Happy this week all! It’s almost time to give 2024 the finger, swallow a flagon of mince pie formula and tapdance backwards into the holiday, but the Maw still needs a little feeding and it has no appetite for mince pies. Nor will it eat tinsel, candy canes, mistletoe, snowmen or reindeer, though goodness knows we’ve tried. So much screaming. No, the Maw’s penchant remains for new PC game releases, and thankfully, they are as thick on the ground as reindeer pelts.
On Monday 9th December, we will finally learn what’s so Great about Indiana Jones’s Circle. Ace attorneys may prefer to piece together clues in Paper Perjury, which doesn’t boast of many circles, but does have some nice pixelart. On Tuesday 10th December, here’s Legacy Of Kain: Soul Reaver 1 + 2 Remastered to rebuild Raziel in hi-fi plasticine, plus Voin with a more contemporary blend of dark fantasy slash-hack, and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Rita’s Rewind for the incorrigible Saturday morning cartoon lovers. Ballionaire, meanwhile, extends the roguelike plague to pachinko, and Astrometica is Subnautica with asteroids instead of coral reefs. On Wednesday 11th December, poison monsters with rotten riceballs in Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island. On Thursday 12th December, ride a carnivorous elevator in Soviet horror game Kletka, slice stop-motion tengu in The Spirit Of The Samurai, or sculpt the ooze in Creeper World IXE. And on Friday 13th December, a choice of Dovecraftian walking simulator or haunted cabin inspection.
This week is also the week of the Game Awards, when developers carve release dates into megaliths and drag them into a circle around an altar on which Geoff Keighley sacrifices various declining celebrities. The geoffening begins at 4:30pm PT or 7:30pm ET on 12th December, or 12:30am GMT or 1:30am CET on 13th December. We will be staying up late to behold the slaughter, for such crimes should be witnessed. In the meantime, here’s our weekly news liveblog.
MINCED FRIDAY
We’re definitely all feeling a bit minced post-Geoffies. I hereby grant any surviving news writers permission to leave the liveblog unfed today. I’m sure we won’t have an Outbreak – the Maw appears bloated and content, idly chewing the remains of Borderlands 4. As for me, I’m off work till Tuesday.
Ask not for whom the Geoff tolls, lest he toll for thee… Our Game Awards liveblog is up and running. Time for Comrade Archer to show his mettle.
Four Assassin’s Creed Shadows devs have done a Reddit AMA about next year’s feudal Japanese open worlder. It covers things like game length, what they’re doing with the extra time following the release delay to 2025, the modern narrative element and the sidequests. A highlight via PCGamer: there’s a “Canon mode” that makes all the story decisions for you.
An end of year update from the Destiny 2 team, discussing recent changes and what they’re doing next. “Destiny has a long history of reinventing itself in response to community feedback and the expectations of players,” says assistant game director Robbie Stevens.
Planet Coaster 2’s first paid DLC is out today alongside a big free update.
Watch on YouTube
The gameplay reveal trailer for Strange Antiquities, the follow-up to Strange Horticulture. Why have I still not played Strange Horticulture? Absolute clownshoes behaviour for a so-called eldritch horror fan.
Watch on YouTube
Demon Tides is an upcoming 3D platformer that gives me a Mario Sunshine X Sonic Adventures vibe.
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There be a new Lords Of The Fallen update in-bound for later today – expect it in roughly six hours time. It “gives players enhanced and more responsive combat and control through a series of measures, including more accurate animation cancelling, improved invincibility frames, more intuitive dodge and rolls, grievous strike button prompts, an across-the-board stamina recalibration, and more.”
TAGLIATHURSDAY
What, you don’t eat pasta on Christmas? Well, the Maw’s not fussy. Twist your forks, smack your lips, and scrape your plates.
Here’s a gameplay trailer for Prisma, a new RPG from the Cris Tales creators.
Watch on YouTube
Getting big Superjail! vibes from CYBRLICH and the Death Cult of Labor, an FPS about a “buff barbarian hacker taking down an evil undead corporate overlord”.
Watch on YouTube
I heard you like retro-futuristic UI, so here’s a trailer for Xenopurge.
Watch on YouTube
Terminator: Dark Fate – Defiance is apparently a good strategy game, even though it has both a colon and a dash in the title. And now it has some DLC.
Watch on YouTube
WASSAILNESDAY
Terrible punmanship, but I hope you’ll appreciate the reference to a relatively obscure Yuletide beverage. FEED THE MAW.
SeekerX says: Lest I be guilty (again) of failing to attribute where I heard of things: I think I heard of Fledgling Manor from PolygonClassicist in the WAWAPTW comments. They said of the demo: “If you like horny and creepy vampire stories (are there any others?), with a strong satirical bite, then this seems like it’ll be a blood-soaked journey that you’ll want to sink your teeth into. (No more puns, I promise!)”
A “vampire reality show”, you say.
Open world tactics RPG Wartales has new Skelmar Invasion DLC, out now on PC.
Watch on YouTube
First-person philosophy puzzler The Talos Principle is getting a new “Reawakened” edition, including both existing and new DLC plus a level editor (for PC players only). It’s out early 2025.
Watch on YouTube
I quite like the heft and occult stylings of Blade Chimera, a new Osaka-set cyberpunk metroidvania. It’s out 16th January and there’s an updated demo coming this month.
Path Of Exile 2 launched into early access over the weekend, which means it’s time to talk updates. The first patches will tweak the dodge roll, checkpoint system, rare monsters and drop rates, amongst other nips and twiddles.
Cyberpunk 2077 is getting a surprise 2.2 update – significant enough in scale that CD Projekt have been teasing it on the Xeetosphere.
ROAST POTATUESDAY
Another groaning hamperful of Xmas cheer for the Maw! FEED IT.
The next character for Tekken 8 will be revealed during this winter’s advertising bonanza at the Game Awards, say Bandai Namco. They recently teased some updates to the game in a trailer, including new moves for all characters.
MONDATES
This week’s Maw pun descent is festively food-themed. I’m off today, but I welcome suggestions for winter holiday dishes.