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Oh, it wasn’t a dream. Nvidia really did announce DLSS 5 last night, its central feature not being better upscaling or frame generation but a “real-time neural rendering model that infuses pixels with photoreal lighting and materials.” In practice, the primary function of this model appears to be looksmaxxing, transforming Resident Evil Requiem’s traumatised wallflower Grace into a smouldering ScarJo lookalike and, erm, lightening the skin of Starfield’s PoC characters. DLSS 5 isn’t launching until this autumn but I can tell it’s going to be just the thing if you secretly want all your games to have the same aesthetic,…
If I could simply write ‘just buy Metaphor: ReFantazio’, I would. The best RPGs of all time deserve few words, as typically, they’re just iconic experiences that people will speak about as time goes on, looking back on them fondly, like Final Fantasy VII, The Witcher 3, and Mass Effect 2. Sadly, Metaphor: ReFantazio hasn’t got that household appeal just yet, so it falls on fans like me to spread the good word of this instant classic, and with it being cheaper than ever, now’s your chance to finally see what makes it worthy of the aforementioned big names I…
Update: Arrowhead have just shared a graphic outlining what’s coming in the next couple of months of Helldivers 2 updates. April’s Terminid-themed update 6.2 will deliver two new biomes, fresh galactic war campaigns, and a new enemy variant. May’s update 6.3, meanwhile, will come with a single new biome and its own fresh galactic war twists. Both months’ll also boast the usual warbond and bug fixing patches. Arrowhead have opted against sharing too much in terms of what the future holds in Helldivers 2 so far, ostensibly to avoid galactic war spoilers, but it looks like this sort of roadmap…
We’re no strangers to dropping into a completely different game in Minecraft. From Pokemon Red to Mario Kart, World of Warcraft to Bloodborne, there’s a long laundry list of servers out there devoted to reproducing the most beloved games in low-poly block form. Counter-Strike 2 has had its fair share of recreations over the years, but CounterMine 2 is the first that might actually be the answer to all my CS2 woes. See, the problem with CS2 is that it’s been meta’d to hell and back. It’s the epitome of easy to learn and hard to master, notorious for its…
In May 2014, the small team at Campo Santo were still in the early days of making Firewatch, a first-person narrative exploration game – you can call it a walking simulator, they do, and with no disparagement. The developers assembled at their San Francisco offices, some came from nearby, others from as far away as Vancouver, Canada and Winchester in the UK. They loaded up cars with beer, board games, and tents, and drove the several hours to Yosemite National Park, where, as one of Campo Santo’s founders Nels Anderson puts it, “We went camping in the goddamn woods.” While…
Intel’s new Shader Distribution Service could be set to unlock massive reductions in game load times for owners of Intel Core Ultra 2/3 series CPUs and Intel Arc B-series GPUs. That’s because the newly available download uses pre-compiled shaders instead of waiting for games to compile shaders themselves before loading. Average load time reduction is in the region of 2-3x, depending on your hardware, but some instances can be as much as 37 times faster. While Intel’s Arc GPU options haven’t exactly lit up our best graphics card guide over the last few years, the Intel Arc B580 has proved…
How do we save the open world? is an irregular series about the state of open world games and associated ideas about exploration, curiosity and discovery. During a random dictionary delve last week I learned that “explore” once meant to cry out. It comes from an old Latin word formed from the prefix “ex-“, describing outwardness, and “plorare”, meaning to cry or weep. Compare “implore” – to beg, cry for something – and “deplore” – to berate, ‘cry of’ something or somebody. The OED explains (“ex + “planō”, meaning to level off, flatten for understanding) that “explore” may…
Everything about Crimson Desert screamed ‘GOTY contender,’ but Pearl Abyss’ exciting new RPG has fallen short of expectations with many of the critics – our own Paul Kelly included. Reacting to this disappointing turn of events, investors have started dumping stock in the developer-publisher, rubbing salt in the wound. Crimson Desert first captivated me with the promise of total freedom; a sprawling sandbox RPG filled with magic and mystery, populated with stunning scenery. Honestly, I’ve been more excited about it than GTA 6. When the reviews started rolling in, though, I felt the light begin to leave my eyes. Currently…
Bethesda have followed up being one of the studios gushing about Nvidia’s face yassifying DLSS 5 tech by revealing two updates coming to Starfield. Dubbed Free Lanes and Terran Armada, the former’s a free update overhauling the likes of ship travel, while the latter’s a second story DLC. Both are set to arrive on April 7th.
Manor Lords update six has arrived, bringing with it a new location to settle, and an increased emphasis on nurturing the families in your town. Slavic Magic and Hooded Horse’s lush medieval strategy game has been bulked up once again, with big changes to the way housing works at the top of the list. In case you’ve not been keeping up with beta testing, the developer has introduced a new burgage plot level that now sits at rank three, pushing the old tier-three design upwards to level four. You’ll need to finish this upgrade before you’re able to make use…