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July 2026 Archive

    1. All the RPS Supporter rewards for July 2026: space battles, messy desks, and puzzling dreams
    2. Massive Fallout: New Vegas mod Fallout: New California hits GOG, offering another way to get some "proper, story-driven Fallout" in your belly
    3. Nexus Mods update their generative AI-made mod tagging policy, dividing one label into three for more specific search filtering
    4. 20 years ago, Dead Rising showed a different path for open worlds, and more games should pinch its ideas
    5. Goin’ (Assassin’s Creed) Rogue, the ship-heavy Black Flag follow-up I totally missed while farting about in France
    6. EA expect their $55 billion sale to Saudi Arabia and private equity firms to close next week, with "all regulatory approvals required" in place
    7. A former Assassin's Creed dev is making a ghost-hunting horror mystery based on visits to abandoned convents, in which your greatest weapon is a chunky instant camera
    8. NYT Connections hint (Fri, 31 Jul)
    9. Wordle hint and answer #1868 (July 31 2026)
    1. Midnight Moments is a cyberpunk diorama builder for the neon sign and drizzly rain lovers
    2. Rideshare "Stimulator" is an Uber driver sim set in a city full of weirdos that I'm hoping is satirical enough to pull the concept off
    3. Machine Party, out now, is masochistic Mario Party from the dev that brought you Buckshot Roulette
    4. RuneScape: Dragonwilds revamps the agility skill and gives you Wipeout style courses to test your mettle on
    5. Thimbleweed Park 2 is "not really a sequel, not really a prequel," but it is in development and due out in 2028
    6. Your most powerful Necron unit in Dawn of War 4 is a sentient shard of a dead star god, and boy does he hate you
    7. Helldivers 2's Warhammer 40k warbond finally gets a release date, will let you bust out the meltaguns and meltamines
    8. To escalate its relationship-straining putting contests, Golf With Your Friends 2 is turning to chaos and custom courses
    9. Halo on helium has arrived less than a week after modders got their hands on Campaign Evolved, though AI might've been used to chipmunk Chief and Cortana
    10. Palworld Fast Travel locations and island names map
    11. "Our business did not grow with our audience": post-layoffs, Xbox execs are trying to sell a gaming division bounce back by summer 2027
    12. BeamNG.drive, Steam's finest car pancake maker, gets its biggest update yet with overhauled graphics, fresh rally stages and a sporty new coupe
    13. NYT Connections hint (Thu, 30 Jul)
    14. Wordle hint and answer #1867 (July 30 2026)
    1. I'm not going to 100% roguelite strategy spinoff Company of Heroes 3: Final Stand, but it does breathe new life into some of the series' oldest features
    2. Stealth and armour placement rule supreme in Tyr, the new tank shooter from former Destiny and Valorant devs, with a public playtest now live
    3. "The Case of the Golden Idol-style deduction meets The X-Files": Former BioWare devs unveil supernatural detective game The Eventide
    4. Krafton have big plans for Subnautica, after the second game's once-divisive co-op "confirmed the potential to expand beyond the existing fan base"
    5. Serve refreshments and spot demons in Night Plane, a PSX-style horror job sim about being a flight attendant in 1999
    6. Wuchang: Fallen Feathers sequel in the works from original director's new studio, which bears the wonderful name Indolphinity
    7. "Dragon Age: Origins wasn’t the most attractive game": BioWare's old series producer still thinks a DA remaster trilogy is worth it, but the knowhow isn't there
    8. GTA Online in-game gambling reportedly blocked in Australia, leaving folks down under locked out of Diamond Casino games
    9. Anime Squadron codes
    10. NYT Connections hint (Wed, 29 Jul)
    11. Wordle hint and answer #1866 (July 29 2026)
    1. "I genuinely think there's awesome potential": Mike Bithell on his "im-slim" Vampirium: 1997 and the power of quick verbs
    2. After gaining independence from Xbox, Double Fine are laying off a quarter of their staff
    3. Inviting beaches and delightful physics await you in literal sandbox game, Sandcastle
    4. Two years on from taking the role, Wizards of the Coast's president is stepping down
    5. Mistfall Hunter looks like legally distinct Elden Ring but with a faster paced, extraction spin
    6. "I didn’t fully appreciate the scope of it": a year on from taking over, Nexus Mods owners reflect on the challenges of their push to minimise modding hassle
    7. All Anomalies in Animal Hospital and how to get rid of them
    8. The 30 best Steam Deck games to play in 2026
    9. All Anomalies in Home Alone
    10. I know Silksong: Sea of Sorrow's secret new puzzle mechanics, because they came to me in a dream
    11. "I wish I could do that": A developer on The Sims has been eyeing up Paralives' characters' asymmetric shoes and their wider possibilities
    12. Nioh 3's Hell Rising DLC will sword thrust the soulslike's yokai-battling action into decimated Keian era Edo when it arrives next month
    13. Toxic yuri story Kaschei is a marvelous free visual novel that turns your Downloads folder into a little labyrinth of mirrors
    14. Civilization 7's latest update adds more depth to peace deal brokerage and leader relations, as Firaxis gear up for "bigger additions"
    15. NYT Connections hint (Tue, 28 Jul)
    16. Wordle hint and answer #1865 (July 28 2026)
    1. Overthrow the Kaiser in Red Echoes: Berlin, a Weimar-era turn-based strategy game in the style of Suzerain
    2. That evil Car Park Capital tycoon game is only getting more evil with MicroProse as publisher, but it still looks gorgeous
    3. Best way to farm XP in Palworld
    4. Dragon Age: Thedas at War is a BioWare RPG-inspired Crusader Kings 3 total conversion mod that's here to keep the series alive while it sits in EA limbo
    5. "I dunno why they chose Crashphalt": forgotten Steam game suddenly becomes a hit after players start using it for Undertale online multiplayer
    6. STALKER 2's Cost of Hope expansion, and its free but still hopeful 2.0 update, get an August release date
    7. Myst devs Cyan Worlds show off prototype for Project Anglerfish, a canned entry in the noted long-time RPS favourite series
    8. This week in PC games: a battle royale detective game, a broken Y2K metaverse, a laptop tycoon sim, and a new Company of Heroes RTS
    9. Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls open beta beaten and bashed by PC performance issues, Arc System Works "apologise for the impact this has had on your experience"
    10. NYT Connections hint (Mon, 27 Jul)
    11. Wordle hint and answer #1864 (July 27 2026)
    1. The Sunday Papers
    2. NYT Connections hint (Sun, 26 Jul)
    3. Wordle hint and answer #1863 (July 26 2026)
    1. Commit cinematic sacrilege in Baldur's Gate 3 with this true third-person camera mod
    2. Ringwyrm might have a nasty sounding name, but its action horror, fantasy Soviet vibes are too compelling to ignore
    3. Thick as Thieves studio does what triple-A won't: keep its game playable
    4. Sega like physical games too, says their president, but with the shift to digital they're keeping the humble PC in mind
    5. Final Fantasy 14's Evercold expansion brings aboard a Final Fantasy 7 collab and a job that's all about fighting with massive shields
    6. What are we all playing this weekend?
    7. NYT Connections hint (Sat, 25 Jul)
    8. Wordle hint and answer #1862 (July 25 2026)
    1. You can trade in your enemy's teeth to "bend" time in vampire RPG The Blood of Dawnwalker, care of some really horrible Tooth Fairies
    2. Blizzard fire World Of Warcraft developer over use of forbidden magicks to insta-kill bosses for regular players during dungeon run
    3. HyperX Pulsefire Saga gaming mouse review: modular parts win hearts
    4. Palworld breeding combos
    5. Restaurant Tycoon 3 codes
    6. 13 years on, unfinishable survival game Project Zomboid is getting a major update with an expanded Kentucky map, animal husbandry, and revised crafting
    7. All 3 Community Chests in Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced
    8. Surprise, Age of Empires 3: Definitive Edition's Baltic Powers expansion has re-emerged from the annals of cancelled DLC history, will come out in September
    9. I enjoy Fallgrade's grainy physics-defying city almost as much as I fear its foggy giant spider
    10. "Let's make a better world": Denshattack's developers on counterculture, biker gangs, and the optimism of fighting a mecha with a train
    11. Kingdom Come Salvation could be Warhorse's next medieval history RPG, if this EU trademark filing turns out to be the genuine article
    12. Best Kindling Pals in Palworld
    13. Palworld: How to get Leather
    14. Sweeping, strafing and suppression: Total War: Warhammer 40,000 threatens to blow up Total War's combat fundamentals
    15. Palworld Ranch Drops guide
    16. Thwack, the Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls open beta is underway, and, pow, Phoenix Cyclops is coming as a post-launch DLC fighter
    17. Palworld: How to get High Quality Oil
    18. Palworld: How to get Electric Organs
    19. Palworld: How to get Fiber
    20. NYT Connections hint (Fri, 24 Jul)
    21. Wordle hint and answer #1861 (July 24 2026)
    1. Dinoblade, out now, is equal parts janky, genuinely sick and silly as hell
    2. I've yet to smash open a Dyson Sphere in sci-fi RTS Sanctuary: Shattered Sun, but I'm enjoying its take on Supreme Commander
    3. Saudi Arabia's $55 billion EA buyout approved by the European Commission, who say it doesn't "raise competition concerns"
    4. How to get Bones in Palworld
    5. Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced Character Portrait locations
    6. Palworld: Best Neutral Pals
    7. Palworld: Best Water Pals
    8. Terrific castle-building sim Cataclismo is being transformed into a chunky strategy boardgame, care of a paid Old Kingdom expansion
    9. Palworld: Best Pals for Watering
    10. Palworld: Best Pals for Transporting
    11. Rockstar Games Workers Union say their first meeting with the GTA 6 studio's management was "a step in the right direction"
    12. Palworld: Best Dark Pals
    13. Palworld: Best Pals for Planting
    14. You only get one, permakillable Jedi Padawan in Star Wars Zero Company, but that's fine because I'm going to roll an R2-D2 deathsquad anyway
    15. The Incident At Galley House review – an enthralling deduction game that can't escape the genre's classic problem
    16. I miss disappearing into Thief's impenetrable shadows
    17. Palworld: Best Pals for Cooling
    18. Palworld: Best Pals for Generating Electricity
    19. Oblivion Remastered's lengthy patch drought could end with its Switch 2 release, which Bethesda say includes "optimisations" they hope to bring to PC
    20. Indie open worlder Future? No Thanks! gets last minute delay after Steam content mods allegedly demand a "watch the sex scene" button
    21. Stalker 2 studio founder's claims that Xbox paid more for exclusivity than the game cost to make "do not reflect the actual facts", according to GSC Game World
    22. Blasphemous and Sekiro enjoyers may savour the boss rushing of Rubinite, a dark fantasy action RPG about a red-eyed murder princess
    23. NYT Connections hint (Thu, 23 Jul)
    24. Wordle hint and answer #1860 (July 23 2026)
    1. Steam wishlists are getting categories, making it even easier to organise all those games you'll definitely buy next sale
    2. Laid off Bethesda Montreal staff allegedly told they'd get "smallest severance legally possible" the same day as those Fallout announcements
    3. Best character builds in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
    4. The Video Game History Foundation's latest collection is a deep dive into E3 "like you've never seen it before"
    5. How to replace the Steam Machine SSD
    6. Sons Of The Forest 3D printer locations
    7. Palworld: Best Grass Pals
    8. Palworld: Best Ice Pals
    9. Palworld: Best Electric Pals
    10. Palworld: Best Ground Pals
    11. Forgo visiting the real thing this summer and build the waterpark of your dreams in Aquapark Tycoon, now out in early access
    12. "The goal is to provide what we can": Elder Scrolls Online Crown Store undergoing changes due to "team bandwidth" in wake of Xbox layoffs
    13. Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced modders make Blackbeard playable, but here's a syringe-shaped reason to avoid historically accurate pirate roleplay
    14. Dear Frosthaven boardgame players complaining the PC tactics RPG adaptation is bugged: the devs say it's likely you've "played it wrong"
    15. How to become a Mermaid in Royale High
    16. Uma Racing codes
    17. "It started to feel like there wasn't any stealth": 007 First Light had to pull Bond's punches to protect IO Interactive's specialty sneaking
    18. Playing the riff from Smoke on the Water on a cat piano may be possible in composer sim Offbeat, if you've got more musical talent than me
    19. Scarlet Deer Inn, out now, is a Slavic folk tale platformer with a dark underbelly where every sprite is physically embroidered
    20. Baldur's Gate series overlords Hasbro take $56 million hit after cancelling several games due out in "2028 and beyond", with Exodus and Warlock unaffected
    21. Universal Tower Defense Z codes
    22. Wordle hint and answer #1859 (July 22 2026)
    23. NYT Connections hint (Wed, 22 Jul)
    1. Thveit is a Norse citybuilder filled with folklore creatures where the changing seasons shape how you develop your village
    2. Less than a month after launching Empulse, it looks like Splitgate dev 1047 Games are laying off more staff
    3. Darkest Dungeon is getting its first new bit of DLC in six years, borrowing a couple of classes from its sequel
    4. Scout Report: I need your help to stop playing House of Legacy. Please
    5. Manor Lords' next beta update adds what all video games are sorely missing: cow breeding
    6. Reported lead of Obsidian's new Fallout game wants you to feel a "sense of agony" when playing an RPG, rather than being an all-powerful god-splatterer
    7. Out today, Dive or Die is a promising roguelite scuba sim that basically turns Darkest Dungeon into Ecco the Dolphin
    8. Building on Burnout and an underwhelming predecessor are Wreckreation 2’s missions, and so far it’s a promising patch of Paradise
    9. "Enjoy your last day in a future that works for everyone but you": I adore the demo for Future? No Thanks, an open world comedy about a boomer trapped in leftwing paradise
    10. "The concept of [Xbox] Game Pass was good" despite its eventual faceplant now contributing to mass job losses, reckons Forza Horizon 5 director
    11. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4's open beta is set for next month, and will offer a chance to take on the fearsome new slaying slab mode
    12. "Built for that world doesn't mean built to require it": Unity reveal their next game engine while walking a careful line around generative AI
    13. NYT Connections hint (Tue, 21 Jul)
    14. Wordle hint and answer #1858 (July 21 2026)
    1. How to get all Haki Skills in Haze Seas
    2. "LawBreakers tripped so Concord could faceplant": Gears of War designer Cliff Bleszinski looks back on his career so far and struggle with alcoholism
    3. All outfits in Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced
    4. FBI accuse Steam user of stealing over $220,000 via malware-infected games like BlockBlasters, Lunara and Dashverse
    5. Samsung 990 review: a lower-spec SSD that’s weirdly great for games
    6. First-person explorer Sketchy Fables is a twitchy, teeming feast of hand-drawn art with acting from Hades 2's Sarah Grayson
    7. Valve see the great RAM shortage "getting worse," just in case you were clinging to hopes of a cheaper Steam Machine
    8. Bethesda's Fallout 3 and New Vegas remasters won't stop the modders who've already spent years recreating the RPGs in Fallout 4
    9. This week in PC games: a Mass Effect-style RTS, a gamebook RPG for back-stabbing nobles, and a civilisation builder that offers to teach you kanji
    10. Game Of Thrones: War For Westeros delayed to 2027, as PlaySide take more time before playing their turn to ensure the RTS hits a "high level of quality"
    11. Wordle hint and answer #1857 (July 20 2026)
    12. NYT Connections hint (Mon, 20 Jul)
    1. The Sunday Papers
    2. NYT Connections hint (Sun, 19 Jul)
    3. Wordle hint and answer #1856 (July 19 2026)
    1. "During the training sequence, we make a false promise": IO Interactive on the ensemble James Bond game that 007 First Light never was
    2. You're probably not going to see everything your friend does in The Blood of Dawnwalker, and its director is just fine with that
    3. Valve aren't putting any exclusives on the Steam Machine because they see "the whole PC catalog as our 'launch exclusive'"
    4. A month after mass layoffs at Bungie, Marathon game director Joe Ziegler is leaving the studio
    5. ZA/UM are set for more layoffs only two months after launching Zero Parades: For Dead Spies
    6. Esoteric Ebb is the D&Disco Elysium I never knew I needed, but more importantly it's proof I'll never be cut out for political canvassing
    7. What are we all playing this weekend?
    8. NYT Connections hint (Sat, 18 Jul)
    9. Wordle hint and answer #1855 (July 18 2026)
    1. Fallout 5 is in preproduction alongside The Elder Scrolls 6's development, while Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas remasters are on the way, Bethesda confirm
    2. "I'm saying this on camera and millions of people will believe it": How Suzerain Stories: The Neutral Lens lets you shape the news
    3. "I would fight it tooth and nail": The Sims artist would challenge any mandate to reduce diversity after EA Saudi buyout
    4. Unions accuse Microsoft of having "unlawfully fired people" in unfair labor practice complaints filed over Xbox layoffs
    5. "Id Tech is there, the Doom team is here": Doom: The Dark Ages director pushes back against idea studio have been "nerfed into the ground" by Xbox layoffs
    6. NYT Connections hint (Fri, 17 Jul)
    7. Wordle hint and answer #1854 (July 17 2026)
    1. Control a human proxy on an abandoned spaceship by typing in every command or risk losing your job in Remote Control
    2. I don't like football, but I do like platformers, so Kick is a pretty little bridge that closes that gap
    3. Marathon's experimental PvE roguelite mode is, bafflingly, only around for two weeks when it drops next week
    4. Fix up your van with a bunch of your best pals and escape an onslaught of tornados in survival co-op game Funnel Runners
    5. Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced: How to get the Mayan armor
    6. Roguelike bullet heaven Divine Comedy but with anime girls Hell Maiden is out today in early access
    7. Palworld: Best Dragon Pals
    8. Palworld: Best Farming Pals
    9. Roblox announce plans to let people AI generate basic games using text prompts stuck into a mobile app, but claim that won't fill their homepage with AI slop
    10. Palworld: Best Pals for Handiwork
    11. Palworld: Best Pals for Medicine Production
    12. Letter From The Editor #18: How I almost broke the RPS 100
    13. Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced: All 30 Treasure Maps and Treasure Locations
    14. Thief Gold with updated graphics and integrated modern controller support is the latest addition to GOG's preservation program, ahead of Nightdive's full remaster
    15. Lurking Giants codes
    16. Xbox's gut-wrenching layoffs include the Elder Scrolls Online dev who became studio head around the time of last year's gut-wrenching Xbox layoffs
    17. Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced's latest update stops unexpected mutinies triggered by ship shopping trips and forces skies to be sunnier
    18. NYT Connections hint (Thu, 16 Jul)
    19. Wordle hint and answer #1853 (July 16 2026)
    1. "There are no benefits to being owned by Microsoft": Xbox owners accused of cultivating a "disposable worker mentality" in damning report on layoffs
    2. "Never say never": Criterion aren't ruling out a return to Need For Speed, but Battlefield is their only focus for now
    3. Denshattack review: one of 2026's best games so far is a racing ruckus of railways, rebellion, and ramen
    4. As GTA 6's PC portless launch looms, ex-Rockstar producer says prioritising consoles first is primarily about being "better off starting with the constraints"
    5. "We've seen how close you can get": How studio closures pushed Suzerain's maker to create two new DLCs and a turn-based strategy spinoff
    6. Palworld: Best base Pals
    7. Best Lumbering Pals in Palworld
    8. Best Mining Pals in Palworld
    9. All mounts in Palworld
    10. Dead Space creator Glen Schofield announces he's retiring from "the day-to-day work" of making games while in the vicinity of some chirpy nature
    11. Palworld: All admin server commands
    12. Palworld: How to get Cake
    13. Palworld: How to get Wheat
    14. Palworld: How to get Pure Quartz
    15. As unionised Microsoft workers rally against Bethesda layoffs, Fallout 4's been filled with protest signs and OneBGS logoed vault suits by modders
    16. Palworld: How to catch and breed Jetragon
    17. Palworld: How to get Honey
    18. NYT Connections hint (Wed, 15 Jul)
    19. Wordle hint and answer #1852 (July 15 2026)
    1. Deckbuilder Grail quells the fear in my heart of playing the wrong card by pinning all of the strategy on the deckbuilding
    2. RuneScape revamps its housing customisation with a snazzy looking build mode and the option to make your own neighbourhood with your pals
    3. With Dragon's Dogma 2's new infinite fast travel, Dark Arisen's director wants you to know they're "not forcing" you to use it
    4. 22 trade union leaders have signed a letter joining the call for GTA 6 developer Rockstar to recognise the IWGB Game Workers union
    5. "They would feel a kind of sadness, right?": Slay the Spire 2 dev on using slightly rubbish placeholder art over AI
    6. Palworld: How to get Ancient Technology
    7. Fastest mounts in Palworld
    8. How to get Lucky Pals in Palworld
    9. Palworld: Can you move your base in Palworld?
    10. Palworld: Best starter Pals
    11. All Elden Ring bosses
    12. "Ubisoft thinks that's what we deserve": Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced's release followed by union strike over planned Ubisoft Barcelona layoffs
    13. Scout Report: Sim fans rejoice, hopefully, a long time from now, for Spacefleet Colon Heat Death
    14. Palworld Pal Fluids: How to get and where to find
    15. Palworld map of recommended area levels
    16. Palworld: Tips and tricks for beginners
    17. Palworld: How to get the Grappling Gun
    18. Palworld type chart: All element types explained
    19. Fallout: New Vegas gets a Mojave interpretation of Oblivion's Dark Brotherhood, thanks to this assassin-focused faction quest mod
    20. My Dino Park codes
    21. Palworld: Best base locations
    22. GoldenEye-inspired FPS Agent 64: Spies Never Die finally releases in August, complete with optional big heads
    23. Following Xbox split, South of Midnight devs Compulsion are looking for work as a co-development or support studio
    24. NYT Connections hint (Tue, 14 Jul)
    25. Wordle hint and answer #1851 (July 14 2026)
    1. AC Black Flag Resynced: How to get the Skeleton Crew
    2. "A kick in the teeth for the fired workers": Unionised former MindsEye devs protest alleged fan playtest at Build A Rocket Boy
    3. Rally Point: I am extremely here for turn-based strategy game The Great Villainess, and not just for gay reasons
    4. Well, Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls is now only barred from purchase in 117 countries according to Steam's backend, which is a start
    5. Obsidian still have "the same DNA" that went into New Vegas and KOTOR 2, The Outer Worlds 2 director insists, following chatter around layoffs
    6. This week in PC games: vert-ramping trains, a retold murder mystery, and Cthulhu’s new gig as an AI Director
    7. Baldur's Gate 3's Astarion gets an extra ending cutscene, made by a modder keen not to finish up on a rather awkward note
    8. "An oversight we deeply regret": Games Done Quick cancel SNK-sponsored stream following backlash over studio's Saudi Arabian ownership
    9. NYT Connections hint (Mon, 13 Jul)
    10. Wordle hint and answer #1850 (July 13 2026)
    1. The Sunday Papers
    2. NYT Connections hint (Sun, 12 Jul)
    3. Wordle hint and answer #1849 (July 12 2026)
    1. Digital Extremes finally reveal Warframe: Tau, the sci-fi shooter's long-awaited second solar system, and it's a gruesome place indeed
    2. Fantasy action-RPG Soulframe is open to all players for a limited time, with a new dark progression path, wolf mounts, and a Warsongs origin quest on the way
    3. What are we all playing this weekend?
    4. NYT Connections hint (Sat, 11 Jul)
    5. Wordle hint and answer #1848 (July 11 2026)
    1. Dear Magical Girls combines a tale of burnout with a tactical defence puzzle in which you shape and reshape a field of sorcery
    2. Guide a living landship through a deadly fungal world in Trailblazers, a roguelite colony sim inspired by Rimworld, Moebius, and Darkest Dungeon
    3. Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced: Best ship upgrades
    4. Rockstar have stayed mum on GTA 6 multiplayer, but they might be hedging their bets with a new GTA Online heist that boasts a "unique new level of replayability"
    5. Minecraft build ideas (July 2026)
    6. Minecraft Diamond level for 26.1
    7. "Compliance-in-advance is never enough to appease a zealous censor": Robert Yang on the current challenge of bringing experimental gay games to Steam
    8. Latest Sailor Piece codes
    9. Anime Fighting Simulator: Endless codes
    10. Bizarre Lineage codes
    11. Buried deep in this examination of a cluttered desk is a portrait of a champion Sussex hog
    12. Hooded Horse's new spaceship RPG C-Beams isn't just a riff on Blade Runner - it's a "modern version" of one of my favourite childhood space sims
    13. AC Black Flag Resynced: All 61 Viewpoints
    14. After years of Nintendo lawsuits and many millions of sales, Pokémon baiter Palworld is out in 1.0 today
    15. Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced's standard edition is "is the full, complete experience", Ubisoft insist in response to Steam DLC furore
    16. Id Software co-founder John Carmack "can’t muster anger or outrage" over Xbox gutting the Doom studio, but does say it'll "dampen the mood of the founder reunion"
    17. Steam Machine Verified medals appear on games' store pages overnight, as if left by the Compatibility Fairy
    18. "We are the best allies to game devs": Skyrim modder shows solidarity with laid off Bethesda workers by draping union logos across Tamriel
    19. NYT Connections hint (Fri, 10 Jul)
    20. Wordle hint and answer #1847 (July 10 2026)
    1. Final Fantasy 7 Ever Crisis shutting down means its Japan only, prequel phone game will remain unplayable
    2. Stardew Valley enters the third dimension thanks to this in-development mod that even comes with VR functionality
    3. Helldivers 2 is getting a new anti-cheater policy to stop you feeling bummed out and help the in-game economy
    4. Slay the Spire meets Terra Nil in The Solace of Flowers, an "eco-dystopian" deckbuilder in which you cover corrupted islands with foxgloves, bees and, er, lions
    5. "A densely-packed open world game about death anxiety": Bad Magpie's avian mischief channels a lot of heartache
    6. Persona 4 Revival's take on the controversial Yosuke will apparently be "more fitting for the world we live in now"
    7. What will another Obsidian Fallout game even look like all these years on? Here's my attempt to read the radioactive tea leaves
    8. Palworld PSA: you might want to uninstall your mods if you've not played in a while ahead of its 1.0 launch
    9. "We were already running a tight ship": Elder Scrolls 6 devs are worried about Xbox's layoffs causing even more delays to the long-awaited RPG
    10. AC Black Flag Resynced: How to get Diving Bell
    11. We're making some changes to the RPS Supporter Program, all of them good
    12. Hooded Horse’s new strategy game Rogue Carrier has you captaining a research ship on a planet where the seas boil with violent squid
    13. Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced: Best settings for PC performance
    14. Doom devs id Software were reportedly kicking around ideas for a new Perfect Dark, a John Wick-inspired game, and multiplayer demonslaying prior to layoffs
    15. Former Marathon director settles lawsuit against Sony and Bungie, following his firing over alleged inappropriate messages to female staff
    16. "A mentor and an inspiration to many": Skywind devs pay tribute to modder Kettlewitch, whose death has left another Skyrim mod's future up in the air
    17. NYT Connections hint (Thu, 9 Jul)
    18. Wordle hint and answer #1846 (July 9 2026)
    1. New Vegas devs Obsidian are reportedly working on a new Fallout game, and only Microsoft could make news I've waited half my life for taste this bitter
    2. AC Black Flag Resynced: How to get the Rope Dart
    3. Well, at least one good thing's come out of Destiny 2's demise: lob tomatoes at ex-Bungie CEO Pete Parsons' car collection in this fan-made boss battler
    4. Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced can run smoothly aboard both Steam Deck and Steam Machine - with the right settings
    5. Become King Dracula's personal vamp-assassin in Vampirium: 1997, an immersive sim Bithell Games are launching into Steam early access soon
    6. How to make Potions in Minecraft
    7. Best Minecraft Shaders for 26.1 (July 2026)
    8. Minecraft house ideas
    9. Xbox boss Asha Sharma pins layoffs on Phil Spencer's regime spreading the company "too thin", while claiming a "a healthy Xbox" could weather the RAM storm
    10. Cat Mail Co. is a cosy game where you run a post office for cats, and I wish it let me snoop into their private lives
    11. Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced review - a great pirate game swaps the ups and downs of old Assassin’s Creed for the ups and downs of new Assassin’s Creed
    12. Wordle hint and answer #1845 (July 8 2026)
    13. NYT Connections hint (Wed, 8 Jul)
    1. Get spirited away to a weird, scary version of a Japanese town and take pictures of the oddities you find in SOMBRAS: negative frames
    2. "This has got to be the most awesome toaster ever": Saber on building upon hits like Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2
    3. Cyberpunk Edgerunners' Lucy finds herself in yet another crossover, this time in an upcoming Apex Legends event
    4. What's changed in Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced
    5. Subnautica 2's first proper update is coming tomorrow, bringing in much needed creature behaviour changes and more
    6. Appa is a gorgeous, surreal card game about grieving siblings where every move your opponent makes can be reacted to
    7. Left 4 Dead lives on in The Mound: Omen of Cthulhu, a Lovecraftian extraction game from the creators of Zeno Clash
    8. After split with Xbox, Hitman developer IO will "continue to develop" Project Fantasy independently, but they're closing their Istanbul Studio
    9. "I know how devastating it is, and my heart's with all of you": Doom's John Romero responds to id Software reportedly losing half their team
    10. While several Xbox studios regained independence or found new owners yesterday, Arkane's staff must negotiate their own future
    11. Remembering duel_store_3, a bad Team Fortress 2 map I made my home
    12. Xbox's layoffs come with a push to focus on series like Fallout, so naturally New Vegas devs Obsidian have reportedly lost around a quarter of their staff
    13. Xbox layoffs mean that Elder Scrolls Online's roadmap is "shifting" just two days before Season One's release... the plan put in place for the MMO after the last round of cuts
    14. Wordle hint and answer #1844 (July 7 2026)
    15. NYT Connections hint (Tue, 7 Jul)
    1. Prologue walkthrough - Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
    2. Spring Meadows walkthrough - Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
    3. Flying Waters walkthrough - Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
    4. Ancient Sanctuary walkthrough - Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
    5. "It's much further along than we originally planned": Fallout: London modders say work on their next game is going "swimmingly", despite DLC delays
    6. ZeniMax's pivot to big series amid Xbox cuts reportedly isn't a death knell for Doom, Quake and Wolfenstein
    7. Xbox are parting ways with Double Fine, Arkane, Undead Labs, Compulsion, and Ninja Theory in the course of thousands of layoffs
    8. Stop judging games by their sales figures, says Tekken's Katsuhiro Harada: “That’s exactly what you’d expect from someone who’s never actually developed games"
    9. This week in PC games: Stardew Valley plus vampires, a lavish gamebook RPG, and Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced, finally
    10. Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls is suffering similar PSN region locking woes to Helldivers 2, with 132 countries barred according to Steam's backend
    11. "Smuggle chainsaws onto the pitch": What Blood Bowl's new publisher thinks the World Cup can learn from Warhammer
    12. NYT Connections hint (Mon, 6 Jul)
    13. Wordle hint and answer #1843 (July 6 2026)
    1. The Sunday Papers
    2. NYT Connections hint (Sun, 5 Jul)
    3. Wordle hint and answer #1842 (July 5 2026)
    1. Object Impermanence is a puzzle game where the moment you look away from something, it stops existing
    2. Man a gate and keep out people, chickens and unknown horrors alike in the Paper Please-esque Dreadwoods Gatekeeper
    3. Build a medieval castle piece by piece and then defend it from enemy knights in the city builder and RTS Bergfried
    4. After spending more than a decade in early access, robotic survival game Scrap Mechanic enters 1.0 later this month
    5. Dragon Age writer David Gaider's next game is a light-hearted heist RPG, if he can get the funding for it
    6. Now is the winter of your discontent, console blaggards: the RPS team reflect on PlayStation going digital-only
    7. What are we all playing this weekend?
    8. NYT Connections hint (Sat, 4 Jul)
    9. Wordle hint and answer #1841 (July 4 2026)
    1. Well, Professor Pippin Barr, you've done it again: you've ruined chess
    2. Slay the Spire 2 gets 15 powerful new multiplayer cards, while making life easier the first time you install a mod
    3. Grow A Garden 2 Megaphone sound IDs
    4. Final Fantasy 7 Revelation is getting a "Story Expansion Pass" amid a heap of DLC to help it wrap up the remake trilogy, leaked store listings suggest
    5. Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced promises smooth handheld sailing with Steam Deck and Steam Machine verification
    6. I love being a cultist in Feed the Pit, and not just because I get to throw scummy stock-brokers into a toothy vortex
    7. Relic announce a new Company of Heroes RTS, a wave defence roguelite for strategy buffs who don't have time to fight a whole World War
    8. Rust's Common Ground update adds terrifyingly realistic apartment and shop renting, forcing you to feed capricious landlords daily scrap
    9. Scout Report: Crabmeat is a simple but unsettling exercise in light suspense
    10. Seoul-set MMO shooter Cinder City halves its RAM requirements, after initial specs listed 64GB of memory
    11. NYT Connections hint (Fri, 3 Jul)
    12. Wordle hint and answer #1840 (July 3 2026)
    1. NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints (Friday 3rd July)
    2. "I could feel myself coming apart at the seams": Suicide Squad leads on almost leaving the games industry after its failure
    3. Ithaca is a road trip RPG about climate resistance and dealing with the hostage you have in your trunk
    4. That's a bummer: Frictional's Soma follow-up Ontos has been delayed into 2027
    5. The Video Game History Foundation calls on the ESA to offer "meaningful solutions" for preserving digital-only games
    6. All romance options and relationships in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
    7. "You can literally reroute a river into a desert and cause it to bloom": Star Wars Galaxies lead says of his new sandbox MMO Stars Reach
    8. Flask is a grim brew of homunculus autobattling and hand-drawn alchemy, and it’s got a new demo on Steam
    9. Valheim 1.0 won’t update the survival game’s sparse oceans, reveal devs Iron Gate, who add it’s "too soon to say" how long post-release updates will continue
    10. Grow A Garden 2: What are the Guild Rewards this week?
    11. Onimusha: Way of the Sword release date pushed forward, its devs deciding they'd rather fight vampires than cosmic entities and Scottish horrors
    12. Hide From the Villain codes
    13. New Fallout 4 quest mod starring an iconic Elder Scrolls voice actor has you solve an eccentric gang war over a long-dead starlet's vault of mysterious goodies
    14. Crab Tycoon codes
    15. NYT Connections hint (Thu, 2 Jul)
    16. Wordle hint and answer #1839 (July 2 2026)
    1. NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints (Thursday 2nd July)
    2. Subnautica 2 legal battle ends with reinstated CEO stepping down, as Krafton and Unknown Worlds founders agree settlement
    3. Lullabies Made of Static is a quieter, slower, but still quite welcome addition to PC gaming's brutalist walking sim canon
    4. Grand strategy game Terra Invicta is getting two new scenarios - a Fallout-style nuclear wasteland, and an early noughties world of UFO sceptics
    5. Behold my range of handmade Steam Machine faceplates: tasteful fan-covering, on the cheap
    6. Blox Monsters codes
    7. GTA 6 devs have to opt-out of crunch, claim Rockstar North insiders, because it's baked into their contracts
    8. Helldivers 2 is once again spoofing Donald Trump's wall with the Frontlines of Freedom update, which launches a new campaign "to make the galaxy safe again"
    9. Exodus' character creator won't let you totally mess up its protagonist's "established look" with nose and brow slider chicanery, but you can still pick a beard
    10. "Low-effort slop": The creators of the Godot engine behind Slay the Spire 2 are cracking down on "vibe-coding" and now require genAI disclosures
    11. Xbox claim they're "not reducing [their] investment in games" despite looming cuts, as report claims under 2.5% of Microsoft's total workforce are in the firing line
    12. "Keeping this under wraps has been torture": Against the Storm 2 could happen, but first, Eremite are making a survival game set in the city-builder's festering world
    13. IO Interactive look set for layoffs as their external partner for Project Fantasy pulls out
    14. NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints (Wed 1st July)
    15. NYT Connections hint (Wed, 1 Jul)
    16. Wordle hint and answer #1838 (July 1 2026)