As ever and always, I’m back with a week’s worth of gaming news I’ve spotted and thought I should share with you all!

Being in the middle of the various gaming sales ‘season’, you’re probably too busy either buying games and never playing them (yep, that old joke again) or enjoying your cheaply bought games on your PC or handheld!

Hopefully this week’s news is a nice little distraction from spending your money.

So what are these posts?

My aim for these News Posts in general is to make them a more clearly not a professional, but someone who cares about gaming manner than most gaming sites do now. I see so many sites, even the independent ones, bombarding with ads, banners and reminders to support them. I get it, I really do, but it’s an unpleasant experience to me.

My ever-lasting inspo is the old, old video game sites, blogs and magazines that I never had the privilege of being alive for:

  • Image/gif/link heavy (though once again this week I have few GIFs, so this dot-point’s a bit needless)

  • Personal voice (I can’t help rambling, send help – this won’t be even slightly professionally written)

  • Mostly news or articles or points which you won’t find on normal gaming sites. These are the smaller, lesser things that I’m drawn to. I know you’ll have spotted the big news articles, so I’m hoping some of these smaller ones might have been missed by you.

A mixed bag of what I’ve considered news this week, so there really is a bit of everything ahead.

So grab a coffee? Or a tea? Or a fresh juice? And enjoy <3

General Gaming News:

Humble Choice Price Hike:

I get asked so very often why I’m not a member of these game bundle programs: Humble and Fanatical. I’ve not done it once, and…honestly I can’t tell you why. Maybe the biggest factor is that I’m a GOG supporter first-and-foremost. Maybe because I know I’ll end up with games I never have the intention of playing? I do mean to, eventually, but maybe I’ve waited too long.

Humble Choice started back in 2019 giving you games to keep each month, typically they’re Steam keys, though that’s not always true.

There’s been criticisms lately however, ones I see most often are

  • A decline in quality game offerings (though to me that is subjective)
  • Things few want like EA Origin keys
  • IGN Coupons (WTF even is that?)
  • Some customer support issues in the past

Anyway, adding to that is a price hike for some. There’s been a price increase in some parts of the world starting in May 2025, but it seems to now be crawling across the board:

Pricing:

Currency / Current / New

  • USD / $129 / $154.99
  • CAD / $159 / $194.99
  • EUR / €109 / €134.99
  • GBP / £98 / £‎119.99

The Alters & Fashion:

ZA/UM claim to be the developer of Disco Elysium. That claim isn’t sitting well with the developers themselves who made the damn game.

Members of the original Disco Elysium team:

  • lead designer Robert Kurvitz
  • writer Helen Hindpere, and
  • art director Aleksander Rostov

…were forced out of ZA/UM in late 2021, and never received proper compensation for a game they made. In fact, after they got kicked out, Rostov publicly encouraged players to pirate Disco Elysium, stating they made no money from current sales and viewed the official version as no longer representing their work.

Anyway…I’m just saying while ZA/UM claim to be the dev…that claim comes with a lot of baggage these days.

ZA/UM have a branch, which is…weirdly a fashion house. ZA/UM Atelier have a new collaboration with 11 Bit Studios (whose game The Alters has just released) which is releasing clothing inspired by The Alters.

“This collaboration with ZA/UM Atelier felt like a natural extension of that philosophy — an embodiment of identity through design. We can’t wait to see how our community responds to this fusion.” - Tomasz Kisilewicz, The Alters game director at 11 bit studios

Weird, right?

GOG on Prime and CAPTCHA:

If you’ve been redeeming GOG games from Amazon Prime’s Prime Gaming each week, you’ll have by now seen the CAPTCHA challenges which pop up. You can be trying your best to select which squares feature a bit of a motorcycle for a long time.

I’ve seen a lot of complaints thinking things are broken, and asking why it even exists.

WHY:

It’s just crowd control. The number of people who claim a game to keep forever can be really high – esp for games which are popular (like just over a week ago we had Tomb Raider I-III Remastered given away), when this happens GOG’s servers can be hammered pretty hard, so this is just a method of slowing the people down.

It can be annoying, and take my advice, if it is too annoying, just wait a day or two to claim. The number of people drops low, then you’re not going to be limited.

IS IT BROKEN:

No, for the reasons explained above.

SHOULD YOU EVEN BOTHER WRITING THIS HERE?

Not really, but I have seen an awful lot of people who are worried that something in the service has gone wrong. And if there is even one person who reads this and now knows all is okay…then that’s fine by me!

Gabe and Half-Life:

You’ve probably seen this by now, but even if you have…it’s too good to not share again. 3Dguy2 has made this stylized 3D model of Gabe in the obvious attire.

There was the usual tiring claims that this is A.I. generated and low-effort, and the artist shared their artstation page which you can find here with this link, if you wanna see more of their art! to quell those claims. They’re also emailing it to Gabe (who has a history of replying to regular users’ emails quite often!), so I hope they get a nice reply :)

Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II Enhanced:

If you’re tired of recent games being re-released (looking at you TloU and GTA V) for another cash-grab, then prepare to be disappointed. Hellblade II (2024) is getting the same treatment:

  • Comes to Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, Game Pass, Steam, and, for the first time, PlayStation 5 on August 12.
  • This updated version includes graphical and gameplay additions, as well as an enhanced Photo Mode and developer commentary.
  • August 12 will also see the game become Steam Deck Verified.

Performance Mode:

Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II is a cinematic experience of immersion where we push real-time visuals to deliver rich, believable environments and characters to sink you deep into Senua’s story. Now, with Performance Mode, we’re excited to give you the option to experience gameplay at 60 FPS (not available on Xbox Series S). The result is smoother gameplay, especially noticeable during combat and fast-moving moments of the game. On PC, where you’ve had more flexibility with performance based on your personal hardware, we’re now offering a ‘Very High’ preset to push that fidelity even further. The team has also been hard at work optimizing the game for Steam Deck, so when this update lands, the game will be Steam Deck Verified for the first time. Wherever you choose to play, we’ve made sure the experience is optimized for your chosen hardware.

The Dark Rot Returns:

The Dark Rot from Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice has returned and offers an additional challenge for Senua on her quest to Iceland in this optional game mode. The Dark Rot will grow each time you fail, and if it reaches Senua’s head, her quest is over and all progress will be lost. Do you think you’re up to the challenge?

Enhanced Photo Mode: We have an incredible community of Virtual Photographers who have captured stunning moments from the world of Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II. We’re really excited, then, to enhance the toolset within Photo Mode with improvements across a multitude of settings, as well as an all-new ‘Motion’ tab for custom cinematic video capture. We can’t wait to see what you create with these new tools at your disposal.

Developer Commentary Let us take you behind the scenes of Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II with over 4 hours of insightful commentary, exploring the craft and creative decisions that went into making the game. Hear from the ensemble cast, key collaborators in depicting Senua’s experience of psychosis, and members of the development team who poured their heart and soul into Senua’s story.

Here is a link to the YouTube video announcement for this, it will be arriving August 12th this year

Runescape 3 & Microtransaction:

There’s a few headlines and videos being shared about which state that Runescape 3 is removing microtransactions. And this is not the whole truth.

Jagex are running a series of one to two week long experiments to gather data to re-evaluate their monetization practices.

We will turn off Treasure Hunter, instead offering bundles of Stars and Knowledge Bombs for direct purchase (capped at 1 bundle per day)

We will offer a large selection of past cosmetic overrides - including some previously only available via TH - for direct purchase all at once

They are temporarily disabling gambling through Treasure Hunter, while offering a capped direct daily purchase of experience and direct purchases of cosmetics. It seems they are trying out the daily FOMO method to condition players into purchasing the daily bundle so they don’t miss out.

FBC: Firebreak Reaches 1m players:

Maybe not the best numbers for a developer as beloved as Remedy is. Will it have the staying power for the long-run? I’d say…maybe not. They’re already making changes however, so I guess we’ve got to keep an eye on it. For now, here’s their own statement pic:

Steam Deck Work/Play Case:

If you’ve followed along with me on Mastodon long enough then you’ll well and truly know I love sharing 3D printed gaming things. This one looks wonderful, too. Makes me think of a very William Gibson-ish Cyberdeck look. A Steam Deck user shared their print and thoughts on it:

I’m joining the ranks of users that will do anything but hold the deck. It’s a nice print, but I had to use the split file version because it’s too big for my printer to do in one piece.

Ergonomics are ok, there is some room for improvement. It’s kinda nice to treat your steamdeck as a laptop.

The cults3d link has a list of compatible keyboards. I used a logitech K380. The K380s also works since it’s the same dimensions. You can use the logitech pebble mouse. I got this mouse from aliexpress

Here’s a couple pics from the maker themselves, just for some color:

The creator of the file also has a video showcasing their design, and it’s well and truly worth a look – YouTube link here!

Sales Season:

Everyone will be aware of the Steam Summer Sale on right now, but I’d love to remind people that its not the only front who is cutting prices for the season:

  • Steam Summer Sale runs from 26th June to 10th July

  • GOG’s Summer Sale runs from 18th of June to 9th of July

  • Epic Games Summer Sale begins on 17th July

…have you picked up any games? What have you bought, recommend some deals for everyone here, because it might shock you but we do all love deals here!

Warhammer: 40,000 Master Crafted – Refunds, Discounts & Patches:

Seems like no one was happy about the ‘Master Crafted Edition’ coming out recently: buggy, overpriced, no discount for anyone who owns the original, barely any reviews (and those that are there on the Steam page are negative) – they’ve clearly realized they’re in strife and had to correct it.

As it stands they have only ninety four user reviews on Steam, and those equate to being ‘Mostly Negative’.

The official statement is here, on Steam, if you’d like to read it in its entirety.

But to summarize,

  • Refunds Extended: Full refunds available regardless of playtime if requested via Steam Support before July 10, 2025 (6pm BST / 10pm PST). This feels underhanded to me, sticking to a limited window for people being able to get their money back if they didn’t see this statement? Not right!

  • Owners of the Anniversary Edition get 50% off the Master Crafted Edition from June 26 to July 10 (but If you already bought at full price and are eligible, you’ll need to request a refund, then rebuy at the discounted rate which is…suspect to say the least)

  • Patch Improvements are also in the works, covering UI/UX, gameplay fixes, platform and controller support, networking, tech fixes and so on (read the above link to check their full notes on what they’re working on)

…I suppose to be fair, at least they’re trying to fix their mistakes, if only because it fell flat for them. More than some companies end up doing!

Fallout 4 Themed RetroPie:

This is…amazing. Made by ‘CheezyJesus’, this build is about as nice as you can find for a RetroPie arcade machine.

Custom designed and 3D printed, it’s so good, it should be official. I’ll let them do the talking by just copying their words, and sharing the images but…no one can deny this effort. Fallout 4, by the way, is my fav of the series. Perhaps because I didn’t grow up on the games, and by the mere fact it is the most recently made – I just love it!

Anyway, in the users own words from hereon out:

This is the most ambitious project I had the absolute pleasure of doing so far.

A 3D printed Fallout 4 themed, RetroPie arcade machine, based on one of the computer terminals in the game. I wanted it to feel as vintage as possible. so I used a CRT from one of those early 2000’s B/W portable TVs as a screen. And it looks great!

The hardest part was definitely sanding and painting. This was my first time sanding and painting a 3D print. It was challenging, especially with the size of the build.

Brazil warns Nintendo:

Okay, a tiny bit of sensationalism in my little headline there, but its still 100% true.

Nintendo is facing at least some legal scrutiny in Brazil over the much criticized Switch 2 policy where they can ‘permanently disable consoles for unauthorized use’ without clear justification. This, along with a mandatory arbitration clause that prevents users from suing Nintendo in Brazilian courts, even in class actions directly violates Brazil’s Consumer Code, according to consumer agency Procon-SP.

Nintendo has 20 days to respond.

Switch 2 Manual:

I’ve shown this users booklets/manuals off before. They make such high quality inserts for game cases (since as you know, modern gaming has well and truly done away with anything inside the game case), and they look better than you’d expect from the companies themselves.

I can’t help but share a lot of photos of this, since it’s so beautiful. Apologies in advance!

This time around RowanFN1 has made them for Mario Kart World. I’d say for $80 USD something like this wouldn’t be too much to ask, but alas…modern gaming is all about the money and stripping back the features. Anyway, as always, in their own words:

The Manual is a bit more traditional on all the info bits and controls etc. and has checklists for Grand Prix, knockout Tour, character outfits while viewing their stats. Meanwhile the Booklet is all about free roam and called the Explorapedia, listing all the P-Switch Missions, Peach Medallions, ? Switches and more for you to check off and complete in free roam.

I tried to combine them but that would’ve been about 90 odd pages, which is insane. So a 40 page Manual and a 52 page Booklet was the choice as I did really wanna cover all the areas.

Playnite Theme for Handhelds:

If you’ve not heard of Playnite, its a free, open-source game launcher and library manager that unifies all your PC games—across platforms like Steam, GOG, Epic, and emulators—into a single customizable interface. Currently it’s only available for Windows, but the devs have promised an eventual Linux release also.

You can check out the Playnite link here if you’d like to read more on what it is, via their site.

A user by the name of AsciiMorseCode shared a theme they’ve made for handhelds which do run Windows, tailored to make it feel like a more handheld-friendly environment.

Toggle is my take on making Playnite feel natural on smaller screens while keeping performance smooth. I wanted something inspired by the Switch 2.

The whole design is built around thumb-friendly navigation. All the important buttons and controls are positioned where you can actually reach them comfortably when holding a handheld.

Performance was a huge priority - Toggle is intentionally lightweight so it runs smoothly even on lower-powered devices. Clean and fast was the goal.

If you’re running Playnite with a ROG Ally, or a Legion Go, or even a Steam Deck running Windows, the link to the GitHub release is here!

…one thing to note, though:

Works best with ExtraMetadataLoader for game logos and Now Playing for the session management features. I’ve included some recommended Playnite settings in the screenshots on GitHub, but note that wider screens will need to have more columns shown.

AudioPin - (stop Windows devices changing)

Someone created a tool called AudioPin for Windows – which lets you create prioritized lists of audio devices for input and output, with the option to separately pin devices for communications.

Ever been annoyed by Windows audio defaults changing when you plug or unplug devices?

This utility allows a user to “pin” a selection of audio devices in windows with a prioritised list. On any change to audio devices AudioPin should very quickly re-assert your pinned devices setting the highest prioritised available device as default.

Not applicable to me, but I’m sure there’s at least some users here who might have missed this, and have the need for it. I’m sure I’ve done a terrible job of summarizing what it is and what it does, so the link to the GitHub page is right here for you to check it out!

Death Stranding 2:

Norman Reedus (Sam Porter himself) posted this on his socials, just a nice reminder that Kojima can still deliver an amazing experience:

Crystal Dynamics Cosplay:

The Community Director at Crystal Dynamics, Meagan Marie shared her cosplay dressing up as Lara Croft from Rise of the Tomb Raider from the peak of Mount Rainier/Tahoma.

The reason it looks so accurate? She’s had decades of cosplay:

Over the years cosplay has afforded me incredible opportunities, including being featured on CNN, in Time Magazine, Marie Claire UK, and even modeling for original Wonder Woman art for Justice League: A League of One by the phenomenal Chris Moeller.

Quick Dot-Points of Interest:

Sable / Free:

If you haven’t already claimed it, Sable was a free title from Epic Games this last week until July 3rd. It’s a lot of things, but the best part of Sable to me is the art design. Beautiful colors and minimal animations. That and the music being provided by the band Japanese Breakfast!

While it does run into some performance issues in certain sections, I tested it on my Steam Deck and plays great! I’ve mostly been playing it on my desktop PC though, this time on Heroic with EOC enabled to collect achievements (something I never used to enjoy, but lately have been embracing a lot!)

It’s such a beautiful world, and well worth playing through.

The game has no combat, just pure exploration, some (very mild, and I’m risking it by calling it so) platforming sections, zero combat.

If you’ve claimed it, or perhaps you’ve bought it elsewhere and haven’t got to it yet…please give it a try. It’s such a nice little game.

Another little ‘box’ Sable ticks for me is the collecting. I know some people hate searching for little things scattered about gaming landscapes, but Sable does it so nicely. Ugh it’s so pretty.

The launch trailer is here, if you’d like to see some of the gameplay

And finally, I found something created by a fan – the LEGO hoverbike is a fan creation, and I thought it was kind nice, so here it is:

NEC PC Engine LT:

Only because I thought this was super interesting, and haven’t ever seen it before! A user by the name of Retroaffaire shared their photos and words on this one:

Released in Japan in Dec 1991 for a hefty ¥99,800, has a great (for the time) built-in flip-up 4″ TFT screen. It’s essentially a fully-featured PC Engine with internal speakers, an AC-only power system, and a traditional controller port, and even a TV tuner. You could hook up the CD-ROM² unit too. Extremely limited production run, estimated between 1,000–5,000 units.

The Future of my posts:

If you’re just here for the news, that’s it for this week!

However for anyone who might be more invested in these week-by-week, I’m just going to be upfront about what’s next. You probably know I’ve had a few health hiccups these last few weeks. I’ve been type 1 diabetic since I was very small, and also have a rather more rare affliction called Addison’s Disease (J.F.K. had this, and it’s why he frequently carried a flask of chicken soup with him!)

Such a long time with the former has left me with newly diagnosed ‘proximal neuropathy’ – which means a small part of my hip feels either numb-to-touch, or like it’s being split with a hot knife. I don’t know, things are just piling on and I’m feeling quite sick each day. Stress makes my Addison’s worse, which in turn makes me physically worse off.

So! While it takes me a few minutes to write up a small post on my Mastodon acc, here it takes a little longer and even little things are taxing for me lately.

I’m just going to warn you all that I’m maybe pausing these for now. Maybe a week will go by and I’ll feel 100% and this will all seem pointless to have written, but then again, perhaps not. My next appointment is on the 17th with my specialist, so I’m realistically thinking I might be taking a break at least until then.

I do want to say though that I LOVE writing these. I love that Lemmy is a small, condensed and personalized gaming community and I recognize now after a few months so so many of the regular usernames who chime in and comment here. I’m so grateful you’ve all shared that you enjoy these with me. And so lucky that I’ve been encouraged to keep on writing them.

Keep your fingers and toes crossed for me that things improve, okay?

~ P.D.

Previous Posts:

If you’d like to read my previous Gaming News posts (they’re mounting up in number now!), then you can find them here:

Mastodon:

I do tend to post there each and every day, 99.99% gaming nonsense. If you want more of this, then come drop by!

  • Coelacanth@feddit.nuEnglish
    7·
    13 hours ago

    I have a lifelong friend with Addison’s and it always seemed horrible to have to constantly manage and worry about. And he was fortunate enough to not also have Diabetes!

    I adore your posts and will miss them dearly, but please take care of yourself and focus on your health. Don’t push yourself, if I understand right extra stress is particularly bad.

    Much love ♥️