Rock Paper Shotgun – PC Game Reviews, Previews, Subjectivity

If Stardew Valley were a flower it would be a perennial, constantly coming back each year with new blooms. Not long after releasing the massive 1.4 update that left a mark on every part of the game, developer ConcernedApe announced that he'd be working on yet another free content update. Over four years on, he's still got plans for new additions, which will include some endgame content for update 1.5 he says.

Ubisoft's big not-E3 showcase is scheduled for this Sunday, July 12th where they'll be showing off new gameplay and trailers for upcoming games. As part of the event, they're also letting you claim a free copy of Watch Dogs 2 for PC, though you'll have to be fast. You need to grab it while the show's live, meaning you'll have about a 45 minute window to make those dogs yours.

According to a LinkedIn post, Rockstar has a new open world VR game in the works. The developers for L.A. Noire: The VR Case Files say they're taking on another VR project for Rockstar, though there's no mention of whether it will be part of an existing Rockstar series or a new one.

If you're not tired of zombies, the good news is neither are Turtle Rock Studios, the folks behind Left 4 Dead. Last year they announced Back 4 Blood, a triumphant return for the numeral 4 and zombies, but have been quiet about it since. As proof that their project remains undead, Turtle Rock have shuffled out a new concept art image. You can spot the not cropped version below.

June is over, but we're not free from FakE3 just yet, folks. Two of the 'softs, Micro and Ubi, are planning showcases of their upcoming games for July. We've already got a date for Ubisoft Forward, and now Microsoft have announced the date for their big announcement bonanza as well. They'll be showing off all manner of Xbox (and likely PC) games on Thursday, July 23rd.

Next-gen console boxes may be all about super fast SSDs and what not, but there's still no beating the exceptional value of a good old-fashioned external hard disk drive - and you'll probably never need to uninstall another game again with today's big storage deal, as Amazon UK have knocked almost £90 off the massive 12TB WD Black D10, the even larger cousin of their Black P10 drive. Once £300, according to our Amazon price tracker, this enormous HDD can now be had for £213 (that's less than two pence per GB), which is much better value than loading up on 5TB Black P10 drives right now, which are also on sale for £109 apiece.

Lo Wang and his rude 'tude will return next year in Shadow Warrior 3, developer Flying Wild Hog and publisher Devolver Digital announced today. He's off to recapture an ancient dragon, which is probably fine. The most important detail: this time, the agile FPS has a grappling hook too. Congratulations, Shadow Warrior, on finally becoming a proper real video game. Game director Kuba Opoń says Flying Wild Hog "hope that Shadow Warrior 3 will feel like a homecoming for those fans that have been with us since the beginning." Read into that as much as you want. For now, come see the trailer.

Valve worked on Team Fortress 2 long enough that it had been several distinct games by the time it launched. The new mod Team Fortress 2 Classic calls back to one of those, blending the state of the game soon after launch with bits, aiming to offer "a re-imagining of the 2008-2009 era of the original Team Fortress 2". That means new (old) weapons, for starters, and they've made new maps and modes including VIP escort too.

A solid 30-minute chunk of Assassin's Creed Valhalla gameplay has leaked, showing some pleasant horse riding through the game's open world, some cinematic naval combat, and our first proper look at the female version of the main character, Eivor, in action.

The leaked footage popped up on Reddit yesterday and, rather unsurprisingly, was hastily taken down. It wasn't removed quickly enough, however, as there are still plenty of videos of the leak (like the one below) if you fancy taking a look for yourself:

Fourth time's a charm, as they say, because yep, it's deal time once again for our best gaming keyboard champion, the excellent Fnatic Streak. It's down to £95 as part of Amazon's July Summer Sale, making it a better bargain than its tenkeyless cousin, the £100 Fnatic miniStreak.

The unashamedly Dark Souls-inspired action of Mortal Shell is now available for everyone to try, as its closed beta test has become an open beta test by popular demand. Our Matthew liked what he played of the preview version, and it sounds worth a go.

The Acer Predator Z35p remains one of the best gaming monitors you can buy right now if you're after a 120Hz ultrawide gaming screen, but the main problem I've always had with it is its high price. Thankfully, Amazon UK have removed that obstacle today as part of their July Summer Sale, knocking £170 off its usual price of £800 to take it down to a much more appealing £630, which is the cheapest it's been since last year's Black Friday sale. That's not the only gaming monitor on sale today, either, so read on below for our Amazon Summer Sale monitor deal highlights.

Screenshot Saturday Sundays! We're having a particularly lazy Sunday afternoon this week, but that shouldn't mean forgoing a stroll through the delights on offer through the #ScreenshotSaturday hashtag for our usual weekend viewing. This week: pastel cartography, mycelium cottages, data-corrupted highways from hell and squirrels.

How did you expect Fortnite to celebrate the USA's Independence Day? Fireworks, Rockets. Llamas and musicians falling from the sky? Instead, Epic have more appropriate plans for 2020's 4th of July celebration. As Black Lives Matter protests continue into the Summer, the monolithic battle royale hopes to use its new party island to educate - broadcasting Øpus United's anti-racism presentation We The People throughout the day.

If Team Fortress 2's last update cut the fingers off the game's unruly bots, then Valve have followed it up by cutting out their tongues. This week's update for the venerable hat-blaster has doubled down on muting suspicious accounts, removing voice chat from players who've had their text privileges removed. But while that might keep the troublesome bots at bay, it seems some unlucky new players have been left without a voice in the teamwork-heavy shooter.

Photography games are very in right now, haven't you heard? Lifting off earlier this week, Cellular Harvest is a wonderfully relaxing short game about exploring vivid lo-fi wildernesses, capturing alien fauna on camera, and reporting back to HQ so your corporate overlords can turn all those creatures into bug juice. Shooting with cameras, not guns, doesn't make you any less complacent in extinction it seems.

David Bowie might once have asked if there is life on Mars, but Desert Golfing developer Justin Smith is quite confident that - if there is - they'll be well up for a round of the king's game. Six years later, and Golf On Mars is swinging onto Steam with a more alien take on the 2014 golf 'em up's peaceful procedural putting. It's more golf, it's extraterrestrial golf, but is it better golf?

The first game from indie studio 3-Fold Games is a bittersweet one. Before I Forget is a first-person exploration game about a woman with early onset dementia uncovering her past. Despite that, 3-Fold call it "delicate and atmospheric," as the main character remembers details about her life and partner. It will release on July 16th.

Following a series of allegations of sexual harrassment and abuse against multiple Ubisoft employees at several studios, the company have laid out more of their plan to change.

"We have significant work to do to improve the ways in which we operate and collaborate, and I am personally committed to ensuring we make these fundamental changes," Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said. "They need to be profound, and we need to implement them quickly at all levels of the organisation."

Town-building simulation The Settlers has been in the works for a while but it will be some more whiles yet before it launches. Ubisoft have announced that the upcoming eighth entry to the Settlers series is delayed so the team can work on responding to fan feedback. A new date hasn't yet been chosen.

Ubisoft may be sliding in to the tail end of the summer FakE3 showcases, but they're not to be outdone. A new teaser trailer hints at which games we'll see during their upcoming Ubisoft Forward showcase on Sunday, July 12th. You probably won't be surprised by the names if you've kept up with this year's not-E3 but hey, here's your confirmation.

Alright folks, start up the post-apocalyptic phone tree. Horizon Zero Dawn now has a PC release date. Guerilla Games had previously announced plans for a summer release and then, to my equal parts joy and sadness, revealed a trailer for the sequel before gracing PC players with a date for the original. Well that's solved now. You'll be able to take Aloy on a good ol' fashioned robo dino hunt while uncovering the secrets of the apocalypse on August 7th.

Squad up and suit up and then probably get shot up so that someone can rid you of Call Of Duty: Warzone's burly Juggernaut suit. Infinity Ward have added the new Juggernaut Royale mode to Warzone for this weekend in which teams of three will scuffle over the specialized armor and minigun. You can drop in for Juggernaut trios now through Tuesday, July 7th.

Fighting game championship Evo has been cancelled this year following abuse allegations against Evo co-founder and CEO Joey "MrWizard" Cuellar. Evo are ejecting him from the company and replacing him as CEO. The makers of half the games in Evo's lineup had already pulled out of the event following the allegations, including Street Fighter gang Capcom and Mortal Kombat devs NetherRealm. Evo Online was due to run this weekend, one of the many virtual replacements for events called off due to the pandemic.