Kotaku Sunday, July 28, 2024 10:00 AM  This week, Ubisoft released a statement addressing what might generously be called a "controversy" about the upcoming Assassin's Creed game, Shadows. Let's be real, though. It's just the latest salvo from a reactionary hate movement. You can read our thoughts on that, the terrific texture of Yakuza 0, the missteps of N… |
PCGamesN Sunday, July 28, 2024 10:15 AM  Even the best multiplayer games aren't immune to losing their playerbase. Mass Effect 3's Galaxy at War. Gears of War 3's Beast Mode. Splinter Cell's Spies vs Mercs. There are so many incredible multiplayer experiences lost to time as their platforms become obsolete, servers get shut down, or people move on. Plants vs Zombies Garden Warfare 2 was, for a time, one such game. With counts that rarely exceeded 1,000 active players on Steam, the community is steady, albeit small, but now a whopping 90% off sale has seen GW2 hit its highest peak since launch, and it's showing no signs of slowing down. Continue reading Plants vs Zombies Garden Warfare 2 is having a huge Steam resurgence |
PCGamesN Sunday, July 28, 2024 9:51 AM  Take the deck-building elements of Magic the Gathering or Slay the Spire and combine them with the base-building, defensive side of Orcs Must Die and Kingdom Rush, then sprinkle on some of that TFT-brand autobattling, and you have new Steam strategy game Vambrace: Dungeon Monarch. Its tactical fantasy stylings are making their way to PC in late 2024, but you can try it out right now thanks to a free Steam demo that's just landed on the Valve store. Continue reading Try tower defense deckbuilder Vambrace Dungeon Monarch in new demo MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best card games, Best strategy games, Best indie games |
PCGamesN Sunday, July 28, 2024 7:51 AM  If you've ever wondered how you'd fare when the inevitable zombie apocalypse hits your city, Infection Free Zone aims to put your abilities to the test. Taking the survival game elements of Project Zomboid, DayZ, and 7 Days to Die but transposing the action onto maps based on real-world data, it allows you to turn any location into the setting for your dramatic holdout attempt. Now the game's second major update has arrived, incorporating a new survivor skill system and the ability to enter and better lock down large buildings. MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best survival games, Best building games, Best zombie games |
PCGamesN Sunday, July 28, 2024 7:50 AM  Halo Infinite, and the series as a whole, is in a rough spot right now. Between ongoing, unsubstantiated rumors that series developer 343 Industries is stepping away, a lack of truly meaningful updates, and anticipation for where Master Chief goes next, it's getting harder to be excited about the shooter. I adore Infinite's gameplay but, like many, have struggled over the last few years to find meaningful reasons to stick around. To that end, 343 is once again letting us all know that it will continue supporting Infinite, but I'm not sure for how much longer. Continue reading Halo Infinite dev assures it will "continue to support" the game MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Halo Infinite system requirements, Halo Infinite Bosses, Halo Infinite ranks |
PCGamesN Sunday, July 28, 2024 6:41 AM  Not only one of the most important stealth games from the genre's past but also among the best PC games of all time, '90s classic Thief: The Dark Project is one of those pieces of gaming history that you owe it to yourself to try. A renowned first-person adventure that pushed the boundaries of sneaking forward with clever use of light and sound along with its impressive enemy AI, and was co-created by developers who would go onto the likes of Half-Life 2 and BioShock, the re-released Thief Gold can be yours for next to nothing right now. |
PCGamesN Sunday, July 28, 2024 6:13 AM  For the second time in two years, The Sims 4 has just fixed a surprise incest bug. The new Lovestruck expansion pack and patch come with an in-game dating app, more control over relationships, and even polyamory, but Sims getting crushes on family members wasn't supposed to be on the menu. Developer Maxis and publisher EA quickly promised a fix, and now you shouldn't get any more bombshell texts from extended family, in the game at least. Continue reading The Sims 4 just fixed surprise incest, and not for the first time MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best Sims 4 mods, Best Sims 4 sex mods, The Sims 4 cheats |
PCGamesN Sunday, July 28, 2024 4:43 AM  July 28, 2024: We've added the latest new Monopoly Go dice links for free dice rolls. How can I get Monopoly Go free dice links? The household favorite board game has been reimagined as a free-to-play app on smartphones, allowing everyone to experience the thrills of Monopoly on practically any device. Everything that makes the board game special is here in Monopoly Go, so you'll be collecting properties and building hotels as you go around the board, and there are a variety of multiplayer minigames to get through along the way. You're going to need to get your hands on Monopoly dice rolls, but they are difficult to come by no matter how far you are into the board game. There are ways to earn additional dice rolls, including logging into the game every day to collect daily bonuses, progressing further in the game, and inviting friends to try Monopoly Go. While you can also spend real money to unlock more dice rolls, you may want to give our list of Monopoly Go dice links a try instead, especially if you're waiting for the next Monopoly Go Golden Blitz event. Take a look at all the currently active Monopoly Go free dice links for today. Continue reading Free Monopoly Go dice links July 2024 MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best board games, Monopoly Go events, Monopoly Go dice |
Rock Paper Shotgun Latest Articles Feed Sunday, July 28, 2024 11:00 AM  Hello reader who is also a reader, and welcome back to Booked For The Week - our regular Sunday chat with a selection of cool industry folks about books! Except, as reader's of last week's edition will know, this is a lie. There are no industry folks, cool or otherwise, in this week's column. It is simply a placeholder - as voted for by you ravenous spine-fiends - while I take a break for the rest of July. |
Rock Paper Shotgun Latest Articles Feed Sunday, July 28, 2024 6:00 AM  Sundays are for…god help me, I'm going to start catching up on all the Destiny 2 I missed since Witch Queen. Pray for mojo. Before I shoot infinite dudes and am rewarded with another infinite dudes to shoot, let's read this week's best writing about games (and game related things!) |
Siliconera Sunday, July 28, 2024 9:00 AM
Tentacular is one of those VR games that is a joy for many reasons. One thing I noticed is that it is the type that once you're done with it, you can step away and feel satisfied. What's great about the free Island Builder update for Tentacular is that it adds this additional creative element that could be ongoing, yet also builds on what's fun about the game in general.
For those who didn't get into the Firepunchd Games and Devolver Digital title back when it first showed up on the Meta Quest, PS VR2, or Windows PC VR headsets, the concept is simple. In Tentacular, you are essentially some sort of kraken-like creature. You were raised alongside humans after hatching from an egg. After coming of age, you step into the workforce and start helping out everyone on La Kalma island with odd jobs. It's primarily a physics-based puzzle game with various situations littered across stages, but there's also an overarching storyline that offers some insights into the characters, island, and situation they're dealing with.
But the real fun involves figuring out how to solve problems when you only have two tentacles.
While there are some extra missions in the Tentacular Island Builder update, which are quite fun and feel different from what came before, the selling point is the titular Island Builder. This gives you access to a sandbox space that lets you create your own own island or see other people's islands. I just couldn't stop playing with the new suite of tools.
Some of the basic ones involve just being able to create landmasses and elements. Others involve getting a whole building toy box of different elements and features to help you put things together. There are pieces that allow you to combine items. Basically everything I encountered in the main game was available as an option when building or decorating in this supplemental area. While the first hour or so involved just messing around with the creation glove and building blocks for developing my own unique island, I really felt like I'd gotten to a point where I could build a small town that made sense to me. But also, I will admit that I had fun sort of destroying things a bit when my vision wasn't adding up either. Since they weren't the NPCs I was used to from the real game, I didn't feel the same guilt as I would like… tossing a car or boat around there.
The ability to visit other people's islands is also a fantastic perk. Tentacular's base game is very good at presenting puzzles someone can play without getting VR or motion sick. Because I was moving around so much more when constructing my own island in the sandbox element, I did notice I'd need to take breaks a bit more frequently. If I knew I only needed like five or ten minutes, I'd usually keep my Meta Quest 3 on and head to some other players' creations instead.
The only thing I didn't like is, honestly, the Tentacular cheat terminal. I ended up using it to play around with and unlock a thing, and I absolutely hated the inputs. The nature of it means you need to grab letters from the board and place them in the area in the proper order to spell out the correct phase. But because of the lack of the precision, when I grabbed "O" I also got "F" or "G." The only time I could get the exact single letter I needed was if it was in the front row (so R, S, T, Y, V, W, X, Y, or Z). It was incredibly frustrating and I would have appreciated a little break in the immersion to make it more accommodating.
Before the Tentacular Island Builder free update dropped, it was probably one of the absolute best VR games you could get due to how well the concept and execution come together. After that new addition, I think it is absolutely in the top five. It feels like the perfect playground who ever got sucked into a SimCity or Sims style game for hours because they just wanted to design how the metropolis or house looked. It provides an even better excuse to head back to the game and maybe play it more often after beating the original levels.
Tentacular is available on the Meta Quest 2, Meta Quest 3, Meta Quest Pro, PS VR2, and Windows PC VR headsets, and the Island Builder update is live.
The post Tentacular Island Builder Expansion Adds More Life to the Game appeared first on Siliconera. |
