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I loveCivilization. Not the concept, the game. The concept hasn’t worked out extremely well. But as a game, Sid Meier’s Civilization scratches just about every dork itch I need outside of having sad characters talk about why they are so sad. It’s a series I’ve been playing since middle school and one that still makes me feel like I’ve got so much to learn. I also stopped playing against my little brother because the dude has put thousands of hours intoCiv 6....

Cosy game lovers are likely well acquainted withCoffee Talk, the beloved fantasy barista sim from Indonesian studio Toge Productions (Southeast Asia represent!). It was launched in 2020, and like thousands of players, I found a lot of comfort in it during the initial lockdowns of the Covid-19 pandemic. Getting to play as an empathetic barista serving drinks to various mythological beings and talking through their problems reminded me of a job I’d had in university, though I was a much worse barista in real life – one of my then-coworkers, and now closest friends, never fails to remind me that I made some truly terrible coffee back then....

Summary Secret Level’sConcordepisode reportedly hasn’t been scrapped, despite the game it’s based on suddenly being taken offline byPlayStationearlier this week. Althoughmost would agree that this year’s Gamescom Opening Night Live showcase was a snooze-fest, there was one announcement that woke us all up a bit - Amazon’sSecret Level. A new anthology series from the creators of the excellent Love, Death + Robots is already an exciting prospect, but it becameeven more interesting when it was revealed to be entirely focused on video games....

I’ve been a strong proponent of fancy gaming chairs for a while. I got my first Secretlab Titan four years ago and it was a real game changer for me, both in terms of work and gaming. Gaming chairs have a flexibility I’ve never found with regular office chairs that make me feel like I have full control over my posture, position, and comfort. I love the extra room these thrones offer my ever-expanding backside too....

Summary Sam Riegel has been a pretty prolific voice actor ever since the early 2000s, having lent his voice to hundreds of video games and TV shows, but most of you reading will likely know him from during his time atCritical Role. He played the kind and lovable aeormaton Fresh Cut Grass (originally designated Faithful Care -Giver) before the character blaze of gloried himself in April earlier this year. It was an extremely emotional moment in the campaign, and one that seemingly came out of nowhere, briefly ending Riegel’s time with the rest of the cast of Hells Bells until his triumphant return as Braius Doomseed in June....

Summary FromSoftwarehas a reputation for creating some of the best, most well-loved games of all time. However, and apologies in advance if you’re one of the few who this does not apply to, but From’s games aren’t adored for their storytelling. If you want to better understand a From game’s story, it often requires you to rely on someone making an hours-long video essay breaking it down in excruciating detail. It’s much easier, and a lot more fun, to dive into different stories told in those worlds via different media instead, and a newDark Soulsmanga is the latest way to do that....

Summary After this week’smass layoffs at Bungie, the future of its upcoming projects is uncertain. Rumors have been flying ever sinceBungiemade the announcement, as the loss of 17 percent of its workforce will have no doubt impacted the studio tremendously, but conflicting rumors and statements from Bungie’s former employees have muddied the waters a little bit. Thankfully,Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreierhas provided some much-needed clarity on the whole situation, though you may not like what he has to say if you were hoping for a newDestiny....

Summary Dungeons & Dragonsoffers many ways for you to get the better of unprepared players who thought the hag was just a friendly old lady, but sometimes you require a magical effect to turn even the most suspicious of players. Usually through a charm effect, some creatures prefer to gain full control of creature’s minds. These creatures have varying motivations for their mind control effects, whether for food, trickery, or to be used as servants, and all have various levels of success when implementing them....

Quick Links The EDF deploys once more. After a long wait,Earth Defense Force Sixhas finally made it to our shores and it was a worthwhile wait. The hectic horde shooter is more popular than ever and despite some hiccups at launch its been performing well across the board. A massive enjoyable time sink with a ton of trophies and achievements to unlock, you’ll be spending quite a while with EDF Six if you’re gunning for that full completionist run....

Summary You can criticize The Chinese Room for a lot of things, but lack of innovation certainly isn’t one of them. Despite its small portfolio of games, the studio’s consistent inventiveness has kept it a major player in the modern games industry. One could even credit them with the creation of an entire genre, that of Walking Simulators, if one were so inclined. Said games are all concerned with video games as an artistic medium, often pushing them to new heights with their top-notch aesthetic presentation and boundary-stretching gameplay....

Summary Fallout 76’s creative director, Jon Rush, has suggested that playable Ghouls will be taken “into consideration” forFallout 5if fans respond to them well enough in 76. TheFalloutgames have long been obsessed with “uranium fever”, but it feels like something even more contagious has hit the series recently - Ghoul fever.Ghouls have always been a key part of Fallout, but it feels like they’re more present than ever before thanks toAmazon’s adaptation giving us the glory of Walter Goggins as a Ghoul....

Summary Gothic 1 Remakejust got another trailer at theTHQ NordicDigital Showcase, giving us our best look at the long-awaited RPG to date. In this trailer, we finally get a look at the gameplay, as the devs show off some of the improvements that are coming with the remake, including reworked character AI and new abilities. This is our first look at Gothic 1 Remake’s gameplay, after previous trailers focussed on cinematics....

Quick Links Looking at the character information for every character can be a little overwhelming inZenless Zone Zero. Not only do they have up to five main abilities, but also an Attribute, Specialty, and type of damage assigned to them. This can overall make it confusing unless you know exactly where you should look during battle. In this confusion, Attribute Anomaly usually gets ignored since it’s quite difficult to pinpoint exactly what it does....