Shot One Fighters Key Art
Image: Red Moon Workshop

Another week of mostly behind-the-scenes work. Please pay no attention to the invisible yellow tape, and pay double non-attention to the nonexistent hard hat warnings. Instead, pay attention to this, right here, right now! It's another huge roundup of everything we WOULD have covered if we had infinite time, money and staff, and we've got a doozy of a week of games for you.

PC gaming is really a never-ending fire-hose of interesting stuff. It's laden with sewage and the occasional sharp rock comes flying out at you, but if you've eclectic tastes (the occasional sharp rock can be fun!) and know how to filter out the toxic sludge, you've got a grand old time on your hands.

We've done a little rejigging this week, so let's get started, in a new, segmented and alphabetical order:

News: Roguelike fighter Shot One Fighters hits Kickstarter, hard

Always nice to see an indie title hit Kickstarter, and then smash straight through those initial goals. Shot One Fighters looks like a ton of fun - a Marvel vs Capcom inspired arcade fighter but with a roguelike twist, with your character building their move-set over the course of a run. It looks really slick already, and hit its initial funding goal within just six hours. With a month on the clock, they've plenty of stretch goals to aim for.

Update: Froggy platformer Big Hops adds 8-player online co-op

Big Hops was a pleasant little surprise. A physics'y freeform 3D platformer where your main method of getting around is swinging from stuff using your stretchy, froggy tongue. Now, you can swing from your friends, as well. Lots of them, thanks to a massive update adding unhinged 8-player co-op to the game, now rebranded as Big Hops Together. Now to find seven friends who are cool with you licking them.

Update: Platform roguelike BlazBlue Entropy Effect adds another character

Another good game gets even better. BlazBlue Entropy Effect (the platform roguelike based on the ArcSys fighting game series) has had a good couple years, with a massive update earlier in 2026 adding a whole new story mode. Today, it expands again for free, adding chaotic magical girl Platinum to the playable roster, an old favourite from the fighting games. There's also a new Susanoo boss variant to be found in Extreme Mode, if you want a little pain. The game is also running at its steepest discount yet!

Update: Payday 2 gets a major tech update, reducing its install size

While Payday 3 might not have been the hit that Overkill were hoping for, Payday 2 is celebrating its 13th birthday with a major new update. You can check the details here, but in short, they've dug around under the hood and tuned everything up. Better performance, VR mode rolled into the main game client, and (most importantly for many), they've shrunk the game's install size down to a FAR more manageable 32gb.

Update: World of Tanks updates with fresh German armor

One of the most enduring F2P multiplayer hits out there grows one size bigger this day, and several hundred tons heavier. The patch notes are here, but the biggest addition here is another four German heavy tanks, another set of five Tier 11 vehicles, and a rebalance of light tanks, splitting them into three distinct sub-classes. They also reckon they've smoothed out matchmaking, ensuring more symmetrical team match-ups.

Demo: Conked Out - Smash a wizard's nuts in this Conkers 'sim'

A very silly demo for a very silly concept. A roguelike deckbuilder, where your cards help you upgrade your wild chestnuts, your implements of destruction to play that most archaic of British schoolyard games, Conkers. Take turns swinging your nuts at the other guy, attempting to shatter theirs to the core. This one has potential!

Out Now: Backpack Boy - Reality-layering puzzle platformer

Originally created for a game jam on Itch, Backpack Boy is now a full-fledged, full-length game, and an intriguing take on the puzzle platformer. Your flashlight doesn't just light up the area, but completely changes it, with illuminated areas containing different items, puzzle pieces and scenery, making for some brain-bending navigation.

Out Now: Chainsaw - Surreal indie JRPG

A surreal, funky looking JRPG about a young, psychologically unraveling man who stumbles upon a strange chainsaw, sending him on a quest to gather a crew of Apostles to challenge the gods. Extremely normal behavior. Right now, this is just the first chapter of Chainsaw, but the remainder of the game will come as free updates. Early access in all but name.

Out Now: Choppa: Rescue Rivals - PS1-style arcade chopper rescue

One I've had on my wishlist for ages. A very silly arcade game about rival helicopter rescue teams, using wacky gadgets to save people from a world full of explosions, fires, cave-ins and other dangers. Great style, silly writing and surprisingly varied looking level design.

Out Now: Cult of PiN - Lovecraftian pinball roguelike

Yet another pinball roguelike (an increasingly popular subgenre, it seems - must be the controlled chaos) and seemingly off to a good start on Steam. Each table has a boss to beat, and stacking weird combos of ball-boosting perks (like damage auras on your balls) will be needed to batter through them.

Out Now: Dagger Directive - Tactical open-world FPS, retro style

Inspired by the early Delta Force and Rainbow Six games, Dagger Directive is the kind of military FPS they used to make before cool setpieces became the big thing. You've got an objective, you've got a huge open map, and how you handle things is entirely down to your discretion. This one's been in early access for a while, and hit V1.0 this week.

Out Now: Defender Of The Crown: The Legend Returns - An Amiga classic remade

Cinemaware were a studio decades ahead of their time, and few games were as overly ambitious for the early 90s as Defender Of The Crown, a hybrid of medieval strategy, roleplaying, action minigames and more. This remake includes a direct remaster of the Amiga version (which according to user reviews could use a tune-up), an enhanced modern reimagining of the classic game, plus a new roguelike mode.

Out Now: Duskfade - PS2-era platforming with modern graphics

One of this week's bigger indie releases, and currently racking up some impressive reviews. Inspired by the likes of Jak & Daxter and Kingdom hearts, this one feels like a classic PS2-era platformer, but wrapped in some really flashy modern aesthetics. Obviously not AAA, but Weird Beluga are punching above their weight. We got sent a review key earlier today and will be digging into it over the weekend, perhaps for an impressions piece!

Out Now: Echoes of Mystralia - Spell-crafting Hades-like roguelike

The original Mages Of Mystralia was a great little wizarding action-RPG where you constructed spells out of complex nodes of programming-like components. Echoes of Mystralia is the roguelike followup, still giving you those complex mode-graphs but forcing you to improvise with the components that you get each run. The structure and storytelling seem very Hades-inspired, and despite some rough edges, this one has a lot of early access potential.

Out Now: Flock of the Seraphim - Nuns With Guns Survivor

A cute 3D anime take on the Vampire Survivors formula, with your dual-wielding nun gathering an assortment of orbiting angels to blast away at the (nearly equally cute) forces of hell. Unlike some modern games in the genre, it's designed for fast, scrappy runs - 10 minutes on the normal difficulty, but with room for longer runs.

Out Now: Future Knight - Game & Watch themed platformer

A very promising-looking platformer from the developers of the excellent Narita Boy and Haneda Girl. Future Knight's big twist is obvious - it's styled like a Game & Watch LCD game, although the animation is obviously smooth and slick here. The desaturated, sepia-toned backdrops and sharp black pixels still fill me with nostalgia.

Out Now: Hariti - Supernatural stalker horror in an empty hospital

Stalker horror games where a big monster looks for you in a decrepit old building are ten a penny, but I can't deny that Hariti looks good, with its decaying hospital setting looking especially upsetting to explore. The vivisected creature - almost looking human from behind but fully unraveled at the front - is a great bit of design too.

Out Now: Hell Let Loose: Vietnam - 100-player Vietnam War Sim FPS

A long-awaited release, and still clocking tens of thousands of players, but this ambitious WW2 sim-FPS (featuring 50v50 PvP battles) seems to have hit the ground running, stumbling and maybe falling into a spike pit. Lots of bugs and server issues being reported. Nothing that can't be hammered out - the original WW2 Hell let Loose is in a good state now - but it might take a while to get there.

Out Now: Hole Is Mine - Incremental Pikmin-esque dungeon crawl

A slightly Pikmin-inspired incremental dungeon crawler, as you build a swarm of little critters to do your dirty work, and throw them (or items) into battle, or just towards walls that you want dug up. Big upgrade trees, big numbers, big buildcrafting potential. While not amazingly positive, the initial audience response to this one is positive.

Out Now: Horse Magnifier: The Full Horse - Lens-bending puzzler

Sometimes, all a game needs is a single, silly idea. You have a picture of a horse. You have several magnifying lenses of different shapes and sizes. Arrange those lenses to replicate the hideously scrungled horse picture you're given as a target. It only costs a few quid, and has been a big hit on Steam already.

Out Now: I.T. Never Ends - Haunted tech support simulator

Working tech support is a thankless job. Worse still when you've got people calling in, complaining that the printer is breathing again. Inspired by the likes of Reigns, it's a light management adventure about solving problems by swiping left or right on your callers, each move representing a different solution to their problem. There's a bit more to it than that, though, with a bundle of mini-games for handling trickier, more technical jobs..

Out Now: Ledgerbound - Romantic comedy tactical RPG

If there's anything that Baldur's Gate 3 proved to the world, it's that the world is clamoring for more romantasy in games. Bodices must be ripped as much as monsters cut asunder. Ledgerbound is fully committing to the bit, featuring Fire Emblem-inspired tactical combat, and a cast of magical insurance adjusters on a quest to save the bureaucratic world. And flirt/smooch on each other shamelessly. Don't worry, HR approves, on account of the HR department being a purple dragon lady that's hornier than everyone else combined..

Out Now: Lootbound - Dungeon crawl roguelike with inventory tetris

Yet more indie dungeon crawling roguelike goodness, this one with big chunky sprites and a focus on juggling items in your limited inventory space to optimize perks from items. A little big Backpack Hero then, but on a party-scale level, with your hero picking up buddies on each run to hopefully soak up some of the hurt.

Out Now: Low-Budget Repairs - Cowboy DIY simulator

Not 'cowboy' as in yee-haw, 'cowboy' as in 'too drunk to put up the tiles correctly'. There's been a few DIY simulator games recently, but Low-Budget Repairs leans into the idea of you cutting every corner possible to squeeze more profit out of your jobs in economically challenged '90s Poland. Initial reviews have been a bit rough, reporting a lot of bugs, but hopefully those can be ironed out in time.

Out Now: Mandate Order - Manor Lords' Chinese rival

Seemingly inspired by medieval town-builder Manor Lords, Mandate Order takes the intricate town-building and military strategy fusion to Warring States-era China. While early adopters consider it too close to Manor Lords to really have much identity of its own, it hasn't stopped it from doing well so far. Hopefully the time in early access can help define this one as its own game.

Out Now: Memoirium - Low-fi dream diving Souls-like

Just about as low-fi as a Souls-like can get. Chunky pixels and wobbling PS1-style polygon vertices abound. The abstract look is fully intentional, with the game set primarily in the realm of dreams - strange liminal spaces not really adhering to any one time period, and enemies as likely to beat you with furniture as teeth and claws. Played a little bit of this pre-release and it seems pretty good!

Out Now: Pax Autocratica - Evil Space Empire town-building FPS

Once upon a time, this game was named Earth From Another Sun, and it was an NFT/Blockchain/Web3 game. With that notoriously scam-laden market having imploded, the game was reworked and re-launched as Pax Autocratica, making its early access debut this week, and folks seem to like it in its new single-player, self-contained form. A first-person colony builder set in a dark, slightly tongue-in-cheek Helldivers-like universe where you can head out on the front-lines to support your troops in military actions against your alien neighbors in big bullet-spamming FPS battles.

Out Now: Project Looking Glass - Low-fi psychological horror

Inspired by '60s paranormal research programs, Project Looking Glass is a surreal psychological horror short framed as a crunchy low-resolution (and weirdly PS1-styled) recording of an experiment into astral projection. Folks seem to be liking this one a lot - a slow-burn, understated horror experience from a solo developer.

Out Now: Riftstorm - Co-op isometric looter shooter

Making a decent showing in early access, Riftstorm is a solo or co-op looter with some extraction elements, played from a high isometric camera angle, allowing for some bullet hellish weaving between oncoming fire coming at you from all manner of supernatural threats. As is the style of the time, once you've got the gear you're after and your inventory is full, you've got to get out in one piece to cash it out. Initial audience response to this one's mostly positive, brought down by a lot of bug and balance issues brought up.

Out Now: Rogue Eclipse - Arcade space combat roguelike

Free-flying space combat roguelike inspired by Star Fox, or at least its free-flying combat segments, with a funky arabesque sci-fi setting. I've had this one on my radar for a while (being a lover of all things space combat) and quite enjoyed the demo. Initial reviews are mixed, though, with some people having technical issues and others bouncing off its lighter arcade nature with relatively low progression potential.

Out Now: Runt - Gothic post-apocalyptic mystery drama

Another I got sent a key for but haven't had a chance to dig into, Runt is a grisly-looking, text-heavy drama about Runt, youngest (and weakest) of a pack of five brothers running a farmstead in a dark, apocalyptic world. You've been warned that SOMETHING will be happening in five days. What, how, why and if you can stop it? Well, that's up to you to investigate, while remembering to do your part for the commune.

Out Now: Sandustry - Particle physics factory automation

Falling sand physics simulation (think Noita) meets factory automation, ala Factorio. Yet another title published by all-consuming strategy publisher Hooded Horse, and yet another overnight hit. Even in its first stages in early access, the game has near-perfect user reviews and hit that Overwhelmingly Positive threshold. One that I'm hoping to sink a few hours into over the weekend.

Out Now: Security 51 - Papers Please, Area 51 style

A dark sci-fi comedy spin on the Papers Please formula. You're the security desk guy at Area 51, and your job is to make sure that no aliens (or saboteurs) get in or out. Check their documents, scan to see if they've got too many organs, and purge the elevator if there's something in there that shouldn't be. A good concept, but early user reviews highlight thin story and a poorly planned difficulty curve.

Out Now: Servant of the Lake - Unsettling point & click puzzler

The latest in the long-running, much-loved Rusty Lake series of adventures. Almost-wordless, unsettling period pieces that expect you to slowly feel your way through a gallery of strange gothic environments, figuring out what the stranger people want and need, and solving their problems through esoteric machines, pixel-hunting and the occasional weird inventory interaction. The eleventh of its kind released in the past decade, it's no surprise that this one's doing well.

Out Now: Silent Shark - WW2 submarine command simulator

Submarine simulators have always been a fascinating sub-genre (sorry, sorry) - aside from surfacing to peek around with a periscope, there's not much to see, so they're games mostly played from the commander's map, dialing in headings, marking sonar pings on your charts, calculating firing angles and then (if all goes to plan) sinking an unsuspecting target with no witnesses. So far, this one seems to be ticking all the right boxes, with 100% positive reviews at the time of writing.

Out Now: Souls Remnant - Maple Story-like F2P indie MMO

Maple Story is one of those early MMOs that seemingly everyone I knew played for dozens (if not hundreds) of hours, even if I bounced off it. Simple side-scrolling platform hack n' slash action is just burnt into so many people's minds and souls. Soul's Remnant is the latest indie attempt to recapture that spark, and with thousands of players online and most reviews being positive even in early access, it might just have pulled it off.

Out Now: Static Dread: The Submarine - Subaquatic paranoid horror

A submarine might be THE single worst place on earth to be when you're being stalked by horrible monsters from the abyss. The surface world has gone silent, and your submarine crew might be the only ones able to find out what caused it, deep under the water. Lots of genres mashed together in this one, with your crew's mental state and loyalty being something to keep a close eye on. This one launched midway through writing this roundup, so very few user-reviews so far, but the game's predecessor, The Lighthouse, was well-liked.

Out Now: Stonewards - Co-op roguelike horde defense

Seemingly inspired by Deep Rock Galactic, Stonewards has players mining, crafting and gearing up in their tunnels by day to fight off swarms of orcs, undead and other nasties at night, as they threaten your castle walls. Cute, chunky, positive user vibes so far and off to a good start in early access - we'll be keeping an eye on this one to see how it evolves.

Out Now: Swordcery - ARPG roguelike hack n' slasher

And yet another early access debut, this time a very tongue-in-cheek action RPG set in a world obsessed with magic swords. Flaming swords, kebab swords, giant pizza-cutter swords, an entire refrigerator that is also a sword. Basically Enter The Gungeon, but for sword-likers, and with a bunch of roguelite progression mechanics to keep numbers going up between runs. Not many sales so far, but well received by those who have tried it.

Out Now: The Canon of Balls - Ball-rolling dungeon platformer

"Dark Souls makes a baby with Super Monkey Ball", says the store page. Honestly, that looks about right. Playable solo or co-op (the devs mention that there's no explicit co-op mechanics, it's just more fun with friends), players control silly statue faces in rolling orbs, exploring dark gothic megastructures inspired by Shadow Of The Colossus, and occasionally patrolled by giant constructs, too. So far, everyone seems to be enjoying this one.

Out Now: The Core - Orbular exploration action-RPG

What are the chances that there'd be two surprisingly serious-looking games about balls right beside each other here? I guess they do typically come in pairs. Also playable in co-op but taking a very different approach, The Core has players upgrading their high-tech orb to roll faster, jump higher or zap things in the environment to move stuff around, break things or just interact with distant devices in a sci-fi labyrinth. Very few reviews for this early access debut, but it looks promising.

Out Now: The Lord of the Rings: War in the North - Classic hack n' slasher remaster

A surprise re-launch, seemingly out of nowhere, and promised to be just the first of several Lord Of The Rings re-releases. Developed by the team behind Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, War In The North was a well-liked co-op hack n' slash action game (with some light RPG elements), following an off-brand fellowship on their quest to support the war effort elsewhere in Tolkien's epic, now easily playable on modern machines, online or local co-op enabled.

Out Now: Touch of Madness - Ultra-low-fi 2D survival horror

Another small indie release with great initial reviews, from a tiny Brazilian developer. Classic 'make every bullet count' survival horror in side-scrolling form, and a story split between two protagonists. One of them in the real world, trying to unravel what's actually happening, and another trapped in a parallel nightmare world full of monsters, each having a distinct color palette for their part in the story.

Out Now: Vivid Intrusion - Abstract arena FPS, Devil Daggers-style

A high-speed roguelike arena shooter inspired by Devil Daggers, but brighter, faster and and with a dreamlike PS1-style wobbly aesthetic. Each wave, you get to pick an upgrade to dial in your build and attacks, then go another round against an assortment of surreal, abstract creatures.

Out Now: Warhounds - XCom-like squad combat in modern Africa

We're only a couple weeks from the release of Star Wars: Zero Company, the squad tactics game from the ex-Firaxis team behind XCom, but if you're hankering for some turn-based, cover-heavy tactical command right now, this might not be a bad stopgap. You're heading up a mercenary squad taking dangerous, dirty jobs in war-torn Africa. Interestingly, rather than arbitrary to-hit scores, this game uses real ballistics, so every bullet is a physical entity tracked through the world. Reviews so far are mostly positive, but with complaints about undisclosed AI assets and bullet-spongey enemies.

And with that, we collapse into a smoking, oozing heap for the week. Not the fault of the toxic sludge, just the UK weather. Happy gaming, and we hope you all have a cool and refreshing weekend wherever you are. Peace out!