The Maw - 4th-9th December 2023

It is MAWNDAY. Do I hear the wail of a thousand embargoed news stories? Re-ensorcel the fifth Warding Line! Fetch my extra-large hammer! FEED THE MAW.

Some rowdy kick-off music for this week - Pearl Jam's Do the Evolution.

EA have trademarked "Neon Fox", as passed on by TwiXer user Kurakasis. Is it a game? A new studio? It seems likely we'll find out later this week.

Phil Spencer has been chatting to Windows Central about all things Xbox. Apparently, Microsoft has spent "over a billion dollars a year supporting third-party games coming into Game Pass". Spencer also said of his penchant for name-dropping old franchises people would love Microsoft to revive that "usually when I tease, there's something there".

This morning's updates are being written as I travel to a press event for Something Fairly Big - hope to share more soon.

Speaking to MP1st, Crytek have confirmed that yes, Crysis 4 is still in development.

NetherRealm's Ed Boon has said that there's a Mortal Kombat 1 story expansion in the works, which will be followed by a "big surprise".

.@noobde: “just like we did with MK11, we’re going to release a second part with more story and we have a big surprise after that.” #MortalKombat #MK1 #CCXP #MortalKombat1 pic.twitter.com/w1o2Xgm7sN

— Wesley Carlos (@WesleyLPBR) December 3, 2023

The Game Bakers have released a free 8-bit demake of their cult hit boss-attacker Furi.

Alfy says: "Something Fairly Big"? A genuine SFB? Ohhhhh, the suspense is killing me.

Now that I've hyped it up, it's probably going to turn out to be some gun cosmetics or something.

34 people have been laid off from Fae Farm and Dauntless developer Phoenix Labs, as reported by GI. Best of luck to all affected.

Every social media account under the sun is ripping off the GTA 6 teaser image, including the, er, city of São Paulo?

Tá acontecendo🤩

Saiba os detalhes: https://t.co/Ofdny2LcwC#diadosamba #saopaulo pic.twitter.com/mpfzFly6v5

— Cidade de São Paulo (@prefsp) December 1, 2023

As spotted by players and reported by GR, Rockstar teased GTA 6's trailer release date on a T-shirt for GTA Online way back in June. What else have they hidden away in the existing game?

Looks like @RockstarGames secretly teased GTA 6's big trailer reveal a few months ago with the "ONEDAYWILLREVEALALL" t-shirt in GTA Online.

It featured a bunch of numbers on it but as one GTA Forums user noted back in October, there was a notable number sequence of "12523" on it pic.twitter.com/s3YvSeLw8T

— Michael (@LegacyKillaHD) December 3, 2023

New trailer for Mortal Kombat 1 character Quan Chi, who prevails over opponents by means of reasoned discussion and compassionate dialogue. Just kidding, he summons tentacles and skeletons to smack people about.

And here's a trailer and release date - 8th January 2024 - for Supernormal, which is an apartment horror in the PT vein (actually inspired by Allison Road, PT's unreleased 'spiritual sequel').

Shout-out for Endlight, still a mind-bending anti-shmup, still getting updates, the latest of which went live over the weekend.

Here's a grim puzzler I found - out this week, demo on Steam - that might interest people who enjoy moving blocks and don't mind creepy-crawlies.

Ooh, there's a new Dungeons & Dragons co-op game on the way from Payday makers Starbreeze.

Details are scarce, but I would wage this being a sort of D&D Vermintide, perhaps themed around heisting treasure from castles - in keeping with both Payday and this year's movie Honor Among Thieves?

We'll find out in 2026!

In case you forget, nineties sci-fi adventure game Outcast is getting a sequel - and we now know a release date for its long-awaited follow-up.

Outcast: A New Beginning (which dropped its '2' to encourage newcomers to come give it a go) will land next March, bringing back shooty-man Cutter Slade in an alien planet adventure that its devs - including some of the OG team - say will offer a more thoughtful take on the open-world formula. It'll at least be shorter than your average sprawling Assassin's Creed-a-like, lasting around 35 hours.

Stellaris Nexus - the bite-sized 4X aiming to offer everything that Stellaris does but in minutes instead of hours - has had its release date pushed back a week to December 12th.

Even so, you'll still be able to play it - and now for free for a few days, as tomorrow will instead kick off a week-long open beta before the early access launch. So, win-win?

Was the reveal date for GTA 6's first trailer teased by Rockstar back in June via a virtual shirt for GTA Online?

And could that same shirt also be hiding the release date for GTA 6?

It mean, it's unlikely, but that hasn't stopped some fans from becoming convinced that's the case.

PolygonClassicist says: FEED THE MAW Speaking of trailers, the release date trailer for Suzerain's DLC Kingdom of Rizia was shared today: store.steampowered . com/news/app/1207650/view/3884980308711905860?l=english

Another game I keep meaning to play - looks excellent.

Whoops, the GTA 6 trailer has gone live ahead of schedule. It leaked earlier, and Rockstar evidently decided it was better to have a proper version on show rather than a smudgy pirate one covered with a hideous cryptocurrency watermark. Here's Katharine's full write-up.

IT IS TUESGTA6, FEED THE ROCKSTAR - I mean, IT IS TUESDAY, FEED THE MAW.

Ugh, I'd forgotten how much the Maw likes 80s rock. On which note, here's your morning music - a little Tom Petty number you might have heard in a trailer overnight.

Spare a thought for Dragon Age: Dreadwolf, which launched its teaser trailer straight into the GTAvalanche yesterday.

Rockstar have confirmed GTA 6 release platforms... but there's no mention yet of PC. GTA 5, let's not forget, took around a year and a half to make the leap from consoles.

Any bets on whether that's actually Patrick Stewart in the Dragon Age teaser? It certainly sounds like him.

A couple from the RPS frontpage - thoughts on the DA: Dreadwolf trailer, and some gentle fist-waving about the absence of a GTA 6 PC release date.

Horror puzzler The Great Below is out today on Steam. I played the demo a while back and found it to be very enticing.

MiniMatt says: know absolutely nothing but sounds more like an actor doing a patrick stewart voice than *extremely cynical take incoming* very expensive man himself who's getting on a bit now and whose voice is reflecting that and it might get worse over the next few years if they want him for DLC, though throw enough guitar effects pedals at it I guess could be

MiniMatt, why must you pour icy-cold water on my Stewart rumour-mongering.

Born of Bread is out today and looks like Paper Mario but doughier. I approve.

Yet more games industry layoffs are taking place at New World Interactive and Codemasters, though Embracer and EA are yet to share exact numbers.

Reader I_have_no_nose_but_I_must_sneeze has a music recommendation, which has been trapped in limbo by the Maw comments thread's complex abjuration seals - it's Damnation Alley for us all.

Braid and The Witness developer Jonathan Blow is hiring a team to develop a VR game. There are no details on the game itself but over on Twitter he said it "has a boundary-pushing design and is made for untethered, roomscale play, with none of those game-ruining concessions for seated or stationary play." Impressive he's found a way to be snooty about an already hyper-niche product like VR.

Ubisoft put out some "before you play" information on Avatar: Frontiers Of Pandora, which launches this Thursday. In brief: there's a mandatory day one patch you'll need an internet connection to download; there's an offline mode otherwise; and 2-player co-op only unlocks after a particular story quest.

I'm sort of fascinated by Killer Bean, the third-person action game based on the early internet 3D animation. A new video released this week details its stealth and combat, featuring wrestling move sneak-attacks and lots of slow motion John Woo dives.

DLC heroes are coming to Warhammer Age Of Sigmar: Realms Of Ruin, Creative Assembly's ailing strategy game. The Stormcast's Yndrasta, the Celestial Spear and Kruleboyz' Gobsprakk, the Mouth Of Mork will arrive on December 11th, and a new trailer shows shows them at their posing best.

Skyrim's latest update brings back "paid mods" in a new form, with creators able to apply for verification in order to sell their work to players. I'm sure this will go much better than the last time Bethesda tried this, back in 2015.

Cyberpunk 2077's Update 2.1 is out now, which adds a functioning metro system and new romantic hangouts to CDPR's excellent open world FPS-RPG.

Steam VR Fest is underway until December 11th, with discounts and demos for games that hug your face.

I'm out. I leave you with a song, the unofficial Rocket League theme.

IT IS WEDNESDAY. Containment fields are holding steady at 66.6% capacity! Set the Supernormal Flux Calibrator to "Steady As She Goes". FEED THE MAW.

This morning's music is Tower Ascent from DOOM 2016. Let's get to it.

The new Tribes game, Tribes 3: Rivals, won't be free-to-play, as reported by PCGamer.

Somebody's remade the GTA 6 trailer in the original GTA: Vice City - which, according to Graham, hasn't aged very well.

Call of Duty: Warzone's new Urzikstan map is out today, as reported by VGC. It's designed for 100 players and has 11 points of interest.

The Lamplighter's League has received a free 1.3 update with a new playable character, hothead merc Isaac Greymoor, and events system , even as publisher Paradox and developer Harebrained Schemes part ways (thanks Eurogamer).

Bad news from Armello developers League of Geeks. They've laying off over half their studio, and are pausing development of the extremely promising Jumplight Odyssey "indefinitely".

We’ve got some unfortunate news to share, folks. A thread: pic.twitter.com/hDjlrkKtdV

— League of Geeks (@LeagueofGeeks) December 5, 2023

Cryptical Path is declaring itself the first "rogue-builder", in which you hand-assemble the world as you explore it. There's a demo, if that sounds intriguing.

Larian have released some more Baldur's Gate 3 stats, revealing that 94% of players have created a custom character, and that they've spent a combined 8196 years doing so in its character creator menus.

For those playing as one of the origin characters, Gale has proven to be the most popular, though he's closely followed by Astarion. Shadowheart, meanwhile, has become the most popular romantic interest, with 51.3% of players reaching the final act of her romance arc. More stats in the tweet below.

⚔️ Since our launch in August, over 1.3 million players have completed Baldur's Gate 3.
🧀 A number almost equaled by those of you transformed into a wheel of cheese.
📈 All this, and more in our latest thread of amazing stats! pic.twitter.com/38hSZw1wPk

— Larian Studios (@larianstudios) December 5, 2023

Here's a bit more info on the new Tribes game. Key takeaway: it's not free-to-play.

Missed The Day Of The Devs showcase this afternoon? We've got all 20 announcements right here.

Surprising no one, my highlight from Day Of The Devs is the freshly-announced sequel to Tangle Tower, The Mermaid's Tongue! There's also a demo available now on Steam if you fancy giving its prologue a go, too.

Kind Words 2 was also announced during Day Of The Devs, where your lofi letter writing expands to let you explore a big cosy city.

Genesis Noir likers will also be pleased to hear Feral Cat Den are back with a brand-new cosmic adventure in the form of Nirvana Noir. Here's the exceptionally colourful reveal trailer:

Finally, one for the history buffs (and our very own guides writer Jeremy), Digital Eclipse also have a new game on the way, too. After telling the story of Jordan Mechner with our The Making Of Karateka, 2024 will see Jeff Minter take centre stage in Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story.

A couple more announcements coming out of the Wholesome Snack stream as well this evening:

• Lightyear Frontier is hitting early access in March next year.
• The Ghibli-esque Europa gets an April 16th release date. There's another demo on Steam, too, if you missed it earlier in the year.
• Islanders dev announces the positively lovely looking Summerhouse, a tiny little single house-builder that's coming next year. There's a demo on Steam, too, if you want to give it a try.

That Lego Fortnite mode sure looks like... Lego Minecraft?

It's a full co-op survival and crafting game inside of Fortnite, with your characters replaced by dinky plastic minifigs.

There's skeletons, lava monsters and more - it looks essentially like a whole new game with a lot of work going into making it all brickified, which is exciting. And it's out tomorrow!

Baldur's Gate 3 players have racked up more time playing the D&D game - whether shagging bears, being turned into cheese or whatever else - than human civilisation has existed.

That's quite a while!

Lightyear Frontier - Stardew farming by way of PowerWash Sim's chill menial labour, topped with Armoured Core mechs - will be out next March, after sliding back from its original early access launch date in spring. It looks charming and relaxed as all heck.

Wildly prolific and, well, just plain wild British indie dev Jeff Minter will see his 40-year career traced by a new interactive documentary from Digital Eclipse, the folks behind that excellent Making of Karateka.

Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Storywill include over 40 games - including a remastered Gridrunner and never-before-seen demo for the unreleased Konix Multi-System - and plenty of background about Minter and his influential label Llamasoft.

IGN has an illuminating insider report from Rebekah Valentine on life at Bungie in the wake of October's layoffs.

IT IS THURSDAY – wait, is this thing on? I’m pressing the button Katharine but nothing’s happening. KATHERINE I THINK THE MICROPHONE’S BROKEN oh, there we go. Start over: IT IS THURSDAY. FEED THE MAW!

And so it begins: the last big push to The Game Awards, beginning roughly 15 and a half hours from now. Tamesis and Brigantia defend us in this, the time of Maximum News.

Alfy says: Wasn't there a mention of "something fairly big" on Monday? Going through the list, I'm not actually sure what it was... Dragon Age? GTA? Braid VR??

Ha ha ha. You will see.

A remake of mournful "single-player co-op" outing Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons is rumoured to be in development.

Lawks, Supermassive and Behaviour Interactive will show off a single-player Dead by Daylight game at the TGAs later - thanks VGC.

👀 @thegameawards pic.twitter.com/o8BCS99w43

— Dead by Daylight (@DeadbyDaylight) December 6, 2023

As passed on by Videogamer, former Rockstar animator Mike York (who worked on Red Dead Redemption 2 and GTA 5) has posted a Youtube reaction to the GTA 6 trailer in which he asserts that everything you see was captured in-game, rather than being a pre-rendered cinematic.

This morning's music: Sister of Pearl, from Baio by way of The Umbrella Academy.

Here's our piece on the situation at Bungie. Working on Destiny 2 doesn't sound very fun at the moment.

In case you're wondering how we're handling the Game Award announcements - James will run a separate dedicated TGA liveblog, which I'll link to here later on, rather than us posting updates side-by-side. The Maw isn't that ravenous.

The new Alone in the Dark has been pushed back yet again to 20th March 2024, in what THQ Nordic and Pieces Interactive describe as an effort to avoid crunch over the Xmas season.

Chivalry 2 is getting a free weekend from 1pm EST or 8am UK 7th December to 3am EST 11th December or 10pm UK 12th December on Steam and Epic, should you be in the mood to wallop some knights.

As you've hopefully seen, our Game Awards liveblog is now, um, live. Again, we'll be covering the TGA announcements over there, not here. I'm off to put my head in a bucket of sand for several hours to ready my nerves for the upcoming Geoffathon.

...it is Friday. We have been up all night feeding Geoff Keighley to the Maw. I think that's the last of it. Apparently Ollie is working on some kind of round-up post. Who knows? Who knows anything anymore?

Those of us who covered the Game Awards are largely taking today off - Rick Lane should be in to cover for me, but I might put my head round the door later on. Do you have a favourite announcement? I am probably most pumped for Thrasher.

MiniMatt says: after that epic all-nighter I can send in all the coffee flavour quality street from the bottom of the christmas tub if that helps?

The kindness is appreciated but please, no more coffee. I think I am more coffee than man at this point.

Here's that round-up of all the TGA trailers and announcements. Right, I'll see you on the other side of lunchtime, if not the weekend.

That new Alone in the Dark will now emerge into a slightly less dark month: March.

The second delay (after it slid back to 2024 from this October) was put down in part to wanting to avoid crunching devs Pieces Interactive.

Today's dose of sobering industry news: Welcome to Elk, Ynglet and Dead Pets Unleashed devs Triple Topping have declared bankruptcy and laid off their entire staff.

Dead Pets Unleashed will apparently still see a release, with plans being made for the future of their other games, but otherwise the studio "no longer exists", its CEO announced.

Impressed by how sharp the GTA 6 trailer looked? You weren't alone - even ex-Rockstar devs were blown away.

A former animator on GTA V and Red Dead Redemption 2 has chimed in with his take on the trailer, praising its level of detail across everything from fidelity to animations and saying that the trailer reflects how gameplay is “really going to look”.

What do you get when two indie megahits Voltron up? Vampire Survivor's Among Us DLC, which will add nine new characters, a map inspired by the traitorous space game, loads of new weapons and more.

It's out in just over a week!

There's a demo out for V.A Proxy, the game in which you can parry nukes, and also apparently gods.

V.Aproxy demo is OUT!!! Go out there and parry god! Or harass local machines minding their business pic.twitter.com/DiRij1nVLR

— Pyro Lith (@LithPyro) December 9, 2023

Komaru.89 says: I really hope that RPS has the agency to just NOT talk at all about the Game Awards next year.

I will say, for my part, that it would seem daft to not write about what's obviously a big event on the industry calendar. We should write about it critically and we should write about the games that are announced there which we think are interesting or relevant to our readers. Writing about World Of Goo 2 (WORLD OF GOO 2!!) does not mean we think it's a swell event.

Movement speed in The Finals hasn't changed since the beta, its developers say, despite players complaining that it feels slower now. The issue lies in animation and FOV changes, devs say, and they're working on fixes.

Metal: Hellsinger, the rhythm-based shooter, now has a horde mode thanks to a free update. There's new DLC, too.

The Sims 4's For Rent expansion came out this week, letting you create landlords and tenants and move multiple families onto a single lot.

The Maw dies, the Maw lives. Here's the new liveblog for 11th-16th December.