There are times when I think each week's most intriguing new PC releases are being organised behind the scenes by a fiendishly plotting, Left 4 Dead-style "AI Director". Mostly, the games approach in small groups distributed evenly among the weekdays - a steady assault. But every now and then, they treacherously mass and pounce on one particular day. This week, it's the latter.
On Monday 12th August, mockingly empty alleyways and the sound of weeping. On Tuesday 13th August, the wordy wizarding of Leximan (which still has a Steam demo). On Wednesday 14th August, a distant fell chorus and a lifting of the neck hairs. And then, on Thursday 15th August, the onslaught begins: the early access launch of laidback factory sim Shapez 2, the parsing, pointing and clicking of The Crimson Diamond (also has a Steam demo), the bloody fisticuffs and llama-based exploration of Arco (Steam demo? Yes, Steam demo), the blithe town-building of Gourdlets (no Steam demo for this one... ah, just messing - here it is), the madcap musical toys of ODDADA (you might want to try the Steam demo?), the avian mischief of Just Crow Things (Steam demo, yes), and the Steam release of Sins Of A Solar Empire 2 (shockingly demo-less).
Did you think it was over? Best regroup with team-mates, for the Director has held a few zombos in reserve. On Friday 16th August, a concluding foursome of the fun, the fearful and the forlorn: woebegone sheepdog odyssey Farewell North, pint-sized Zeldalike Castaway, cosmic junk salesman Pawn Planet and Feed The Deep, a Lovecraftian roguelike from the Fruit Ninja dev. As ever, all the week's new releases are sponsored by The Maw, an endlessly ugly embodiment of the universe's yearning for the New. You can follow our efforts to manage and mollify the creature in the news liveblog below. Have a jolly week!
Our live coverage of this event has finished.
Key points- 07:34 am August 16 2024 F-F-F-FRIDAY
- 08:11 am August 15 2024 HO, THURSDAY
- 08:01 am August 14 2024 WEDNESDAY TIME
- 07:59 am August 13 2024 TUESDAY AHEAD
- 06:27 am August 12 2024 MONDAY THEN
MONDAY THEN
Good Maw-ning! I'm off to an event so will not be newsing much today.
– Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
06:35 am UTC A tentative ray of hope: in a last-minute turnaround, Krafton have acquired Tango Gameworks from Microsoft along with the rights to their award-winning musical actioner Hi-Fi Rush, saving the studio from shutdown.– Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
06:38 am UTC The excellent Anodyne 2 is now open source.– Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
11:58 am UTC Conan Throwbrien is a discreet and disorientating hell– Nic Reuben
12:10 pm UTCDoom modders are irked at the recent Doom remaster on Steam, because it's been allowing anyone to upload mods to an in-game browser without decent moderation. So a lot of Doom modders work is being credited to random users. No, BilliamBongSlurper420, you did not create that level with all the exploding barrels. Sit down.
– Brendan Caldwell
07:59 am UTCTUESDAY AHEAD
Hard a-starboard! FEED THE MAW.– Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
08:02 am UTC Apocalypse postponed: the release of Nacon's open worlder Terminator: Survivors has been shoved back from October 2024 to sometime in 2025.– Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
08:02 am UTC Yet more evidence pointing to an iminent PC release for the original Red Dead Redemption. The Playstation Store listing contains the previously datamined text "now on PC for the first time ever." Thanks for the spot, Resetera.– Nic Reuben
08:03 am UTC The creators of wildly successful mod Fallout London are planning to launch their own indie game development studio, as revealed in an interview with the Beeb.– Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
08:05 am UTC Josh Sawyer would be vaguely down for a follow-up to Fallout: New Vegas, but has some stipulations, via GamesRadar. "I think that with any IP, especially one I've worked with before, the question is 'what do I want to do this time that I wasn't able to do last time? And if those constraints are just really constraining, then it's not very appealing, because who wants to work on something where the one thing they want to explore is not possible to explore?"– Nic Reuben
08:06 am UTCHere's 32 minutes of Stalker 2/STALKER 2/S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Серце Чорнобиля — Developer Deep Dive Watch on YouTube– Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
08:21 am UTCHunt Showdown will go offline later today for 48 hours while Crytek roll out the game's massive 1896 update.
This is it, Hunters.
We are mere days from the launch of Hunt: Showdown 1896, and as noted in July, Hunt: Showdown servers are going dark for 48 hours starting Tuesday, August 13th from 7pm CEST.
This means the game will be unavailable on any platform as we ready Mammon's…
– Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
08:26 am UTC Black Myth: Wukong releases on 20th August, but will it cause your PC to cry hot, salty tears of inadequacy? Developers Game Science have released a benchmarking tool so you can find out in advance.– Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
08:28 am UTCAbiotic Factor, the open world survival sim with rich undertones of Half-Life, has received its first major update. Additions include fishing, sushi, new traps and a reworked temperature system. Here's a trailer overview.
Abiotic Factor - Crush Depth Trailer Watch on YouTube– Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
09:07 am UTC Food Truck Empire (Steam link) is what it sounds like, and seems fun. You can outfit truck interiors individually, and boost your profits by positioning them in the right place at the right time of day.– Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
09:09 am UTCAccording to IGN, Evil Dead: The Game studio Boss Team are making two games based on John Carpenter's Halloween.
– Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
10:47 am UTC Kiborg is no-nonsense, vaguely Arkham-ish angry-bald-man 'em up, via PCGamesN.– Nic Reuben
13:26 pm UTC Dark Fantasy RPG Band of Crusaders has a bit of Wartales about it. It's got tactical combat, camp management, and an overworld map threatened by a demon invasion that's supposed to change based on your actions and decisions.– Nic Reuben
13:33 pm UTCAnother Monster Hunter Wilds weapon preview, this time for the light bowgun. Pah! Anyone not fighting close enough to smell the Khezu's breath is a rank coward.
Monster Hunter Wilds: Light Bowgun | Weapon Overview Watch on YouTube– Nic Reuben
17:59 pm UTCForthcoming movie Alien: Romulus features the emergency savegame telephones from Alien: Isolation - they've been repurposed as foreshadowing.
– Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
18:00 pm UTCHighly upgradeable shmup Nova Drift is out of early access and seems very neat
.– Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
18:01 pm UTCCapcom have explained, or at least, wincingly attempted to explain why there's no longer an "Erotica" tag in the Dead Rising remaster.
– Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
08:01 am UTCWEDNESDAY TIME
Tom Clancy's F.E.E.D. T.H.E. M.A.W.– Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
08:09 am UTC The original 1996 Diablo is now completely playable for free in your browser here. Nice spot, Gamesradar!– Nic Reuben
08:11 am UTCHere's a trailer for Boss Team's upcoming Evil Dead and Halloween games.
RetroRealms: Halloween and Ash vs Evil Dead - Announcement Trailer Watch on YouTube– Nic Reuben
08:12 am UTC Mystopia is a minimalist potion puzzler, with a demo on Steam.– Nic Reuben
08:16 am UTC Assassin's Creed Shadows lead producer Karl Onnée says four years is "the right balance" for the development of a new Assassin's Creed game.– Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
09:23 am UTC Steam now has a Trending Free tab.– Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
09:30 am UTC Helldivers 2's game director Mikael Eriksson has put out a bullet-pointed peace offering in response to players deciding to "let the Super Earth burn".– Nic Reuben
10:06 am UTCHere's an hour-long interview with Obsidian studio head Feargus Urquhart about, well, a lot of stuff: the possibility of New Vegas and Alpha Protocol sequels, the Xbox studio closures, subscription models, Avowed and Outer Worlds 2.
“We were a CRAPPY developer”: Obsidian's Feargus Urquhart on state of gaming | Hit The Limit Break Watch on YouTube– Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
12:37 pm UTC A FF14 player has made a website solely to explain to people why the healing spell they're using is bad. Incredible commitment, 10/10. Cheers for the spot, PC Gamer.– Nic Reuben
13:46 pm UTC If you're in the mood for a lot of well-reviewed horror game at a moderate discount, the £70 Summer Fright Night Bundle includes Crow Country, Life Eater, Hauntii, Among The Sleep, Venture To The Vile and Harvest Hunt.– Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
13:49 pm UTCDemon Loop is a deck-building digital boardgame from Magnolia Games and author Alexander Pfister, out in Steam Early Access on August 28th. Seems a tiny bit reminiscent of Loop Hero.
– Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
14:01 pm UTCTime for another Two Point game. It's... Two Point Museum.
Two Point Museum | Announcement Trailer (PEGI - ENG) Watch on YouTube– Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
14:05 pm UTCSupermassive's Until Dawn hits PC on 4th October.
Until Dawn - Comparison Trailer | PS5 & PC Games Watch on YouTube– Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
14:11 pm UTCAnd here's your first in-game trailer for Sharkmob's mech-believe looting romp Exoborne.
Exoborne - Gameplay Trailer Watch on YouTube– Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
08:11 am UTCHO, THURSDAY
The MAWRAL OF THE STORY IS FEED THE MAW.– Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
08:28 am UTCDragon Age: The Veilguard, the halloweeniest game to ever exist, has a release date: October 31st. The trailer is premiering later today.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard | Official Release Date Trailer Watch on YouTube– Nic Reuben
08:29 am UTC Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 has been delayed until February 11th next year.– Nic Reuben
09:06 am UTCA "verified" Helldivers 2 leaker has shared an in-game image of what they claim is an Illuminate tripod - the Illuminate being the game's much-rumoured third faction.
Image credit: IronS1ghts– Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
10:24 am UTC Missing from this week's round-up: the launch of spacey time-attack racer Phantom Spark, whose demo I had fun with - find it on Steam.– Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
10:32 am UTC Proper Dwarf babies have come to Dwarf Fortress on Steam, alongside sprites for about 180 kinds of tree and vegetation.– Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
10:53 am UTC A new update to Steam user reviews will hopefully make them more helpful, and less stuffed with copypasted memes.– Nic Reuben
10:54 am UTC Blood Bar Tycoon is fun!– Nic Reuben
10:57 am UTC A popular Final Fantasy 9 visual mod has got a nifty looking update, via GamesRadar.– Nic Reuben
11:04 am UTCHomeworld 3 gets a new patch today alongside the launch of the paid Kalan Raiders fleet pack - read more on Steam.
– Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
11:05 am UTC There's a new demo out for Hades-style creepy pirate odyssey Mark Of The Deep.– Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
15:07 pm UTCDelta Force: Hawk Ops done got a Space City map, where "everyone can hear you scream". Shameless!
Delta Force | Space City Map Reveal Watch on YouTube– Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
15:17 pm UTC The Chinese Room’s senior narrative designer and writer Sarah Longthorne has blogged about creating dialogue choice systems for Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2. Excerpt: "We don’t want you getting complacent, picking options transactionally to fill up some bar or progress some metric; we want you thinking, and engaging from moment to moment."– Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
17:10 pm UTC I lost an arm to The Lacerator and liked it.– Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
17:11 pm UTC Here comes Defect, a squad-based cyberpunk shooter from emptyvessel. It is shiny and shadowy and angry, with an us-vs-AI premise.– Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
17:11 pm UTC Stellaris is getting into storm-chasing with its latest DLC.– Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
07:32 am UTCLet's Build A Dungeon sounds entertaining - design, project-manage and play a fantasy MMO, all in one interface.
– Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
07:32 am UTC The Plucky Squire cometh on September 17th.– Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
07:33 am UTC Railroad Corporation 2, meanwhile, reaches the station on September 9th.– Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
07:34 am UTC And there's a character editor for Sims rival Inzoi launching on August 20th.– Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
07:34 am UTCF-F-F-FRIDAY
F-F-F-Feed the Maw!– Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
07:35 am UTC Expect "smaller and more customised" downloads for future Call Of Duties - no more 200GB+ installs, we hope.– Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
07:38 am UTCWhile we're talking COD, Activision have reportedly sent a cease and desist to the creators of a Modern Warfare Remastered multiplayer mod - the latter's imminent launch briefly kicked the game up the Steam charts yesterday.
Today, our team members received a Cease & Desist order on behalf of Activision Publishing in relation to the H2M-Mod project. We are complying with this order and shutting down all operations immediately and permanently.
— H2 Multiplayer Mod (@H2Multiplayer) August 15, 2024 To see this content please enable targeting cookies. Manage cookie settings– Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
07:39 am UTCHere's the release date trailer for Dragon Age: The Veilguard. It features a familiar face.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard | Official Release Date Trailer Watch on YouTube– Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
07:41 am UTC The lead writer of Star Wars: Eclipse, Adam Williams, has left Quantic Dream to found his own studio.– Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
07:44 am UTC Lurid and promising isometric cyberpunk RPG Keylocker launches on 18th September. There's a Steam demo if you missed it.– Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
07:48 am UTCThe Nightingale devs have published a second blog post about the ailing survival game's forthcoming big revamp. Amongst other things, they're moving away from procedurally generated realms a little and introducing new "handcrafted" worlds, as part of a revised story.
– Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
07:58 am UTC Here's a blog detailing some nifty new features coming in the next Total War: Warhammer III patch, including a new system that lets the dawi expand their settlements by delving deep.– Nic Reuben
08:00 am UTC If toast always lands butter side down, and cats always land on their feet, then what happens if you drop a buttered cat? CATO: Buttered Cat is a puzzle platformer that finally adresses the paradox.– Nic Reuben
08:06 am UTC Alicia Haddick wrote about musical turn-based cyberpunker Keylocker for RPS a few years back. I'm not sure if the current demo is new, but it's turned up on my radar recently. Looks rad!– Nic Reuben
08:18 am UTCSlitterhead, the survival horror game made by a team led by the director of Siren, now has a teasy little story trailer, featuring a montage of motorcycles, immolation and enthusiastic splatters of blood.
– Brendan Caldwell
08:21 am UTCPlayful bicycle crash 'em up Lonely Mountains is getting a snowy sequel. Lonely Mountains: Snow Riders will take players skiing down glittering low-poly slopes sometime this year.
– Brendan Caldwell
08:36 am UTCStrange Scaffold are at it again.
CO-OP
KAIJU
HORROR
COOKING pic.twitter.com/NemXCwOOUD
– Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
16:47 pm UTC The latest Humble Bundle is a frankly disgusting collection of top-drawer RPGs.– Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
16:48 pm UTCHunt Showdown is reborn as Hunt Showdown 1896, and certain people are not happy about it. Specifically, the overhauled UI.
– Edwin Evans-Thirlwell
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