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I’m sure other games have exceptional elevator sequences. Moments where characters travel up or down together for the first - or last time. Perhaps there are invisible assassins in the elevator with you, woah! Chaotic firefights where you’re sliding and tumbling down an elevator shaft as everything erupts in flames. I’m not saying other games aren’t capable of elevating the elevator. But I reckon FromSoftware gets the elevator consistently right, and have been for years....

I call it a strategy game, because that’s broadly what it is, but it has a mixture of genres thrown in there. It’s a more management-style game when organising your crime ring, a turn-based XCOM-like romp when it comes to combat, and there’s even an RPG-ish loot system for kitting out your mobsters. In his Empire Of Sin review, Tom Senior thought it was a little bloated by its mix of genres, but enjoyed the overall vibe: “The sight of a gang leader brutally shotgunning several enemy goons is only improved by some sick swing high-hat hits on an old fashion kit while horns parp happily....

Don’t confuse Endless Dungeon with the great Dungeon Of The Endless. That too is a kinda tower defense roguelike about defending a crystal, but it was turn-based whereas this is an action game. When Endless Dungeon was announced six months back, Amplitude said that the answer was “yes and no” to whether this game was a sequel to the other. Given that Dungeon Of The Endless took place in a spaceship, a spaceship that could be discovered crashed into the planet surface of Endless Legend, I’d bet there’s a narrative link of some sort that connects all the games....

After update 1.40 revamped the game’s lighting system back in March, developers SCS Software have been working on a revamp of the game’s photo mode. When 1.41 launches, you’ll now be able to fiddle with the time of day and the weather, so you can capture your truck looking its best. Here’s a relevant video: A post on the ETS2 Steam page has more screenshots and details of the revisions....

As always, the variety this year has been exceptional with entries from diverse developers from all around the world. Curating the list is a group effort from both Double Fine Productions and iam8bit. Specifically, Tim Schafer and James Spafford from Double Fine, iam8bit’s Jon Gibson and Amanda White, and PlayStation’s indie champion Greg Rice. The indies shown were a mix of world premieres, games that have already been announced, and a handful that have already been released....

I’m not totally clueless. I know some basics. I can put a machine together, given the parts. But once it’s working, I jettison all hardware knowledge so I can make brainspace for more Dessa lyrics or oblique Due South references. This becomes a problem when I can’t put off buying or upgrading my PC any longer. Such as now. To that end, I have cornered RPS Hardware Empress Katharine to ask for her advice....

Fallout 76 ally guide This Fallout 76 ally guide will show you how to recruit allies and what they do once you have them. Those looking for a beginner’s guide to get started with the base game should have a look at our Fallout 76 guide. What do allies do in Fallout 76 How to recruit all allies in Fallout 76 Fallout 76 guide series What do allies do in Fallout 76?...

It seems the deal will see Red Ventures’ gaming and entertainment content folded into the Fandom platform, which Fandom say will, you guessed it, “drive engagement”. “The trusted insights, ratings and content they provide will make us a one-stop shop for fans across their entertainment and gaming journey,” Fandom’s CEO Perkins Miller said. Fandom also handles advertising for game publishers, studios and streaming services, which they intend to feature on the acquired sites....

Farthest Frontier is promising the “most detailed farming system ever,” in which you’ll need to not only choose crops but plan crop rotations to “maintain soil fertility, avoid heat and frost damage, and prevent the accumulation of diseases.” The diseases it’s possible for your townspeople to get include dysentery and cholera. You’ll also need to make sure your peeps are properly housed, clothed and shoed to avoid tetanus, rabies and frostbite....

Until, that is, Final Fantasy VII Remake, because holy moly does this game have incredible cutscenes. I actually let out a genuine GASP at one point, and more than a couple of “CORs” and “OOOOFs” too, which is probably the strongest reaction I’ve had to an in-game cutscene for, well, practically 20 years. There are several great moments in Final Fantasy VII Remake, but none top this exquisite escape scene out of the Shinra building....

Here’s the trailer: What a beautiful world! What exciting traversal! What sparkly combat! And what stiff, static faces. Luminous have previously made a big deal about their cast and their motion capture, and the faces themselves do look lovely and detailed. But then they don’t seem to move. I like everything else about how the game looks, though. Forspoken stars Frey, a down-on-her-luck woman living in New York City. She dreams of escaping to somewhere with cleaner air, when she is suddently transported through a portal to the world of Athia....

Developer: Eyaura Publisher: LunchHouse Software Release: Out now From: Steam Price: £14/€14/$18 G String might offer a clue. As well as having possibly the worst name in history, it’s a strange sort of throwback to the early/mid 2000s, an era you might, if you had to say these things for a living, call “middle school”. I’m surprised at how refreshing I found that. Comparing it to Half-Life 2 is inevitable. Not only does it run on the Source engine, but it has practically everything you’d expect....

Galakrond’s Might is the new Hero Power, and the effect generated when Invoke is triggered. It gives your Hero +3 attack this turn. This offers yet more tempo, as you can clear enemy minions out of the way as well as deal direct face damage to chip them down. Ideally, you’ll be dealing damage regularly to the point where one of your Charge minions from hand can finish your opponent off, especially doable when you’ve got those +4/+4 buffs from Galakrond....

Zenless Zone Zero’s player-characters are referred to as Proxies, and apparently live “dual identities, two opposing personas”. Hmm, personas eh? That sounds familiar. MiHoYo call the weird voids threatening civilisation ‘Hollows’ and your team will explore those, taking on enemies in “changing labyrinths”. Battling in the game looks fluid and extremely bad-ass judging from the first trailer, which you watch below. Again, hmm. There’s even a big-eyed mascot and an old-fashioned telly....

Get the Lenovo Legion 5 for £573 with code WINDOWS50 This configuration isn’t the most powerful available, but I think it represents pretty good value for money. The downside here is the RAM and storage allocation, which is quite meagre at 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, but both are expandable down the line so it’s not a deal-breaker in my eyes. Having a proper discrete graphics card, even a low-end one like the GTX 1650, gives you a lot more ability to tackle recent games than you’d have from even the integrated graphics built into the most recent and powerful processors....

Get an Acer Nitro 5 laptop for £1499 at Ebuyer (was £1880) The Nitro 5 is a 15.6-in laptop, with a broad plastic chassis that allows it to keep its powerful internal components cool, keeping frame-rates high through extended play sessions. The keyboard is surprisingly good and features RGB lighting, dedicated arrow keys and a numpad, while the Windows Precision trackpad is easy to use. There are plenty of ports here - 1x USB-C, 3x USB-A, HDMI 2....

One that caught my eye straight away was the whimsically punctuated Cook, Serve, Delicious! 2!!, a restaurant sim and time management cooking game. With typing elements. One of the nicest things about the CSD games is the food itself. Each finished dish is a lovely little heap of colour that looks as nice as fake food looks in adverts. I wish I could make cinnamon eggy bread as pretty as nice as the syrupy French toast in Cook, Serve, Delicious!...

Get an RTX 3070 and Ryzen 5600X gaming PC for £1210 (was £1500) As you might expect based on the aggressive price, there are some cutbacks elsewhere in the build - which you can either upgrade later or pay a little more to upgrade right away. The motherboard, surprisingly, is a very solid one - the MSI B550M Pro VDH. That gives you PCIe 4.0 compatibility, unlocking use of high-end NVMe SSDs, and thereby ensuring some future proofing....

Ghostrunner’s powers are designed to make you feel cool, but they’re presided over by the angry conductor from Whiplash who throws chairs if you don’t play to his tempo. You can wall-run, grapple hook and knee slide down ramps to turn yourself into a canyon-leaping bullet; all the good stuff that makes Titanfall such a wheeze. But, in platforming segments at least, this isn’t a toolbox to dance around the world, but rather instructions in Simon Says....