Month: September 2024

Hell-set strategy game Solium Infernum has a new trailer out, showing off the first look at gameplay in the upcoming strategy game remake about conquering your demonic rivals to become lord of hell. It’s a world where the Great Dark Majesty has disappeared, so controlling an Archfiend you’ll have to politick, fight, and cast magic until your rivals are defeated and you’re the new lord of the bad place.

Solium Infernum’s trick is that while you can muster and hire champions to fight against your rival archdemons, or cast magical spells against them, the ruler is decided by the evil bureaucracy of Hell’s capital, Pandemonium. That means you’ll have to use at least a measure of diplomacy and scheming—both game systems in their own right—to claim a victory.

Another neat thing about Solium Infernum is that it uses simultaneous resolution, meaning each player plans their turn, but the game executes them all at the same time. That means you’ll see some wild single-session or asynchronous multiplayer games for 1-6 players. (As an aside, it’s nice to see asynchronous play—the ability to take your turn and let everyone else do the same before coming back the …

This month we delve into the cyberpunk, sci-fi horror dystopia of the System Shock remake, which sees the ultimate rogue AI, SHODAN, hack the PC Gamer cover. Our in-depth feature sees us preview the game on the verge of its launch, as well as getting exclusive insider developer access and commentary. This is no simple remaster of the original game, either, with developer Nightdive Studios spending eight years upgrading almost everything about the game. It looks really promising and we’re sure you’ll be just as excited as we are after getting the full lowdown.

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In terms of previews, we’ve got a bunch of crackers in this issue, with trade-and-kill-‘em-up Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader played along with the bonkers theme park sim Park Beyond, cutesy city-building sandbox Gourdlets, space-based survival open world terraforming crafting game The Planet Crafter, and S.T.A.L.K.E.R.-style top-down extraction shooter Zero Sievert.

In reviews-ville, meanwhile, we’ve got a smorgasbord of games to read up on, including our official verdict on the half a million copies sold, paid-for edition of Dwarf Fortress. Other reviews include Need f…

It’s another busy week for survival games. Nightingale entered early access on Tuesday, survival driving game Pacific Drive launched today, and last year’s survival horror smash Sons of the Forest is back because it just hit version 1.0.

Yep. After a year in early access, you can now grab your loyal buddy Kelvin and jump back in to play the full release of Sons of the Forest. If you’re wondering what’s new in the 1.0 version of the terrifying survival game… well, there’s kind of a lot.

Along with a new title sequence at the start of the game, there’s a new choice-based ending, and more cutscenes have been added. Remember Timmy from the original The Forest? He’s back and is now voiced by none other than Shawn Ashmore (Lamplighter from The Boys, Iceman from X-Men, and Jack from Quantum Break).

As for actual gameplay stuff, there’s now a sickness system that comes from drinking bad water or eating spoiled food, and a couple of mutants are joining the chaos: one is named Legsy because it has a lot of legs, and the other is named Holey for reasons I don’t want to speculate on. Gliders are now foldable so they can fit snugly in your tremendously massive backpa…

Star Trek: Resurgence looked like the real deal when we checked it out in March 2022: It’s “the first Trek anything to capture the spirit of the ’90s shows in a long, long time,” senior editor Wes Fenlon declared. Sadly, six months later it was delayed from its planned release in 2022 to April 2023.

With April 2023 now in its final throes, I come to you with good news and bad news. The bad news is, it won’t be out this month. The good news is, it will (barring unforeseen and extremely last-minute delays) be out next month.

“Star Trek: Resurgence arrives on May 23, 2023!” Star Trek: Resurgence developer Dramatic Labs tweeted. “Prepare to make your mark on the galaxy in our interactive narrative adventure game — where you’re at the heart of an original Star Trek story, and the fate of your crew comes down to your choices!”

Dramatic Labs was founded by former members of Telltale Games, and it shows. A 2022 gameplay trailer showcased long conversations, pensive glances between NPCs, dramatic camera angles, timed dialog choices, and a couple of implied “he’ll remember that” moments. 

Based on what we’ve seen so far, the team also understands w…