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.
With cosy season rapidly coming upon us, not to mention a desire to do something a little different than your usual Halloween games round-up, we’ve decided to go in a different direction. So get comfortable and ensure that both your blanket and hot chocolate are ready, because here are ten of the best wholesome games you can get on PC right now.
A Short Hike
Some of the best things in life are often born from the simplest of endeavours. A Short Hike absolutely takes this notion and literally runs to the hills with it. As a bright-eyed little bird, you find yourself running, climbing and gliding through the lush rural expanses of Hawk Peak Provincial Park as you seek to fulfil the simple goal of reaching the mountain’s lofty summit. A Short Hike is as wholesome as it gets, not least because as you’re carving a path through the mountain at your own pace, you also bump into other hikers who have problems of their own that you can help them out with, making everyone’s day markedly better as a result. Throw in a stack of secret treasure, endlessly charming visuals and a beautifully tender soundtrack that matches the on-screen action, A Short Hike is one of the most fulfilling and wholesome PC games you can buy right now.
Bilkins’ Folly
Whisking players off to the Caribbean in the late 18th century, Bilkins’ Folly casts player as Percy Bilkins, a wayward nautical explorer looking to find his long lost relatives. A narrative driven puzzle adventure, Bilkins’ Folly is all about hopping from island to island, enlisting new crew for your ship to help you on your adventure, solving puzzles and helping the denizens of the islands all the while you search for your missing family members. More than that, Bilkins’ Folly also places a spotlight on the relationship between Percy and his loyal hound Drayton, who can help our eager explorer by barking to show the location of treasure, obey complex commands and much more besides. With more than a dash of Monkey Island style dialogue, coupled with some properly brain-tickling puzzles and charm-stuffed visuals, Bilkins’ Folly is an unforgettable cosy gem where patting the dog is absolutely essential to success.
Chicory: A Colorful Tale
Unfolding in a colouring book world devoid of colour, Chicory: A Colorful Tale is a top-down adventure that puts players in control of a pup-faced artist who must track down Chicory, a masterful artist that has gone missing. Armed with the eye-opening ability to paint colour into the world at a moment’s notice and materially alter the environment in the process, Chicory: A Colorful Tale will have you putting your colourful talents to use, creating magical bridges, removing monochrome walls and so much more as you meet a cast of animal friends and help other folks who are in need. Simply put, it doesn’t get much more wholesome than Chicory: A Colorful Tale.
Lil Gator Game
Taking us back to the bygone times of our childhood where our imaginations were so potent that we were able to create so much from so little, Lil Gator Game is a beautifully warm platforming adventure that tugs on the heartstrings with vigour. Casting players as a wide-eyed child who finds themselves now largely ignored by his older siblings, Lil Gator Game tasks players with leveraging the creative faculties of the titular little gator to fashion an epic quest out of cardboard enemies and craftwork treasures. Whether you’re surfing across a lake on a makeshift shield, being shot up in the air from an erupting whale spout, skimming stones across a lake or just finding new friends to cheer up, Lil Gator Game is a weapons grade shot of wholesomeness that we could all do with from time to time.
There’s perhaps little in life more simply satisfying than making something that was once dirty clean again and it’s this concept that serves as the central notion for the effortlessly engaging PowerWash Simulator. There’s an almost restorative satisfaction to going around the various neighbourhoods in PowerWash Simulator and as you watch the pressurised water shear off the layers of caked mud, the result is something which borders on self-help, since PowerWash Simulator is both resolutely wholesome and tremendously relaxing in a way that very few games can claim to be.
Stardew Valley
One of the original wholesome gems of the last decade, Stardew Valley is a country-life RPG where as part of a local community you make new friends, attend seasonal events and live out a wholesome second life as a farmer while a new world of acquaintances and events blooms around you. Where Stardew Valley really excels as a wholesome classic however, is in how each of its inhabitants all have their own schedules, birthdays, cut scenes and more that all depend on what you do and how you react, making it feel like a truly reactive world that repays your wholesomeness in kind. Filled with good meaning vibes and a wonderfully charming heart, Stardew Valley’s appeal has not dulled in the more than seven years since its original release. It’s never too late to get started.
Like other games in this list, The Spirit & The Mouse derives its wholesome nature from that most kind and heart-warming of gestures – the willingness to help out a stranger in need and in turn, gain a new friend as a result. As Lila, a tiny and kind mouse within the quaint French town of Sainte-et-Claire that finds herself empowered by electrical spirit, The Spirit & The Mouse is a blissfully entertaining platforming adventure where you must walk, climb and leap around Sainte-et-Claire, helping those who are in need and restoring hope to a town struggling to keep the lights on during its darkest days. Equal parts adorable, engaging and heartfelt, The Spirit & The Mouse is a delectable offering that everybody looking to lighten their heart should partake in.
TOEM
A balm for the heart and soul, TOEM is an isometric adventure where as a cheerful photographer, you must navigate an adorably constructed monochrome, isometric world, snapping photos of the world around you and seeking out the weird and the wonderful to capture in perpetuity. Along the way you’ll make new friends, uncover secrets and discover love and warmth through the lens of your trusty camera in ways that you never thought were possible. Endlessly relaxing and filled with charming characters and a real sense of adventure, TOEM’s reputation as one of the best wholesome games ever made is certainly well-earned to say the least.
Unpacking
Though its central mechanic is built entirely around unpacking items and securing the perfect position for them in a range of new abodes, Unpacking remains long in the mind and heart because of how deftly it touches on themes of memory and the passing of time. Something of a bittersweet endeavour, Unpacking is a coming of age tale that ruminates on the memories that are imbued in the belongings that we carry with us from place to place, reminding us that while nothing is forever, the notion of a new beginning can be as enriching for the soul as can be the fondness with which we look upon our past, and the bits and bobs that we attach such weighty sentiment to.
Despite making you look a bit like Eris Morn from Destiny, the Meta Quest 3 doesn’t promise infinite eldritch knowledge about worms, but to take you into a plethora of other worlds through the magic of not just virtual reality, but also mixed reality. The latter is something that feels as though it’s still in its infancy, but the demos that come with the headset make a solid early case for it.
Shooting aliens as they knock their way through the walls of your home, playing with toy cars, and even being able to learn piano are all only possible because of the new dual-RGB cameras on the face of the Quest 3. It’s not the first full-colour passthrough, but it is undoubtedly one of the highest-quality offerings on the market, even from more expensive headsets.
I can’t tell you how useful that is when you live with kids, because they simply love putting things on the floor that weren’t there a second ago, and I didn’t step on anything because I could actually see what’s going on. There’s definitely a slight grain to the cameras, but it’s still incredible, and is one of the biggest selling points, according to Meta.
It’s certainly fancy, but there really needs to be a few more world-changing apps in that category until it’s the most important factor for me. For me, the best part about the Quest 3 is that it is an impressive upgrade to the Meta Quest 2 in just about every way going. The only areas where that’s not true are the battery life, which remains somewhere in the region of 2.5 hours, and the comfort.
Both battery life and comfort can be fixed by accessories, which isn’t ideal, but it was also true of the Quest 2. Those are literally my only complaints with the headset though, which I’m sort of astounded by. In terms of resolution, FOV, speed, and eye comfort, this thing is a true titan of the VR realm.
It helps a lot that the Quest 3 isn’t launching into an abyss with no games, but has access to the entire library of the best Meta Quest games, with a fair few of the Quest 2 titles having been given upgrades to better make use of the general upgrade provided by this headset. It’s not universal across the board, but even with games where that’s not the case, the resolution and FOV will both make you feel as though the games look better.
The controllers take a bit of getting used to, purely because the tracking band has been removed. They track better than the previous Meta controllers despite that, but if you’re also someone who’s coming from a Quest 2, you’ll notice it as well. That’s not the only change to the controllers though, as they also have better haptic feedback, making games feel that much more immersive.
You’ll feel the same level of upgraded polish when using the headset to play PC VR games as well. You can still use AirLink, but Virtual Desktop remains the most comfortable and customisable way to do this. I’ve got a relatively powerful rig, and while things looked okay before, they look truly incredible on the Quest 3.
Every game I played has more detail, you can take in more of the world with ease, and the tracking feels sublime, even if you’re playing in a different room. It means that if most of your VR games are tied to your PC, rather than anything else, that the Quest 3 will still feel like a notable boost in power, speed, and looks.
While it may seem odd for this review to mostly talk about how it’s an upgrade to the Quest 2, that’s the headset that most people are familiar with, and also likely the group of people who’ll be most tempted by this new headset.
It’s worth noting that I genuinely believe the price point, the performance, and the wire-free nature of the Quest 3 makes it likely the best headset on the market. While others may have it beat in terms of raw power or looks, they cost substantially more, or lack the ease of use. So, if you’ve been waiting to try out VR and just didn’t know when to jump in, the Meta Quest 3 is most definitely the time to do so.
The best Meta Quest games are the ones that not only make the most of the tech inside of the incredible line of VR headsets, but also make the most of the freedom they offer. While virtual reality is still a little niche, there’s no denying the appeal of the Meta Quest 2 and 3, being not only completely free of pesky wires and completely standalone, but also a lot cheaper than you’d think.
There are a lot of games on the platforms that could vie for being the best Meta Quest games, but we’ve gone ahead and whittled them all down to these seven titles. We’ve specifically gone for a mix of genres here, because otherwise, it can be a bit samey thanks to how good some genres feel in VR. With that all out of the way, strap on your headset, and let’s get into it.
Demeo isn’t what most people would expect from a VR game. It’s not about being in the action yourself, it’s about being above it all and playing a tabletop game within the game itself. It’s a really cool idea, and a truly special game. Demeo is a roguelike tabletop game where you take control of a character from among a few classes, and have to work together with other players to battle through dungeons. Combat is done via cards, and it all just feels really natural. It’s really good fun, and there’s also a non-VR version if you don’t have a headset (and the two have crossplay).
Superhot VR is an intense experience. Set within a VR game itself, Superhot is already one of the coolest puzzle shooters around, but putting that whole experience in VR takes it to an entirely new level. The concept of the game is simple enough: time moves when you do. What that means is that you can take a breath as bullets fly towards you to figure out which direction to dodge in, and then John Wick your way through the fight using an ash tray, the gun you just got shot at with, and maybe a shuriken or two.
There are a lot of excellent rhythm games in VR, and while Beat Saber is so popular for a good reason, our favourite on Meta Quest is Pistol Whip. Pistol Whip makes you feel like a badass from the beginning to the end of every song. Whether you’re shooting to the beat, hitting nearby enemies with your gun, or just vibing to the songs themselves, there are few games that feel as good as Pistol Whip does. Also the soundtrack slaps to an unknowable degree.
Look, everyone knows what Among Us is, and while the normal game is fun and all, it doesn’t hold a candle to the sheer horror of the VR version. You’ll still be doing all of the usual tasks as you try and survive, but now you get the joys of seeing people creep around you in first-person instead. It adds an entirely new sense of urgency to each match, and it’s a blast.
Population: One was a great game when it cost money to play. Now that it’s free, it’s an even bigger win. Population: One is as close to Fortnite in VR as we have at the moment, but you can actively climb up any surface you see and then open your arms up to glide down safely. The weapons feel good to use and reload, you can build barriers as needed, and it’s all fairly light-hearted too.
MMOs in VR should be an easy dunk, mostly thanks to an unending stream of anime about them. However, it’s weirdly quiet on the MMO front in VR for the most part. While that could just be because they’re hard to make, it could also be because Zenith: The Last City sort of has it all locked down by being so good. This fantasy MMO allows you to switch roles easily, gives you different weapons and spells to master, and has just so much to do too. Plus, upcoming updates will be adding in new classes and whatnot too.
Finally we’ve got a very new game in Dungeons of Eternity. This is a dungeon-crawling co-op game where you and up to two other people get to fight your way through different monsters and traps to try and find new treasures and get stronger as you go. There are three different modes to enjoy, each of which adds new things to focus on, and the loot and the fights themselves are all incredible. It looks great too, which is always nice.
October’s indie games are absolutely stacked. Seriously, the list this month is longer than usual because whittling it down anymore was causing us the kind of psychological pain you’d normally only endure when your two-year-old discovers the Baby Shark videos and throws a tantrum whenever the video ends. Is that good parenting? Maybe! Is it necessary to survive? Absolutely!
Along with loads of games, October brings along some of the best things of the year. An end to the summer (hopefully), Halloween, and also the constant reminder that even trees have a mortal lifespan as their leaves decay and fall off. Wait, not that last one. Look, games are good, most of you won’t read the intro anyway, so let’s just get into the list of October’s best indie games.
We love roguelikes, and Battle Shapers is an FPS sci-fi roguelike which lets you steal powers from ruthless robot overlords and, if we’re being honest, it sounds a lot like an FPS Mega Man game. That couldn’t be more of a compliment if we tried, and the graphics, absurd abilities, and over-the-top guns are all going to carry you home. Or to our deaths. Or maybe to victory. It’ll be fun no matter where you end up though.
We just wrote about the best stealth games, but it could well be that The Lamplighters League ends up being on that list once it’s out. This game sees you recruiting a team of people with unique abilities and then guiding them through various levels trying to find the Banished Court and stop them being all evil and stuff. You get to do real-time sneaking, and if you’re caught, you then get to fight it out in turn-based combat. It just looks fun, and Harebrained Schemes, the developer, has a good pedigree of games behind them.
While we’re on the subject of pretty games, Worldless fits into that category very easily. You take control of a shape with some weapons that can jump (we’re not sure how else to describe it), and you need to explore two different realms as you continue on your adventure. Combat is actually turn-based, but exploitation is fairly free-form and looks more like a classic Metroidvania. The art style is also beautifully abstract, and the soundtrack is already incredible based on just the trailers alone.
Stop Dead is a game where if you stop you’ll die, and it looks like a mix of Psy-Ops, Neon White, and Mirror’s Edge. You take control of a telekinetic heroine who can use pretty much anything as a weapon in order to try and take down a rogue AI, who’s decided humans sort of suck and deserve to die. The game has 40 levels to blitz through, and we have a feeling this will be a good one for those who like to seek perfection in their speedruns, although the novel combat should make it good for those of us with other hobbies too.
We’re not sure you’re meant to sing “Wizard with a Gun,” but we can’t help it. That aside, this game is a survival sandbox that you can play with a friend, and seems to mostly revolve around not just being a wizard, but then also having a gun. We’re not sure why nobody had thought to give wizards a gun before, but it definitely seems like a notable upgrade. Just imagine if they could curve bullets. Wait, they made a film about that, didn’t they?
We’re not sure anyone would have thought a Hellboy game would be coming out that’s a roguelike brawler, but we’re pretty happy about it. This game’s actually being made in partnership with the creator of Hellboy, Mike Mignola, and aside from the promise of lots of pummelling, we’ve got to talk about the art direction. Lots of games get compared to comic books, but Hellboy looks exactly like a visual novel, and it’s absurdly pretty as a result, the block colours and minimalistic detailing make for a feast for the eyes, so even if it’s bad, it’ll still look good.
Cavern of Dreams is an N64-style 3D platformer where you play as Fynn the dragon. Your mission is to save your unhatched siblings from the titular Cavern of Dreams, and along the way, you’ll get new abilities, solve loads of puzzles, and undoubtedly jump on a lot of things. Honestly though, we’re just here for the hit of nostalgia this game is offering us, because in our youths we very briefly didn’t have to pay bills, and that was great.
Our second game on this list with both guns and magic is Dark Envoy, a new RPG with tactical real-time combat. It also has online co-op, and nothing’s better than playing with your friends on the one night a month you both find time to do so. As your party is battling it out, you can briefly pause time to unleash magical skills to take out groups of enemies, separate them from their friends, or cut off their escape routes. There are multiple classes too, which should make for some good replayability if the story is worth it.
Our penultimate choice for October’s indie games is Ghostrunner 2. This game describes itself as a “hardcore FPP slasher set in a post-apocalyptic cyberpunk future.” We’re going to describe it as a really fast-paced game where you get to control a cyberpunk ninja with a big old future sword who can do wall runs and stuff. The first game was magnificent, so we’ve got high hopes for this one too.
You might think that Headbangers: Rhythm Royale is going to be a follow-up to Brutal Legend, albeit with less Jack Black and more EpicFortniteGamer420, but you’d be wrong. Well, maybe not about dear old EpicFortniteGamer420, but about it being anything to do with Brutal Legend. Instead, this rhythm battle royale game has you and 29 other pigeons competing against each other in lots of rhythm mini-games to see who is the most rhythmic of all. It looks like a nice change of pace, and we’re up for becoming a master-level pigeon.
If you haven’t heard of Evolve, I wouldn’t really blame you. Developed by Turtle Rock Studios, Evolve released all the way back in 2015 for PC and last-gen consoles and was summarily lost in the conversation that surrounded many of the big-hitters which released that year including The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Metal Gear Solid V, Rocket League and Fallout 4, to name just a few. One of the first asymmetrical online multiplayer efforts on the market, Evolve was an innovative PvPvE FPS that was way ahead of its time and certainly deserved a better fate than being delisted from basically every digital front it was originally featured on. Here’s why.
What Was Evolve All About?
Evolve was an online multiplayer first-person shooter that whisked players off to an alien planet and forced them into a fight for survival as either a gargantuan Monster seeking dominance, or a one of a team of Hunters that have been dispatched to slay said big beastie. It was a straightforward concept for sure, but Evolve integrated enough sophistication and depth into that design bedrock to make its PvPvE FPS shenanigans feel truly exceptional.
One Of The Earliest Implementations Of The Hero System
More than a full year before Overwatch would make its world-dominating debut, Evolve assembled a full and varied line-up of hero characters for players to get their teeth into. Not only do Hunters find their hero roster spread across four different class types – Assault, Medic, Support and Trapper, but there are also variations of those roles which when taken together with a range of special abilities that are unique to each Hunter, truly makes each of them feel unique. The Monsters too also feel utterly bespoke, with a vast range of different strengths and weaknesses, defensive and aggression roles, special attacks and so on to really differentiate one from the other. Sure, while Evolve did launch with a fair share of balancing issues in the early going (which hero shooter hasn’t?), the team at Turtle Rock Studios did a good enough job over the long-term making each class feel rewarding and suitably fair.
Evolve Made The Hunters Feel And Play Like Hunters
As Hunters the idea is to track down the Monster before it consumes enough of the local wildlife to reach stage three, at which point it’ll gain exponentially in strength, stamina and acquire a range of devastating new abilities. Put simply, trying to kill a stage three Monster is an almost impossible feat and so the Hunters must do everything in their power to make sure matters don’t escalate to such a degree in the first place. As the Hunter team, tracking down the Monster before this happens isn’t so straightforward as just cutting across the map until you find them, instead Evolve makes you work for your quarry and in doing so leverages a number of real-life hunting aspects to satisfyingly bring this side of the game to life.
Luckily, a talented team of Hunters has ample opportunity to prevent the Monster from reaching stage three. From massive footprints in the soil, to leftover half-eaten carcasses, distant sounds and the sight of a flock of birds being disturbed, there is no shortage of methods that Hunters can use to track down their monstrous opposition. Certainly doing so, especially against an experienced Monster player, remains one of the most satisfying moments you can savour in an online multiplayer game.
Playing As The Monster Surprisingly Combines Stealth And Strategy To Great Effect
As the Monster, the dynamic changes entirely. Rather than rushing to confront your foes when you’ll be at your weakest, sharp-minded Monster players will want to put as much distance between them and the Hunters as possible, all the while chewing up as many smaller creatures as possible to fortify your strength ahead of a transformation to the next stage of your evolution. Doing this however is much easier said than done, as you’ll need to be able to read the movements of the Hunters as well as avoiding a range of natural hazards in the environment which might give away your position, or worse still, gravely injure your fresh-faced beast. Of course the reward to successfully pulling off all this balancing act is that you gain access to the Monster’s third stage, whereupon the dynamic shifts again and now it’s the Hunters that are forced to flee from you, as your seemingly unstoppable monstrous form rampages through the map in search of a definitive victory.
A World That Constantly Wants To Kill You
In a fashion similar to the also excellent PvPvE offering Hunt: Showdown, Evolve’s battles and Monster hunts unfold in a world filled with all manner of flora and fauna that would love nothing more than to usher you toward a fatal end. While the Hunters and the Monster have plenty to keep each other busy simply owing to their mutual hatred for one another, it would be folly to ignore the omnipresent threat that the alien planet of Shear presents to both parties.
Though there are plenty of non-threatening creatures that can be found across the surface of Shear (and it’s often these critters which prove to be a reliable meal for fledgling Monsters), everything else will have your face off in short order given half the chance. From the massive armoured Megamouth to the crocodile-like Cephalodon, danger exists everywhere for both the Hunters and the Monster. Even at stage three, while the absolutely colossal Levithaian won’t be able to kill the monster outright (even though it matches most stage three monsters in size), its vast health reserves mean that during an intense fight with a group of veteran Hunters, such a beast could prove to be a fatal distraction.
Evolve’s Evacuation Mode Is A Tug Of War Scenario Without Equal
Though Evolve is plenty enjoyable in its default hunt game mode, it’s really the Evacuation mode that stands out as one of the best things about the Turtle Rock Studios developed effort. In Evacuation, there are five matches that are joined together with cinematic cutscenes which dynamically tell a story depending on which side wins which match and which side, Hunters or the Monster, is ultimately victorious.
In Evacuation mode individual wins and losses in each match also mean more than just alternating cinematic flourishes, since the winning side will gain a unique advantage that they’ll take with them into the next match. If the Monster wins a match for example, it might gain thicker armour in the next round, whereas if the Hunters gain a victory, they might get access to automated turrets which will help them pile the hurt onto the Monster in the next battle.
Regardless of how the first four rounds in Evacuation go, every fifth and final round eschews the usual hunt style gameplay in favour of a defensive round where the Hunters and Monster are forced into a final death struggle. Here, the Hunters must defend the last standing human base on Shear and also keep themselves alive into the bargain, while the Monster must destroy absolutely everything and everyone in order to succeed. It really is fantastic stuff, not least because depending on the ebb and flow of the individual rounds, each game of Evacuation feels like a mini story campaign in its own right.
If, like me, you don’t necessarily have the time to replay earlier games in a series before a highly anticipated sequel comes out to rediscover the story, searching around for a more time-friendly and easily digestible recap of the narrative is often preferable. With that in mind and with Alan Wake 2 already proving to be one of the most interesting sequels we’ve seen in a good while, here’s a story primer to get you ready for the return of gaming’s most troubled author.
Alan Wake – The Story So Far
Seemingly afflicted with an extended bout of writer’s block (aren’t we all, eh?), Alan Wake kicks off with our titular protagonist taking the sagely advice of his agent, Barry Wheeler, to pack it all in for a bit and visit the seemingly quaint mountain town of Bright Falls, Washington, with his wife Alice. Prior to his arrival however, Alan suffers a horrifying nightmare where a group of murky looking figures attempt to end his life. Thankfully, salvation comes in the form of a mysterious figure that invades the nightmare and provides Alan with a means to fight back against these dark apparitions – a trusty flashlight that allows Alan to strip away their darkened shrouds and lay waste to their physical forms with conventional weaponry.
Once Alan finally touches down in the Twin Peaks-esque Bright Falls, he takes a short trip to the local diner to meet with the landlord of his cabin, Carl Stucky, in order to retrieve the keys to his seemingly charming holiday home. Surprisingly, rather than Señor Stucky being present and accounted for, Alan instead runs into a distinctly creepy older woman who quickly spins him a yarn about Stucky being under the weather and thus by proxy, reveals she has apparently been trusted with the cabin keys before handing them over to Alan and Alice.
As it turns out, the cabin that this old lass directs the couple toward just happens to be in the middle of Cauldron Lake – an expanse of water that has come to form in the depths of a volcanic crater. All good omens so far then. Just as the Wakes are making themselves at home, Alice lets it slip that the main reason why they’ve taken this vacation to Bright Falls in the first place is to cure Alan of his writer’s block. Resolutely miffed by this revelation and the resultant bruising of an already bruised ego, Alan marches out of the cabin but then charges back in again when he hears Alice screaming for aid, only to see her pulled down into the murky waters of the lake by a dark presence. Distraught, Alan decides to hop into the drink after her, only to blackout as he sinks into the murky depths.
Regaining consciousness in his car, which he had seemingly driven off the road without having any memory of how he ended up there, Alan makes for a gas station that is closeby, only to be attacked by the same sort of dark, ethereal figures that attempted to murder him in his earlier nightmare. After he overcomes these enemies, the mysterious figure from that nightmare returns once more, this time leaving behind pages of ‘Departure’, a manuscript written by Alan that he predictably has no memory of writing. Essentially chronicling the events yet to come and revealing that not only are the darkness-shrouded enemies known as the ‘Taken’, but they’re also actually the good townsfolk of Bright Falls that have been possessed by an unseen evil to boot.
Sadly having to put a wretchedly possessed Carl Stucky into the dirt after reaching the gas station, Alan then reaches out to Sheriff Sarah Breaker regarding Alice’s disappearance. The kicker however, is that only does the good sheriff inform Alan that neither the cabin, nor the island that it sat upon exist any longer, but she also believes him to be a mental health risk and so takes him to the nearby police station just as Alan’s agent, Barry Wheeler, arrives in Bright Falls.
During his time at the police station, Alan receives a call from an individual who claims to be Alice’s kidnapper and somewhat cryptically, the kidnapper wants all of the pages from Departure in exchange for Alice. After tracking them down to a park closeby and engaging in a scrap that sees the kidnapper flee the scene, Alan regroups with Barry to track down more pages of Departure, alerting FBI agent Robert Nightingale to their activities in the process. Once all of the pages have been collected, Alan tracks down the kidnapper to trade all of the pages for Alice – only to stumble upon the mysterious old woman from earlier torturing the kidnapper into admitting that he never took Alice hostage. Before Alan can react, a massive tornado emerges out of nowhere, catapulting Alan into the depths of Cauldron Lake.
Awakening in a nearby lodge, Alan finds he is under the care of Emil Hartman, a psychiatrist who tells Alan he is going through a psychotic break brought about by the trauma of Alice’s disappearance. As a horde of Taken attack the lodge, Alan begins to make his escape, discovering that the kidnapper was a ruse used by Hartman to bring Alan to his lodge. After escaping the lodge and observing the shadow shroud consume the entire structure behind them, Alan and Barry start to uncover the truth of Cauldron Lake from the cowed denizens of Bright Falls.
Chiefly, the duo discover that an unseen horror which goes by the moniker of the ‘Dark Presence’ is locked within the deep watery expanse of the lake, leveraging the ancient powers of the lake to merge reality and fiction into one. As it turns out, the last time the Dark Presence did this it afflicted Thomas Zane, an old poet that just happened to be the mysterious figure that helped out Alan earlier on during his first nightmare, showing him how to destroy the Taken in the process. Furthermore, it’s also revealed that the old woman which Alan met at the local diner, was actually the Dark Presence taking on the appearance of Barbara Jagger, the wife of Thomas Zane who had drowned in the lake many years before.
Realising that history is repeating itself with the Dark Presence leveraging Alice to coerce Alan into the lake so that he can essentially use his writing abilities to blur fiction and reality yet further still, Alan and Barry set out to confront the Dark Presence. However at this point, the ever-persistent Agent Nightingale has caught up with them and promptly arrests the pair, only for the Taken to attack the police station and drag the hapless agent into the grim darkness.
After meeting up with Sheriff Breaker, who has seen enough of this insanity to be properly on board with the whole thing, Alan and Barry are pointed in the direction of a hermit who was an acquaintance of Thomas Zane and has long been preparing for the return of the Dark Presence. A big part of that preparation is a place known as the ‘Well-Lit Room’ – an ethereal area into which the ‘Clicker’ is embedded. An immensely powerful light switch that can channel the power of Alan’s scribble power to wreck the Dark Presence, Alan takes the Clicker and then quickly dives into the depths of Cauldron Lake by himself.
Finding himself seemingly trapped in an extra-dimensional plane of existence known as the ‘Dark Place’, Alan quickly realises that mere thoughts can be made real in this dimension and so after confronting Barbara Jagger, ruins her completely with the Clicker and seemingly expels the influence of the Dark Presence in the process. The stinger of course, is that in order to keep a semblance of balance in the story, Alan must sacrifice himself by finishing the final pages of Departure, stranding himself in the Dark Place while his wife Alice goes free in the waking world.
Trapped in the Dark Place, Alan soon realises that he is the cause of his current predicament and must reconcile the many elements of his now shattered persona in order to use the power of his writings to free himself. In doing so, Alan returns to his typewriter and begins feverishly typing away on an all-new story titled ‘Return’.
Alan Wake II – A Synopsis
Unfolding some thirteen years after Alan Wake was reported missing, FBI Agent Saga Anderson is tasked with visiting Bright Falls to investigate a spate of occult murders that have been reported in the town. Upon arriving, she soon finds herself drawn into a terrifying story of seemingly endless horrors that Alan has written in order to engineer his escape from the Dark Place. In Alan Wake II players will control both Saga Anderson and Alan Wake as the two sides of their very different stories converge.
Arguably one of the most anticipated superhero video game titles ever, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 arrives not only with great fanfare but also standing atop the lofty shoulders of its two fantastic predecessors, Marvel’s Spider-Man and Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales. Bigger and more ambitious in every way, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 looks set to be a marquee superhero extravaganza when it releases this October.
Be sure to keep this guide in your favourites as we cover everything you need to know about Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 including the release date, PC release, gameplay details, latest trailer, and more.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 Release Date
The Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 release date has officially been confirmed as October 20, 2023. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is set to have a full release on PlayStation 5, where it will launch as a console exclusive for Sony’s current generation platform. Despite both Marvel’s Spider-Man and Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales releasing on PlayStation 4, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 will not see a release on Sony’s last-gen console.
What about the PC Release?
While a Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 PC release has yet to be confirmed, it would seem only to be a matter of time until it is. With Sony aggressively bringing great swathes of its PlayStation Studios portfolio to PC, including the recent likes of The Last of Us Part 1 and of course both Marvel’s Spider-Man and Marvel’s Spider-Man Miles Morales, this would seem to be very much a matter of ‘when’, rather than ‘if’, so stay tuned.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 Story
Set ten months after the events chronicled in Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, this Spidey sequel reunites both Peter Parker and Miles Morales as the latter is now much more comfortable in his superhero role, while the former welcomes his much missed friend, Harry Osborn back to the sprawl of the Big Apple after an extended time away. Naturally, it isn’t long before some really, really bad dudes show up and seemingly the first of these is Kraven the Hunter, the leader of a band of mercenaries known as ‘The Hunters’, Kraven finds himself drawn to New York City as he hunts down super-powered individuals such as Miles Morales and Peter Parker.
Of course the wild card in all of this is Venom, an alien symbiote that has found its way to earth and when it melds with a host, amplifies their primal strengths and aggression often at the expense of just about everything else. Naturally because Peter Parker can never seem to have a good day, Venom soon melds with Peter, forcing him to confront the darker side of himself that will seek justice at seemingly any cost – including that of his friends’ well-being. To drive home the point that Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 would impart a darker tale, Marvel Games head honcho Bill Rosemann has previously described the narrative of Insomniac’s Spidey squeal as being ‘a little darker’, likening the tone to Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back in something of an eyebrow raising revelation.
Confirmed Characters
The breadth and width of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2’s narrative is such that it boasts a gargantuan cast of characters when compared to its predecessors. Here is every confirmed character for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2:
Ganke Lee
Harry Osborn
Kraven
Lizard (Curt Connors)
Mary-Jane Watson
Martin Li/Mister Negative
Norman Osborn
Rio Morales
Spider-Man (Miles Morales)
Spider-Man (Peter Parker)
Venom
Wraith (Yuri Watanabe)
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 Gameplay
On the whole, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 doesn’t stray from the open-world, third-person platforming combat shenanigans that cemented the two previous games in the series as some of the best superhero video games ever made. As such, players can certainly expect to be swinging around a pristine digital rendition of New York City, beating up all manner of gangsters and supervillains, all the while completing a range of side missions, main missions and additional activities.
In terms of the new stuff, one of the biggest new features that Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 brings to the table, is that it allows players to switch between Peter Parker and Miles Morales on the fly whenever you’re freely roaming the massive urban expanse of New York City. More than that, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 also has bespoke missions and activities for each of the Spider-Men too, providing Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 with the sort of dynamically integrated narrative that was missing from the previous two games in the series. Furthering the hugely enjoyable combat of the two previous Marvel’s Spider-Man titles, both Peter Parker and Miles Morales now have the ability to parry incoming attacks – a crucial new feature since certain foes have attacks that our collective Spider-Men will be unable to evade.
Elsewhere, traversal has seen a massive upgrade thanks to the addition of Web Wings to the Spidey suits which both Miles and Peter use, allowing them to swoop across the city and cover far more ground than they otherwise would be able to. As one might well expect, the skill trees from the previous games have also seen a sizable expansion, with a range of additional gadgets, mods and new abilities all neatly augmenting the capabilities of our friendly neighbourhood Spider-Men. Whether it’s the Web Line web-shooter mod that allows our heroes to shoot a line between two surfaces to create an additional pathway above enemies during a stealth section, or the Web Grabber that can silently neutralise a number of foes at once, players will be glad to see that the creative latitude for Spidey shenanigans in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is pleasingly broad.
Bolstering all of this yet further still, is the addition of a third skill tree which enables the development of shared skills between Miles Morales and Peter Parker, deepening still the progression that is available to players in this regard. It doesn’t even end there either, because when Peter finds himself connected to the Venom symbiote, he gains additional web and tendril based attacks to boot as well. Put simply, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 looks to exceed the previous two games in the series in just about every way.
Where Can I Watch The Latest Trailer?
The latest trailer for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is available to watch right now and you can catch it above. Zeroing in on Insomniac’s massively improved take on New York City, this latest trailer for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 delves into the sizable upgrades that this digital rendition of the Big Apple has received, from the additional two boroughs of Queens and Brooklyn, through to the improved traversal methods and much more besides.
One of the most promising Soulslike titles to come along in a good while, Lords of the Fallen looks set to not only bring Epic’s Unreal Engine 5 kicking and screaming into the genre, but also seeks to innovate in a number of unique ways to satisfy veterans and bring newcomers into the Soulslike fold.
Be sure to keep this guide in your favourites as we cover everything you need to know including the release date, gameplay details, latest trailer, PC specifications and more.
Lords Of The Fallen Release Date
The Lords of the Fallen release date has officially been confirmed as October 13, 2023. Lords of the fallen is set to have a full release on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S/X consoles and PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store. Given its use of Unreal Engine 5, Lords of the Fallen has somewhat predictably not been confirmed for a release on the last generation PlayStation 4 or Xbox One consoles, or Nintendo Switch, as of right now.
Is Lords Of The Fallen A Remake Or A Sequel?
The answer is that 2023’s Lords of the Fallen is actually both a remake and a sequel to 2014’s Lords of the Fallen release, as it takes place more than one thousand years after the events of the original game. A veritable kick in the privates for SEO chasing folks everywhere, this year’s Lords of the Fallen has exactly the same name as the original. Though somewhat hilariously, it wasn’t always this way however, as Hexworks’ Soulslike sequel/reboot actually began life as ‘Lords of the Fallen 2’, then was renamed to ‘The Lords of the Fallen’ before finally becoming, rather confusingly, just ‘Lords of the Fallen’. Not confusing at all is it?
Lords Of The Fallen Gameplay
Being very much a Soulslike effort, it probably doesn’t come as any sort of great surprise that Lords of the Fallen is a punishing, third-person action RPG with an emphasis on super precise combat. Casting players as one of the last Dark Crusaders, it has you tearing across a broken world, destroying monsters, uncovering loot and vanquishing ultra-hard bosses. Or at least trying to.
Boasting a game world that is more than five times the size of the realm that players were treated to in its predecessor, this game showcases far more complex and sophisticated worlds that are all interconnected by a vast range of corridors, walkways and hidden passages.
Of course being a Soulsike, Lords of the Fallen also encompasses many of the typical design elements one would expect to see in such titles. Front and centre naturally, is the concept of regenerating enemies whenever you hit a save point, elsewhere and much like other Soulslike offerings from years past, there is a dynamic PvPvE element, where players can be summoned to take down challenging foes in co-op or can invade your game session and make things, well, very bad indeed.
Perhaps the biggest way that Lords of the Fallen separates itself from its peers is in how Hexworks effort deals with death. Rather than just having your hapless, vanquished form rise up from the ground to get battered all over again, the game has you fighting your way through a deathly realm, tangling with all manner of spectres and monsters as you seek to return to your body.
Lords Of The Fallen Classes
There are currently no less than nine starting classes in Lords of the Fallen, with one additional class that is unlocked separately to bring that total to ten classes overall. From the melee focused Mournstead Infantry, to the arcane arsenal of the Pyric Cultist, you can catch each class below.
Blackfeather Ranger
Condemned
Dark Crusader
Exiled Stalker
Hallowed Knight
Mournstead Infantry
Orian Preacher
Partisan
Pyric Cultist
Udirangr Warwolf
Where Can I Watch The Latest Trailer?
The latest trailer for Lords of the Fallen is available to watch right now and you can catch it above. Far from the slender pickings that we so often get with trailers these days, the latest trailer is actually a mammoth seventeen minute long beast of a video that showcases a long stretch of impressive and uninterrupted gameplay from CI Games latest effort. Given the sheer length of the trailer, it’s no surprise that much of the game’s design is on show. From the punishing combat with all manner of wonderfully grotesque enemies, to the exploration of grim, sprawling lands, this latest trailer arguably provides the best taste of things to come.
Lords Of The Fallen PC System Requirements
One of the few games in 2023 to leverage Epic’s cutting edge Unreal Engine 5 to fill out a sprawling and opulent dark fantasy world filled with detailed environments and stellar character model work, it’s perhaps somewhat predictable that the PC specs are appropriately high as a result. Perhaps the most telling point of all from the system specifications is that the recommended rig is only for 1080p high quality settings. This means that somewhat inevitably, the PC specs at higher resolutions and quality settings will be much higher than even the currently quoted recommended specification. You can catch the PC system requirements as it currently stands below.
GTFO is a hardcore 4 player co-op FPS game where players descend into a brutal underground facility in a desperate fight for survival. Released on the 10th of December, 2021, GTFO has received a ton of updates making it bigger, better, and more deadly.
Are you brave enough to enter the Rundown? Here’s everything you need to know.
What is GTFO?
In GTFO you play as a prisoner, dropped into the Rundown to complete work orders assigned to you by the mysterious Warden. As GTFO is a co-op FPS you’ll be working alongside three other players as you try to survive, exploring a colossal subterranean series of levels known as The Complex.
GTFO is about good communication and working together in order to complete multi-objective expeditions. The Rundown will act as your mission hub and will change what expeditions are available to you at various times. Some expedition sets may be more difficult to complete and will, therefore, remain active for a month or so. Additionally, others may only appear for a few days before the Rundown changes, offering new challenges.
The deeper you go, the tougher the challenges will become. With no traditional mission structure, the concept of The Rundown is an interesting one that keeps the game feeling fresh as it rotates its expeditions for players.
It’s dark, it’s scary and you’re going to get killed a lot, but try not to worry too much, you will have some kick-ass equipment to help you survive.
GTFO Gameplay
The key to your success in your missions is making the most of your equipment and weapons. Not only that but learning the layout of the facilities you’re entering will help you achieve your goals. Ammo will be limited, so making sure shots count is vital. You’ll also have access to a number of gadgets to help give you the edge in a fight.
For example, the motion tracker is vital to planning how you approach rooms; it will show where enemies may be waiting on the other side of doors. The mine deployer and sentry turret will help with creating deadly traps to lure creatures towards. Additionally the foam launcher will slow down enemies by blocking up doorways or by firing it directly on to your enemy.
You will also die a fair amount, but when you do you’re able to take what you’ve learned from that failed expedition and use it in the next one. Each expedition will take you to various parts of the facility and will feature different styles, objectives and other conditions.
Survive, Fight, Die, Live
GTFO features a disgusting cast of hideous creations to sneak or fight your way past – but trust me, you should try sneaking as much as possible.Many of the creatures you encounter when playing GTFO are in a state of suspended hibernation. This gives you ample chance to go in quiet and achieve your objectives without fighting off hordes of horrible monsters.
But when things do go wrong, you’ve got a ton of weaponry to hand to be able to hold the hordes at bay. Be warned though – GTFO is a hardcore FPS. and death lurks around every corner. If you don’t set up choke points, communicate with your team, or use the right weapons, your team is toast. And we don’t want that.
What’s new in GTFO?
GTFO has received loads of updates following its launch. The latest, ALT://Rundown 6.0 Destination, has increased the amount of punishing expeditions you and your team can take on to 71.
Complete new objectives, experience 13 new expeditions, fight threats, and earn new rewards. With a brand-new Spartacus MX-2 Helmet to unlock and the devastating Drekker INEX Drei Scattergun, there’s plenty of reasons to dive back into The Complex in this latest update.
If you need to know more – check out the gameplay trailer above to whet your appetite.
The best stealth games are the ones that let you live out your sneaky dreams, and probably save scum your way to victory. Carefully plotting and planning the perfect route is something that Assassin’s Creed games sometimes let you do, but the indie stealth scene is a lot more varied. We’ve got all sorts of different viewpoints and styles on this list of the best stealth games.
Stealth can be found in a lot of different ways in games. Sometimes it’s all about picking the perfect moment to steal something, sometimes it’s all about evading detection so you never have to fight, and sometimes it’s about sneaking around so you have an advantage when you do fight. Because the world of stealth is so varied, so is our list of the best stealth games, so let’s get stuck in.
Despite being eight years old, Invisible, Inc remains one of the best stealth games around thanks to an excellent cast of characters, an incredible level of customization, and endlessly replayable campaigns thanks to randomly generated missions. Plus, the animation style holds up incredibly well, which is always nice.
You have to guide agents through a highly-strung world as you try and complete missions and become more powerful as you go. It’s an incredibly fun system, and the turn-based nature of things allows for more surgical control of everything, and the results are more satisfying as a result.
Mark of the Ninja was made by the same people as Invisible, Inc, so you know it’s gotta be good. It’s a little odd that one company is so good at stealth games that they’ve made two completely different ones that both sit among the best stealth games, but hey, we’re not complaining.
Mark of the Ninja (we’ve linked to the remastered one because it’s shinier) is an incredible action stealth game where you use cursed tattoos to give you superhuman abilities, and you then get to decide how you want to approach each mission. You can choose to kill everyone as you go or only hurt people when it’s necessary. Plus, you get cooler tools and techniques as you go to keep things interesting.
Despite being in Early Access, Gloomwood is an exquisite stealth game, and one that you should absolutely be spending your time in. You play as someone trapped in a Victorian city that’s being rapidly consumed by a horrifying curse, and the only way you’re going to get out alive is being really sneaky.
Aside from some incredibly unusual weapons, you can use pretty much anything you find to help you out, because it’s got that immersive sim blood in it. Gloomwood has major horror themes too, so you’ll really want to stay hidden most of the time, which adds to the immersion the game offers.
We’ve got more ninjas for you, because of course we do; this is a list of the best stealth games. Aragami 2 casts you as a mystical and powerful ninja who can fight off invaders and take on contracts to power yourself up and help the shadow clan survive. Unlike many stealth games, this one is filled to the brim with magical powers, which is great fun.
Also, it’s co-op, and being able to sneak around as a group and time takedowns perfectly or all gang up on troublesome enemies that can’t be surprised. It’s a huge amount of fun either way, but playing through with some friends is definitely the best way to do it, especially if you all have different playstyles.
Intravenous is a top-down tactical shooter where stealth plays a huge role. While you can theoretically blast your way through things, it’s generally not a wise way to approach things, because while you’re definitely a powerhouse, you’re also outgunned almost constantly, so going in loud is a pretty quick way to end yourself.
You can enter vent shafts to stay save, shoot out lights to make yourself harder to detect, and even imitate the guard’s loved ones to distract them. It’s somehow incredibly silly and also very violent, which makes for a great way to spend a few hours if you’re looking for some sometimes sneaky, sometimes shooty action.
While heist games aren’t strictly the same thing as stealth games, you do have to be sneaky in them, and that means we can put Monaco: What’s Yours Is Mine on our list of the best stealth games. You can’t stop us; we’ve already sneaked into your home and added it to the list, or something.
Anyway, Monaco is a heist game where you get to play as different thieves who need to use their unique skills to find out where whatever you’re trying to steal is, shut down any security or guards that are in the way, and then sneak out again without getting caught. It’s great in single-player, but we recommend you play with friends so one of you can be annoying and loud and mess it all up every time.
Finally, we have Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew, which is a very new game that lets you not only be cursed pirates, but also be very sneaky about it. It sounds like the dream of every 11-year-old there’s ever been, and the game just so happens to be absolutely incredible to boot, which is always nice, and also fairly important for this list.
Shadow Gambit lets you plan and pull off incredible heists to steal mysterious treasures from the army of the Inquisition, and use the various magical skills of your crew to do so. You get to choose your crew as you wish and learn how they operate and who they are as you go, and even hang out on a ghost ship too. It’s all very cool, and it’s just a blast to play.
The best first-person shooters aren’t always the ones that you’ve heard of. There are loads of lists out there with games filled to the brim with games like Call of Duty and Battlefield, but you already know all of those. So, what if we took a look at the more indie side of things and listed the best first-person shooters that you might not have heard of?
That’s a rhetorical question, because we’re going to do it anyway because it seems like a good idea. After all, surely the aim of a good list is to bring to your attention games you might not know. So, here are seven of the best first-person shooters that you might not have heard of, and there are plenty of guns to find and bullets to shoot in each of them. Pew pew?
Bright Memory: Infinite is a game all about style. It combines the gameplay of a first-person shooter with the feel of something more akin to Devil May Cry. Sure, you’ll be shooting at things, but your aim is often about doing so stylishly, and you get to guide the heroine as she blitzes her way through countless enemies in a lot of different scenarios.
Aside from being staggeringly pretty, the gameplay feels absolutely incredible, and the whole experience feels a bit like a tech demo fever dream, and we mean that in the most complimentary way possible. It’s also under £20 without DLC, and only just over if you decide you want to dress the main character in different clothes. This is a first-person game though, so we’d advise against it.
If you’d rather play something that’s all about the multiplayer side of things, then good news, because BattleBit Remastered is here, and it’s a staggering monument to the joys of shooting at other digital people. This game has a little more Battlefield in it than Call of Duty, but the variety of weapons and vehicles on display will make you happy either way.
This game pits groups of up to 254 players against each other in teams and asks them to try and attack and defend objectives, or just shoot each other a lot. There are different classes to learn, loads of weapons which you can customise, and a fair few vehicles to hop in as well. There’s even proximity voice chat, which is great if you want to hear everyone being dejected as you beat them again and again.
BPM: Bullet Per Minute is a rhythm-action FPS roguelike. Which is a lot of SEO words in one game description, but to be fair to it, all of them are true. Shooting and moving to the beat while fighting off demons is an incredibly strange thing to get used to, but once you get the feel of it, you’re basically just playing a really rhythmic Doom.
The roguelike nature of BPM means that you’ll see different things every time you play, get different weapons, and get different abilities too. There are loads of horrifying demons to try and take out as you dance around, and there are even multiple characters to unlock who play a little bit differently too.
Destructible environments are painfully absent these days, and we’re sick of it. Red Faction promised us all the ability to tunnel through walls using rocket launchers, and the fact that it’s not always the case is very upsetting. Severed Steel has fully destructible levels though, and it’s also about moving well and being incredibly cool as you do so.
If you’re the kind of person who loves perfecting every single motion in a game, then Severed Steel is an absolute treat for both you and your soul. It’s still fun even if you’re a klutz who just about muddles through, but it’s definitely at its best when you’re trying to save precious seconds off of every level.
Gunfire Reborn might just be the best first-person shooter roguelike out there. You play as one of multiple anthropomorphised animals who all have different abilities, including, but not limited to, dual-wielding explosive guns, flying kicks, controlling a mech suit, and the ability to stop time for enemies.
Each character has several upgrade paths that can be unlocked as you progress which can make the same character play in several different ways, the weapons are all incredible and have genuinely inspired reload animations, and there are multiple difficulty settings and multiple modes too. Plus it’s co-op, which just makes the game even better in our opinion.
SUPERHOT is a game where time only moves when you do. If you want to play it at its best, then get the VR version, because it’s just life-changing. This version is still incredible though, and while it’s not quite an FPS game in the traditional sense, it does have guns and is played in the first-person perspective, so it’s close enough.
Each level is a puzzle that you get to solve with violence. You’ll need to punch enemies if they get too close, steal weapons from their hands, dodge bullets, and occasionally try to take out a helicopter gunner with an ashtray or something. Just go and play it already, it’s worth your time, money, and a little bit of your soul too.
Finally we have Dusk, which is one of the games that really helped revive boomer shooters as a genre. Dusk is a retro-inspired FPS game, but one filled with plenty of modern touches. You get to take your character through groups of cultists, militants, and demons, and take them out with everything from sickles to rocket launchers, and it’s basically nonstop action throughout.
It’s got an incredible metal soundtrack that’ll have your feet tapping and your head banging while you play, and an endless survival mode if you just feel like blowing off steam, and there’s even an online battle mode as well. It’s just a sublime FPS game, and if you’ve yet to try it out, now seems like a very good time to do so.
The roguelike field is overflowing with truly excellent games, so it can be hard to stand out. Well, what if you played as a frog that stood on top of a giant mech with a sword? That’s the core premise of Shoulders of Giants, and even if that’s all the game did right, we’d be tempted to talk about it.
However, it’s not the only thing the game does right. In fact, Shoulders of Giants is one of those games that we think it’s really strange that nobody talks about it more. First of all, it’s co-op, and we love a good co-op roguelike, because dying a lot with a friend is the best way to mimic human interaction, or something.
The froggy side of things handles the ranged combat, while your mech buddy will do all the melee and movement. As you play through each world, you’ll upgrade both characters with new abilities which include, but are not limited to, being able to summon a garbage truck to run over your enemies. The skills here are very inventive, and the enemy designs can match them pretty comfortably too.
The worlds are also really easy on the eyes, the music is great, and each run feels very different, thanks to all the weird power-ups. You’ve also got a very clear meta-progression system thanks to your hub world being based around becoming more powerful overall, which helps alleviate some of the stresses that roguelikes induce in some players.
We just think it’s neat, and if you’ve been waiting for a roguelike that does things a little bit differently, then Shoulders of Giants is a great shout. Also, and we can’t stress this enough, you get to play as a frog with a gun on top of a mech with a sword.
Puzzle games come in a lot of forms. There are things like match-3 puzzles, mazes, word puzzles, and more. Some of the best puzzle games are the ones that play with your expectations though, and Superliminal won’t just play with them; it’ll ruin them forever with its unusual blend of perception-based puzzling, and completely absurd solutions.
Puzzles in this game have you coming across a seemingly unreachable ledge, or a place where you clearly need a specific item, but with no version of that item around. You then have to look around the world to see if you can find a picture of that item, or a small box that you can turn into a massive box by moving it closer to you and plonking it down.
One of our favourite puzzles involves the moon, and we’re not going to say anymore about it because we’d be giving the game away, but we spent dozens of minutes on it fruitlessly before finally solving it, and being amazed at just how inventive the solutions could be.
There’s also one section that changes the feel of Superliminal completely and will have you on the edge of your seat, but again, we don’t want to spoil things. Just trust us when we say that, if you can, playing this in one sitting is the best way to do so, and if you can get a group huddled around a computer, all of whom haven’t played it, then you’ll find it even more enjoyable.
Plus, if you really like how it does things, you can get a similar experience from Viewfinder, which is a few years newer, and involves pictures instead of just celestial bodies. Look at that, we’ve sneakily recommended two games in one place. You can’t do anything about it either, that’s just how it is now.
Orx is a roguelike tower defence game where, instead of just building towers, you build up a whole city in each level. Each level has you placing cards down to change the way your city evolves; sometimes those will be roads that will help you generate money, sometimes they’ll be a military camp to create a moveable defence force, and sometimes they’ll be upgrades or tactical changes.
As it stands, there are two different factions to choose from. The first one, the Rune Wardens you control build up immense castles which rain arrows upon anything that comes near them, while the second one, the Dune Reavers, is all about roaming mercenary groups. There’s going to be more coming during the Early Access period too, and that can only be good.
There’s a huge difference in how you can play these groups, and it means that there are loads of options for each individual match, as well as each playthrough on the whole. For example, the Rune Wardens can do huge damage by creating an absolutely massive castle at its centre, but the range of it might not be enough to take out the enemies on the outskirts of your kingdom.
So, to counter that, you might build one massive citadel at the centre of your kingdom, but you’ll need different outposts dotted around to truly defend yourself. You can then upgrade those further with different arrow types, or attack speed upgrades via various cards. There are loads of cards to unlock and upgrade as you go as well, which can completely change your strategy.
It’s just a very satisfying way to spend a few hours of your time, and you can even save your progress in each run and jump back in later, which is a feature every roguelike really needs to sort out as soon as it can.
The best indie games coming in September are going to gently ease you into the Autumnal months and into a warm embrace. Summer is setting now, if you actually had one this year, and sure, it’s unseasonably warm basically everywhere in the world right now, but why worry about that when you could be ignoring everything around you in favour of playing some games?
Sure, some people would call that escapism, but maybe those people own rocket ships and can go to other planets if things get worse. Anyway, games are good, and the best September indie games are going to be great. Here we’ve got seven different games to check out, and you’ll be able to find something to look forward to here for sure.
A good game doesn’t always have to involve loads of action. A lot of truly excellent games are about puzzles and exploration, maybe some cool mini-games. That’s what’s going on here with Dreamers, which promises to take you on an emotional journey about friendship and personal growth. You’ll get to meet loads of interesting NPCs, explore some beautiful places, and have some fun in mini-games too.
Next, we have Chants of Sennaar, which actually has a demo if you want to try it out without paying. Chant of Sennaar has you playing as a traveller who stumbles across the Peoples of the Tower, very heavily inspired by the myth of Babel, and your role is to try and reunite them all. You’ll need to use your head to do this though, as there are plenty of mysteries to uncover and solve, and the art style is stunning.
You’ve probably heard of Lies of P because this new Soulslike game turns Pinocchio into a Twink and then covers the whole thing in a layer of Bloodborne, the likes of which PC players have never seen before. The game looks amazing, undoubtedly, with slick action, some cool weapon creation ideas, and a unique lie mechanic that’ll test Pinocchio’s integrity. We’re just hoping that last feature really shines, because it could make for a truly unique Soulslike if so.
Witchfire has one of the wildest sentences we’ve seen on a store page; it reads “from the creators of Painkiller, Bulletstorm, and The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.” It’s just a strange mix of games, and one of them seemingly doesn’t belong there. Despite that, it’s all there, and we can’t help but be interested in this new roguelite shooter as a result. It’s actually only hitting Early Access this month, but watch the trailer for it, and we reckon you’ll be all-in, just like we are.
Party Animals has you and your friends becoming animals, and then throwing down against each other. It’s clearly very silly, and has more than a touch of Gang Beasts within it. The world needs more games like Gang Beasts, so we’re very glad to see this one coming up, especially as it seems to add a few more weapons and modes to the over-the-top floppy physics. Also the pig looks punk, and how can you not love that?
We’re pretty sure everyone owns a copy of PayDay 2, even if they’ve not played it. Seriously it’s hard to imagine a situation where someone doesn’t because the game is ubiquitous. Naturally then, the sequel to that game is going to be a big deal, and with the heavily-upgraded graphics, a host of new abilities, and a generally slicker feel, PayDay 3 looks like it’ll be an absolute blast to jump into. Just make sure you can actually trust your friends to be competent, because they’re going to get you all killed otherwise.
Fortune’s Run looks awesome. We mean that in terms of visuals and gameplay elements. This first-person shooter lets you punch and kick if you want to, interact with the world to pull off awesome environmental kills, hack things, sneak, and just generally get all into the immersive sim side of things. It also looks like it’s a game from the 90s in the best possible way, and it even has a demo if you prefer to check things out before getting stuck in.
With 1980s movie tie-in wizards Teyon bringing everybody’s favourite tin-plated copper back for the forthcoming RoboCop: Rogue City, now seems as good a time as any to take a look back at how the law enforcing cyborg has fared in video games up until now. From the arcades to home computers and consoles, here is every RoboCop game ranked from worst to best.
RoboCop (2003)
Inspired by the films rather than directly based upon any of them and whispered in the same company as such fantastically terrible offerings as Superman 64, RoboCop’s 2003 release was a travesty of epic proportions that ensured it remained at the absolute nadir of RoboCop video game tie-ins. Released for PS2, Xbox and Gamecube home consoles, 2003’s RoboCop was an innovation bereft first-person shooter summarily undone by terribly slow movement (I know RoboCop is a plodding chap, but this was beyond silly), sluggish targeting, too many bullet sponge enemies, a lack of ammo and little or no cover to use. With nothing else to recommend this absolute stinker of a genre effort, RoboCop’s 2003 incarnation is widely recognised as one of the worst video game tie-ins of all-time.
RoboCop (2004)
Coded in Java for the mobile phones of the early to mid 2000s, RoboCop’s 2004 offering was pretty terrible, even for the time. A side-scrolling blaster that looked to evoke fond memories of the first two games from 1988 and 1990 respectively while channelling the story beats of the first movie, RoboCop’s mobile debut was a sluggish and audio-visually ugly take on the franchise. From the incredibly slow moving sprites, to the glitchy animations, unresponsive controls and ear-clawingly terrible sound effects where gunshots sounded like musical instruments going off rather than anything approximating actual gunfire, RoboCop’s mobile debut is weapons grade awful and should be avoided like a fast moving van filled with barrels of corrosive acid.
RoboCop (2014)
A tie-in of sorts to that risible remake of the original movie which nobody asked for, 2014’s RoboCop was developed exclusively for mobile platforms and, well, the overzealous approach to squeezing your wallet for all its worth with a range of costly microtransactions that don’t so much compliment the game but rather exist at its core, was emblematic of similar offerings from that period of time. No better way to steal money than free enterprise, I guess. Anyway, beyond its ultra-grabby and cynical pay-to-win sensibilities, 2014’s RoboCop also happened to be a resolutely dull, third-person cover shooter where its titular protagonist would blast through waves of machines and other such enemies in a holographic training simulation. That said, the quality of the character models was actually pretty decent for the time, so that’s something, eh?
RoboCop 3 (1991-1993)
While the truth is that quite honestly there are no good versions of RoboCop 3 simply because all of them represent varying degrees of mediocrity and awfulness, what is intriguing is just how vastly different the home console versions were from the home computer iterations of the game. While the 8-bit and 16-bit versions of RoboCop 3 were depressingly terrible side-scrolling blasters that weren’t a patch on either of its two predecessors, the Amiga, Atari ST and PC versions of the same game were an entirely different proposition altogether. Taking place entirely from a first-person perspective, RoboCop 3 had you driving around Detroit shooting up fully polygonal, three-dimensional enemies in a way that felt oddly cutting edge – at least on the surface. Sure, both the driving and the shooting were nowhere near as satisfying as they needed to be, but by the same token it’s difficult to not be impressed by what was wrought here given the limitations of the platforms involved. Another neat fact about RoboCop 3 was that it was a tie-in to a movie that wouldn’t be released until more than two years later – essentially spoiling the plot of the third RoboCop film a good twenty-four months before it would finally end up in cinemas. Yikes.
RoboCop Versus The Terminator (1993)
Despite a rather sniffy reception from critics, I think it’s fair to say that the RoboCop Versus The Terminator certainly held a place in the hearts and minds of console players who were able to get their grubby paws on it. A mashup of two of the 1980s most recognisable sci-fi face shooters, Robocop Versus The Terminator was another side-scroller, albeit one that had a chunk of style. This is thanks in no small part to the amped up violence which resulted in some seriously gory kills, while some surprisingly satisfying gunplay underpinned the story as players once more took on the role of the resurrected Officer Murphy, who found himself tasked with stopping SkyNet from destroying the human race. Just a regular day on the beat, then.
RoboCop (1988)
A direct tie-in to the events chronicled in the 1987 blockbuster, RoboCop stormed into the arcades a year later in 1988 and would go on to release on basically every home computer and a handful of 8-bit consoles from the same era. A side-scrolling shooter that hewed closely to the events of the movie while chucking in first-person shooting gallery sections to break things up, RoboCop impressed players the world over with its detailed sprite work, satisfying side-scroller shooter action and most surprisingly, story interludes that were fully voiced by the actual actors from the 1987 flick. Clocking in at well over a million copies sold worldwide on home platforms, RoboCop also had the rare distinction of being really rather good no matter which platform you bought it for, with both console and home computer ports of the game giving roundly decent accounts of themselves.
Imagine for a second that some bright spark decided to marry RoboCop to Final Fight and now imagine that it actually happened, because that’s essentially what the arcade version of RoboCop 2 is. A completely different offering from the wildly inconsistent home versions of RoboCop 2, the arcade version of RoboCop’s second videogame outing was a whole lot of fun, loosely translating the plot of the 1990 sequel movie into a side-scrolling, effort that combined beat em up and shooter elements to create one of the better movie tie-ins of the day. Not only did RoboCop 2’s arcade incarnation allow players to fully explore both the X and Y axis of any given stage, much as you would in a side-scrolling brawler such as Double Dragon or Final Fight, but so too were there an impressive assortment of different weapons for RoboCop to pick up and some pleasingly challenging bosses to tangle with too. I’d (still) buy that for a dollar, certainly.
RoboCop 2 on the 8-bit and 16-bit consoles and home computers of the day however, was a markedly different beast when compared to its coin-popping counterpart. A side-scrolling shooter akin to its immediate predecessor, RoboCop 2 not only brought back the first-person shooting bonus sections that punctuated the original games, but also introduced new puzzle sections where you had to match up various computer chip layouts in order to proceed. The less said about those, the better. Interestingly, RoboCop 2’s release on home platforms typically fared better on the 16-bit machines than it did on the earlier NES, Amstrad and ZX Spectrum machines of the day, with ports to the latter formats often described as being too sluggish to play versus the 16-bit versions of that era.
With RoboCop: Rogue City aiming to recreate the look and feel of the original film, why not head over to our store and check it out. We don’t know about you, but we’d buy that for (more) than a dollar.
