What's on this week — tournaments, festivals, sales, and developer showcases for PC games.
Steam Next Fest is back and bigger than ever, but I'm not so sure that's a good thing as I struggle to sift through its thousands of demos in search of my next second-screen idler. If anything, I kind of hate the current structure: we've gone from browsing a bespoke, quality selection of gems to navigating the world's busiest Costco where every aisle has a dozen free samples to shove in your mouth
Forza Horizon 6 for PC and Xbox was released just last month. This is the perfect excuse for you to finally upgrade from a controller to a bona fide racing wheel. Logitech via its official eBay store is offering a fantastic deal on its most popular racing wheel. Right now you can pick up a refurbished Logitech G29 Racing Wheel and Pedal Set for PS5 and PC for just $145 shipped. The G29 retails for
Back in January, I wrote about From the Top, a roguelike designed for those of us who had experienced the unparalleled childhood thrill of detonating your older brother's Beyblade with an imported Japanese Driger V2 that your parents had given you earlier that day on Christmas morning of 2003. (Many such cases.) From the Top was a promising omen: a sign that a subgenre precision-targeted at a spec
This year's summer gaming presentations had quite a lot to show off, particularly Summer Game Fest. If you caught the new trailer for The Blood of Dawnwalker during Geoff Keighley's big showcase, and were instantly interested in jumping into its world, we have good news: Preorders are officially live for it across PS5, Xbox Series X and PC.Below, we've broken down what editions are ava
It's finally over, we're free. Overwatch players no longer have to live in fear, cowering from the skies in anticipation of what is essentially an AH-64 Apache appearing overhead and gunning us all down, because Jetpack Cat has been nerfed yet again. This comes as part of Overwatch season 3's patch notes, where Jetpack Cat has undergone some decent changes, including a reduction in the shield mino
About a year ago, Saber Interactive offered up the fairly surprising reveal of a Hellraiser game in the form of Hellraiser: Revival. It's a singleplayer joint, one that sort of reminds me of Outlast in vibe, and now a year on from that reveal Saber have locked in a seasonally appropriate (roughly) release date. Read more
This year marks the 35th anniversary of Sonic the Hedgehog, and Sega is pulling out all the stops as it celebrates its successful three and a half decades of international brand marketing: There's exclusive Sonic merch from limited edition fashion collabs, a "musical odyssey" featuring live orchestral renditions of Sonic music, and—of course—a life-sized statue of Sonic featuring a fluid-filled ch
A dangerous Hero emerges as Overwatch fights through fractured streets on a bold new Hybrid map with a lore event and more!
Mistfall Hunter is a promising, if curious little creature of a game—with a playable demo for Steam's Next Fest available now, it seems to market itself as an extraction soulslike. Well, the Steam page says it's a "dark fantasy extraction ARPG," but it's clearly trying to capture soulslike vibes. There's a shrine maiden equivalent, combat is deliberate and positioning-based, its inspirations are o
The World Cup’s sent everyone football mad. Sorry, sorry – “soccer mad,” as say the legions of USA fans whose top tier national league features fifteen teams with ‘FC’ in their name. If World Cup 2026 has taught us nothing else so far, it’s at least amply demonstrated that football fans love a friendly debate. The greatest debate of our time, of course, being the Ronaldo vs Messi conversation. Two
Saturdays are for… Wait, wrong game round up post. This isn't a What are we all playing this weekend?, this is where we'll be shouting about the gems (and lumps of coal) we've discovered in this week's Steam Next Fest. From June 15th - 22nd, Valve are hosting a section on Steam where developers can share demos of their upcoming games. Though, while it's a good opportunity to find games to a
Steam Next Fest is back on the PC's largest gaming store, offering a vast selection of demos for upcoming games. And many of these, it turns out, have generative AI disclosures present. Read more
In the time-old tradition of marketing, EA have announced something ancient as though it's just been thought up by the boffins in the advertising lab. Their big new moneymaking wheeze to squeeze every last penny out of their games: billboards. In a press release that stretches into essay-length territory, EA sing the praises of their new ad platform, which is "transforming how brands connect with
Arc Raiders gave us a surprise player project in the latest update to keep us busy for a few weeks while Embark is cracking on with Frozen Trail coming in October. The Converging Paths project works in tandem with the Forgotten Relics event, asking you to donate your new trinkets to build a display stand for them.I'll outline everything you need to do below, but I'll warn you now that it's a limit
Arc Raiders' latest update has given us the Forgotten Relics event and the Converging Paths project, both of which intertwine slightly. It's not super complicated, but they're intended to be a snack to tide us over until the big Frozen Trail update in October.Below, I'll explain how to earn Merits to complete the Forgotten Relics event, as well as the rewards you'll get for being such a diligent t
Arrowhead has released a significant update for Helldivers 2, adding new Galactic campaigns, a new biome, a new Control Center terminal, and a lot more. The update — patch 6.3.0 — also makes changes to weapon, stratagem, and enemy balancing, including reductions to enemy durable damage and a decreased exosuit cooldown.The new Control Center terminal is the previously unused terminal opposite the a
Final Fantasy returning to turn-based combat through the upcoming Final Fantasy Resonance is a pretty big deal, even if you were just going off the reception to its initial reveal. Many folks, including myself, are thrilled to see the series' name attached to a game with an HD-2D art style and have the story of Brave Exvius get adapted in the form of Resonance. In my exclusive hands-on preview
Today marks the beginning of Steam Next Fest, the thrice-yearly, week-long smorgasbord of delectable demos served up by game creators of all sizes as samplers for their in-development delights. And unsurprisingly, as the Steam catalog adds tens of thousands of games every year, that translates into a lot of demos.To be precise: This season's Next Fest is, at time of writing, featuring 4,347 demos.
Almost 18 months after Civilization 7's bumpy launch - which saw it panned by players for a range of issues, including a poor UI, controversial changes to the series' classic formula, and a lack of features - developer Firaxis' slow and steady course correction continues next week with the launch of another major update, this time including much-requested hotseat multiplayer. Read more
June's Nintendo Direct presentation was reportedly this year's most-watched Summer Game Fest showcase. Read more
Craig Duncan has stepped down from his role as head of Xbox Game Studios after less than two years. He will be departing the company this week. Read more
A full decade in, Behaviour Interactive's Dead by Daylight has settled into a comfortable rhythm of content updates and seasonal events, including some surprises. But as the asymmetrical horror game enters its 11th year, there are big changes coming, including mod support and a visual overhaul. Read more
"The mid-summer dry spell"? My friend, your naivete is exceeded only by your boorishness. You should be ashamed of yourself! This week is anything but dry. It's the week of another Steam Next Fest – a period of carefully abbreviated, wishlist-baiting bounty, in which we cram the Maw's many jaws with demos and playtests. Read more
As reports suggesting major changes are brewing at Xbox, likely involving mass layoffs, continue to swirl, the console maker's current boss' plans for the future apparently involve pushing out new Fallout and Elder Scrolls games in speedier fashion. Asha Sharma's desire to whip out new entries in flagship series reportedly comes as Microsoft are considering spinning out or restructuring Xbox as a
