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Sonic The Hedgehog CD was the first game to hit our Windows 95 486’s in September 1996, a perfect fit for CD-ROM technology with its multiple soundtracks for each possible timeline. Surprisingly, though, it remained fundamentally the same exact game as it was back when it first released on Mega CD in late 1993. This, however, was a cheaper, more sensible way to play a somewhat “lost” Sonic game, orphaned by consumer apathy towards the Mega CD add-on....

So if you want to go into Frogwares’ new detect ’em up cold, then save this and come back to it after you’ve played about, ooh, 45 minutes? I think that’s long enough to get clear of spoiler territory.

Our titular monster pal appears to be on some kind of lonely school trip to an open air museum dedicated to the weirdness of humans from “Englandland.” It’s spread out among an archipelago, which plinths displaying examples of human culture, each with a plaque recording their use or import. There are no bridges but plenty of helpfully placed trees for felling and chucking into the water to DIY your own....

Haven Park seems to set itself up as a welcomed reprieve from the steady influx of hyper-competitive games taking over the summer. Some of its cute features include a bright open world with multiple areas to setup your own camp, quests and side quests that share a bit of the game’s lore (as deep, no doubt, as Dark Souls’), and a whole lot of other campers to interact with. The game was developed by Fabien Weibel, and it apparently took him 800 hours to put together - nearly as long as my time spent on Oblivion....

Publishers and developers have heard that you enjoy products, so they’ve taken to advertising some in their games. That’s why we’ve centred this week’s MSR on those video games that are trying to sell you stuff, like Lilt. Mmmmm, Lilt. The totally tropical taste. For the next edition of Mystery Steam Reviews, we’ve run another poll on the Rock Paper Shotgun YouTube channel, so go and vote if you want to have a say in what the next MSR is all about....

“In a world of myth and magic, those who aspire to immortality devote their lives to the sacred path of cultivation,” say the developers. “As a grandmaster, you’ll bring the Taiyi Sect back to its glory days by training new apprentices, gathering knowledge and expand your domain through commerce and political alliances to gain influence over other sects. Also, you must protect people from supernatural dangers such as bad spirits, monsters and enchanted artifacts....

“With our August 25th launch approaching, we have been scrutinizing our feature list, taking input from our Alpha audience, and listening to what they enjoyed (or didn’t!) about the current game,” says studio director Rich Lawrence in their announcement. “We want to ensure that the most dedicated players have plenty of middle and endgame experiences as they venture through Aeternum,” they say. Here’s hoping that the extra half a year or so helps save New World from the same fate....

Most expensive, but also the most appealing, is the LG Ultragear 27GL83A-B. This is a 27in 2560x1440 monitor with AMD Freesync support that’s also one of Nvidia’s officially certified G-Sync Compatible monitors, which means that both AMD and Nvidia graphics card owners will be able to take full advantage of its variable refresh rate tech without any pesky visual defects. It’s also got a 144Hz refresh rate and HDR support, too, making its price drop of £53 down to just £387 a very tempting deal indeed....

I was fortunate enough to jump into one of these and visit a universe built by Xalavier Nelson Jr., and it has left me with a big smile on my face, but also with a strong desire to spread the good word of the dogs that I met on my travels. You see, I am talking about first-person adventure An Airport For Aliens Currently Run By Dogs. A fine place....

An Airport For Aliens Currently Run By Dogs is a first-person adventure game where you and your fiancée are the last two humans left in the universe. As prophesised, dogs now run airports and society as a whole. And in a somewhat inconvenient turn of events, you’ll need to navigate these pup-laden airports to find your boo, who simply can’t stop planet-hopping. To maintain this long distance relationship, you’ll need to chat with stock photos of beautiful, unsettling, friendly, and often hilarious dogs who are just trying their best....

Doom Eternal is an exhilaratingly different kettle of demon fish to Doom (2016). Battles are faster and more frenetic, and the increased scarcity of ammo means you end up using a lot more weapons over the course of a single fight. It also puts a much heavier emphasis on using your chainsaw to replenish said ammo stocks, slicing open weaker demon spawn piñata-style in a fountain of multi-coloured bullet packs, as well as using your flamethrower to bolster your dwindling armour levels....

Apex Legends’ new season, including Storm Point map and new character Ash, are all live now. Here’s the trailer, which is kinetic and violent: Imogen’s already been hands-on with Ash last week, and she found the new human-brained robot a speedy, offensive character that nevertheless didn’t feel overpowered. Respawn have also detailed all of the new features this season in their Escape patch notes. That includes details of the new weapon, the Combat Advanced Round submachine gun, which accepts Light or Heavy mags....

Overflow feels a lot different from other Arenas maps because there’s more stuff to fight around. High walls and verticality make things more fun for characters with movement abilities, while more enclosed spaces allow for more fast and sneaky strats - there’s less opportunity to spy on your enemies from far away. Plus, lava is cool. Thrillseekers has added a bunch of new skins to buy this event too, with Gibraltar sporting a stylish bull-themed outfit, and Mirage being dressed up like a clown....

Apex Legends Season 4 update - full patch notes Before we start to delve into the really juicy changes that Season 4 has brought along, here are the full Apex Legends Season 4 patch notes if you want to read them. Go on, go ahead. Just be sure to come back here once you’re done so we can talk about all this cool new stuff that’s arrived! New Season, new Battle Pass New Legend: Revenant New Weapon: Sentinel Sniper Rifle Lots of map changes Sniper Rifles now have their own ammo RIP Turbocharger The Scout is now an Assault Rifle?...

But what do you reckon, reader? Which new-gen console is the one for you? (If any!) The Xbox Series X and S came out earlier this week, and while I reckon they’re the better consoles (mostly for Game Pass and the pricing), for PC users they seem a bit useless right now. Almost every game that comes out for Microsoft’s consoles is available on PC, so it just makes no sense to have both....

“At Arkane, we have a strong vision for Deathloop and we don’t want to compromise on that, but we also need to do everything we can to ensure the health and safety of everyone in the studio,” game director Dinga Bakaba said in a video on Twitter. “We are sorry for the wait, and we want to thank you all for your passion and excitement,” he added. “It’s the fuel that powers our creativity and our hard work....

According to Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier: “Infinity will contain multiple settings with room to expand to others in the months and years following its debut, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing a project under development. Individual games on the platform might look and feel different, but they will all be connected.” Ubisoft themselves have since confirmed that Infinity exists as “a collaborative, cross-studio structure between Ubisoft Montreal and Ubisoft Quebec....

Dan Aykroyd and Ernie Hudson return to voice their original roles, and the story goes that they’re hiring a new team of ghostbusters to pick up the mantle. That’s where players come in. You’re able to play either with up to four friends, or solo with AI busters by your side. It’s asymmetric, though, which means one player can also choose to take control of a ghost - choosing from a selection including the iconic Slimer - and instead spend their time terrorising the humans....

Developers Larian previously stated in a Reddit AMA that their upcoming sequel will cover levels one to ten, but in our recent interview, lead systems designer Nick Pechenin said that this isn’t certain, as they’re still weighing it up. Like its predecessors, Baldur’s Gate 3 is based on the same rules that govern Dungeons & Dragons, the far out tabletop game invented in 1982 by Tom Hanks. But those rules have changed dramatically in the 20 years since Baldur’s Gate 2....

The developers explained that the upcoming Patch 3 will bring “the first changes that affect story”. So, “Unfortunately, this means Patch 3 will introduce the first save incompatibility, transitioning to the new version.” For folks who don’t want to start over every time a patch breaks combability, Larian plan to add the previous version to Steam as an opt-in fallback. That’ll be hidden in the beta branch options. You might want to disable automatic updates for the game too....