Steam

Valve adding mandatory AI use disclosures to games on Steam stoked some discussion, with the likes of Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney calling the policy "really irresponsible" and unfair to game developers. I interviewed nearly three dozen game developers about generative AI for industry-facing and indie-focused reports, and several of them mentioned Steam's and similar store disclosures, arguing that gen AI use should be clear to consumers. "Gamers have a right to know how their games are made, and a right to choose what they’re supporting," says Brian "Burgee," creator of simulated MMO Erenshor. "Steam's required AI disclosure is the right move here for the sake of transparency." Burgee expects the gaming community to "police this topic on their own behalf," and sees AI disclosures as important information. "Many gamers quickly developed a loud voice against AI-generated games when the tech was first revealed, and years later they haven't wavered. I think they're going to continue to act as their own regulating body going forward ... If games using or created with generative AI gain a foothold in the market, for as long as it's cost-effective for major studios to create them, they will very likely be here to stay. However, I predict that if that does happen, we'll see passionate indie developers surge in popularity more than ever." (Image credit: Burgee Media) Brandon Sheffield, a veteran of the industry now directing Demonschool dev Necrosoft Games, agrees Valve is in the right. "I am glad Steam requires an AI disclosure, even if many devs simply don't disclose it. I wish all platforms would do the same," he says. Helen Carmichael of Forbidden Solitaire studio Grey Alien Games is of a similar mind. "It's good that on some platforms it's being declared as transparency matters," she says. "How do customers feel? Anecdotally, I see a push back against 'AI slop' from sections of Gen Alpha, but then again Gen AI is widely used in the casual game sector, where older customers don't mind." Similar comments came from Palworld and Pocketpair comms lead John Buckley, who says "gamers don't want" AI and touched on store disclosures. "Even Steam is pushing back a certain amount on it," Buckley says. "You have the disclaimers now and stuff. Gamers don't want it, and if the gamers don't want it, I guess that's it, right? Not much of a conversation to be had." This month, one particular Steam disclosure suggesting gen AI was necessary in order to sustain development rankled several other devs. "The 'I'm just a little solo dev' thing also really doesn't work for us solo/tiny devs who have made things without using the art-stealing-cheat-machine," said David Lindsey Pittman of Eldritch maker Minor Key Games. Last month, one user released a browser plugin which automatically blurs out any Steam game with an AI disclosure. Half of all games released on Steam will use AI by 2028, study predicts: "AI lowers the barrier not just to make a game but to make several." [/url]View the full article

Just a few weeks after Dbrand revealed its Companion Cube was a lie (or rather that it didn't get permission to make it), the company is back with some new wraps for Valve's little cube-shaped gaming PC. They include nine fun new skins with matching Steam Controller options, among plenty of other options. The new skins can make your Steam Machine look like a basketball, ****** or white dice, a brick wall, a dusty old PC, the planet Earth, and a shabby old shipping package. In addition to those, there are also many familiar skin designs that Dbrand has sold for other products over the years, like its groovy inky color blends and circuitry designs, and even a smattering of pastel, one-color options. Here are some of the new designs: Finally, some proper Steam Machine wraps! When it comes to Steam Machine accessories, the cosmetic kind have been hard to come by so far. You can find all of these new skins over on Dbrand's website. They come in three tiers. The Essential Kit covers just the faceplate and starts at $17.95; the Deluxe Kit is a full wrap and starts at $34.95; and the Everything Kit includes a controller skin and starts at $44.95. View the full article

In a new episode of their mini-docuseries, the minds at Crystal Dynamics and Flying Wild Hog explained why bringing back Lara Croft’s iconic acrobatics and movement was so important to Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis, and fans couldn’t be happier about it. Legacy of Atlantis is the latest reimagining of Lara Croft’s debut adventure, marking a stark contrast from the gritty realism of the reboot trilogy. Amazon Game Studios’ fresh take on the original 1996 Tomb Raider brings back Lara’s high-flying movement, both in traversal and combat. As told by game director Raul Siqueira, “This is a moment where a normal person would step to the side. Lara Croft doesn’t step to the side; she cartwheels to the side, because she’s fast, because she’s agile, because she can do all of those things.” In a July 21 episode of the game’s behind-the-scenes mini-doc, the team made it clear that they’re bringing back old-school Lara Croft for the new generation — and that includes all of her badass abilities like handstands and swan dives. “She’s moving confidently, with all these acrobatics, climbing and jumping,” principal technical game designer Grzegorz Grzywacz said. “That’s what makes Lara, Lara.” “All of those things were the biggest issue for us. Because a regular jump isn’t a Lara Croft regular jump, right?” creative director Michal Kuk added. In fact, Lara’s physicality was so integral to the game that her actress, Alix Wilton Regan, trained extensively in several different disciplines to get into character. “I did a lot — I still do a lot — of weight training, running, yoga, rock-climbing. I freakin’ love rock climbing, that is my jam,” she said. In previous episodes of the docuseries, Regan was shown in full mocap getup, solving ‘puzzles,’ exploring treacherous terrain, and getting into standoffs with as-yet unrevealed enemies on set. “She is very, very strong. She is very, very capable. …I really wanted to bring that confidence to Lara,” Regan said. Fans are ecstatic about the developers’ dedication to Lara’s classic moves, which the team confirmed players will be able to practice to their hearts’ content before setting off to explore new areas of the game. “This is the NUMBER ONE thing for me — I’m so grateful the devs are focusing on Lara’s movement and advertising it as a major factor in defining her,” one player wrote on YouTube. “Her acrobatics are a part of her character. Literally no one else has or ever done it like her. Thank you for bringing it back to life!” another said. “I'm so happy the handstand and swan dive are back. Iconic Lara abilities,” yet another praised. Speaking at IGN Live 2026, Regan said she recorded for three weeks at a time, joking that, “You get a bit hot and sweaty and extremely intimate with your costars doing ten hours in a mocap suit." IGN got the chance to preview the game at Summer Game Fest 2026, with Simon Cardy saying it "makes a 30-year-old adventure feel brand-new." Initially slated for a 2026 release, Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis now launches on February 12, 2027, for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC, and Nintendo Switch 2. Virginia (she/her) is IGN’s News Editor. With ten years of experience reporting on games and entertainment, she’s got a storied background in the fighting game community, influencer news, and viral online trends. Find her on Twitter at @TheeMissGlaze. View the full article

It's no secret that 2026 has been awful for trying to buy PC hardware. Even back in January, RAM prices had already skyrocketed, and things have only gotten worse since. Back then, I was hearing that the AI-caused RAM crisis would last into 2027, and now, 6 months later, it feels like that was the optimistic take. Now it feels impossible to build or buy a decent gaming PC at a good price. Even the Steam Machine, with its entry-level hardware, costs more than a thousand bucks. That's a hard price to ********, for sure, but that's just the way hardware is going right now. But, if you were lucky enough to get decent hardware before data centers caused prices to go into the stratosphere, PC gaming actually feels incredible right now. Things Are Only Getting More Expensive Last month, when the Steam Machine came out, its $1049 price tag without a controller hit like whiplash for a lot of folks, but that price wasn’t especially surprising. Hardware across the PC landscape has been getting more expensive all year, and it’s even hit consoles, which have traditionally been immune from this kind of memory-induced price increase. The worst part? It’s only really getting started. Over the last weekend, Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier sat down with Valve engineers, who told him that the RAM crisis isn’t slowing down any time soon, and that it’s, in fact, worse than it seems. Engineer Yazan Aldehayyat said "Just in case people are not aware. What people are seeing on retail shelves right now, from our observations, is lagging what we’re seeing from a bulk supply by at least three to six months." Valve isn’t alone. Even Microsoft is feeling the pressure from the high memory prices, with CEO Asha Sharma claiming that the costs to manufacture Xbox consoles will end up around five times higher than they were by the end of 2027. And, if you apply the three-to-six month delay that Aldehayyat was talking about, it’s entirely possible that the Xbox Series X ends up costing just as much as the Steam Machine by the end of the year. After all, the 1TB model just went up to $800. Right now, it’s hard to have any kind of optimism that gaming hardware will ever be affordable again. There are a few bright spots here and there, with a Class Action lawsuit being filed in California against the big three RAM manufacturers (Micron, Samsung, SK Hynix) accusing them of price fixing – something that has happened before, by the way. There’s a chance that lawsuit ends up doing something to the current supply crisis, but even if it does, it’ll probably be a few years before we see any kind of impact from it. In the past, my advice would be to just ride out this shortage. Usually, when there was a RAM shortage or a GPU shortage or whatever else, you could upgrade other parts of your build until things got back to normal. But with the way the AI gold rush has caused prices on everything from RAM and SSDs to CPUs and GPUs to go up, it might be a while before anyone can get a reasonably priced upgrade. Really, my recommendation is to just stick with the hardware you already have. If you already have a decent gaming PC, handheld or console, it might be the best move to just keep playing games there until this is all over – no matter how long it takes. Now, that might mean that you won’t be able to turn up all the eye candy in the latest games, but I’ve been surprised at how well new games run on low-to-mid-range hardware this year. PC Gaming Actually Feels Good Right Now Over the last six months, I’ve spent a lot of time trying to tinker with games more, seeking out the optimal graphics settings to get them to run well on lower-end hardware. What I’ve found is that the biggest PC games this year have been surprisingly well optimized. Even Crimson Desert, which wouldn’t even run on Intel graphics cards at launch, ran extremely smoothly on pretty much everything I ran it on, even if it had some weird visual glitches. The same can be said for games like Pragmata, Forza Horizon 6 and the new ****** Flag remake that just came out. I haven’t really had any problems getting games to run on lower-end hardware, and that, at least, is a welcome respite in an environment where everything is more expensive. From the outside, it makes a lot of sense, too. After all, it doesn’t take a very keen eye to notice that hardware prices have gone way up over the last six months, and I’m sure game developers have noticed that folks are playing games on older hardware. At least until prices normalize – if they ever do – it just seems smart for devs to optimize games to run on more attainable systems. I’m sure there will be some games over the next year that are going to punish lower-end hardware. For instance, the system requirements for The Blood of Dawnwalker are incredibly steep, and I’m sure Metro 2039 will have brutal requirements too. However, I’d love to see more games that can run just as well on a handheld as on a full-fledged gaming PC. And I haven’t been disappointed so far this year. I don’t know if I’d recommend anyone actually get into PC gaming right now, just because hardware is so expensive. But, there are plenty of people who already have some type of gaming PC handy. If that’s you, my advice is to take care of your rig and keep it running smoothly. It seems like PC games are getting easier to run as the current generation of consoles starts entering its elder years. So, if you can already run games pretty well right now, you’ll probably be able to make it a few more years before you really need to upgrade. And think about it this way: part of the magic of PC gaming is tweaking your games to get them running just right for your hardware. Right now, that’s easier to do than ever, as more developers add more robust graphics options to their games. As long as the trend of well-optimized games continues this year, and I hope it does, some light tweaking is going to go a long way. Jackie Thomas is the Hardware and Buying Guides Editor at IGN and the PC components queen. You can follow her @Jackiecobra View the full article

I blinked and a holy war kicked off. Over the weekend, a battalion of Old School RuneScape players gathered together to spread the good word of Saradomin, a pillar of the game's theology, on a pilgrimage through the MMO's PvP-enabled Wilderness zone. One thing led to another, and, well, a second pilgrimage is now planned for July 25, this time targeting a home base of the opposing Zamorak faction that has rallied in response to this all godly do-goodery. On July 18, seemingly hundreds of OSRS players assembled at the monastery in the town of Edgeville sporting monk robes, holy symbols, white staves, and pockets full of lobsters (for healing, obviously). Their plan, as Reddit user jan7283 explained, was to march to the PvP-heavy Revenant Caves as "one enormous, deeply underprepared religious group" with "absolutely no plan" beyond admonishing anyone found guilty of attacking other players. In OSRS, PvP aggressors have a temporary skull icon placed over their heads, you see, making them a target for the chanting of these followers of Saradomin: "Brother, your skull concerns us." Absolutely nobody in the pilgrimage dabbled in, or specifically brought weapons for, killing other players, and anyone telling you otherwise is a Zamorakian traitor. The cause was so noble that a true ****** – not a player in a mask, another Zamorakian lie – even joined the pilgrimage. "I've changed my ways, but due to prejudice, some will say I can't wear these robes," says pious Reddit user gomy1020. In the end, they were accepted by some, with fellow monk Even-Stranger5764 reasoning, "Doesn't matter how you pray to Saradomin, as long as you're praying brother." We Are The Chosen Ones from r/2007scape The so-called "Brothers of the Monastery" successfully purified the Wilderness, as footage from Redditor Miro_Game shows. "Really channeling the essence of the 2006 to 2008 era shenanigans with a 480p recording," replies user Cold-Sigma-770. "Well done OP. A thematic masterpiece. Just needed the Unregistered Hypercam 2 watermark for the finishing touches." The pilgrimage went so well that, on July 19, de facto leader jan7283 announced the Brothers' next mission. This time, on July 25, they will storm the Chaos Altar which is home to many Zamorak devotees. "They can kill some of us. They can kill most of us. But they can’t kill all of us," jan asserts. But the wicked were not quiet. The same day, scion of Zamorak (and Reddit user) suresh declared, flanked by an army of demons and dark wizards, that "THE ALTAR WILL NOT BE TAKEN." "The servants of Saradomin intend to march upon the Chaos Altar, draped in monk robes and calling their invasion a 'holy pilgrimage.' Let them come," preaches suresh. "We will meet them in the Wilderness and remind them whose ground they trespass upon. "Bring your finest robes of Zamorak, your weapons, your runes, and enough food to survive the march. Scouts, mages, rangers, warriors, and any loyal soul willing to defend the altar are called to arms. "They preach order. We answer with freedom. They bring light. We shall show them fire. They claim we cannot kill them all. We accept the challenge. For chaos. For strength. For Zamorak." I have to admit, they are persuasive. (Image credit: Jagex) The discussion in the lead-up to this July 25 conflict has been heated. "Brother, your plan concerns us," remarks one Saradomin follower. "Hold fast, brother. Do not let evil strike fear into your heart. In Saradomin's light there is no dark," assures another. "Are we just recreating God Wars now?" asks Tzazon, perhaps the most sensible person in the room, in a reference to the deity-on-deity combat at the heart of some of RuneScape's juiciest lore. So, here we are, watching the mortal armies of the RuneScape gods try to outwit one another in a genuinely powerful demonstration of what makes MMO communities so great. There are even fliers for the coming march: Saturday, July 25, at 12pm ET / 5pm BT / 6pm CT. The Brothers will meet at the Varrock Chapel and then meet the followers of Zamorak at the Chaos Altar. It's sure to be a sight to see. "I remember with a load of friends back in the day we all dressed up as LOTR characters and was seeing how far we could get into the wild and stay there without dying," says one delighted player. "One of my fondest memories, love ***** like this." "This is what makes a MMO truly special," agrees another. "Love to see it. Hail Zamorak!" After 6 years living as a monk and a total of 19 years later, MMO player returns to Old School RuneScape and proves the classic phrase: you don't quit, you take breaks. [/url]View the full article

Why: The level of heart and detail in the character dialogue is unmatched... Read more.View the full article

A new Steam game arriving very soon looks like the perfect spiritual successor to GoldenEye 007, with a sprinkle of Perfect Dark for good measure. Agent 64: Spies Never Die comes out on August 11 on Steam, and retro shooter fans should see this one as an absolute must-buy. View the full article

Those hoping for a new game reveal should tone down expectations, as Bandai Namco only teases more additional content for SRW Y and DD. View the full article

Palworld, as our breeding guide shows, lets you accomplish some wild things by playing matchmaker for your creatures. You can gain early access to late-game Pals, spawn variant subspecies, and—as players have recently discovered—breed a genetic monstrosity that can repeatedly blow itself up in combat without taking any damage in the process... Read more.View the full article

The upcoming Nintendo Switch 2 port of Stellar Blade has officially been rated by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) in North America, which could indicate the port's release may not be far off. The Switch 2 version of Stellar Blade will arrive after two years of PlayStation 5 console exclusivity. View the full article

little less than a month after the release of its Titanfall-inspired shooter Empulse, developer 1047 Games has reportedly laid off more employees. While the studio hasn't made a formal announcement of the cuts, multiple employees on LinkedIn (via Game Developer) have said they've been let go in what one described as "the third wave of studio layoffs.".. Read more.View the full article

Palworld 1.0 has been out for over a week now, giving players ample time to get to know the survival game's latest monster Pals and their, um, curves. Which is to say, Pocketpair publishing and communications lead John "Bucky" Buckley regrets putting out an open call for new skin ideas. "Theoretically, hypothetically, conceptually, and spiritually…if, with absolutely no promise of it being realized or coming to fruition ever, but if…capital I and capital F…" Buckley writes on Twitter, "IF…any of the new Pals in 1.0 were to get a skin, which would it be and what would the skin be." Fans express-delivered the answer straight to his doorstep, and he screamed: Sekhmet maid skin. Sekhmet's namesake is a fearsome Egyptian goddess, but Palworld instead decided to create a heavy-lidded catgirl wearing a strapless ****** dress. So, I'm sorry, Buckley, but we were always going to arrive at "Sekhmet maid skin." Still, I know that accepting the consequences of your actions doesn't necessarily make them more palatable, and so Buckley has decided to explode maid skin proponents with psychokinesis. A mere three minutes after posting his initial call for skin ideas on Twitter, the Pocketpair lead followed up with an image of the Watchmen's Doctor Manhattan disintegrating an enemy to his left while maintaining perfect posture. "'Sekhmet maid skin,'" Buckley says gravely. "Me on the right, you on the left." “Sekhmet maid skin”Me on the right, you on the left. pic.twitter.com/9wqJ62X9wdJuly 21, 2026 "How about Venusa maid skin though?" responds one Palworld player. "But an actual maid outfit for Solene though?" says another. Another wonders, "Fine then how about Anubis maid skin?" Come on, people, show some decorum. Save your thirst for the upcoming Palworld dating sim. Palworld 1.0 brings a revelation to longtime fans who never crafted an invaluable item: "I thought they were consumable." [/url]View the full article

Xbox has been through another difficult ******* after a fresh round of layoffs, and Forza Horizon 5 creative director Mike View the full article

Justice League Unlimited The Roleplaying Game, the first official DC RPG in almost 20 years, begins crowdfunding today on Gamefound. Publisher D20 Culture worked with DC writer Mark Waid to create a "huge homage to the comic industry", CEO Peterson Rodrigues tells us. Waid's input comes with an added bonus, and it's one that's pretty huge for Justice League lovers. The JLU TTRPG will debut two brand-new, canon villains. Read the full story on Wargamer: New Justice League TTRPG hits Gamefound, adding original villains to comic book canon View the full article

In Warhammer 40k's lore - and occasionally in the tabletop wargame's competitive meta - the Necrons are an apocalyptic threat. The remnants of a galaxy-straddling civilization that has lain dormant for aeons, their technology is at the very limits of what is possible, and their gradually awakening legions are without number. To find out how King Art Games hopes to turn that brief into a balanced faction for Dawn of War IV multiplayer, I spoke to senior game designer Elliot Verbiest. Read the full story on Wargamer: How Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War 4 makes the Necrons feel apocalyptic without breaking the game View the full article

Steam plays host to a number of truly enormous free games, ranging from gacha titles with a penchant for confusing in-game currency to legitimately great titles designed to help players avoid breaking the bank. Of course, while many of these manage to break into the charts and garner staggeringly large player bases, the vast majority of them fair far worse, bringing in respectable numbers, but either not nearly enough to facilitate server costs or just enough to cultivate a cult following a little more. View the full article

Since its 2022 launch, the Steam Deck has consistently been at or near the top of the company's "top selling products by revenue" charts, with brief dips outside of the top 10 treated as newsworthy events. But sales of the popular handheld gaming PC have apparently been on a steep decline since the system relaunched at a higher price in May. Linux-focused gaming site Boiling Steam breaks down the historical data, showing how the Deck's chart position has fallen from fifth place immediately after orders resumed in late May down to 14th place for two weeks in early July (the hardware sits at 12th place in the current edition of those charts). That's in sharp contrast to 2025, when the Steam Deck never dropped below seventh place on the bestseller charts and was only rarely outside the Top 5. Then Valve warned of "intermittent shortages" for the Steam Deck starting in February, leading to weeks of lower chart positions before the Deck became completely unavailable until May. Read full article Comments View the full article

The Life and Suffering of Sir Brante is now available on the Nintendo Switch family of consoles! Set in a dark medieval fantasy world, The Life and Suffering of Sir Brante originally launched on Steam back in 2021, before dropping on the Playstation 4 and Xbox One generation of consoles in 2022, and now, finally, […]View the full article

We're all aware by now that Baldur's Gate 3 was a huge success by every metric available. Sadly, it's a standout amid a strategy that's not bringing in many other returns for Hasbro, the company overseeing Dungeons and Dragons and Wizards of the Coast, which is now reporting substantial losses. The latest earnings report from Hasbro lists an impairment of $56 million on a "refocused Digital Games portfolio for 2028 and beyond." That's a lot of money to watch go down the sink. This comes as the company cancels yet more, unspecified games. Just a few years ago, in 2022, Hasbro was all about investing in games, helping to hoist up studios and spreading its many lucrative licenses. It spun up GI Joe-related projects in addition to other releases drawing on the Forgotten Realms, as well as original works such as Exodus, the sci-fi RPG headed up by former BioWare devs at new studio Archetype Entertainment. [Hidden Content] There are others, too, and while it's a diverse and promising slate, it also involves keeping a lot of teams afloat while hoping their releases eventually bear fruit. And if big public companies hate anything, it's waiting for things. Hasbro now says that "several" entries on its release calendar through 2028 have been cancelled. No details are forthcoming on what games have gotten the axe, but prior knowledge provides a few clues. Invoke Studios' Warlock, an action-adventure game set in the Forgotten Worlds, is set for release in 2027, as is Exodus. A horror-based game from the studio Skeleton Key also appears to still be happening (thanks, Kotaku). "We are focusing our digital investment behind the franchises, platforms, and partners where we see the clearest upside and where Hasbro has the strongest right to win," Chris Cocks, CEO of Hasbro, says in today's accompanying financial call. Another DnD-based project, from Giant Skull, was already dead in the water since Hasbro preemptively ended its contract with the team, and a game based on Snake Eyes from GI Joe seemingly got cut after its developer, Atomic Arcade, saw heavy layoffs. It's always a shame when these things happen, because it's the devs on the ground who suffer when company leadership over-invests or abruptly changes goals. Divinity can wait: Baldur’s Gate 3 boss Swen Vincke “not expecting anyone” at Larian’s Barcelona studio to show up following Spain’s World Cup win [/url]View the full article

Assassin's Creed ****** Flag Resynced players have spotted a mysterious ******* cathedral they believe to be linked to Ubisoft's upcoming new mainline entry Assassin's Creed Hexe, in a part of the game that features landmarks from other entries in the series. Replacing the modern day segments from the original game, ****** Flag Resynced features various Animus Rifts, weird pieces of terrain that allow Edward to see alternate realities. For example, one of these rifts shows Edward the life he could have led if he'd kept his promise to his wife and returned home within two years. However, one of the later rifts isn't about Edward as much as his ancestors, as he walks through an area featuring buildings from every "******* two" game. We see structures from Origins, Odyssey, Valhalla, Mirage, and Shadows, all of which are part of the Animus Hub, alongside a mysterious cathedral that points to the setting for the upcoming Hexe. (Image credit: Ubisoft / GamesRadar+) Some fans believe the building to be an old version of Würzburg Cathedral, a site which has been rebuilt many times over the years. Not only is the Bavarian city of Würzburg the location of one of the largest and most brutal witch trials in history, but it is also the setting proposed in a previous leak, adding more fuel to the rumor's roaring fire. Very little is known about Assassin's Creed Hexe aside from the fact that it will be set during one of history's many witch trials. However, given that Hexe is the ******* word for witch, we're thinking it's more likely to feature sauerkraut than Salem. While this doesn't confirm that Würzburg will be the setting for Hexe, the hints are certainly mounting in favor of the ******* city being the next Assassin's Creed hot spot. Assassin's Creed Hexe setting potentially leaked as a witchy ******* city, and Ubisoft fans think it's "the best possible outcome." [/url]View the full article

One of Starfield's big problems is the fact that its core fantasy runs contrary to the tech it's built on. Bethesda's space-RPG is meant to evoke the majesty and scale of the cosmos. It's about exploration, curiosity, and wonder... Read more.View the full article

Palworld 1.0 is here, over two years since Pocketpair'****** survival game launched into early access, but many players are only just finding out that they've been avoiding unlocking one of the most useful items at their disposal this whole time. In a Reddit post that's amassed over 1,500 upvotes at the time of writing, one player comes to the site with a revelation: "Lockpicks are infinite," they declare, seemingly causing the bustling fanbase around them to abruptly stop for a moment and gawp at the discovery. You can unlock Lockpicks on the Technology Tree, with three different versions capable of opening increasingly more valuable chests. As the Reddit user points out, they're not the cheapest items to craft – the v3 version requires 30 Paldium Fragments, as well as 20 Nails and 30 Pal Metal Ingots, for example, as well as your valuable technology points to unlock it – but that makes a whole lot more sense when you realise that they're not one-use consumables as many had assumed. Oh, no – these are key items. "I had been avoiding making lockpicks because of the steep crafting cost. Learned that you only need to make a single one," the enlightened player writes, adding: "Other people in the official server I'm on also didn't know about it, so I wanted to spread the word." Spoiler alert, they're definitely not alone. "…what," begins one response. "Welp that makes two things I need to do as soon as I get back into the game lol." "This was something I was actually entirely unaware of," says another. "I honestly, never crafted a lockpick before, but now I might." Another adds: "I haven't made any lock picks because I thought they were consumable." Oh, how wrong they were. There's really no downside to unlocking the lockpicks, although some players make a valid point, that if you have a Mimog on your team, then your mimic chest-like buddy can open chests for you without you having to spend a single key or deal with the Skyrim-esque lockpicking minigame. And hey, they're pretty cute, to boot. But if you'd rather have room on your team for a different Pal, then you know what to do. Palworld has been "life-changing," lead says as Pocketpair's survival game hits almost 1 million concurrent players on Steam. [/url]View the full article

Both Minecraft and No Man's Sky remain extremely enjoyable experiences that are constantly updated with not just simple bug-fixing patches, but monumental updates that completely transform everything from gameplay to visuals. Both have achieved a tremendous amount throughout their respective existences, and both continue to garner huge player bases for that exact reason. One could likely spend the rest of their life playing nothing but No Man's Sky or Minecraft and feel more than content, they are both that feature-rich and content-heavy. However, as much as one could do that, one may not want to. View the full article

An otherwise tiny Arc Raiders update released today has made what seems like a sizable change to the game's matchmaking system, with developer Embark leaning even further into its player behavior-driven algorithm. Store update 1.38.0 introduces a customary outfit color swap, but the real meat of the patch is in Embark's newest "matchmaking optimization." "We've heard your feedback on matchmaking," the studio says. "It works well most of the time, but there is room for improvement — especially during low-population hours, in certain regions, or in specific map conditions. We're working to improve those cases." Going forward, Embark will be "testing adjustments" that hopefully improve the average match quality. Longer ****** times are a natural, expected consequence: "The algorithm may take a little longer to find a match, since it's now working harder to find you a better one." With these matchmaking changes, Embark says players should "run into squads that match your playstyle and squad size even more consistently, making for more fair and enjoyable raids." This reads as: friendly raiders should encounter more friendlies, PvP fiends will more reliably hear the song of their people (constant gunfire and raider flares), and duos should face more duos and fewer trios. (Image credit: Embark Studios) Earlier this month, Arc Raiders made another hotly requested change to matchmaking: separating the solo, duo, and trio algorithms to let you cut up with your friends without putting your character in bloodthirsty solo lobbies. Population dips are more relevant than ever with Arc Raiders following the inescapable population decay of live service games. Despite steady decline, SteamDB shows it is impressively still in the top 12 for daily active users on Steam (as ever, just one platform, but the one with the clearest player data available). But with Arc Raiders' next big update set for October and smaller tweaks in the interim having little lasting impact, more and more players have proven that they've had their fill of the Arc Raiders of today and are content to set it aside and wait for whatever moves the needle next. The casual-friendly approach that got Embark those huge, unsustainable launch numbers seems to have limited Arc Raiders' long-term appeal, with little to grind for long-term and Expedition soft-resets growing repetitive. But, speaking as someone who only got tired of the game after around 350 enjoyable hours, I still think a big enough update could bring many lapsed players right back. Embark slaps Arc Raiders dupers with bans and drains their vaults: "Suspensions for the severe cases, particularly, where exploit usage had a significant impact on the in-game economy." [/url]View the full article

Cyberpunk 2077 is a six-year-old game at this point, but the open-world RPG probably still offers even its most committed players more tucked-away secrets to discover, according to CD Projekt Red associate game director Paweł Sasko. Responding to a fan on Twitter who hadn't yet realized they could creep through Cyberpunk musician Kerry Eurodyne's laptop and read his aspirations about being painted nude, Sasko says, "Part of our design philosophy is to provide the player with optional ways to explore the depth of the design and narrative." "In Cyberpunk those are emails, files, shards with additional articles and books," Sasko continues, "all telling the story of the place, characters and completing their arc." Kerry's hilltop mansion Villa Eurodyne is particularly crammed with detail, as Sasko says, "This whole villa was designed and implemented by me, and I have hidden a lot in this space." Some intriguing threads leave you with nothing once they're pulled – like the "random locked room" fans assumed Kerry had designated as a sex-******* dungeon, but noclip-ing into it revealed a much less fascinating, empty room. Other times, you might discover – as one fan on Reddit did – that there are two corpses facedown in the dirt outside of Kerry's villa, and this is what happens to you after you try to steal one of Kerry's guitars; a datashard near the thieving pair reveals their thwarted, deadly plan. Cyberpunk 2077 fans are good about sharing their in-game finds as they stumble upon them, though Sasko does not not say that there are more Villa Eurodyne mysteries to unearth. So who knows – even after six years, Cyberpunk 2077 and its sleazy mansions might have more for you to learn, if you look hard enough. Cyberpunk 2077 is a better role-playing game than The Witcher 3. [/url]View the full article