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Chinese developers Eclipse Glow Games have revealed Tides Of Annihilation, a fantasy hack-and-slash set in a "twisted", modern yet Arthurian version of London. It casts you as Gwendolyn, a baby-faced blood-letter who must defeat Avalon's demi-gods by *checks notes* throwing the Knights of The Round Table at them.

Hunt: Showdown and Crysis developers Crytek are dismissing an estimated 15 percent of their workforce - around 60 people out of 400 – in the face of “the complex, unfavourable market dynamics that have hit our industry these past several years”. This comes after they paused development of mechsuit FPS sequel Crysis 4 last year, with staff shifting over to Showdown’s live service reboot Hunt: Showdown 1896. Crytek now say they need to cut back in order to remain “financially sustainable”.

Sharkmob have punched the green light, cracked open the hangar doors and launched a public playtest for their windblown open world extraction shooter Exoborne, which I would gingerly summarise as Anthem meets Just Cause with a touch of PUBG. From today till 17th February at 1pm GMT, 2pm CET, or 5am PST, you'll be able to get your fill of mech-o-looting via Steam. Here's a trailer's worth of wiggly whooshes, big bangs and exowotsits to celebrate. Mmm, exowotsits. They used to be 25p a bag in the 1990s.

Elden Ring Nightreign will release 30th May 2025 on Steam, developers FromSoftware and publishers Bandai Namco have announced. In a few short months, you and up to two friends will be called upon to rush a few bosses on a large, shrinking map set in the same universe as the 2022 open worlder. Is it the Elden Ring sequel many would like? No. Is it going to kindle similar feelings of frustration, despair and sporadic religious ecstasy? The omens seem good.

Well, this is nice. Remedy's exceptionally good horror game Alan Wake 2 is finally making royalties for the studio for the first time since its release in late 2023, after shifting over 2 million copies. The jubilant news comes from Remedy latest financial report, as spotted by VG247.

As of September last year, the musical-with-guns had "recouped most of its development and marketing expenses", but still wasn't quite in the green. Since then, they've released both The Lake House expansion and physical console editions, which appear to have done the trick. "October saw particularly high activity around Alan Wake 2," says the report.

Game engine company Unity are making yet another round of job cuts across various departments, from software development to advertising. They've yet to specify how many people have been affected - according to a leaked memo from Unity CEO Matthew Bromberg, those concerned will be notified today - but several Unity employees have confirmed that they're now looking for work on LinkedIn, amongst them senior technical artist Peter Roe and senior software developer Coline Turquin. In his LinkedIn post, Roe describes the layoffs as "completely abrupt and impersonal". Apparently, a noreply address contacted him at 5am local time to reveal that he'd lose access to systems by the end of the day. Funny stuff.

Ex-Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick has called a 2021 petition signed by over a thousand Activision Blizzard employees to remove him as CEO "fake", and suggests that harassment claims and legal cases brought against Activision Blizzard were engineered by the Communication Workers of Union in a bid to attract new members. Kotick made the comments during an appearance on Grit, a business podcast by American venture capital company Kleiner Perkins. He appeared on the podcast with former EA CEO Bing Gordon (thanks, Gamespot), to talk about both their company histories.

Kotick's statements reference widely reported incidents alleging a company culture of harassment, intimidation, and pay inequity around the time - coinciding with a lawsuit against the company - and the petition referred to appears to be this one to remove him as CEO, which attracted over a thousand signatures.

That petition followed a report by the Wall Street Journal (paywalled) that highlighted several alleged incidents of harassment by Activision staff, alongside reports that Kotick was aware of these allegations but did not inform the company's board of directors, and intervened to prevent the firing of an alleged harasser. It wasn't just Activision workers who found these claims alarming: a group of company shareholders called for Kotick's resignation soon after. Kotick denied any wrongdoing.

The developers of upcoming survival game Subnautica 2 have warned fans that some dastardly do-badders are sending "fraudulent invites" to a playtest for the game via Steam messages. The playtest isn't real, say Unknown Worlds, who point out that any such invite will only come in an email from their own domain.

Monster Hunter Wilds features an absolutely dreadful spider monster - a spider that, going by preview encounters and trailers, strives for the point on the Venn diagram between Malenia in Elden Ring and the demon arachnid from Hunt: Showdown. The spider monster is called the Lala Barina. If I saw "Lala Barina" out of context I would assume I was reading about a successor to Suzuki's subcompact automobile the Holden Barina, whose brave and sturdy outline once graced the roads of Oceania. I would not picture a giant, greasy rose blossom with jet-black darting mandibles. I would not picture nests of scarlet silk and status effects literally out the wazoo.

Sid Meier's Civilization 7 is out now in full public access on Steam, Epic Games Store and the Microsoft Store and once again, I ask myself: does Sid Meier keep a hit list of journalists who just call it plain old Civilization? What about journalists who come up with cute puns like Sidilization or CiviliSidtion or SimSiddy: The Meier The Merrier and whoops, I've just been assassinated by sniper drone. Fortunately the drone is equipped with one of those generative AI chatbots and can write the rest of this news post for me.

What would do, oh what would you do?

Yes, what would you do, with an infinite shoe?

Would you melt it to make yourself infinite glue?

Or to infinite dogs 'pon which to infinitely chew?

Would you keep ajar infinite doors…alright enough of that. I'm very sorry. I had too much cheap energy drink for breakfast and it appears to have given me rhyming cancer. Also, the urge to browse the Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 mods, to see what players of the RPG were downloading most at the moment. I find there's usually a sweet spot before anything too substantial hits a game's Nexus Mods page where you can use the most popular mods as an interesting barometer to what sort of game people actually want to be playing. The theme here? Players seem to love the idea of a gritty realistic medieval game in theory, but actually secretly enjoy having the inconvenient edges sanded off.

Capcom fans, it's time to open your wallets and embrace greatness. Friendly PSA here: Fanatical just dropped a "Build Your Own Capcom Bundle" as part of BundleFest 2025, and it's exactly what your Steam library needs.

Comicbook mulchfest Marvel Rivals once planned to reset player ranks twice per season, but these recently-hatched plots are no more, for the gamers have descended upon NetEase like rogue Iron Man suits, and the developers have acquiesced to their verbal kicks and punches.

Torch-trembling spook 'em up Phasmophobia is getting a new map some time this year, say developers Kinetic Games. It'll be a small one, about the size of one of the haunted houses that make up the co-op horror's roster of cosier locations. And that decision to build small is going to be the plan from now on. No more big maps like the spectre-stalked high schools or mazey psych wards of the past, the developers have decreed.

It is I, the guy who has only played Mechabellum playing his second autobattler, and getting strong Mechabellum vibes from it. Except, actually no, not at all. He Is Coming, from Chronocle and noted good game recognisers Hooded Horse, is actually a kinda sorta classic roguelike RPG. You'll be shuffling over a Commodore 64-tified overworld map, grabbing treasure, bumping foes that move when you do, and turn-based autobattling them.

Got wounded? Maybe have a nice rest at that campfire. Not too long, you slovenly wastrel! You're actually on the clock: the 'he' of the title refers to the menagerie of boss creatures that turn up after a set time. The idea is to use your time wisely to prepare for the big fight, getting stronger without getting whittled down too much.

I don't play many visual novels, but I've played enough to know that Of The Devil is hot. Hot like the sizzle of rain through a neon signboard as a dull-eyed redhead walks into a cyberpunk police station at 3am and starts throwing around Chandlerisms like she's boiling an egg - and you're the egg. "Information's like cash in my line of work," says the dame, who is a freelance lawyer called Morgan. "You've got to spend it to make it." She sizes up the holographic front desk, with its sprinkling of things to OBSERVE. "Let's see if I can't poke around and shake some change loose."

PowerWash Simulator simply too strenuous? House Flipper 2 furrowing your brow? They can't hurt you anymore, friend. It is simply you and the hole now. The days may come, and the world may spin, but you? You need only dig. A Game About Digging A Hole is a game about digging a hole.

"Hey Steam community," goes the delightfully unadorned Steam page introduction to this simulation game. "I'm Ben, and I created this game in my spare time!". I love you, Ben. Not a "play your way" in sight. Nary a "the only limit is your imagination". Absent a venomous and detestable "easy to learn, hard to master". Just a bloke named Ben, and a hole named hole.

Last March, Sega sold off Company Of Heroes and Warhammer 40,000: Dawn Of War developers Relic Entertainment in the course of wider "restructuring", "realigning" and lay-offening at the house of Sonic. Relic's new corporate partners are a holding company established by the UK investment firm Emona Capital LLP - an arrangement that apparently lets them operate like an independent studio, though I'm fuzzy on the moving parts.

Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick has hailed PC gaming's "increasing share of the market", in what you could optimistically interpret as the prelude to a GTA 6 PC release date announcement, and less optimistically, as a simple reassurance to investors who are fretting about the decline of console game sales.

Cheery mom-and-pop computer game business Valve have created a new Steamworks page for their policy about in-game adverts and advertising in general, with a troubleshooter's list of dos and don'ts for developers.

As Graham pointed out to me just now, Valve's handling of such things hasn't really changed over the past few years, but I can't pass up the opportunity to chew the fat a little about the intriguingly murky, slippery-slope business of turning your virtual world into an ad platform. Also, I had already written this article by the time he pointed that out to me, and I can't bear to send all my precious words to the abyss.

Better get yer cigar chompin' mouth muscles warmed up. Second world war sabotage 'em up Commandos: Origins now has a release date, and it's fairly soon. Good news for people who enjoy sniping fascists from across the map while commanding a barrel-armed Irishmen to simultaneously slit a throat. And equally good news for those who lament the loss of Shadow Tactics: Blades Of The Shogun developer Mimimi Games.

The RPS review of Firaxis' grand strategy Civilisation 7 is currently in progress. We didn't get early code, and our usual method of sidestepping this issue by rapidly entering the numbers and letters spelled out by our extensive collection of longhorn beetles bore no fruit. Rest assured: it's coming. Sin reviewed it for EuroVega though, awarding it two out of a possible five beetles. While she found it largely dull, she did mention that "its UI has enough potential to make some of my complaints feel patchable". Firaxis seem to agree, putting out a statement last Friday following feedback from the game's advanced access period.

Would you like the good or the bad news first? Obviously I can't actually respond to that, so I'll just do the bad news first and if you chose differently you can always tip your monitor upside down, hang from the ceiling, or just work your way up the article from the bottom: tributary horror demake Bloodborne PSX is no more. As reported by The Verge (thanks PC Gamer), LW Media's Lilith Walther has received a copyright takedown notice from firm MarkScan on behalf of Sony Interactive, accusing Bloodborne PSX of 'digital piracy'. The game was previously available on Itch for three years without issue.

This follows a recent DMCA takedown of a YouTube video promoting Bloodborne PSX, as chronicled by noted good modsman Lance McDonald below. As McDonald mentions, MarkScan were also responsible for another recent strike against his own 60fps Bloodborne mod, which had been available without issue since 2021.

This week is the week of Valentine's Day, and therefore theoretically the most romantic week of the year even though it's still winter here and the drizzle feels like it's falling inside my bones and the thought of another human's touch makes me want to wipe myself with sandpaper.

Some trivia from a person who's been in a relationship for decades: Valentine's Day comes less than a month after "Blue Monday", the most depressing day of the year according to a random travel company, and you know, I think we need more time to, as it were, switch between varieties of blueness. My picks for this week's new PC games likely won't help, assuming you aren't especially turned on by the thought of Harriet Tubman being queen of Carthage. Ah well. Let's commence feeding the Maw and hope that we strike a few sparks of amore from the creature's heaving flanks.

Sometimes you read a piece of criticism and its author immediately becomes one of your guys. That never happened for me with music critic Neil Kulkarni, though I must have read his work given the music magazines he wrote for. That changed a couple of weeks ago when I went to Kieron's (RPS in peace) newsletter in search of his piece in rememberance of J Nash (included in a prior Papers), in which he linked to his similar piece on Kulkarni, who passed last year. I read the examples of Kulkarni's work that Kieron linked, and then the Kulkarni articles the man himself linked, and several hours and several layers deep, I thought: oh no, Neil Kulkarni was one of my guys.

Merry weekend, everyone. It's been a busy time, hasn't it. Lots of kingdoms coming. The Middle Ages haven't been so packed since, well. I don't even need to say it, do I? Whether you're playing that or something else, let us know what you're getting up to this weekend in the comments below. Here's what we're all hoping to click on this weekend!

Roguelike deckbuilders need to do something pretty special to stand out nowadays, what with the Slay The Spileup of bangers over the past few years. Cobalt Core, Wildfrost, Shogun Showdown (if you squint). All excellent, but Diceomancer stands out above even those, thanks to a clever gimmick and a hefty dose of chutzpah. It’s there in the strapline, you know the deal, but to emphasise: you can reroll ANY number on your screen.

Your health, enemy health, attacks, blocks, buffs, mana, gold - all fair game. The numbers in encounters. On Relics. Have at ‘em! Heck, and that’s before you start scribbling in the rulebook.

After years of making a live service Suicide Squad game that was roundly panned on arrival, the studio behind Batman: Arkham Asylum and its sequels are "looking to return to Batman for a single-player game", according to a report by Bloomberg. Rocksteady Studios haven't said so publically, and Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier claims "the new project is years away from landing", so this is in no way official. But the possibility might come as a ray of hope to fans of the studio's open world Batman games.

Path tracing has been back on the PC hardware agenda recently, with Nvidia’s sales pitch for the GeForce RTX 5080 and RTX 5090 more than lightly based on how good they are at shotgunning this premium graphics tech down your eye stalks. Yet beyond the sparkling glamour of marketing slides, however, path tracing remains exceptionally niche: nearly six years since Quake II RTX served as the tech’s de facto gaming debut, you can still count the number of compatible games on your fingers. Compare and contrast with the dozens upon dozens of games that have embraced ray tracing, path tracing’s less demanding nephew, and you’ll likely start wondering why more game devs don’t go for it.

We’re not here to answer that, though. This is Should You Bother With, here to investigate whether you should start using path traced effects to give your games – some of them, anyway – the full maxed-out-visuals treatment. Even if it takes a graphics card upgrade to do so.

Strauss Zelnick, the CEO of megapublisher Take-Two, has reassured nervy shareholders in his big boy company by repeating that Grand Theft Auto 6 is on-track for an autumn release this year. The businessfella made the comments in a public call in which the company presented its quarterly financial earnings. Basically one of those big Zoom chats for stockbrokers. But while the executive happily reaffirmed the next GTA's arrival on console, there is still no word of a release window for PC players.