November 2024

There’s been a significant change as to how Steam will require games to advertise expansion packs or DLCs on the platform. The new guidelines clearly spell out what can be classified as new extra content and how publishers and developers should handle this future content to ensure that it actually benefits customers. “By offering a…

After an incredibly turbulent road to launch, which started in 2010, included the death and resurrection of the studio, numerous delays, and then the significant hurdle known as the Russian Invasion of Ukraine, Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl finally arrived yesterday. And it warms my cold, decrepit heart to see players utterly embrace this uncompromising,…

The recent documentary celebrating the 20th anniversary of Half-Life 2 included a segment where the designers talked about how important it was to make levels satisfying for players who barreled through them at high speed (possibly in an airboat), as well as those players who preferred to get out and walk so they could find…

I walked through the front doors of Obsidian Entertainment with a singleminded mission: find a gun in fantasy RPG Avowed as quickly as possible. So much of Avowed—which Obsidian has taken pains to point out is not a sweeping open world game like Skyrim—looks deeply traditional. Cozy. Unsurprising. But then there are the guns. Where…