All the news, not all the time
So, you know when you’re watching a zombie film and you really just want that particular survivor to bite the bullet? Well, Too Many Humans, the reverse-tower defence game by RealityZ games aims to give you that power. Ever wanted to control a horde of zombies? Then jump right in folks…
There’s been a lot of talk in recent weeks about Dbrand, the third-party peripheral supplier, and their mini-feud with Sony over their design of custom faceplates for the PlayStation 5. I think this has been a canny bit of marketing from Dbrand, with their rallying shout of “Sue us, Sony” when they first revealed their product. That was bound to get the attention of some mainstream sites, while the recent reveal of an entirely new design for their faceplates as a response to a cease and desist from Sony has sparked a new round of coverage.
As ever, GamesIndustry.biz has a great lowdown of the legalities around the IP rights at play which is well worth a read. Personally, I think the general coverage that this situation has seen shows that there is a growing demand for Sony to release some official custom faceplates. I’m happy enough with my PlayStation 5 tucked behind my TV, but for those who have a more prominent console, I can well imagine that they are crying out for something even slightly more subtle than the default design.
With that said, hit the break for a breakdown of Our Week in Games.
I suppose it was inevitable really.
For years, modding communities of many games have joked about the TTT (Time-Till-Thomas). Release any game, give it even the slightest amount of moddability and eventually, inevitably, inescapably, someone will put Thomas the Tank Engine in it. Skyrim, Resident Evil, Among Us, Fallout and may more have experienced the appearance of the friendly blue engine, often in a twisted and terrifying way, so it’s no great surprise that finally someone’s decided to make a horror game about a train. …
It was way back in March that I spoke with Pourya ‘Redfirm’ Arami about Commanding Nations, an ambitious RTS taking inspiration from the legendary Command and Conquer. I’ve been quietly keeping track of the progress Seven Volts games have been making, and things seem to be taking shape with an Early Access launch targeted for February 2022 and a Kickstarter campaign soon to kick-off.
I really wanted to like GlitchPunk. Dark Lord’s new top-down throw-back to the original Grand Theft Auto held some promise. The interesting aesthetic, the retro graphics and the promise of some fun chaotic gameplay made me really excited to play the game. Unfortunately, there’s more glitch than punk in this game. …
This week saw Blizzard confirm that Overwatch’s Jesse McCree, the wise-cracking DPS cowboy, would be renamed following fallout from the sexual harassment suit filed in the state of California. McCree was named after real-life Blizzard developer Jesse McCree, who was shown to be aware of the heinous ‘Cosby Suite’. McCree has since been terminated by Blizzard.
It’s something many fans were clamouring for in the wake of the damning revelations, painting a toxic workplace rife with discrimination and sexual harassment. Good riddance, we say.
QuakeCon got off to a fantastic start today with the release of a remastered Quake, available on digital storefronts for just £7.99 – and free too those who already own it. Long-rumoured and much anticipated, this remaster comes courtesy of Machine Games Nightdive Studios, and id Software.
Machine Games had already proven their Quake bona fides with the 2016 release of Dimension of the Past, a third expansion pack to the original game that was released on Quake’s twentieth anniversary. That expansion pack is now available in the remaster package, along with plenty more to be excited about.
Unless you’ve been sleeping under a rock, you’ll know it’s Olympics time, and Team GB have Sky Brown competing in the park discipline. Today you can (nearly) emulate Sky with The Ramp, an indie skateboarding title from Paul Schnepf.
Unlike Sky’s adventures in Tokyo, The Ramp features vert skateboarding across a handful of locations, and that’s pretty much it. On the Steam page, Paul describes The Ramp as offering you 15 minutes of flow for “the price of a medium sized cinnamon pistachio latte”.
The Ramp is out right now on Steam, and I’ll be putting down the price of a fancy coffee for 15 minutes of flow.
I’ve managed to parry the first few strikes and I think I’m starting to get a handle on how he thinks. He likes to use a strong sweeping attack and then follow it up with a quick overhead to try to catch his opponent off guard. We’ve both ‘scored’ body blows and the next hit will undoubtedly decide it.
I know time is of the essence as I can see his reinforcements charging into the fray behind, but I bide my time. Wait for the opening and….
… well damn, someone just walked up behind him and took his head off.
Jump to the cut to see how the rest of my time with Chivalry 2 went.
A new Battlefield was revealed this week, and it makes a nice reference in the title to two games from the past. Using the 2042 reference, DICE are making calls back to the game that started it all, Battlefield 1942, and the only futuristic title in the series so far, Battlefield 2142. Amongst all the hyperbole about 2042 having the largets maps ever and unprecedented scale, the website references a currently ‘Redacted’ game mode which is described as a love letter to the fans of DICE and Battlefield.