It’s that time again. 🎃 For the last few Octobers, A Short Hike creator Adam Gryu has opened the gates to the annual Pumpkin Festival. Jump in, admire people’s creations, and find a nice spot to carve and place your own. New this year: hats! Always a bit of fun.

As far as non-FromSoft soulslikes go, this is the real deal. It’s not doing anything revolutionary, but it has enough compelling new ideas, and a level of polish that elevates it beyond its otherwise decent contemporaries. It also commits so hard to Timothée Chalamet Pinocchio Bloodborne that you kind of forget how silly that actually is.

In a statement today, Valve announced their plan to discontinue the Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) after the 2023 season, but reassure the community that their annual tournament The International will continue. Launched in 2017, the DPC aimed to clarify & formalise invites for The International, but Valve now claim it led to a less varied and exciting competitive Dota scene.

Experimental food sandbox with ridiculous graphics and a focus on a e s t h e t i c s. The lack of significant objectives, and at times unintuitive controls certainly won’t be for everyone, but if you’re up for messing around, it’s a satisfying & delightful time.

New DLC for The Case of the Golden Idol has been released, which is a good opportunity to shout out what was one of the best, most slept on releases of 2022. It’s called The Lemurian Vampire and it I can’t wait to get stuck into it. And if you like detective games and haven’t played Golden Idol, what are you waiting for?

I was ready to bounce off, intimidated by its depth and pacing, but this game is truly something else. Great writing, VA, world design and more than anything, an obscene level of player agency.

A must-play for any puzzle game enthusiast. What first appear to be simple puzzles are elegantly designed, without tricks or annoying ‘gotchas’. Probably one of the best puzzle games ever made.

Sub Rosa was a wild ride through the streets of Reservoir Dogs and Heat, and all your friends are there. Now sadly abandoned in early access, the streets are empty. A real shame.

Mechanically quite dated, but a classic of its era. If you didn’t play it back then, this is a really solid remaster. Enemies are bullet-spongey and sometimes track you too well, but it’s still great.

Creepy and suspenseful, it’s a classic just like its predecessor. If you like immersive, scary RPGs, and don’t mind some dated systems, play it.