A 'small update' just shook up Deadlock's basic mechanics and tweaked nearly every hero

GTA 5’s character-swapping system was a stroke of genius that was supposed to feature in San Andreas 9 years earlier—this masterclass mod makes that dream a reality

As I flitted between Peter Parker and Miles Morales boroughs-apart in Spider-Man 2’s New York City, I thought: why haven’t more games copied the character-swapping system from GTA 5? Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 first swung onto PS5 consoles towards the end of 2023, and breached the shores of Steam at the beginning of this year. Grand…

Read More

A former Valve dev revealed how, while a VR version of Half-Life 2 was being made, a single metro cop’s toe created a ‘time-travelling’ bug that softlocked all versions of the game

One of the coolest things about Half-Life 2 is its physics engine, but as anyone who has played a physics-based game will know, even the best-in-class tech is prone to quirks here and there. Valve’s legendary narrative shooter was no exception, as former Valve developer Tom Forsyth shared in a thread on Mastodon. In the…

Read More

STERN OF THE UNION ADDRESS – NOVEMBER 2025

The Stern of the Union Address, your monthly resource for news, information and highlights on all things Stern Pinball. Without further ado my fellow pinheads: The Walking Dead Remastered: There’s a Horde coming with a technologically advanced version of one of the most beloved pinball games of all time… The Walking Dead Remastered! Stay tuned…

Read More

Tavern Keeper’s early access is already a crunchy management sim, a cosy blanket, an interior decor game, and a furniture designer all at once

Tavern Keeper’s a game with a bit of a history—taking Greenheart Games a whopping 11 years to make, it finally released into Early Access earlier this month after a series of solid, but limited demos, expanding the scope of what we could mess around with from one tavern to three. And despite not being in…

Read More

Cities: Skylines 2’s bicycle update adds a lot more than just bikes, as Colossal Order prepares to hand over development to a new studio

Colossal Order will soon part ways with its difficult second child, Cities: Skylines 2, but at least the developer got to teach the sequel to ride a bike before sending it to live with adoptive parent Iceflake Studios. The newly released bike patch actually adds bicycles and electric scooters into Skylines 2, along with all…

Read More

5 months after launch, cooperative shooter FBC Firebreak finally has integrated voice chat, but its Vampire Survivors-style wave mode is delayed until next year

While a lack of voice chat wasn’t the biggest problem with FBC: Firebreak when it released in June, it was certainly one of the issues that led it to fall flat with myself and players in general. Given Firebreak is a cooperative shooter where teamwork is crucial to survival, being able to communicate with friends…

Read More