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Double Fine has revealed the return of Wren and Reynold. Tim Schafer digs into what took so long.

We've teamed up with Namco Bandai to offer you the chance to win a figurine costing £150.

Not every game needs its every update covered, but Gang Beasts might. It’s an indie single-screen fighting game with wobble physics, designed for 1-4 players to stumble around, punching and grabbing and tossing one another into meat grinders. Its latest alpha – 0.0.2, yep – adds three new levels, including one that set on a working ferris wheel and another with the game’s first set of AI opponents. … [visit site to read more]

The birth of the Capcom Pro Tour.

As we continue our way through the interviews with the PC-focused finalists in this year’s IGF Awards, we will of course have to include some barely known, minority interest games. So it is today, as we talk to the creators of something called “The Stanley Parable”. Probably raising awareness about the dangers of knives, I imagine. Sounds overly worthy.

We spoke to creator Davey Wreden and his cohort William Pugh, about their little project.

… [visit site to read more]

When I saw the trailer for Space Run last week, I immediately opened up an IM window and sent it to a few friends. Then, satisfied with having shared the strategic space ship construction game, I felt the sense of closure I normally get from posting things here and wiped it from my memory. That’s why it’s only now while cleaning my inbox that I re-discover and bring its trailer to you.

… [visit site to read more]

Another one of those cursed apocalypses has taken place. This one caused by a Rift, opened up by pesky scientists, mutating humanity into crazed beasts, and leaving you and your pet dog in something of a pickle. A first-person shooter, which is oddly a genre that you barely hear about any more outside of those annual quadruple-A monstrosities, Ashen Rift is said to be inspired by Quake and Journey. Those are some extremes right there. It’s the sole project of long-time developer Barry Collins, and he’s looking to see if he can Kickstarter the funds to continue working on it for the rest of the year.

… [visit site to read more]

Mondays are a great day for giving a little love to new, in-development indie projects. There’s fast becoming no better place to find those projects than TIGSource’s DevLog forum, where developers regularly post screenshots, GIFs and audio samples from their upcoming projects. By my eye, the games most in demand of some attention currently are Thief Story, a cutesy, Nintendo-ish, top-down game about stealing stuff, and Irkalla, a side-scrolling shooter with fabulous pixel art.

More info and GIFs below. … [visit site to read more]

Why are the trains in Britain always late? Here is one possible reason: efficiently connecting train routes is flipping hard. I only realised this while playing Mini Metro, a Ludum Dare entry turned alpha for a full game which arrived right on time when I needed something to play this weekend. It’s a neat strategy game, as visually clean as the finest tube maps, and currently freely available to play in your browser.

… [visit site to read more]

SHARK PUNCH.

Is an upcoming Oculus Rift game about PUNCHING SHARKS because it can apparently be therapeutic for very specific individuals. SHARK PUNCH’s trailer is incredible and should be viewed at all costs, unless you are PUNCHING AN ACTUAL SHARK in which case savor the moment. For it is wondrous yet fleeting, like a springtime snow.

SHARK PUNCH.

… [visit site to read more]

How Eastern European storytelling shuns Michael Bay bombast and cartoon bosoms for something altogether more fascinating.

Teaser website reveals mystery live-action Titanfall project from Respawn and Canadian VFX studio.

Betaryer's prowl through Early Access will conclude on March 24, when the final version of the monochromatic adventure game launches on PC for $19.99. Set on a ghost-ridden part of Virginia's coast in the 16th century, Betrayer has players piecing together the setting's mystery while fending off Conquistadors and other presences keen on doing awful things to you.

Developer Blackpowder Games, a studio comprised of talent from the No One Lives Forever and original FEAR teams, explained in the related press release that they wanted to emphasize "exploration and discovery with minimal hand-holding."

If you're eager to try Betrayer right now, you can snatch up the Early Access version for $14.99, which will also give you the full version when it's released.

Towerfall: Ascension is picking up Quest and Trials modes along with its subtitle in its upgrade for PC and PS4. While one of the modes was announced in Ascension's previous reveal trailer, a recent PlayStation Blog post offers details on actual gameplay elements from each style of play.

In Quest mode, players can team up or fight on their own against varied waves of monsters, which the PS Blog notes range from "scythe-wielding warriors to leaping globs of slime." Some enemies will also have unique abilities, like the rival archers that can send arrows shot at them right back toward their origin.

Trials mode is a solo affair, pitting players against dummy targets and a timer. The faster players kill off their inanimate opponents, the more prestigious their rewarding medal will be. The PS Blog describes Trials stages as "addictive as they are difficult," but adds that restarting a challenge takes less than a second, which should keep the frustration focused on the game instead of loading screens.

Ascension will take its shot at PS4 and PC this week and has come a long way from its vanilla verison's Ouya-eclusive debut last year. [Image: Matt Thorson]

Twin-stick shooters aren't exactly a new concept, but offering a view from your in-game vehicle's pilot seat as an alternative from the common top-down perspective? That's different! Crimson Dragon developer Land Ho! Co., Ltd is letting players take on contaminants from the eyes of a cell in Project Life, a title planned for PC and iOS. While players are free to use the top-down view, Destructoid reports that the PC version will also support the Oculus Rift.

Progressing through Project Life involves clearing out purple toxins from the playing field, which allows your cell to travel through new spaces once they're brought into good health. Entries to Project Life's development blog from 2012 also note that a player's health is drained as they attack enemies, so existing twin-stick shooter habits of spewing bullets at all times might not work so well here.

A release window hasn't been shared for Project Life, but with how frequently classic games are being adapted to first-person perspectives for the VR headset, it's neat to see some original projects supporting it, too. [Image: Land Ho Co.]

In case you missed any of the news this week, here's all our tops stories in under 20 minutes!

Press X to kiss your boyfriend. Post-apocalyptic Loom. Multi-gender drifting…

… [visit site to read more]

Sundays are for manning a table at a local craft fair. But they can also be for reading pre-prepared links to the week’s best (mostly) games writing, while attempting to look the other way while the author again links to their own podcast.

• Singularity was a jumbled mess when it was released, owing too much to its influences and doing little with its time-warping concept. Reading Keith Fuller explain what went wrong with the Raven Software game, based on his experience as a programmer on the game, it’s hard not to feel sympathetic. “For a day, the game was cancelled. Dates had been missed, and the project was nowhere near complete. So when the VP from Activision visited the studio and saw the true state of affairs, her assessment – while a shock – wasn’t overly surprising. She made it clear that she was going back to HQ to tell them to cancel Singularity.”

… [visit site to read more]

Sony Online Entertainment is opening up the design process to gamers.

What announcement is coming regarding Titanfall's future? Find out more soon.

The first act of Double Fine's Kickstarted adventure game, Broken Age, is currently on sale for its lowest price ever on Steam. For $16.74 you can get the game, or for $20.09, you can snag the game as well as a copy of the soundtrack. Hurry though, because at the time of posting, you've only got two and a half hours to take advantage of the deal.

The release of Act 1 existed partly to fund the development of Act 2, so the back half of the game isn't ready to go just yet. Those who purchase ahead of Act 2's release will be given the conclusion as a free update, according to Double Fine.

Double Fine also announced a slew of statistics regarding Broken Age's production, in case you're the type who was ever curious about just how many lines of code go into creating a game like this. (Hint: it's a lot.) It's also been a time-consuming project: over the course of 22 months (or 339 man-months), the team has created 1,181 cutscenes, recorded 4,417 lines of voice, and consumed more than 680 gallons of coffee. Broken Age also takes 15 minutes (at a resolution of 1024x768) to show off 12,846 name strings during the credits.

Broken Age: it's kind of a big deal. [Image: Double Fine]

Hello, Bucketeers! Something weird happened this week. The Internet gave me a dose of that thing called “faith in the human spirit.” After having his finances upturned by that thing called a questionable health care system, IGF chairman Brandon Boyer put up a cancer treatment relief fund on GoFundMe. And after only five days? It’s almost, almost at its target goal of $110, 000. Which is bloody amazing and a testament to how damn cool the video game industry is. I love you guys. You make me so damn happy, sometimes. But that’s my public service ramble of the week. Now, here are some cool games going for cheap. (And plushies. Their names are Hoot and Rambert.)

… [visit site to read more]

A complete map of the town of South Park was created for The Stick of Truth, and it's quite awesome.

Unlike their Xbox One and Xbox 360 counterparts, PC players won't have to wait till March 11 to download Titanfall.

We tried to play Thief: The Dark Project and chat about it. Honest! But Twitch, the purple scab of a service, wouldn’t cooperate with one of the most storied series starters in gaming history. It’s almost like I shouldn’t have expected a 15-year-old game to be compatible with a crazy space-age cyberfuture streaming platform, but no, that’s just ridiculous. At any rate, today – for real this time – I will be joined by former Thief: The Dark Project director Greg LoPiccolo and longtime Thief series designer/Thief: Deadly Shadows director Randy Smith. Expect stories from the dank depths of the first three Thieves’ development chambers, inside info on what could’ve been, and opinions from series vets on Eidos Montreal’s reinvention of their storied stealther. 

This will be a pretty special episode, so make sure to tune in. We’re kicking off at 2 PM PT/10 PM GMT. A little late, I know, but come on: only amateur thieves skulk around during the (UK) day. 

… [visit site to read more]

The space shooter will get a new coat of next-gen paint.

Another trek into the Swedish vision quest, where strange creatures roam the woods.

Year Walk is a dose of folklore with the sharp edges left on. A chilling saunter through snow and sorrow that draws on Scandinavian folklore and the mystery of the titular Årsgång. This enhanced port of the iOS original isn’t quite a horror game but one moment did cause me to fall out of my chair. It’s consistently unnerving and even becomes quite upsetting at times. But as I examined its terrible beauty, I had only one question in my mind – is this the ultimate game in the burgeoning Going for a Walk genre?

… [visit site to read more]

If you don’t know the name Brandon Boyer, then you’ll certainly have benefited from the incredible work he’s done and continues to do for indie gaming. He’s been the brains behind sites like Gamasutra, Offworld, and now Venus Patrol. He writes for champions of good, Boing Boing, and is no less than the chairman of the Independent Games Festival. He also has cancer, and a health insurance company that’s refusing to pay for his vital treatment. We rather want to keep him alive – you can help with that. You can even get some very cheap games in the process.

… [visit site to read more]

Every second year, the RPS hivemind startles awake from its eternal slumber. “Hrmm? Oh, we should talk to all the people making PC games who are nominated for this year’s IGF.” And then we do that. And now we’re doing that. Today we speak to the makers of Paralect, a free, austere, monochrome platformer in which you “spatially explore the monologues of NPCs.”

RPS: Can you begin by introducing Paralect: what is it? Explain it to me as you would a friend you want to convince you’re not crazy. … [visit site to read more]