgotten about Samuel Fisher and his slick murder skills. This is because main protagonist Basim can actually use the Animus itself to slow down and glitch the very fabric of time, allowing him to pinpoint multiple targets in advance and then assassinate them all within just a second or two.
While the striking similarity to Sam Fisher’s ‘mark and execute’ mechanics might not be to the taste of Assassin’s Creed purists, watching Basim assassinate multiple foes like greased lightning is still immensely cool all the same and helps to set Assassin’s Creed Mirage apart from its franchise stablemates.
The Neat Bait & Switch Of WWE 2K23’s 2K Showcase Mode
For the longest time the 2K Showcase mode, which represents WWE 2K games attempt at a cinematic single-player campaign, had been somewhat predictable. This was because each 2K Showcase mode in previous WWE 2K games would simply have players reliving the greatest matches and victories of whomever happened to grace the cover of the game at the time. With WWE 2K23 however, developer Visual Concepts decided to change things up a bit.
While the initial announcement that the 2K Showcase mode would centre around perennial superstar John Cena elicited a wave of predictable groans, WWE 2K23 flips the script by having you play as the various opponents that beat John Cena during his storied career, rather than the opposite which had been true for so long with these games. It was a breath of fresh (albeit sweaty) air for a series that was starting to succeed in shaking off its ring rust.
While there’s so much to enjoy about Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, it’s really when you take control of arch-enemy Venom that Insomniac’s latest superhero joint provides players with a truly satisfying gaming moment. Akin to the effect that the symbiote has on its host, taking control of Venom is an intoxicating experience, not least because it feels akin to The Incredible Hulk as you smash enemies into the ceiling and floor, shatter walls and generally rampage across the Big Apple in a fashion that would do the big green guy proud.
Few games make you feel quite as powerful as Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 does when it allows you to control Venom, such is the destructive capabilities that are at your fingertips when the symbiote takes hold. It’s fantastic stuff.
GTFO’s final Rundown has arrived. Titled Rundown 8.0 Duality, this Final Chapter brings the story of GTFO to a close, giving players an endpoint to their delves into The Complex.
It’s out right now – here’s what you can expect to find should you be bold enough to face its myriad challenges.
Rundown 8.0 Duality Features
The Final Chapter of GTFO ties up the story of the four prisoners once and for all, ending their multi-year adventure through the depths of The Complex. In addition, there’s a ton of new changes that the community has been asking for – here’s everything that’s new:
New Rundown
The star of the Final Chapter is the brand new Rundown. This marks the culmination of the GTFO story that players have been experiencing since the Early Access release, and gives a final cap to your journey.
This last chapter brings the number of expeditions to over 80 in total, a meaty sum of challenges to face. It’s more than most can endure – it’s time to separate the wheat from the chaff and test your GTFO skills to the max.
Updated Arsenal
Three new weapons have made their appearance – the Drekker CLR Short Rifle, Bataldo Custom K33 Slug Shotgun, and the Shelling Nano Burst Pistol. You’ll also find other weapons to add to your arsenal – check out the Steam Update post for more information.
New Enemies
Something new stirs in the dark. New creatures lurk in the depths of The Complex, we’ll leave it to you to find out exactly what you’ll be facing down there…
Updated Achievements
57 achievements have been added to Steam, some easy to unlock, some will require you to face down the worst The Complex can throw at you. Only the best, bravest, and most organised will be able to unlock them all.
Updated Matchmaking
Matchmaking has been updated giving players a better experience when putting a team together. The full team requirement has been removed meaning you don’t have to wait for three more prisoners every time (though of course, a full team is usually beneficial when braving the depths). Matchmaking is also now segmented by difficulty, meaning you should be able to find prisoners who are looking to face similar challenges to you.
In addition, some bug fixes have been released and the matchmaking button has been added to the main selection screen, so if you’ve had problems finding a team before – this should be a much smoother and easier process from now on.
Exclusive Completion Helmet
Finally, those who manage to clear Rundown 8.0 will be rewarded with an exclusive completion helmet. The Quantex Forge Red Helmet is yours to claim – if you’re good enough.
Rundown 8.0 Duality Trailer
The launch trailer unveiled at 2023’s The Game Awards can be watched above. Check it out for a taste of what you’ll face and remember – work together, or you’ll die together.
If you’ve been waiting to pick up GTFO, now’s the perfect time. With the Final Chapter in place, you can play through the entire storyline and see the ending to your prisoner’s story. With all previous Rundowns to play through and the terrifying conclusion awaiting you, we definitely recommend heading over to our store where you can get a great deal on GTFO.
A gorgeous real-time strategy effort that unfurls within the Warhammer fantasy universe and specifically, the more recent Age of Sigmar setting, Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin invites players to take charge of one of four very different factions across a series of varied campaign and multiplayer modes. Essentially, if you’ve been looking forward to a decently updated RTS take on fantasy Warhammer, Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin delivers.
Be sure to keep this guide in your favourites as we cover everything you need to know about Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin including the release date, story details, gameplay details, latest trailer, PC specifications and more.
Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin Release Date
Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin was released on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S/X consoles and PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store on November 17, 2023. As of this writing, Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin has not been confirmed for a release on the last generation PlayStation 4, Xbox One or Nintendo Switch consoles.
Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin Gameplay
Eschewing the turn-based gameplay mechanics of recent Warhammer outings, Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin embraces the tenets of the real-time strategy genre to create the most faithful take on the tabletop experience to date. With an emphasis on more smaller unit skirmishes rather than the more drawn out base building you might glimpse in RTS efforts like Age of Empires, Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin instead shares a much more deeper similarity with the Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War games, letting players get down to the business of updating tech trees, gaining new abilities and smashing enemies without bogging them down too much with resource management.
In terms of modes, Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin boasts a multi-faceted single-player campaign, allowing players to embark on a cinematic story which encompasses each of the four factions in turn. Providing further value to the single-player element of the game, Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin also offers a procedurally generated scenario where you tackle enemies across an ever-changing landscape, while a map and unit editor allows you to create your own worlds and paint your own units – all of which can be easily shared with other Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin players.
When it comes to the multiplayer side of things, Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin doesn’t skimp here either, as it offers 2v2 and 1v1 cross platform multiplayer competitive matches, while also permitting players to take on each other with a mixture of CPU and human controlled units.
Factions Guide
Arguably representing the pillars of Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin are the four very different factions that players can take control of. From the staunch Stormcast Eternals to the resolutely nasty Orruk Kruleboyz, here are all of the Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin factions that are available to take charge of on day one.
Disciples Of Tzeentch
Compromising a sizable conclave of murderous, cultish zealots that have a penchant for black magic, forbidden rites and a fanatical devotion to the Changer of Ways, the Disciples of Tzeentch are a walking nightmare that prove to be an almost insurmountable adversary on the battlefield. Consisting of a force that comprises a range of talented, though supremely evil spellcasters, the Disciples of Tzeentch can unleash a terrifying barrage of arcane magic upon their enemies which not only devastate their hapless foes with area of effect damage, but so too can these spellcasters inflict all manner of debuffs on the opposition as well.
Of course, such arcane barrages are merely the prelude to the widespread carnage that the various demons and other such eldritch grotesques can inflict upon their enemies, with the Lord of Change himself able to be summoned to the battlefield to overwhelm everything in his path with ungodly levels of strength and damage.
Nighthaunt
Representing a loosely knit though extremely numerous group of spectres and apparitions that want nothing more than to snuff out life in every corner of existence, the Nighthaunt, with its cadre of various ghostly warriors, undead mages and other such horrors show that they’re very much capable of doing just that. Not only can they navigate the environment faster than any of the other factions, the Nighthaunt can also restore the health of its warriors when they are damaged too, thanks in no small part to the necromancy and arcane bonds that bind them to their undeath.
With the ability to rapidly regenerate its forces, bolster its damage reduction shields and conjure undead captains that can buff units yet further still, the Nighthaunt is a faction that is all about swarming and dominating the enemy as quickly as possible.
Orruk Kruleboyz
Don’t let their ugly looks fool you, the Orruk Kruleboyz are a cunning and ingenious force that view winning by the most dirty and underhanded way possible as a badge of honour. Boasting easily the greatest variance of unit functions of any of the factions in Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin, the Orruk Kruleboyz can deploy stealthy Gutrippaz to murder smaller enemy units all the while crossbow toting soldiers can lay waste to the enemy at range with unerring accuracy.
Beyond that, a talented commander of the Orruk Kruleboyz can also not only deploy monstrous warbeasts to charge through fortified enemy frontlines, but they can crack the whip on their soldiers to bolster their strengths, while sacrificing weaker units to stronger ones can enhance the strength of their most powerful units yet further still.
Stormcast Eternals
The chosen warriors of the God-King Sigmar, the Stormcast Eternals live up to their impressive name as they comprise an army of heavenly warriors that have an eternity of battle experience behind them, making this celestial horde more than capable of responding to any opposing force in comprehensive fashion.
Boasting a balanced mixture of melee and ranged capable soldiers, the Stormcast Eternals excel in maintaining and holding ground, with their expensive units proving adept massively boosting defensive capabilities and damage mitigation abilities, making them a truly difficult adversary to defeat in any given battle. With their shining gold armour, cold eyes and heavily damaging, lightning-imbued attacks, the Stormcast Eternals represent fear incarnate for any force of evil that would ever wish to oppose them.
Where Can I Watch The Latest Trailer?
The latest trailer for Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin is available to watch right now and you can catch it above. Shining on a light on the final announced faction, the Disciples of Tzeentch, at more than six minutes long this latest trailer for Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin goes into significant depth on this group of evil sorcerers and more specifically, the unit types, abilities and skills that give this nefarious faction its own unique identity.
PC System Requirements
With its furious recreation of Warhammer tabletop fantasy battles in a real-time strategy guise that takes in all manner of detailed units and environment types, Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin nonetheless looks set to be eminently playable on just about any PC setup from the last five years or so. To get an idea of how Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin will run on your own PC rig, you can catch the Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin PC system requirements as it currently stands below.
With superb JRPG Tales of Arise now boasting a chunky campaign expansion in the form of Before the Dawn, which releases more than two years after the base game launched in September 2021, it would be totally understandable if you’ve forgotten exactly what transpired prior. For those folks and for others like me with the memory of a goldfish, we’ve got this handy story primer which brings you bang up to date with what transpired in Tales of Arise.
Tales Of Arise – The Story So Far
Beginning in the fantasy realm of Calagia against a backdrop where the technologically advanced world of Rena has enslaved the much less developed world of Dahna, a masked amnesiac Dahnan slave known appropriately as ‘Iron Mask’, finds himself under the employ of the Crimson Crows. A band of resistance fighters that aims to overthrow Balseph, the Renan lord who rules Calagia also free the slaves under his command, together, Iron Mask and the Crimson Crows liberate a Renan Girl called Shionne that Iron Mask finds oddly familiar, but isn’t quite able to place in his memories.
Somewhat tragically, it’s also revealed that Shionne suffers from a curse which harms anybody that makes contact with her. While attempting to escape, it is also discovered that Shionne possesses a Master Core – a vast storage of elemental energy that can be tapped into if it comes into contact with the right individual. Proving that fact, the masked slave conjures a sword wreathed in flame from Shionne’s Master Core and promptly puts it to work to defeat the pursuing Renan squads.
It’s also at this point that we realise that our masked hero has an affliction of his own – namely that he cannot feel pain and as such, is the only individual that can use the flaming sword conjured from Shionne’s Master Core. Using this knowledge, Shionne and the slave make a pact to take down the five Renan Lords and collect the Master Cores they own in the process. After defeating Balseph, the slave remembers that he has a name – Alphen – and after Calaglia has been freed, Shionne, Alphen and the leader of the Crimson Crows, Zephyr, all set out to the realm of Cyslodia. After arriving, Zephyr is immediately nabbed by Law, who not only happens to be his son, but belongs to a group of agents that serve Ganabelt Valkyris, the local lord of Cyslodia.
Though initially sour on his father after what appears to be an extended period of poor relations, Law changes his mind when it becomes clear that his father is facing a public execution and in doing so, decides to aid Shionne and Alphen in rescuing Zephyr. Sadly, Zephyr is killed by Lord Ganabelt himself, sending Law into a rage which results in Shionne, Alphen and new ally Rinwell, a talented Dahnan mage, joining forces with him to kill Lord Ganabelt in turn, thus liberating Cyslodia as a result.
After freeing Cyslodia, our plucky group makes their way to Elde Menancia where its lord, Dohalim il Qaras, takes a progressive view on the struggle between the Renan and Dahnan people by abolishing slavery and allowing the two peoples to peacefully coexist under his watchful eye. It isn’t long however until the party are told by the gravely injured Migal, the leader of an undercover group known as the Golden Dust Cats, that a conspiracy has been put into motion by Kelzalik, the senior aide of Dohalim, to syphon away the astral energy of the Dahnans that live in Elde Menancia.
Aided by the brave Dahnan knight Kisara, who lends her sword to Alphen and friends after her brother Migal passes away, the group put a halt to Kelzalik’s schemes at which point Dohalim promptly sends him into exile. Realising that they both can do more in the wider world beyond the borders of Elde Menancia, both Kisara and Dohalim join the party as they venture deep into the realm of Mahag Saar.
Upon the arrival of the group at Mahag Saar, they soon discover that the Dark Wings, a group of mineral hunters, have displaced the local Lord Almeidrea Kaineris, who has subsequently disappeared. During their search for Almedirea, Shionne reveals to the party that her ultimate goal is to accumulate all of the Master Cores to create ‘Renas Alma’, the ultimate Master Core which will provide Shionne with the power necessary to lift her curse. After learning that Almeidrea has been ensnared by local forces, the group appears at her public execution to not only realise it was a ruse to kill the Dark Wings and extract their astral energy, but also for Rinwell to shockingly realise that Almeidrea was the lord that murdered her parents many years prior.
Newly enraged, the group manages to find their way onto Almeidrea’s battleship and defeat her. Before the killing blow can be landed however, Vholran, the Lord of the realm of Ganath Haros, manifests and instead kills Almeidrea himself and then promptly enters into battle with Alphen. During said scrap, Alphen’s mask is entirely shattered which not only restores his enemy, but so too does it bring back the sense of pain he was lacking before, shocking Alphen and blinding him to the fact that Vholran’s forces have captured Shionne.
After narrowly escaping Vhorlan and his horde, Alphen confesses to the rest of the group that he is from a much earlier time in history, revealing that he was actually involved in secret Renan experiments that unfolded more than three centuries prior. More crucially, Alphen also reveals that in partnership with Shionne’s Renan ancestor, Naori Imeris, he was coerced to play a role in a spirit channelling ceremony using a completed version of the Renas Alma. Tragically, not only was the ceremony a catastrophic failure that caused a massive loss of life, but it’s also made known that Naori was the one responsible for making Alphen wear the mask which served to suppress his pain and memories in the first place. After this, she promptly sends him back to Dahna, locked in a spaceship that preserved his body in cold storage until he was revived just one year before the events of Tales of Arise begin.
With the only course of action being to track down and take out Vholran, the party storm his castle quickly, killing Vholran, rescuing Shionne and gaining possession of all of the Master Cores. Sadly, the party’s victory appears short-lived as an enigmatic figure appears and uses a previously unrevealed sixth Master Core to drain astral energy from the original five Master Cores to fashion the Renas Alma, escaping with both it and Vhloran’s corpse to boot. As time passes and with no new leads as to the missing Master Cores, Shionne, Alphen and the other members of the group devote the following month to aid the seemingly pleasant folks of Ganath Haros in rebuilding their battle-scarred realm. Of course, it isn’t long before things start to head south and soon they discover that a structure is being used by the Renans to drain the entirety of the astral energy possessed by Dahna and redirect it to Lenegis, the moon of Rena.
After preventing the operation of this structure and saving Dahna in the process, the party stumbles upon the spaceship that Alphen originally arrived on three hundred years ago. After restoring the craft and making their way to Lenegis, the group realises that Vholran has not only been resurrected, but so too has the Renas Alma fallen into the clutches of the Helganquill, a Renan predecessor race that intends to use it to repeat the spirit channelling ceremony to suck Dahna completely dry of astral energy. After landing on Lenegis, it is also revealed that the human Renans which exist on Lenegis are actually direct descendants of Dahnans that had been previously captured to take part in the aforementioned ceremony, which if successful, would empower the Great Spirit of Rena with the strength needed to obliterate Dahna completely.
Realising that the only way forward is to vanquish the Great Spirit, the party attacks it directly, destroying both the Great Spirit and its Master Core, allowing the Renas Alma to be safely collected and enabling the party to commence the ritual in order to suppress its powers. Just as the ritual begins however, an enraged Vholran appears and attacks the group, managing to obtain the Renas Alma during the subsequent melee. At this point, Vhloran challenges Alphen to a one on one battle and subsequently loses, but rather than suffer defeat, decides to take his own life by exploding himself – killing him and destroying the Renas Alma in the process.
Becoming increasingly desperate, Shionne begs Alphen to refocus and finish off the Great Spirit, but now Alphen refuses and instead calls upon the Great Spirit of Dahna to fuse with its Renan counterpart, resulting in both worlds becoming one, uniting its people and removing Shionne’s curse into the bargain. With a rather uplifting ending to say the least, Tales of Arise concludes with Shionne and Alphen tying the knot as they reconcile with the rest of the group and begin living in a realm where both Dahnans and Renans now live peacefully side by side.
The best indie games in December don’t even have anything to do with presents, jolly men in red suits, or awkward dinners with family members you’d rather not see. Instead, they involve epic battles, complex stories, and building up a town or two. New games can sometimes chill out a bit at the end of the year, but that doesn’t seem to be the case with 2023.
Because there are so many new games in December on the indie persuasion, we’ve tried to pick out the ones that we think have the highest chance of being incredible. Some of these are in a beloved series, some are from awesome developers, and some just look really cool. So, let’s get stuck in.
SteamWorld has to be one of the most interesting lines of games going. Nearly every game since the original has been in a completely different genre, but all in the same universe. The result is a series that doesn’t even really feel like a series. SteamWorld Build takes the robotic western series into the fantasy town-building genre, and will allow you to try and manage your people’s needs, constantly try and awesome long-lost technology by digging, and defend your mine from pesky critters.
Arizona Sunshine 2 is less about the warm weather and a lot more about killing a lot of zombies in VR. While you can expect more weapons, improved physics, and better graphics than in the first game, the biggest new addition is that there’s a dog now. Expect violence, chaos, lots of zombies and a chance for a lot of fun in co-op as well.
MMOs are generally more fantasy than anything else, but not here. The Day Before is an MMO that puts you into a post-apocalypse open world based on the US East Coast. That’s basically code for: expect zombies, but also sports cars. It’s a really interesting idea that we’re keen to see in action properly when it releases.
If you’re itching for a game that’s like Baldur’s Gate 3, but you’re more into Warhammer 40,000 than any other genre of media, then let us introduce you to Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader. Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader is a CRPG where you start on a huge voidship travelling between different systems. You then get to guide your crew through battles and decisions and decide where your loyalties lie. It comes from the studio that made the most recent Pathfinder games too, so it’s got a good pedigree.
Pioneers of Pagonia lets you try to unite various tribes under your (hopefully) benign rule with loads of different buildings to create, and over 70 different goods to create and trade with. You have to fight off different enemies as you do so, and you can play it forever if you want to, thanks to procedurally generated maps.
Custom Mech Wars is either going to be absolutely absurd and wonderful, or just the first one. From the company that published a lot of the recent Earth Defense Force games, which are stellar, and we won’t hear otherwise, this mech game lets you spend a probably unhealthy amount of time building your own mech suits as you like with loads of different weapons, parts, and paint jobs, and then go out on missions to use them. It’s got co-op for the story mission, and apparently PvP too.
Are you struggling to eke out a win on Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0? Or have you been away from Activision’s battle royale juggernaut for so long that you’re struggling to make any progress whatsoever? Well luckily for you, our super handy Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0 tips and tricks guide will set you on the right path of your next win being a matter of ‘when’, rather than ‘if’. So let’s get started.
Make Sure Your Settings Are Correctly Optimised
Before you even start a match, it’s important that your Warzone 2.0 experience is tailored to provide the best technical experience possible. Though there are a veritable smorgasbord of options and settings to mess about with, you should seek to tailor your settings in order to provide the best sweet spot of the smoothest frame rate, and most responsive experience possible. Though this largely depends on the quality of your PC build, there are some fundamental settings that can be adjusted to improve your experience regardless.
For a start, you should seek to increase your field of view (FOV) from the default 90 value. Though it’s ultimately down to personal preference, cranking that up to around 110 provides a suitably wider perspective that makes you better equipped to detect threats on your periphery. Elsewhere, turning off both world and weapon based motion blur ensures that when you’re traversing the environment at speed, you’re doing so with a resolutely sharper and smoother image, allowing you to pick out targets during movement. Perhaps one of the most crucial settings to get right is not only correctly identifying the level of sensitivity for your mouse or controller, but also ensuring that the ADS sensitivity multiplier is set to around 0.90, as this will provide the optimum level of sensitivity when snapping to scope or sights and attempting to take down distant enemies.
Communication And Good Pinging Is Essential
Though it might seem obvious, I cannot stress enough how crucial good communication is in Warzone 2.0 when you’re part of an active squad. Arguably, a big part of this is not only calling out to your fellow teammates when you spot an enemy or a loadout drop, but making sure you ping both of these as soon as you see them too, since doing so provides broader tactical coverage of the battlefield than a single player would be able to enjoy on their own. See something? Ping it, call it out and the team will be better equipped to deal with the situation. It’s as simple as that.
Don’t Leave Your Team
Again, though this also seems self-explanatory, sticking with your team is essential to success. To be clear, in team-based modes your success will directly correlate to how rigorously you stick with your team, after all having someone to cover your flank and provide a broader surveillance of the battlefield are advantages that you simply wouldn’t have as a lone player. Additionally, if you find yourself particularly flush with resources, such as having surplus armour plates, drop them for your teammates so that everybody can benefit and as a general rule, dividing up cash and ammo during a match on the fly is also a good idea since it’ll keep the team well supplied and in a more robust position as the match reaches the later stages.
Scout Out Your Landing Zone
Knowing exactly where you are going to touch down at the beginning of a match is a crucial factor that will determine the first five minutes that will follow as soon as you land. By looking at the map of the battlefield just after the initial cutscene plays, you should scout out the optimum place to land which takes into account the shrinking radius of the gas circle.
Pointedly, this is something that you’ll get better at as your knowledge of each map improves, since you’ll instinctively know which buildings and areas provide the best places to gather your wits immediately after landing. Likewise, if you’re playing in a squad, wherever you land should be agreed with your fellow players to ensure that you kick off the match in the most coordinated way possible.
Cutting And Re-popping Your Parachute Makes You Reach The Landing Zone Quicker
A weird mechanic that has been around for a while now is the ability to cut your parachute cord, which then results in your falling speed massively increasing, only to then ‘re-pop’ it to allow you to steady your descent (and not crater yourself to boot). When this parachute cutting and re-popping is used frequently in tandem, it essentially allows you to reach your chosen landing area far quicker than other players who simply wait for their parachute to gently drift them there.
Loadouts Are A Must-Have
The overriding benefit of having custom loadouts is that they allow you to immediately slip into a pre-calibrated configuration of equipment and perks that you’ve tailored to your own personal preferences. Though you can nab these for free from the numerous loadout drops that occur around the map, these tend to be heavily fought over and so it’s advisable that you use your cash reserves to instead grab them from the Buy Stations which will be far less hotly contested.
Patience Is Key
Though your overriding instinct will be to open fire at an enemy that you might see at range, it’s good practice to temper this. The rationale for this is simple – if you don’t resist that urge, the chances that you’ll score a knockdown or a kill will be far less than would be possible at a closer distance, meaning that not only would you likely fail to neutralise the threat, but you’ll also alert them (and any nearby foes) to your location in the process. Thus, it makes sense to only open fire on an unaware target when you’re at a comfortable enough range that you’re certain the outcome will be in your favour.
Grab Bounty Contracts Wherever You Find Them
With cash driving the in-game economy of Warzone 2.0, which in turn allows you to purchase much needed supplies and loadouts from Buy Stations, early in a match it’s certainly worth grabbing any contracts whenever you come across them, since each contract provides a welcome boost to your in-game funds.
Though each contract has its own risk/reward ratio depending on the danger involved, the bounty contracts are by far the best ones to scoop up since not only do you get a (smaller) reward if someone else on your team completes one, but so too do they give you essentially free surveillance on an enemy even if you do nothing.
The Gas Mask Is Invaluable In The Late Game
By far one of the most valuable tools you can collect in Warzone 2.0 is the gas mask, not least because of how it can tremendously tip odds in your favour when the gas circle becomes hugely constricted in the late game. At this point, players who don’t have gas masks tend to panic and throw caution to the wind as they rush to keep themselves within the ever encroaching gas circle, leaving themselves vulnerable to a quick kill by anybody enterprising enough to still be using this most valuable of tools. Be warned though, the gas mask has a level of integrity that will decrease not just when you’re using it, but also when it’s stowed away in your inventory too. As such, you’ll want to keep a keen eye on this to ensure that the gas mask has sufficient integrity remaining when you come to use it.
Death Is Not The End
In Warzone 2.0, being dropped in a pool of your own claret isn’t necessarily the end of the road and there are multiple ways for you to get back into the game. Firstly, you can use a self-revive kit to get back into the action quickly – though this will only work if your killer is distracted enough to not notice you crawling away to do this.
Additionally, if you’re part of a team, your teammates will very often buy you back into the game, essentially giving you a second roll of the dice. Finally, even if you’re playing solo, a death in the early to mid stretch of a match will send you to the gulag where, assuming you come out victorious, will result in you being parachuted straight back into the match.
Black Friday, a date eagerly awaited by gamers far and wide, has arrived once again. It’s that time of the year when gaming enthusiasts can rejoice, as the digital landscapes are graced with incredible deals that let you maximize your gaming budget.
As we step into Black Friday 2023, we are poised to deliver an astounding array of gaming delights at discounts not to be missed. Plus, every 48 hours there’ll be a new Star Deal that’ll give you limited time to get the best possible deal on a game.
To help you out, we have pulled together just some of the top publishers and games to check out during Black Friday and most importantly, when you can grab them. Let’s go!
Black Friday kicks off with a bumper crop of discounts from 2K Games on some of their biggest and best games. So if you have been waiting for the right price on the likes of Marvel’s Midnight Suns, WWE 2K23 and LEGO 2K Drive or want to dive into GTA 5 before next year – now is the time to strike.
Purveyors of Indie hits Team 17 are also available from the outset and are bringing top discounts on their entire catalogue including some of their amazing 2023 releases. So if you missed out on DREDGE, Blasphemous 2, The Unliving and more, be sure to check them out now.
THQ Nordic have a ton of amazing games under their wing and you can pick up some amazing savings on them right now in the Black Friday sale. From Jagged Alliance 3 and ELEX II to Expedition Rome and AEW Fight Forever, there has never been a better time to pick them up.
Award-winning developer turned publisher Gearbox has also brought the goods this Black Friday with some of their best-ever discounts on the likes of Remnant 2, Godfall Ultimate Edition and Blanc available now!
The Force is even stronger this Black Friday with awesome savings on all Editions of this definitive LEGO Star Wars adventure. So grab your lightsaber and snatch this intergalactic opportunity at warp speed. May the savings be with you!
It’s a deal so cosy, that even butterflies envy it. Pick up COCOON this Black Friday and get ready to unearth the mysteries and challenges that await in this awesome puzzle adventure that had critics drooling when it was released a few months ago.
Cowabunga, dudes! It’s pizza time with a radical discount on this nostalgia-fueled collection of TMNT goodness. So grab your nunchucks and join the heroes in a half-shell on a totally tubular journey this Black Friday.
Your mission, should you choose to accept it: save the galaxy and save big with Black Friday savings on this cosmic space simulator. Navigate through the stars, build space stations, and make tough decisions to ensure humanity’s survival in this top indie title.
Publishers From 21st November
Bethesda
One of the biggest names in gaming, Bethesda, brings the Black Friday goodies with them when they drop into our sale on the 21st of November. Looking for discounts on Starfield, Elder Scrolls Online: Necrom, Hi-Fi Rush and so much more? Be sure to pop back and check their deals, you won’t regret it.
Capcom
Capcom continues the run of powerhouse publisher deals joining Black Friday from the 21st of November with amazing offers on the likes of Exoprimal, Street Fighter 6, Resident Evil 4 and everything in between. Trust us, these are deals not to be missed.
PlayStation
It wouldn’t be Black Friday without some PlayStation deals so we have you covered there too. So whether it is our best-ever discounts on The Last of Us Part 1, Horizon Zero Dawn or Marvel’s Spider-Man – you will not want to sleep on these discounts.
Games Live From 21st November
Mortal Kombat 1
Black Friday is your portal to a flawless victory with the first major discount on one of 2023’s best fighting games. Discover the reborn Mortal Kombat Universe and in the words of Scorpion, “Get over here and save!”
The Lamplighters League
Sneak, steal, and shoot your way through a world of pulp adventure in this 2023 turn-based strategy action game from Paradox and prepare to illuminate your gaming collection with our Black Friday discount.
Hogwarts Legacy
Wizards and muggles alike can rejoice with amazing Black Friday savings on one of 2023’s biggest and most acclaimed new releases. Get ready to immerse yourself in the wizarding world at a price that’s truly bewitching.
The Front
Gear up with a Black Friday discount on this Early-Access open-world survival shooter. Don’t worry though, it won’t leave your finances in post-apocalyptic ruins as it’s our best-ever price on one of 2023’s surprise hits.
Of course, that’s not all the deals in our Black Friday Sale, there are simply far too many to mention. So head over to our sale page now and browse for the perfect deal for you.
A sweeping cosmic ocean filled with emergent possibilities, for the longest time space has been just been the ‘final frontier’, but so too has it long enjoyed being an enticing frontier for the imagination. Given the vast creative opportunities that exist within space, there has been no shortage of video games that have taken us to the stars, allowing us to experience galaxy spanning adventures on our lonesome without another soul involved.
With that in mind, here are the best solo space games you can get on PC right now.
With a design heritage that spans nearly four decades, Elite Dangerous continues the grand work of Elite, the game that started the whole space exploration shtick all the way back in 1984. Set in a far-flung, spacefaring future, Elite Dangerous is an endlessly immersive first-person space effort which thrusts players out into the sprawling cosmos with just a few credits and a basic ship.
Whether you become a trader, an explorer, a cutthroat mercenary or something entirely different, it’s all up to you as you soar across space, land on planets and alter the very course of a sprawling, nearly infinite galaxy as you seek to define your own destiny.
Everspace 2
Describing Everspace 2 as a space looter shooter would be a little reductive, not least because it does that and so much more. As a privateer thrust into multi-faction war in the far future, Everspace 2 is all about soaring through the cosmos, taking on missions, upgrading your craft and uncovering new planets and locations in the process.
Perhaps the greatest strength of Everspace 2 is that it’s eminently approachable and doesn’t require players to be massive space buffs or simulation savants to get the most from its engaging cosmic combat scenarios. A much more open-world effort than its more linear predecessor, Everspace 2 is a gorgeously accessible take on space combat that everyone should play. It also doesn’t hurt that Everspace 2 is extremely easy on the eyes to boot.
Mass Effect Legendary Edition
Bringing together a decorated trio of epic space bound adventures that arguably defined BioWare in the late 2000s and early 2010s, Mass Effect Legendary Edition is the quintessential solo space RPG extravaganza. Encompassing a veritable bounty of space RPG goodness in which furious third-person combat and non-linear narratives coalesce with engaging and beautifully well-written characters, Mass Effect Legendary Edition drags some of the most revered RPGs of the previous decade kicking and screaming into the current era.
Including Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2, Mass Effect 3 and all of the associated DLC for each title, Mass Effect Legendary Edition also boasts updated visuals across the board too, with 4K textures and support for 120 frames per second (and beyond).
Arguably representing one of the best redemption stories in the entire games industry, it wouldn’t be a lie to say that when No Man’s Sky originally launched back in 2016, it fell someway short of the expectations that had been placed upon it at the time. In the more than seven years that have passed since then however, developer Hello Games has diligently not only patched up and fixed all of the issues that fundamentally affected that game at release, but so too has it also surpassed the original scope for No Man’s Sky.
A massive sandbox space adventure at its core, the seven years of additional (and free) content that has been added to No Man’s Sky since launch has included support for VR, multiplayer functionality, pirates, mechs, extended crafting systems, revamped visuals, reworked space fleets and so much more besides. Generously stuffed with ambition and tantalising player driven exploration, not to mention a talented developer that just doesn’t know when to quit adding worthwhile new content at no extra cost, No Man’s Sky is as essential now as it ever has been.
Out of all the games in this feature, Outer Wilds leverages its cosmic setting in perhaps the most ingenious way. As the latest hire for Outer Wilds Ventures, an emerging interstellar outfit looking to uncover the secrets of a forever changing solar system, you find yourself trapped within a time loop and, as you might expect, you need to find some way to try to break out of it.
With a strong emphasis on exploration, Outer Wilds has you travelling across a hand-crafted solar system that finds itself at odds with time itself as you uncover alien ruins, visit planets just minutes before they are destroyed and discover forgotten settlements that are buried underground in the future. Outer Wilds is also somewhat unique among its peers here in so far as rather than having enemies in the traditional sense that you must destroy, your adversaries here are cataclysmic environment weather and time itself. If you fancy your solo spacing outings doing something completely different from other titles in the genre, Outer Wilds absolutely has you sorted.
Just the very notion of Fallout and The Elder Scrolls developer Bethesda Game Studios translating its sprawling RPG pedigree to a boundlessly creative canvas such as space is an enticing prospect to say the least. Bearing that out, Starfield is a massive, non-linear RPG which combines the same bountiful choice seen in previous Bethesda games with real-time combat and space battles.
Providing a veritable kaleidoscope of creative latitude when it comes to defining your character, Starfield invites you to forge your own path across more than one thousand different planets as you take up for different factions, build your crew, complete missions that span the galaxy all the while trying to solve an ancient mystery that threatens to upend the very nature of existence itself. Put simply, Starfield fulfils that old Star Trek maxim of ‘to seek out new life and new civilizations’ with aplomb and will bring you along for the ride for hundreds of hours.
Directly based on the sci-fi novel of the same name by Polish writer Stanisław Lem, The Invincible is a first-person narrative adventure in which players take up the space boots of Yasna, an extremely smart, and silver-tongued astrobiologist that finds herself on the mysterious planet of Regis III.
What begins as a seemingly tame planetary exploration endeavour soon changes into a harrowing search for Yasna’s missing crew members, as The Invincible draws players into its beautifully crafted alien world, mixing in philosophy, science and emotional character development to create an offering that sets a thoughtful stage for its sophisticated narrative.
The best fantasy city builders let you enjoy the wonders of infrastructure and keeping your citizens happy, while also indulging your more fantastical ideas. This subgenre of city builders has not only gained more popularity in recent years, but also gained some incredible new entries as well. We’re expecting SteamWorld Build to be a great new game to entice players to check out the best fantasy city builders, but that’s not out yet.
One of the coolest things about this genre is the ways in which each game can be completely different. There are very few hard-and-fast rules about what the best fantasy city builders games should be, and that freedom results in a lot of flexibility and fun. So, without any further ado, let’s get into it.
Best Fantasy City Builders
Alright, a little bit more ado. There are actually a lot more options in this genre than the ones we’ve listed, and our not listing them is mainly due to mixed reviews, or that we’ve not had a chance to play them. Right, that’s genuinely all of the ado. Here are the best fantasy city builders.
Against the Storm
Against the Storm is a roguelike fantasy city builder where you have to try and survive in the face of horrifying rains. You’ll need to lead a collection of different species through constant struggles to try and survive and build your cities as you go.
It’s a pretty challenging game, but the roguelike nature makes each session a little bit shorter than some of the other best fantasy city builders. We also really like the aesthetic, and some of the random events that can occur are unlike anything you’ll find in any other game in this genre.
Timberborn
Timberborn is a fantasy city builder where you play as beavers. That would 100% be the end of this entry and we’re confident you’d end up playing it, but because we’re feeling generous today, we’re going to expand on it anyway.
As beavers, you’re rebuilding the world as you see fit because human beings have ceased to be. You get to make huge wooden structures as you go, and fight back against the corruption that human beings caused to restore the land as you do so. It’s wholesome and wonderful and go and get it.
You could argue that this isn’t a fantasy city builder, but you do build up places in it, and it is a fantasy game, so we’d argue that you’d be silly for arguing against its inclusion here. Dragon Quest Builders 2 is set within the epic RPG franchise and lets you go out hunting monsters as a team, and also building up different places to save the people within them.
It’s an epic journey that takes you through multiple biomes in order to save the world, and it’s so full of charm that you’ll have to fight really hard not to enjoy it. Playing it with friends only adds to the experience, so make sure you check it out.
Dark Chronicle
Alright, so Dark Chronicle also bends the rules a bit, but we don’t care. Dark Chronicle is the follow-up to Dark Cloud. Both games have you action-RPGing your way through a story to defeat a great evil, and both games also let you build up cities you save as you go.
The way things work here is that you need to find materials to help build buildings, and then also try to follow strict instructions about the kind of things they should be near to maximise the benefits of each settlement. Doing so will get you more loot, and we love loot. They’re incredible games that are a great way to spend some time.
The Wandering Village
The Wandering Village is a city-building game where your city isn’t on the ground as per the norm, but on the back of an absolutely massive wandering creature. Your aim isn’t just to build a city that thrives there, but one that can take advantage of that unique circumstance to work alongside the great beast.
It’s an intensely cool concept that lends itself well to the genre, and also offers some unique challenges. For example, the biome that you’re in changes as the great Onbu journeys around. This means you have to be a bit more prepared to react to sudden changes, and it’s a lot of fun to manage.
November looks to be another stellar month for indie games. The best November indie games span a wide range of genres once again, although there’s a weird absence after the 17th for some reason. We’re not going to worry about that though, maybe there’s a worldwide nap event going on that nobody has told us about yet.
So, if you’re in the market for something a little bit different, we’ve got a selection of games to choose from that you might have missed without us. Sure, some could say we’re doing a service to you all, but we just see it as spreading the good word of indie games. With that nonsense out of the way, let’s look at the games themselves.
We love a good ARPG and Phantom Blade: Executioners looks to be a very good one. Aside from a stunning visual design, this game looks to have incredibly fast combat with a focus on style as well as substance, and some seriously unhinged enemies. You also get to make choices throughout the story that’ll change how things pan out, giving it better replayability. You can even tweak the way your combos work too, which means you can find your ideal playstyle.
If you like cooking, skateboarding, turn-based battles, and the power of self healing, then Thirsty Suitors is the game for you. You take control of Jala as she tries to heal the traumas from her past via her favourite hobbies, and try to sort her life out before her sister’s wedding. If you’ve got family problems to work through, so does Jala, so help her out and maybe you’ll feel better too.
Blacksmithing is hard work. Well, we assume so, we’re pretty obviously not blacksmiths. While the Iron’s Hot is a game where you get to become a blacksmith who is trying to master their craft, and you’ll get to learn more about your skills as you go, and help to rebuild the ruins of a town as well. There’ll be treasures to find, puzzles to solve, and people to meet. Think of it a bit like being Stardew Valley, but with less flowers.
A good roguelike is a tasty thing, and this roguelike also happens to be about food, which makes it even better. Cuisineer has you delving into dungeons to try and defeat monsters, gather ingredients, and get cooking, and you’ll have to master those dishes to serve at your restaurant at home. It’s a cute idea, and we’ve got high hopes for it.
If chess is a philosopher’s game, then Checkmate Showdown is for the philosopher’s who also lift big old weights. Checkmate Showdown is chess to begin with, but whenever pieces clash they’ll have to battle it out fighting game style. Each piece has their own strengths, weaknesses, and moves, and it adds a fun layer to the usual tactical stylings of chess that you can actually try out right now thanks to a demo.
If you don’t have kids and you think you’re too good for Bluey, you’re wrong. Nobody is too good for Bluey, and the show is a gift to parents the world over who get to enjoy a show that’s actually good with heartfelt characters and touching stories. The game version lets you and up to three other people go through different adventures together, play mini-games, and just generally enjoy the world. We can’t wait.
Tiger Blade is a new PSVR2 game coming to the wonderful world of virtual reality that puts you in a world of swords and incredibly fast gameplay. You get to play as a character who has not only studied the blade, but also has a pistol to use in case your enemies are staying too far away. It’s got an arcade feel that makes it feel less serious, and also means it’s more replayable as well, which is always good news.
The people of England are suffering under idiot rulers. That’s also the plot here in Gangs of Sherwood, but the Sheriff of Nottingham has utilised the Philosopher’s Stone to completely upgrade his armies, so you’ve got a bunch of flying castles and robots to fight, instead of just mediaeval stuff. You get to take control of Robin, Marian, Friar Tuck, or Little John, and use their unique abilities to work together in co-op or on your own to fight back against the oppression.
With Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 marking the end of Activision’s reimagining of the Modern Warfare trilogy, you might be surprised to discover that a veritable truckload of lore and story has been invested into the most anticipated first-person shooter of the year. To catch you up on the lay of the land when it comes to the story of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, we’ve conjured up this neat recap to get you right up to date with the events chronicled in the two previous games.
Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare – What Happened?
Tipped off to a shipment of ill-gotten chemical weapons headed to Urzikstan, CIA agent Alex attempts to intercept the transport in Verdansk, Kastovia, only to be intercepted himself by an unknown group of hostiles that murder his escorts and escape with the weapons. With a rapidly escalating situation on their hands, CIA Station Chief Kate Laswell reaches out to the British government, who in turn leverage the services of SAS Captain John Price to help recover the chemical weapons before the situation deteriorates further.
Just one day later, Uzbekistan terrorist group, Al-Qatala, launches a suicide bomber attack into the heart of Piccailly Circus in London. Looking to resolve the incursion, a group of local police officers, together with SAS Sergeant Kyle “Gaz” Garrick, manage to eliminate the attackers with the aid of Captain Price. Quickly realising that the two events may be connected, Alex finds himself dispatched to Urzikstan to liaise with ULF (Urzikstan Liberation Force) head honcho Farah Karim in order to find a way forward.
After their meeting, Farah decides to help Alex track down the wayward chemical weapons on the condition that he supports her group in overthrowing General Roman Barkov and the occupying Russian forces he controls in the region. After Gaz and Price lead an SAS raid into an Al-Qatala owned house in London, they uncover the whereabouts of Omar “The Wolf” Sulaman, the leader of the group.
With this intel in mind, Alex, together with Sergeant Marcus Griggs and his Demon Dogs squad, unleash a raid on a hospital in Urzikstan, capturing Sulaman as a result. In response, Sulaman’s next in command, Jamal “The Butcher” Rahar, conducts a successful rescue mission to free Saluman from the US Embassy in Urzikstan where he was being held. Hearing that Sulaman has escaped, Farah attempts to intercept the escaping Al-Qatala leader but fails on account of a surprise attack by Barkov’s troops, inflicting casualties on both Al-Qatala and ULF forces.
At this point it is revealed that Hadir, Farah’s most trusted ally and brother, is responsible for heisting the chemical weapons transport to begin with, believing that in doing so he can rout the occupying Russian forces. What follows is Hadir detonating the chemical weapons in the vicinity, utterly destroying the Al-Qalata and Russian forces, while Alex and Farah just manage to escape before they succumb to the attack.
It is soon discovered that Hadir has thrown his lot in with Al-Qatala, prompting Price’s team to unite in action with Farah to track him down. Though they manage to eliminate Sulaman in his hidden stronghold, Hadir is nowhere to be found. Without the chemical weapons being located, Farah’s group is designated as a terrorist threat, which in turn results in Alex defecting from the CIA and joining the ULF.
Acting on intelligence which suggests that Hadir is set to launch an attack in Russia, Garrick and Price rendezvous in Saint Petersburg in order to reach out to Nikolai, an old acquaintance of Price who may be able to shed some light on the situation. After storming an Al-Qatala meeting, the group find and capture Rahar, eventually forcing him to reveal Hadir’s plan to strike at Barkov in his private estate.
When they reach the estate, Gaz and Price secure Barkov’s family and finally manage to nab Hadir, uncovering the location of Barkov’s gas factory in Borjomi in the process. As they are about to exfil, Laswell arrives and communicates to Price and his unit that Russia wants Hadir to be handed over to them. Aware of how this could ease tensions, Price agrees to do so through gritted teeth so long as they keep all of the intel that they have on the Borjomi gas factory.
With the final piece of the puzzle in place, Garrick, Price, Farah and Alex all assemble in Urzikstan to plan their attack on the factory, with the intention of attempting to frame the Al-Qatala forces as a cover for the strike. Aided by Laswell, the group strike the factory, but Alex is seemingly killed when he attempts to detonate a batch of explosives manually after the automatic timer fails. During the explosion, Farah catches Barkov trying to escape via helicopter and kills him before he is able to exfiltrate.
After Price, Farah and Garrick escape the destroyed factory, it is revealed that Barkov has been disowned by the Russian government. Sensing what is coming next, Laswell and Price come together to form a new attack group known as Task Force 141 with the purpose of eliminating Victor Zakhaev, a Russian terrorist looking to obtain weapons of mass destruction.
Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 – A Story Synopsis
Fast forward to July 2022 and Task Force 141 finds itself under the command of General Shepherd, who promptly orders the unit to perform an assassination of General Ghorbani, an Iranian General looking to facilitate an arms deal in Al Mazrah, the capital city of the United Republic of Adal.
After the assassination is successful, Quds Force Major Hassan Zyani swears revenge on the United States and in doing so starts to fund terrorist activities to realise his goal. By doing so he catches the attention of Laswell and Shepherd who dispatch a joint attack group of Task Force 141 and the Marine Raiders to capture Hassan from inside Al Mazrah. With the operation being led by Sergeant John “Soap” MacTavish and Lieutenant Simon “Ghost” Riley, the mission fails but the pair manage to find out that Hassan possesses an American ballistic missile.
Venturing to Amsterdam to nab a courier belonging to Hassan, Gaz and Price discover that Hassan is actually embedded with the Las Almas Cartel in Mexico, making matters somewhat complicated into the bargain. Joining up with Mexican special forces Colonel Alejandro Vargas, together with his second-in-command Sergeant Major Rodolfo Parra, Soap, Ghost and Shadow Company – a PMC owned by CEO Phillip Graves, but led by General Shepherd – all attempt to capture Hassan.
Even though the operation achieves its objective, Hassan is released on account of potential political repercussions from Iran on a lack of evidence to detain him. After recovering Hassan’s phone, data hacked from it takes Gaz, Price and Laswell to Cape Vilan, where it is discovered that Las Almas owns Russian GPS devices that can be used to direct ballistic missiles.
Making matters worse, Laswell finds herself captured by resurgent terror group Al-Qatala, though her captivity is short-lived as Farah and Nikolai, together with Gaz and Price manage to extract her from an Al-Qatala stronghold. Concurrent to these events, Soap and Alejandro manage to capture “El Sin Nombre”, the leader of Las Almas who is revealed to be Valeria Garza, a former comrade of Alejandro. Valeria reveals that a ballistic missile is stationed on an oil rig located in the Gulf of Mexico, naturally resulting in an operation undertaken by Alejandro, Shadow Company and Task Force 141 to retrieve it.
Though the mission is successful, Graves and Shadow Company double-cross their allies on the orders of General Shepherd, seizing Alejandro’s base and arresting him to boot. At this point Soap and Ghost have no option but to escape into and through Las Almas, all the while Shadow Company murders its way through the town in pursuit of Hassan. Eventually, Price, Gaz, Laswell, Soap and Ghost rescue Alejandro and re-unite him with his old unit, Los Vaqueros, as this new alliance ponders the next course of action.
In a debrief, Laswell states that Graves and Shepherd were the ones behind an illegal mission to transport missiles across the Middle East. As the truth comes out, it is discovered that a Russian PMC by the name of the Konni Group ambushed the convoy and stole a trio of ballistic missiles, resulting in Shepherd having to cover up the failure of the mission.
After a joint strike on the base of Shadow Company by Los Vaqueros and Task Force 141 apparently kills Graves, the group learns that Hassan is actually in Chicago and is preparing to launch a strike on the Pentagon from the city. After killing Hassan and prematurely destroying his launched missile before it can reach its intended target, the group learns that not only has the traitorous Shepherd gone into hiding, but also that a new threat has arisen.
Laswell reveals to Task Force 141 that the leader of the Russian ultranationalist cell that stole the trio of missiles from Shepherd’s failed mission is Vladimir Makarov. Later, that same Russian ultranationalist cell is seen planning to hijack a plane when a text message arrives from Makarov, informing them not to use their mother tongue during the hijacking.
Looking to step away from the period trappings of English folklore’s most famous arrow-slinging rogue, Gangs of Sherwood is a combat focused, action adventure that instead whisks players into a semi-futuristic dystopia where Robin of Locksley and his gang of merry men (and women) find themselves up against all manner of mechanised foes and augmented baddies as they fight to secure the freedom of the region.
Be sure to keep this guide in your favourites as we cover everything you need to know about Gangs of Sherwood including the release date, story details, gameplay details, latest trailer, characters, PC specifications and more.
Gangs Of Sherwood Release Date
The Gangs of Sherwood release date has officially been confirmed as November 30, 2023. Gangs of Sherwood is set to have a full release on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S/X consoles and PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store. As of this writing, Gangs of Sherwood has not been confirmed for a release on the last generation PlayStation 4, Xbox One or Nintendo Switch consoles.
Gangs Of Sherwood Story
Representing a neat twist on the Robin Hood story, Gangs of Sherwood reframes the English folklore classic in a futuristic dystopia, albeit one that still hews closely to the basic essence of the original tale. By abusing the power of the mysterious Philosopher’s Stones, the Sheriff of Nottingham has amassed an overwhelming arsenal of technologically advanced soldiers, airships and more with which he has used to oppress the good folks of Sherwood and beyond.
In order to break this iron-fisted rule, Robin of Locksley, together with his erstwhile companions Marian, Friar Tuck and Little John, must do what they do best by robbing the rich to give to the poor, helping them in turn to lay waste to the vast armies of the Sheriff of Nottingham and restore peace to the land.
Gangs Of Sherwood Gameplay
Gangs of Sherwood is a third-person, co-op action adventure designed in mind for up to four players to take part in the dismantling of the Sheriff of Nottingham’s vile regime. Far from being a ponderous, plodding sort of affair, there’s more than a dash of Devil May Cry about the whole thing as Gangs of Sherwood very much prescribes a resolutely furious, hyperkinetic and combo focused take on melee and ranged combat that fans of Capcom’s stylish demon battling series will surely recognise.
Building upon such violent pursuits, Gangs of Sherwood cooperative play is factored directly into the proceedings thanks to the four very different characters that are on offer. With each of the playable heroes offering a veritable mixture of melee skills, ranged damage proficiencies, tanking style abilities, support buffs and more besides, having players that know how to best leverage those skills in tandem will be essential to taking down Gangs of Sherwood’s various bosses and challenging encounters.
When it comes to the progression side of things, Gangs of Sherwood doesn’t disappoint either. Dovetailing directly into that whole good ol’ fashioned tale of Robin Hood stealing from the rich to give to the poor, not only can you spend the various amounts of cash that you have accumulated on numerous equipment upgrades to bolster your resilience and damage output, but so too can you donate your loot to the poor townsfolk of Sherwood, unlocking a range of exclusive ability augmentations in the process. Finally, special shards can also be collected during battle which can be used to amplify and customise the damage of your attacks even further still, providing ample latitude for maxing out your playstyle in the process.
Gangs Of Sherwood Characters
Arguably sitting at the heart of Gangs of Sherwood are the four very different characters that you can pick from – Robin of Locksley, Marian, Friar Tuck and Little John. With each one essentially fulfilling a functional role within the group that aids one another, here’s everything you need to know about each of the playable characters in Gangs of Sherwood and what they do.
Robin Of Locksley
The ranged specialist of the group, Robin is capable of stringing together combinations at a distance thanks to his rapid-fire bow. In addition, Robin also has a number of attacks which provide different results in battle such as launching enemies into the air, exploding groups of foes at once and so on. In terms of unique abilities, our man Robin can also conjure special ‘Star Arrows’ to appear in the middle of battle if certain conditions are met, allowing him to ramp up the damage of his existing projectiles as a result. Elsewhere, Robin’s rebel ability allows him to unleash special attacks without penalty for a brief period of time, while his rebel instinct special allows him to both reduce incoming damage and increase outgoing damage over a set period of time.
Marian
A well-rounded assassin that can deal high amounts of damage from either melee with her devastating chainsword or at range with her trusty throwing knives, Marian is a versatile fighter to say the least. Marian’s special abilities include magnetic daggers which stick to her foes which can then be triggered for a massive explosion, damaging any enemies that are nearby, while her rebel abilities all revolve around increasing her damage throughput and allowing Marian to stack even more magnetic daggers onto her hapless opposition. For anybody looking for a decent balance of ranged and melee attack playstyles, Marian absolutely has you sorted.
Friar Tuck
A massive battering ram of a man, Friar Tuck is a slow-moving melee specialist that juggles the functions of singularly high damage attacks and damage absorption with aplomb. In regards to the latter, Friar Tuck can use his gargantuan shield to protect both himself and his friends from incoming attacks, while his substantial strength permits this rowdy monk to remove heavy obstacles that in turn provide the group with access to new areas and loot. Friar Tuck’s abilities are centred around massive slow strikes which create AoE style shockwaves which in turn affect other enemies, while his special abilities which allow him to taunt and gain the attention of stronger enemies will prove invaluable in Gangs of Sherwood’s more difficult encounters and boss fights.
Little John
Formerly a card carrying member of the Sheriff of Nottingham’s posse, Little John has since seen the error of his ways and is very keen to correct them with his furious brawling attacks. Very handy with his knuckles to say the least, Little John not only uses his fearsome steel fists to blast enemies across the room, but he can also shoot flames from them to boot while also being strong enough to heave up his enemies and toss them onto their own traps. Little John’s special abilities are all centred around the timing of his fist-based attacks, where successful timings result in an overheat ability that not only stacks on top of his usual damage, but which can also be deployed as a devastating ranged attack as well.
Where Can I Watch The Latest Trailer?
The latest trailer for Gangs of Sherwood is available to watch right now and you can catch it above. A sixty second breakdown of what Gangs of Sherwood has to offer, this latest trailer for Gangs of Sherwood does a decent job of touching upon the story, playable characters, combat mechanics, progression and cooperative gameplay that the Appeal Studios effort will offer. Though a short trailer, it certainly crams a lot into its modest runtime.
Gangs Of Sherwood PC System Requirements
Being a fast moving, combat-focused action adventure in which the screen finds itself frequently stuffed with all manner of enemies, explosions, special effects and a range of detailed environments, it’s reasonable to say that Gangs of Sherwood makes exceptionally heavy use of Unreal Engine 4. To get an idea of how Gangs of Sherwood will run on your own PC rig, you can catch the Gangs of Sherwood PC system requirements as it currently stands below.
Minimum:
Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: Windows 10
Processor: Intel Core i7-4790 or AMD Ryzen 5 1500X
Widely regarded as one of the premier stealth focused series on the market, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell, together with its long-time hero Sam Fisher, have both proven reliably enthralling for genre aficionados since the series made its debut all the way back in 2002. Like any franchise however, not all Splinter Cell titles have been created equal and so with that in mind, here are the best Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell games ranked from worst to best.
Splinter Cell: Essentials
A series entry that was exclusive to Sony’s PSP handheld, though Splinter Cell: Essentials was certainly ambitious in concept, the reality played out rather differently. Set after the events of Splinter Cell: Double Agent and representing a distinctly barebones take on the pre Double Agent Splinter Cell formula, this entry in the series wasn’t just a stripped back take on Sam Fisher’s sneaky adventures, but also a broken one too.
Thanks to a collection of horrendously dark levels that made traversal a real pain, some truly terrible visuals and the absence of a second analogue stick which made controlling the normally lithe Samuel Fisher feel like you were controlling Andre The Giant if he was made of marble, there’s little to recommend about Splinter Cell: Essentials and so its spot as the nadir of the long running franchise feels appropriately deserved.
Created with the notion of providing players with a glimpse at a more morally conflicted Sam Fisher, Splinter Cell: Double Agent felt like one step forward and two steps back in relation to how it meaningfully progressed the franchise. Though being able to experience three different endings depending on what choices you made in certain missions was a neat thing when it came to anchoring its central concept, an unsightly return to the trial and error mechanic of earlier instalments meant that it became frustrating more often than not.
Splinter Cell: Double Agent really was also the tale of two versions of the same game that had a massive gulf of quality between them. When it released in 2006, it did so around the time that the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles were just getting their feet under the table. With the previous generation of consoles still going strong at the time of its development, the game’s coding duties ended up being split between two different studios, with Ubisoft Milan and Ubisoft Shanghai taking on the newer consoles and original series developers Ubisoft Montreal, taking on the PlayStation 2, Xbox and GameCube versions of the game. Can you guess which one ended up being superior?
That’s right, the PlayStation 2, Xbox and GameCube versions won the pony on account of the fact that because it leveraged the same engine that the series had used for years, it played much more like a classic Splinter Cell game, whereas the version of this game which found its way onto the newer platforms and PC, didn’t really feel much like a Splinter Cell game at all, but rather some generic stealth adventure with prettier visuals. The gap between the two versions only widened when taking the available modes into consideration too, since not only did the previous console gen version of Splinter Cell: Double Agent include more multiplayer modes than its newer counterpart, but so too did also include a co-op game mode that was completely missing from the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC versions.
Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow
A robust continuation of everything that Ubisoft Montreal accomplished with the original Splinter Cell, it’s certainly reasonable to posit that Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow is perhaps the most conservative of all the titles in the series, barely straying from the design bedrock established in the first game, at least in terms of its single-player campaign. What it did do however, was introduce the adversarial Spies vs Mercenaries multiplayer mode for the first time, providing players with an entertaining cat and mouse style dynamic that provided the game with legs beyond its story campaign.
Ushering the Splinter Cell franchise into an all-new era, Splinter Cell: Conviction introduced a great many new features that while it made the series newcomer-friendly for the first time, certainly rankled with franchise veterans equally too. In a series first, this game allowed players to interrogate their enemies and in true Punisher-like fashion, drag them around the environment and slam their heads through urinals, into mirrors, onto stoves and much more besides. Though visceral, the mechanic was ultimately limited in that you would always eventually get the same response from your hapless foe, no matter where you interrogated them.
A more subtle addition that it brought to the series was a new system where if Sam Fisher is spotted, a silhouette will be placed at the last location where his enemies had spotted him. By far the largest change that it wrought however – and one that would also shape the next entry in the series – was the controversial mark and execute system which allowed Sam Fisher to identify multiple targets and then kill them all at once. Though you needed to kill enemies quietly in order to build up the mark and execute bar, it’s fair to say that this new mechanic sometimes made it feel like John Woo’s Splinter Cell: Conviction, rather than Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction, which as you can imagine hardly endeared it to the series’ stealthy stalwarts.
Where Splinter Cell: Conviction did excel though, is in its cooperative multiplayer modes and particularly a cooperative campaign that provided an all-new story and levels for players to tackle in split-screen co-op on console. A time sink that I’ve personally put a good many hours into, it’s not a stretch to say that the cooperative multiplayer campaign was more compelling than the single-player campaign itself.
Up until the release of Splinter Cell in 2002, the stealth genre was largely presided over by giants such as Metal Gear Solid and Thief, so for Ubisoft, trying to make any sort of headway was certainly no mean feat. Though other games in the list have surpassed the first outing in the series in a number of ways, it still ranks this highly largely out of respect for what it pulled off nearly twenty-one years ago.
When the first game released all those years ago, there was really nothing quite like it at the time. Going for an over the shoulder, third-person perspective that was different from the first-person perspectives and elevated viewpoints of the time, it felt a lot more immediate than its genre counterparts. From its emphasis on destroying light sources to staying in the shadows, to its embrace of high-tech gadgetry and kicking off the series fascination with its split-wall takedowns, Splinter Cell kicked off a revolution of high tech, hardcore stealth that millions of gamers would gravitate to for years to come.
Something of a black sheep among purists, Splinter Cell: Blacklist ended up being the best of both worlds – not only embracing the core stealth tenets that served as the genesis for the series, but also the much more action based beats of its later entries. In sticking with the broader design decision of widening the appeal of the series, it goes down the Hitman route – which is to say that whether by stealth, assassination or outright confrontation – the game doesn’t prescribe a particular method of play in order for the player to find success.
Splinter Cell: Blacklist also furthered the series’ obsession with gadgets, allowing Sam Fisher to control a versatile tri-rotor drone to scout out locations and stun enemies. Beyond that, it would also introduce a hub area to the series for the first time, allowing players to wander the halls of the Paladin airborne operations craft and talk to NPCs, take on missions and track the progress of other players across the globe. In addition to leveraging a next-generation graphics engine, together with a massive extracurricular content offering which included a range of adversarial and cooperative missions, it looked set to write a blueprint for the series to follow when it released in 2013.
If anything, the only real knock against Splinter Cell: Blacklist is that it didn’t maintain the services of actor Michael Ironside, who had lent his gravelly tones to Sam Fisher since the series inception. Currently the most recent entry in the franchise, on its tenth anniversary it’s difficult not to wonder just how much of Blacklist’s hybrid design DNA will seep into the forthcoming remake, currently under development at Ubisoft Toronto.
Predictably sneaking in at the top spot, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory is almost universally recognised as the best Splinter Cell game and for good reason too. Though it resolutely sticks to the series core formula, it makes a number of properly meaningful changes which enrich the overall package greatly. Though the light indicator from previous games returns, telling players how shrouded in darkness they are (or not), Chaos Theory also measures the amount of noise from both Sam and the ambient sound in his vicinity. This introduces an all new level of risk, since in order to remain undetected, Sam must always ensure that he is making less noise than the world around him. Splinter Cell has always felt like a stealth simulator where so many variables need to be in your favour for success and Chaos Theory absolutely satisfies in that regard.
Chaos Theory also sees a complete rework in regards to how fail states work. Triggering the alarm multiple times no longer ends the mission and neither does killing innocent civilians – though you will still be chewed out for doing so and have your mission rating severely degraded. This means that should everything devolve into a more confrontational affair, so long as you can handle yourself, you can still complete the mission. Chaos Theory also sees the use of Unreal Engine get kicked up a notch too, with the implementation of ragdoll physics (a first for the series), reworked lighting, deformable materials and improved shadows.
Complementing an already superb package, adversarial and cooperative multiplayer modes return, together with a reworked Spies vs Mercenaries mode that boasts all new gadgets, moves and maps to boot. Absolutely crying out for a proper remaster, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory doesn’t happen to just be the best Splinter Cell game ever, but it also manages to easily take its claim as one of the best stealth titles of all-time to boot, standing proudly alongside the likes of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and Thief.
