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Summer Preview | The Outer Worlds was a fun sci-fi adventure, but its sequel is shaping up to be something truly specialView the full article

There's still a few days to go until Remedy Entertainment's latest entry into their Connected Universe, FBC: Firebreak, is unleashed onto the world. Whether it's any good or not in its entirety, we probably won't know for a while yet given that online shooters of its ilk are always guaranteed to receive numerous patches to iron out some kinks. Our own Nic found a good bit to like about the game in his preview, ignoring the at the time rubbish guns, at the very least. Read more View the full article

Amazon had a turbulent relationship with Nintendo over the last year or so. Whilst neither party has made official comments ... Read more View the full article

Jagex has revealed that RuneScape's 110 Crafting update is set to arrive on June 16. This marks the first level cap raise for the RuneScapeskill, which has been a key part of the game since its release over 24 years ago. View the full article

Mojang has finally revealed exactly when both Vibrant Visuals and Chase the Skies are coming to Minecraft, and we don't have long to wait. Both updates are coming at the same time (but that's only for Bedrock players), and promise to completely overhaul the graphics and exploration of the game. If you've stepped away from Mojang's sandbox epic, or simply want to see what all the fuss is about, this imminent game drop is the perfect time to do so. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Minecraft 1.21.6 update release date and details The best building games on PC 2025 Minecraft snapshots - testing new features in 1.21.6 pre-release 4 View the full article

Hollow Knight: Silksong won't feature any kind of microtransactions, a Team Cherry official has confirmed. This clarification was offered in response to a recent Hollow Knight: Silksong age rating that suggested the opposite. View the full article

A whole new worldView the full article

If you could hire any director to make an Elden Ring movie, who would you pick? You might settle for fantasy heavyweights like Peter Jackson or Guillermo del Toro, or maybe you’d tap Miguel Sapochnik, the man who brought you many of Game of Thrones’ biggest battles, including Hardhome and Battle of the Bastards. If you’re looking for something a little more avant-garde, you could even pick Robert Eggers (Nosferatu), Yorgos Lanthimos (Poor Things), or ***** Joon Ho (Mickey 17) – filmmakers who, like Elden Ring developer FromSoftware, relish in the surreal, cryptic, and uncanny. Chances are, you wouldn’t pick Alex Garland. The British writer and director is known for the grounded, slow-burning science fiction dramas Ex Machina and Annihilation, as well as the inventively named war films Civil War and Warfare – none of which resemble FromSoftware’s work in any notable way. However, Garland is precisely who film studio A24 has selected to adapt Hidetaka Miyazaki’s magnum opus for the big screen. Considering Garland – who, in addition to directing, is also set to write the screenplay – isn’t one to take his multi-digit checks and phone it in, you have to wonder how he’ll try to make this work. At a glance, Garland and Elden Ring do indeed seem like an odd match. Despite his considerable experience with sci-fi, Garland has yet to try his hand at hardcore fantasy – a tricky genre in its own right, and even trickier when dealing with video game adaptations. On top of this, his style doesn’t have a lot in common with FromSoftware’s. The narratives of Ex Machina and Annihilation are rooted in plot, dialogue, and characterization, while games like Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Elden Ring tell their stories largely indirectly, through item descriptions and environmental design. (Civil War, set in tomorrow’s United States, was widely criticized for its lack of deep backstory). But just because Garland has never made a fantasy film, doesn’t mean he can’t. He’s reinvented himself and ventured out into new frontiers before – Civil War and Warfare are radically different from Ex Machina and Annihilation, which are themselves unlike the films he wrote before making his directorial debut – so who’s to say he won’t do so again? Actually, making an Elden Ring movie wouldn’t entirely constitute uncharted territory for Garland. Many people – including his own fans – don’t know this, but he’s actually an avid gamer. His experience playing the Resident Evil games apparently inspired his script for the 2002 horror 28 Days Later, and the 2000 film The Beach – based on one of his novels – features a game-inspired scene which Polygon’s Matt Patches described as “the closest thing we will ever get” to a Banjo-Kazooie movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Warfare evokes surprisingly similar feelings to those experienced while playing Elden Ring: outnumbered, outmatched, overwhelmed, afraid for your life (or runes). While many filmmakers seemingly feign interest in the material they’re hired to adapt in order to placate said material’s existing fanbase (to this day I refuse to believe M. Night Shyamalan watched even a single episode of Avatar: The Last Airbender), Garland’s love for The Last of Us, BioShock, and – most importantly – Dark Souls seems to be sincere. He appears to have a decent grasp of what makes the series unique and special compared to other games. Talking to Gamespot back in 2020, Garland said, “The Dark Souls games seem to have this kind of embedded poetry in them. You’ll have some weird bit of dialogue with some sort of broken soul sat outside some doorway and it feels like you’ve drifted into this existential dream.” Sticking to this image of an “existential dream,” Garland could take his Elden Ring adaptation in the direction of Annihilation, which upon release was praised for its psychedelic visuals. This would work, but it is not the only path forward. Another less obvious but arguably more effective plan of action would be to adapt Elden Ring in the mold of Warfare, Garland’s nail-biting thriller about Navy SEALs fighting in Iraq. I say this not because there is something fantastical about this film – on the contrary, it’s been marketed as the one of the most realistic war films ever made – but because watching it evokes surprisingly similar feelings to those you experience while playing Elden Ring: outnumbered, outmatched, overwhelmed, afraid for your life (or runes). Swap the war-torn Iraqi town of Ramadi for the ruins of Limgrave, alleyways of Leyndell, or badlands of Caelid, and what you’re left with is a film that adapts not the game’s encyclopedic, overarching backstory – the backstabbing saga of Marika, Godrick, Radagon, and the Demigods – but the minute, moment-to-moment experiences of the player’s Tarnished character wading through the Lands Between, so caught up in reaching the nearest Site of Grace in one piece that they have completely lost sight of their larger quest to become Elden Lord, whatever the hell that means. Given that Garland is reportedly looking to cast one of the actors from Warfare – Kit Connor – in the lead, it’s possible that his Elden Ring adaptation will end up adopting a similarly suspenseful tone, not to mention retread those themes of fear, despair, and senseless violence that Connor has already proven himself capable of conveying. Using Warfare as a blueprint for Elden Ring would not only take advantage of Garland’s strengths as a filmmaker who explores psychology through graphic, carefully choreographed action, but also follow the example set by the – fight me – only solid video game adaptation out there, season one of HBO’s The Last of Us, whose quality is in large part derived from the fact that its creators understood what made the original great as a game. Elden Ring, like FromSoftware’s other games, is not a power fantasy where heroes with supernatural abilities beat up giant monsters through flashy cutscenes and epic quick time events. It’s an anti-power fantasy that reduces players to nameless warriors who become well-acquainted with death and bang their head against the fog wall until they finally succeed. For Garland’s adaptation to reach the heights of his previous films, he’d do well to capture that bittersweet sentiment. And through his work on Warfare, we can catch a glimpse of what could be when Elden Ring finally arrives in cinemas. Tim Brinkhof is a freelance writer specializing in art and history. After studying journalism at NYU, he has gone on to write for Vox, Vulture, Slate, Polygon, GQ, Esquire and more. View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

And, trust me, I will be romancing themView the full article

The Witcher 4's narrative director, Philipp Weber, has explained the philosophy driving the game's quest design, rooted in feedback he received during his work as a quest designer on The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Now taking on a more prominent role in The Witcher 4's development, Weber is carrying this particular philosophy forward for the sequel. View the full article

When I saw the reveal of Resident Evil Requiem, my mind immediately conjured up one of the series' most iconic moments - playing inventory Tetris in RE4. Most don't handle it that well; sorting out your items is typically one of the most frustrating parts of games, with RPGs such as Diablo 4 and Baldur's Gate 3 among the big offenders. Backpack Battles changes that. The indie game proved an instant hit when it launched into early access in 2024, selling 100,000 copies in a single day. Now, just over a year later, Backpack Battles 1.0 is here, adding two new classes and much more, and it's yours for 20% off if you're quick. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: All Backpack Battles recipes list New indie game sells 100,000 copies in one day, already rated 10/10 Joyful new indie game makes Diablo's worst bit fun, out now on Steam View the full article

The Outer Worlds 2 fans are torn over the role of romantic relationships in the upcoming RPG. While the first game also lacked any meaningful love affairs, some players had hoped the sequel would take a different approach. However, the recent The Outer Worlds 2 Direct playfully confirmed that won't be the case. In the 30-minute showcase, a tongue-in-cheek moment joked that players would be upset about the game featuring "so much combat and almost no romance." View the full article

New details have emerged about Obsidian Entertainment's Outer Worlds 2, specifically about a dozen of the different skills available to player characters. Outer Worlds 2is set to release on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S on October 29, 2025, almost six years after the release of the original game. View the full article

Gamers are reporting that Gears of War: Reloaded's ongoing multiplayer beta is experiencing some big issues. These problems appear to be prominent enough that they are preventing some players from being able to connect to Gears of War: Reloadedmatches. View the full article

Opinion | My standout game from Summer Game Fest is a very unexpected oneView the full article

Penetration testing is a key part of cybersecurity: finding and safely exploiting system flaws. Learn the skills, tools, and steps to start your career as an ethical hacker in this growing field. Read Entire Article View the full article

Shokuho is hardly the first mod to adapt TaleWorlds' Mount & Blade series to a new era of history. Mount & Blade: Warband's startling array of total conversions practically let you command armies anywhere and, indeed, anywhen in the world. Yet not only is Shokuho a total conversion for the slightly less well-served Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord, but it is also one of the most comprehensive, transposing TaleWorlds' historical RPG to feudal Japan in impressive depth and detail... Read more.View the full article

Only the good stuffView the full article

The Outer Worlds 2' new third-person mode has drawn comparisons to some of Bethesda's biggest titles. Obsidian Entertainment recently unveiled a wealth of new details about the sequel during The Outer Worlds 2 Direct. Among the highlights was the announcement that it will be the "biggest game" the studio has ever made, setting high expectations right out of the gate. View the full article

Summer Preview | Obsidian Entertainment and Eidos Montreal has found big solutions to the smallest problemsView the full article

It may not have caught the same attention as Clair Obscur or Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, but Two Point Museum is quietly one of the best games released this year. Two Point Studio's latest management sim is comfortably its best yet, and a game that nudges the genre forward in small but meaningful ways. A big part of that is down to its expedition system, where you dispatch different brands of boffins on adventures to retrieve ancient, exotic artifacts for display... Read more.View the full article

Kumitantei: Old-School Slaughter is a riff on Danganronpa set in the 1980s with its own colorful cast of talented characters to meet (before they get murdered)View the full article

I've adored what I've played of Satisfactory, but I've held off on delving too deeply into Coffee Stain'shttps://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/satisfactory-review/extraordinary automation extravaganza. See, I know that it's going to obliterate my social life for at least a month, because that's what factory sims do. Hence, it only seems fair that I bring my partner on that glorious adventure of social self-destruction. Yet our only other PC in the house is a Steam Deck, and up until now handheld Satisfactory has been a suboptimal experience due to its mouse-heavy control scheme... Read more.View the full article

Sorry Eve, I belong to the CondemnedView the full article

Pre-orders for the Xbox ROG Ally will reportedly open in August, with the handheld expected to launch two months later. The handheld, which was announced during the Xbox Game Showcase at Summer Game Fest, is a collaboration between Asus and Microsoft. The Xbox ROG Ally will feature Xbox branding and a bespoke operating system, adding to ROG’s successful gaming handheld line. Two versions of the system will be released, the Xbox Rog Ally X and the lower-spec Xbox Rog Ally. Read More... View the full article