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While we dedicate a fair bit of time to the game of the moment in this week’s episode, we also go through some of the bigger news stories of the last fortnight. Headlines and Hot Takes is full of chat on Microsoft and Bethesda making their relationship official, as well as what Square Enix might have planned for their upcoming Square Enix Presents showcase. Also, in Tech Corner, we discuss some nightmare facial tracking in virtual reality....

The video was created by a YouTube user called Major Frasier, “the Frasier meme account nobody asked for” according to its about page. There’s also an Instagram account. The only two other videos on the YouTube account are an upload of the song, Never Frade Away, and an unrelated Frasier meme video. Whoever is responsible, kudos.

Techtonica will slip us beneath the surface of an alien world teeming with bioluminescent life to, well, turn everything into factory. From humble beginnings with hand tools, we’ll slowly dig out and build until the underworld is filled with machines, conveyor belts, ziplines, and other factory fun. It’ll also have us tunnelling around to find resources and secret caves with artifacts we can scan to unlock new (old?) tech. Having destructible terrain in a game like this is neat....

A modder by the name of “aedenthorn” has created a mod called “HERE FISHY” which replaces the traditional act of fishing with a big scream. With this mod equipped, you simply stand by the sea, strike a triumphant pose, yell “Here fishy, fishy fishy!”, and nearby fish are automatically plucked out of the ocean, straight into your pockets. Here’s a video of the mod in action: The creator also notes you can turn off the sounds and adjust the fish jump arc if you’d rather feel like Magneto....

A bunch of the problems raised are known issues, as noted in a Q&A with our pals at VG247. I was blessed by not running into any problems at any point. Most importantly, I saw no issues affecting the deep and abiding love I have for my new Cleaner character-of-choice Holly. Sorry, this website will be posting Holly on main soon.

“It’s the year 2748 and Milo has re-discovered Earth,” it says in a press release. “He’d go down in history for this achievement, but when he lands on the planet he encounters a problem… He’s as small as a penny. And everybody’s gone. And it’s the ’90s.” The trailer shows Milo using launching his extraterrestrial followers (the tinykin) at things to move or break them, as well as stacking up the little beasts to use as a ladder....

Torchlight 3’s closed beta began back in March, during which Echtra Games seemed to think they’d primarily be bug fixing. Apparently there was a lot more work than that to do, based on player feedback that “we needed better character customization and a better end game.” They say that a whole host of bugs did get fixed, though “the end game feature is still in development.” Despite that, Echtra are ready to move on to the next phase, they say in a new post....

One’s a world-class warrior with long-term commitment issues. The other’s a reckless power-grabber who’s running outta luck. Together, they’re leading Three Kingdom’s two new factions into a whole lotta bloodshed. Kicking off in the year 194, A World Betrayed’s new scenario lets you try out two new perspectives. Lü Bu puts you in the eyes of the legendary warrior - he’s just pissed the hell outta Cao Cao, and needs to get outta Chen as soon as possible....

The job of a university president is a pretty relaxed affair, which means you’re able to soak in the joys of watching your oddball students grow. But this leniency means it struggles to reward you for constructing a campus that’s uniquely yours. How does the game judge a “solid education”? Through a star rating, naturally, which ranges from one (the student’s union always plays Mr. Brightside as a closer) to three (makes Oxbridge look like a pair of raging bin fires)....

According to Kotaku, who’ve seen a copy of an internal email sent to Ubisoft staff, Ricour has been removed from his position “effective immediately”. “The results of the leadership audit that was conducted in the last few weeks by our external partners makes it impossible for him to continue in this position," says the email from Virginie Haas, Ubisoft’s chief studios operating officer. In August, a Gamasutra investigation into workplace abuse at Ubisoft reported that “sexism, racial insensitivity, harassment, and abuse are allegedly a regular occurrence within the Singapore office....

Among those games in the sale are last year’s Watch Dogs Legion, Immortals Fenyx Rising and Anno 1800 for 60% off ($24), Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege for $5, The Division 2 for $9. There are also discounts on all the mad Ultimate Editions, though $72 for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla with its season pass still makes my eyes water. Then there’s Far Cry 3, the open world shooter which became the model for the series (and arguably, genre) thereafter....

Epic revealed Unreal Engine 5 on a livestream with Geoff Keighley. Along with talking tech, they showed a demo running in real time on a PlayStation 5, named Lumen In The Land Of Nanite: I really did mistake it for a less-gritty direction for Tomb Raider at first. It really is just a tech demo, Epic say. Though they did note Fortnite will shift to Unreal Engine 5 in 2021, mind....

Valorant Breach guide Breach abilities overview Breach tips - Fault Line Breach tips - Aftershock Breach tips - Flashpoint Breach ultimate tips - Rolling Thunder Some additional Breach tips Breach abilities overview Before we begin, let’s quickly iterate through each of Breach’s abilities, so we know exactly what’s what. Now, let’s talk a bit about each of these abilities in turn, so we can discover why Breach is one of the strongest agents at the highest levels of Valorant....

In an interview with cheery RPS fanzine PC Gamer, several Valve designers explained their efforts to improve the experience of games on the handled PC. Valve already added gamepad support to Dota 2, and more tweaks are planned for others. “Even if the core experience in Half-Life games is pretty polished with a controller, a lot of things around the experience tend to either get left out or not be brought to the same level of polish over time,” designer Greg Coomer told PCG....

You can read the digital version of the Steam Deck booklet in English here, but it’s also been translated into Japanese, Traditional Chinese and Korean. It’s an interesting potted history of Steam, the Deck and Valve in general. However, when the RPS team was discussing the booklet this morning, Alice0 had a rummage in her files and managed to find Valve’s very first press release about Steam from way back when the storefront was first announced at 2002’s GDC....

Legacy Of The Moonspell is set in a realm where the Moon never sets, which presumably makes it perfect for the vampires you seek. The theme is also inspired by Japanese folklore, however. You’ll be battling against new enemies inspired by yokai and oni, and one of the new playable characters is described as “self-consciously a shonen protagonist.” It’s hard to get a read on what the new weapons really mean....

The Battle Pass map is broken into multiple sectors, with each sector containing five different rewards for earning experience and levelling up. It’s certainly a more complex system than most Battle Passes in games, but fear not! We’ll explain the Warzone 2.0 Battle Pass below, including the different tiers, rewards, and battle pass weapons. On this page: Warzone 2 Battle Pass Map: How does it work? Warzone 2 Battle Pass: Free and Premium rewards Warzone 2 Battle Pass: Can you get Weapons?...

In this guide we’ve compiled screenshots of every single Optic attachment available in Warzone 2 and Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, so you can easily compare the looks, pros, and cons of each one on offer. Use the links below to skip ahead to an optic of your choice. Skip ahead to the optics of your choice: Slimline Pro SZ Mini Cronen Mini Red Dot Cronen Mini Pro SZ Sigma-IV Optic SZ Minitac-40 XRK On-Point Optic DF105 Reflex Sight Monocle CT90 Corvus Sol-76 SZ Recharge-DX SZ SRO-7 Corio RE-X Pro Corio Enforcer Optic SZ Lonewolf Optic Kazan-Holo Corvus Downrange-00 SZ Holotherm XTEN Angel-40 VLK 4....

Another one I’m keen to highlight is the demo of Wingspan, a digital version of a popular bird-based board game. VidBud Matthew has a lovely time with it (depending on your interpretation of lovely). The aim is to build a better bird sanctuary than your rivals, being scored on the quality of your birds, resources and eggs. The video only shows a single round of the game, and Matthew describes it as “chill”, although he definitely loses his cool by the end…...

Even worse - or better, from my point of view - is that it has one of my favourite characters ever. Though the headline character returning here is Aiden, the protagonist of the original Watch Dogs game, we also get Wrench aka The Wrench aka Reggie aka the best boy supporting character from Watch Dogs 2 - and it is so refreshing after the main game’s “play as anyone” shtick....