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The news arrived via a tweet this afternoon, with Bethesda stating, “The teams at Arkane Austin (Redfall) and Bethesda Games Studios (Starfield) have incredible ambitions for their games, and we want to ensure that you receive the best, most polished versions of them” when they release. “We want to thank everyone for their excitement for Redfall and Starfield. That energy is a huge part of what inspires all of us every day and drives our own excitement for what we are creating....

While it was possible to log into the Steam client itself during the downtime, Store and Community features were completely inaccessible. Launching, updating and installing games worked as expected, but buying ’em, or playing with friends? Not so much. Valve games like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Dota 2 and Team Fortress 2 also took a hit, with multiplayer servers going offline. According to Steam Stats, the platform started wobbling at around 3 pm UK time, before going completely offline by 4....

Steam Labs is where Valve conduct all their mad science to come up with features that might improve the platform. Recently it introduced optional chat filters for profanity and slurs, and it’s also birthed a system that tells you what games you should play next. And now we have a system that tells you what news to read next. You can have a browse of the Steam News Hub for yourself right here....

Here’s the trailer: “Overlord’s thematic focus is on exerting your will across the galaxy, the projection of power, and the expansion of civilization under your glorious banner,” says Paradox’s dev diary announcing the expansion. “The other galactic powers can choose to submit willingly or by force, but they will submit. “A major goal in this revision was to make subjugation a more valuable and viable system with benefits for both sides, rather than being a delayed ‘Game Over’ as you wait for Integration should you be subjugated....

Browse through Stray’s category on Nexus Mods and you’ll find a great many new skins for the cat. Some folks have created their own cats, some have created streamers’ cats, some have created cats they just like, and some have created cats with sad stories. “This color resembles our old cat which passed away a few years ago,” says the creator of the Gray Domestic Cat mod. “It’s a memory for my son who was growing up with that cat....

Well, I’m glad I tried it. And I’m glad I waited, too. It seems Warlords has been through a lot of changes over the course of its development, but what’s there now is very solid indeed. And while it has been delayed from its original launch date this month to January 26, 2021, I’m happy that Firefly are taking their time. Although I’ve only played the single campaign-ish scenario included in the demo, it gave me a solid hit of the satisfaction I associate with the original Stronghold....

Trading Gone Home’s abandoned bedrooms for the more fantastical surrounds of outer space, Fullbright’s spacefaring follow-up is still deeply interested in the mundanities of people’s lives and relationships. Phillipa Warr adored the game’s grounded cast in her Tacoma review - a group of believably real people just trying to get by under the weight of megacorporate greed and accelerating technologies. “There are a range of relationships, family dynamics, faiths and personal struggles or ambitions,” Pip wrote....

I’ve just realised that the first line of this post could very well make me sound like some sort of criminal, but I promise I’m not. I only ever used this strange skill for good - like helping an old housemate get into their room one time when they lost their keys (I felt like a god when I managed to unlock that, up until that point I’d only ever practised on a little training lock I had)....

These are the JRPGs that actively make me seek battles because it just feels good to leap a metre off the ground and punch an eagle in the face. These are the JRPGs that make me wonder why the protagonist wears a heavy, half-broken mask that probably screws with his peripheral vision. (Then I tell myself that my dumb anime son can do whatever he wants.) These are among my favourite kinds of JRPGs, and Bandai Namco’s Tales of Arise keeps good company with them....

Temtem Crystle guide For those who didn’t pick it as their starter, our Crystle Temtem guide will show you the exact location you need to be in to hunt for Crystle. There will also be some descriptions about this creature’s base stats, evolution details, and the vast number of Crystal type moves it has access to. There are quite a few Crystal types in the area you find this Temtem, so be sure to check out the rest of the Temtem list to see what else is available....

The update also tweaks how PvP ranking works, adds new PvP battle zones, and a beauty centre where you can tweak your character’s appearance. There’s a new season of cosmetic doodads, too. Showdown mode comes on top of the existing Ranked matches, which remain for anyone who wants to assemble their team the hard way. You can edit your Showdown team at will, picking whichever Temtem you like along with their SVs, TVs, movesets and traits....

Get the 42-in LG C2 OLED for £759 w/ £100 voucher (was £1399) And that reduction in cost doesn’t come with a reduction in quality; the new-generation Evo panel used here provides significantly higher peak brightness than older OLEDs, while maintaining the perfect blacks, infinite contrast, gorgeous colours and near-instant pixel response times that make these displays so good for gaming. You get incredibly impactful HDR in games that support it (or games that don’t support it, thanks to AutoHDR on Windows and Xbox), and of course it’s brilliant for watching films and TV too....

Thank god that Vikings are an enduring and popular theme for games, then! I can inoculate myself against disaster by playing a few of these existing ones while I wait. Such is the versatility of Vikings that they pop up in almost every genre imaginable, too. So if, like me, you are already on the edge of your seat (and that seat is in a longship), here are some recommendations for varied and quality video games that will get you prepared for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla....

Samsung 870 Qvo for $312 with code EMCXHEHU2 Our fearless leader Katharine reviewed the 870 Qvo last year, and noted that this extra-large SSD makes some sensible sacrifices in order to deliver great performance in most tasks while also remaining cheap. Sustained writes speeds aren’t great, in common with other drives that are built around QLC technology, but this is ameliorated by having a large DRAM cache - for the 4TB drive, this is a sizeable 4GB....

If you’ve been struggling to lay your hands on Optic Glass in the amounts you need, never fear. Below we’ll walk you through the very best areas for scavenging Optic Glass across both Bright Sands and Crescent Falls in The Cycle: Frontier, along with an explanation of what you can use the Optic Glass for once you’ve brought it back to Prospect Station. Where to find Optic Glass in The Cycle: Frontier Optic Glass can be found all across both Bright Sands and Crescent Falls....

“Oh yes, of course! Certainly it was! Moreover, due to the conditions in which we constructed this game, it was a miracle that we released it. But I wouldn’t say it’s the game we wanted to release.” Even now, over a year after Pathologic 2’s release, Nikolay Dybowski and Ivan Slovtsov have differing opinions about the surrealistic survival game they played leading roles in making. In fact, they’re still unpacking their thoughts about what they created, particularly in light of the changes they made after launch to its difficulty setting, a system which lies at the centre of a game which sets out to express the struggle in death and life....

Akin to the first game’s Underground, The Summit is a procedural sprawl of shoot-outs and loot-drops for end-game players to bash their heads against. Available to players who’ve finished Warlords Of New York, The Summit’s 100-level dungeon is a kinda roguelite crawl for folks willing to put their love of loot before a fear of heights. Each new level presents a new set of baddies with their own objectives - from bomb defusal and hostage rescue to straight-up slaughter - with the difficulty ramped up each floor....

Don’t worry, though, because we find time to talk about how our weeks have been, as well as a bit where I tell Nate there’s going to be a survival crafting game set in Moria and he gets excited. Also, stay tuned for a Cavern Of Lies where Nate does a lot of cowboy voices. And shout out to John for sending in cheery EWS fan game Aquarium Assault: Dark Day For A Dogfish!...

We also talk about Pirates Of The Caribbean, gravy and Toby Jugs, although sadly Matthew does not have any new treats to discuss this week. But there is an excellent Cavern Of Lies hosted by friend of the show Sir Anthony Hopkins. Plus: do you like organ chat? Because you’re in the right place! You can listen above, or on on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, or Pocket Casts. You can find the RSS feed here, and you can discuss the episode on our Discord channel, which has a dedicated room for podcast chat....

Those are all laudable goals, but time will tell how much change this actually amounts to. The report was led by MEP Adriana Maldonado López, who said it “highlights the positives of this pioneering industry, but also social risks we need to bear in mind, like the impact of gaming on mental health”. Many of the recommendations are targeted at protecting children, with López calling for “strengthened consumer protection with a specific focus on minors....