Games

Back in 2017, with no prior coding or game development experience, I decided to learn Unity and started work on Game Over.

Up until the pre-release reviews were giving it 10/10, 8.5/10 & 8/10 (Pizza Fria, Checkpoint Gaming, Thumb Culture respectively), I was dead set nervous that the game might be no good.

It comes out today on Steam (in half an hour, feel like I'm gonna barf). I've met some of my best playtesters here on Lemmy, so I'm happy to announce it here specifically!

Steam Link Trailer

Archive: https://archive.is/2025.04.11-005918/https://aftermath.site/video-game-age-ratings

Welcome to another instalment of What I Do, a regular Aftermath feature that takes a single person doing a single job in the video game industry and explains just what, exactly, that job involves.

Today we're speaking with Nic McConnell, whose official job title is "Manager - Game Production" at Riot Games, but whose actual job--working with folks on age ratings across the range of content created by Riot on a regular basis--is a lot more interesting than a one-line term on a business card can contain.

cross-posted from: https://sopuli.xyz/post/25236726

Update 4 adds two new Adventure Books, quality-of-life features suggested by our players, and more fixes and improvements!

via https://www.eurogamer.net/indiana-jones-and-the-great-circles-latest-update-finally-lets-you-lob-spare-repair-kits-at-enemies

Archive: https://archive.is/2025.04.09-191645/https://www.polygon.com/gaming/555469/ubisoft-holds-firm-in-the-crew-lawsuit-you-dont-own-your-video-games

Ubisoft responded to California gamers’ The Crew shutdown lawsuit in late February, filing to dismiss the case. The company’s lawyers argued in that filing, reviewed by Polygon, that there was no reason for players to believe they were purchasing “unfettered ownership rights in the game.” Ubisoft has made it clear, lawyers claimed, that when you buy a copy of The Crew, you’re merely buying a limited access license.

“Frustrated with Ubisoft’s recent decision to retire the game following a notice period delineated on the product’s packaging, Plaintiffs apply a kitchen sink approach on behalf of a putative class of nationwide customers, alleging eight causes of action including violations of California’s False Advertising Law, Unfair Competition Law, and Consumer Legal Remedies Act, as well as common law fraud and breach of warranty claims,” Ubisoft’s lawyers wrote.

Neil Druckmann says he is fully focused on Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet and Season 3 of the HBO series, but he left the door open on returning to The Last of Us.

“I am treating these projects like it’s the last thing I will ever work on. So my assumption is that there will be no more. If the stars align, and everything comes into place, who knows?”

Gamespot does note that Druckmann has said he has a story in mind for Part III, though there is no official development news. However, journalist Daniel Richtman and has reported the game is already in production.

One of Naughty Dog’s two unannounced single-player games has not yet been announced. Whether it is Part III remains unknown.

With games now jumping from one generation of consoles to the next, when is the best time to play something? Is there ever a best time?

Jan Dolski was a simple worker until a certain space mission program tempted him to take the risk of a lifetime. Or rather—many lifetimes. When the mission goes awry, he—and the players—will soon discover that survival depends on creating alternate versions of Jan. These versions are identical in form, share some memories, but possess different skills and emotions. And in this fight for survival, the survival have never been more personal. 11 bit studios is thrilled to announce that The Alters will launch this summer.

Archive: https://archive.is/2025.04.10-001341/https://aftermath.site/video-games-journalism-2025

We’ve (sadly) covered a lot of games media stories thatinvolve writers being laid off, sites being shuffled around and sometimes even whole companies shutting down. For Inside Baseball week, I figured it might be a good time to check in with some of the few people left still making a living in video games journalism.

I spoke with a number of writers and voices who are a) drawing a full-time salary writing or talking about video games, and b) are working at what I’d call a “major” site, the big ones with historical brands that are still in a position to be paying people decent wages. These folks are the lucky few survivors, those in jobs that a decade ago were relatively common but which today–thanks to the aforementioned layoffs and closures, not to mention other contractions like a growing reliance on freelance and guides– are increasingly scarce.

I asked a number of questions about their past, present and, perhaps most pressing, their immediate future, with their answers to each below. To protect their identities and jobs their names have been changed, and outlets omitted where requested. By way of introduction, I spoke with:

BDS' call to boycott Microsoft is a call to action for gamers, and an imperative for games media

Archive: https://archive.is/2025.04.08-165016/https://www.theverge.com/news/645131/elon-musk-path-of-exile-2-livestream