HomeNews This mod turns Dark Souls into a roguelikePrepare to die, but only five times Prepare to die, but only five times It’s easy to overemphasise the importance of difficulty toDark Souls, but I’d still argue it’s integral. From Software’s gruelling RPGs do loads else that’s cool, but part of the appeal is bound up with the same satisfaction you get from climbing a mountain. You want that tension, and the blessed relief of finally beating a boss after chucking yourself betwixt its jaws for the 38th time....

HomeNewsCrucible Amazon’s Crucible retreating back into closed betaIt launched only six weeks ago It launched only six weeks ago Less than six weeks after launchingCrucible, Amazon are taking their free-to-play multiplayer shooter back into closed beta. It was not well-received or well-played, and last weekend didn’t even break 200 players in-game at the same time. So they’re taking it back into beta to fix and improve, then presumably relaunch later. Those player numbers are honestly not uncommon for a new multiplayer shooter, because it’s a perilous genre and most flop, but I imagine they’re a touch disappointing to a company worth $1 trillion....

HomeHardwareNews Corsair have reached peak RGB with these new ambient light towersTaste the rainbow Taste the rainbow Not content with cramming RGB lighting into every possible PC product on the planet, Corsair have now started making rainbow-infused ambient lighting towers to plonk on your desk, because why the hell not? Dubbed the LT100 Smart Lighting Tower, this mildly preposterous chunk of aluminium is now available as a single ‘expansion’ tower and a two-strong starter kit for£60/£130of your respective British pounds (because, come on, let’s be serious, you can’tstartwith just one of these things apparently, just think of the symmetry!...

HomeNews Crysis Remastered is coming July 23rd, leaks sayMaximum leakage Maximum leakage Update: Wildly, Crytek have delayed the formal announcement, while acknowledging that everyone has seen the leak anyway. Today is the day for Crytek for formally revealCrysis Remastered, though the release date and trailer have apparently already leaked anyway. The prettied-up re-release of the supersuit shooter is coming on July 23rd, according to a Microsoft Store page that went live early before being pulled down....

HomeHardwareNewsDeath Stranding Death Stranding runs beautifully on PC, even on a GTX 1060Kojima delivers the goods Kojima delivers the goods Kojima Productions' esoteric postman simulatorDeath Strandingisn’t out on PC until July 14th, but I’ve been strolling around an early preview build of the game for the last couple of days and man alive, it’s really very heartening to see such a good-looking PS4 game run at a proper 60fps on PC, lemme tell ya....

HomeNews Devolver Digital’s always weird summer showcase will premiere on July 11thDevolver Direct 2020 confirmed Devolver Direct 2020 confirmed For the last couple years, indie publisher Devolver Digital’s have broadcast their own big E3-style press conference of announcements after all the other publishers have gone to sleep. Good news is, they’ve not let FakE3 keep them down. Devolver Digital will still be doing a digital press conference and you’ll be able to catch all fifty shades of freaky on July 11th at 8pm BST / 12pm PDT....

HomeFeaturesRace For The Galaxy Have You Played… Race For The Galaxy?Race up for the stars Race up for the stars Race For The Galaxywas the first game I played that forced me to use my plans as currency. What a concept! To build any of that, though, you’ll need to discard other cards from your hand. It’s an extremely slick way of getting you to weigh up worth, and of handing you control and consequences without overwhelming you with information....

HomeNewsTownscaper Lovely town-building toy Townscaper is out in early access I’m not bothered about the distinction between “game” and “toy” but Stålberg calls this a toy so sure, let’s go with that. Townscaper is lovely to play with, to figure out how its rules work, see how you can make it create what you want, and be delighted when it creates things you didn’t expect. I was very surprised to see cranes grow in niche situations....

HomeNewsOoblets Ooblets launches in early access on July 15thCreature fever incoming Creature fever incoming After spending years in the works, growing tiny little roots as it prepares to break free,Oobletshas an early access release date. Glumberland have announced that the critter-collecting and dance-battling little town sim will launch in early access on July 15th. If you managed to entirely miss the years of cute dancing gifs and little creatures,Oobletsis a town lifesimulation gameabout befriending these odd little monsters with dorky names....

HomeFeatures Spring Leaves No Flowers shows why games need more characters to come outThe extended mess of coming out is the perennial queer experience The extended mess of coming out is the perennial queer experience My earliest experience with trying to find out whether a character in a video game was homosexual was stalking the BioWare forums in 2008 or 2009. I was looking for information about which romance options in the upcoming, exciting new RPGDragon Age: Originswere going to allow for a women-loving women option....

HomeHardwareDeals The 75Hz model of our favourite AOC gaming monitor is down to £144Bargain 24in screens Bargain 24in screens TheAOC 24G2Uis one of thebest gaming monitorsyou can buy right now, but the 144Hz model that Katharine reviewed has been out of stock for absolutely ages. The good news, though, is that you can get its cheaper 75Hz model for a new low of just £144 right now if you head on over to CCL’s Ebay Store....

HomeNewsTrackmania Trackmania is out nowA mixture of “track” and “mania” A mixture of “track” and “mania” Trackmaniais a series that… christ, look atthis mess. I’m not going to lay out the whole history of the series. They stretch back to 2003, over a dozen or so games on almost as many platforms. They’re mostly about time trial races on outlandish, stunt-filled tracks. This latest one is a remake of Trackmania Nations, a free online spin-off released in 2006....

HomeNews EGX is off but EGX Digital is on, joining up with PAX Online for nine days of streamingNine days! Nine days! EGX 2020 was due to run September 17-20th at ExCeL London. Refunds for people who bought tickets are due to automatically go out “over the next few weeks”. TheEGX FAQshould have more on that. Today’s EGX Digital announcement teases: “Attendees can expect many of their favourite features from the show, including landmark sessions with developers, panels, playable games; Let’s Play content with some of the biggest names in gaming; competitive gaming; hundreds of indie titles, Meets and Greets and much more....