Slender Threads is an engrossing point n' click horror with old school charm, out this week - Related to week, one, microtopia, come:, insect

Eerie robot insect colony sim Microtopia launches in February, with 'programmable' ants

Friend, I regret to inform you that ant nests are computers now. Which is to say, somebody's finally made a video game version of Hex, the sentient glass hive from Terry Pratchett's Unseen University. In spooky automation-driven strategy sim Microtopia, you manage a swarm of what could either be ants who've been to the ripperdoc, or PC components who've grown legs and antennae. Your goal is to expand an insect colony that is also a motherboard, where glittering pheromone trails double as silicon circuits.

The developers Cordyceps Collective have just revealed a release date - February 18th - and what's this, there's a demo as well? Catch the trailer below.

I like the simultaneously brain-tickling and skin-crawling presentation, which reminds me a little of Darwinia. I also appreciate the developer's chutzpah in leapfrogging the surprising amount of competition in the ant-based strategy genre, which extends to scientists using Age Of Empires to monitor how ants "wage war". These ain't just your regular garden-variety formicidae - they're Zach-ass cyborgs. Amongst other things, you can "optimize your layout by using sensors and logic gates to sort your ants based on different properties".

I wonder if it'll be one of those games where you can build a functioning computer inside the simulation. Mind you, it also sounds like a traditional strategy game campaign in places, with a bunch of biomes to visit as you rear new queens and send them off to colonise the setting's "world of electronic waste".

Here are some bullet points from the Steam page. Read them quickly before they scuttle away.

- 30 different ant castes - 45 buildings to construct - 7 different types of trails - 10 logic trails and gates to sort your ants - 5 biomes to explore - 44 material types to find and craft - 3 full tiers of progression, each with their own missions - 80 objectives to achieve.

I'm trying to work out the implications of Cordyceps naming themselves after a fungus celebrated for turning ants into zombies. Are they secretly the game's bad guys? Can a robot succumb to parasitic mushrooms?

I'm not a Live Mode player. Or at least I haven't been for the past decade of playing The Sims, so I'd assumed that the itch had left me in my teen ye......

Nightmare Kart is set to receive an expansion, despite a DMCA takedown from Sony against the developer's Bloodborne PSX demake.

Open world spec op gun-brandisher Phantom Line takes place during a paranormal crisis of such intensity that the outbreak of nuclear war gets relegate......

Slender Threads is an engrossing point n' click horror with old school charm, out this week

"Every night it's the same dream: my own head, mounted on a wall," begins both the Steam description and the game's introduction. You play as traveling salesman and aspiring writer Harvey, a man I can instantly relate to because of how utterly defeated he seems. You ever get a sense that you're going to like something just from hearing a few lines of dialogue? Slender Threads isn't overwritten or grandiose, but there's something immediately engrossing about the cadence of it all. Not to put too fine a point on it, but obviously the gig involves sifting through quite a lot of slop each day to find something worth highlighting, and I think the most direct way I can describe Slender Threads is it feels like something made by a real human being who had a story to tell, albeit one that doesn't skimp on Lucasarts silliness. The story in question:

And here are some functions from Steam, which also has a prologue demo.

A curious tale that melds shocking twists with absurd humor.

Dozens of strange, memorable characters brought to life by a cast of celebrated voice actors.

Hand-drawn art that combines 2D and 3D to create striking, "diorama-like" visuals.

The other part of the gig is reviewing very large RPGs when I'd much rather be playing more of this, so I'll put my full thoughts on hold for now. Let me know how you get on with the prologue.

Hoo-eee! The sequel to the rootinest-tootinest gassiest-guzzlingiest racecar rasslin' game is launching into early access in March this year. Wreckfes......

True to the word of Capcom’s German social media marketing, Monster Hunter Wilds has a new, generally less extravagant set of PC system requirements a......

Everyone is talking about Nvidia these days. The gaming graphics card firm, turned datacentre firm, turned AI firm, turned Wall Street darlin......

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 hits 1m sales in just one day

In just 24 hours, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 has shifted 1m copies, developer Warhorse Studios has introduced.

The milestone was confirmed by the studio on social media, in a message thanking players who had stepped into the game's world so far.

Over on Steam, the game is off to a flying start. 176,285 people were playing at one point last night, during the game's second evening of availability, making for a new concurrent player peak.

It's now been seven years since the original Kingdom Come: Deliverance first arrived on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, during which time work has progressed steadily on this sequel, which was originally set to arrive in 2024.

Next up for the game will be a series of post-launch updates adding content such as a barbers, and horse racing. A Hardcore Mode is also on the way, for those seeking a greater challenge.

"This gorgeous medieval RPG continues to be just as divisive, prickly and abrasive as its predecessor," we wrote in Eurogamer's Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 review, awarding it three stars.

Yesterday, EA suggested its recent RPG Dragon Age: The Veilguard would have sold more effective if it hadn't been a single-player game - prompting speculation from fans on what this might mean for Mass Effect 5.

True to the word of Capcom’s German social media marketing, Monster Hunter Wilds has a new, generally less extravagant set of PC system requirements a......

There are only three ages in Civilization 7, compared to several smaller eras in past iterations. But each of them is quite a bit more distinct. When ......

Earlier this week, a plastic bag blowing in the wind made me question all I knew about the world, but in whatever way the opposite of life-affirming i......