2XKO’s shutdown has me feeling glum about Riot’s future MMO—because I don’t think the genre can survive corporate cut-and-run tactics

I find myself pretty gloomy about the shutdown of 2XKO—but not because I’ll miss it on a personal level. I don’t have the mental bandwidth to training-montage myself into a serious fighting game player other than a few stints with Guilty Gear: Strive, but I did have a reasonable time messing around with 2XKO during…

Read More

This mod transforms Doom into a terrifying tactical shooter, and it’s partly inspired by another PC gaming classic

It takes a brave soul to ask the question “What if Doom was an incredibly slow-moving tactical shooter?” In fact, it’s not a question I ever thought I’d want an answer to—we aren’t exactly short of grim-faced, hyper-lethal first-person shooters these days. But the most recent footage of Blackout has convinced me that tactical Doom…

Read More

Random Game Saturday: Terranigma (SNES)

Resurrection, man. Clear River Games caused quite a stir this week after teasing a re-release (or possibly a remake) of Quintet’s SNES RPG Terranigma on social media. Released in Japan back in 1995, Terranigma is part of a loose trilogy which also includes Soul Blazer / Blader (1992) and Illusion of Gaia / Time (1993)….

Read More

Dishonored was a last-ditch effort by Arkane Studios after years of fruitless contract work, according to the game’s co-creator: ‘I think we had four months of money left’

Former Arkane Austin head Harvey Smith recently announced his new studio, Black Pony Immersive. As the name suggests will be dedicated to making immersive sims in the tradition of Deus Ex and System Shock. It’s a commitment that I wholeheartedly support, though as is always the case with this genre, there’s a concern over whether…

Read More

The latest cooperative craze is a physics-based fishing simulator where you can launch your catch into the air and no-scope it with a sniper rifle

As someone who grew up in the ’90s and early ’00s when cooperative games were scarce, I’m a big fan of this current era of cheap and cheerful experiences designed to play with your pals. I enjoy the knockabout vibe of games like Peak and R.E.P.O, which acknowledge their disposable nature and focus on being…

Read More