The Maw - 2nd-6th January 2024

IT IS MONDAY (Ed: TUESDAY). Spin up the August Journoplasmic Apparatus! Top up the hamster's water bottle! Oh, and FEED THE MAW.

Some morning pick-me-up music.

Square Enix president and representative director Takashi Kiryu has penned a new year's letter discussing the company's 2024 ambitions for metaversy stuff, AR/VR, the blockchain and generative tools in game development. The letter also summarises 2023 as "a year of tumult exemplified by an intensification in geopolitical risks and sharp inflation stemming partly from monetary policy moves made by central banks grappling with the pandemic."

Cruelty Squad developer Consumer Softproducts, real name Ville Kallio, is making another non-linear shooter thingy with explosively odd aesthetics - Psycho Patrol R. It's described as "a mecha FPS hybrid policing and punishment simulator set in the decayed state of Pan-Europa. You play as an officer of the European Federal Police, a V-Stalker pilot of Psycho Patrol, a special unit tasked with solving mental crime, among other things." Sounds like A Lot.

Somebody's joined together a lot of dots relating to NCsoft's rumoured MMO based on the Horizon series from Guerrilla Games.

"Shit flowed downstream, usually landing on the lowest-paid and most overworked individuals. Management was too busy reacting to wildly vacillating direction and decisions that made zero sense." That's former senior manager of community development Andy Belford describing the working culture at Blizzard when Bobby Kotick was in charge. Eurogamer has a piece rounding up developer social media responses to Kotick's departure at the end of 2023.

As passed on by Alice0, Volition's former lead video editor spent Xmas finalising a mod that makes Cloud's sword in the Final Fantasy 7 Remake less flashy. How many prosperous modding careers have begun as somebody taking issue with one, relatively minor detail of a blockbuster game? (I've only ever played the PS4 version of FF7R - I hear that the sword FX are much more overbearing in the PC version.)

Another heads-up from Alice0: there's now a demo for The Majestic, in which you are a fancy bird exploring a world of floating islands and non-floating forests. The blurb is a bit of a rich brew - "delve through time and find yourself in a cozy narrative woven with love, friendship, and family" - but the flying bits are appealing. No, it doesn't have Jim Carrey in it.

Fruits says: Saying again for the new year: please add a link to the maw to RPS’ header at the top or prominently in the ‘latest articles’ page, so it doesn’t disappear.

Hello! Currently, we can't do much about its placement in Latest unfortunately - the best we can manage is a permanent spot on the Homepage spotlight block! - but I will add it to the purple bar right at the top, that's a good shout!

Disney have casually confirmed a late 2024 release window for Star Wars Outlaws as part of their "24 Ooooh-Worthy Things" happening at Disney Parks this year.

"Star Wars Outlaws, the open-world Star Wars game is set to release late this year," the Disney Parks blog post reads. Hopefully this heralds a more concrete confirmation from Ubisoft themselves very soon.

If you've been keeping up with the daily free games over on the Epic Games Store this holiday, you may be keen to hear that today's freebie is the quite good Survivors-like, 20 Minutes Till Dawn!

The winners of the Steam Awards 2023 have been decided. And... hoo boy. Starfield?

Here's our full post on 20 Minutes Till Dawn, the VampSurvivorslike, being free to keep from the Epic Games Store.

Frogwares are now the sole publisher of Lovecraftian RPG The Sinking City. The developer had been embroiled in public conflict and litigation with publisher Nacon back in 2020. They're now going to update the game and release new DLC - although all old saves will break imminently.

Relatedly this caused me to notice that Paranoia: Happiness Is Mandatory, another Nacon-published game delisted due to litigation since 2020, has returned to sale via Steam as of December 21st, 2023.

First Cut: Samurai Duel is a 2D swordfighting game where a connecting blow means instant death - part Nidhogg, part Bushido Blade. It now has a January 17th release date.

ScummVM has been updated and now supports 50 new games, including Muppet Treasure Island and the Vampire Diaries game Jenny Nicholson plays in the best video on the internet.

...IT IS WEDNESDAY. Sorry for the lack of updates here - I managed to lock myself out of the CMS overnight. Or rather, my computer did. It's logged me out of everything. Ugh, how I loathe computers. I'd hate to write about them for a living or something. Anyway, FEED THE MAW.

Let's continue today's theme of hateful computers by listening to the ending song from Portal 2 (beware spoilers in the lyrics).

CD Projekt Red's chief strategy officer Adam Kiciński has told Parkiet that the company are interested neither in being acquired, nor (currently) in making any acquisitions, as passed on by VGC. Speaking via machine translation, Kiciński said that "we are not interested in purchases that would only aim to include the acquired companies in our group and consolidate their financial results", which sounds a bit like a subtweet to me. Who could it be aimed at? I suspect the answer rhymes with "eraser".

A late Xmas present: the full 1.0 release of The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall's Unity remaster. It's free on Steam.

The forthcoming Minecraft movie will apparently star Jack Black as Steve, as rumoured by Deadline. Don't worry, I'm sure they have Chris Pratt on speed-dial if Black changes his mind.

Before all the computer nonsense happened I was going to liveblog this, intriguing colony management game set in the atmosphere of Venus. It's the work of a solo dev and is out 22nd January.

Your first Game Pass additions this month are Close To The Sun (3rd Jan), Hell Let Loose (4th Jan), Assassin's Creed Valhalla and Figment (9th Jan), Super Mega Baseball 4 and We Happy Few (11th Jan), and the Resident Evil 2 remake and Those Who Remain (16th Jan). A real up-and-down crop there: Those Who Remain is as dreadful as Resident Evil 2's remake is glorious. We Happy Few is in the middle - lots of promising ideas but a bit of a mess.

Here's an interview with horror shooter GTFO developers 10 Chambers about their new heist thingy Den Of Wolves. It includes musings about potential in-game AR-style features, and some spicy thoughts on what open betas are actually for.

treelo says: @Fruits#4180 Weirdest thing about the link is that it's basically a non-sequitr next to the "Best Xs in Y" links.

I would say that only adds to its mystery, wouldn't you?

Very decent and very grim stealth game A Plague Tale: Innocence is the latest game free to keep from Epic Games Store for the next 24 hours. I personally enjoyed my time shooing rats away with torchlight (when not being horribly eaten by said rats), so I think it's well worth the price of nothing!

Here's a few more details from CD Projekt Red's former CEO discussing the studio's complete lack of interest in being acquired (but potential interest in acquiring others one day), as shared by Edwin earlier.

This month's PC Games Pass offerings have been revealed, headlined by horror game masterpiece Resident Evil 2 Remake and Viking whopper Assassin's Creed Valhalla. Close to the Sun, Hell Let Loose and We Happy Few also make an appearance (or reappearance, depending!)

Just over six months after it left early access, Dave the Diver has hit an impressive sales milestone of 3 million copies sold. Not bad for an indie game from an unknown publisher! (Please, please, I swear it's a joke)

IT IS THURSDAY. Just one more day and we can end this sick charade and go back to being on holiday. FEED THE MAW.

PolygonClassicist says: The Steamboat Willie horror game (which looks like ass tbh) has changed its title out of concern of associations with fascist symbolism (the devs had called their game *Infestation 88*). But as one commenter on Eurogamer points out, it's the tip of the iceberg for the fascist connections with the game: eurogamer . net/infestation-studio-changes-game-name-following-concern-over-neo-nazi-symbolism?view=comments#comments-ewxpgo5

We've been following the story around this. As you've probably guessed, one reason I haven't covered it is that I don't want to give (even critical) publicity to something that could be hate speech. That aside, the game just doesn't seem particularly intriguing beyond its headline gimmick. I'm interested to see what other devs do with Steamboat Willie, however.

As reported by PCGamer, 13-year-old Willis Gibson has apparently become the first person to "beat" Tetris on NES by surviving for long enough to reach the game's "true killscreen", a feat otherwise only achieved by bot players.

Look at that, mech piloting in Starfield, care of modder Jared Kohr. Thanks VG247.

Twitch's new policy which prohibits "implied nudity" goes into effect today. According to a statement, "this update is in response to a recent meta on Twitch in which streamers use black censor bars or other items to block their bodies or clothing, or position the camera frame such that the viewer is led to believe that the streamer is fully or partially nude."

Rockfish have blogged a bit about the process of porting well-good starfighter sim Everspace 2 to Unreal Engine 5, which has wrought some entertaining havoc (as the developer notes, this reflects the inevitable teething troubles of moving between versions, not anything to do with Unreal Engine 5 in itself).

Nexon have been slapped with an $8.9 million fine by the Korea Fair Trade Commission for secretly changing the drop rates for loot items in MapleStory between 2010 and 2021, making in-game purchases more appetising. The penalty is the largest ever imposed for violating the Act on Consumer Protection in Electronic Commerce in South Korea.

For reasons unclear, people are remaking Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness - popularly considered to be the worst Lara outing ever - in Unity and Unreal Engine. Here's a video of the Unity one. It's all totally unofficial, obviously. Thanks DSOGaming.

Robocop: Rogue City is probably getting a New Game+ mode.

The latest Star Citizen "Legatus" supporter bundle contains every ship in the game and costs... $48,000. If you are minded to invest, can I also interest you in some magic beans I've just found under my bed? They cost $1000 a bean, cash upfront. I'm happy to pay for postage. Thanks PCG.

Marvel's Guardians Of The Galaxy is currently free to keep from the Epic Games Store. You've got a week to grab this one.

Niklaus Wirth, the creator of several programming languages including Pascal, and a pioneer of several principles of programming languages, has died. Through his work Wirth "defined the foundations of modern programming languages," said Epic founder Tim Sweeney on X. "'Power through simplicity, simplicity through generality' was the name of the game. He made programming better for everyone."

Over 14,000 games were released on Steam in 2023. Too many games? The wrong kinds of games? Thorny question.

Apex Legends' first crossover event will begin on January 9th and bring Aerith, the Buster Sword, Materia and other elements from Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth to the battle royale.

Phasmophobia was 2020's indie horror sensation, and its developers have laid out their 2024 development roadmap which includes plans for a 1.0 release. They say they'll continue to add to the beloved co-op haunting even after that point, however.

City Of Hereos' community-run private server Homecoming has been granted an official license by NCSoft, meaning it can now operate without the constant threat of being oblitered by IP lawyers. Its operators say the server will remain free and they're going to continue developing new content for the MMO, which ran from 2004 until 2012.

IT IS FRIDAY. All our compass needles are pointing in different directions and the walls have begun to sweat. FEED THE MAW.

There's another Tribes 3 playtest happening, if you missed the last one. It's only running for 24 hours, however.

MSI are teasing a hardware announcement of some kind. More competition for Steam Deck?

Some morning music.

Asynchronous multiplayer dungeon-delver Phantom Abyss hits the big 1.0 on January 25th. I haven't played the early access build but was impressed by the announcement trailer. It's earned itself a Very Positive steam rating.

As spotted by PCG, "Metropolis 1998 is a fresh take on the modern city simulation experience in a retro pixel art style." I like the cut of those isometric visuals. Find it on Itch and Steam.

I am keeping an eye out for game developer/publisher responses to this GI story in which an analyst predicts that the industry will move away from live service games in 2024.

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is getting praise for the fact that 7-year-old GPUs can run it on Ultra. Many are citing the fact that the developers prioritised the Switch version first as the reason behind this. Nice to see in a world where games are increasingly larger than life and pushing the limits of GPUs even two years old.

kyle_ar says: Just read about a Portal demake, Portal 64, that runs on N64 emulators. Sounds like the sort of thing RPS might be interested in - seemingly a demo has been released as a "First Slice"...

It does look rather cool.

It's not an original take to point out that Baldur's Gate 3 is a horny game, but apparently now it is putting Series X-S users in digital horny jail. Their consoles are automatically uploading clips of awkward video game sex to the sharing server (via PC Gamer), so their accounts are getting bonked on the head by Xbox. Tangential to PC, but I find this v. funny. Imagine having to contact support. "Can you make fantasy bear pornography come on my telly please?" I'd rather get a new Xbox.

Hideo Kojima has compared his forthcoming horror game OD to his early noughties solar-powered GBA project Boktai, and I have thoughts about it.

There have been 19 job losses at Bossa Studios - best of luck if you're one of the people affected.

The PlayStation blog has listed Silent Hill 2 and Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater remakes for 2024 release, though we've had nowt on the subject from publisher Konami.

Fruits says: Return to Lordran starts today! For 2 weeks every January, Dark Souls 1 is hopping with activity as folks return to play it. So if you want the authentic Souls experience, with cryptic messages, jolly sunbros helping you fight bosses and invaders that just as likely to kill you in 2 hits as they are to drop a shiny weapon, now is the time.

I had no idea this was a thing. Sounds fun!

AI is about to become that bit harder to avoid, as Microsoft introduce a dedicated AI button to Windows keyboards - the first big change since the Windows key was added almost 30 years ago. The new button will start to appear later this month, with Microsoft calling 2024 “the year of the AI PC”.

Got a spare £46,000 laying around? There's a new way for you to spend it: by buying over 175 ships for Star Citizen, in a new bundle costing more than the average person makes here in the UK in a year. I mean, what possible better options could there be? I can't think of any!

Rust is getting backpacks! Pets won't arrive until at least 2025, though, as Facepunch Studios lay out their plans for the second decade of the survival shooter.

Baldur's Gate 3 has plenty of heartfelt stories, but this real-life tale of how a fan's father and long-time CPRG player diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease ended up with a touching tribute in NPC form might outdo them all. End your week with a beautiful example of how video games bring people together and create memories.

Swipe 'em up strategy game Reigns: Three Kingdoms arrives on PC next week after over a year of mobile exclusivity via the Netflix app.

You can watch Persona 3 Reload's intro cinematic ahead of time, if you can't wait for next month's remake to arrive, or if you just love anime intros and J-Pop.

Netflix is considering adding in-game monetisation or advertising to its games, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal. The games currently contain neither and are included at no extra cost with a subscription to the streaming service - although only via its mobile app.

Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind is one of my favourite films because it's about hope, and about love enduring in the wake of heartbreak.

Are you ready to take another shot at love? Because there's a Tribes 3: Rivals playtest available now, if you want to get a headstart. Edwin mentioned this yesterday but the test has been extended and you can get access via Steam until 8pm EST today. The test's end will be good practice for when all the servers are switched off a couple years after it releases properly, having failed to find the audience it deserves as per all previous Tribes games.

Portal: Revolution, a fully-voiced, eight-hour Portal 2 prequel with 40 new test chambers, is out now and looks great.

Mr. Podunkian, a former developer on Stardew Valley, is now working on his own life sim and it looks ambitious. There's no name yet, but there are a ton of videos and Podunkian hopes to release it in 2024.