Westworld Season 3 might not premiere for a while - here's what we know (and our wild theories) about next season now that the hosts are in the real world.

Gamers have had a glut of interesting cooperative shooters to play in the last few years, with standouts like Destiny, Ghost Recon Wildlands, and The Division keeping squads together through various universes. But one curious absence in the current cooperative landscape is a survival-horror experience that riffs on the tension and teamplay sensibilities of the cult favorite Left 4 Dead franchise. A small team of former Payday developers at 10 Chambers Collective hopes to tap into that neglected theme with GTFO. 
This universe isn't another me-too zombie game sending waves of brain-eaters at your squad. Instead, players assume the role of prisoners sent into the depths of a mysterious underground complex against their will to retrieve curious items of interest for their warden. Finding the objects is easy enough; making it out alive is the tricky part, as the halls are roamed by deadly monstrosities that look like grotesque evolutions of The Last of Us' clickers.
Before dropping into the darkened halls for a hands-on session I had a chance to check out the arsenal available to players. Each prisoner can carry two guns, a melee weapon, and a special tool like a motion sensor, area scanner that can tag enemies behind walls, sentry turret,  and a glue gun that can be used to slow the advancing horde of creatures. Picking the right combination of tools can be key to making it back alive.
When we drop into the complex, its halls are eerily quiet. A squad member scans each door before we open it expecting to find a pack of enemies waiting for us, but four doors in we haven't seen a thing. The tension hanging heavily in the air continues to build with each empty chamber, but eventually the scanner lights up with activity. We move carefully so not to disturb the enemies, and they stand quietly, waiting to spring into action at the command of the scout. These creatures extend visible tendrils into the atmosphere hoping to pick up movement. Once they sense someone is there they let out a shrill cry to spring the other enemies into action. Moving around these tendrils can be dangerous, but we arm our melee weapons and successfully take this small forward group out stealthily to avoid a bigger firefight.
Moving further into the complex, we come across a command console near a locked door. These computers look like they are running DOS, and players can even type commands into the prompt. Since we need the key to the door, we query its location into the console and it gives us a new objective marker to pursue. 10 Chambers doesn't want to hold players' hands in these circumstances, and instead wants the teams to problem-solve solutions. Players also have to work together to figure out how to open locked supply crates.
Going further into the complex, things finally get hairy. Once alerted, the enemies come fast and furiously, forcing players to stay in constant communication and never stray too far from one other. Friendly fire compounds the issue, as a few wayward bullets can do the creature's job for them. These frantic battles create great circumstances for heroic moments, like the last person standing trying frantically to survive the wave so they can revive their fallen comrades. Failing to do so would kick you back to the start of the mission, though longer challenges will feature some checkpoints with the caveat that they only save during the duration of that play session. If you shut down for the day, you'll have to start from scratch next time. 
Unlike Payday, which sent unrelenting waves at you the moment you get noticed, GTFO is a much more rhythmic experience, shifting from quiet moments of stealth and resource gathering to the more deadly enemy onslaughts. Giving players a breather is a welcome evolution, as supplies can be scarce and making sure everyone has at least a few clips and access to a med kit is crucial before engaging the next encounter.
Once we find the keycard, the real firefight begins. We head back to the Apex door that has the object of interest behind its walls, and insert the key. This starts a bioscan, where all four players must stand in a highlighted circle to get the door to unlock. Apex doors make you go through multiple bioscans before opening, during which waves of enemies continue to rush toward your position.
Preparing for these battles is crucial; we make sure to cover the floor in front of us with glue to slow their approach and position the sentry so it covers two hallways. Our original plan was sound, but in moving from the second to the third bioscan we forget to move the sentry to a forward position. When the horrors descend on our position, the sentry picks up the movement and starts firing. This proves to be a problem considering we are standing in between the monsters and the turret. Friendly fire – 1, squad – 0. Thus ends our run in the underground; another team of prisoners will have to complete the job. 
GTFO pulls no punches. The missions can be unapologetically hard, demanding constant communication between squad mates if you want to make it to the extraction point. The missions are tiered so players must complete three jobs before they get to one that provides a loot drop. 10 Chamber Collective founder Ulf Andersson says they want to slow the reward drip so each time you get an item it feels more meaningful. Some missions could take upwards of six hours to complete, but the studio also plans to offer more breezy "lunch" missions as well. 
The gameplay felt tight, and the studio is aiming for 4K resolution at 60 frames per second. Given those parameters, you may be surprised to learn it's running on the Unity engine, a popular mobile platform that is making strides into the PC and console platforms. 
10 Chambers Collective hopes to have a beta out on PC by the end of the year, but won't release it until they feel it's ready. I only experienced a brief slice of gameplay, but the emphasis on teamwork and suffocating tension make this one worth watching. 

Deck-building roguelike Slay the Spire has sold a million copies since its Early Access launch in November. Developer Mega Crit games announced the milestone along with one of Slay the Spire’s regular updates Thursday, along with the usual list of tweaks, fixes, and additions to the game.
“Just a few days ago, we reached 1,000,000 players for Slay the Spire,” Mega Crit wrote in the Steam post accompanying Weekly Update 31, which adds a Custom game mode. “It’s been a wild ride as the two of (and a great number of collaborators!) started work on this game almost 3 years ago.”
There are some great CCGs out there. Here's our list of the .
If you aren’t one of the million players who have checked out Slay the Spire, it’s a run-based roguelike with an FTL-style system for moving through a series of dungeons, with monster encounters represented by fast-paced card combat. As you defeat monsters and find treasure, you’ll add to your deck, which changes completely based on which of three characters you pick at the beginning. It’s simple enough to pick up and play, but there’s a lot of complexity in its card synergies and building strategies.
“The feedback and reception for the game has been far more than any developer could hope for and we’d like to sincerely thank all of you for playing the game, creating amazing content, and even starting riots over boots,” . “We hope to pay you all back by working our butts off.”

PREVIEW: In a world of unlimited ammo, Sony's Days Gone would be an easy game. You could strap on a Gatling gun and just mow down 500 or so zombies, or "freakers," as they come running at you in the Oregon wilderness. But even though the freakers are plentiful and fast, Days Gone doesn't give you a horde ...]

Star Wars Battlefront II was the game which stirred the most vociferous action against loot boxes, but it wasn’t the first EA game to make use of the random blind purchase model. EA Sports titles - FIFA in particular - have offered similar purchases for years as part of the wildly popular Ultimate Team mode. They aren’t going away, but EA does plan a significant change for them starting this year.
Starting with this year’s EA Sports titles, EA will now disclose the odds for Ultimate Team packs. That change will affect FIFA 19 and Madden NFL 19 most obviously, and could indicate that EA plans to move toward more transparency for this monetization scheme across any future titles - though don’t expect them to drop the loot box model entirely.
There's plenty of sport to be had in the .
“Our model is sustainable,” EA Sports vice president and COO Daryl Holt tells . Holt says that the controversy over Battlefront II has “certainly changed us - in the way it always does in terms of anything you hear from a player or from the industry - in how we all react and adapt to it.”
The disclosure of pack odds for sports titles is one such change coming as a result of that feedback, and Holt says it’s an indication of “how we communicate and we deal with live service models and how we test things and implement feedback across all of EA.”

Last week, Steam’s Summer Sale launched with a bang. The minigames are back, pet aliens can be earned, and (most importantly) that third copy of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is only $19.99. It’s the perfect time to harvest your wishlist en masse, adding every indie game and RPG to your hoard. Unless you’re like me, that is, and used Steam’s new “External Funds Used” tracker just before the sale started.

Over the past nine years, I’ve spent around $1,400 on Steam. That’s kind of shocking, seeing as I never buy games at full price, and had a terrible PC until 2013. I haven’t even finished many games lately, though indies and Dota 2 have got plenty of attention.

Haven't got the cash? Check out the .
Armed with this info, the thought of buying another game stings. Sure, sites like have given estimates of my library’s worth for years. But there’s something about seeing an exact amount in an that strikes shame into my heart. The thought becomes unbearable when I consider third-party sources for some games - I can’t count the number of Humble Bundles I’ve purchased in the past decade.

I’m not ashamed of the total itself, even though $1,400 would pay for a decent computer. A large sum was bound to pile up over the course of a few years, after all. Rather, I’m disappointed that I was caught off-guard by my expenditures. I should be keeping much better track of how my finances and gaming habits intertwine. It’s not bad that I’ve spent a lot on videogames; it’s bad that I hadn’t noticed. It’s even worse that I don’t think I’ve taken advantage of my haul.

When is the Metro Exodus release date? 4A Games have revealed a load of Metro Exodus gameplay details including more open levels, a new backpack system, and more.
No wonder that many are itching for the Metro Exodus release date: 4A Games’ atmospheric Metro series has pulled off the difficult balance of being considered a cult classic, yet also wildly commercially successful. Artyom’s next foray into this ravaged world of bandits and mutants is, according to the studio, the most ambitious project 4A have ever attempted.
Artyom and Anna return for this third installment which sees the now-married pair embark on a continent-spanning, year-long journey in a colossal locomotive. The train, which is upgraded over the course of the trek, serves not only as a method of transportation in Metro Exodus’ gameplay, but is also a makeshift home for the ever-growing group of ragtag survivors that you'll pick up along the way.
Practice your aim before you return to Metro’s post-apocalypse with the on PC.
Ahead of Metro Exodus’ release date, there are plenty of new features to be excited about. There's also a newly introduced backpack system for weapon and kit upgrades out in the field, new creatures to deal with, new factions to meet, sprawling open levels (don't worry, there are claustrophobic linear ones to explore, too), and the promise of the most ambitious Metro story yet attempted in the videogame series. This is everything we know about Metro Exodus. Metro Exodus release date
Get ready to venture out from the subterranean tunnel networks into Metro’s massive world next year; the Metro Exodus release date is February 22, 2019. Metro Exodus open-world

Bioware's Mark Darrah admitted that Mass Effect: Andromeda was deeply flawed and said it got lapped by genuinely better games that released in the same time frame, such as Horizon: Zero Dawn, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, NieR: Automata and Nioh.

Modders have been hard at work for a special treat for Zelda: Breath Of The Wild players. Over 20 people are currently working on the Zelda Conversion Project. As the name suggests, it converts the game to have a playable Zelda. The team is not leaving any stone unturned. The title screen, journal entries, character […]

Our verdict on Quantic Dream's latest wildly ambitious interactive drama.