The Maw - 26th February-2nd March
Our weekly news liveblog, with this week's videogame releases
New week, yet more videogames! Gosh, those developers are incorrigible. I would characterise this week's new game releases as a gentle blend of cosy simulation and nostalgia, served on a bed of fantasy roguelikes. If I had to pick a most-anticipated, it'd be a toss-up between the remaster of a shooter I adored in my teens and the breezy amateur photography game that teaches you the kanji for "flower".
Here are the new games we think could be worth a play, at the time of writing: anti-RTS god sim shmup Gods Against Machines (26th Feb); daft otaku beat 'em up Pull Stay (26th Feb, early access); learn-Japanese-through-photography sim Shashingo (27th Feb); cosy neighbourhood builder Minami Lane (28th Feb); retro FPS Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster (28th Feb); mournful single-player co-op Brothers: A Tale Of Two Sons Remake (28th Feb); mind-diving turn-based RPG Thyria (28th Feb); dice-based fantasy roguelike Tamarak Trail (29th Feb); boozy Porco Rosso-esque flight sim The Brew Barons (1st March); co-op fantasy FPS Guards (1st March).
As ever, this week's new videogame releases are unofficially sponsored by the Maw, that darkling terror beyond time and space, which forever hankers to consume our universe unless it is relentlessly fed gobbets of videogame news. You can follow our desperate attempts to appease it in our latest weekly newsblog below.
Our live coverage of this event has finished.
MONDAY'S CHILD IS FAIR OF FACE
Sire, the gamers are revolting! FEED THE MAW.
As reported by PCG, Rainbow Six: Siege creative director Alexander Karpazis has resisted calls for a sequel or 'engine swap', commenting that he feels Siege can "last forever" and that "I'm not going to name names, but you see games go through sequels and just completely drop the ball".
Arrowhead's CEO says that Helldivers 2's shortage of player capacity and related online issues have now been sufficiently addressed that the studio are able to focus on other parts of the game. I played a couple of games over the weekend and it definitely seems a lot easier to log in and launch a game.
As reported by Eurogamer, Yoko Taro is trying to get people to get Square Enix to publish Nier 3, inviting audiences at the Nier: Orchestra Concert in London earlier this month to applaud the idea.
Eulrich says: There´s Hidden Cup V going on, albeit i guess with Nate gone there´s noone covering AoE II that closely?
We covered a few of the recent Age announcements but yeah, I'm not sure we can channel enough Crowley-grade insight between us to cover the event itself.
Another Enshrouded update. This one makes the vultures sound better, fixes various crashing and performance issues, and stops you hammering through the supposedly indestructible bedrock at the bottom of the world.
As reported by Gamesradar (HELLO KAAN), the quest is underway to decipher the backstory of Messmer The Impaler, the apparent villain of Elden Ring Shadow Of The Erdtree. According to one redditor, he may have been referenced in the main game already.
Jarmarmarn says: Particularly unsettling banner art this week, pretty sure the guy on the right is about to engage MAW MODE, top marks all!
The Maw's manifestations are many! If you spot any copyright-expired monster etchings anywhere that seem worthy of becoming a Maw header, by all means flag them up (bearing in mind the need to break the link text so as to avoid the Dread Automoderator, who I am beginning to suspect may be one of the Maw's sibling gods).
MiniMatt says: good mawning all, Nacon have a live stream thingy on the 29th (6pm uk, 7pm cet) promising a new Terminator game (different from last week's new Terminator game) and I'm a sucker for stompy robots from the future
Once again MiniMatt delivers - read more about the Nacon event here. I missed my chance to play last week's Terminator RTS, and have some pent-up Termin-anticipation as a consequence - hope the new survival game gets the most out of the license.
PCGamer have a short interview with Age Of Mythology: Retold producer Earnest Yuen about what they're changing. The key takeaways in terms of mechanics: god powers can now be used several times a match with a cooldown, there's a higher population limit to take advantage of the new graphics tech, and you'll be able to micromanage myth unit powers.
Look, I'm trying to not make every one of my Maw contributions be to do with Factorio Friday Facts, but they keep outdoing themselves. If you missed their latest blog, it's all about Fulgora - one of the new planets in the upcoming expansion, which is sundered by perpetual lightning and covered in alien ruins to dig through. Looks like it's really gonna shake up the Factorio formula, this planet.
Larian's director of publishing has asked people to stop sending the Baldur's Gate 3 team threats over the game's lack of official mod support.
Sad news - Die Gute Fabrik, creators of the wonderful Saltsea Chronicles and Mutazione, are halting production due to lack of funding and investment. The whole team will be looking for new employment next month.
Until Dawn developers Supermassive Games are also in trouble, according to Bloomberg. 150 staff members are "at risk" of redundancy, the site claims, with Supermassive planning to lay off roughly 90.
Ender Magnolia: Bloom In The Mist - the sequel to very good Metroidvania Ender Lilies: Quietus Of The Knights which was previously announced for the Nintendo Switch during last week's Partner Direct showcase - has now been confirmed for PC. It's coming real soon, too, launching into early access on March 25th. Here's a launch trailer:
Final Fantasy’s legendary composer Nobuo Uematsu apparently doesn’t have the ‘strength’ to score a full video game again. While he will continue to contribute main themes to the series - having done so for both Final Fantasy 7 Remake and this year's Rebirth - it seems that his last complete soundtrack will be for iOS-exclusive mobile RPG Fantasian.
Drive, sprint, swim, fish, chop, cook, fly and,uh, sing to zoom through courses in What the Golf? devs’ utterly bizarre racing game What the Car? when it escapes mobile onto Steam later this year.
As Edwin mentioned earlier, last weekend was finally a smooth one for Arrowhead in their battle against Helldivers 2's towering popularity and its server-shaking effects. With the server issues now sorted, the studio are looking ahead to future incoming “improvements” for the shooter.
Honkai Impact 3rd's Part 2 update is out this week, overhauling aerial combat, introducing new characters and taking Honkai: Star Rail's ARPG predecessor to Mars.
GUARDS! is a co-op medieval Lethal Company-a-like with a touch of Chivalry's physics-y combat - it looks like silly (and deadly) fun, and it's kicking down the doors of Steam on March 1st.
The chilled-out, minimalist vibe of Monument Valley meets the pleasing efficiency of Factorio in stripped-back factory-building puzzle game Sixty Four. It'll be out on Steam on March 4th.
TUESDAY'S CHILD IS FULL OF GRACE
The temperature has plunged overnight and there is a low resolution quality to all objects within 100 metres of the quarantine zone. The Maw must have the mange again! FEED IT.
It's time to get your boots on and dust off that hoe: Stardew Valley's 1.6 update is out on 19th March on PC.
Here's a bit more from Famitsu about Elden Ring Shadow Of The Erdtree's mysterious DLC-specific levelling system, with translation provided by Redditor theangryfurlong. Apparently it's a bit like Sekiro's attack power system, which was increased by offering memories to a Sculptor's Idol.
Palworld's been updated. This one alters the handling of save data, adds full keyboard configuration, and changes Pal attack behaviour.
A new Dragon's Dogma 2 vocation! Say hello to the Sorceror.
2024 continues to be a fabulous year for game development staff further down the ladder, as PlayStation announce plans for "a reduction of our overall headcount globally by about 8% or about 900 people, subject to local law and consultation processes".
News is trickling through of game cancellations stemming from Sony's just-announced mass layoffs. According to Bloomberg, these include a Twisted Metal live-service game from Firesprite, though this was in early development and hadn't been greenlit.
PlayStation Studios head Hermen Hulst has put out a statement explaining that as part of Sony's reduction plan, "we've looked at our studios and our portfolio, evaluating projects in various stages of development, and have decided that some of those projects will not move forward." He didn't go into details.
WEDNESDAY'S CHILD IS FULL OF WOE
The Maw whispers! All news writers lose -4 Reason and gain +10 Infernal Melodies. FEED IT.
As reported by Aftermath, former Volition developers have launched a new studio, Shapeshifter Games, who will "partner with world class developers and publishers on the creation of AAA games". Best of luck, Shapeshifter. EDIT - Alice0 points out that we've already covered Shapeshifter back in Jan, though the Aftermath interview is new. D'oh.
Nintendo are suing the creators of the Switch emulator Yuzu - you can find the full lawsuit on Scribd, as passed on by Stephen Totilo.
Life is Strange: True Colors studio Deck Nine are laying off 20% of their staff, as reported by Eurogamer, attributing the move to "worsening market conditions" on social media.
Sticking with Eurogamer, they also point us toward a couple of new pieces of concept art for Playdead's mysterious next game, which has been described as a "third-person science fiction adventure set in a remote corner of the universe." Here's one of the artworks.
Against The Storm's 1.2 update is out March 4th. The developers have outlined a few of the features, including a new production/consumption trends window, blightpost upgrades, unique art for world events, and Latin American Spanish localization.
Darkstone Digital, the developer of The Mortuary Assistant, are making a Paranormal Activity game, published by DreadXP in collaboration with Paramount Game Studios.
NetEase Games have set up a new "remote-working-first" studio in Los Angeles called BulletFarm. Led by former Call of Duty bloke David Vonderhaar, the studio are currently developing an Unreal Engine 5 co-op shooter set in an original universe. Find more on the official site.
Epic have allegedly been hacked by a ransomware group, though they currently deny it - full story here.
Fachewachewa says: I come with sustenance for The Maw: the most correct award show happened yesterday, Thinky Games' Thinky Awards, where the actual 2023 GOTY (Can of Wormholes) won big. They focus on puzzle games and strategy, and they have an event page on steam both for the awards and a bunch of good bundles. Personally, I highly recommend the "Game Grid" bundle, with Pâquerette, Taiji, Can of Wormholes and Railbound.
The Maw is pleased with this offering! I particularly like the looks of Abdec.
Potion factory sim The Magical Mixture Mill has a 1.0 release date - 27th March. The 1.0 release adds new class origins, workstations, new customer quests and a main quest conclusion, plus quality-of-life updates and an assistant they're hinting is some kind of cat. It's time to get all Mad Madam Mim on this shit.
A new trailer for new Alone In The Dark.
Timemelters - a fantasy strategy game in which you clone one, time-travelling mage to fend off hordes - is out today. It reminds me of the old third-person RTS Sacrifice, if anybody here played that.
Remedy have scooped up "the full rights to Control, Condor and Control 2" from 505 Games, and are "now in a position to make the right product and business decisions focusing on long-term franchise growth" - read more in this note to investors.
As Edwin mentioned this morning, the current developers behind Life is Strange and co-creators of The Expanse: A Telltale Series have laid off 20% of the studio, with Deck Nine blaming “the game industry’s worsening market conditions” for their second wave of job losses in under a year.
Overwatch 2's recent Competitive changes - including controversial self-healing for non-support characters - have helped it to overtake Quick Play as the hero shooter sequel's biggest mode. The upcoming Season 10 will introduce further tweaks, including the dropping of group restrictions.
Monster Train devs’ turn-based co-op roguelike Inkbound exits early access into 1.0 this April, bringing a new questline, final boss and quality-of-life updates - plus a more expensive price tag.
Remedy now own all of Control - including upcoming sequel Control 2 and multiplayer spin-off codename Condor - after buying the full rights to the supernatural shooter series from publisher 505 Games.
Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn's crossover event with Noctis and the Boyz' roadtrip game Final Fantasy XV has returned to the MMO for the first time in over two years, giving you another chance to unlock Noctis' outfit and - most importantly - the ridiculous four-seater Regalia Type-G flying car mount. The event is live from now until March 13th.
More layoff news this evening, with EA now cutting 5% of their workforce. That equates to around 670 employees, according to IGN, who have also confirmed that Respawn's Star Wars FPS has been cancelled in the process.
THURSDAY'S CHILD HAS FAR TO GO
Rainy weather in London today! At this rate the Maw will liquify and then we'll have to sandbag the entire perimeter. FEED IT.
As part of last night's layoff announcements, EA have closed Battlefield single-player studio Ridgeline Games - thanks VGC.
Helldivers 2 is getting mechs, if this video is to be believed.
Here's an overview trailer for Taxi Life: A City Driving Simulator, which is set in Barcelona and might just scratch your GTA itch.
Via Jason Schreier and Bloomberg, Rockstar employees are being told to return to working at the office five days a week from April, to ensure security and productivity as GTA6 approaches release in 2025. Rockstar employees are said to be unhappy about this.
The well-regarded turn-based village management sim dotAGE has received a big quality-of-life update. Patch notes here.
The Astralis Women's Counter-Strike 2 esports team have written an open letter to Valve asking them to put default female character models in the game - in other words, character models you don't have to pay for.
Rockfish have blogged about being 10 years old and how they found success with the Everspace series.
Bloomberg are reporting that Embracer are selling off Saber Interactive, the creators of the Knights Of The Old Republic remake, for $500 million.
Baldur’s Gate 3 has made Minthara more pally and everyone less rude in the RPG's latest update, while also sorting a bunch of other bugs and eliminating money and loot exploits. If you're on Mac, you'll also get Patch 6's kissing improvements (and everything else)!
Hope you didn't buy the Epic Games version of the Tomb Raider Remastered games - it turns out that version wasn't finished.
The director for Immortals of Aveum and head of first-time developers Ascendant has said the magical first-person shooter could eventually find cult success like Dead Space, despite poor sales and mixed reviews when it launched last year - leading to dozens of layoffs at the studio weeks after release.
Smite 2 is reworking the mythological MOBA’s Conquest mode with more interaction, progression and some seriously powerful effects, as a new developer deep dive shows off a map that’s both basic-to-basics and richer with options.
Tear robot rivals limb from limb and then use their parts as your own in Mecha Mayhem, an upcoming physics-based brawler perhaps best described as "Gang Beasts with Gundam". It looks like silly fun!
Skylanders and Crash Bandicoot 4 studio Toys For Bob are breaking away from Activision Blizzard and going independent, as reported by GI - they're in talks for a partnership with Microsoft.
FRIDAY'S CHILD IS LOVING AND GIVING
The rain continues, but the Maw's thirst is never slaked. FEED THE MAW.Nexon have announced Vindictus: Defying Fate, a new action RPG whose world is inspired by Celtic mythology. It's set in the same universe as their 2010 MMORPG, also called Vindictus, and you can see it in action here:
Please, lady, get yourself some proper legwear. You're going to catch a chill in that skirt.
There's still no new release date for Aussie RPG Broken Roads yet after it was delayed last year, but new publishers tinyBuild have released a new origin story trailer for one of the characters you'll be playing:
Good news for GOG frequenters. Solo dev Kinmoku has announced today that both the excellent Videoverse and her debut game One Night Stand (also excellent) are both coming to GOG later today.
As per Eurogamer and Xwitter user Wario64, chancers on Steam are once again trying to capitalise on the success of popular games by creating fake game pages for them with deep discounts attached. This time, two fake pages for Helldivers 2 were spotted last night, with each page listing Arrowhead as the developer, and PlayStation as the publisher. Stay safe out there, folks.
Battleborn and Aliens: Colonial Marines developer Gearbox Entertainment are reportedly about to be sold by banjaxed investment ghouls Embracer Group. This follows reports yesterday that Embracer were also about to purge themselves of Saber Interactive after their disastrous, years-long acquisition binge.
Katharine mentioned the developer showcase for No Rest For The Wicked earlier, the new game Ori devs Moon Studio. Here's a fuller post on the stream to pull out two key details: it'll launch in Early Access on April 18th, and it'll add "innovative" co-op and competitive multiplayer in its first major post-launch update.
Space Crew: Legendary Edition is free to keep from Steam if you grab it before March 14th.
The lead developer of crystal-JRPG-farm 'em up Harvestella is leaving Square Enix next month.
Fall Guys received the Survival Update this week, which lets players make their own survival rounds in its in-game editor. The update also adds new powerups and new rounds.
SATURDAY'S CHILD WORKS HARD FOR HIS LIVING
Feed the Maw!Starfield's next update enters beta on March 6th and adds some quality of life improvements, alongside the ability to make you and your companions smile in Photo Mode.
Payday 3's 1.1.1 patch is out now and is the first of its "Operation Medic Bag" efforts to respond to player feedback. It lets you unready yourself in multiplayer lobbies, adds support for Nvidia graphics tech, and includes 300 bug fixes.
KeeperRL, an ambitious blend of Dwarf Fortress and Dungeon Keeper, has been in development for over 11 years. After several alphas and nine years in Steam Early Access, it's just hit version 1.0.
Vampire Survivors' latest update, released this past week, adds two new characters and four new weapons. It's also dedicated to the game's original engine, interestingly.
Bestest best poker-like card game Balatro has had its PEGI rating abruptly changed from a 3+ to an 18+, seemingly due to the opinion that it "contains prominent gambling imagery and material that instructs about gambling."
As a result, Balatro has been removed from sale on several console platforms. Its developers say they are "confident that the game will remain available on PC stores, including Steam" in their response to the change of rating. They also say that they hope to be back on sale soon, although perhaps with a "temporary 18+ rating".
PowerWash Sim has offered some details of its 2024 development roadmap, which includes two further paid DLCs, three free seasonal updates, and two pieces of free content. There's also "game news" to come, whatever that means.
Minami Lane looks like a cute, casual management game about building a street. I like that it explicitly advertises itself as having "two to four hours" of content; that only makes me want to play it more.