PC Gamer reports that Disco Elysium will release at the end of the year.

Disco Elysium's Steam store page still lists its release date as "to be announced" but developer ZA/UM just reposted an article that cites the more optimistic time frame "the end of the year."  

The feature was originally published on May 1st in French on Canard PC. Today, ZA/UM posted an English translation to their Steam news feed. Although the majority of the article cites details about the grim detective RPG that we already know (amusing dialogue and skills that manifest as voices in your characters head), there is a very quick mention of Disco Elysium's release.

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Thanks Farflame!

GameSavvy interviewed Stephen Rhodes who has worked on the Witcher 3 and Assassin's Creed Odyssey as a writer.

Tyler: You’re clearly passionate about games, so what came first? Was it that you wanted to be a writer and got into video games or was it that you wanted to get into video games and eventually became a writer?

Stephen: It’s definitely the second one. I went to university to study military history. I was really into history. I could tell very early on that it wasn’t really doing it for me and I just didn’t see a future career in it. So, I transferred courses internally because they had a good games course and I did a game design degree which covered a broad range of things including design, a bit of audio, programming, a bit of art and did a bit of narrative as well. I was always quite good at design and interested in the design and the mechanics of things because I like systems. But looking back, (narrative) resonated with me because when I did the narrative module I got like a 98% in it or something ridiculous. I loved doing it but I sort of put it aside afterwards and carried on pursuing other disciplines.

I got into the actual industry by doing QA and testing. There was a studio, Travelers Tales, the guys who do the Lego games, and they were quite close to where I went to university and a lot of the graduates ended up there. There were a few (graduates) in high positions at that point and they were always looking for students who were about to graduate. So, I went and did QA but they put up some internal positions in design roles not long after I started. I applied and got a design role where I did level design, camera stuff, working on cut scenes and working on missions so it was quite a broad job role but it was a great entry into the industry. Doing that I realized I had a passion for narrative and storytelling. It was always something that came very naturally to me. Growing up, me and my friends used to play DnD and other Roleplay Games like Star Wars, and Warhammer Fantasy. I was always liked to DM (Dungeon Master) as I was always coming up with the stories and campaigns and characters. It was always something I harbored a passion for so I kind of bridged the gap and after three years at Travellers Tales I realized that the Lego games weren’t satisfying my creative needs. So I applied to a couple of places and ended up getting a job at CD Projekt Red in Poland as a quest designer, which for me it was a great merge of my experience and also my passion for narrative.

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Thanks Farflame!

SlashGear writes that the best games aren't being made by big studios anymore and points to indie gaming as the exception.

For the most part, it seems that the AAA games industry is more concerned with creating games-as-a-service that can pull money from players on an ongoing basis than they are with creating games that are actually fun and engaging to play. Progression in many of these games is tied to unlockables, which are increasingly obtained by way of opening loot boxes and seeing what you get.

Even aside from the question of whether or not this is encouraging gambling addiction in the people who play these games (some studies suggest they are; EA and organizations like the ESA insist they aren’t), shouldn’t we be alarmed that major games these days are basically digital Skinner Boxes that are designed to reward us proportional to the amount of money we spend after we’ve already bought the game?

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Thanks Farflame!

Matt looks back at Neverwinter Nights 2:

Matt Chat 423: Neverwinter Nights 2

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Recommended mods:

NWN2 Client Extension

TCHOS HD Widescreen Menu and Loading Screen for NWN2

Kotaku checked out the Steam reviews for Streets of Rogue:

Streets Of Rogue, As Told By Steam Reviews

Imagine you're part of the resistance, but the resistance has really low standards so they'll take anyone. Like a gorilla that wants to spawn an army of smaller gorillas, or a doctor that just goes around cholorforming the public. That's kind of what Streets of Rogue is like.

Nathan first covered the game a couple of years ago when the top-down action-RPG — which is a bit GTA, a bit of Monaco, and a bit of Nuclear Throne's procedurally generated randomness — first hit Steam. It had a cracking tutorial and was plenty of fun then, but the game's only come out of early access as of last week.
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The card-based RPG Nowhere Prophet has been released:

Nowhere Prophet

Build a loyal band of followers and survive the journey across a broken world. Barely.

Take on the role of a powerful leader and mystic. Empowered with the gifts of technopathy, the ability to sense and affect electrical currents.

You are the last hope to a band of outcastes and refugees. Lead them across the randomly generated wastelands. Pick fights with greedy slavers and crazy machines using the turn-based card combat. Can you survive long enough to reach the mysterious Crypt?

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These features make Nowhere Prophet stand out:

• Card-based tactical combat system
• New procedurally generated maps each game
• Find loot and recruit followers to build your deck
• Unlock new content across multiple playthroughs
• More than 300 cards for you to discover
• Indian infused electronica soundtrack

A roguelike deck-building game
Nowhere Prophet is a single player card game with procedurally generated maps, a high difficulty and permadeath. At it's heart are two distinct parts of gameplay: Travel and combat.

TRAVEL
During travel you navigate across a procedurally generated map. Make sure your convoy has enough resources to travel as you pick your route. On your journey you will encounter strange places and even stranger people. You will be thrust into situations that put the fate of your followers in your hands.

If you're lucky enough to gain some rewards, maybe for helping someone - or robbing them, then you can invest those to improve your decks. Recruit more followers to have more and different units to put into battle. Equip your prophet or level up and learn new skills to have access to stronger action cards in combat.

COMBAT
You will have to overcome some enemies to keep your convoy and resources together. And sometimes you may even want to pick a fight for righteousness or just for loot. Once in battle the game changes to the turn-based card game mode.

Play convoy cards to put your followers onto the field and position them so you can overcome your enemy. Or play action cards to dramatically change the battlefield. But be careful: If you're wounded you will have to find a safe place to heal. And if one of your followers takes too many wounds, they are lost forever.

A science-fiction post-apocalypse
Nowhere Prophet is set on a far off planet called Soma. Your story begins many years after the Crash, a complete technological collapse. Civilization has broken down and the lack of resources made everyone turn either bandit or madman.

In this world inspired by Indian culture you lead a convoy of outcastes. These desperate men and woman following your vision of a better future. Under your guidance they travel with you through the wastelands. Your goal is the Crypt, a mystical place that promises untainted technology and safety.

If you can survive long enough to find it.

The RPG Detective Girl of the Steam City is now available on Steam:

Detective Girl of the Steam City

Sophie is a private investigator not unlike Sherlock Holmes. She resides in the Steam City, a metropolis going through an industrial revolution.

In this growing city with a huge population, there are many different kinds of people; industrialists, workers, merchants, and your average citizens.

However, within any big city, there are always criminals and conspiracies. The Steam City will need a detective on the case!

It'll be up to Sophie to uncover the mysteries of the Steam City through her investigations.

What mysteries and intrigue await her?

Find out in this Steam Punk RPG brought to you in native English!

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Features:

• A Classic RPG Experience
• A Big City to Explore
• Side Quests
• Multiple Supporting Characters
• And a Variety of Enemies!

PC Gamer reports on the first trailer for Haven, which is an RPG about lovers on a lost planet.

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Earlier this year, Furi developer The Game Bakers announced Haven, an RPG about lovers on a lost planet. The description at the time was pretty vague: It's playable alone or in two-player coop, and "the only thing that matters is to stay together." Today the studio revealed a little more about what's coming, including the first-ever gameplay trailer and a rundown of basic gameplay.

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Thanks Farflame!

@PC Gamer Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus is getting a new expansion July 23rd.

Heretek will also add a new tech-priest class called the Xenarite, who use forbidden alien technology, two new troop types called Infiltrators and Ruststalkers, more weapons, missions, and combat that takes place on board your spaceship, the Ark Mechanicus.

Altogether it sounds like something on the scale of the Enemy Within add-on for XCOM, and fingers crossed it can reinvigorate the base game as much as that did.

Thanks Farflame!

We received word that an indie post-apocalyptic RPG, named Percy's Last Stand will become available on the 25th of July on Steam.

Central Louisiana, the year 2089... the brief peace after World War III ends with the collapse of global computer networks through an unknown virus. With technology halted, people split into different tribes: mutants, cannibals and gangs roam the world while what's left of the army attempts to keep some type of order.

Outpost 72 stands as the lone army base guarding Vernon Lake, a small water source used by the remaining human population of the Louisiana Territory. The outpost sees little activity, except for the occasional mutant attack. Two unimpressive soldiers, among the small percentage of the population born with psionic powers, spend their days guarding the outpost and avoiding responsibility.

Their boredom comes to a sudden halt with the arrival of an alien species that that seeks to research what is happening on Earth, and maybe do something more...

These two soldiers will find themselves at the forefront of a battle for humanity... a hero and his cocker spaniel side kick. He would embark on a grand adventure to discover the mysteries of the universe and humanity. Or maybe the cocker spaniel was the hero and the man was just the side kick. Maybe the cocker spaniel was the salvation of humanity and the man was just tagging along...

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The game was created entirely by one person without any Kickstarter or outside funding and uses a game enginewritten from scratch using Java. It features:

- Over 40 hours of game play that spans across the Solar System.
- Over 150 enemies with unique abilities.
- Develop your characters with different guns, cyber enhancements and psionic magic.
- Play as Percy, the mighty cocker spaniel.
- Explore a large open world - travel to the Moon, Mars, alien spaceships, caves, cities and all sorts of places throughout Central Louisiana.
- Controller support (XBox, Logitech and other standard USB gamepads) and 1600 x 900 resolution.

The release date trailer for Rebel Galaxy Outlaw.

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August 13th, 2019 - That's what you wanted to know, right?

You want to know MORE? Then visit us at- http://rebelgalaxyoutlaw.com

The adventure RPG Please The Gods is now available on Steam:

Please The Gods

Your family is starving and only a miracle can save you. Set on a journey to the land of the Gods to find the legendary Sampo, a treasure of endless riches and nourishment. Please the Gods is an atmospheric old school fantasy roleplaying game, inspired by shamanistic Finnish mythology and tabletop classics such as Hero Quest.

Key features

• Old-school dice combat – Swap, destroy and manipulate enemy dice in this modern twist of classic dice combat.
• Flexible skill tree – Overcome your enemies with clever use of your combat skills: Hunting, Survival, Lore and Companion dog.
• Encounter mythical creatures and monsters – Vanquish Finnish mythology’s infamous monsters such as the shapeshifting Water Hag and the Netherworld’s Restless Dead.
• Survive the unforgiving Nordic wilderness – Hunt, fish and forage to gather the strength to survive in the harsh Finnish nature.
• Earn the favour of the Gods – perform quests for ancient pagan Gods: Ahti, the elusive God of the Depths, Tapio, the gentle God of Forests and Nyyrikki, the fierce Goddess of Hunt.

Version 0.12 for A Legionary's Life has been released.

Update 0.12

15 Jul @ 7:08pm - Sertorius

As usual, most of the development time is being devoted to the Second Macedonian War. I decided against a partial release as it makes little sense to interrupt a game with permadeath in the middle of a campaign. I'm sorry I can't give you a date yet, but progress has been good and it shouldn't be a long wait. However, I have made time for a small update.

Features and changes

• Added an option to make combat go slower or faster than normal.
• Added a VSync option to limit the FPS rate. This is enabled by default.
• Added an introductory note that appears on the first character creation screen. It should help new players to get an idea of what to expect.
• The tutorial part about the “thumbs up/down” indicator has been expanded a little to provide an explanation. Unfortunately, in the tutorial I have to be as concise as possible or players could get bored and skip it, missing important information.
• If you kill the leader of the mercenaries in a settlement during a foraging mission, you are rewarded with a Cup.
• The bracelet stolen from the enemy camp yields 121 denarii instead of 28 if you share the profit with Nasidius. If you kill Nasidius and take it all for yourself (your Virtue has to be pretty low for this option to show up), you get 242 denarii instead of 56.
• Changed “Malus” to a more understandable “Penalty” in item descriptions.
• The max quality of items generated in shops is now capped at 6 instead of 8.
• The base damage of spears has been reduced to 4-15 from 5-16.
• The Awareness penalty of Etrusco-Corinthian helmets has been reduced from 5 to 4.

[...]

A new video for Greedfall about the creation of its fantasy world.

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The developers behind GreedFall, an upcoming open-world fantasy RPG, walk you through the creation of their unique, wonderous world.

The third chapter, The Reunion, of Edge of Eternity is now available in Early Access.

Edge of Eternity gets third chapter "The Reunion" in major update today

Free expansion brings hours of new content

17th July 2019, Montpellier, France, Developer Midgard Studio and publisher Dear Villagers today announced the third free major update to their ambitious Early Access JRPG Edge of Eternity, which is currently available on Steam Early Access. The story continues with The Reunion, secrets revealed, a shocking betrayal and a noble sacrifice in chapter 3 of the Edge of Eternity saga.

Featuring around 3-4 hours of additional gameplay and new areas to explore, this highly anticipated update sees the adventurers stretched to their limit, fleeing from the horrors of the night and searching for hope in the face of insurmountable odds. 

Edge of Eternity will also be on sale on Wednesday 15th July at 7PM CET | 10AM PST in the Steam Daily Deal with 20% off the base price. All owners of Edge of Eternity will receive this third update update for free. 

Free major updates will continue to expand the game world, improve existing content, and adding major new story chapters throughout the Early Access period, ahead of the full launch on PC next year.

Edge of Eternity was made possible by over 4000 fans who made the game a reality via a successful Kickstarter campaign. The crowdfunding was so successful that Midgard Studio were able to work with the legendary JRPG composer of Chrono Trigger Yasunori Mitsuda. You can hear the result of that partnership on the latest trailer on the Steam Store Page.

About Edge of Eternity:

• Ambitious new JRPG adventure being developed by 9-person indie studio, taking influences from both Japanese & Western RPGs

• On Steam Early Access now, with the game world expanding and major new story chapters added throughout the Early Access period

• Full launch will be coming PC next year

• Successfully Kickstarted by fans in 2015, reaching almost 4x the campaign goal

• A stunning soundtrack including contributions from Chrono Trigger & Xenoblade Chronicles composer Yasunori Mitsuda

Full details of what's happening in the Early Access for Edge of Eternity, and what's coming in each of the updates can be read in full here.

The Early Access version of Gloomhaven is now available on Steam:

Gloomhaven's Early Access has Begun!

Gloomhaven has now launched to Steam on PC for 24.99 USD/EUR. Enter the Early Access now and begin adventuring through the dungeons of Gloomhaven, facing off against a variety of deadly foes across a range of dungeons and encountering powerful bosses!

Your journey to the darkened lands of Gloomhaven is complete and your adventures to prove your power have begun. You've settled in the Wayward Inn with your party to rest after your long and difficult travels. While drinking an ale you overhear snippets of conversation between two town militia...A Bandit Commander has come into possession of a number of heretical texts and has begun researching necromancy. Magic generally comes hand in hand with gold and riches, so you have asked around and discovered the location of the bandit's hideout.

You begin your journey and decide that you are not quite ready to confront the Bandit Commander yet. You leave Wayward and decide on raiding some local crypts in search of knowledge and better equipment. It's time to choose your path and begin your adventure! Will you become a mercenary reknown beyond measure, that thinks tactically and plans out their adventure carefully, surviving to the end... or will you be rash and laid to rest by your foes in the depths of the crypts and dungeons of Gloomhaven?

[...]

Thanks henriquejr!

Worthplaying have some new screenshots for Forged of Blood and announce the release for 1st August.

Forged of Blood’s Tri-Axis Personality Index dictates how the world responds to every interaction. Contrasting with o the usual binary of good and evil of most RPG’s, the system gives greater nuance to every act. Choices affect the player's Rationalism, Altruism or Headonism - drawing them towards different theologies. But decisions extend far beyond the moment. As the young heir’s fame and infamy grow, the world of Attiras reacts to his reputation and past actions. 

Every action and death will alter the outcome of Forged of Blood, as players fight their way towards the 64 possible ending combinations. 

Key Features:

• Utilise turn-based squad-based tactics in a fantasy world
• Use nine varied weapons and abilities to build a squad not constrained by class
• Explore a vast and complex magic system that offers true creative freedom
• A world at war - lead up to three parties and fight to reclaim an empire
• Be the hero, with no right and wrong answer, every decision guides Attiras’ future
• The Tri-Axis Personality Plot affects how the people and the world react to the hero

Forged of Blood is launching for PC on on August 1, 2019.

Thanks Farflame!

The Sixth Axis previewed The Surge 2 and DSOGaming reports on many new videos.

You actually find yourself waking up from a coma in a hospital gown with other inmates out for your blood, not to mention the guards, so you soon realise you’re going to have to fight your way out. The Surge 2 throws you straight into the thick of it and it’s here that the game stakes its claim to a corner of the Souls-like genre, with its trademark dismemberment mechanics efficiently setting it apart from FromSoftware’s output.

“This was really essential to us to keep what was working and expand on it,” Johannes explained. “We were sure that we found the formula there with the limb cutting, so it just could not go! To separate us from just being recognised as a clone of Souls games to something else we added this twist, so we were sure we had to keep it.

He continued, “You will feel that with each enemy you have several new options, like that you can cut away attachments, which deactivate functionality on the enemy and can open up weak spots. The same for bosses which was not really there in The Surge. Bosses can survive a cut, but you can remove the shield, you can bring them to their knees and can suddenly reach the head which was not open before and so on. It was like ‘We need a base. That’s our core, we will not touch it!’ But we will use it to give the player freedom of choice and more choices to play with.”

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Thanks Farflame!

Dev Diary #2 for Solasta: Crown of the Magister explains what is meant by verticality.

Dev Diary #2: What is Verticality?

16 July 2019

Hello again folks! You've been many to ask what we mean by Verticality, so Zaz (Game Director) is back with some answers!

Hello fellow adventurers,

As you already know, Verticality is one of our Core Pillars. But what hides behind that word?

From the very beginning, we decided that we wanted our players to be able to do things other Tactical RPGs wouldn't allow them to. Things like flying, climbing walls without being limited to ladders, pushing enemies over the ridge... and of course we wanted enemies to do the same! Flying, climbing and even burrowing to give your party a rough time. In essence, we wanted to recreate all the crazy stuff you can do in a tabletop game using all the magic and powers of the 5^th edition.

Hello good sir knight, may I nibble on your shoulder? 

Our engine was developed for this. Our world really is 3D - even the “air” is actually part of the game’s grid - allowing you to accurately track movement while flying. On top of that almost every type of surfaces can be scaled using Spider Climb, and the battle grid even goes below the floor to allow specific creatures to burrow and move underground. 

Cubes... Cubes everywhere!

This enables us to create very interesting levels and combat situations, and is the reason why we call Verticality one of our Key Pillars. The world of Solasta has been designed to foster many vertical locations for our players to fully use their abilities to move around in 3D space... and they better be careful, because our monsters will surely do so! In the other hand, one of our biggest challenges is to give the players the right tools to play in this vertical environment. The camera system is critical, to let you see what you need while moving around the battlefield. Efficient controls are also essential, since you will need to give orders not only on a flat grid but also in space.

Our current "See Through" System allows you to see your characters through walls when needed

Expect to experience vertiginous rooms, fight flying creatures harassing you while you try to climb up a fragile flight of antique stairs, fall to your doom when shoved over the ledge by massive monsters, and get your ankle tenderly nibbled on while crossing a sandy area.

Prototype of some slightly more extreme cases of Verticality in Level Design

But how does it work with Stealth? Well, that will be for another time...

Zaz

OnlySP interviewed the developers of Rebel Galaxy Outlaw about player choice.

OnlySP: There are currently seven radio stations in the game with over 21 hours of content, are there any plans to add more stations/songs or the option for players to create a custom playlist from the existing songs?

Baldree: You can create both a mixtape channel, as well as context-sensitive dynamic soundtrack for when the radio is turned off. We’re considering adding some more songs after release, but the soundtrack is already pretty hefty!

OnlySP: There is a large amount of complexity to the piloting as players will be moving around a 3D space, often in combat. How accessible is the game for players who may not have played a space or flight simulator before?

Baldree: It’s historically a big problem for accessibility. Our solution is the Autopursuit trigger (or button, if you’re on a mouse). Holding it down assists you in tracking your target and managing your throttle, while still allowing you to fly. Think of it like tethering yourself to a target. We think it makes the game a lot more fun, and a lot more approachableOnlySP: There are currently seven radio stations in the game with over 21 hours of content, are there any plans to add more stations/songs or the option for players to create a custom playlist from the existing songs?

[...]

Thanks Farflame!

The developers of Rune II were interviewed by Wccftech.

Got it. Last year you were supposed to launch on Steam Early access, I think it was in September. I was wondering which areas of Rune II you reckon were improved the most, you know, between the extra funding and the extra development time.

Sure, combat has been improved. That’s the core of the game, it’s the core of what you do. There’s been a lot more polish, a lot more actions you can do with the different weapons, a lot more weapons themselves, and the overall pacing of the game has improved. Rune II is quite a difficult game, intentionally, but it’s very rewarding. The narrative has been greatly improved as well in terms of just how the overall story is told and how it’s presented to the player. The world has also gotten a lot larger, I believe we basically doubled the size of the world in terms of the amount of content you can explore and the number of islands. This world has been affected by Ragnarok, so there’s a lot of islands throughout the world, from very tiny ones that have cool little secrets or a special recipe you might learn to much larger islands where there’s a lot more area to explore and a lot more things to encounter. The other big thing that we’ve improved since then is we’ve added the Ages system. And what that is story wise….Loki freed himself from his shackles, then he’s kind of taken over the entire world of Midgard. He doesn’t want to die because in the Ragnarok story Loki dies at the end, but he found a way to circumvent that and he’s basically resetting time. When I say that, Rune II isn’t a roguelike, meaning everything isn’t reset, you don’t lose all of your gear, you don’t lose all of your progression. But each time you try to encounter and try to kill Loki, because that’s the ultimate goal, each time you try to kill him, if you fail, the world will reset and a new Age begins. These Ages have different attributes to them, both positive and negative.

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Thanks Farflame!

We have been informed by its developer that Minima, a retro adventure RPG inspired by the old-school Ultima series as played on the Commodore 64/128 back in the '80s, has been updated. The update fixes all known bugs and also makes it available on a Raspberry Pi.

You can find and download the game on Itch.io. You can also find the link there to play the game online. Or you can download the source code at Github.

The third expansion to Mutant: Year Zero, named Mutant: Elysium will be available on August 1.

The end of the world is coming - the post apocalyptic Mutant: Elysium RPG is set for release on Aug 1

The end of the world as you know it is coming. Free League Publishing today announced that Mutant: Elysium roleplaying game will be released on August 1. When four mighty Houses struggle for supremacy in the underground enclave, oblivious to a rising power that threatens to end their reign forever, what side will you find yourself on? Mutant: Elysium is set in the universe of the award-winning Mutant: Year Zero roleplaying game.

When humanity falls, four powerful industrial and financial dynasties form a covenant called Elysium, after the meadows of eternal Spring from Greek mythology. Deep in the bedrock, they build the enclave named Elysium I, designed to weather the long atomic winter. Now, generations later, Elysium I is a gilded prison, a lonely outpost in a sea of quiet destruction. Fear and suspicion grow unchecked, and the four Houses fight ever more desperately over the dwindling resources that remain. In response to this rising tide of civil unrest, a force of judicators has been established to preserve law and order in the enclave.

Mutant: Elysium is the third major expansion to the award-winning Mutant: Year Zero roleplaying game. This game tells the origin story of the enclave humans, who see themselves as the last torchbearers of human civilization. The four Houses of Warburg, Fortescue, Morningstar and Kilgore struggle for power within Elysium I, oblivious to a rising power that threatens to end their reign forever. Mutant: Elysium can also be played as a stand-alone game. Contents:

• New rules for creating and playing enclave humans, including their web of contacts with rich and powerful allies. The book includes all the rules you need to play.
• A detailed description of Elysium I, the mother of all Elysium enclaves, including a beautiful full-color map.
• The complete campaign Guardians of the Fall, including unique game mechanics that give the players themselves control over the four Houses of the enclave.
• An overview of how the enclave humans can adapt to life in the Zone, and join the mutants, animals and robots of Mutant: Year Zero, Mutant: Genlab Alpha and Mutant: Mechatron.

Mutant: Elysium will be available at on August 1, at Gen Con 2019 in the Free League booth (#2664) and in the Free League webshop, and shortly after in hobby stores everywhere via the Impressions consolidator.

A soundtrack of Black Geyser has been made available in video form.

After our last update, many of you complimented us on the music that played when the party first came outdoors into Vintner’s Grove. We thought you might enjoy if we shared it as a standalone track in this update. The following is from our official soundtrack.

Alsoan additional video expanding on the one from the May update has been made available.

Today we are also sharing a follow-up video to our last one. Its focus, as with our May update, is on dialogue and story elements, while demonstrating more of our UI and how areas of the game can change due to certain factors (in this case, time and interdimensional travel!).

Our party is on the hunt for an antidote that will save Stephan and his men from the terrible poison inflicted by a magical trap. Finding it requires using a dangerous cursed stone to travel to the past. Will we be able to locate the antidote in time? What dangers lurk in the Cult of Zoria’s hideout? Watch the video below for the exciting conclusion to our side quest: Trapped Under the Surface.

Turn-based tactical roguelike Galaxy Squad has been released on Steam.

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Galaxy squad is turn-based tactical roguelike, in which you are leading a squad of mercenaries through randomly generated galaxy with different events.

The game combines node-based exploration with random events, similar to games like FTL or Renowned Explorers, with hardcore tactical battles, inspired by XCOM series. All your characters are randomly generated, and you can evolve them however you want, creating ultimate crew.

FEATURES:

• Explore different planets and systems, fight huge amounts of enemies
• Upgrade your ship and use its systems in events or in battles
• Explore space stations, find quests
• Powerful story campaign system, involving your characters and branching storylines
• Upgrade your equipment with different modifications and find rare loot

What do we do against the summer slump? We present you another top RPG list - this time henriquejr spotted one on PC Gamer:

The best RPGs on PC

The best RPGs on PC guarantee hundreds of hours of adventure in one of the PC's essential genres.

The best RPGs on PC can deliver hundreds of hours of adventure. Since tabletop RPGs first started getting the digital treatment, the genre has grown into an intimidating, massive beast. Many of the best RPGs you can play on PC are of the action variety, hailing from the explosive years of 3D RPGs like Oblivion. More recently, classic style RPGs  like Pillars of Eternity with closer ties to their tabletop roots have seen a resurgence in popularity. Our list of the best RPGs on PC have something to scratch your roleplay itch whether you prefer fast-paced swordplay or more methodical turn-based games.

The RPG genre is tough to boil down: by the most literal definition, every game is a role-playing game. This list represents our best definition of the canonical RPG—games that likely emphasize story; that let you inhabit a customizable character through skill points, inventory, and dialogue decisions; that include complex, controllable relationships with companions or non-playable characters. Drawing these kinds of lines helps us provide a better service to you, we hope—though we've made some exceptions where we think it's worth it.

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Some interviews for Dying Light 2 from Gamingbolt and AusGamers.

Or as I suggested to Jaskula “renaissance Mad Max?”.

“Yeah, yeah! Of course that was our goal,” he says almost jumping out of his seat at the phrasing. “Humanity lost it's war to the infected. So we knew that [the game-world] had to be multicultural; it's somewhere in Europe because we wanted it to be a mix of cities we know, and for us it was a perfect setting for the game with the architecture; the medieval buildings correspond [with] what we call ‘Modern Dark Ages’.”

The reason this is poignant, in mentioning multiculturalism with the idea of a ‘Modern Dark Ages’, is that one of the voices I heard in the demo was definitely Aussie (hence the Mad Max reference), but that all of this rolls into why, and how, The City has descended into an archaic level of society. Freedom means different things to different groups within Dying Light 2, and the ideology of positive ‘multiculturalism’ is flipped on its head. This is not a nice place to be, let alone live in, and we haven’t even gotten to the Infected who still populate its daytime interiors and nighttime streets. A Mardi Gras of dread, fear and vertical requirement, from a gameplay perspective.

[...]

As Aiden’s parkouring from location to location, his clothes look fluid and well detailed. For some reason, Aiden has a very weird looking bracelet on. There’s no indication of what this means, but it looks very important.

I have a question related to the bracelets they wear —

TS: Yes. The bracelets are called biomarkers. This is something that was built 15 years before the events of the game by an organization called GRE. This basically shows you how close you’re getting to the point of no return. Because when you are infected, the infection accumulates in your body. When you cross a certain threshold then you basically turn into a zombie. So this tells you, “I’m really in bad shape. I really need to find some [drugs].” Most of this is important in terms of narrative, how people react to you. Because when you’re close to turning, they will react to you. That’s the rule of this world. That’s a safety measure for everyone in the city.

[...]

Thanks Farflame!

Gamingbolt interviewed the developers of Code Vein.

How much of an emphasis does Code Vein put on story and storytelling?

There’s a huge emphasis for this game. The development team have worked on a lot of titles which has a story-driven narrative. All the characters have their own story that you’ll be able to discover. So that’s a major part of that connection that the developers feel that the players are going to make, as you make your own characters in the world. And all these other characters you’ll be able to find out more of and fall in love with.

Can you talk about the nature of Code Vein’s world? Is it more of a large, traditional open world, or can we expect it to feature layered and interconnected level design similar to Metroidvania titles?

It’s interconnected dungeons.

Can you speak about the Gifts system, and how it works with the game’s combat?

The Gifts are all tied to Blood Codes. So you can think of Blood Codes like your character class. With each of those Blood Codes there are certain Gifts that you’ll be able to unlock. Once you’ve fully mastered those gifts you can max out your proficiency, then it becomes where you could actually move Blood Codes. Unlike a lot of other games where you pick your class and you need to stick with it throughout the entire game, [in Code Vein] you can change on the fly. As you unlock Blood Codes you can switch to it immediately.

[...]

Thanks Farflame!

New Game Rush checked out Tales of Beseria:

Tales of Berseria - Review (PC) - A Tales Game You Need to Play

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If you're going to play only one Tales game, you should start with Tales of Berseria. RPG fans should not hesitate to check out this game, and in this review, I'll explain why. If Tales of Arise, being released next year, builds upon the successes of its predecessor, it's bound to be one of the last great RPGs of this console generation.

Game Debate checked out The Sinking City:

Wet Sematary

The Sinking City Review

So hold on to your fedora for a second, because things are going to get a little meta.

OK. So back in the early 1980s RPGs were pretty much solely people getting together in small groups with pencils and dice, pretending to be elves and wizards. Then, suddenly, inexplicably, a tabletop game came along where people played 1920s flappers and private eyes, and fought monsters they couldn't beat. And for some weird reason that I still can't fully understand, it was wildly popular.

Oh, I mean, I understand very well why it was FUN. There was this strong investigative thread where your characters hung around in dusty newspaper archives looking up things that had happened in the past in an attempt to understand whatever the mystery of the week was. It was interesting to see the real world cast through a new, strange lens. Not that it was actually new, of course - the world of H.P. Lovecraft dated back as far as the turn of the Twentieth Century - but it was certainly a new way to play RPGs. And while it was fun to a certain class of studious, history-minded nerds (like me), like I said I'm still a little mystified as to its continued success.

[...]

The Sinking City is deeply evocative in its oppressive dourness, and stays true to the investigative backbone of Cthulhu. We are presented an open world of horror and suspense that HP Lovecraft surely would have enjoyed investigating.

Pros

•     evocative
•     intelligently written

Cons

•     poor stealth
•     fairly easy
•     limited number of maps

Synergia is a Cyberpunk visual novel currently on Kickstarter.

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We are proud to state that Synergia is one of the most content-rich original visual novels made.

• Nearly 100 combined, unique backgrounds and CGs 
• 20+ characters in total, all with interesting backgrounds and personalities deeply woven into the narrative 
• Choices that deeply affect the protagonist's journey and world around them, with multiple endings 
• An estimated 6-9 hours of gameplay 
• A unique, vibrant art aesthetic that pervades the neon dystopian setting of the game 
• A beautiful, vivid soundtrack that complements the game's aesthetic, composed by one of the composers of Katawa Shoujo and Sense: A Cyberpunk Ghost Story 
• Interactive adventure discovery segments
• English and Spanish language selections available as default with further languages available upon meeting stretch goals (La selección de idiomas entre Inglés y Español está disponible de base, se agregarán idiomas adicionales cuando se alcancen las stretch goals)

Thanks Farflame!