‘Brutally honest’ city builder Microlandia gets brutally honest crime simulation: ‘It’s a spectrum of consequences that can become a death spiral every single day’

Most city-builders are creative toolsets with an optional management sim attached, canvasses for the imagination with a budget you might glance at occasionally. But Microlandia is built different. The city-builder developed by Information Superhighway Games is designed to be “brutally honest”. Roads are expensive, traffic jams can cost your citizens their jobs, and uncontrolled rent…

Read More

Lort devs reluctantly tweak the fantasy roguelike’s difficulty after players complain the Risk of Rain 2 successor is too hard: ‘You are meant to die and learn how to overcome the challenge’

Fantasy roguelike Lort is an unabashed spiritual successor to Risk of Rain 2 that launched earlier this week. In fact, developer Big Distraction says it made the game because it got fed up of waiting for Gearbox to make another Risk of Rain. If you’ve played Risk of Rain 2, you’ll know that it can…

Read More

Early access multiplayer shooter Out of Action is, ironically, full of action, with cyborg ninjas blasting each other in a mix of Titanfall and Max Payne

Between games like Dusk, Amid Evil, Prodeus and Ultrakill, indie gaming has long taken over from the big-budget devs in delivering the best single-player shooters (though id Software can still pack a punch when it wants to). But lately, small developers have been beating the mainstream in the multiplayer sphere too. With Call of Duty:…

Read More

Dinner is served in Star Birds’ latest early access update, adding bakeries and restaurants to the Dorfromantik devs’ factory management sim: ‘Ever fed an alien pizza?’

Factory management sim Star Birds surprised us when it landed on Steam early access late last year. Intrepid explorer Robin Valentine went into Toukana Interactive’s latest game expecting a chill, cosy experience similar to Dorfromantik. But he discovered that its cutesy visuals and gentle onboarding belied a game of serious puzzling depth. “As a puzzle…

Read More

Cancelled Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time remake claimed to have been ‘close to the finish line’

Ubisoft’s remake of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time was one of six projects recently cancelled as part of a “major reset” of the company’s internal structure. One day after the announcement, which included a promise that more “player-facing generative AI” was on the cards, Ubisoft shares dropped to their lowest value in more…

Read More

Cancelled Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time remake claimed to have been ‘close to the finish line’

Ubisoft’s remake of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time was one of six projects recently cancelled as part of a “major reset” of the company’s internal structure. One day after the announcement, which included a promise that more “player-facing generative AI” was on the cards, Ubisoft shares dropped to their lowest value in more…

Read More

Fallout lead Tim Cain worked 70+ hours a week for 2 years to make the classic RPG: ‘I’m glad things have changed, that was unsustainable⁠—but it was also absolutely amazing’

In a new video on his YouTube channel, prolific RPG developer Tim Cain broke down what his average daily schedule looked like while working on the original Fallout at Interplay Entertainment. Along the way, he reflected on the grueling pace of work he took on, and why it felt more acceptable in 1995. Cain sets…

Read More