Total War: Attila becomes Tolkien war, as a massive Lord of the Rings mod delivers its full campaign

If you're in the mood for more TWar following the recent reveals of Total War: Warhammer 40,000 and Total War: Medieval 3, one of Total War: Attila's most ambitious mods has finally made it to 1.0 release. It's taken a decade for Lord of the Rings conversion The Dawnless Days to deliver its full ring-warring campaign, but that day's arrived at long last.

Read more

(Comment on this)

Angeline Era is all about the joy of hidden worlds and the looping frenzy of combat Dodgems

As a kid playing RPGs in the 90s, I’d roam backdrops spamming the pick-up button in hopes of secret treasure. I’d do this especially in PS1 Final Fantasies, with their deceptively inert hand-drawn environments, and their greasy invisible walls. You’d smoosh Squall Leonhart's galloping form up against the level border as though bashing a skirting board with a hoover nozzle, and every now and then, you'd be rewarded with the hitch of a searching animation.

Read more

(Comment on this)

Doom's 32nd birthday has birthed a site which lets you rip and tear through fan-made levels in your browser

Amid the maelstrom of things happening last week, the original Doom blasted out the candles on a big cake commemorating its 32 years of demon destruction. As part of those celebrations, the shooter which can be played on (inhales) human test, lawnmower, electric toothbrush, tractor, the bad social media place, pregancy test, and gut bacteria - it's gained another way in which to be appreciated. There's now a website called DoomScroll which lets you dive into a bunch of fan-made level WADs via browser.

Read more

(Comment on this)

I didn't expect a management game like The Alters to make me question my life choices

11 Bit Studios' sci-fi management game The Alters arrived at a point when I was unhappy with the trajectory my life was taking. But, I wasn't expecting a story about a shipwrecked astronaut and his cabal of clones to leave me questioning not just the choices I'd taken that led me down that path, but also highlighting all the choices I had left untaken along the way.

That's not bad going for a game in which you spend most evenings getting hammered playing beer pong.

Read more

(Comment on this)

What's on your bookshelf: Fucksweeper and HoloVista's Nadya Lev

Hello reader who is also a reader! It’s time to upend another sackful of tomes over your head, care of another game developer. This week, we’re talking to Nadya Lev - co-founder of New York studio Aconite, and developer of the splendidly unsexy Fucksweeper, which I had the pleasure of trying not to be seen playing in a crowded airport lounge in 2024.

Read more

(Comment on this)

The Sunday Papers

Sundays are for somehow still not quite fully recovering from the body clock-winding mishap that was staying up for The Game Awards. Look, central nervous system, how much sleep do you fucking want? Remember how we’d stay up past 1am playing Left 4 Dead with strangers from the Muse messageboard then rise for an early Sainsbury’s shift with zero ill effects? You used to be cool.

Also cool: reading. To whit, here are some words-following-words highlights from the last few days.

Read more

(Comment on this)

Consume Me is an RPG minigame buffet that goes straight to the hits

Beware, reader, for unwrapping and devouring this advent post will take you over your Bite limit for the day, adding multiple paragraphs to your waistline and forever postponing the onset of your Hot Girl Summer. Still, this is a slimmer post at around 400 words. If you've been laying off the fatty intros this week, and you're expert at rotating things to fit your inventory, you might be able to justify the snack.

What videogame could get you thinking about the carb content of a videogame article? It can only be... Consume Me!

Read more

(Comment on this)

Become a forsaken nun and find absolution in the dead, almost-techno gothic horror world of Metamorphosis

There is something that lies in the belly of Metamorphosis that makes me recoil. The surface level concept is easy enough to follow. It is a 2D pixel art horror where you play as a "forsaken nun" who "walks the long road to absolution." The world you find yourself in in the game's demo is overbearing, crushing. Initially you find yourself in the depths of a church, and even that is worth questioning - what church has depths? When you come across a device, and what on the offset looks like gothic horror a la Bloodborne becomes perplexingly technological.

Read more

(Comment on this)

Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic's director unconvincingly attempts to dispel concerns over its release date

One a them Star Wars was announced at the Let Geoff Have This He's Got Nothing Else Going On Awards this week, from none other than Casey Hudson. It's called Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic, a name that will instantly make any Knights of the Old Republic oldhead point at their screen that's Chappie style, which also happens to be a game that Hudson was project director on. The only problem with Fate of the Old Republic is that the studio that's making it only got started this year, calling into question how far away it is - a question that Hudson, kind of, answered.

Read more

(Comment on this)

RuneScape: Dragonwild's Fellhollow update gets a zombie-bashing and magical farming look-in ahead of its release next week

It's funny to think that RuneScape: Dragonwilds, one of those cosy-ish, survival crafty type of games doesn't have farming just yet, but I suppose that's understandable given it is an early access game. Doesn't matter much either, as farming will be coming to the game next week as part of its Fellhollow update, which just got another look-in through a new gameplay trailer that also shows off all sorts of undead bashing you'll be doing.

Read more

(Comment on this)

Exodus devs want you to know that despite Matthew McConaughey's AI deal, not a drop has been used in their game so far

There has never been a time where the presence of a big Hollywood celeb making an appearance in a video game has drawn me in. Who cares! Most of the time they are not voice actors, and are just doing their own voice, maybe sometimes lending their face. And yet here we are with Matthew McConaughey, a man who is happily lending his voice to some AI software, in Exodus, a game that's basically just another Mass Effect from some folks who actually made Mass Effect. But! Said folks would like you to know that McConaughey's performance is all him, thanks very much.

Read more

(Comment on this)

The devs behind Bradley the Badger want it to be the video game industry's satire moment

Satire is a genre that you find often enough in mediums like film and television, but there is an argument to be made that it doesn't happen as often in games, and that maybe, this is due for a reckoning. This is the argument that Davide Soliani (Mario + Rabbids) and Christian Cantamessa (Red Dead Redemption) are making about the game they're co-directing, Bradley the Badger, a comedic, half-throwback, half-fresh-take platformer revealed at The Geoff Keighley Night this week.

Read more

(Comment on this)

The Rogue Prince of Persia parkours around Hades in its own roguelite lane

In a year where Hades II dominated the roguelite headlines, Evil Empire's The Rogue Prince of Persia slipped by largely unnoticed. This is the second time Supergiant's game overshadowed The Rogue Prince, with both titles entering early access at similar times last year.

In fact, the story you may best remember of Evil Empire's game was the frothing criticism of the Prince's art style – a unique blend influenced by Arabic miniatures, Mœbius comics, and the purple-skinned sprites from the 1990 PC CGA port of the first Prince of Persia game.

Read more

(Comment on this)

What are we all playing this weekend?

We're heading into our last full week before Christmas and I can almost hear the hellish jangle of Saint Nick's sled bells in the night air. But I shan't spend too long thinking about that red-suited home invader. Not when there are weekends to be had and games to be played.

This is what the team will be playing this weekend.

Read more

(Comment on this)

In Lords of the Fallen 2, every limb you can see is there for your chopping pleasure

"This is a game made by adults for adults," is a line that features in a recent interview with Ryan Hill, creative strategist at CI Games, talking of Lords of the Fallen 2 in tandem with its Geoff's Night of Pretending to Like Video Games gameplay reveal trailer. The reason this line comes up is because the upcoming sequel is a violent one, one that hopes to be bloodier and gorier than its predecessor, to the point that you can, if you like, chop off any limb you can see in the game.

Read more

(Comment on this)

RPS Verdict: The Game Awards 2025

Last night saw the Peacock theatre in LA fill up with prominent game industry folk all eager to be blasted with trailers for four hours straight. We weren't in the room for The Game Awards 2025, but half of the team stayed up to be to be assaulted with announcements in real-time via livestream, while the other half caught up on the barrage this morning.

Having now had some sleep, we decided to collect our thoughts on Geoff-fest 2025 and not at all use it as a way to point out who is looking the most tired.

Read more

(Comment on this)

You don't need to have played OG Control to play Resonant, so say Remedy, but I wish they'd stop doing that

How about that Control Resonant! What was previously referred to as Control 2 now has its own name, and its own protagonist, Dylan Faden, the tongues-speaking brother of the first game's heroine Jesse. Gone is her shapeshifting gun too, replaced with a shapeshifting bit of metal instead. The horrors of the Oldest House have spilled out into New York City, Jesse is MIA, and Dylan must bash his way through it all to find her in a Devil May Cry-esque manner. Interesting enough a setup, but I am bothered by one thing: Remedy say you don't need to play the first game to play this one.

Read more

(Comment on this)

Resident Evil Requiem is "like jumping into a cold bath after sitting in a hot sauna"

Have you showered yet today? No? Then maybe treat yourself to a bath if you can. It might help prepare for Resident Evil Requiem. Capcom formally confirmed last night that, as leaked, it contains Leon Kennedy. Some of their devs have now offered a bit more detail as to how it'll feel to play as both him and co-lead Grace Ashcroft.

Read more

(Comment on this)

Id Software devs form "wall-to-wall" union, with 165 workers at Doom studio the latest to vote in favour

Doom and Quake studio id Software are now home to a "wall-to-wall" union according to the Communications Workers of America (CWA). The organisation have announced that a group of 165 id workers have just voted to unionise, adding to the ranks of the 300 ZeniMax quality assurance staff who unionised back in 2023.

Read more

(Comment on this)

Go on then, break 4:Loop's roguelike-ish mechanics with teleporting berry mischief, says Left 4 Dead creator

I have to say, it does tickle me that pretty much anyone involved with Left 4 Dead just seem to still want to make Left 4 Dead. The Anacrusis and Back 4 Blood both were made by folks who worked on the original co-op shooter, and now the original lead designer of it Mike Booth is back with yet another incarnation, 4:Loop, revealed at Geoff's Ads and Statues Evening. As part of that reveal, Booth took part in a little interview over on the PlayStation Blog where he touched on the game's roguelike mechanics, and how excited he is for people to break them.

Read more

(Comment on this)