If you're a fan of the Mega Man Zero series but always thought it was a tad slow, you'll want to keep an eye on Berserk Boy. The action-platformer from the appropriately-named BerserkBoy Games is coming to Nintendo Switch and PC on March 6. 

Ahead of its release, the devs have shared a new trailer that confirms the launch date and shows off a bunch of fast-paced action. Throw in a mix of Saturday morning anime cinematics and you have a pretty compelling reason to go berserk yourself.

Berserk Boy is Mega Man meets Sonic the Hedgehog

True to its inspirations, which appear to range from the Mega Man series to Sonic the Hedgehog, Berserk Boy ticks all the expected bullet points. There's jumping, dashing, and sliding. There are different abilities to harness and toggle between, including Lightning, Fire, Earth, Air, and Ice. There's even a mad scientist and his "army of darkness" to contend with. I'm a simple man, I don't ask for much more of a setup than that. 

The tunes have a solid pedigree to them, too. The Berserk Boy soundtrack comes from Tee Lopes, known for work on Streets of Rage 4, Sonic Mania, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge, and more. The real standout for me, though, is the speed. It looks like there's a nice mix of combo-chaining, acrobatic challenges and, of course, rail-sliding. We'll see if it lives up to all the games that paved the way for it when Berserk Boy lands this March.  

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We all know cats have nine lives, but Umbraclaw is on the way to prove they also get successively cooler powers each time they die. The latest side-scrolling action game from Inti Creates (Azure Striker Gunvolt, Blaster Master Zero) is set to launch on consoles and PC on May 30, 2024.

Specifically, Umbraclaw is coming to PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PC. A demo is on the way to the February 2024 edition of Steam Next Fest, and you can see how much ass this little cat kicks in the release date trailer below. 

Umbraclaw follows a house cat named Kuon, who awakens in the Soulplane after dying in our world. In order to return home, she'll have to brave this realm of the dead, which has a really cool art style to it. While cats do have nine lives, those lives come and go rather easily. Whenever Kuon takes a hit she dies; simple as that. Thankfully, she has an "Anima Revive" power that can bring her back to life with a new skill each time, paving the way for different play styles and leading her toward multiple possible endings. 

Some of those skills are animal transformation skills like the Crow, Tyrannosaurus, and Elephant (take that, Mario). Kuon can also change into a humanoid form for "full fighting action," switching the focus from enemy avoidance to direct combat. Blaster Master Zero director Satoru Nishizawa is at the helm for this one, and hopefully, it's as fun to play as it is to watch. We'll see how the sampler pans out next month ahead of the May launch. We'll also find out more about the other mystery game Inti Creates is working on During PAX East 2024!

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If you've stepped into the gaming world for even a yoctosecond these past few days, you'll have heard of Palworld. Maybe it's a bit cliché to say it's taking the industry by storm, but the data shows just how massive it's been in such a short span of time.

We've already spoken about how the game has been smashing Steam records, but the numbers just keep going up and up. At the time of writing, not only has Palworld surpassed 1.8 million players within the last few minutes, but it's also become the second-most-played Steam game ever, according to stats from SteamDB. This puts it ahead of Valve's own Counter-Strike 2.

On top of that, a recent tweet from the developer says the game has now sold more than six million copies. That's in the space of four days, remember?

Let me catch my breath, please!

I seriously can't keep up with the figures. Between pitching this story and writing these very words, Palworld seems to keep breaking expectations. By the time this article gets published, I'm anticipating news about how it's elevated itself above human comprehension and has taken over the very cosmos.

But how long can something like this last? It's not even been a week, but the number of people playing has exceeded what anyone could have predicted. It's knocked the Steam Deck off its number one spot, which is something that even the most hyped-up games struggle to do.

And the best part is, it is still in Early Access. It's pretty bug-ridden (it's straight up crashed my Xbox twice already, to the point where I thought it had bricked the console at one point), but there's something about a "Pokémon-with-guns" game that's got everyone talking. Surely the bubble will burst soon, yeah?

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One might say that Steam has something of a reputation when it comes to video game sales. We get quite a few of them throughout the year, and this latest one will appeal to your inner pirate (and ninja. Don't forget the ninjas).

As of January 22, the Steam Pirates vs. Ninjas Fest began, providing a host of discounts on all things related to the aforementioned buccaneer and/or stealth assassin lifestyle. The best way to get an idea of what exactly is in the sale is to open the link above, but the video below gives a quick overview of what to expect.

You'll find games like Sekiro, Ninja Gaiden: Master Collection, Pillars of Eternity II, Secret of Monkey Island, TMNT: Shredder's Revenge, and may more as part of the event. Essentially, if it's a pirate or ninja-themed game, it's probably here.

From laissez-faire economics to bootleggin'

Personally, I'm tempted by Monkey Island, as it's still something I haven't got round to playing yet. From the ninja category...well, you can't go massively wrong with the original Shadow Warrior. Ah, 3D Realms. Whatever happened to you? Oh, yeah. You were acquired by Embracer Group.

It feels like we've had one Steam sale event already since 2024 began. That's because we did. The Capitalism and Economy Fest was just a couple of weeks ago. These things tend to come around pretty quickly, I find.

Anyway, the Steam Pirates vs. Ninjas Fest is ongoing until Monday, 29 January. So the standard week-long event for these types of sales. Blow me down, me hearties, etc.

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If you feel recent roguelite games have been missing that platform fighter touch, Spiritfall is here to answer the call. Developer Gentle Giant's action game takes notes from Super Smash Bros., Brawlhalla, and similarly hectic platform fighter fare, and it's set to launch in full on February 28, 2024.

Spiritfall has been available in Early Access since April 3, 2023, and has garnered 'Very Positive' reviews from players in the months since. The release date news came along with a new animated trailer that shows off some slick cinematics and a sample of the fast-paced action at the heart of it all. 

When Spiritfall shared its Early Access update roadmap back in November, the devs detailed a few of the additions on the way to the full version. These include the final region and boss fight along with a new optional boss, fifth alternate weapon form, all challenge levels, and "more surprises." Gentle Giant has stayed pretty active in updating the game since it became available, knocking out 10 monthly content updates on top of the usual intermittent hotfixes. 

Even if you haven't played it for yourself yet, you can certainly see that platform brawler style at work in the trailer. Spiritfall combines that frantic fighting with roguelite features such as randomly generated maps and the ability to unlock new powers, upgrade skills, and gather a bunch of weapons to make the going a little less tough for each successive run. Brawlhalla by way of Dead Cells will no doubt be enough of a hook for most to at least dip their toes in what this one has to offer.  

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I keep hitting refresh on the SteamDB page of Palworld. Each time I do, the numbers keep shooting up. Despite the fact that Pocketpick's new game has only come out today – in Early Access as well – the numbers suggest it's going to be a big hit.

When the third-party Steam tracking website posted on Twitter/X earlier, it said Palworld had already reached over 110,000 concurrent players. At the time of writing, that number has gone up to 329,563.

The Top Sellers list on Steam shows it's shot to the number two position (behind the Steam Deck, natch). While this isn't too unusual for a brand-new game that's got some hype behind it, it could well be a sign of things to come for the cute, Pokemon-inspired survival game.

What exactly is Palworld?

If you haven't heard of or are familiar with Palworld yet, don't worry. I wasn't until literally two days ago. If you want a nice breakdown of what the game's like and how it plays, a couple of our writers took a quick look at it.

The Steam page has this to say about it:

Fight, farm, build and work alongside mysterious creatures called "Pals" in this completely new multiplayer, open world survival and crafting game!

It has a little bit of everything, from what I can tell. Well, maybe not everything, but certainly enough for most gamers to get into. I must admit, I'm quietly curious myself. To such an extent that I'm currently downloading it through Xbox Game Pass. May as well, right?

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Valve has released updated guidelines on its policy regarding generative AI usage in games that will enable them “to release the vast majority of games that use it.”

Back in June, some developers reported that their submissions were rejected by Valve due to them containing AI-generated assets. Valve responded by stating that they were looking into the use of the technology, with the concern being that generative AI pulls from copyrighted material to create content.

Having considered the state of the technology, Valve has since amended its stance. Now, as part of the submission application for games, it states, “The survey now includes a new AI disclosure section, where you'll need to describe how you are using AI in the development and execution of your game.” Valve categorizes AI use in two ways: games using AI-generated assets and live-generated content that is created on the fly during play.

On top of that, Steam pages will also include the above disclosure to let people know how AI is used in a particular game. Additionally, players can report “illegal content inside games that contain Live-Generated AI content.”

The only usage of AI still hard-banned from Steam is “Sexual Content that is created with Live-Generated AI.” I hadn’t even thought of that, and now I’m revolted at the prospect.

This is somewhat disappointing, but at the same time, I’m not sure it really changes anything. To begin with, there are already games that utilize LLMs on Steam. Storefronts like itch.io and Epic Game Store already allow it. I’m also not sure that someone reviewing a submission would be able to tell if something like a texture was created by AI. I think they needed to find some way to be comfortable with the technology, and having developers disclose that they use AI-generated assets is one way of doing it.

For quite some time, Valve has been as lax as possible on games allowed into the marketplace, which has already resulted in a deluge of games of questionable quality that skirt extremely close to copyright infringement. It’s already extremely easy for a new, small developer to become buried by all the pollution on the storefront.

Nonetheless, we’re still staring down a wave of garbage hurtling toward us. Plenty of corporations are chanting, “Let’s see what happens,” while threatening to crush us. Developers and other creative people are going to continue to be undervalued and squeezed out by machines that were developed by stealing their work. Oh, goodness, I do like watching a train wreck. I just wish I wasn’t on this one.

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More than 14,000 titles were released on Steam in 2023. To say that it's the top dog of the digital PC gaming world would be wholly accurate. Part of the reason it remains as popular as ever is all the sale events that occur, and the first one of this year is going live soon.

The Steam Capitalism and Economy Fest officially kicks off later on today. If you head to the website now, you can see what's likely to be featured. Everything from Brewpub Simulator to Cities Skylines to Planet Zoo is going to be part of the event.

The above trailer shows what else you can expect, whether you want discounts on Monopoly, Railway Empire, or Cartel Tycoon. Basically, if it's a game that's about earning or managing money, then it's probably going to be in this fest.

Become the capitalist you always dreamed of being!

If you're into all that – making big bucks or taking part in simulated industries – then this Steam event will likely appeal to you.

Personally, it's a genre I've never been too good at. From my early days of playing PC games when I could barely make ends meet in SimCity or Theme Hospital, I've never been particularly amazing at becoming a financial success in economy-style games. A bit like real life, now that I think about it. Sigh.

Anyway, the Steam Economy and Capitalist Fest starts at 10AM PT and goes on until next Monday. What better way to kick-start 2024 than by becoming a wealthy industrialist after, possibly, an expensive Christmas period?

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After hitting Early Access back in June 2021, we finally have a date for the initial launch of Phantom Abyss. The trap-dodging asynchronous multiplayer game is coming to Xbox Series X|S and PC via Steam and the Humble Store on January 25. 

Publisher Devolver Digital and developer Team WIBY let the latest announcement loose on Steam. You can see some lightning-fast snippets of Version 1.0 in action in the launch date trailer below.

For those just now seeing what Team WIBY has been working on, Phantom Abyss tosses players into procedurally generated temples with the straightforward but challenging task of retrieving sacred relics. As anyone who has ever traversed even the most modest of temples will tell you, that's just askin' for booby traps. From perilous chasms to temple guards, you only get one chance to survive and make your way through each temple, so you have to choose your relic path wisely. 

The asynchronous multiplayer comes into play as you explore the temples and spot the phantoms of fallen players who have come and gone in that temple before. You can observe the actions and deadly missteps of up to 20 phantoms — including Steam friends and total strangers — and try not to repeat the same mistakes. 

Fortune and glory

It's been a while since we checked the game out for ourselves, and a lot can happen in over two years of Early Access.

Among the updates to look for as we venture into 1.0 are a completely overhauled Adventure Mode, a new Abyss Mode, and changes to Whips. The Abyss Mode was previously known as Classic Mode and acts as the heart of the game, letting players roll the dice to make their way through all four areas of a unique temple to collect the relic waiting at the end.

We can all look forward to failing miserably at it together later this month. 

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With the release of the Steam Deck OLED last year, Valve keeps its place as the head honcho of modern handheld PC technology. However, the market is starting to become crowded with alternatives, and one more tech firm is throwing its hat into the ring.

As spotted by The Verge, it looks as though multinational IT corporation MSI will be releasing its own Steam Deck competitor. That's according to leaked images, at least. In recent social media posts (originally reported by Videocardz), the company uploaded a teaser clip, showing something is certainly inbound from the laptop manufacturer.

There's also a message saying that a "whole new breed of MSI dragon is coming," as well as instructions for us to "get a grip and stay tuned." That last definitely hints at a handheld. In any case, details will be revealed at CES 2024 – judging by the hashtags – which begins next week.

Deck the halls with - hmm, bit late for that pun

It looks as though this device – said to be called "Claw" – will run with an Intel Meteor Lake processor. Whether this is accurate or not can't be said at this stage, but the fact that Intel commented under MSI's Twitter tease hints that the tech giant is involved.

We've already seen the release of the Lenovo Legion GO, which came out last November, plus, the ASUS ROG Ally before that. Both of these have evidently been wanting to muscle in on the portable gaming market. Oh, also there's Sony's Project Q, which came out recently, but that's more in-line with console gaming than with PC.

Whatever MSI has up its sleeve, it's clearly worth dropping hints about just before CES. And this recent leak seems to only cement the rumor. We'll know more about it sometime next week, but it's almost certain that that Valve will have another rival to contend with.

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Whew! What a year it was. We saw The best Steam games of 2023 revealed – with some surprising results – countered by the tragic loss of a lot of studios and development teams. Above all, the last 12 months have shown the popularity of gaming is by no means dipping.

According to recent data from SteamDB, 14,533 games were released on the Steam platform in 2023. With the exception of 2018, we can see this number has been on the rise since the early 2000s. According to the graph, October was the busiest month, with 1,324 titles released on the platform.

Given what we can see – and providing the data is indeed accurate – we can expect this figure to rise even further throughout this new year.

Diamonds in the rough

Obviously, over 14,500 video game launches is a lot. But it's more than likely that many of these would have been obscure indie titles that perhaps didn't make much of an impact. But that's okay, the number alone shows that gaming – especially on PC – continues to be on the rise.

Actually, the indie scene did have quite an impact on the industry. The SteamDB chart shows that independent developers released a total of 6,408 games, which accounts for around 44% of all titles released last year. That and we got to see the enormous success of the likes of Lethal Company, which still holds a high position on Steam's Top Sellers (just behind Baldur's Gate 3, no less).

In short, 2023 saw a hell of a lot of video games being released on Steam. May it continue into 2024 and beyond.

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The annual user-voted Steam Awards are over for this year, and the winners have been revealed. Voting ran from 21 December at 10 AM PT until 2 January at 10 AM PT.

If you've been paying attention to gaming last year, then many of the winners won't be a surprise, although there are a few unexpected titles that make the final list.

Baldur's Gate 3 snatches up Game of the Year. With a reputation that has placed it among one of the best CRPGs of all time, this isn't unexpected. It faced competition from titles like Resident Evil 4 Remake, Lethal Company, and Hogwarts Legacy. Larian's game also wins the Outstanding Story-Rich Game Award.

The Best Game on Steam Deck award goes to Hogwarts Legacy, which runs superbly on the handheld with the right settings. Its competitors were titles like Diablo 4, Dredge, and Brotato. Starfield also scores a win in the Most Innovative Gameplay Award category.

All The 2023 Steam Awards winners

These are the titles that came out on top in The 2023 Steam Awards:

• Game of the Year - Baldur's Gate 3
• VR Game of the Year - Labyrinthine
• Labor of Love - Red Dead Redemption 2
• Best Game on Steam Deck - Hogwarts Legacy
• Better with Friends - Lethal Company
• Outstanding Visual Style - Atomic Heart
• Most Innovative Gameplay - Starfield
• Best Game You Suck At - SIFU
• Best Soundtrack - The Last of Us Part 1
• Outstanding Story-Rich Game - Baldur's Gate 3
• Sit Back and Relax - Dave the Diver

Winners receive a Steam Awards trophy shipped to the developers' offices in addition to a virtual trophy on the store page.

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As we see out the last few days of 2023, Steam gives us the skinny on which games were the top sellers of the last 12 months. While the majority will be ones that most of you will be expecting, there are a couple of surprises in there. Or at least that's what I think.

You can see the full list of top grossing games of 2023 on the Steam website, which splits it into categories going from platinum to bronze, depending on overall sales. There are also different lists for best Steam Deck games, most played, best VR releases, and more.

As for the overall top sellers on the platform, the likes of Hogwarts Legacy and Baldur's Gate 3 were surefire winners. It's also nice to see Sons of the Forest in the platinum category. Hype for the indie horror game may have died down, but it selling two million copies in just one day evidently gave it a boost.

It was also quite surprising to see the likes of Starfield and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 as top sellers. Okay, the former maybe seeing as it's been one of the most anticipated releases of this generation, but MW3 seemed rather unexpected.

As we move further down

Getting into gold, Resident Evil 4 (plus its Separate Ways DLC) was no doubt a big hit, and Elden Ring has still been pulling in some impressive numbers, despite being nearly two years old now.

Fans of Lethal Company have no doubt been aware of the success of this small co-op title from relative newcomers Zeekers, evidenced by its place under the gold section. The fact that it's only just been knocked off the top spot on Steam gives some indication on just how huge the horror game has been in such a short span of time.

Of course Skyrim makes it into the list. Admittedly under the bronze category, but that still means the 12-year-old Bethesda RPG is swimming smoothly through the harsh waters of the video game industry.

Check out the link above to see the full list of which Steam games were the crème de la crème of 2023. If I don't see you after this, have good New Year everyone!

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If you've never played Geometry Dash, you may find you're missing out on one of the most engaging games in the rhythm genre. Now, after several years, not only has a new version been released, but it's caused the concurrent player count to spike to an all-time high.

According to recent data from SteamDB, Geometry Dash reached a peak of 88,346 on December 20. If you look at the graph, you can see how it shot up in the space of a couple of hours, with the previous count showing just under 13,000 players.

Progress on update 2.2 has been a long time coming. In fact, the last update from developer RobTop Games was in October, which said that the proposed November release would "not be doable." Now that it's finally out, we can see just how much people have been waiting for it.

Bouncy bouncy

For those who haven't experienced it, Geometry Dash has you moving through levels of varying difficulties, playing as a simple shape or other object. Jumping over obstacles to get to the end, the game's genius comes from the fact that the level moves along in time to the music.

This necessitates well-timed presses in order to hop over spikes and gaps or wind your way through tight corridors. While I don't want to draw too big a comparison, if you liked the nature of Flappy Bird, this could be right up your alley.

At the time of writing, more than 59,000 people are playing, which kind of shows that the wait can sometimes be worth it in the end.

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No judgements here, but if you're a little embarrassed about some of the games in your library, there's now a solution. Not long ago, it was rumored that Steam would allow you to hide titles from others, and now that reality has come to fruition.

In the most recent update to the Steam client, it's now possible to mark your games as private. A post on Steam says there are "times when you might want to keep a few of the games you own" a hidden secret from others. For whatever reason you have.

As such, any games you now deem it appropriate to make private can be hidden from anyone who isn't you. This includes: "your ownership, in-game status, playtime, and activity in that game." There's an FAQ that tells you how to go about doing this.

It begins at the checkout

The Steam patch also brings with it some updates to the shopping cart. Two new features have been added, which are:

Inline gifting - just in time for the holidays, you can now purchase gifts for multiple friends (and yourself) without having to make multiple purchases. Plus, gift messaging has been simplified to speed up the checkout process.

One cart across all devices - items in your shopping cart will now follow you across all devices where you're signed in to Steam. Note that during the beta, the cart will only be accessible within the beta client.

However, it also takes into account the new game privacy settings, by allowing you to hide them at the point of purchase.

Look, I'm not going to go into any details here. We all know why Steam would allow users to not advertise some of the things in their games list. We'll just acknowledge that this is now something many will find useful and we'll move on with our lives.

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SNEG continues their effort to preserve classic PC titles by releasing another long list of Strategy Simulations Inc. (SSI) and Mindscape games on Steam and GOG.

This latest drop of games runs a wide gamut of genres and timeframes. The first title listed is the Phantasie Collection which combines Phantasie (1985), Phantasie 2 (1986), and Phantasie III: The Wrath of Nikademus (1987). While we’re on the topic, there was a Phantasie IV: The Birth of Heroes in 1990, but that was released exclusively on Japanese home computers despite the series being originally by an American developer. That's not included here.

The next up is the Great Naval Battles Collection, which brings Great Naval Battles: North Atlantic 1939-1943 (1992), Vol. II: Guadalcanal 1942-43 (1994), Vol. III: Fury in the Pacific 1941-44 (1995), Vol. IV: Burning Steel 1939-1942 (1995). You can probably guess that these games are all WWII naval strategy games.

Continuing the theme of collections, we have Wargame Construction Set Collection. This includes the 1986 original, followed by Wargame Construction Set II: Tanks! (1994) and Wargame Construction Set III: Age of Rifles 1846-1905 (1996). These kind of sound like they should be about handling the production of various implements of war, but they’re actually customizable strategy games.

Onto a la carte titles, we first have Star Command (1988), a sci-fi RPG. Then there’s Prophecy of the Shadow (1992), a fantasy RPG that came around after SSI lost the DND license to Interplay. Next is Renegade: Battle for Jacob’s Star (1995), which is technically a sequel to Renegade Legion: Interceptor (1990), which hasn’t been re-released yet. Both are space combat games. Interestingly, both games are adaptations of a FASA (Shadowrun, Battletech) board game. Savage Warriors (1995) is up next, and it’s a fighting game, of all things. Finally, we have Warbreeds (1998), which is a typical ‘90s RTS, but with the ability to modify your units’ DNA to create new configurations.

I’ve played exactly none of these games, which is why I appreciate SNEG making them available. While some of them are simply using DOSBox in the background, they’re configured in a way that makes them easy to jump into. Their most impressive effort was to re-release all of SSI’s D&D games, but the fact that they’re jumping deeper into the back catalog really warms my heart. I didn’t get to experience much of the PC landscape throughout the ‘80s and ‘90s, so I’ve always found it interesting what got buried behind the console and arcade scene.

Maybe I’ll make it a point in 2024 to explore some of SNEG’s SSI re-releases.

The games and collections outlined above are now available on GOG and Steam.

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PlayStation, Xbox, and Switch have had their 2023 year-in-reviews go live – apps that tell you just how much time you’ve spent engulfed in the gelatinous mass that is video games – now it’s Steam’s turn. Through the Steam application or by signing into the website, you can get a write-up of your year spent on the platform.

Except it won’t tell you your overall time played.

No. What it will tell you is how much of your mysterious overall time has been spent in each game. It will also tell you what your preferred genres are, how many achievements you unlocked, and how much time was spent using a mouse versus a keyboard.

But enough about you, let’s talk about me.

This year, Steam has me clocked at having played 167 games, with 121 of them being new. To me, it’s surprising that Baldur’s Gate 3 is my highest-played game, considering I don’t feel like I’m very far into it. Following that is Against the Storm and Draft of Darkness, so at least my playtime is focused on my favorite games of the year. My longest streak of days playing on the platform was 27.

The year-in-review also compares you against the median for people on the platform. Considering that Steam is also used by “normal” people who can pay for their own insurance, the median is laughably far below what I “achieved.”

The spider graph showing my favorite genres is most fascinating to me. Roguelike Deckbuilders and Open World Survival Crafting are at the top, which is funny, because I don’t particularly like those genres. Vampire and cyberpunk make more sense. However, combat racing and naval warfare are oddly specific. Naval warfare was probably Waves of Steel, but what combat racing? My Summer Car?

So let me know what yours looks like. Did you do some exploration into the PC’s back catalog, or did you stick with the popular new releases? Was your time spread across a pile of games, or did you spend it all with a few favorites? Did you make it past Act One in Baldur's Gate 3?

If you are interested in knowing how much time you’ve spent this year on Steam, there are third-party sites that will dive into your stats. While Steamtime.info will only tell you your overall time, I believe mysteamgauge.com will allow you to drill down further. I’d confirm this, but the site is more or less unresponsive to me right now, possibly because of all the year-end shenanigans going on right now.

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Lethal Company has enjoyed enormous success since it launched just a couple of months ago. From smashing its player record not long after releasing to being the top-selling game on Steam (where it still sits), it's been quite the journey for indie developer Zeekerss. Now, the title could walk away with one of gaming's greatest honors.

The Steam Awards recently revealed the player-voted nominations for this year. With categories such as Labor of Love, Best Game on Steam Deck, Most Innovative Gameplay, and more, there's a lot of competition about. However, it's seeing Lethal Company up for Game of the Year that's most intriguing.

Obviously, we're aware of just how successful the release has been, but it says something that it's able to go up against the likes of Baldur's Gate 3 and Resident Evil 4. Those are some elbows Zeekerss' game is rubbing against, and it'll be interesting to see whether it can come out on top against such names.

Something of an underdog story

In a world of AAA flexing and classic releases being given a new lease on life in the form of remakes and remasters, it's tough for independent games to stand out. Whether Lethal Company takes the Game of the Year award away or not doesn't detract from the fact that it was nominated in the first place.

At the time of writing, it's still going strong, and I have – rather ashamedly – still not got round to playing it.

If you want to vote on your favorite in each of the Steam Awards categories, you can do so from December 21 (when the Steam Winter sale begins). Voting will close at 10am PT on January 2, so you've got the holiday period to make your choices.

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Dota 2 is on a Godlike streak with its latest ban wave, which has arrived courtesy of Frostivus 2023 and already banned tens of thousands of smurf accounts.

The world of Dota doesn't have a Santa Claus, but it seems that Wraith King is stepping up to fill his shoes nonetheless, and his "Naughty List" includes thousands of accounts that have been positively unsportsmanlike.

Indeed, the Frostivus 2023 update that rolled out incorporates a hilarious surprise for smurfs and other bad actors in Dota 2. Some of these players were surprised to learn that the specific Frostivus bundle in their Armory was not a gift chest featuring cosmetics and the like, but a "highly toxic lump of coal," with punishments ranging from behavior score penalties to main account bans.

One of the players caught in the act is Mason "mason" Venne, whom you might recognize from the Evil Geniuses Dota 2 roster in 2014, or Infamous in 2019. After opening his gift chest, Mason took to Reddit to discuss the ban at length, apologizing to the community and explaining that his misconduct involved hiring a behavior score booster.

According to the Frostivus announcement post, "many tens of thousands of smurf account bans" were targeted, so Mason is not going to be the only one weathering this crackdown.

Valve is not relenting in its regulation of smurfs and cheaters

Earlier this year, Valve announced that it was banning a whopping 40,000 cheaters, and followed that up with another ban wave in September, getting rid of another 90,000 smurf accounts. Smurfing, if you're unfamiliar with the term, is when a player who would usually be match-made at a higher rank makes a new account, to play against lower-ranked players.

Now, the Frostivus 2023 event is doubling down on the game's commitment to sweeping unruly players out of the community, so it'll be interesting to see if there'll be even more of these brutal ban waves in the near future.

At any rate, the eponymous update also comes with gameplay patch 7.35, introducing a host of changes and bug fixes that you can check out here. There are also Christmas-themed cosmetics, premium sets, and new UI animations, so be sure to check them out when you have a moment.

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If you like the fun, rubber hose style of old Disney cartoons, but you wish they were more violent, this may be one for you. Mouse is an upcoming FPS that styles itself off these retro cartoons, and developer Fumi Games has just released a gameplay trailer for it.

Taking direct inspiration from the animated shows and noir films of a bygone era, Mouse combines high-octane first-person shooting with the goofy antics of these ancient toons. From what can be seen in the trailer, it looks like there's even some blood for that added sense of mindless violence. You can wishlist the game right now.

The studio describes Mouse thus:

With guns blazing and a retro rubber hose animation style, battle your way through a corrupt city full of crooks and danger.

It's like Mickey Mouse meets Edward G Robinson

At the moment, there's no exact release date, but Fumi is aiming to launch in 2025. While the trailer says it's "early gameplay footage," it's looking pretty good so far. A post on Steam says the team is "aiming to make sure to have the best game possible!"

There aren't many video games like this. The most obvious example that comes to mind is Cuphead, which goes for that rubbery style of animation, but in a more fun – albeit brutally challenging – context. Then there's Bendy and the Ink Machine, which leans way more into the horror aspects, but clearly takes inspiration from this era of cartoons.

It's nice that we live in a time when 1930s cartoons can be reborn as gritty shooters. There's a kind of fast-paced action to Mouse that seems like what Steamboat Willie would be like, if it was remade by Quentin Tarantino.

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It's been eight years since developer MidBoss released 2064: Read Only Memories, but we're inching ever closer to a return to Neo-San Francisco. A new trailer arrived for Read Only Memories: Neurodiver with yet another updated release window, this time penciling the cyperpunk sequel in for sometime in the first half of 2024.

When Neurodiver was first announced in June 2019, it was planned for a 2020 launch on PC and Mac. More platforms were added as the release window slipped further. It was moved to Q1 2021, then Q1 2022, and finally Q3 2023 before the latest jump to spring 2024. That release is currently set for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store. You can see some of the characters, story, and inspiration behind the series in the trailer below, complete with narration from creative director John "JJSignal" James. 

Neurodiver has ES88 attempting to track down a rogue psychic known as Golden Butterfly, who is hiding in the memories of others and slowly corrupting them. With an ever-changing form, Golden Butterfly's motivation is a mystery. It's up to you to use your own psychic abilities and your genetically-engineered Neurodiver creature to connect with the fragmented memories, repair them, and ultimately put a stop to Golden Butterfly.

These events are set about five years after the story that went down in 2064. As such, there are a handful of returning cast members you'll get to reunite with, like Lexi and Tomcat. MidBoss is once again attempting to deliver a loving sendup to the Japanese adventure games of yore, and that love is particularly potent in the FM synth-infused soundtrack. If you want to sample it all while waiting for launch, the "Pilot Memory" demo is currently available on Steam. 

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Amidst releasing exciting new gaming hardware and updating some of its oldest classic releases, Valve has also announced all the major Steam events slotted for the next year. Indeed, we now have exact dates for the first half of 2024's Steam sales and fests.

In a recent blog post, Valve announced a comprehensive array of 2024's biggest sale events and gaming fests, focusing specifically on the first half of the year. This announcement features all the start and end dates for each event, allowing users to plan their purchases well ahead of time, though we obviously aren't getting any real discount specifics so far in advance. The sale titles, however, are fairly telling in their own right.

All Steam sales and fests in the first half of 2024

Broadly speaking, Valve announced three types of Steam events: major seasonal sales, themed sale events (Fests), and the triannual Next Fest promotions. While some of these were previously announced, Valve has now filled the schedule out to include all major events slated for the first half of 2024, allowing both the developers/publishers and gamers to prepare well in advance. These are as follows:

• Capitalism and Economy Fest - January 8-15
• Pirates vs. Ninjas Fest - January 22-29
• Next Fest - February 5-12
• Remote Play Together - February 12-19
• Dinos vs. Robots Fest - February 26-March 4
• Steam Spring Sale - March 14 - 21
• Deckbuilders Fest - March 25-April 1
• FPS Fest - April 15-22
• Farming Fest - April 29-May 6
• Endless Replayability Fest - May 13-20
• Open World Survival Crafting Fest - May 27-June 3
• Next Fest - June 10-17
• Steam Summer Sale - June 27-July 11

It's a hefty list, for sure, and it perfectly underlines the notion that there's virtually always a big sale going on via Steam. Not each of these events will be a good fit for every gamer, but their respective titles betray their themes well enough, to the point that all the major niche interests do seem well served.

All that's left to do right now is to wait, but in the time interim, there is a big Winter Sale scheduled for December 21, 2023.

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Forget The Walking Dead; now it's The Playing Dead, as The Walking Dead: Betrayal is being pulled from Steam and offering a refund.

The game's being pulled after Skybound Games and Other Ocean Interactive were "not able to find a path to build the spirited community of backstabbers we originally envisioned," the developers said in a blog shared to the game's Steam page.

The game, which has been available in Early Access since September, never received a full release. It's the second stumble for the otherwise popular Walking Dead franchise this year. The Walking Dead: Destinies, which was released earlier in December, was the subject of minor controversy surrounding its graphics.

What was The Walking Dead: Betrayal?

Announced at San Diego Comic-Con 2023, The Walking Dead Betrayal was a social deduction game that blended elements of The Walking Dead and Among Us.

Players would work together in teams of Survivors to escape hordes of walkers. However, the social element came into play via "Traitors," Survivors whose goal is to sabotage the team for their own success.

As of the announcement of its closure, the game sits at a "mixed" rating on Steam, across a meager 111 reviews. Many reviews regard the game as fine, though several lament the waning player base. Others draw attention to the similarities to Other Ocean's previous game, Project Winter, which had a similar gameplay loop.

How to get a refund for The Walking Dead: Betrayal

For players who purchased the game through Steam, getting a refund for The Walking Dead: Betrayal is as simple as requesting one through Steam.

Users who purchased the game through a retailer will need to contact that retailer. More information is available on the game's store page.

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It's been a long night of The Game Awards. Many trailers have been shown for upcoming games, but only one can be the final trailer. Capcom has taken that honor this year by revealing the newest installment in the Monster Hunter series, Monster Hunter Wilds.

As has been a recurring theme during this event, we didn't exactly see a ton of raw gameplay in this trailer. We do, however, see a lot of monsters. Also, some sick mount acrobatics are shown off. And before we know it, a title card is thrown on screen. Clearly this is a teaser just to let us all know this game exists, since that projected date of 2025 is still a ways off from now. Feel free to speculate based on the footage we were shown.

After the trailer, Geoff Keighley brought Monster Hunter series producer Ryozo Tsujimoto to the stage. Despite acknowledging that the game is dated for 2025, Keighley asked Tsujimoto when we might expect to play Monster Hunter Wilds. As one might expect, the answer for when we'll play this video game coming out in 2025 is "2025." However, Tsujimoto clarified that we should expect to learn more about the title during the Summer of 2024.

Monster Hunter Wilds will release on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Steam. This is notable, as the game's predecessor, Monster Hunter Rise, was originally a Nintendo Switch title. The platforms shown indicate that Wilds will be closer in spirit to Monster Hunter World, which will be roughly seven years old by the time Wilds comes out.

I'm interested to see if games like Monster Hunter Rise on the Switch and Monster Hunter Now on mobile devices drives winds up attracting new audiences to Monster Hunter Wilds once it releases. It's certainly made me pay more attention to the series, so we'll have to see if this strategy pays off when Monster Hunter Wilds debuts two years from now.

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The Day Before Launched today, two-and-a-half hours ago at the time of writing. I really have no interest in it. I didn’t even know it existed until today, and my job is to keep up with this stuff. However, that’s probably for the best because it already has around 1900 negative reviews on Steam out of 2200.

Destructoid’s own Steven “Axel Grease” Mills is currently on the case, but he reports that he can’t even get onto a server. However, Steam user Dr. Compton states, “Turns out it is a real game. Kind of wish it wasn’t.” Others report that The Day Before’s performance isn’t quite what it should be. Some state that the settings menus don’t quite work right. A few imply that it’s not really a survival game, but is actually an extraction shooter.

As for positive reviews, user Scarrd touts, “For every like this review gets, I will consume 1 spoonful of mayonnaise.” Currently, the review has over 4000 interactions. I’m not a scientist, but I estimate that Scarrd will be eating a life-threatening amount of mayonnaise. While the comments on that review are disabled, their profile page now features people demanding video evidence of mayonnaise consumption.

Early Access releases are quite frequently pretty rough, especially for online-centric titles like The Day Before. There is the possibility that things will get ironed out, and we will forget about it in a few months. It has happened before. The only authority I’m speaking from right now, however, is optimism. On a good day, I don't have much optimism to spare, but to make up for that, I have an abundance of sarcasm.

This follows a lot of controversy leading up to launch. The Day Before has been delayed quite a few times since its initial announcement. The Steam store page was, at one point, taken down due to a trademark dispute over the name but was eventually restored along with an announcement that it would initially be launched in Early Access at the current date.

Like I said, I haven’t played the game. I probably won’t play the game because even if it was what everyone expected, I’m not really interested. Right now, I’m just rubbernecking at the traffic accident.

The Day Before is available now for PC via Early Access. Console versions will reportedly arrive later, and let’s hope their launch in better shape.

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If you've had enough of the rough and tumble adventure of Eastward, it's time to take a step back with the upcoming Octopia DLC. This one trades in a collapsing society for one full of fruitful farming fun, and developer Pixpil and publisher Chucklefish have it lined up for a January 31, 2024 launch. 

To shake the tribulation of Eastward, Pixpil set Octopia in a parallel world that is, to say the least, a lot more chill. This time around Sam and John get to bask in that sweet farming life in the countryside as they build up an old farmstead, grow crops, cook with neighbors, and attract more eager new folks to the town of Octopia. 

You can settle in yourself with the release date trailer:

The meticulous pixel art for which Eastward is known is one bond that this world and the other have in common. While Octopia is being released as DLC for Eastward, you don't have to complete the game to gain access. As long as you have a copy of Eastward you'll be able to venture to Octopia right from the main menu. Sam and John's peaceful new life will be available on Nintendo Switch and Steam for $5.99.

Eastward first launched in September 2021, delivering a journey adorned with gorgeous art and a soundtrack we won't soon forget. There's plenty of competition out there for farming sim games with nostalgic vibes, so we'll see how this one fits in early next year.

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You may think you're done with Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, but Team Ninja isn't done with you just yet. Koei Tecmo revealed a date for the third piece of DLC, titled Upheaval in Jingxiang, which touches down on December 12, 2023.

If you're looking for new challenges, there should be plenty to go around in Jingxiang. Chief among the additions is a new story chapter that finds Liu Bei's forces fighting back against the chaos the Elixir has caused. As it continues to wreak havoc throughout the land following the death of Yu Ji, you'll be tasked with traveling to the Jing Province to put an end to its grim effects. 

Get a taste of the story in the DLC 3 trailer:

Upheaval in Jingxiang also adds new enemies and demons, a new Divine Beast, and new generals that include Guan Ping and Lady M, among others. That's on top of the new equipment and a new system — that's all the official site says on the latter — and higher difficulty levels for those who didn't find Wo Long tough enough already. Finally, there's a new weapon category in the Whip, which looks painful as all hell.

Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is currently available for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. If you have Xbox Game Pass you can also check it out there. This has me hungry to get back to Wo Long, which I unfortunately fell off after clearing a dozen or so bosses. It turns out there are multiple dozens more beyond that, so I've got my work cut out for me. 

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The Steam hardware survey provides a general idea of the specs PC gamers are playing with — a little window into hardware expectations and trends to expect. More often than not, we see how much Nvidia creams the competition, and the latest data shows Team Green still dominates.

As first reported by PC Gamer, the most recent Steam hardware survey shows that, while down 4.88%, the Nvidia RTX 3060 graphics card is still at the top as of November 2023. A quick scan down the list not only shows a minimal amount of AMD and Intel, but that the 3000 series crops up quite a bit.

The 3060 laptop edition is at the number four spot, with an increase of 1.20% over the previous month. We can also see the 3050 has increased by 0.55%, while the 3070 and 3060 Ti are down slightly. It's also interesting to note that many PC gamers are still using older generation GPUs, with the GTX 1650 and GTX 1060 the second and third most popular, according to this survey.

Ada Lovelace is rising slowly

We already saw last month that Nvidia RTX 4000 cards were beginning to show up more in the results, and this still seems to be the case. While the RTX 4060 laptop model doesn't appear until the 11th spot, it's still up 1%.

Likewise with the RTX 4070 Ti, which, although much further down, saw an increase of 0.18%. Even the 4090 – arguably the most powerful graphics card on the current market – saw a 0.28% rise. Additionally, the RTX 4080 went up by 0.05%. It's small, but it does show that the more enthusiast Ada Lovelace GPUs are starting to make their way into people's rigs.

It also goes to show just how much Nvidia seems to be the preference when it comes to PC gaming. It should be said that these Steam surveys are never 100% accurate, but they do paint a picture of the divide between the two graphics card powerhouses (three if you include Intel, which no one seems to).

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The delightfully short and sweet series of Momodora Metroidvanias is coming to a head with Momodora: Moonlit Farewell. Publisher PLAYISM and developer Bombservice describe it as "the culmination" of the series, and it's officially set to drop via Steam on January 11, 2024. 

You can see a glimpse of the latest in the exploration-focused series in the release date trailer: 

The original Momodora was released in 2010. Moonlit Farewell marks the fifth installment in Bombservice's series.

Moonlit Farewell maintains the detailed, meticulously animated aesthetic of previous entries with a Sigil system that helps customize each run. Sigils can be found while exploring, during events, or purchased at shops. Effects range from attack boosts to increased healing effects, weapon summons, and beyond, and they can be turned off and on at any moment. Using an effective mix of attacks and Sigils sounds like it's going to be key to defeating the assortment of boss battles that await along the way. 

Bombservice promises improved visual effects in this one, with the aim of bringing the already established mystical world of the Momodora series to life.

The story of Moonlit Farewell is set five years after the events of 2014's Momodora III. This time around Koho village's High Priestess Momo has to set out to save the world from demons after a mysterious bell summoned them. Beyond the main Momodora storyline, there was also the 2016 prequel Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight and Minoria, a spiritual follow-up with similar thematic elements. 

With just a little over a month to go before launch, we'll find out how the saga expands shortly. 

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Are you a bad enough crab to flip over another crab? You'll be able to find out all over again in Fight Crab 2, which PLAYISM and developer Calappa Games are preparing to bring to Early Access on Steam on February 13, 2024.

Brace your carapace for combat in the Early Access trailer.

Fight like a crab in Fight Crab 2

If the novelty of the first game is still strong with you, or if this is your first crab rodeo, there are some new features to grab onto this time around. Chief among them is Career Mode, which has you raising your own crab and growing along with it as you get ready to throw it into battle.

Throughout the campaign, you can raise your crab's stats, get new skills and weapons, and climb up the ladder of ranked matches. Once you've had your fill of fighting evil crabs or other crustacean warriors online, you can pass all the obtained skills to another aspiring crab fighter. 

There's also a new control scheme that hews closer to a traditional third-person action game, which is just one addition aiming to make Fight Crab 2 easier to play. Another is the ability for crabs to learn skills that let them automatically perform certain actions.

All the claw-crackin' confrontations feature live commentary, too, just in case you're not shouting over the action enough already yourself. You can see more of Fight Crab 2 on Steam while we wait for the Early Access period to begin. 

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