We’ve just watched the announcement trailer for Still Wakes the Deep, the latest game from The Chinese Room – and we’re excited for it!

That’s right, the studio that brought us Dear Esther, Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, and Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture is coming at us with a new oil rig horror game that promises to be a chill fest!

Described as a ‘narrative horror game’ set in Scotland circa 1975, it’s a first-person game that takes the studio ‘back to its roots’.

The announcement trailer is full of atmosphere and tension – which is just want you want from a horror teaser trailer.

Check the official announcement trailer out below:

The Chinese Room have released a short blurb to go with, which reads:

“Disaster strikes the Beira D oil rig off the coast of Scotland. Navigate the collapsing rig to save your crew from an otherworldly horror on the edge of all logic and reality.”

And, if you don’t mind us saying, this seems to be generally a good time for Scottish oil rig horrors, what with the success of The Rig and all!

Still Wakes the Deep will be released early 2024 and will be available for Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, PC and Game Pass.

In the meantime, you can buy Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs right here on Steam or the entire collection of Amnesia via the Playstation Store.

Source: Engadget

Great news for Razer keyboard users today, as the reknowned tech company has just unveiled an exciting new feature known as ‘Rapid Trigger Mode’ for its users.

Specifically designed for the Razer Huntsman V2 Analog and Razer Huntsman Mini Analogue keyboards, this feature can be enabled through the Razer Synapse software. With the aim of enhancing the gaming experience, Rapid Trigger Mode offers users an optimal balance of speed, responsiveness, and precision.

So, in other words, an all-round better gaming experience – and we like those here at Geek Native!

So, what does this new mode actually do?

One of the key elements that sets Rapid Trigger Mode apart is its innovative approach to keystroke registration. Unlike conventional keyboards where a switch must pass a fixed actuation point and then reset by moving back past a predetermined reset point, this new mode revolutionises the traditional mechanism.

By eliminating the need for a fixed reset point, the switch instantly resets as it moves upward immediately after registering a keystroke.

Alrighty then. It’s also got numerous practical benefits. Users can execute rapid keystrokes more efficiently, resulting in reduced key travel and improved reaction time. This advantage is particularly crucial in fast-paced gaming scenarios such as first-person shooters and rhythm games.

This impressive functionality is made possible by the cutting-edge technology embedded within Razer Analog Optical Switches. Leveraging optical technology, these switches ensure exceptional precision while being highly resistant to external factors like temperature fluctuations and magnetic interference.

Oh yeah – did we mention it’s free?

Perhaps the most exciting aspect of Rapid Trigger Mode is that it comes at no additional cost to users – that’s right, mothertruckers – it’s free!

Razer has made this feature available as a free update through the Razer Synapse software. To enjoy Rapid Trigger Mode, users simply need to update their Razer Synapse to the latest version, which can be easily accomplished by following a set of straightforward steps outlined in the official announcement.

Once the update is complete, users can find an ‘Actuation’ tab within Razer Synapse, allowing them to activate Rapid Trigger Mode for their preferred keys and customise sensitivity settings to their liking.

The global rollout of this update is already underway and is expected to be available to all users by June 13, 2023.

In the event that some users do not immediately see the update, Razer encourages them to revisit the software over the next few days until the rollout is complete. For more detailed information about the new Razer Rapid Trigger Mode, get it straight from the horse’s mouth over at Razer.

We might not talk about Fanatical as often here on Geek Native now that they stepped away from D&D Beyond, but they’re still very much part of geekweb and even in games.

They run Fanatical, and right now, there’s Warhammer Skulls, and their marketing email tells me there are up to 92% off games.

The countdown timer on the deal isn’t visible, but the top sellers are, so let’s take a look.

• There’s 30% off Darktide, a Warhammer 40K game.
• Total War Warhammer III has 48% off.
• The Brutal Edition of Blood Bowl has 40% off.
• Necromunda’s Hired Gun has a 65% price drop.
• Warhammer 40K’s Gladius: Adepta Sororitas is 30% off, that’s DLC.
• Warhammer 40K: Mechanicus Omnissiah Edition is 85% off.

Is there actually a 92% off? Yes, I can find Gladius: Relics of War on the first of five pages of deals.

Warhammer 40,000: Gladius – Relics of War is a turn-based strategy computer game released in 2018 by Slitherine Software for Windows and Linux.

In the game, players take control of one of four factions: the Astra Militarum, the Space Marines, the Orks, or the Necrons. Each faction has its own unique units, abilities, and playstyle. Players must explore the planet of Gladius Prime, gather resources, build bases, and train armies in order to defeat their opponents.

The game features a variety of different game modes, including a single-player campaign, a multiplayer mode, and a skirmish mode. The single-player campaign takes players through a series of missions that tell the story of the conflict on Gladius Prime. The multiplayer mode allows players to compete against each other online, while the skirmish mode allows players to play against the AI.

• Four playable factions: Astra Militarum, Space Marines, Orks, and Necrons
• Each faction has its own unique units, abilities, and playstyle
• Explore the planet of Gladius Prime, gather resources, build bases, and train armies
• Single-player campaign, multiplayer mode, and skirmish mode
• Visually stunning graphics
• Engaging gameplay
• Variety of content

Quick Links

• Fanatical’s Warhammer Skulls.

Alchemy RPG has launched on Kickstarter, picked up a “Project We Love”, been promoted by Free League Publishing as their official VTT partner and smashed funding goals by crossing the $200,000 mark.

The pitch looks slick, although it’s not straightforward to determine how Alchemy VTT differs from others. I think it’s by integrating streaming and campaign management features, showing more on the screen to be more cinematic and even less theatre of the mind. The claim, though, is more theatre of the mind. You can see what I mean on the pitch page.

[Back this Campaign]

Version One of Alchemy has licensed support for 12 games, with modules from 4 dozen creators, motion graphics, new music and ambience.

The Alchemy content is partnered with physical card decks, which you buy access to and kicks off with big titles such as Pathfinder, Dragonbane, Humblewood Tales, Kobold Press’s Scarlet Citadel and with content from the likes of Will Savino’s Music D20 and CZEPEKU scenes.

Instead of describing the characters, you create them as fully-playable Alchemy characters. Instead of describing a location, you create it as an immersive scene with environmental art, music, audio ambience, motion effects, and battle maps ready to drop into a game. Even magic items can be crafted within a Universe and brought into your games with ease.

A pledge of $25 gets supporters an exclusive Backers Account, which means you’ll be marked as someone there from Day Zero. It comes with 6 months of access to the platform and add-ons.

Stepping up to $50 (regular price $98) means you get 10 physical cards with codes to transform into digital content from one deck of your choice or $125 for access to three digital content decks.

Prices shoot up after that, with $200 unlocking all four decks and an exclusive Dystopia deck and your Alchemy Unlimited license doubles to 12 months.

The last tier, a Hail Mary, has had over 200 backers and that gets you lifetime access. As long as Alchemy runs, you won’t have to pay to access it and get all the stretch goals.

When is Alchemy Verison One expected? September 2023.

April 20th is written 4/20 written US style. If we could travel back Bill and Ted style to the early 1970s and San Rafael, California, then we might also be around for when some high schoolers may 4/20 Weed Day.

Today, 420 Day is celebrated in a variety of ways. Some people smoke marijuana and enjoy the company of friends, and others attend festivals, rallies, and other events that celebrate cannabis culture. Still, others use the day to educate others about the benefits of marijuana and to advocate for its legalisation.

This blogger is a gamer, though, not a smoker, and the whiffs of out-of-this-world entertainment from Skybound caught my attention.

It started with Renfield, out in the last few days, not strongly associated with the Renfield movie, but weekly as Skybound also produced that movie, and well timed. It turns out that Skybound has a few which look as trippy.

Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood

[Steam]

Renfield: BYOB is a 16-bit top-down action game filled to the brim with weapons and superpowers (think Smash TV meets Binding of Isaac). Teddy Lobo (based on Ben Schwartz), Rebecca Quincy (based on Awkwafina), Renfield (based on Nick Hoult), and Apache Joe are all characters inspired by Renfield (based on Marcus Lewis).

Rainbow Billy: The Curse of the Leviathan

[Steam]

A psychedelic role-playing game in which you must restore colour to the world you once knew in order to save a variety of charming creatures.

The Big Con

[Steam]

Play as a young con artist on the run in the 1990s United States. In this hilarious crime-filled adventure, you can decide how to make ends meet by donning disguises, picking pockets, and robbing people. Relive the glory days of plaid shirts and pay phones in the 1990s.

Twenty years after their last PC releases, several Dungeons & Dragons games make a grand return, including Spelljammer, Fantasy Empires, and Dragonlance classics.

Behind the revival is SNEG, an independent boutique publisher specialising in remastering classic games. The company’s audience is fans of retro games from all generations and wants to see more of them revitalised for modern audiences.

Spelljammer: Pirates of Realmspace, Fantasy Empires, DragonStrike, DeathKeep, and the Silver Box Classics bundle’s Heroes of the Lance, Dragons of Flame, War of the Lance, and Shadow Sorcerer are just some of the old favourites that have returned. Manuals, rulebooks, and clue books are just some of the digital extras that came packaged with the original releases of each game.

Oleg Klapovskiy, Director at SNEG, told the press;

D&D has a long history of great video game adaptations, and it’s a dream come true to be able to bring many of them back to modern players. With the Silver Box titles, plus the previously released Gold Box titles, I think we’ve provided a lot of games to make D&D fans, old and new, very happy!”

DragonStrike (1990)

GOG | Steam

Play the first-ever dragon combat simulator and pilot the mighty dragons of Krynn into battle! Complete 20 missions in the Dragonlance universe to earn experience, magical items, and a better dragon, as well as to foil enemy dragons and destroy enemy ships.

Spelljammer: Pirates of Realmspace (1992)

GOG | Steam

In Pirates of Realmspace, the player is immersed in a fantastical setting and given control of a ship (a Spelljammer) with the ability to traverse Realmspace, where they can explore and trade on eight different planets in the game’s inner and outer spheres. First-person aerial combat and classic tactical encounters await you as you investigate a sinister plot to conquer all of Realmspace.

Fantasy Empires (1993)

GOG | Steam

You take on the role of a young kingdom’s king or queen in Fantasy Empires. Your mission is to use magic, brute force, or cunning to conquer and unite neighbouring kingdoms under your rule. It has real-time battles seen from above, and the Dungeon Master is controlled by a computer, providing both guidance and comedic relief. Alliance building, army recruitment, hero training, quest assignment, spell casting, and resource management are all yours to control.

DeathKeep (1995)

GOG | Steam

DeathKeep is a first-person, single-player RPG set in a fully 3D, 1990s-style setting, with gameplay inspired by Dungeons & Dragons. The vile Necromancer hides in the lower levels, and the players must track and kill him. Defeat 30 types of horrifying monsters who have never heard of dental care as you go through 25 dungeons full of them.

Heroes of the Lance (1988)

GOG | Steam

The heroes of Dragonlance, inspired by the final chapters of Dragons of Autumn Twilight, enter a destroyed city searching for the discs of Mishakal. Opening and closing doors, the player engages in side-scrolling combat on a maze-like map. The player can choose from any of the eight Heroes of the Lance to add to their party.

Dragons of Flame (1989)

GOG | Steam

Dragons of Flame is an action game in the AD&D Dragonlance series between Heroes of the Lance and Shadow Sorcerer. It uses the same side-scrolling, action-oriented view as Heroes of the Lance. You can control ten different characters and use weapons, spells, and unique abilities to fight off Trolls, Griffins, Draconians, and Zombies.

War of the Lance (1989)

GOG | Steam

In your fight against the evil Highlord Dragon Armies, you must command armies, heroes, and special units. Send your troops into battle or on the hunt for opposing heroes while your heroes investigate the possibility of using magic to aid them in combat.

Shadow Sorcerer (1991)

GOG | Steam

After rescuing 800 enslaved people, the player takes control of a party of four adventurers who must lead the evacuees through the wilderness while avoiding the evil Red Dragon army. Danger lurks around every corner in games that combine strategic, tactical, and political elements in real-time. Where would your devotees go if they needed refuge?

My attention was recently drawn to a virtual tabletop roleplaying game called Demeo by Resolution Games. As an ardent roleplayer myself, who enjoys being both a GM and a participant, it naturally piqued my interest, but not as much as when I was told that one of the specialities of this game is its ability to closely replicate the tabletop experience with other players online.

The cynic in me soon tempered my expectations. I’ve heard such promises before and usually only a clunky and poorly defined experience awaits. Imagine then, to my surprise and delight, a game that not only subverted my expectations, but which genuinely drew me in.

Like real-life tabletop games, your first decision comes in the form of choosing one of seven archetypal classes to play; Guardian of the Realm (armour gains and knockback), Assassin of the Shadows (backstab and sneak), Hunter of the Woods (ranged attack and charm), Sorcerer of the Elements (stun enemy and area-of-effect), Singer of the Mortal Sonnets (courage and confusion), Warlock of the Ancients (pet and barrier) and the newest character, Champion of the Arena (hook melee and weakening shout). Nothing too out of the ordinary here, but a decent mix of characters to choose from.

When I was a much younger roleplayer, I used to default to the heavily armoured, front-line attack classes, like paladins and fighters, but as I’ve got older (if not necessarily wiser), I’ve come to enjoy the strategy of distanced and stealth attacks like those of ranger and rogue classes. Therefore, the assassin or hunter are my modern day go to, but there’s plenty of options for your own preferences. Interestingly, there’s no restrictions on who can play what character class, so if more than one player wishes to be the same class, that’s entirely up to you.

Upon starting, you are presented with a virtual gaming table located in an atypical gaming den. Atop the table is a three dimension dungeon, populated with the player characters, all looking like proper table-top pieces. The game is turn based and combat focused. There’s a virtual die to be rolled, and each character has two action points per turn. Each character also starts off with a handful of cards which give additional attack or defence attributes and more can be collected by plundering the dungeon that you’re adventuring in. When a character encounters an enemy and an action is played, the static character piece springs to life with a pleasing animation.

Where Demeo differs from real-life tabletop games is in the complexity and level of engagement. You won’t be able to take the same player-made character through a series of long, drawn out campaigns, levelling them up and unlocking additional abilities. No, each campaign here is of a length that could be completed within a single evening’s session, and each player character already has their abilities unlocked at the start of play, relying on skill, strategy and, of course, the luck of the die roll and the cards you receive to see you through.

Now, if this lack of overall depth gives you pause and makes you think this game might not be for you, don’t be too hasty in making that decision. What this game lacks in complexity, it makes up for in accessibility and sheer playability. In terms of replicating the sociability of real-life tabletop gaming, Demeo rises above many who have attempted such an endeavour and fallen at the very first hurdle. Also, the ability to drop into the game and start engaging with it, regardless of your experience in roleplaying, is not to be underestimated. There are far too many roleplaying games for which weighty tomes of seemingly endless rules, in tandem with constant stat checks, elicit a look of fear and confusion among the less practiced. For such players, Demeo could be considered a gateway experience, a means by which to enjoy dungeon crawling without being bogged down by all the mechanics that can sometimes suck the joy out of a game.

Even for more seasoned roleplayers like myself, the ability to just go in and get straight into the heart of the action can be a welcome relief. It’s like going to a restaurant and avoiding the full multi-course menu and opting for the lighter taster menu instead. You still get to enjoy all that’s on offer but you’re a lot less bloated as the evening wears on. What’s more, those dungeons can get busy, so if you think you’re just going to wander in and breeze through each level with the bare minimum of effort, think again. Strategizing and cooperating with other players becomes necessary for survival

As for gameplay options, you can create a private session from which you can invite three other players to join in (a session code is provided that you can pass on) or you can create an open session where random players join you. You can also join an open session, hosted by someone else, where you will join three other random players. Alternatively, if you’re not up to playing with others, or are unable to, you can use the single-player mode, where you control all the characters in the party. Like all online multiplayer games, the fun and success of a session can depend on the people you end up playing with, so if you encounter someone unpleasant or offensive, you can boot them if you’re hosting the session, or you can leave without penalty if you’ve joined someone else’s session. Believe me, as a regular online multiplayer gamer myself, some of the best times, and the worst times, come down to who you’re randomly put in a party with.

Expanding on the sociability of Demeo, you don’t have to actually be playing the game to enjoy a chill experience with your friends. There’s a hang-out space that you can all congregate in to paint little virtual character models, listen to music, and read lore books. The latter part is of particular interest to me as whatever game I end up being involved in, I’m usually the Lore Master, soaking up all the history and details of the game world. Want to know where an object originated from, ask me. Want to know how a particular species evolved over time, ask me. The hang-out space may not be a must-have feature, but the fact that it’s there shows that the creators and developers at Resolution Games really do understand gamers and the things that appeal to us.

You can even visit Resolution Games Demeo website to download and print-out monster cards and lore books to enjoy offline.

As well as being multi-platform, Demeo is importantly cross-platform, so you have a wider pool of players to engage with. This, along with additional content appearing over time, has elevated Demeo from what was already a very playable game at launch to one that will continue to bring players back again and again. I heartily recommend it.

Demeo is available on Pico, Meta, Steam and Epic Games platforms, with PlayStation 5 and PlayStation VR2 versions coming in 2023.

Quick Links

• Steam: Demeo

Fanatical is all about the deals, but the best sell out quickly. This week is Warhammer Week, and the big numbers there are 92% discounts. Right now, I can see several 80%+ deals, but nothing higher than 90%. Nevertheless, it’s impressive money off on strategy, action and single-player games.

[Waarhg! Bundle me]

Games include Dawn of War, Inquisitor and Blood Bowl. There’s Total War, Gladius, Dakka Squadron and Hired Gun. Oh, and plenty of Vermintide, Darktide and Necromunda.

On top of the bundles, flash deals offer even steeper discounts, but true to their name; these titles whisk past at pace.

Quick Links

• Fanatical Warhammer bundles.

Inkluniati is a computer game by Yaza Games, published by Daedalic, and comes to almost everything and everywhere in January.

As the name suggests, there’s an ink theme, but the game also invokes medieval manuscripts and is an excellent match for the bardcore singer Hildegard von Blingin’.

The YouTube for the official Beasts of Yore song, by Hildegard and for Inkluniati says;

To arms! The rabbits are attacking! I present one last song before the New Year, which I created for the medieval fighting game Inkulinati. They originally asked me to write a song, but I also ended up voicing my namesake character, Hildegard von Bingen. If you play this game you may hear me die over and over again. Or…hopefully win! Inkulinati is an ink-based strategy straight from medieval manuscripts, where a rabbit’s bum can be deadlier than a dog’s sword. Become a master of the Living Ink, build your own bestiary, defeat medieval superstars and collect perks to unleash hidden powers!

The song is loosely based on Neidhart von Reuental’s work, (1180-1237) “Meie, din liehter schin” with original lyrics and a Latin-ish chorus. The characters you see in the video are all units/beasts that you will command in the game.

Inkluniati screenshots

You can add Never Ending Dungeon to your Steam wishlist. There’s also an IndieGoGo in place to follow the Kickstarter that raised about €370,000.

The use of AI in tabletop RPGs is a hot topic right now, Never Ending Dungeon earned its money ahead of this month’s passion and went all in. It creates adventures with maps to save GM time, and the adventures include NPCs, monsters, traps and loot.

Never Ending Dungeon isn’t just digital; it allows physical interaction and provides ways to print maps. You can also use their system (a NED VTT) or something like Foundry or Roll20.

The Steam page says it’ll need Windows 10, 2 GB of space, DirectX 11, 4 GM of RAM and a 64Bit processor as a minimum.

The IndieGoGo page says that the plan was to release Never Ending Dungeon in September, but the latest information I have is that the release date is now unconfirmed.