news

PATH OF EXILE: CURSE OF THE ALLFLAME | A MAJOR NEW EXPANSION

Grinding Gear Games is sending the original Path of Exile beneath the oceans surrounding Wraeclast for an expansion that looks considerably larger than a routine challenge-league reset. Curse of the Allflame introduces a dangerous corsair expedition built around underwater treasure hunting, but the new league is only one part of the update. Version 3.29 also brings major revisions to Abyss and Legion, the return of the Mercenaries of Trarthus , a third Scion...

PUBLISHED | I8.O7.IIO26

read…

SPECIAL | GAME OF THRONES: WAR FOR WESTEROS | WINTER MEETS WAR

A proper Game of Thrones strategy game should never begin and end with large armies marching beneath familiar banners. Westeros is defined by what happens before the battle begins, by the promises made in private rooms, the territories left unprotected, the allies who arrive too late and the ambitious commanders who understand that political victory can be more valuable than military strength. PlaySide Studios is finally placing that world inside a...

PUBLISHED | I7.O7.IIO26

read…

news

GALLIPOLI | THE OTTOMAN FRONTS ENTER THE WW1 SERIES

BlackMill Games is moving its long-running World War I series away from the trenches most players immediately associate with the conflict and toward the Ottoman Fronts, where beach landings, dry deserts, coastal ravines and dense urban positions create a noticeably different kind of battlefield. Gallipoli is the fourth game in the series after Verdun, Tannenberg and Isonzo, but it is not simply transferring the same formula to another map pack. The British...

PUBLISHED | I7.O7.IIO26

read…

news

FALLOUT 5 CONFIRMED | FALLOUT 3 & NEW VEGAS RETURN REMASTERED

Bethesda Game Studios has finally provided a clear look at the future of Fallout, confirming Fallout 5 alongside remastered versions of Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas. Fallout 5 has entered pre-production and is being developed with Creation Engine 3, the same shared technology platform being built for The Elder Scrolls VI. Bethesda describes the next mainline Fallout as its long-range destination, which makes the announcement important but also places...

PUBLISHED | I7.O7.IIO26

read…

news

GENEFORGE 3: DETONATION | OLD-SCHOOL RPG ON KICKSTARTER

Turn-based combat, hand-built isometric locations, faction politics and the ability to create a personal army of strange living creatures are returning in Geneforge 3 – Detonation, the next remake from veteran independent developer Spiderweb Software. The Kickstarter campaign is now live, continuing the studio’s effort to rebuild its cult Geneforge saga for modern systems without stripping away the dense systems, open-ended progression and deliberately...

PUBLISHED | I6.O7.IIO26

read…

EFOOTBALL | BEST FOOTBALL GAME, INCOMPLETE FOOTBALL GAME

Long before online seasons, weekly player cards and carefully engineered engagement systems, football games belonged to living rooms, small bedrooms and groups of friends who needed little more than two controllers and enough time for one more match. Winning Eleven, and later Pro Evolution Soccer, became part of that routine for us. We did not play each version for several weeks and move on. We played almost every day. A quick match regularly...

PUBLISHED | I5.O7.IIO26

read…

REVIEW | THE ALTERS: LAST VARIABLE | SAFE HOUSE, UNSAFE WORLD

Few science-fiction games turn personal regret into a working survival system as effectively as this one, and that remains the strongest reason to return. Every practical decision carries an emotional consequence because the people keeping the base alive are also reminders of lives Jan never lived. Rather than chasing spectacle, the expansion strengthens that tension through a more experienced and visibly exhausted version of Jan Scientist, whose...

PUBLISHED | I5.O7.IIO26

read…

SPECIAL | STAR TREK: SHADOW FRONTIER | ...SUPPOSED TO BE BRIGHT?

My modest personal view of Star Trek begins with a simple belief: this universe should ultimately represent a bright future for humanity. The franchise I grew to love was never valuable because it pretended that suffering, hatred or fear had disappeared, but because it imagined a civilisation mature enough to confront those things without being defined by them. Starfleet represented exploration rather than conquest, cooperation rather than permanent...

PUBLISHED | I4.O7.IIO26

read…

preview

PREVIEW | MANDATE ORDER | CITY BUILDING WITH CONSEQUENCES

Mandate Order approaches the city-building genre from a harsher direction than the usual settlement fantasy. Its ancient Chinese stronghold is not being raised simply to grow, decorate and prosper; every farm, workshop, warehouse and defensive wall exists under the possibility of invasion. Set during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, Digital Sky’s strategy game combines free-form construction, resource management, government policy...

PUBLISHED | I4.O7.IIO26

read…

REVIEW | AC: BLACK FLAG RESYNCED | OLD PIRATE, NEW SHARPNESS

I have never been an ultra fan of Assassin’s Creed as a series, and the reason is not that the games lack money, style or historical beauty. They usually have all of that. My problem was always somewhere else. The worlds often looked impressive from a distance, but too much of the life inside them felt decorative once the player came closer. Crowds moved, guards patrolled, side activities filled the map, but the sense of deeper consequence was not always...

PUBLISHED | I3.O7.IIO26

read…