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The Maw - 22nd-27th April 2024

This week's least outwardly offputting game releases, plus our weekly newsblog

An old drawing of a dragon
Image credit: Cornelis Meijer

Ugh, I do not have the energy to feed the Maw this week. Sometimes the creature manifests as a proper monstrosity, with B-movie prosthetics and sound effects, and sometimes, it's more of an... unfathomable annoyance, like a nose that won't stop running, or a single player game that requires an internet connection. In either case, the Maw must be sated, and fortunately, there are quite a few appetising video-or-computer games out in the next seven days, with at least one behemoth landing on Friday.

Here they are: fantasy medieval survival town-builder Bellwright (23rd April); shamanic metroidvania Tales of Kenzera: Zau (23rd April); gangland horror FPS Jawbreaker (23rd April); cosmic horny simulator Sucker for Love: Date to Die For (23rd April); Pikminish factory RTS Oddsparks: An Automation Adventure (24th April); anime mech brawler Megaton Mushashi W: Wired (25th April); Dragon Ball X Mad Max tank 'em up Sand Land (25th April); not-a-Total-War-killer Manor Lords (26th April).

As ever, this list of releases is but the product of our pitiful brains. Your, vastly more developed intellect may have identified other games that are equally deserving of a mention. It's just as well, then, that the MawTron 5000 comes equipped with a Comments-O-Matic feature - please let us know what we've missed, and have a good week.

Our live coverage of this event has finished.

Key points

IT'S MONDAY AGAIN

Why do they keep doing this to us. FEED THE MAW.

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell

Like a Minecraft slime but not as cuddly, Embracer Group are splitting into three separate companies – Asmodee Group, Coffee Stain & Friends and Middle-earth Enterprises & Friends.

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell

Uncapped Games boss and former StarCraft 2 multiplayer lead David Kim is teasing a new RTS, which will be revealed during Summer Game Fest in June. Catch word of it in the below documentary.

Watch on YouTube

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell

Helldivers 2 players have hit their objective of killing two billion terminids, and done it within a twelve hour stretch. For context, that'd take a single player around 62 years if they killed one terminid a second. There are some rumblings that the counter might have been a bit too generous though, via PC Gamer.

Nic Reuben

An English Haunting has a release date, and it's soon! May 15th. I'm stoked for this one - I wrote about the demo as a supporter post and whacked it on our most anticipated list. It's a spooky point and click adventure set in Edwardian England, where you play a professor who has to prove the existence of ghosts. I dunno what else I can say to sell it to you, but here's a new trailer the devs put on Xitter.

Alice Bell

I spent a fair bit of Friday trying to pin down a story about cold fusion in Fallout. This being RPS, I suspect there are actual cold fusion experts lurking in the comments - any thoughts on the show's portrayal of it?

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell

Via VGC, an EA Japan exec has complained about the country's ratings board banning Dead Space despite recently approving Stellar Blade, which has a similar level of violence. I don't think this is much of a story, but I keep wanting to write it up because it has me picturing Isaac Clarke with the Stellar Blade lady's bottom, which is making me feel a bit hysterical.

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell

Uncover the Smoking Gun has you solve a murder by interrogating ChatGPT-speaking suspects, with AI's habit of just making stuff up apparently just adding to the mystery.

Matt Jarvis

Matt Jarvis

Matt Jarvis

As Edwin shared earlier, StarCraft 2’s former lead multiplayer designer David Kim is teasing a new RTS he feels is a “paradigm shift” for the genre. We'll hear more this summer.

Matt Jarvis

TUESDAY REGNANT

To the barricades, nooze gatherers! We have nothing to lose but our ears, index fingers, select portions of our kidneys and staff discounts with official merch partners! FEED THE MAW.

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell

Tarnation! The Xbox people are doing another indie showcase next week. They've partnered with Ian of the Games Network, and we can expect new stuff about Vampire Survivors, Dungeons of Hinterberg, 33 Immortals and Lost Records Bloom & Rage, amongst others.

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell

Epic have added a setting that lets you hide "confrontational" emotes from other players in Fortnite - instead, you'll see a standing still emote with no sound effect, which surely makes Standing Still the most aggressive emote of all. The setting affects four emotes at the time of writing: Laugh It Up, Take the L, Whipcrack, Make It Plantain. Why is plantain-making considered hostile? I like plantain!

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell

Cereballers is a brief, free football parody that had me cackling like a witch when I played it in bed last night.

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell

The Book Of Clarence's LaKeith Stanfield is in talks to star in and produce a film based on El Paso, Elsewhere, according to Deadline. WritNelson's conquest of pop culture continues apace.

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell

F1 2024 is out 31st May, and here's a video about its new car physics system.

Watch on YouTube

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell

The No Rest For The Wicked devs have been steadily hotfixing the game since release. The latest, biggest patch appears to target performance in particular while adding a few new settings.

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell

We missed this last week - I may have been flathunting? - but it's still worth a poke: Arkane Lyon's co-creative director Dinga Bakaba has thoughts on whether multiplayer immersive sims are the genre's next "evolutionary step".

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell

Building Relationships lets you play as a house exploring an island and shacking up (hah!) with other houses. Seems very jolly, "secret hellhound" aside.

A house talking to another house on an island
Image credit: Tan Ant Games

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell

As part of a Diablo 4 promotion for Duriel the Maggot King, Blizzard are donating food to birds undergoing treatment at Tiggywinkles UK, in the form of thousands of maggots. If you want to join the maggot drive, all you have to do is like this here xeet. They've already hit the 6.66 million mark.

Nic Reuben

IRIS is a lysergic PS2-style horror joint where you explore dreams with a flashlight, with a free demo steam.

Nic Reuben

A devlog trailer for zombo-penguin tactics game South Pole Bebop, explaining how it takes inspiration from Into The Breach.

Watch on YouTube

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell

Manor Lords publisher Hooded Horse have shared that the upcoming strategy builder has jumped from 2.5 to 3 entire million wishlists in the past week. Unsurprisingly, it's currently Steam's most wishlisted, ahead of Hades 2, Black Myth: Wukong, some indie about a silky knight, and Frostpunk 2.

Nic Reuben

How has it taken me this long to notice Sweet Transit? The game hit 1.0 yesterday and is as busy with moving parts as Factorio, its developer's previous joint, but much, much less desolate.

Watch on YouTube

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell

Rain-slick townbuilder Against The Storm's 1.3 update is out now, adding a little new content and a lot of quality-of-life updates. Most excitingly, it lets you zoom the camera out further.

Graham Smith

Handsome strategy-RPG Songs Of Conquest will leave Early Access on May 20th with the addition of a fourth and final campaign. There will be post-release updates, however.

Graham Smith

Zenless Zone Zero, the next game from Genshin Impact developers HoyoVerse, is now available for pre-registration. The urban fantasy action-RPG is expected to release sometime in the first half of 2024.

Graham Smith

Retro first-person shooter Phantom Fury is out now on Steam. It's a sorta sequel to 3D Realms boomer shooter Ion Fury, with a new engine, a new developer and seemingly mixed results.

Graham Smith

Ubisoft have released a bunch of older Anno citybuilders on Steam with a "History Edition" label. Anno 1503, Anno 1602, and Anno 1701 are all included, each packaged with their respective DLC and optimised to support modern PCs and 4K resolution. All three are also currently 50% off.

Graham Smith

No more refunds if you go over the two hour grace period while playing a game in pre-purchase or advanced access, says Steam, as spotted by The Verge. Previously, certain players could skirt around this restriction, but Valve closed the loophole today.

Nic Reuben

Extremely readworthy game studies journal ROMchip are hosting a charity stream on their Twitch channel on Saturday, May 11, 11AM - 11PM. The stream features several developers and other notable industry folk playing and talking about games that mean a lot to them. The line-up includes Bennet Foddy, Brenda and John Romero, Rami Ismail, and Nina Freeman.

Nic Reuben

I can't phrase this any better than Gamesradar already did, so here's their headline: 'After at least 1,400 layoffs, 7 studios closed, and 29 games canceled, Embracer CEO admits "I deserve a lot of criticism"' Really? Nah, don't be so hard on yourself there Wingefors. We're all '& friends' here.

Nic Reuben

GTA V was originally supposed to have an 'agent Trevor' expansion, where everyone's favourite player insert/sociopath starred in a sort of James Bond parody. This was originally uncovered by dataminers, but more details were given by Trevor actor Steve Ogg recently, on a livestream reminiscing with his GTA fellow cast members. Thanks, the Loadout.

Nic Reuben

Safe but cosy Suikoden spiritual successor Eiyuden Chronicles launched yesterday. It's currently sitting at a 'mostly positive' on Steam, and our Edders enjoyed it plenty. Speaking to XBOX Wire, leads at Rabbit & Bear have given more insight into the late Murayama’s design philosophies:

“Murayama always talked about the makunouchi bento when explaining RPGs. He would say that “RPGs had a variety of side dishes, and every one of them is delicious”.

Nic Reuben

IT'S WEDNESDAY

...and I am off work flat-hunting, but others are here to FEED THE MAW.

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell

Creative Assembly have released another deep dive blog into the final paid Thrones of Decay lord, shotgun dwarf Malakai. If you haven't been keeping up, you'll be able to buy any of the DLC lords seperately this time around. I don't want to pick favourites but, I mean, shotgun dwarf.

Nic Reuben

Oddsparks: An Automation Adventure is a cute Factorio-ish strategy that launched on Steam today in early access. It's got walking tree trunks with googly eyes, which you'll either find charming or an affront to nature. Why not both, I say.

Nic Reuben

Moon Studios' - No Rest For The Wicked - CEO reckons Dark Souls would have benefitted from early access, via Eurogamer. Talking about the benefits of early access on Xitter, he mentions Dark Souls' famously unfinished Lost Izalith as an example. What do you reckon? I'd have loved to see a fully realised Lost Izalith, but think the temptation to sand down a few of the game's more interesting edges would have been too great. There's only so many times one can read 'devs plz nerf basilisk curse'.

Nic Reuben

...and here's that Total Warhammer shotgun dwarf showcase on YouTube, so you can see the angriest ginger mohawked dwarfs to ever seek a glorious death in action. Unrelated, it went live just as the Manor Lords embargo lifted.

Nic Reuben

As Nic shared earlier, the head of Moon Studios - developers behind Dark Souls-like early access game No Rest For The Wicked - has made the fairly bold claim that Dark Souls would’ve been a better game in early access. Hmm.

Matt Jarvis

GTA5 nearly had story DLC that made Trevor a 007-style spy - and even got as far as recording - until it was cancelled and turned into a GTA Online heist, according to new details from the chaotic criminal's actor.

Matt Jarvis

Former Fable devs over at Fowling Fowl Studios have revealed a new co-op RPG... only to announce at the same time that its development is on hold amid layoffs and a struggle to find funding.

Matt Jarvis

PUBG, the game that Fortnite copied, is copying Fortnite by bringing back the battle royale shooter’s original map for two weeks next month - complete with "vintage" UI and gunplay from, uh, 2017.

Matt Jarvis

THURSDAY ONCE MORE

The Maw's current height is 1000 lightyears. Its current width is that of an espresso served on a Friday in Paris in the year 1965. FEED IT.

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell

More free stuff for Total War: Warhammer 3 players. The latest offerings are a balance of golden wizards, plague multipliers and evil crowns.

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell

In a Reddit AMA, Assassin's Creed Mirage creative director Stephane Boudon has said that there are no major updates planned for the game but they do have ideas for "how we could extend the story of Basim".

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell

Here's the "phase 1" demo for dev_hell, a roguelike deckbuilder about working in software development.

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell

The Garry's mod team have apparently recieved takedowns from Nintendo, and are removing all 'Nintendo related stuff' from the Steam workshop. There's some speculation these may have come from a "known fraudster" though, via Nintendo Life.

Nic Reuben

Tim Bender, the CEO of Manor Lords publisher Hooded Horse, has taken to Reddit to explain why they aren’t yet sharing Manor Lords prices publicly. In short, its to do with regional pricing. "Sharing the US price alone will lead to misunderstandings," says Bender. Cheers for the spot, Ian Games Network.

Nic Reuben

Insider Gaming looks to have some more details on the upocming Assassin's Creed known as 'Project Hexe'. They say they've seen some footage, and you can apparently possess cats.

Nic Reuben

The Last Spell's Dwarves of Runenberg DLC and accompanying free update are out now - read more on Steam.

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell

Manky submarine sim Barotrauma has a big update too, which adds "two new monsters, a medical system mini-overhaul, extra difficulty settings for campaign mode, and new wrecks and beacons for you to explore".

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell

Via VGC, Blizzard are staffing up for an unannounced game - they're looking for a creative director and narrative director, amongst other roles.

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell

The unsettling NPC-killing disease known as Dragonsplague in Dragon's Dogma 2 has now been nerfed in an update across all platforms, according to an update post from Capcom. This was something they announced as planned just last week.

Brendan Caldwell

A Gears of War 6 announcement is likely coming as part of June's Xbox showcase, according to JD actor Liam McIntyre, as spotted by PCGN.

Nic Reuben

At last, some decent food: Dr. Robotnik's Ring Racers is out, and free to download. It's a fangame from the Sonic Robo Blast 2 Kart team, built using Doom Legacy, and it looks terrific.

Watch on YouTube

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell

People Can Fly have discontinued work on new action-adventure IP 'Project Dagger', via Industry Analyst MauroNL on Xitter. The project was originally being published by Take-Two, but they ended that agreement in 2022. I hope People Can Fly's people can catch a break soon, Outriders was incredible fun in the moment-to-moment.

Nic Reuben

Blizzard have announced that their fan event BlizzCon won't happen in 2024. The previously yearly event only returned physically last year, but Blizzard say they're going to focus on smaller standalone events instead.

Graham Smith

People Can Fly, the Polish studio behind shooters such as Painkiller, Bulletstorm and Outriders, have cancelled devleopment on a co-op action RPG. The game was being self-published, after initial publishing partner Take-Two dropped out in 2022. People Can Fly have two other projects for Microsoft and Square Enix still in-development.

Graham Smith

Korean MMO ArcheAge is closing down its servers in Europe and North America after ten years. ArcheAge 2 is currently in development.

Graham Smith

Cosy survival hamletbuilder Diluvian Winds has released from Early Access. It's about building a home for anthropomorphic animals around the foot of a lighthouse and attempting to survive periodic tsunamis. Cute.

Graham Smith

Wonderful third-person climb 'em up Jusant is now available via GOG.

Graham Smith

TopSpin 2k25, the first in the tennis series in over ten years, is currently out via Steam for those who purchase its £90 Deluxe Edition. It'll be out for those who buy its meagre £50 edition at midnight PST tonight. It's the latest in 2K Games' broader franchise of sports-derived microtransaction-delivery platforms.

Graham Smith

Bungie are un-setting some weapons they'd previously affectively 'sunsetted' by altering how 'Power limits' work, as part of the Final Shape. The changes are outlined in a new blog, as spotted by Push Square.

Nic Reuben

FRIDAY EMBRUED

Once again in this harsh world we must draw our breath in pain to FEED THE MAW.

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell

Fallout 4's much-anticipated big update is out - here are the full patchnotes.

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell

Escape From Tarkov recently announced a $250 'Unheard Edition', which some players are calling pay to win, via IGN. In response, some players are even considering a lawsuit.

Nic Reuben

Here's a new trailer for Karma: The Dark World - "a first-person cinematic psychological thriller" and also, a game of Dystopian Future bingo. It's set in East Germany in 1984 and casts you as an employee of the Leviathan Corporation's Thought Police. "What is time?" asks the Steam page. "A measurement of fleeting events we perceive as they pass, where terrible and joyous experiences fade into memory, obscured by a desire to leave our sadness in the past as we struggle to hold on to our fondest moments as they drift toward nostalgia." I think I'm getting a migraine. The trailer seems swish though.

Watch on YouTube

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell

cpt_freakout says: Light management game Diluvian Winds also came out today, in case anyone's interested.

This does look nice. It's got a lighthouse in it and everything.

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell

Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP is getting revealed SOON™, says Yoshimi Yasuda. That's the one what James Gunn worked on with Grasshopper. Also, the Mindless Self Indulgence guy did some music for it. What a crew!

Nic Reuben

A new Counter-Strike 2 update which adds the option to put the gun in your character's left hand, amongst other things.

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell

The FCC have voted to restore net neutrality rules, reversing a 2018 ruling, via cheery RPS fanzine PC Gamer. Nice going, Fans of Carmageddon Club!

Nic Reuben

By apparent popular request, Stray Fawn Studio have added the option to feed villagers to the monster your village is built on in The Wandering Village. The survivors may be terrified into forming a cult. The monster can also get parasites now. I'm pretty sure this started out as a Wholesome Game. It seems to be slowly turning into The Shrouded Isle.

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell

420BLAZEIT 2: GAME OF THE YEAR -=Dank Dreams and Goated Memes=- [#wow/11 Like and Subscribe] Poggerz Edition is a game that exists. I assume you are as enriched by this information as I was.

Nic Reuben

Manor Lords is now available to buy on Steam, and unsurprisingly, it's popular. So popular, in fact, that some buyers are having trouble even purchasing it.

Nic Reuben

Feast your faces on this new trailer for Fallout Miami, a huge and ambitious Fallout mod (I seem to be writing that a lot that days, modders are truly the best of of us). Cheers for the spot, PCGN!

Nic Reuben

Famed Viewtiful Joe creator Shinji Mikami (think he worked on some zombie games too), apparently wanted to leave Tango Gameworks 8 years before he actually did. If you missed it, Mikami left the Evil Within, Ghostwire: Tokyo, and Hi-Fi Rush studio last year.

"I think a lot of people were under the impression that I was the representative," said Mikami, via IGN, "but I was very close to a rank-and-file employee. I had 'producer' attached to my name, but I wasn’t an executive or anything of the sort." Mikami started a new studio earlier this year.

Nic Reuben

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell

Arrowhead want you to choose the next Stratagem for Helldivers 2, by picking which planet to liberate. Rocket launcher or anti-tank mines? The eternal conundrum.

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell

Celeste’s slick movement meets Zelda’s hookshot in Oyster Wars, an “intense” platformer by an actual oyster farmer about revenge against Big Oyster - and built on some of Celeste's own player code.

Matt Jarvis

The Ace Attorney Turnabout Collection - bundling five Phoenix Wright games - is about to disappear from Steam, so grab it while you can (and cheap, for the next week).

Matt Jarvis

A month after the Alone in the Dark reboot’s release - following multiplae delays out of 2023 - it looks like developers Pieces Interactive are suffering layoffs.

Matt Jarvis

Escape From Tarkov's developers have doubled down in their belief that their new game mode is not DLC, but say that paying players will get access to it whenever the game is finished.

Graham Smith

A banned WWE 2k24 modder has been reinstated following player backlash. WhatsTheStatus' mods will seemingly return soon, minus certain creations that impacted the stability and performance of the wrestling game.

Graham Smith

Rusty's Retirement is an idle-farming simulator designed to sit at the bottom of your screen while you do other things. It launched on Steam this week. It's like the Petz of crop gathering?

Graham Smith

Shinji Mikami, the director of Resident Evil 4 and The Evil Within, left Tango Gameworks - a studio he founded - because he wanted to move away from the survival horror genre. Mikami explained the decision in an interview with Famitsu, now translated by Automaton Media. Mikami has founded a new studio called Kamuy.

Graham Smith

Bloober Team, currently working on the Silent Hill 2 remake, also have two other projects in-development. Twitter user pl_evil translated the Polish studio's annual report, which mentions the two games. Project C will be announced this year and is an original IP developed in partnership with Private Division, and Project R is a game due in 2025 based on a Skybound IP. Skybound Entertainment was founded by Robert Kirkman, the creator of The Walking Dead.

Graham Smith

Early access citybuilder Manor Lords has seemingly had a successful launch, sitting at number one in Steam's top sellers chart. It reached a peak of 170,000 concurrent players today. If you're tempted, read our Manor Lords review first.

Graham Smith

Stardew Valley's 1.6.6 patch is out now. The full patch notes detail several tweaks and fixes.

Graham Smith

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