Age of Wonders 4 celebrates the first anniversary:

Celebrating One Year of Age of Wonders 4!

Dear AoW Community,

Today, we celebrate the first anniversary of Age of Wonders 4! This milestone could not have been achieved without you, our fans and players. Our journey with Age of Wonders began nearly three decades ago when Triumph’s co-founder, Arno van Wingerden, and I envisioned creating a genre-blending strategy role-playing game. This dream allowed players to govern a fantasy realm set within an expansive, magical world.

Age of Wonders 4 is our most successful execution of this vision to date. It offers unprecedented freedom in faction creation and strategic development, enriching both the core gameplay and role-playing experiences. This first year since release, with its intense development and feedback cycle has made the game even better.

A heartfelt thank you to our talented developers and to you, our community, whose ongoing support and feedback have been integral to this success.

A Gift of Appreciation

In gratitude, we’re excited to announce a gift: an update that includes both a standard and exotic Raptor Mount and a Dragon Scale Interface skin. This update will automatically be available on all platforms starting May 2nd.

Looking Forward

And there’s more good news. Triumph will continue to develop Age of Wonders 4 beyond the current Premium Edition. We are working on more free updates and thrilling premium content. We're eager to share more details with you after the summer. But first, get ready for the Eldritch Realms expansion in June!

Thank you once again for your support!

Thanks Couchpotato!

A new version of Archmage Rises is available:

Rivals Beta Released!

RIVALS COMBAT BETA NOW AVAILABLE!

It’s finally here! You can now find and fight your rivals. They won’t go down easy though and will put up a good fight, with mages from each school of magic bringing it’s own unique challenges and strategies to the battlefield. We released the beta on Friday of last week, and so far early feedback from the weekend has been positive.

Here are a few of the new things that come with this update:

• New enemy types to fight: Fire Mage, Ice Mage, Earth Mage, Storm Mage. Each mage type has it's own unique challenges to face
• New option to attack your rival when you meet them
• Rivals are now more difficult to locate. NPCs will not easily divulge their locations.
• Bribe or schmooze Conclave Chapterheads to discover the location of your rivals
• New NPC greetings - now NPCs comment on you based on a variety of factors (your appearance, their relationship with you, how long ago they last saw you, etc)
• Gain additional legacy bonuses for eliminating a rival
• You can now hunt down and kill your primary rival in the Mabren's Tower quest after you've completed the quest
• New combat arena - Town Street
• New death animation over rival portrait after killing that rival
• Plus other improvements and bug fixes

You can now try out the new Rivals update by switching to the Beta branch in Steam. We’ll be Beta testing it for at least the next week or two for some extra polishing and optimizing before we release it to the main Steam branch.

Emily and Alex, our new hires from last week (with some support from Phil), will be taking on the Rivals beta through to it's official public release. If you try it out, let us know what you think, we’d love to get your feedback on it!

EXPLORATION:

Mark and the rest of the team are continuing to plow forward on the next big Exploration update. For those of you who ready our last weekly dev update, this list hasn’t changed much, but we’re continuing to make progress on all of these areas:

Michal, James, Nolan, Mark - Exploration Events/Encounters.
Tyler - Revised Skill/Stat System
Zach - Dynamic Quests
Jessi, Phil, Jonathan, Andrey - Continuing on UI/UX Overhaul + Controller Support

OTHER NEWS:

By request of some in our Steam and Discord communities, we’re working on putting together a “Known Issues” list that will be publicly available on both the Discord server and the Wiki (which we can hopefully now put a little more attention too now that we’ve got some additional help).

Just a reminder, if you do try out the new Rivals beta, let us know what you think!

Thanks Couchpotato!

Couchpotato spotted a new development update for Xenonauts 2:

Xenonauts 2 Monthly Development Update!

Hello everyone! April is now over and it's time for our monthly Xenonauts 2 progress update.

Sound Design
Last month we brought an experienced sound designer onto the team to work on the game audio, as earlier in development we hadn't had the time and funds to give it the attention it deserved. Audio is sometimes an unappreciated part of game development, as the benefits of good sound effects can be quite subtle but are nonetheless very important.

This month we've updated the strategy UI, creating nicer sounds for the standard click / hover / error actions and then adding new clips so give subtly different feedback for different actions a click can cause (like confirming an action, closing a window, opening a tooltip, etc). There's still a bit more work to be done on the UI sounds, but after that we'll be moving onto the tactical combat sounds and trying to give the different alien species a bit more character.

As a side-effect of this process, we've also noticed various places the game didn't have sound but needed it. Some of these are already fixed and will deployed in Milestone 4, e.g. now Medikits and the Automed Unit play a sound when healing a unit, and melee weapons play a sound if they miss the target.

Levels & Environment Art
We've also brought on a fulltime freelance environment artist to help us improve the variety and quality of our tactical environments. We worked on an assortment of smaller tasks last month ranging from improving the ATLAS Base command room assets (wall screens and the command table) to fixing up some of the assets for the Alien Base maps, but once those were complete we began to focus on the Farm biome.

Our plan is to add some new terrain objects and update some of the ground textures for the Farm to try and make the maps feel a bit more like a real agricultural environment, and then we'll be moving onto the Tropical biome to do the same thing (as there's not really enough tiles to do the inhabited areas of the Tropical maps properly right now). Once that's done, we'll be able to move onto our final biome - the Soviet Town terror maps!

Alien Crews
This month we updated the crews for all the various UFOs / alien ground missions to ensure there was a steady escalation of new enemies throughout the campaign. We now have enough units to group the alien races together, so each species now has a dedicated secondary support unit and a terror unit.

As part of this task we've added "heavy" variants of the Mentarch, Servitor, and Cyberdrone that are tougher and have more powerful weapons, which start appearing towards the end of the campaign. We'll be adding new artwork and 3D models for these units in the next month or two.

General Improvements
We've also made an assortment of improvements to other parts of the game. The air combat now supports weapons that are capable of shooting down missiles and we've added a new late-game escort UFO that provides an alternative to the alien Interceptor. We've added support for transferring scientists and engineers between bases. We've added a new soldier module that gives soldiers a 180-degree vision arc. We've made further improvements to the loading times, added many small usability features, and added various small new bits of content to the game.

Milestone 4
Last but not least, I just wanted to share that we've now done the bulk of the work on Milestone 4 and we've started internal testing on the updated campaign. Assuming there's no major issues we'll probably be releasing an early version of the build to the public early soon to get feedback - but initially this will be on our Prototype branches, as the build is currently too rough even for the Experimental branches. After a couple of weeks of polish the build should migrate to the Experimental branches, and and then we'll look towards a full public release.

So overall it's been a busy month for us, with lots of good progress made. Thanks for reading, see you next month!

GamingBolt can think of 10 ways to improve Fallout 4 -> text version:

10 Ways Fallout 5 Should Improve On Fallout 4

Thanks Couchpotato!

Tim talks about game prequels:

Prequels

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Couchpotato spotted several Early Access reviews for Hades II:

Hades II - Early Access Reviews

• The Escapist: Hades 2 Is the Best Underworld Homecoming I Could’ve Asked For
  
  
• EuroGamer: Hades 2 early access review - polish and terrifying power from some of the best out there
  
  
• Gamesradar: Hades 2 review: "The roguelike DNA at the heart of this sequel remains as tight and cutthroat as its predecessor"
  
  
• PC Gamer: Hades 2 is absolutely worth playing in early access right now
  
  
• Rock Paper Shotgun: Hades 2 early access review: a roguelike of witchy crowd control with a sparkling new cast
  
  
• Siliconera: Preview: Hades II Is Already An Improvement Over the Original
  
  
• The Gamer: Hades 2 Early Access Review - Supergiant Has Yet Another Masterpiece On Its Hands
  
  

Gamespot: Hades II - Early Access Floor 2 Gameplay

The Gamer Social Club reports that Microsoft is going to close several studios and Redfall will be cancelled:

Xbox Closes Multiple Studios, Including Hi-Fi Rush & Redfall Teams

More horrible cuts hit the industry, as Microsoft shutters multiple studios.

Developing story:

In an email sent to Xbox employees by Xbox Executive Matt Booty which IGN has obtained, Microsoft is closing multiple studios within Bethesda including Arkane Austin and Tango Softworks.

The email:

Today I’m sharing changes we are making to our Bethesda and ZeniMax teams. These changes are grounded in prioritizing high-impact titles and further investing in Bethesda’s portfolio of blockbuster games and beloved worlds which you have nurtured over many decades. 

To double down on these franchises and invest to build new ones requires us to look across the business to identify the opportunities that are best positioned for success. This reprioritization of titles and resources means a few teams will be realigned to others and that some of our colleagues will be leaving us. 

Here are the changes going into effect: 

Arkane Austin – This studio will close with some members of the team joining other studios to work on projects across Bethesda. Arkane Austin has a history of making impactful and innovative games and it is a pedigree that everyone should be proud of. Redfall’s previous update will be its last as we end all development on the game. The game and its servers will remain online for players to enjoy and we will provide make-good offers to players who purchased the Hero DLC. 

[...]

Thanks Dannoomen!

IGN reviewed the Early Access version of Hades II:

Hades 2 Early Access Review

Wccftech reports that Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 looks stunning:

Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 Animations Look Incredible in New Gameplay Footage; DLSS, FSR Support Confirmed

Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 is going to feature some impressive animations, judging from some new gameplay footage that is making the rounds online.

The new gameplay footage, which can be watched below, courtesy of @ASexyBiscuit, was shown on Czech television, providing a quick look at one of the game's cities, likely the royal city of Kuttenberg, where most of the game will take place, complete with some NPCs going around their business. Not only does the city look impressive, but the NPC's animations look incredible, highlighting even more how the next entry in the series will be a major step forward to its predecessor.

[...]

Thanks Couchpotato!

The Turn Based Lovers checked out One Fenix Down:

RETRO-INSPIRED JRPG WITH 14 PLAYABLE CHARACTERS – ONE FENIX DOWN – OVERVIEW

ONE FENIX DOWN is an upcoming JRPG from indie studio Regalcraft Games that harkens back to the nostalgic ’90s era of gaming with its retro-inspired, classic turn-based gameplay. The game features an expansive world with 14 unique characters and a deep, multi-layered narrative set against the backdrop of war, betrayal, and a quest for redemption. Players will encounter a variety of enemies and can engage in complex combat that utilizes elemental magic, martial arts, and more.

The story revolves around the Kingdom of Torloria, which, seven years prior, defended itself against the beastly Goa Empire. As peace hangs by a thread, a young miner, haunted by his past and driven by a cryptic message, sets out to change his destiny and protect something called “Fate.”

With a rich array of items and strategic battles, ONE FENIX DOWN promises a legendary adventure that spans continents and tests the bonds of its characters. The game, still in development, is eagerly awaited with its release marked as “coming soon.” on Steam. Below an overview, screens and trailer.

[...]

Thanks Couchpotato!

Couchpotato spotted patch 1.0.7 of Age of Shattering:

Patch 1.0.7 is out now! Auto-sorting inventory & boosting Unfair Difficulty

Greetings, Commanders!

It's been 54 days since we launched Zoria: Age of Shattering. The game was good at launch, but with all your feedback, we feel that it's really become great. We've implemented quality of life features and fixed some minor issues. As you're reading this, we're already working on our next Patch - stay tuned for that!

So, let's jump into the update. What's changed?

Patch 1.0.7

[Patch notes ...]

The Songs of Conquest devs are working on the stability of the game:

We need your axe!

Greetings Wielders!

As the release date for 1.0 is creeping closer day by day, we are trying to focus mainly on stability and a good experience.

However, unexpected issues before a release are almost more of a rule than an exception. And we have just found a pretty serious issue with the AI and how its trading has worked.

When the AI tried to trade resources, it looked something like this:

- (AI) “Hey! I want to buy two extra stone to be able to buy this building. How much does it cost?”
- (Trader) “How much gold do you have?”
- (AI) “20.000 Gold. So how much do I owe you?”
- (Trader) “20.000 Gold, please”
- (AI) “Uhm, sounds a bit expensive… But ok, here you go!”

We had a nice, but stern chat with the trader and passed some new laws that it’s not allowed to raise the prices depending on the budget of the AI like that. So, good news, the issue is now fixed. Huzzah!

But as you probably understand, even though it is a small fix, it can cause a snowball effect making the AI much more difficult to beat - on all difficulty levels.
For example: If the AI could break out of the first zone by round 7, it might now sometimes break out at round 5 or 6 instead - which would give it an advantage in later stages of the game.
Consequently, if we look at the end game with an AI that wants to trade a resource to buy research - this would before deplete most of its gold reserves in the process, so now it would just have more gold in general resulting in more troops, research and all that good stuff.

The positive thing about this is that the AI will feel more competent, especially in the later stages of a session. The negative is that the easier difficulties might be too difficult to be called easy - and our efforts to give every player a difficulty that feels appropriately challenging might be unbalanced now.

But the thing is, we don’t know yet. And to find out we need lots of testing and data, something that takes a lot of time.

[...]

Thanks Couchpotato!

Noobfeed checked out Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes:

Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes Review | PC

Command over 100 heroes in an epic and semi buggy adventure.

Remember the days of playing Final Fantasy 7, Dragon Quest, or even Fire Emblem? Those were the days of spending hours on a JRPG that just keeps you hooked with its combat and story. Well, Rabbit & Bear Studios is a Japanese studio that had a vision to create something with a fun and retro feel but with a more modern feeling. However, nothing in life is ever free and their first release is a monster on its own. So, a few months after being founded in 2020, they started up a Kickstarter for some crowdfunding to get Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes off the ground.

Well, almost 4 years later, and with every Kickstarter tier funded, Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is officially ready to be released into the wild on 23 April. Lucky for us, we got to have a little sneak peek at this beast of a release and just how much work went into its creation. The very first thing to know is that Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is a JRPG down to its core, but it comes with a few incredible features and a huge roster of playable characters.

[...]

Overall, Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is so close to being the feel-good JRPG for 2024 but it still needs a bit of work before it can shine. If you can look past the issues, there’s a whole world to explore and a literal ton of heroes to recruit and experiment with. Let’s not forget the incredible story that you’ll get to experience too as things unfold while you’re exploring.

Thanks Couchpotato!

Noobfeed checked out the action RPG Vindictus: Defying Fate:

Is Vindictus: Defying Fate the Next Big Thing in Role-Playing Games?

The South Korean video game developer, NEXON may not be among the most renowned names in the industry, but they have started bringing in games every now and then which is great. While they made a name for themselves with the iOS title Blue Archive, even though free-to-play, THE FINALS did a fairly good job for them on Steam after the 2023 release, and DAVE THE DIVER in 2022. But they are mostly known for their yet another free-to-play MMORPG title, Vindictus, developed by devCAT, one of their internal studios. And after long thirteen years, NEXON has finally decided to bring out its highly anticipated sequel.

Vindictus: Defying Fate is the upcoming action RPG game by NEXON, and it has the potential to have a significant impact on the action role-playing genre. Expanding upon the immense universe of its 2010 predecessor Vindictus, this installment is being developed using state-of-the-art Unreal Engine 5, ensuring an immersive and graphically stunning experience.

Considering that the game is still in the process of being developed, there is a great deal of expectation among fans of both the original and newcomers to this genre. During the first pre-alpha test, which took place from the 13th to the 18th of March, NEXON provided us with a sneak peek. During this test, I tested various early game aspects such as combat styles, character apparel, and roaming the new environment of the game.

Obviously, in contrast to the original game, this sequel is developed with the intention of providing something fresh and unique. According to the developers' statements, players can anticipate discovering newly discovered parts of the game's universe, interacting with fresh characters, and going through an entirely new plot. We participated in the first pre-alpha and it turns out to be an action RPG that deftly incorporates hack-and-slash elements into its battles, which is part of the game's primary attraction.

[...]

Thanks Couchpotato!

GameSpot checked out Fallout 4:

Playing Fallout 4 In 2024

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Mortismal Gaming checked out The Witcher 3:

The Witcher 3 - 2024 Impressions

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GDC shares some insights of the development of Stray Gods:

'Stray Gods': The Challenges of Creating an Interactive Musical

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Fextralife summarizes this week's gaming news:

Gaming News – Hidetaka Miyazaki Confirms only 1 DLC, Manor Lords Sold over 1mil, Lost Ark Roadmap

Timestamp
0:00 - Top RPG News of the Week
0:02 - Manor Lord Early Access Sold over 1 million copies
0:56 - Hades 2 Technical Test Finishes and Prepares for Early Access
1:48 - Starfield DLC Confirms Expansion later this year
3:06 - Shin Megami Tensei V Vengeance Story and Gameplay Trailer
4:02 - Lost Ark Unveils Second Part of 2024 Roadmap
5:08 - Rise of the Ronin Surpassed Nioh Saga in Sales
6:05 - Square Enix Suffers Financial Losses
7:11 - Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree Will be the Only DLC
9:02 - Dune Awakening MMO Image Leaks

The deck-builder Chrono Ark left Early Access:

Chrono Ark - Offical Release Trailer

C4G checked out some forgotten RPGs:

I Played 5 Obscure and Forgotten RPGs & Action Adventures (again)

0:00 Hello there my RPG lovers :)
0:05 Intro
0:42 Korgan
6:47 Daemonica
11:45 Anima: Gate of Memories
19:58 Dungeons of Sundaria
27:36 Ultra Age
35:49 Outro

Thanks Couchpotato!

Couchpotato spotted the April update for Tainted Grail:

April development update.

A big patch is on its way.

Greetings, Travelers!

Another month, another fresh development update especially for you! Be sure, adventurers - we have some big news you don’t want to miss.

So! This is our FINAL update before the next BIG patch.
And by big patch - we mean BIIIIIIIIG PATCH!
Once again, we will be bringing updates to almost everything in the game, most importantly:

• Performance
• Visual overhaul
• Combat overhaul
• Crafting and other system overhaul
• Stats / perk system overhaul
• Spells and magic overhaul
• …and many more general improvements to the game

On top of that - we will finally have Wyrdness! (in the form of Wyrdnight, adding a whole new level to the game).

And on top of that, we will be adding a whole new, shiny zone for you to explore - Cuanacht!

Saying that we are excited to finally share it all with you is understatement and we are putting tons of effort into the last months of getting this patch ready.

See the video below to know what our dev team has been crafting!

Chapters:
00:30 - What You can expect
04:49 - Quests
05:15 - Open World Dungeons
07:00 - Summary
09:04 - 3rd region

[...]

Mortismal Gaming reviewed SAND LAND:

Sand Land - Review After 100%

Thanks Couchpotato!

Like every week the RPG Crawler sums up the computer and tabletop RPG news:

RPG News Roundup (5-4-2024)

The indie RPG Tales of Old: Dominus has been announced:

Tales of Old: Dominus

Combat
Outcome: NPCs may flee, surrender, throw his weapon & his belongings due to exhaustion, fear or special damage. Depending on the stamina, HP, and type of enemy you can do a special finisher to kill him, these finishers can be during combat or during stealth.

Cloak & Dagger - Advanced stealth system
With several factors such as light, noise, speed, equipped items and the perception level of the enemy. You can learn pickpocketing and lockpicking to become a true thief.

Building & Crafting
You can craft many different items like clothes, weapons, furniture, arrows, bolts, etc) or create building parts like walls, roofs, doors, etc. You will be able to create simple beds or small houses, even military watchtowers, etc
Design, build and upgrade your home and locations under your command, from a thatched bed under the trees in the forest to a walled fortress on a hill.

Territory Control
Command your troops in battles against enemy camps or rival cities, but bear in mind that loyalty comes at a cost – you must pay and maintain the allegiance of your soldiers

Control over points of interest can be acquired through lawful or forceful means, such as conquering bandit camps or purchasing logging camp rights to expand as a prominent merchant.

Once in control, locations generate profits based on their nature, be it from mercenary activities or criminal enterprises like a bandit camp under your command.

However, vigilance is crucial, you must be careful and know that your locations can be attacked by enemies and you could lose control of these places, therefore you must defend them, even personally if any are under attack.

Social Survival
Initially, a humble militiaman with a particular background, but after accumulating experience, learning and honing your skills, you can become a leader who can run a thriving Settlement.
Depending on your position in medieval society, you could be part of a Guild, work to improve your life and even buy businesses. There will be different ways to advance, through honor, deceit or hard work.

Character Background
You need a place to rest and a way to obtain food. You can be a hermit, live in the woods or be a wealthy noble. Have people under you influence, businesses and fortune, these may be legal or not... Your background and profession will give you different options, like living alone in the woods, inside a cave, build your home in a meadow, pay for a stone house in the city, live in a Tavern, sleep in abandoned places or in horse stables, etc.

Environment
Hunger and thirst will play an important factor and depending on the game mode chosen they will get deadly.
The climate is also a factor to keep in mind, it is not the same to be under the rain or the cold for hours than under the rays of the summer sun, this would affect your character.
There are several ways to get food, one must be aware that one does not live in the desert, but on the edge of a medieval society, so starving would not be normal. You will be able to hunt for food, steal it, buy it and produce it in other ways.

Plot
The introduction of Prima Nocta rights by the kingdom's lower nobility sparked the catalyst for a brutal civil war that unraveled in the Battle of the Brides, In this conflict, the destitute rallied alongside just nobles and free men, only to suffer defeat, leaving the kingdom in ruins. Few men survived to return to their homes, you are one of them.

You find your village ransacked by vengeful marauding soldiers; This also happened in other settlements, where the ringleaders wreak havoc among the defenseless villagers, intensifying the turmoil of resentment and betrayal in the kingdom.

Faced with multiple choices, the pursuit of revenge and the quest to uncover the perpetrators emerge as the driving force behind the impending war.

Daveyd spotted a trailer for the retro RPG Lair Of The Leviathan:

Lair of the Leviathan teaser trailer

Game Rant interviewed producer Alexis Brutman about Kristala:

Interview: Kristala Dev Discusses Episodic Structure, Sekiro Inspirations, and Journey to Release

In an interview with Game Rant, Astral Clocktower Studios teased the Early Access date announcement for their Sekiro-like cat adventure Kristala.

Metalheads, cat lovers, and fans of punishing ARPGs should all keep a feline ear to the ground in May, as developer Astral Clockwork Studios will be announcing when players can get their hands on the upcoming Sekirolike Kristala.

Fighting against an enigmatic curse, bosses voiced by deathcore metal vocalists, and five other Raksakkars, players will engage in a less-than-peaceful pilgrimage to join the illustrious ranks of the Raksaka and unravel the mysteries of Ailur. Game Rant spoke to Astral Clocktower Studios’ founder and Kristala producer Alexis Brutman as the company prepares to announce an Early Access launch date. Brutman explained the game’s episodic structure, the vast world, and the language Astral Clocktower created for its game. The following interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Q: So... why cats?

Brutman: Well, there's a couple of reasons. I've two partners at Astral Clocktower, but when Tiffany [Gomez] and I originally started, it was just her and I. We were bouncing ideas off of what kind of each other about what kind of game we wanted to make: my idea was a soulslike kind of idea, her idea was a cutesy adventure game about a cat. So we thought, okay, that makes the most sense. Let's do that.

Then instead, we did a hybrid of the two games, and made a cat soulslike.

Part of the reason why we did that was because it allowed for more interesting mechanics. There's a million soulslikes out there, but only one where you can be a cat. And that gives us all sorts of verticality and traversal. It opened the door to some more interesting kinds of things you could do with your character.

[...]

The Turn Based Lovers present games of their favourite genre:

THAT’S THE BEST MAY 2024 HAS TO OFFER IN TERMS OF TURN-BASED RPGS AND STRATEGY GAMES

It seems like May could easily be one of the best months of 2024 for a host of promising RPGs and strategy games ready to launch on PC. Today, I’ve gathered some of the most interesting ones, and I assure you that if you’re a fan of the genre, it will be hard not to find something tempting.

A new title in the King Arthur series, some very interesting roguelites, significant strategy games like Songs of Conquest (to which I will certainly dedicate many hours), and then two very interesting tactical games, one that puts us in the shoes of superheroes and the other catapults us into the past, and right alongside all this abundance, there’s also the release of a retro RPG you absolutely need to check out. But to find out more, you’ll need to read the article. Let’s go:

KING ARTHUR: LEGION IX – 9 MAY
ROGUE VOLTAGE – 10 MAY E.A.
STARCRAWLERS CHIMERA – 13 MAY
SONGS OF CONQUEST – 20 MAY
SONGS OF SILENCE – 23 MAY E.A.
WIZARDRY: PROVING GROUNDS OF THE MAD OVERLORD – 23 MAY
SPELLCATS: AUTO CARD TACTICS – 17 MAY
C.A.R.D.S. RPG: THE MISTY BATTLEFIELD – 23 MAY
CROWN WARS – 23 MAY
CAPES – 29 MAY
SKALD: AGAINST THE BLACK PRIORY – 30 MAY

[...]

Thanks Couchpotato!

Couchpotato spotted update 1.3 for Achilles: Legends Untold:

Update 1.3

Sinister caves avaits!

Greetings, Warriors of Ancient Greece!

We're thrilled to share the exciting updates and enhancements we've just rolled out in our latest Update 1.3, for Achilles: Legends Untold. Dive deeper into the mythic landscapes with new content, including challenging side quests, new enemies, and an enigmatic new location that beckons the bravest of warriors to explore. These additions are designed to enhance your gameplay experience and provide fresh challenges to conquer.

Don't feel like reading? Check out our trailer:

What’s New?

Exploration Expands: Discover the newly accessible ruins in Greece 2 and embark on 2 fresh side quests that promise to challenge your prowess and wit.
Formidable Foes: Prepare your weapons for battle against new enemies — the fiery wrath of Fire Skeletons and Fire Heretics awaits you.

Enhanced Gameplay

Balanced Arsenal: Experience refined gameplay with the latest balance adjustments to darts and petards, ensuring a fair and competitive edge in every encounter.

Fixes and Improvements

• We've also made several fixes to improve stability and gameplay:
• Story-tied NPCs are now immortal to prevent unintended game disruptions.
• Updated defense values for Two-Handed Swords.
• Resolved issues with boss rewards.
• Enhanced co-op rewards, offering more currency gains to enhance your shared adventures.
• Fixes across collision detection, AI navigation, and graphics.
• Camera and guide behavior corrections to ensure smoother gameplay.
• Plus, many more minor adjustments to continuously refine your experience.

This update is part of our commitment to enhancing your journey through the world of "Achilles: Legends Untold." We appreciate your passion and feedback, which help us shape the future of the game. Keep those swords sharp and shields ready, as there are always more adventures and challenges ahead!

If you haven't had the chance to play Achilles: Legends Untold yet, now is the perfect time to purchase the game. You can buy it bundled with "Green Hell" for a comprehensive gaming experience.

Couchpotato spotted the dungeon crawler Arhaekon:

Arhaekon

Become an Arhaekon, bind warriors to your will and fight your way through the corrupted world. Recover lost treasures & knowledge, bleed your minions and forge them into something more, rebuild what has fallen into decay and lay waste to the abominations holding the world captive, in our Tactical turn-based dungeon crawler.

Features:

• Mainly made by one developer;
• Dark, bleak atmosphere;
• Experimental endless procedural music;
• Roguelike elements including procedural dungeons & loot, units perma-death and more!
• 14 regions with themed dungeons and enemies;
• Battle-centered turn-based tactical combat gameplay;
• 12 units of 4 classes with unique and highly synergic abilities, experience and tier progression
• Corruption System - your unit's health is not your only concern. They will slowly tune in towards the enemies' song!
• Unit & party management - restore your unit’s resolve decisively by committing them to the Purgatory and mend their broken bodies by assigning them the - - - Medical Ward - if it isn't already full;
• Equipment in the form of augments – a punishing system designed to render hoarding useless!
• Loot – randomly generated augments, crafting recipes, pages of lore, or ritual rites of six different rarities;
• Currency system with three types of favors from gods to bless your journey, four types of refugees and materials to revitalize the continent, and, of course, ether – your very own fuel;
• Camp management - Upgrade and manage your ragged refugee camp & patch-up your facilities;
• Crafting system - The knowledge of upgrading the level of equipment or essences or obtaining new ones was lost, but the compendium of shaping is still at your disposal;
• Progress management – choose your path carefully for here be dragons!
• Punishing decision-making: from layers of management to layers of combat mechanics, all your choices matter and there’s no going back;
• Collectible lore with a twist – you don’t care about the lore? Fine, just enjoy the experience & other bonuses from collecting it – we can’t afford wasting development resources!
• Community oriented development – we want YOU to have a say regarding which features come first, give us ideas and vote for the kind of stuff you want to see in the game before we fully release it!
• Still under development – aside from being bugged, unbalanced and half-baked, this means we can end up with a zombie-shoot’em’up by release, provided you manage to convince enough players to vote for such features!

Build 0.2.200 of Archmages Rises has been released - here are the the patchnotes.

Couchpotato spotted a progress update for Stellar Tactics:

Progress update

I'm still here...

First the facts since I’ve seen a few comments:

This game is not abandoned! It will never be abandoned.
I’m running late with chapter 3 and all milestones I’ve set following that.
The last patch was 2/9/24 – a hotfix. I generally do not post minor patch updates on the main Steam page.

You can always find the latest patch notes here. 

I’ve struggled a bit with whether I should share this as I generally do not talk about my family. I do think it’s important to be transparent, so here it is.

My wife was diagnosed with breast cancer in January. I’m sure some of you know how this goes. Endless tests, MRI, PET scan, samples, and doctors office visits. She is half way through the first cycle of chemo and doing well. We were lucky that we found it early as the prognosis is excellent. My heart goes out to anyone who has or has had this disease and their loved ones – or any form of cancer for that matter. It’s terrifying!

My time has been very limited since February, and I have not been making the progress I expected. I am working on the game. However, my wife takes priority, and it’s been a bit difficult staying focused. Around the middle of April, I started working at nearly my normal pace. All of the locations, enemies, enemy ships, modeling and other assets for chapter 3 are complete now. I’ve finished about 1/3 of the dialog, and when that’s done I’ll start integrating everything.

Right now I’m considering just finishing everything on my list and releasing chapter 3 and all other planned content/features in one major patch as a full BETA, rather than mini-releases over the coming months. It will save time and I won’t need to pause for bug fixes between updates. As I do this work, I’ll try to post progress updates more often. I get it, if you don’t hear from me on a regular basis – some might assume I’ve abandoned my game. Not going to happen…

I'm not posting this looking for well wishes or sympathy. Really, I'm convinced she will be fine. It's a difficult treatment though, and I need to be present and supportive. I am asking you to be patient with me as I work through the rest of this content. It will get done - I'm on it.

Thanks as always for your support and have a great weekend!

Learn more about the Banu Haqim clan:

Clan Highlight: Banu Haqim

Clan Highlight #3

The Clan of the Hunt, Assassins, Children of Haqim, Saracens, Mediators, Lawmen

Cursed with a thirst for the Blood of other vampires, the Banu Haqim stalk the night as judges and lawbringers. To this end, most Banu Haqim adhere to a strict code of conduct - derived from law, faith, or personal ethics - sating their Hunger on those that breach these convictions.

Playing a Banu Haqim in Bloodlines 2
Banu Haqim takes the role of a strategic stalker, using shadows to their advantage. You are a predator on a hunt, and your discipline powers focus on stalking, assassination, and silently moving faster than your foes can track. These skills are great assets when stalking the city for prey.

Abilities
When you choose your clan, you will start out with a passive ability unique to each clan. You are then able to unlock abilities from the Ability Tree, starting with your chosen clan. Each ability requires spending Ability Points (AP) to unlock which are earned from completing missions, combat and exploration. At the peak of the Ability Tree, you can unlock the clan Perk, a reward to those dedicated enough to unlock all of the abilities for a clan, giving a permanent passive upgrade.

Silence of Death
Clan Passive: All your actions become entirely silent for a period after feeding.

Mute
Silence an enemy/civilian. Any sounds they produce, from screams to gunfire, are completely undetectable to others.

Split Second
Move so fast that time appears to stop around you.

Bladed Hand
Slash swiftly in front of you, beheading mortal opponents.

Unseen Aura
Become temporarily invisible to enemies and civilians. Note: You can still be heard unless combined with Silence of Death.

Prowl
Clan Perk: Can remain crouched whilst sprinting.

Customizing your playstyle
There are many different ways to play your character in Vampire: the Masquerade - Bloodlines 2. The clan Banu Haqim focus on a stalking based playstyle to take out your enemies one by one, and the clan abilities are built to empower that. As we want to make sure this is not a game where you are required to optimize your abilities to the extreme, we’ve focused on making the base playstyles easy and straightforward. But for the players who want their experience to be a bit deeper and more customizable, you will be able to do so. By visiting important vampires who are sworn to assist the Sheriff (you), you can unlock abilities from their clan by drinking a bit of their blood.

Abilities from other clans may cost more AP depending on how well they align with your clans Disciplines. The Banu Haqim Disciplines are Celerity (speed enhancing abilities), Blood Sorcery (the ability to control blood with your arcane knowledge) and Obfuscate (abilities to easily hide, move without being noticed, and cast illusions.). If a Banu Haqim wishes to unlock a Blood Sorcery ability from another clan, it would cost less AP to unlock than an ability for a Discipline Banu Haqim don’t have. Those who unlock all abilities from a clan and get the Clan Perk, are able to stack them and have the effects of them all, elevating your power.

The activated abilities and Clan Perk can be learned from the other clans, but the clan passive can not. Because of this, you combine the clan powers in hundreds of different ways, but a Banu Haqim playthrough will remain its own gameplay experience.

Ability tree for Banu Haqim with all clan abilities and the clan perk are unlocked. An ability from the Tremere tree has been equipped instead of Split Second.

Thanks Couchpotato!

Couchpotato spotted a new trailer for Fallout: Miami mod:

Fallout: Miami - 'Let's Go Sunning' Environmental Trailer

Couchpotato spotted the SKYBLIVION development diary 5:

Our Next Chapter On Road To Release | SKYBLIVION Development Diary 5

Couchpotato spotted a gameplay trailer for the upcoming 7 Days to Die:

7 Days to Die - 1.0 Gameplay Trailer

Rock Paper Shotgun checked out the narrative RPG Sky Of Tides:

Sky Of Tides is the anti-Disco Elysium in which balance is queen

In this lush sci-fantasy RPG adventure, min-maxing is a sin

Leonardo Da Vinci's Vitruvian Man is a legendary drawing of a nude with his arms and legs reaching towards the rim and corners of a circle and square. It's often invoked as an archetype for the humanist worldview of Man the Measure and Centre of all Things, holding a perfectly proportioned universe in shape. Rin D'Lorah, the heroine of new narrative RPG Sky Of Tides, is a bit like the Vitruvian Man, and the result is a game I find at once bewitching and powerfully offputting in its refusal to satisfy the conventions of the genre.

Created by Ontario-based Lofty Sky Entertainment, the game takes place in the sci-fantasy realm of Numen, which has been shattered into nine planetoids floating within the titular sky of tides, and is contested by two groups: the Syndicate, who run a monopoly on ancient magical tech, and the Sovereign, a rebel faction dedicated to the lost ways enshrined in the banned Numen Tomes. Rin is called upon to mend this ruptured civilisation while searching for her missing father. You'll do this not just by following the plot to its conclusion or levelling up, but by keeping Rin balanced as a character. For Rin, you see, has a peculiar gift of currently unexplained provenance: she's a mirror for everything else. Or perhaps, everything else is a mirror for Rin.

[...]

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Windows Central gives an overview of Kingdom Come: Deliverance II:

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 FAQ - Release date, trailer, platforms, and other questions answered

Everything you need to know about the sequel to Kingdom Come: Deliverance.

After six years, Henry's come to see us once again in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2. Warhorse Studios' long-awaited follow-up to its popular historical medieval 2018 RPG has finally been announced, and it looks to be even bigger, bolder, and better than the first game that I and so many others fell in love with.

Though the Kingdom Come: Deliverance sequel was only just revealed, there's actually a ton of great information we know about it thanks to an incredible overview video Warhorse recorded within Kuttenberg's St. Barbara's Church. This includes details about its gameplay, story, open world, and more.

I'm willing to bet good groschen you've got questions about all of these topics, and luckily, I've got the answers you're looking for down below. For those as well as everything known about Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2's release date and platforms, read on.

[...]

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VGC reports that the THQ Nordic Showcase has been annouced for August 2:

THQ Nordic will host its fourth annual digital showcase this summer.

Viewable on YouTube, Twitch and Steam, the event will air on Friday August 2, 2024, at 12pm PDT / 3pm EDT / 8pm BST / 9pm CEST.

“THQ Nordic will serve news for Gothic 1 Remake, Titan Quest II, and much more, but we’ll keep the grim secrets to ourselves for now,” the publisher said.

[...]

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Season 4 of Diablo 4 will luanch on May 14:

Diablo IV | Inside the Game | Loot Reborn

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Ye Old Entertainment looks back at Dragon Age Origins:

Dragon Age Origins: Review. And aaaall the things it did before Baldur's Gate 3 and The Witcher 3

02:11 - Character Creation & Character Progression
13:35 - Gameplay
26:42 - Story & Lore
47:35 - Companions Lorewise
53:20 - Companions Gameplaywise
57:05 - Secondary Mechanics & UX
1:00:28 - Sound Effects & Mix
1:03:11 - Voice Acting
1:06:17 - Music
1:09:04 - Graphics
1:13:16 - Performance & Stability
1:14:16 - Other Considerations & Final Thoughts

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Couchpotato spotted new info about the survival game Dune: Awakening on Shacknews:

Dune: Awakening New Gameplay Details, Sandworms & Private Servers