 Firaxis have released a new Battle Royale mode for their turn-based strategy game, Civilization VI, as a free update for PC users.
As a free update, Red Death is available to all players who own the base game on PC. There’s no word on whether the mode will be making its way to other platforms.
Faraxis also revealed details about the mode’s somewhat unorthodox origins: “The game mode began as a tongue-in-cheek April Fools joke from the Multiplayer Engineering Lead, Bradley Olson. He scripted the basic gameplay and added it to the game for an April 1 build, hoping the team would find it amusing,” reads the press release. Unfortunately, nobody actually noticed a Battle Royale mode lurking in the game’s multiplayer. But, despite the rocky start, the mode was well liked by Olson’s fellow developers once they got their hands on it, and the original concept was soon expanded upon with features and extras before getting a post-apocalyptic makeover by the studios’ art team. “Red Death came together in a different way than we usually develop scenarios and content for Civilization VI. While this is not the way a typical design comes to fruition, the on-the-fly creative collaboration coming from all the members of the team that led to this release was an incredible experience for all of us.” Let us know your thoughts on the new mode below or over in the forums.  Weappy Studios and THQ Nordic have announced Rebel Cops, a new 15-hour game inspired by their cops vs gangsters strategy series, This is the Police.
Rebel Cops features the same XCOM-like, turn-based tactical combat first introduced in This is the Police 2, along with the series’ familiar squad and personnel management.
Despite living outside the ‘law’, your squad are still police officers, so players are given plenty of non-lethal weapons and perks - such as the unlockable ability to arrest people from further away - in order to peacefully takedown criminals. Should things go south, enemies can be taken down with a single shot to the head, whilst other injuries can cause them to bleed out quickly, though the same rules also apply to cops under your command. Your teams’ diminished status means that firearms, equipment and ammunition are harder to come by, so players must therefore search the large sandbox levels for items of value that can either be sold on the black market or used. Players can gain credibility and better relationships with merchants by completing side missions for the Ripton townsfolk, but excessive civilian deaths, or failure to successfully complete a mission can cause trading difficulties or even allies to turn on you. Rebel Cops is out Tuesday, 17 September on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Switch and PC with an RRP of $9.99 / €9.99. What do you think of the spin-off? Let us know below or over in the forums.  Indie publisher and developer tinyBuild have used PAX West 2019 to announce four games they’ll be helping to bring to PC (and one to consoles) later this year and in 2020.
Next up is Rawmen, a multiplayer title with Splatoon vibes that stars naked chefs slinging soup (and other foodstuffs) at each other, with online support for up to eight players. No firm release date for this one, though there is an upcoming alpha which you can sign up for on the game's official site. The third game is a top-down title called Black Skylands, where survivors of a shattered Earth battle it out for supplies with giant airships. Your job is to make it into the titular lands through a mix of ground and air combat, with some rather cool powers apparently thrown into the mix such as the ability to temporarily pause time. Expect a Steam release in late 2020. Lastly we have Once Upon A Time in Roswell (previously known as The Peterson Case) a first-person psychological horror game that chronicles the story of a family’s disappearance in 1947 in Roswell, USA. Expect creepy flashbacks as players relive old memories and encounters with “otherworldly entities” as they go about solving the mystery of the missing family. It’s scheduled for an Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC release later next year. What do you think of the games? Let us know below or over in the forums.
Monster Hunter World: Iceborne beta kicks off today on PlayStation 4, Xbox One beta starts next week30/8/2019  Monster Hunter World’s Iceborne expansion is heading to consoles next week, but PlayStation 4 users can get another sneak peek ahead of its release with this weekend’s beta.
There are 14 different weapons for players to test both in mission and in the training area, all of which are said to include new Iceborne features. Commendation packs containing helpful consumable items can be earned for use in the full version of Iceborne by completing each quest.
The PS4 beta began today at 08:00 and runs till 07:59 BST Monday, 2 September. An Xbox One beta follows immediately after, from 08:00 BST on Monday, 2 September to 07:59 BST Thursday, 5 September. The Monster Hunter World base game is not required to participate in either of the betas. Monster Hunter World: Iceborne is out 6 September on Xbox One and PlayStation 4, with a PC release to follow in January 2020. Will you be giving the expansion a try ahead of its impending release? Let us know below or in the forums.  Codemasters’ (F1 2019, DiRT Rally 2.0) GRID reboot will be playable for the first time at Gamescom, which takes place in Cologne, Germany next week.
“We are so excited to bring our vision for dynamic motorsport racing to the Gamescom community,” said GRID Game Director Chris Smith. “I truly look forward to seeing all the players having fun with GRID and creating their own racing stories, I hope to see you there.” GRID features a variety of cars and race types – including, point to point, circuit and street racing – all set across four continents. Havana was the latest Street Circuit to be announced for the game, which you can see in action in the video below. GRID is out 11 October on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC. A Google Stadia version will be available some time in November.
Are you going to Gamescom? Looking forward to trying GRID? Let us know below or in the forums.  Traxmaster Software’s neon-drenched, level-shifting 2.5D platformer, Exception, is now available on PC and consoles.
All the action is set to a futuresynth soundtrack created by some of the genre’s top artists, including Waveshaper and Kalax.
“After five years in development I am stoked to finally release Exception for everyone to enjoy,” said Will Traxler, Founder of Traxmaster Software. “The shifting environment in Exception offers players a new way to experience action platforming while the whole game aesthetic harkens back to arcade nostalgia.” Exception is available now on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and PC with an RRP of $14.99/€12.49/£10.99 Let us know what you think of the game below or over in the forums.  Bad Yolk Games, a new studio founded by former Wolfenstein and DOOM developers, have announced their first game, titled Main Assembly.
It looks like the game will feature two modes; a single player challenge mode and a sandbox mode in which players can team up together and create their own fun.
“Main Assembly is our first project, and we want to hit the ground running by wowing players with a wide variety of options in terms of construction and creativity while also providing sophisticated challenges that will put their creations to the test,” said Mike Paixao of Bad Yolk. “What we have now is already pretty amazing from a physics perspective and also a lot of fun to play with friends. We intend to polish and hone these features and are very much looking forward to player feedback to help us make the best game possible.” Main Assembly enters Steam Early Access sometime later this year, with a full launch planned for late 2020. Are you tempted to get building? Let us know below or over in the forums.  MecurySteam have released the latest character for their free-to-play asymmetrical multiplayer title, Spacelords.
In the trailer we get to see Sööma’s ranged and melee attacks, as well as what looks like her special healing ability. “It was a fascinating endeavor working on a character like Sööma,” said Stefanie Joosten. “When MercurySteam approached me with the idea of working on a new Raider for Spacelords, Sööma was just a piece of concept art, and developing that concept into a full character, with her own unique personality and ethos, is a very rewarding experience indeed.” “Developing a new character is always a complex subject,” added Game Director Enric Álvarez, who we chatted with last year about the inspiration behind the game. “The need to create a well-adjusted and fun new addition to a Free to Play game like Spacelords needs to be balanced with an attractive design and likeability of the character. Stefanie’s natural charisma and talent contributed to a smoother and enjoyable creative process.” Before it became a free-to-play title, Spacelords was previously known as Raiders of the Broken Planet and featured a number of premium campaigns that could be purchased individually, two of which - Hades Betrayal and Wardog Fury - we reviewed last year. You can see the latter campaign in action in our let’s play below, in which James, Sam and myself attempt to destroy some rather grotesque barges. If that leaves you wanting more, you can watch the dramatic conclusion here. What do you think of Sööma? Let us know below or in the forums.
 The FPS had its name changed following the (somewhat predictable) threat of legal action from renowned metal band Iron Maiden.
“After careful consideration, we’ve decided to rename our first-person-shooter “Ion Maiden” to “Ion Fury,”” said Mike Nielsen, CEO of 3D Realms.
“A lot of thought went into this, but most importantly it would be a disservice to our loyal fanbase and the fantastic developers, to drag out a long lawsuit. The amazing gameplay, interactivity and pure fun, is what makes Ion Fury a great game. Not the title.” Ion Fury is a retro-styled shooter inspired by classic 90s titles such as Duke Nukem 3D, Shadow Warrior and Blood. Created with the Build Engine, which also powered the aforementioned shooters, Ion Fury combines old-school visuals with modern features such as auto saves, widescreen support, map interactivity, improved physics and even headshots. A preview campaign is currently available on PC through Steam Early Access for $19.99 (or regional equivalent). Those who purchased the preview campaign will receive the full game – which will cost $24.99 - as a free update when it launches next month. Ion Fury is out 15 August on Steam. Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and Switch versions will be released at a later date. What do you think of the name change? Let us know below or over in the forums.  The Game Bakers have given us our first look at their new game, Haven, in action.
“It’s purposefully a very different experience from Furi. But as with Furi, we tried to make a game that you have never experienced before,” continues Thoa.
“The story of a couple fighting for their freedom, an established relationship: what love looks like when you’ve moved past the early seduction phase, when you can be your true self with one another… I don’t think that’s been done much in video games.” Players will experience a story-rich adventure that’s described as a “lovechild of Journey meets Persona,” on which they’ll help Yu and Kay through everyday life and challenges. An “innovative” combat system allows players to control both characters at once using tactics and timing. You can briefly see how combat works in the trailer above, with successful encounters seeming to relieve the local fauna of some sort of crystal that appears to be turning them aggressive. Haven is said to be “a solo game at its core,” but will support local co-op with a second player able to jump into the action, sharing in exploration and progression. Haven is out sometime next year and will be available on PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and PC. Whilst there’s no mention of an Xbox One version, developers The Game Bakers have stated that the complete platform plan is “not final.” What do you think of Haven? Let us know below or in the forums. |
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