After Helldivers 2 stole its thunder, Starship Troopers: Extermination is now cribbing from Arrowhead’s worksheet by adding airstrikes in its next update

Imagine how awkward it would be to end up trapped in a lift with Starship Troopers: Extermination and Helldivers 2, what with the latter taking the themes and ideas behind the former’s licence and implementing them in a way that massively stole Extermination’s thunder. Sure, Helldivers 2 deserves its success, but Extermination’s developer, Offworld, must…

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The roguelike’s unstoppable conquest of gaming continues with Age of Empires 4’s latest DLC, and players declare the invasion successful: ‘It may be my new favourite way to play’

Every game is a roguelike now. And if it isn’t a roguelike, then it’s a roguelite. The beat ’em up is a roguelike. The FPS is a roguelike. Poker is a roguelike. Breakout is a roguelike. Even the flippin’ city-builder is a roguelike. It’s overwhelming. They’re all around us, man. They’re coming out of the…

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Underrated avian action adventure The Falconeer just got a free remaster that overhauls ‘literally everything’ about it: ‘I hope and pray this remaster shows the dedication I have for my games’

Originally released in 2020, The Falconeer is an aerial combat RPG about piloting enormous predatory birds through the skies of a crumbling oceanic empire. It was warmly received on release, nominated for a BAFTA and earning a respectable score of 78 in our The Falconeer Review. But developer Tomas Sala wasn’t satisfied with the end…

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‘Roblox must do more to protect kids from sick and twisted freaks,’ Texas attorney general says as he sues Roblox ‘for putting pixel pedophiles and profits’ ahead of safety

The “let’s sue Roblox” bandwagon has grown a little bit bigger as Texas attorney general Ken Paxton has announced that he’s filed suit against the company “for flagrantly ignoring state and federal online safety laws while deceiving parents about the dangers of its platform.” Roblox has denied the claim, saying the Texas lawsuit is “based…

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OG Fallout artist Leonard Boyarsky says The Outer Worlds 2 almost had its own ‘old school Obsidian’ evil ending, but it took too much effort for too little payoff: ‘I love making these types of games, but it is very stressful’

I really love The Outer Worlds 2⁠—so much so that even after reviewing it, I’ve already started my second character. One thing that stood out to me, though, is that you can’t side with the Arcadia system’s resident collectivist surveillance state, the Protectorate⁠—you can’t even earn or lose reputation points with them like the other…

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My new favorite deep Windows lore: Microsoft once broke its Bluetooth driver code by sticking a ® symbol in the name of its own mouse

There’s something I find deeply funny about the use of copyright and trademark symbols in games. I get why these symbols are important in legal contexts, but, like, was it actually vital to display ® or ™ next to every character’s name in the Dragon Ball Z Budokai 3 fighting game on the PlayStation® 2?…

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Steam’s wider store pages are now live, and Valve says it tested them on ‘a tiny old iPod’ to make sure they’d still work on narrower screens

Steam has increased the width of its product pages from 940 pixels to 1,200 pixels. It’s a change that would go unremarked on for most other online stores, but this is Steam, the place we’ve been buying PC games since the 2000s, and Valve, a company from which we’ve come to expect things like 750-word…

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Halo Infinite is entering maintenance mode: ‘With multiple Halo titles in development, we’ll need our whole team’s combined focus’

Four years after its release, Halo Infinite is, well, not going to be so infinite after all. Developer Halo Studios (formerly 343 Studios) has announced that it’s done updating the game with new stuff as it focuses on other projects, like Halo: Campaign Evolved. The final update will arrive on November 18 and will leave…

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The Mass Effect TV series will ‘explore a brand-new story within the universe’s timeline,’ BioWare exec says: ‘It won’t be a retread of Commander Shepard’s story’

Mass Effect chief Michael Gamble didn’t have much to say about the next game in the series in today’s N7 Day update, but he did throw some new light on the Mass Effect TV series being developed by Amazon. “I haven’t talked about it much, but you might have heard a little something about a…

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