The Maw - 8th-13th April
Our weekly news liveblog, with this week's freshest videogame releases
Time for another sorry week of heaving news-fuel into the Maw's thousand-and-one gullets and urgh, what's that brooding stench? It reeks of embargoes in here. The air is foul with it. This week is the week of the inaugural Triple-I Initiative showcase, aka the IIIIs, aka a 45-minute dollop of trailers and announcements from such studios as Slay The Spire creators MegaCrit and Darkest Dungeon developers Red Hook. We know of a couple of the announcements in advance; others, we'll learn about alongside you on 10th April.
There won't just be game announcements this week, of course. In a shocking twist with unforeseeable implications, people are actually releasing games too. Here are a few we think might be OK-to-brilliant: "Lofi Girl: The Game" Spirit City: Lofi Sessions (8th April); arty sniper fest Children Of The Sun (9th April); Lovecraftian Freelancer homage Underspace (early access, 10th April); third-person stealth fantasy Ereban: Shadow Legacy (10th April); isometric Mad Max-alot Broken Roads (10th April); swoopy cosy MMO Sky: Children of the Light (early access, 10th April); mythological Chinese roguelike Lotus Lantern: Rescue Mother (12th April).
As ever, our servitude to the Maw often produces catastrophic tunnel-vision, and there may be a few more potentially great videogames out this week that should have been mentioned above. Please, please tell us about them in the comments. I am not made of eyes! The Maw is made of eyes - together with suckers, motorised mandibles, assorted quantum superpositions, bits of medieval poetry and pieces of cosmic whalebone - but it has never left us a comment. Which is probably for the best.
Our live coverage of this event has finished.
BLUE MONDAY
The air is literally crackling with suspense! All news writers gain +10 conductivity. Chase the weasels out of the centrifuge and FEED THE MAW.
Incline ～Railway of devil's valley～ is... a game where you exorcise demons using a sloping railway, set in "the retro-romantic world of Japan in the late Meiji era." I have no prior experience to bring to bear on this. Does exorcism feature anywhere in Railroad Tycoon?
Sonic co-creator and recently convicted inside-trader Yuji Naka had some warm words for out-going Dragon Quest producer Yu Miyake over the weekend, accusing him of lying to a court (caveat that I'm going by a machine translation of the below tweet).
Speaking to The Gamer, Final Fantasy 16 producer Naoki Yoshida has thrown a bone to Final Fantasy Tactics fans. "It’s probably about time that we do a new one."
More in railway news: they've added nuclear power to Railgrade, together with a minimap for sandbox mode, different zeppelin docks, and the ability to automatically adjust train behaviour when they stop at stations.
Recently released MiniMatt favourite Captain Of Industry has also been updated. The additions include a new map called Armageddon that has a massive crater in it. Scenic! Full patch notes here - it's a biggie.
KRVeale says: Throne of Bone has a good demo and is coming out in - (checks) - five hours, apparently
The boy Jarvis wrote about this a few months ago and it does seem good.
alexithelion says: A potential tip-off - the American literary journal Post45 have a Contemporaries "cluster" of online essays all about (reading) Disco Elysium - they might be taking more academic tacks for some, but these essays are open-access/freely available online and I imagine will be of interest to RPS readers and/or DE or RPG fans!
Some very intriguing paper titles. This seems worthy of the illustrious Sunday Papers.
You'll soon be able to reactivate old seasons in Deep Rock Galactic - here's how that works.
Despite its first season being yet to premiere, the Fallout TV show already has a second season in the works, it seems! Amazon's been handed $25 million in tax cuts to film in California, because they were presumably short of a bob or two. Anyway, does this mean we might see an NCR-centric continuation of the post-apocalyptic adaptation?
It looks like the Splinter Cell remake might be about to reappear after years in the dark, as devs Ubisoft Toronto tease a possible re-reveal in June.
Unnerving £2 gem Buckshot Roulette is fresh out on Steam with a new update, and working on a multiplayer mode so you can play shotgun roulette with pals.
Baldur’s Gate 3 studio Larian will likely bring their next game to early access again, but admit the work-in-progress approach isn't right for every dev.
LOVE YOU TILL TUESDAY
FEED *checks notes* THE MAW.According to Eurogamer, there are layoffs and other cost-cutting measures underway at UK retailer GAME. Ah, GAME - one of the last big high street trade-in places. Everybody form a defensive circle around CEX.
Triple Triad/Tetra Master homage Tetra Tactics - previously Card Craft - is leaving Steam early access today with a brand new soundtrack, an overhauled tutorial, hero power bugfixes and various quality-of-life improvements.
A big update for lairy dungeon physics-me-do Noita. The game is 60% off on Steam to celebrate.
They put the eclipse in Call of Doody.
There's a screening of Destiny 2's Final Shape expansion happening at 9.30am PT / 12.30pm ET / 5.30pm BST - you can watch it live below.
EA continue their endless quest to find even a single studio who can make a good Battlefield game. They've announced that EA Motive - them from the Dead Space remake - are building a team to have a shot at it. Their Iron Man game remains in development, too.
We missed this news a couple of weeks ago, I think, or I did. Paradox's 2023 grand strategy Star Trek: Infinite will receive no further updates. Please, only one joke per commenter about it not really being "Infinite" then.
Gigantic was a combo of MOBA and hero shooter that sadly shuttered back in 2018. Its surprise revival Gigantic: Rampage Edition launched on Steam today, with a new mode, new characters, and a new premium (but inexpensive) price.
Spirit City: Lofi Sessions is a "gamified focus tool" that launched on Steam yesterday. Like most games, it's a power fantasy: of living in a nice space; of being able to put things on the wall without losing your deposit; of owning a pet; of being productive; and so on. It's like watching an aspirational vlogger, but it won't try to flog you a Notion subscription within twelve minutes.
Variety report that indie horror haul 'em up Dredge is the latest game to have its movie rights snapped up by Story Kitchen. It joins Disco Elysium, My Friend Pedro, Life Is Strange, It Takes Two, Sifu, Sleeping Dogs, SLime Rancher, Streets Of Rage and Vampire Survivors.
A WEDNESDAY CAR
FEED THE MAW. It's the Triple-I Initiative tonight, so you can expect a fair bit of today's news to be clustered towards the evening.
SEGA have announced that it's "the year of Shadow" (the Hedgehog). Why you do this, SEGA.
World of Warcraft Cataclysm Classic will release on May 20th, Blizzard have announced.
As Edwin noted earlier, World of Warcraft Classic will revisit 14-year-old story arc Cataclysm next month, with a pre-launch patch landing on April 30th ahead of the expansion.
Eldritch fishing game Dredge is being made into a movie by the people behind the Sonic the Hedgehog films.
Palworld is adding its own Pokémon Stadium mode with multiplayer PvP arenas later this year.
A remake of Dead Space 2 was reportedly in the works, but has since been shelved due to poor sales of the first game, according to regular industry insider Jeff Grubb. The news follows developers EA Motive shifting to work on the Battlefield series, alongside their upcoming Iron Man game.
Well, wouldya believe it, EA have now denied the recent claims that a Dead Space 2 remake was cancelled due to 'lacklustre' sales of the first game, with development of the sequel reportedly never under consideration to begin with.
Belated heads-up that all of tonight's big Triple-I Initiative announcements can be found right here. Apologies, Mawers - I've been neglecting the feed today.
I LOST THURSDAY
(As requested by MiniMatt.)
Any thoughts on last night's Tripliiis, then? Nice to see Simon Belmont getting work. I liked the leggy car as well. FEED THE MAW.
Watch out, EA Play subscription service prices are going up. The changes take effect for existing customers on 10th May. Find more on GamesIndustry.biz.
cpt_freakout says: New Solium Infernum DLC announced today! Also, thanks alexithelion for that tip, that collection looks brilliant.
Ta! Here's the Steam announcement. Amongst other things they've created a new Archfiend, Belphegor, who is "the embodiment of Sloth and Indolence". Teach me, Belphegor!
A new Stardew Valley patch is happening, out next week.
Our siblings-from-another-Future over at PCGamer point out that the leaker who correctly described Destiny 2's new Prismatic subclass also claimed that Destiny 3 is in development about a month ago.
Via Techraptor, Threads Of War is a tank roguelike inspired by Namco's Battle City, which looks like a work of textiles. It's being developed by a Ukrainian programmer and his son, and portrays the liberation of Ukrainian territories during the first year of Russia's war on Ukraine, from Hostomel to Kherson.
There's a chunky update for Naraka Bladepoint - highlights include a Hot Potato mode, which is sort of dodgeball but with swords and also, the ball is alive and wants to kill you.
Sky: Children Of Light is now out on Steam and just in time for the "season of nesting", aka players getting homes.
FRIDAY ON MY MIND
Stir the cauldrons and polish the sundials! FEED THE MAW.
Fallout 4 is getting updates to mark the Amazon TV show's launch, including widescreen and ultra-widescreen support, as well as fixes to Creation Kit and a variety of quest updates.
Via IGN, Todd Howard has poured cold water on the idea of an Elder Scrolls TV show. "I'll probably say no."
Wanted: Dead - one of the most preposterous, aggravating yet somehow entertaining B-movie games I've played - has received a major update which rebalances the combat and introduces new abilities, amongst other things.
Immortals of Aveum developer Ascendant Studios have furloughed the majority of their staff, according to former employee Kris Morness. The claim has been corroborated by Polygon's Nicole Carpenter.
A new story briefing trailer for Homeworld 3.
And a trailer for Remnant 2's just-announced The Forgotten Kingdom DLC, out 23rd April. Honestly, who forgets a kingdom? Also wouldn't this be more accurately titled The Remembered Kingdom?
Any old TI calculator owners in the house? You might like this.
As Nic shared earlier, Steam’s FPS Fest unloads a clip full of deals and demos for shooters next week.
Baldur’s Gate 3 does what Elden Ring couldn’t, sweeping yesterday's BAFTAs to become the first video game to win all five big GOTY awards.
After laying off half of the studio a matter of months ago, Immortals of Aveum developers Ascendant have now reportedly furloughed most of those left.
64-player Pac-Man battle royale game Chomp Champs escapes the grave of Google Stadia onto Steam next month. It looks like it could be fun!
I'll leave you with a fun one for the weekend - after the recent speedrunning dog, someone else is apparently teaching a dog to play video games for a college study. I look forward to being able to ask my spaniel to grind out some levels in Final Fantasy 14 for me.