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Tuesday, May 3rd, 2022
| Time | Event |
| 8:00a | The Garden Path has the same long term risk/reward as actual gardening  The Garden Path appeared just about a year ago, a sort of slightly more complex-looking Animal Crossing. Lauren played the demo a few months back and found it to be lovely, and indeed, what's not to love about a pretty 2D world where you potter about and plant things, and trade things with different anthropomorphic animals that wander through. There's a slightly chonkier preview build knocking about now, and I'll say this for it: you need to put the time in. There's more to say as well, but that was my main takeaway from the current build. Much like actual gardening, a lot of The Garden Path is inscrutable to me - at least from the visits I've made to the garden so far, which is actually more of a free-form forest at present. Presumably after some effort on my part I can shape it how I'd like. But if current trends hold that will take a long time. Cos plants. |
| 9:51a | Screenshot Saturday Mondays: Tuesday Edition 
Look, I know I'm already running late on a series I revived only last week, but Monday was a bank holiday so we're reconvening later than usual to admire screenshots and clips of upcoming indie games. This weekend, my eye was caught by a rocketjumping skeleton, a little guy of meat, and some very nice clours. |
| 10:24a | Intel Arc scavenger hunt ends with hints at GPU prices  Back in March 2021, when the Intel Arc Alchemist graphics cards still went by their architecture title of Xe HPG, Intel launched a digital scavenger hunt to drum up interest in these upcoming desktop GPUs. This ran for so long and so quietly that I’ll admit I forgot it was happening, but it’s now concluded, and prize info sent to the 200 winners contains the first real hints at what these mysterious gaming cards will cost. |
| 11:23a | Square Enix sell Tomb Raider, Deus Ex and several studios to Embracer Group  Square Enix are to sell most of their Western studios and intellectual property such as Tomb Raider, Deux Ex, Thief and Legacy Of Kain to Sweden’s Embracer Group for $300 million (£240 million) in cash, it has been announced. The studios being sold to Embracer include Crystal Dynamics, Eidos-Montréal and Square Enix Montréal, but not the UK-based Square Enix Collective. This means Square will retain publishing rights to IP including Life Is Strange, Just Cause and Outriders. |
| 2:27p | The Long Dark gets its first paid updates for Survival mode later this year  Post-apocalyptic Canadian wilderness simulator The Long Dark will receive its first paid updates since the game went into early access in 2014, Hinterland Studio’s founder Raphael van Lierop has revealed in a developer diary. Expect new regions, challenges and changes to the way the game plays from later this year, although Hinterland haven’t yet specified what form these will take. Van Lierop also announced that he will step aside as project lead on The Long Dark. Katie Sorrell, lead designer on the game’s Story mode, will be taking over. |
| 2:38p | Doing virtual laundry with strangers in Roblox is thrilling and distressing  Today I visited a virtual launderette to do my virtual laundry in Roblox, lining up alongside online strangers who were also washing their virtuasmalls. After loading the machine, filling my powder, and carefully selecting then starting my cycle, I watched through the door for 12 minutes as my washing sloshed and spun. And then I watched another players's washing in disgust. Visiting this laundry simulation has made me realise I have strong opinions on how other people run their imaginary washes. You wouldn't believe the laundry crimes I've seen. |
| 3:27p | Dying Light’s Hellraid DLC brings magic to Harran with its final update  Ageing zombie-ridden survival platformer Dying Light is receiving one final free update to its Hellraid mode on May 5th, Techland have announced, and it will let you take magic items into the city of Harran. Hellraid’s cursed arcade cabinet will sell you wands in its shop and let you carry them back to the main game, usually known more for its face-eating. It’s a shame Dying Light’s protag Kyle Crane isn’t silent or I could’ve role-played this as Sooty. |
| 3:46p | This puzzle game is basically Resident Evil 4 inventory Tetris  New puzzle game Save Room is, unashamedly, Resident Evil 4's inventory management spun off into a separate game. And why not! I've certainly enjoyed rotating guns around grids and cramming eggs into crevices, and you lot even decided that inventory Tetris is better than fishing minigames. For less than two quid, yeah, I've been happy with this one. |
| 4:00p | Citizen Sleeper review: a stylish machine with a gooey human heart 
Say hello to Feng. Feng is a zealous computers guy with less of an axe to grind and more of a guillotine to set up. He is not my favourite character in Citizen Sleeper but he is the one who best represents it. In one scene he explains his deep anti-capitalist reasoning to you. Systems should not govern people's behaviour, he says, the people are what matters. Throwing off the shackles of a faceless process governing your life is a recurring theme in this blend of sci-fi RPG and interactive fiction, and it makes for a strong rags-to-ramen story of one robot on the run. Even when the game's own systems of dice and clocks clash with its stories of human interest, it is the people who come out on top. |
| 4:05p | Amazon Prime Day 2022: Everything we know so far  Amazon have confirmed that Prime Day 2022 will take place this July, finally nailing down the deals-o-thon to a time window and denying me any more excuses to put off writing a guide about it. Like a shorter Black Friday, this can be a good opportunity to pick up some PC gaming hardware at severely slashed prices, so if you’re currently weighing up a new SSD or replacement mouse then it may be prudent to hold off until the event gets underway. And you might not even need to shop at Amazon for it, as some rival retailers like to run their own deals to compete with Prime Day directly. |
| 7:03p | Your favourite gaming mouse is going cheap at Amazon UK  The Logitech G502 Hero is the most popular gaming mouse on the market, not to mention the RPS reader's choice and our current 'best gaming mouse overall' - so it's exciting news that it's going cheap on Amazon UK today. £29.99 is the cheapest we've ever seen this mouse, beating out last year's Black Friday price, and it's also 63% off its UK RRP. That's a fantastic deal for a comfy mouse with 11 programmable buttons, adjustable weights and an 'infinite' scroll wheel. If you prefer your mice with more batteries and fewer cables, the wireless G502 Lightspeed is also discounted heavily, from £129.99 to £57.99. I reckon that's strong value for a mouse that remains comfy, high-spec and fully-featured, while adding on Logitech's industry-leading wireless tech. The wireless mouse is also much less frequently discounted than its predecessor, which does tend to see a price drop in line with the major 'shopping holidays' of the year. |
| 7:16p | The Dell S2721DGF 27-in 1440p 165Hz monitor is down to $299 at Best Buy  The Dell S2721DGF is one of my favourite gaming monitors, with a 27-in Fast IPS panel that combines the strengths of TN and IPS. It's right at the current spec sweet spot too: 1440p resolution, 165Hz refresh rate and G-Sync/FreeSync support. Now, this award-winning monitor is down to $300 at Best Buy, compared to $340 at Amazon and $350 from Dell direct. |
| 8:08p | Ron Gilbert is making the Monkey Island he wants, not the one you're expecting  Last month's news that original creator Ron Gilbert is making a new Monkey Island is the surprise of the year so far. For Gilbert, his involvement has apparently brought a lot of comments, and an expectation that whatever he's making will line up with comments he's made over the past twenty years. Not so, says Gilbert. On the subject of his previous comments, he says "None of these are promises or anything I owe anybody." |
| 8:32p | Balan Wonderworld and Sonic lead Yuji Naka says Square Enix "do not care about games"  Theatrical 3D platformer Balan Wonderworld released last year to dismal reviews, despite familiar names like former Sonic Team head Yuji Naka at the helm. Last week Naka took to Twitter to air his displeasure at Square Enix's treatment of him and the game, concluding by saying that he believes "Square Enix and Arzest are companies that do not care about games and game fans." |
| 9:14p | Dungeon crawler and block slider Loot River is out now  Loot River is a tetrogueimo - that is, a mashup of Tetris and Rogue, in my opinion. As a swordwielding pixel adventurer, you slash through proc gen dungeons in which the platform you're standing on can often be slid around. This lets you manipulate the hordes of monsters trying to kill you. It's out now. |
| 9:52p | Anti-grav racer Redout 2 rockets out on May 26th  Sure, WipeOut was cool, but F-Zero was my favourite of the classic anti-grav racers. it's a good thing therefore that Redout, the modern claimant to the floating throne, feels more like F-Zero to play. Even better that its sequel is coming later this month - May 26th, as per the trailer below. |
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