Typically, if I'm holding my breath while playing a game, it's because I'm focused on the rhythm of say, an intense combat sequence or platforming section. The tension stems from the precise, real-time input needed to triumph in those situations, a perfectly-aligned leap or parry. Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector, an RPG in which the main mechanic is placing dice into a slot at your leisure, does not require the lightning fast touch of a button, and that in itself is a testament to how exhilarating the game can be.

Citizen Sleeper 2 is the sequel to 2022's Citizen Sleeper, and a compelling evolution to the first instalment that introduces new characters, stories and mechanics. You don't necessarily need to have played the first game, but it does help in understanding the nuance and complexities of the unforgiving, dystopian world that Citizen Sleeper is set in. While the first game often felt like an isolated journey where helping yourself was often a zero-sum game, Citizen Sleeper 2 introduces a crew system, alongside some other clever new features, allowing your Sleeper to become the quirky, unappointed protagonist of your very own episodic sci-fi adventure.

Thursday, January 23 was a big day for all of us at Compulsion Games. In addition to being a part of Developer_Direct, where members of our studio team shared more about the gameplay, look, and feel of South of Midnight, our third-person action-adventure game set in the American Deep South, we announced our release date of April 8, 2025, and early access beginning April 3. If that wasn't enough, we also released our brand-new story trailer, which expands on the narrative of South of Midnight, while including all-new gameplay, characters, and mythical creatures from the game. We're so excited to share more about South of Midnight, which is available now for pre-orders.

The Story of South of Midnight
In our story trailer, protagonist Hazel and her mother are preparing for the impending hurricane. The storm proves massive, causing catastrophic flooding-and causing their own home to be swept down river with her mother in it. Its aftermath shows the fictional town of Prospero, located in the southern United States, eerily calm while irrevocably changed from the hurricane's destruction. Here, Hazel undertakes a journey in search of her mother, while finding out more about herself and her family's lineage in the process. Hazel begins to see fantastical phenomena all over Prospero, including meeting Catfish, an enormous—and talking—creature in his own right, stuck in a tree following the hurricane's destruction. Catfish tells Hazel she is a Weaver, someone who possesses magical powers and can see how our threads connect to form the woven tapestry of our fates.

Every year, Valve holds The Steam Game Awards, a community-driven initiative to recognize the best games that were launched in that year. Valve has just released the results for the 2024 Steam Game Awards, which are determined by community vote—as opposed to events like The Game Awards, which feature a jury selection—and split into individual categories. This year, though, the overall winner for Game of the Year was Black Myth Wukong, which beat out other finalists: Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, Balatro, and Helldivers 2 for top spot. Game of the Year wasn't Wukong's only victory, either, with the game also taking home the "Outstanding Story-Rich Game Award," which seems logical given its overall victory, and the cleverly named "Best Game You Suck At Award," which is meant to highlight the best difficult game of the year. In this category, Black Myth Wukong was up against Dragon Ball Z Sparkling Zero, The Finals, Ghost of Tsushima, and Tekken 8, which is again a very diverse mix of games and genres, so it's somewhat interesting to see a narrative-driven game like Wukong come out ahead here.

The rest of the Steam Game Awards 2024 was less of a one-man show, with Metro Awakening VR taking Best VR Game of the Year, Elden Ring nabbing the Labor of Love Award, and God of War Ragnarök taking the Best Game on Steam Deck Award. Helldivers 2 won Better with Friends, while Silent Hill 2 took home the Outstanding Visual Style Award, Liar's Bar won Most Innovative Gameplay, Red Dead Redemption won Best Soundtrack Award, and Farming Simulator 25 was crowned with the Sit Back and Relax award, beating out the likes or Webfishing, House Flipper 2, and Tiny Glade. One of the more surprising "minor" awards winners here is God of War Ragnarök taking home Best Game on Steam Deck, since you often hear in discourse around the Steam Deck that it's not suitable for AAA gaming, and God of War is only two years old at the time of writing, meaning it is still very demanding, with an NVIDIA GTX 1060 6 GB quoted as the minimum recommended GPU to play the game.

The Borderlands 4 trailer recently hinted at some sweeping tone shifts for the upcoming looter shooter RPG, and Gearbox Studio's creative and narrative director for Borderlands 4, Sam Winkler, recently confirmed that the shift in tone will extend to the game's character writing and humor. In a series of posts on X, Winkler said "I remain firm in my criticism of BL3's overabundance of toiler humor," going on to explain that there will still be toilet humor, and the idea of a Hawk Tuah reference in-game was being thrown around. "Paul Tassi joked that we were gonna have a gun called Hawk 2A and a fellow dev asked me if it was real and I wanted to put my hand down the sink grinder."

While the Borderlands 4 trailer has generated plenty of hype around the upcoming instalment to the franchise, it hasn't gone without its criticisms. However, the apparent changes to the game's visuals and tone—specifically away from the over-the-top nature of Borderlands 3—have been almost universally positively received, with many fans now expecting a return to the glory days of Borderlands 2. Writing has never been the highlight of the Borderlands franchise, but most seem to agree that Borderlands 3 often went too far with the jokes, to the detriment of the overall experience.

Today at The MIX's Fall Showcase, indie publisher Raw Fury and developer Clifftop Games revealed Kathy Rain 2: Soothsayer, the second installment in the point-and-click Kathy Rain series. In this new urban thriller, down-and-out private eye Kathy Rain will embark on her most dangerous case yet—pursuing the notorious serial killer, the Soothsayer.

Three years following her investigation in Conwell Springs, Kathy Rain is on a brand new case involving a string of murders that have paralyzed the metropolitan city of Kassidy. Players must help Kathy Rain find clues, gather evidence, connect the dots, and confront the murderer before the hunter becomes hunted… will this case define her career, or cast her as the next victim of the 'Soothsayer'...?

Welcome to the last full week of October and boy is it going to be a busy week of new game releases. This week's AAA release is said to force you to go rogue on your tour of duty. Next you'll be starting your own tentacle cult, which if followed by being kicked out of hell for the second time, an inaccurate history lesson, being blown away by the wind and finally being turned into a blue hedgehog.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 / This week's AAA title / Friday 25 October
Developed by Treyarch and Raven, Black Ops 6 is a spy action thriller set in the early 90s, a period of transition and upheaval in global politics, characterized by the end of the Cold War and the rise of the United States as a single superpower. With a mind-bending narrative, and unbound by the rules of engagement, this is signature Black Ops. The Black Ops 6 Campaign provides dynamic moment-to-moment gameplay that includes a variety of play spaces with blockbuster set pieces and action-packed moments, high-stakes heists, and cloak-and-dagger spy activity. Steam link

Indie developer Plane Toast, in collaboration with indie publisher Dear Villagers, is thrilled to announce the upcoming release of Caravan SandWitch, a captivating narrative-driven exploration adventure set in a beautifully crafted, Sci-Fi Provence-like world called Cigalo. Launching in 2024 on Steam, Epic, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch, Caravan SandWitch invites players to embark on a heartfelt journey unveiling the mysteries of Cigalo to find their missing sister.

Caravan SandWitch is already showing up on the big stage! It was featured at the AG French Direct a few hours ago. Stay tuned because we will have a Wholesome news for you Directly in your inbox REALLY soon! Who knows, maybe it will be an exclusive demo, keep updated by wishlisting the game.

The characters in a Lovecraft story are susceptible to… mutation. Minds and bodies are forever altered by exposure to the horrors hiding in the darker corners of the world. It's perhaps no surprise, then, that The Sinking City 2—which just got a world premiere in the latest Xbox Partner Preview broadcast—has undergone its own unexpected change. Where the first game was a detective adventure, with horror bubbling up from its flooded world, its sequel has taken on a darker, more aggressive form. The Sinking City 2 is a true horror game now, with more emphasis on combat, while keeping a Lovecraftian narrative close to its twisted heart.

"The Sinking City is one of our most successful titles, because of our stronger horror genre leanings and the setting," Frogwares Head of Publishing, Sergey Oganesyan tells me. "For us, it was kind of a breakthrough, and we are super excited to work on a full-scale horror game. We have created quite a few detective adventures in the past, so now we're going to mix things up to keep doing what people love from us - meaning story-rich experiences - while still being able to evolve."

Valiant Hearts: Coming Home and Valiant Hearts: The Collection, which includes Valiant Hearts: The Great War and Valiant Hearts: Coming Home, is now available on Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, and PC through Ubisoft Connect. Valiant Hearts: The Great War, the first installment of the duology, interweaves the stories of five characters as they experience the horrors of World War I. Karl, who was expelled from France and drafted to the German army; his father-in-law Emile, who has been drafted into the French army; Freddie, an American volunteer in the French Foreign Legion; Anna, a French combat nurse; and Walt, a medic's casualty dog - who also helps players sneak into areas inaccessible to humans.

Valiant Hearts: Coming Home, previously an exclusive Netflix mobile game developed by Ubisoft Montpellier in partnership with Old Skull Games, continues a dramatic narrative during World War I, once again focusing on four interconnected stories. James is a member of the historic Harlem Hellfighters looking for his older brother Freddie; the nurse Anna's returns to her work tending the wounded; Ernst is a German diver; and George is a British aviator. And, of course, the good dog Walt returns to help players with puzzles and exploration. Music plays an important role in the game as well, as the Harlem Hellfighters played a key role in introducing jazz music to Europe, and players can listen to the game's jazz soundtrack by Jason Moran on music streaming platforms.

Ken Levine (Creative Director, Ghost Story Games), creator of the BioShock series, unpacks how Judas will be an experience where players influence how relationships and the story unfold: "Characters have always been the driving force in every game we've ever made. Whether fighting beneath the ocean to assassinate Andrew Ryan or escaping a city in the sky with Elizabeth, these personalities have always been at the heart of our stories. But what if you could choose between who to befriend and who to stab in the back? With Judas (coming to PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S), we wanted to craft an experience where these decisions and how the story unfolds is up to you. Because you, as Judas, are the driver of every event in a story with a new cast of characters to get to know—and change—in ways you haven't experienced before in our games.

In Judas, we give you a whole new world to explore: the corridors of the Mayflower, a spacefaring city whose citizens are trained to spy on one another and tear each other apart for the slightest offense. Where machines control every aspect of business, art, and government. The ship's leaders tried to turn you into something you're not: a model citizen. And you sparked a devastating revolution to tear it all down. Do you want to fix what you broke or leave it all to burn? That's a decision only you can make."