“Today, we are turning towards the future” The layoff train has come for BioWare. BioWare are now doing some more reorganising, after ending production of a massive RPG. “We are taking this opportunity between full development cycles to reimagine how we work at BioWare. Which, again, is a very slippery way to say that a bunch of people are now unemployed. Some more context for these decisions. Firstly, Dragon Age: The Veilguard hasn’t sold enough for EA....

No more mister dice guy Don’t get too comfortable. It’s a crunchy, dicey machine of vibrant world-building that sometimes forgets itself in wandering prose. But it has a good time trying. Once again you play a “Sleeper”, a biomechanical being designed to work as slave labour. But it can also feel less deep and more formulaic with each passing hub-hop, too. Perhaps this is down to the expansion of the game’s more cog-like components....

It’s Minesweeper with an altogether less atrocious twist which you could hopefully deduce from the name. That’s right, Dragonsweeper is Minesweeper but an RPG. Uncleared tiles near the exposed play area have numbers on them. If you’re stuck, though, there’s a manual with a bestiary. it’s possible for you to play Dragonsweeper in a browserright here. Thanks very much toMawfeeder Titus Groen for passing this on. It has swallowed up a couple of my teabreaks, though I’ve yet to actually erase the board....

They’ve invested a cool billion dollars across four studios in the hope to replicate Larian’s success. No release date on this one yet.

To raptor-ous applause Are those ripples in your morning cappuccino? Both are good times if you’re a fan of digital fossils. They get a shiny sticker when they pass. The original Resident Evil trilogy appeared on GOGonebyone(byone) via the same process. It’s as if Regina here is in a zoom call with the background slightly blurred. Capcom released a poll that showed the series hasa lot of nostalgic fans. But there has been no real sign of any remake happening in the style of the Resi games....

Debug this Friend, I regret to inform you that ant nests are computers now. Catch the trailer below. I like the simultaneously brain-tickling and skin-crawling presentation, which reminds me a little ofDarwinia. These ain’t just your regular garden-variety formicidae - they’reZach-ass cyborgs. Here are some bullet points from theSteam page. Read them quickly before they scuttle away. Are they secretly the game’s bad guys? Can a robot succumb to parasitic mushrooms?...

That’s a roadside picnic compared to what S.T.A.L.K.S this alternately Lynchian and Tarkovskian battlefield. Unless, presumably, the body in question is already occupied by one of your co-op partners. “Plan, prepare, and adjust tactics to the open world with dynamic events. This is done by augmenting your body with “exotic elements”. Surely no downsides there. “Go die again,” adds the press release, reassuringly. Fingers crossed that it also contains a cheerful stove and a sit-down button....

This is good news! People Can Fly have a pedigree for serving chunky gun chutney with a smile. They’ve also worked extensively on the series before, notably Judgement Day. This is good news, also, because last year was a fraught one for People Can Fly. They cancelled another project -a co-op action RPG named Project Dagger- in April. Last December, theyparted wallets with a further 120 workers, shelved one project, and downsized another....

“Not only the ones in the code - but potentially inside sources too”. The rumour gained some traction before reaching datamining group X0XLeak, who weren’t so convinced. “Could they be intended troll by NetEase? I guess, an X0XLeak spokesninja told IGN. “Would it make sense, in my opinion? And the developers did not intend for us to find them,” Keone says. like do have a read of the report in full for all the details and context....

I did, and yes, I too let it die. The gist: some Dark Lord is causing a nuisance. The Fairy Queen has tasked you with hatching out and nurturing an Elf hero to take the villain down. Still, I like the looks of the game’s “idle RPG” malarkey. “Quest and grind to protect the citizens of the realm, or simply enjoy your digital friend!” Here be tray-tray to wash that down....

There are moving background elements in some stages - in others, you make your own pace. Except I can’t really make my own pace, can I Bauhaus Bonk? Because the swing soundtrack makes me feel like a plodding buffoon if I’m not responding with appropriate gusto. This is entrapment, game. I am devilishly compelled by swing, like aReefer Madnessextra. “Spin to win in this single-player one-button dexterity game. Can you set a new time record?...

Something to ponder on, perhaps, as we behold the Steam Brick. Because the Deck didn’t fit in their backpack. Their “first hurdle” was finding out whether the Deck would even boot without a screen or peripherals. In this state the Deck will boot output display over USB and accept peripherals via an external dock." As a bonus, its also 24% lighter!" “Why remove the screen? It wouldnt have made the build larger!...

It’s sort ofJourneyfor plague doctors, or possiblyThe Hobbit: Cosmodick Turpin Edition. Overhereis an inn being overrun by slathering beastmen. Overthereis another, safer inn, but it’s inconveniently perched behind a nest of tentacular cultists. Let us proceed laughing and wailing to the launch trailer. It begins with a choice of layouts and difficulty tweaks (see below). What would a Lightest Dungeon look like? How would you maintain the essential dungeoniness in a universe without shadow?...