"There's a lot of different questions being asked there," Cain said. "Would I want to remake Fallout as a 3D game? Are you asking if I would like to make a Fallout offshoot like Fallout: New Vegas is… Do I want to make Fallout 5?" Whatever he thinks of those respective possibilities, Cain was clear that he's not worried about authority, creative freedom, or even pay⁠—within reason, of course. Cain explained that his primary motivator, especially now that he's semi-retired, is his own interest in a project.

"The 'TLDW' is: Every RPG I've ever made offered me something new and different that got me interested in making it," Cain said. "It was the game itself that offered me something interesting that made me go 'Ooh, I want to do that, I've never done that.'"

While there are throughlines between his projects, it's certainly an eclectic spread: Fallout, The Temple of Elemental Evil, South Park: The Stick of Truth, and The Outer Worlds, to name a few. Notably, the only direct sequel that Cain has worked on that left pre-production, Fallout 2, was not a project he'd wanted to pursue, and he left development before it was completed.

"If someone came to me and said, 'You want to make a Fallout game?' My answer is: 'Well, what's new?'" Cain said of the hypothetical. "I didn't even want to make Fallout 2, why would I want to make a new Fallout?"

While money is certainly an object for Cain, he explained that the novelty or excitement of a project is the thing that gets him through the door, Fallout or otherwise: "The very first question out of my mouth is 'What's new about it?'" 

But while it might be hard to impress one of the guys who invented Fallout with a new idea for Fallout, it does sound like Cain's contracting on a few new game projects that excite him⁠—in the past he's mentioned overcoming that aversion to sequels to continue working on The Outer Worlds 2.

Registrations for a Space Marine 2 beta first opened in August 2023, but that plan was derailed by the extended delay that pushed the game from a winter 2023 launch to sometime in the second half of 2024. The December 2023 announcement of a new release date included another invitation to sign up for the test, which was meant to be playable in co-op mode. And for now, at least, you can still sign up for it on the Focus Test Zone website. You just won't actually be able to play it.

"Space Marine 2 is almost ready," the developers wrote on Steam. "We are now entirely focused on optimization, polish and fixing remaining issues ahead of launch on September 9. This means we will not run a public online beta, as it would take the development teams away from preparing for the full launch, and our priority is to ensure the best possible experience at release."

To make up for the "disappointing news," anyone who signed up for the beta prior to midnight Paris time on June 28—which has already passed, so if you're not already in I'm afraid you've missed out—will get a limited Bolt Pistol skin when Space Marine 2 goes live.

It's understandable that Saber and Focus would want to keep their attention on the full game rather than having to shift effort to support a beta test, but it's also understandable that some fans find the cancelation after all this time concerning. Some on Reddit and Steam are supportive of the move, but there's also an unmistakable wave of suspicion: Some think Saber and Focus Home are trying to cover up an unimpressive game ahead of launch, while others worry that the lack of public online testing will result in widespread server headaches when Space Marine 2 launches.

I'm inclined to take Saber at its word: To mix up sports metaphors, the finish line is in sight and the developers want to keep their eyes on the ball. But the worry isn't entirely unfounded. The cancellation of a planned beta test shortly ahead of launch is a rare thing, and the last time I can recall it happening with any sort of high-profile game was in 2017, when BioWare decided that a public tech test for Mass Effect: Andromeda "would not be necessary." 

We won't re-litigate that whole schmozzle except to note that less than six months after Andromeda came out, Electronic Arts decided the studio that made it was also not necessary.

Interestingly, while a public playtest will not happen, a demo will be playable at various stops along the Space Marine 2 North America Tour, the next of which will be Fan Expo in Denver, Colorado, running July 4-7. Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 is set to launch in full on September 9.

Mostly I use tables as a quick distraction while sprinting through a castle. If I spy a long table covered with utensils and tableware and food, I leap onto it, kick everything onto the floor, and dash out of the room. Just for fun. 

That might change when I install GG's Complex Silverware mod for Skyrim Special Edition, because: Wow. It overhauls dishes, goblets, jugs, candlesticks, trays, and silverware with new textures and models, and they're so beautiful it's almost mesmerizing. Check this out:

That's Skyrim? Even with all the visual enhancement mods I've seen over the years, it's hard to believe. It looks like fine art from whatever period it was people painted tables covered with jugs and fruit and stuff. Beautiful.

I've honestly been drooling over the mod's screenshots on Nexus Mods for the past ten minutes. I never knew Skyrim's jugs could look so great. Here, I threw a few more in the gallery below.

As you might guess, getting your tableware to look this pretty doesn't come easy, and there are a bunch of mods its dependent on to get working, including the ENB Series, ENB Dynamic Cubemaps, and several more. Make sure you fully read the description and instructions on the Nexus Mod page for GG's Complex Silverware mod before you start installing it.

And if obsessing over tableware sends you spiraling into a weekend of feverish mod installing, consider our best Skyrim mods guide as a starting point.

The latest addition to Hitman's roster of Elusive Targets is a notorious figure indeed: He's called The Disruptor, but you might know him better as multi-time MMA champion Conor McGregor.

Somewhat surprisingly (or very surprisingly, depending on how you feel about these things), McGregor is not actually the villain in this scenario. Instead, he's a multi-millionaire MMA fighter signed for a fight with Tim Quinn, the CEO of tech company Quantum Leap, who's recently taken an interest in MMA and considers himself a legit contender for the upper ranks. Bit on the nose there, eh?

Anyway, despite his supreme self-confidence Quinn is definitely not ready to run with the big dogs. Alas, because he's extremely rich, nobody is willing to tell him no, but company executives also don't want him humiliated in the ring because that might damage the share price. Thus, the obvious move: Hire Agent 47 to wack McGregor—sorry, The Disruptor—before he can clean Quinn's clock.

Which isn't to say McGregor (sorry, sorry, The Disruptor) is exactly a good guy here. As usual, McGregor is playing a slightly exaggerated version of himself: A hyper-aggressive purveyor of violence with poor impulse control whose only joy in life is hitting people. That's not too terribly far off the mark: Courtesy of Wikipedia, here's the rundown of McGregor's "controversies," a list considerably longer than I'd realized.

And yes, McGregor really did clock the Miami Heat mascot—not just once, but twice.

All of that exists outside the context of the game, though, so I wouldn't be at all surprised if McGregor's character turns out to have an even darker side in the game to make him a little more acceptably killable. After all, 47 is at least nominally the hero of the Hitman series, and having him dirt-nap honest folks who are just doing their jobs might be a little too heartless for some players.

The Disruptor mission is free for all Hitman players: Those with the free Starter Pack will be able to take it on in The Ostentatious, an arcade contract with multiple escalating missions that will reset to the beginning—with a 12-hour lock before you can try again—if you blow it. Hitman: World of Assassination owners will have access to the original "one chance only" Elusive Target mode, in which failure means the target gets away for good. (Or at least until IO Interactive brings them back.)

Committed fans can also drop $5 on The Disruptor Pack DLC, which includes McGregor's—I mean, well, you know who I mean—fur coat, cane, kettlebell, and resistance band, as well as permanent access to The Ostentatious, a two-level arcade contract. 

I'm not usually one for buying skins, but in this case I think it might be five bucks well spent.

Yes, now you can pet the cyberpunk RPG's delightfully low-res dogs, as well as cats and pigeons out there on the mean streets of New York, Hong Kong, and Gay Paree. I haven't had a chance to load up the new update myself and see if this love fest extends to Deus Ex's many rats as well, but you can always just rotate one around in your mind to help focus.

A real sleeper benefit of the 3.0 update is the quality of life improvements it offers for Steam Deck users: an "Augmentation Tree" similar to the weapon wheels of console FPSes will even pause the game while you're using it, which makes up for the Deck's lack of function keys in selecting your aug powerups. I can see it also being useful for anyone out there with a 70% keyboard or smaller⁠—hell, it's probably more comfortable than selecting them off the function row even if you do have a full keyboard. God put those keys there for quicksaving and loading.

The Randomizer has long offered a password autofill option⁠—once you find a password out in the world, you can just select it at the relevant terminal or keypad instead of remembering it and typing it out. While I love the tactile passwords and door codes of old immersive sims, this is a real drag on the Deck's touchscreen keyboard. With these bugbears sorted, OG Deus Ex on the go feels more like an attractive way to play the game than a novelty.

Speaking of novelties, Deus Ex Randomizer has gotten another big addition since we last checked in on it: WaltonWare mode. This sendup of the legendarily chaotic WarioWare spawns you at a random point in Deus Ex's campaign, tasking you with filling a single line of one of the Randomizer's procedurally generated in-game bingo cards. Objectives include:

• Assassinating assorted NPCs
• Using a urinal
• Drinking water
• Defenestration
• Inflicting some of Deus Ex's myriad status effects on NPCs.
• And now, of course: petting a dog

I remain impressed at just how flexible the Randomizer is: it offers everything from a slightly spruced up Deus Ex experience to manic 15-20 minute bingo "playthroughs" leveraging the game's beloved potential for systemic slapstick. It's also compatible with some of the other mods that can help you have the best modern day Deus Ex experience, like Lay D Denton or Revision. You can grab the Deus Ex Randomizer for yourself on GitHub or at co-creator Die4Ever's website, Mod4Ever. 

Things have gone quiet on the Soulcalibur front since then, while stablemate Tekken's star has continued to rise. Bandai Namco has developed these two very different flavours of fighting game simultaneously since the late 1990s, but with no new entry seemingly even planned some fans are beginning to worry that the success of Tekken will see Soulcalibur fade away.

A series fan posted a long thread outlining the reasons they felt Soulcalibur was in the doldrums, including the claim that it lacked a strong focal point like Tekken chief Katsuhiro Harada, and some spitballing about various game mechanics. Just another day on the gaming internet, but this sparked a remarkably long response from Katsuhiro Harada himself, who clearly had something to get off his chest.

Harada's missive is detailed and somewhat brutal about what goes on behind-the-scenes at a giant publisher like Bandai Namco, and what it takes to keep pushing forward a massive brand like Soulcalibur or Tekken. 

Harada begins by addressing the idea that various game mechanics affect a series' survival or otherwise: "things are not that simple." He points out that these games began in the heyday of arcades (the first Soulcalibur, Soul Edge, was an arcade cabinet before home conversions followed) where people could experiment more with games, and move between favourites, but in the home market your players have already purchased the game.

He calls this a "paradigm shift" in how games are marketed and sold, and for "historical video game franchises" this can be a big problem. 

"It is too naïve and innocent a point of view to leave everything to game mechanics when talking about the survival of a game franchise," writes Harada. "If they are so innocent, why did that game title that was so fun to play disappear?

"Where are those arcade titles that we were so crazy about? Where did that fighting game franchise with those great mechanics go? Why did that fighting game with those good mechanics disappear?"

Harada says there are many beloved titles that have disappeared, and points out how many different fighting game series there were in the late '90s compared to now, joking that "there must have been some titles you rated as having much better mechanics than Tekken!"

Boss mode

Then Harada gets to the point that really seems to have roused him: the idea that if Soulcalibur had long-term leadership like Tekken it would still be vital. With Soulcalibur, says Harada, it "was not simply a matter of sales and marketing, but I can tell you that the organizational changes and decision makers at Namco Bandai had a great deal to do with it."

Harada has worked on Soulcalibur titles in the past, and was co-director on Soulcalibur IV, but says he's always maintained "a certain distance" from Bandai Namco's other big fighting game.

"In the past, the SC series had a strong leader named [Hiroaki] Yotoriyama (who was also once the animation team leader of Tekken), and above all, the team of engineers was more knowledgeable about fighting games than Tekken, and had excellent programming skills," says Harada, who goes on to call Project Soul "an elite group, a sophisticated development team."

Internally, the rivalry between the two series "was intensifying," recalls Harada. "I was in the same game designer department as Yotoriyama of Project Soul, but we had friction to the point where we fought daily." Harada says after this period "we were very close" but then after that Yotoriyama "quit Bandai Namco", and the rivalry between the two brands remained high.

"The two projects had different visions, different development policies, and very different ways of thinking about the brand," says Harada. They didn't hate each other, but "they were such rivals that it was not surprising to think so."

Or as the other side put it, per Harada: "Yotoriyama always said, 'There is no point in putting the needs of Tekken into Soulcalibur,' and I agreed with him."

Harada goes on to say that "Project Soul certainly had a leader and staff with 'soul' and 'clear vision'... The enthusiasm of the game designers on site could have surpassed that of the Tekken team, and it was enough to make us feel impatient. If Project Soul had been able to maintain that structure, I sometimes wonder if things might be a little different today."

Soulcalibur apparently outperformed Tekken on consoles in North America, whereas Tekken did very well in arcades and sold well across all regions. "SC was always seen as having a promising future, even within Namco, and was considered to be capable of expanding beyond the realm of fighting games in a rather global perspective," says Harada.

Soul survivor

But things changed as the games industry expanded and Namco itself became a much bigger company through its merger with Bandai. Harada says few of today's executives have backgrounds in game design, while most designers are spread across multiple disciplines in service of career progression rather than mastering their field.

"Each time a project's key players were peeled away, the big dreams and visions that the project once held became weaker," says Harada. "Project Soul was struggling to survive (or so it seemed to me), especially among its younger members." The same thing happened to him as he became head of a global business development unit at Bandai Namco. That could've been the end of his involvement in Tekken… but Harada had other plans.

"I made the decision to lead the Tekken Project despite the fact that I was in a different company, department, and division, and had no budget authority," says Harada. "I practically manipulated the creative and budget planning."

Harada felt that Tekken's survival depended on the team being willing to swim against the diktats from above. "A head appointed solely for career advancement, with no love for that game title and no long term vision, cannot be good for the survival of the series or the fan community," says Harada.

"We, Tekken Project, always said that 'the rights to the title belong to the company, but the fan community can only rely on the team that has the will to make the game'.

"I decided to continue to play the role of "Tekken Project leader," which was not directly related to my original duties, and proceeded with the development as an independent team," says Harada. "This move was very much disliked by the publisher, and the department head must have been very uncomfortable with it. Yeah, he hated me so much."

Thanks to this Tekken Project survived as "a group of outlaws" and are able to make independent decisions within Bandai Namco.

"If there is only one major difference between Project Soul and the other groups, this is the only one", says Harada. "In Tekken, Heihachi and Kazuya say 'A fight is about who's left standing. Nothing else.' This line used to be my motto. I kept this in mind throughout our rivalry with Soulcalibur, and even when the market for 3D fighting games was becoming increasingly competitive, I continued to tell my team, 'No matter how you do it, the last one standing wins'. And this motto remained unchanged even in the midst of the major trends that occurred within the group companies.

"So we were never obedient, but always a wicked group with a strong will. I've realized through these experiences that, unfortunately, I probably have a bad personality. I think this was the only difference between Tekken Project and Project Soul. I think that the fact that the number of members who had the drive to keep the title alive, even if they had to jump through all kinds of pressure, decreased as the organization changed, and that is one of the aspects that weakened Project Soul little by little. I am not saying that is all. But it was a big factor. Happened due to organizational policy, not individual problems."

Lest that seem too downbeat a note to end on, Harada offers a little hope.

"From my point of view, I don't think the fire of Project Soul has been extinguished. There are still a few people in the company who have the will to do it. I would like to believe that they are just not united now."

This is one of the most in-depth answers I've ever seen a developer give on social media, and the original post clearly hit some sort of a chord with Harada. I'm more of a Street Fighter man but I love following Harada's antics around the latest Tekken ("hello cracker"), and his style of engaging with the community is both very funny and occasionally belligerent. If nothing else this shows that the aggressive personality is not an act, and that Harada has had to fight to stay a part of his beloved Tekken over the years. It may well have been what's kept the series so vibrant.

The fact that Project Soul may have been whittled away little-by-little under those same pressures… well, that's just sad.

Shadow of the Erdtree's gotten around 44,000 more reviews since we took stock of its Steam rating last weekend, when only 61% of its user reviews were positive. Now that over 70% of its 57,000 reviews are favorable, how do we explain the recovery? Did those players with early frustrations notice Bandai Namco's Scadutree Fragment public awareness campaign and start having an easier time? Or were most of the players who'd eventually leave positive reviews busy playing? Maybe it was a FromSoft fan defense brigade, trying to counteract what they thought was a review bombing campaign?

Having done a quick survey of Steam reviews from the last couple days, it seems like it's a mix of the three. Most recent positive reviews share a pretty simple theme: Yes, it's hard, but those early reviewers were rusty whiners. Steam user Dr. Voidburn finds a succinct phrasing for the sentiment, saying, "Don't listen to the negativity. Big sword still go brrr."

As you'd probably expect from positive reviews for a FromSoft game, there's a lot of breathless praise for Miyazaki in the mix. What's interesting, though, is while a few recent negative reviews still call the boss difficulty overtuned, most of the complaints from the last couple days are performance related. Players are describing regular FPS drops and hitches, especially during the DLC's final boss fight. It's a frustration mentioned in plenty of positive reviews, too. 

We'll have to wait and see where the remaining millions of Tarnished will land on Shadow of the Erdtree after another weekend of being embarrassed by bosses. Until then, if you're braving the Land of Shadow yourself: Don't give up, skeleton! 

There are two kinds of gamers in the world: Those who think Dark Messiah of Might and Magic is a brilliant immersive sim that laid the foundation for the genius of Arkane's later work on Dishonored and Prey, and those who haven't played it yet. So when a game claims to draw inspiration from Dark Messiah, I—as someone who played and loved it—immediately want to know more. Alkahest is one such game, and it's attracting some real curiosity, but also a little bit of doubt.

"Alkahest is an action-adventure RPG set in a murky medieval world, where satisfying melee combat with highly interactive environments takes center stage," the newly-revealed Steam page says. "Explore realistic locations, learn alchemy and make a name for your family."

Nothing too remarkable there as far as videogames go, but it's the trailer that's attracting attention. The Dark Messiah vibes are definitely on point, but it's a little too good—too sharp, too smooth, too pre-rendered—and that's led some people to dismiss it as somehow "fake." It's even drawn a few comparisons to The Day Before, the zombie survival game that looked brilliant when we first saw it, but that ultimately delivered one of the most spectacular train wrecks in recent history.

Developer Push On said on the Alkahest Discord that the trailer "conveys the feeling of the game well," but also acknowledged that while in-game assets were used in the video, "some of the camera angles and animations have been crafted specifically for the trailer, for the sake of spectacle."

That doesn't sound unreasonable to me. Game trailers, especially announcement videos, are meant to grab attention, and this one certainly has. You probably won't be surprised to hear that I watch a lot of game trailers, and my only real complaint about this one is that it's not as explicit as it could be about what it is: An up-front "not actual gameplay" somewhere would at least help calm concerns that the developers are trying to put one over on people.

That said, there's definitely excitement for what Alkahest promises. Push On also cites Dishonored and Kingdom Come: Deliverance as inspirations, but at this stage it's the Dark Messiah fans coming out in force.

HansChrst1 has it right: It's all about the kicks, baby.

I also find it encouraging that the developers don't appear to be over-promising on what Alkahest will deliver: Rather than a "bloated map and dull filler quests," Push On is aiming for "a highly interactive and believable world with semi open-world locations, packed with secrets and adventure."

"The trailer is a pre-rendered sequence on the game engine, aimed to show key mechanics and interactions that players will experience in the game," Push On told PC Gamer. "All assets are in-game, but camera angles and some animations have been crafted specifically for the trailer. We plan to show raw gameplay footage later down the road."

Push On currently has 42 people working on Alkahest, which has been in development since 2023. There's no sign of a release target at this point, but a member of the dev team said closed playtests are coming "a few months from now."

"Ubisoft Toronto has decided to conduct a targeted realignment to ensure it can deliver on its ambitious roadmap," a company representative said in a statement provided to PC Gamer. "Unfortunately, this will impact the roles of 33 team members who will be leaving Ubisoft. We are committed to providing comprehensive support to them, including severance and career assistance, to help through this transition."

The pursuit of "growth" or future ambitions is an unfortunate oxymoron that's also become a common justification for putting people out of work. Grand Theft Auto publisher Take-Two Interactive described it as "rationalizing its pipeline" in April, while Xbox chief Phil Spencer in March blamed an industry-wide "lack of growth" for the decimation of its workforce. 

In May, Square Enix announced its intent to "aggressively pursue" multiplatform game development with an increased focus on the PC market, a strategy that also necessitated layoffs; the following month Embracer Group unveiled a "human-centric" AI policy it said will "empower" its employees, just three days after closing Alone in the Dark studio Pieces Interactive outright.

Of course, none of these cuts are about people and games, they're about ensuring a number on a page goes up sufficiently quickly to keep investors happy. Those numbers went up very quickly indeed during the opening years of the Covid-19 pandemic, when we were all stuck at home and playing more games than ever. 

But with those restrictions now a thing of the past, that rapid expansion has slowed, and the executives who dove face-first into an overheated market as though it was going to last forever (and, let's be clear, who should have known better, that's literally their job) are now left to reckon with the aftermath—which, naturally, other people are going to have to pay for.

The layoffs at Ubisoft Toronto seem especially surprising in light of the fact that the studio was recently put to work on the struggling Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time remake, which it's handling alongside the seemingly also-struggling Splinter Cell remake. Given that, you might think Ubisoft Toronto would need more people, not fewer, but Ubisoft said the layoffs will not impact any ongoing work: "Our plan remains unchanged, and our teams are working to deliver on the Splinter Cell remake and other projects at the studio."

Believe it or not, the plastic surgery may be the least sensational aspect of this story. OneCoin appeared in 2014 and was essentially a multi-level marketing scam with crypto at the core. The exchange was closed in 2017 and, following Ignatova's disappearance, she was subsequently charged with eight crimes in 2019, including wire fraud and securities fraud. The FBI added her to the most wanted list in 2022 with a $100,000 reward, later increasing it to $250,000. Now, it has increased that reward substantially: the question is why. 

The reward for information leading to the arrest of Ruja Ignatova now stands at $5 million (£4 million). This follows hot on the heels of a BBC World News documentary, The Case of the Missing Cryptoqueen: Dead or Alive, which revealed Ignatova's links to Bulgarian crime networks, investigated a mafia boss that may be linked to her disappearance, and raised the possibility of Ignatova being murdered. 

Nevertheless the FBI's pursuit of Ignatova continues, though increasing the reward twentyfold feels a little like a Hail Mary.

"We are offering a reward up to $5 million for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of German national Ruja Ignatova, known as 'Cryptoqueen,' for her role in one of the largest global fraud schemes in history," said Matthew Miller of the US State Department.

Jamie Bartlett is the journalist behind the BBC podcast series The Missing Cryptoqueen, a fascinating unpicking of Ignatova's story, and believes the reward is aimed at close associates who may still be protecting her.

"I always felt the initial reward ($100,000, later increased) was a carefully chosen number," writes Bartlett on his Substack. "If Ruja was on the run, she would likely come into contact with various airport officials, harbour staff, chefs working on private yachts, shop assistants. $100,000 would not convince any serious criminals to hand her over—but it might be enough for various service workers who might cross her path.

"That, it seems, hasn’t been fruitful. In the last episode of The Missing Cryptoqueen, we examined some of her connections to organized crime groups, and many people believe that if Dr Ruja is still in hiding, it will be with their protection. $100,000 wouldn’t persuade a junior member of a crime syndicate or a personal bodyguard to call the FBI’s hotline—it’s far too risky. But $5 million just might.

"So to me, the increased reward is a sign that the FBI are now refocusing their efforts on the people around Dr Ruja, trying to tempt her close associates to get in touch. We will probably know within a few weeks if it’s worked."

OneCoin was one of those schemes where people earn commissions for getting others to become "investors" and convincing them to encourage family members and friends to do the same—a pretty straightforward pyramid scheme, in other words— and the money lost to the scam is estimated at $4.5 billion. Ignatova was the key factor behind OneCoin's growth: multilingual, highly educated, fabulously dressed, and capable of securing huge investments.

Ignatova is currently the only woman on the FBI's most wanted list. Other figures for which the FBI will offer a $5 million reward include Daniel Kinahan, allegedly the head of one of Europe's largest drug cartels, Semion Mogilevich, a Russian crime boss, and Yulan Adonay Archaga Carias of Honduras' MS-13 criminal gang, also known as "Porky."