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Rock Band 4 will be de-listed this week, now's your last chance to grab song packs
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Rock Band 4 to be delisted on tenth anniversary following the expiration of its licenses

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Rock Band 4 is to be delisted on October 5, 2025, following the expiration of its 10-year-old song licenses.

In a message posted to the game’s Discord community, Harmonix community manager Kyle Wynn confirmed that the game will be delisted from the PlayStation and Xbox storefronts on its tenth anniversary, but players who already own the game will “keep full access” and be able to download the game and any additional songs they’ve purchased to new devices.

“Hey everyone, on Sunday, October 5, 2025, Rock Band 4 turns 10. What a ride it’s been,” Wynn wrote (as reported by VGC). “With this milestone comes one big change – the original licenses for the core soundtrack are expiring. Because of that, Rock Band 4 will be removed from the PlayStation and Xbox digital stores.

“If you already own the game, nothing changes – you’ll keep full access and still be able to download the game and songs to any new, compatible devices. The same applies to Downloadable Content (DLC) – songs will come down as they hit the 10-year mark, but anything you’ve purchased will remain in your library.

“We’re so grateful for the passion this community has shown. From the team, it’s been a special experience to serve you with Rivals challenges, a super deep DLC library and a best in class band sim. If you’ve been meaning to grab a few last songs, now’s the time. Thanks again.”

Harmonix ended Rock Band DLC releases after 16 years back in January 2024.



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Rock Band 4 will be de-listed this week, now's your last chance to grab song packs
Game Reviews

Rock Band 4 will be de-listed this week, now’s your last chance to grab song packs

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Rock Band 4 will be de-listed later this week, developer Harmonix has stated, meaning this is your last chance to grab any remaining song packs.

The game was original released a decade ago for PS4 and Xbox One, but now the licenses for the core soundtrack are expiring.

As such, the game will no longer be available to purchase and download from 5th October, while DLC song packs will gradually be removed once they hit the ten year mark themselves.

Rock Band 4 announced for PS4 and Xbox One (Dev Diary)Watch on YouTube

Of course, if you own the game already it will remain in your library, as will any purchased songs.

“We’re so grateful for the passion this community has shown,” said Harmonix. “From the team, it’s been a special experience to serve you with Rivals challenges, a super deep downloadable content library and a best in class band sim. If you’ve been meaning to grab a few last songs, now’s the time.”

The statement was shared on the game’s subreddit.

rock band 4 game and DLC de-listing Information from harmonix
byu/HMXKyleTheWynner inRockband

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Harmonix was acquired by Fortnite-maker Epic back in 2021 and has since created the Fortnite Festival music mode.

A year later, the studio’s last music game, the DJ mixing game Fuser, similarly went offline in December 2022.



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Rock Band 4 Will Be Delisted This Weekend
Game Updates

Rock Band 4 Will Be Delisted This Weekend

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Harmonix has announced that Rock Band 4 is being delisted from digital storefronts due to expiring music licenses. The removal will occur on the day of the game’s 10th anniversary.

On October 5, Rock Band 4 will be pulled from PlayStation and Xbox digital stores. Harmonix posted a message on its Discord explaining that this is due to the game’s original licenses to the core 65-song soundtrack expiring. Those who own the game will still be able to download and play it, and any purchased music can still be downloaded and played on any compatible devices.

Here is Harmonix’s full message:

On Sunday, October 5, 2025, Rock Band 4 turns 10. What a ride it’s been.

With this milestone comes one big change: the original licenses for the core soundtrack are expiring. Because of that, Rock Band 4 will be removed from the PlayStation and Xbox digital stores. If you already own the game, nothing changes—you’ll keep full access and still be able to download the game and songs to any new, compatible devices. The same applies to downloadable content: songs will come down as they hit the 10-year mark, but anything you’ve purchased will remain in your library.

We’re so grateful for the passion this community has shown. From the team, it’s been a special experience to serve you with Rivals challenges, a super deep downloadable content library and a best in class band sim. If you’ve been meaning to grab a few last songs, now’s the time. Thanks again,

—The Rock Band Team

The move comes after Harmonix ceased DLC support for Rock Band 4 back in January 2024, with over 3,000 songs released weekly since the game’s launch on October 6,  2015.  Rock Band 4 was well-received at launch, scoring an 8.75 out of 10 from Game Informer, and is the final traditional entry in the series, as 2017’s Rock Band VR followed it. The game received a single paid expansion, Rock Band 4 Rivals, in October 2016, which added new game modes (including a story mode) and, eventually, additional songs.  

Despite Rock Band as a franchise dominating the early 2010s, the series’ availability has gradually diminished due to expiring music licenses and the shuttering of online services. We’ll be sad to see Rock Band 4 go, but those interested in picking up the game still have time to purchase the $9.99 Rock Band 4 Rivals bundle on PlayStation and Xbox stores before it’s pulled for good. 



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IShowSpeed injured after WWE Royal Rumble
Esports

Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson says “we’ll see” about running for President

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The Rock has yet again addressed fans who want him to run for president of the United States, saying he’s honored and we’ll just have to see what happens.

The wrestling legend turned actor has long been floated as a potential political candidate, with polls in recent years showing nearly half of Americans would support a “Rock for President” campaign. Multiple parties have even reportedly approached Johnson about running, though he’s consistently stopped short of making a commitment.

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Johnson has addressed the idea multiple times since 2016, calling it “an honor” that people ask but citing his career and family as reasons to stay out of politics. While he endorsed Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in 2020, Johnson later said he wouldn’t make public endorsements going forward, noting the division his previous stance created.

The Rock can’t escape presidential election questions

Appearing on Variety’s Award Circuit podcast to promote his upcoming A24 drama Smashing Machine, Johnson was again asked if a presidential run could be in his future. He acknowledged how persistent the conversation has become.

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“It’s wild, man,” Johnson said. “I’m always honored that people ask that. I love what I do. I love storytelling. But yeah… we’ll see.”

While the Hollywood star once again stopped short of confirming any political ambitions, his response is unlikely to silence speculation. As long as polls show support and the “Rock for President” idea continues to trend, questions about whether Johnson will step into the political arena don’t appear to be going away.

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Hades 2 1.0 review | Rock Paper Shotgun
Game Reviews

Hades 2 1.0 review | Rock Paper Shotgun

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Hades 2 1.0 review

Now it’s out of early access, Hades 2 is a very strong sequel that builds on its predecessor’s strengths and offers an enrapturing godly grind.

  • Developer: Supergiant Games
  • Publisher: Supergiant Games
  • Release: September 25th 2025
  • On: Windows
  • From: Steam
  • Price: £25/€29/$30
  • Reviewed on: Intel Core i7-12700F, 16GB RAM, Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti, Windows 11

I am gonna claw out your eyes, then drown you to death. I AM GONNA CLAW OUT YOUR EYES, THEN DROWN YOU TO DEATH. So goes the chorus to the hit single Hades 2 girl group Scylla and the sirens have been rehearsing in lethal fashion for a year and a bit. It’s one of the most pervasive earworms I’ve encountered in my 26 years on this Earth, the kind of ditty that’d make the Backstreet Boys blush.

Within an hour of returning to Hades 2, now that it’s morphed into its full 1.0 release form, those words were just as firmly lodged in my skull as they were when I defeated Chronos for the first time during the roguelike’s early access phase. By all rights, I should find the purposefully mocking tune annoying, but I don’t. Much like the rest of Hades 2, no matter how many runs I make through the depths of the underworld and to the summit of Olympus, moments when it’s actually, properly grated on me have been few and far between.

That’s not for any lack of trying on the part of its mythical monsters, gabbing gods, and tetchy titans. Hades 2 is plenty tough, especially for those who dare not to reach for the breakable glass surrounding its God Mode, which gradually frees the stuck by dialling up princess protagonist Melinoë’s ability to tank through damage. In my return to Supergiant’s supergiant sequel, I’ve spent most of my time exploring the lengthy endgame section with it turned on to various degrees.

Image credit: Supergiant Games / Rock Paper Shotgun

I know, especially fresh off that whole Hollow Knight: Silksong discourse, shame on me. Except the nature of Hades 2’s God Mode, the fact it works in reaction to the player’s failure, means I’ve still been able to experience plenty of the supposedly sweet struggle that’s so exalted in games that opt to whip out the stick. You can argue that the struggle isn’t the struggle if it’s on the player’s terms, but be warned that I may respond with a joke about bondage dungeons.

Dragging the tone back into respectable territory, one of the things that makes Hades 2 so infinitely loveable – despite its willingness to put you on your bottom whenever you prove too weak or make a mistake – is that it wields the carrot just as deftly. You’re stopped in your tracks, but you never feel like you’re running in place. Each death comes with countless new strategies to try, ways to change or improve your situation using whatever riches you do manage to net each night. As in the original Hades, Supergiant’s beautifully-crafted commutes through the realms of Ancient Greek prose, full of false walls and hidden paths just waiting to be revealed whenever you get a few runs in (or brew up a revealing spell in The Crossroads’ cauldron).

Having already defeated Chronos that one time last year, and been rewarded with a note that essentially read ‘Ending can’t come to the phone right now, please leave a message after the tone,’ I first jumped into Hades 2 1.0 via the save with that victory under its belt. What followed was the bulk of Melinoë’s true task – not just recording one fluke win over the Titan of Time, but ending him and the siege of Mount Olympus by his legions for good. So, I started battling my way back to the house of Hades, all the while hunting for the ingredients I needed to brew an elixir that’d allow Mel to overcome her lethal surface world allergy and start battling through the whole new run added in 2024’s Olympic update.

Image credit: Supergiant Games / Rock Paper Shotgun

While my muscle memory took a bit of time to reform, Hades 2’s cast of characters quickly reminded me why I was so fond of them the first time around. Sure, Mel’s not quite got her brother Zagreus’ meteoric levels of sark and sass, but stick her in a chat with the likes of those pesky sirens and she can dish out some sharp and witty verbal daggerings. Her step-mum and dad, Hecate and Odysseus, help shepherd her along in her lifelong mission to topple Chronos, who’s kidnapped her family and the forces of fate as part of his own elaborate revenge scheme.

Wherever you look, there are distinct personalities, delivered with excellent voice acting, for Mel to bounce off of and add colour to the world. The likes of sarky household shade Dora chuck some comedic relief into the pot, counteracting the serious chat about fates and destinies, and an array of new and returning Olympians pop up to offer boons like a quirky aunt or uncle with a selection of flashy gifts. Plenty stick out, but my favorite has come to be Nemesis, the surly older sister figure who’s always ready to toss a bucket of water over Melinoë’s enthusiastic exuberance with the aplomb only a moody sibling could muster. She’s grown on me as she grows on Mel, starting out as what could easily be a one-dimensional grouch, then morphing into the ideal friendly rival as you ply her with nectar and bath salts.

You’ll sometimes bump into her during your runs, ready to dish out a challenge to take a hit from her or beat more foes in a time limit to earn a begrudging pat on the head. Then, you can turn the corner and find yourself walking in on god of wine Dionysus casually hosting a pool party as Olympus’ invaders swarm all of the chambers you’ve just battled through. Next door, there might be a giant automaton, the bulging eye of a fearsome beast, or a very angry rat with a massive health bar waiting to bash you about and prove it’s the boss. The bone structure of the two paths – one leading to Chronos, the other to a fight with mountain-sized monster Typhon that’s almost comically teeming with ways to die – stays the same, but every trick and twist in the box is pulled out to ensure you’re still running into things you’ve never seen before by your fifth or tenth trip through.

The arc as you do so is the usual Hades one. Earn boons that imbue your base abilities with twists themed around the spheres of different gods, slice in some extra tool sharpening from Daedalus hammers, chew on centaur hearts to boost your max health. Dash around rooms full of enemies hacking and slashing, a whirling dervish of energy and vibrant colour. If you’re so inclined, make use of Hades 2’s addition of magick, a new bar next to your health that powers beefier versions of your strikes, casts and specials. These take more time to fire, much to the chagrin of my well-honed original Hades desire for all of the damage, right now, he’s gonna kill me, AAAAAAGHHHHH. As a result, it took me a bit more time than it should to get into the habit of using them, but once I did, I never looked back.

Image credit: Supergiant Games / Rock Paper Shotgun

Prior to that, plenty of boons and other abilities offered something powerful in exchange for locking off a portion of these magick reserves, meaning that the bar has use for even those who prefer sticking to insta-reward button mashing. I generally found that I’m in that camp when hacking and slashing with the Sister Blades, the weapon in Melinoë’s nocturnal arsenal I used most early in my playthrough. As I delved a lot deeper into the endgame of repeat runs to Tartarus and Olympus, though, I branched out and had a lot of fun with other armaments.

Supergiant have done an excellent job of tweaking and balancing each of the six main weapons on offer throughout Hades 2’s early access patches, as well as giving you plenty of ways to upgrade them with special abilities that encourage different approaches to combat. Despite typically being averse to slower swings, I’ve really dug the weighty scything of power attacks with the Moonstone Axe’s Aspect of Thanatos variant. Specials are also what make the revolver-esque Argent Skull really sing as you fire busts of shells at foes, especially when you opt for its Aspect of Persephone version. It says a lot that since unlocking the most powerful of these arms, the punchy and missile-firing Black Coat, it’s formed part of a regular rotation rather than taking over as the go-to.

I wouldn’t say there’s an obvious weak link among any of the gods offering you boons either, with pretty much every run netting you a loadout that’s got something cool going for it. Having really dug Demeter’s freezing powers early on, my best builds have typically fused any combination of those, Zeus’ lightning powers for some handy repeat damage, Hestia’s hearth handouts for lingering built-up burn damage, or Poseidon’s wave attacks for some extra knockback punch. As you get into the later stages of the game, fresh boons from the likes of Ares and Hera are uncorked, giving you a much-needed extra dose of variety just as you verge on having tried everything the rest have to offer.

On the other hand, unless there’s a specific god I’m keen to get more boons from, I’ve found I tend to rely on the same keepsakes at certain stages each run. So, perhaps some more alluring alternatives to the likes of the Silken Sash, Evil Eye, and knuckle bones might have helped shake me out of that. I also had mixed feelings about Selene’s hex, a spell aimed at very magick-centric builds that can be fun when the chance to turn enemies into sheep pops up, but boasts a beefy upgrade tree that lacks the satisfying simplicity found in applying the various other augments.

Image credit: Supergiant Games / Rock Paper Shotgun

Regardless of the implements you use to battle your way through Hades 2’s beautifully illustrated regions, my favourite of which is a clever series of fights across the decks of ships in the Rift of Thessaly, as of 1.0 you can finally achieve Hades 2’s much-hyped true ending. How is it? Well, I’ll try not to stray too far into spoiler territory (though consider this your spoiler warning), but I think it’s one that might prove a bit polarising. On the one hand, Hades has always been a series about bringing families back together, and on that front the ending delivers no matter which way you slice it. On the other, given how often the motto “Death to Chronos” is repeated throughout, the manner in which he ends up defeated arguably isn’t as satisfying a form of retribution as is built up over all of those hours.

Overall, though, the ending isn’t what defines Hades 2. The journey is the thing, and now that it’s fully formed, it’s as epic in scope and ever-evolving with fresh surprises as I’d hoped. Even if you jumped in for a run to Chronos when it first came out in early access, there are myriad reasons to and rewards for returning to a worthy successor to the throne of the roguelike underworld. As with its siren song, Hades 2’s a game that by its very composition constantly runs the risk of grating on you throughout your repeated delves, but has been masterfully crafted to ensure it’s too loveable to do so on all but rare occasions.

As much as Melinoë matter-of-factly describes her quest to defeat the Titan of Time as her task, Hades 2’s greatest strength is that, thanks to Supergiant’s substantial effort tweaking and adding elements over the past year or so, playing it hardly ever feels like hard work.



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Silent Hill f review | Rock Paper Shotgun
Game Reviews

Silent Hill f review | Rock Paper Shotgun

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Silent Hill f review

Silent Hill f marks a big change for the survival horror series with a new setting, time period, and combat focus, but it still delivers strong scares and a lot to think about – even after you’ve stopped playing.

  • Developer: NeoBards Entertainment
  • Publisher: Konami
  • Release: 25th September 2025
  • On: Windows
  • From: Steam
  • Price: $70/£70/€80
  • Reviewed on: AMD Ryzen 5 4500, Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060, 32GB RAM, Windows 10


Is there anything left that Silent Hill can offer us? Last year, I felt the answer to that question was a resounding no. The series’ comeback game The Short Message, a short teaser of a horror experience, landed far, far away from my tastes, and last year’s Silent Hill 2 was a remake of a game that needed one perhaps less than any other. This year is different though, because it has a true, full-sized, and most importantly new entry to bring this question back to the forefront. And Silent Hill f is a game that has, annoyingly, put me in my place.


The game’s series-first setting, 1960s Japan, feels quite well positioned to deal with some pretty big themes outside of the usual guilt and grief – in particular, gender inequality. Going into it, this is probably what made me the most nervous. Having now played it, that anxious feeling has quietened, as I think what it does have to say is in part worth saying in the first place, but also worth engaging with – even if I have some caveats. An intriguing turn of events for Silent Hill revival sceptics like myself.


Silent Hill f starts us off with teen girl protagonist Shimizu Hinako bailing on an argument with her alcoholic, abusive father to go see some friends, including Shu, her male (that’s important) best mate. That classic fog starts to roll in soon after her arrival, another friend turns into flowers, and a monster gives chase, sending the remaining lot of them into a surreal, twisted version of the place they call home. Same shit, different country.


Immediately, I felt surprised by how it did all feel like ‘a Silent Hill game’. For one thing, Hinako is introduced with precious little context for her life and backstory: she’s just thrust into the mess of it all and forced to deal with whatever trauma she’s been keeping bottled up. It’s a similar trick to the one Silent Hill 2 pulls early on, withholding details on why James has come to town, and Silent Hill f is certainly successful at spinning the intrigue on who Hinako is and why she’s in this position herself.

Image credit: Konami / Rock Paper Shotgun


Its more important accomplishment, though, was having me Scooby-Doo-style spinning my legs in the air in an attempt to run away in terror. SHf’s monsters, beasties, and physical manifestations of [insert interpretations here] were truly horrid to look at, and worse to have snarling up in your face. Some of them move erratically, which makes their violent lunges harder to predict, and while bigger enemies are slower and more lumbering, they still move with an domineering sense of threat. All of which makes the more Souls-influenced melee combat interesting, if still likely to prove divisive.


Hardware ed James, for one, wasn’t the biggest fan when he played at Gamescom last month. I don’t know if any tweaks were made since then to tighten up the bludgeoning, but I had no problems with it myself. Missing a swing generally felt like my fault, the impact of steel pipes and axes always landed with a satisfying thunk, and nothing – be it my arsenal or the fog’s monsters – felt imbalanced for an action-horror adventure.


It’s just.. it is quite actiony. You have a stamina meter, which depletes with weapon swipes as well as dodges, though perfect dodges will restore that stamina while slowing down time. Combined with a parry-ish move that stops enemies in their tracks so you can launch into a counterattack, the fighting is rarely bad, but it never feels very Silent Hilly (Shilly?).

This isn’t the Resident Evil 4ification of Silent Hill either, to be clear. Hinako doesn’t do any sick flips, and not once does she parry a chainsaw. I’d even say I enjoyed the combat more often than not. But still, I’m not sure at home it feels within a world like Silent Hill’s, especially considering Hinako is a teenage girl with no apparent combat training. It’s something I ended up justifying in my own head: Hinako is quite an angry teenage girl, as many are and should be – the world is not known for being kind to that particular demographic historically – so why shouldn’t she get to exert some of that rage?

As it happens, the reasoning behind Hinako’s rage is something that Silent Hill f manages to explore with both zero subtlety and a surprisingly amount of nuance, whether it’s focusing on Hinako herself or exploring why her dad is such an abusive drunk. Ultimately, Silent Hill f isn’t about dash-dodging around yokai: it’s about expectations of gender.


See, there are two other things to know about Hinako. The first is that she has an older sister, Junko, whose youthful kindness and playfulness faded away once she got married – not that it hurt her position as their parents’ favourite daughter. The other is that Hinako is seen as quite masculine by her friends and family. She’s a bit rough and tumble; she doesn’t care for dolls, but she does like playing Space Wars with her platonic “partner” Shu.


Now, I’m not saying that in the year of 2025 we’re entirely free to express ideas around gender as and how we like, but it certainly was a damn sight worse in the sixties, and Silent Hill f doesn’t shy away from that. It’s immediately apparent that there’s an expectation placed upon Hinako that she must fit into society and, just like her sister, eventually find a man to settle down with – notions she wholly rejects. Shu’s just her partner, people.

Image credit: Konami / Rock Paper Shotgun.


Even so, they’re notions she can’t seem to escape, even when she’s repeatedly plucked from the ‘real’ world to another, more mystical one, as this is a realm where tradition reigns supreme. There are torii gates. There are old lanterns. There are Zen gardens and Shinto temples. At my most cynical, this is where Silent Hill f’s presentation of its new setting seems to teeter on the edge of Thing, Japan a little too precariously. It’s not without purpose, however. The trials that Hinako endures here certainly feel tantamount to being forced to fit into society, and it’s something that I think that might even strike a chord with gender non-conforming folks out there.

I don’t want to spoil too much of what textually happens, because Silent Hill has always been its best when you’re interpreting its themes for yourself. Likewise, it’s hard to examine the effects of writer Ryukishi07’s signature approach to structure without giving too much away, even if it’s executed wonderfully. But for me, it’s a game about figuring out who you are when the people close to you (and society at large) have such narrow expectations for you. There’s even an eyebrow to be raised here at Hinako’s mother, a parental figure you’d think, or hope, would be more protective than she is shown to be in such a world. Nuance! All of this is a powerful thing to feel and experience in a game, and a fresh one for Silent Hill specifically.

Watch on YouTube

I still hold complicated feelings on Silent Hill f. There’s a big part of me that wanted to resist it, simply because of the industry’s current overreliance on wringing out (and recycling) existing series. And yet here I am, constantly thinking about it, what it’s saying, dealing with how I’ve been confronted with messy emotions and upsetting realisations. It is, in fact, interesting, and games being interesting is more important to me than how they fall on a simple good/bad scale.

So yes, Silent Hill does still has something to offer, and right now I can’t stop thinking about the game that provides it. Or talking about it! I’m excited for my partner, a fellow Silent Hill lover, to play it, so I can dig into its themes with them. And then grab my friend, who’s only just got into the series, and do the same with them.

There’s nothing I love more in life than a piece of art that triggers a desire for discussion, and in the face of my own assumptions, Silent Hill f has done that for me. Its combat, its new setting, or even its subject matter might not do that for you, but the bottom line is, it turns out that even after all these years, Silent Hill can still strike up an exciting conversation.



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Borderlands 4 review | Rock Paper Shotgun
Game Reviews

Borderlands 4 review | Rock Paper Shotgun

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Borderlands 4 review

With improved movement, devastating Action Skills that can be adjusted to suit your playstyle, and very limited Claptrap appearances, Borderlands 4 is easily the best Borderlands game yet.

  • Developer: Gearbox Software
  • Publisher: 2K
  • Release: September 12th 2025
  • On: Windows
  • From: Steam, Epic Games Store
  • Price: $69.99/€79.99/£59.99
  • Reviewed on: Intel Core i5-13600K, 32GB RAM, Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080, Windows 10

While everyone complains about the technical state that Borderlands 4 released in, whether it’s choppy performance or the lack of an FOV slider on consoles, I found myself on the much happier end of the spectrum. Aside from the gruellingly slow start, where I was drowning in weak pistols and absolutely no other weapon types, playing this game had me smiling like an idiot about how it’s the best Borderlands yet.

Admittedly, it’s a series I’ve never really clicked with, all previous attempts having ended in boredom. Borderlands 4, though, is different. Almost everything about it, from the world design to the power variety of the playable Vault Hunters, has been improved or refined, to the point where I’m actually annoyed that I have to stop playing so that I can write up this review. This game is consuming me.

Once again, it all begins with the choice of one of four Vault Hunters. While everyone fights for the witchy goth girl Vex – because of course gamers love their goth girls – I went with gravity-manipulating scientist Harlowe, and while that was because I’m also a sucker for a bit of hair dye, I don’t actually recommend basing your choice on appearance. Even more so than previous games, the mercs of Borderlands offer impressively distinct playstyles.

If, for example, you prefer getting up in enemies’ faces, then Amon the Forgeknight – with his variety of melee abilities – is likely a better pick for you. For those who want an easier solo run, poster girl Vex can provide you with high damage and the ability to spawn in minions to fight on your behalf. Rafa, who packs a holographic exosuit, is a great hybrid, allowing you to jump in and melee before quickly backing out to pelt survivors with ranged abilities. Still, in Harlowe, a runner-gunner with a giant bomb and a lot of crowd control was just what I needed.

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/2K

I also appreciate Borderlands 4 finally ditching Pandora in favour of new hellplanet Kairos, a previously hidden world ruled with an iron fist by new big baddie the Timekeeper. Glorious leader to his overly loyal lackeys and public enemy number one to everyone else, the Timekeeper stars in a pretty good introductory sequence in which you bust out of one of this prisons, though it’s odd how he’s set up with the completely overpowered ability to possess anyone wearing one of his control bolts – which includes you – and yet declines the opportunity to just snap your neck as soon as you start causing trouble.

The opening hour also sees you reunited with the one, the only… Claptrap. Except in another case of Borderlands 4’s improved sensibleness, he’s only really there to introduce you to Kairos proper – an open world split into four regions, each with their own objectives and questlines – before promptly leaving. The game is much, much better for it, and don’t even mean this in an edgy ‘It’s cool to hate Claptrap’ way. I genuinely cannot stand that robot and how his voice grates on me. Thank you, Gearbox, for hearing my cries.

There was still something else on my mind during these early stages. Namely, “Where are all the guns?” It makes sense to have stronger weapons limited to later levels, but it takes a while for Borderlands 4 to actually find its feet simply because you’re largely limited to simple pistols for the better part of a couple of hours. After coming across my first good-spec SMG, however, I was hooked, and not just because of my new firepower. Where even to start with what Borderlands 4 does better – dare I say, everything?

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/2K

Take Kairos itself, which finally gives the series its first true open world, with zero loading screen interruptions. It’s more fun to traverse as well, with majorly improved movement mechanics that let you double-jump, grapple, or jet-pack across the alien landscape. You can utilise these in combat too, grappling to vantage points or hovering behind cover as you heal up – moves that, in particular, suit Harlowe’s aggressive style perfectly.

The ability to summon a personal vehicle on command also does away with the awkward moments in previous games where you’d need to run to the nearest spawn point for new wheels. These customisable hoverbikes get the job done even if they’re not that amazing to drive, and your robot buddy Echo having sat-nav makes getting from place to place literally as easy as following a straight line on the ground. So long as it works, anyway – sometimes Echo will just shrug at you or tell you it can’t find a path despite there clearly being one.

Of course, as with any Borderlands game, a lot of missions require you to traipse away to far-off locations just to have a single conversation with some sucker before going to the next waypoint, meaning you spend a lot of time simply travelling. However, one neat change is that you rarely have to rush all the way back to base to ‘complete’ a mission. You also get access to fast travel, though it’s limited to only a few key locations and then safehouses you have to take over. This can be a tad frustrating, particularly when some checkpoint locations are hundreds of metres away from where a fight is taking place.

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/2K

There’s been a keener improvement to each Vault Hunter’s skills and build potential. Everyone gets three skill trees, stemming off three variations on their unique Action Skills, allowing for greater flexibility than in past Borderlands games and more opportunities to tailor your Vault Hunter to suit your playstyle.

The powers themselves are more satisfying too, as well as being more diverse. For instance, Harlowe’s CHROMA Accelerator, which throws out a huge, freezing cold energy orb, was my absolute cup of tea. A giant explosion which not only does impact damage, but also leaves behind radiation to deal damage over time? You can’t go wrong.

Thanks to the scale of options when it comes to selecting an Action Skill and placing action points, you can easily ensure you feel the same about your character. If you suck at aiming, you can still make this game fun by opting for explosive AOE damage, or – if you’re running Vex – picking up an ability that creates a massive saber-tooth tiger to fight on your behalf. If you want to buff out your already perfect aim (pfft, show-off) then you can do so by picking up skills which empower your guns.

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/2K

There’s definitely something for everyone, far more so than in Borderlands 3. Suboptimally levelling up your skill tree isn’t punishing, either. You can experiment, try out new abilities, and then easily go and reset them at a respec machine for a minimal cost. If something isn’t working, it’s not the end of the world.

Borderlands 4, mind you, can be difficult. You’ll progress through the game and absolutely obliterate the Timekeeper’s loyal companions, and by absolutely obliterate, I mean die over and over again trying to beat them; take a break from playing the game; go outside for a cigarette; come back; die over and over again, then finally by the skin of your teeth win the battle.

Even so, for me, this challenge played into how much more I enjoyed this over previous Borderlands games. No matter how overpowered your Action Skill becomes or how good your guns get, you’ll still struggle, which makes those narrow wins all the more much more satisfying. I cannot describe how good it felt when, after sixth attempts to fell a particularly high-ranking boss, I finally got to watch them keel over.

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/2K

And, when the campaign gets too exhausting (or when you’ve run out of cigarettes), there are countless side missions to take on instead, many of them both silly and charming. Whether it’s a couple whose farm animals are seemingly being abducted by aliens or a sentient rock who wants to be able to fly, there are loads of quirky (but not Claptrap-annoying) characters who fill out the world of Kairos and remind you that, for all the surrounding political unrest, it doesn’t always need to be suit-and-tie serious business.

After the excessive wackiness of Borderlands 3, with its shoehorned-in jokes and memes, Gearbox have indeed kept the main story of part 4 more grounded. The laughs haven’t been abandoned to achieve this, though – they’ve just been shifted into those sweeter side missions. Another wise choice.

Borderlands 4 takes everything that worked about the previous games, removes the majority of the hindrances (cough Claptrap cough), and refines its RPG aspects, all of which make this easily the best Borderlands I’ve ever played. It has its share of issues: not just the tech stuff, but also what sometimes feels like endless travelling and the overabundance of terrible weapons. But what is Borderlands, even a much-improved one, without its billions of garbage guns?



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Your new Vampire Survivors obsession is Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor - and it's a feast of a game
Game Reviews

Your new Vampire Survivors obsession is Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor – and it’s a feast of a game

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I still can’t quite believe Vampire Survivors popularised a subgenre. I’m not mad at it – I adore it. But who would have predicted such a simple-looking and simple-playing thing would inspire such a following? A game in which all you do is move an auto-attacking character around while avoiding the swarms of enemies chasing after you. A game about choosing the right upgrades. It became an obsession! So the copycats and variations followed. But their job was harder: they couldn’t simply recreate it. This brings us to Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor, released in 1.0 today, a variation on the theme. And I’m pleased to say it’s marvellous.

Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor

This shouldn’t come as a surprise because Deep Rock Galactic, the group-based co-op mining and ‘survive against hordes of aliens’ shooter that blew-up a few years ago was also marvellous. And would you believe it, the concept translates perfectly to the Vampire Survivors idea. You are a dwarven miner sent to dig gold and precious minerals while avoiding hordes of enemies. Kill the baddies, mine the goods, earn XP to level-up and unlock weapons, and repeat until you kill a boss and escape. So much is familiar. Yet there are differences, and it’s here Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor earns its applause.

Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor in action.Watch on YouTube

Number one: mining. This serves as the core theme of the game but it also adds an important mechanical purpose. Along with auto-attacking, the dwarf you control also auto-mines. Run towards a rocky pile to steadily bash it down, which you will need to do to collect the gold and gemmy things which serve as currency in the game and, therefore, determine what you can spend on upgrades between levels. This makes them very important. But you also need mine simply to plough new routes through the level around you, which is essential for escaping overwhelm by surrounding swarms of enemies. Tactical burrowing for the win.

Mining becomes the primary consideration each time you start a level, then, as you search quickly for gold and minerals before swarms begin to amass and mining becomes riskier. Bashing rock with a horde at your back is dangerous in case you get boxed in, so you’d best do it early. Mining therefore gives urgency and purpose to the game.

The nonchalance! But look closely and you see that blur of things on the left of me? Those are enemies. Dozens and dozens of enemies. Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor does a good swarm. They’re frequent and crunchy.

Difference number two: multi-stage missions. Unlike in Vampire Survivors, a run in Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor is broken into connected shorter stages – four, I believe. Each stage ends with a mini-boss battle and each multi-stage run ends in a boss fight. This condenses the action and allows it to build more quickly than in Vampire Survivors, where it can be a slow-burn and take 15 minutes before your screen fills with an exciting amount of enemies. The break between stages also plays an important part in the upgrade strategy of the game, as you buy new abilities, and underlines the importance again of collecting currency minerals to spend on them. Note that you do also earn a choice of power-ups by collecting XP when killing enemies during the level, as in Vampire Survivors.

This broken-up level approach allows Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor to have a more structured campaign than simply trying to survive for 30 minutes as in Vampire Survivors, which I like. It feels more snackable and encouraging, as you clear earlier challenges and move onto harder ones, and complete a few successful roguelike loops of the game, unlocking beneficial new upgrades and – in this case – gear to equip your dwarves with.

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There’s a lot here. The campaign has multiple sectors that contain multiple, multiple-stage levels, with harder ‘gate’ levels separating them. Then there are Mastery, Anomaly Dive, Vanguard Contract, and Lethal Operation variations of them. And still that’s not all; there’s an entire, alternate Escort Duty campaign to change the primary objective when you play.

Mix this with a series of staggered character and level unlocks, and it’s a variation on Vampire Survivors that’s bulging with content and confidence – and some new ideas. Too much? Perhaps. It does feel dense with objectives and ‘things to do’ in a way Vampire Survivors felt blissfully clear of. But such is the responsibility of coming after. Such is the responsibility of needing to justify one’s challenge, one’s existence, and Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor does that undeniably. The thrills of the subgenre Vampire Survivor unexpectedly created are in full effect here, and they’re as potent as they’ve ever been.

A copy of Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor was provided by Ghost Ship Publishing.



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Bayonetta and Devil May Cry creator Hideki Kamiya believes Japanese publishers are "more understanding toward creators," as layoffs continue to rock the games industry
Game Updates

Bayonetta and Devil May Cry creator Hideki Kamiya believes Japanese publishers are “more understanding toward creators,” as layoffs continue to rock the games industry

by admin



Japanese publishers are “more understanding toward creators,” said Hideki Kamiya, which partly explains why there have been fewer layoffs in the Japanese games industry.


Speaking to VGC, the Bayonetta and Devil May Cry creator discussed the current state of the industry and the difference between eastern and western studios.


“What it feels like when working with Japanese publishers is that the development culture feels closer to mind, and they tend to be more understanding toward creators,” said Kamiya, who’s worked with multiple publishers on both sides of the globe.

Okami sequel – Project Teaser TrailerWatch on YouTube


“I think of game development as a kind of invention,” he continued, using the likes of Bayonetta’s Witch Time and Okami’s Celestial Brush as examples. “My goal is always to build in a unique mechanic that only that game can have. On the Japanese side, my impression is that they see you’re trying to make a new invention. They understand the struggle of trying to give birth to something new, and they watch over the process with patience.”


By comparison, western publishers prefer the “sense of safety following an established format”.


“That’s where I see there’s a difference with publishers,” said Kamiya. “For foreign companies, if you’re trying to invent something new, because the shape of it isn’t clear yet, there tends to be pressure, like ‘show us something that’s taken shape more’. And if you look at the games themselves, like how first-person shooters were the popular thing for a while, I get the impression that they feel a sense of safety following an established format.”


Kamiya used Scalebound as an example – the Xbox One exclusive was a joint project between PlatinumGames and Microsoft but was ultimately cancelled. Here, the team was building a system to control both a human protagonist and a dragon simultaneously. “But there was no clear reference or format for us to follow for a game like that,” said Kamiya. “And I think that’s why it was easy for some to have doubts.”


And while Kamiya doesn’t believe Scalebound would’ve been published had it had a Japanese publisher, he did admit “it would’ve been different.”


“Japanese companies tend to be more open to new challenges, and I think the conversations would have been more positive, like, ‘Okay, so how should we approach this together?’,” said Kamiya. “For me personally, overseas publishers seem to have a much stronger desire to see a finished product as quickly as possible. If it had been a Japanese publisher, I feel they might have given us more leeway.”

Speaking on his desire to protect his new studio from layoffs, Kamiya said: “We really have a deep commitment to keep the company going for [our staff], who we’re grateful to. Of course, I understand there are circumstances that force large companies to make layoffs, but for us, that’s a route that we don’t want to go down. We want to take care of our staff.”


Kamiya has recently founded a new studio, Clovers, which is developing a sequel to Okami with Capcom. Back in March he joked about resurrecting Scalebound.

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Strange Antiquities review | Rock Paper Shotgun
Game Reviews

Strange Antiquities review | Rock Paper Shotgun

by admin


Strange Antiquities review

A shopkeeping puzzle game that’s even denser and more satisfying to master than its predecessor, Strange Horticulture.

  • Developer: Bad Viking
  • Publisher: Iceberg Interactive
  • Release: September 17th 2025
  • On: Windows
  • From: Steam
  • Price: £14.99/$17.99/€17.49
  • Reviewed on: Intel Core i7-12700H, 16GB RAM, Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060, Windows 11

During my first two hours serving Strange Antiquities’ customers, I tugged the bronze pendulum of an ornate clock at least a dozen times, wondering what the resulting spin and settle of its hands meant. I checked my occult encyclopaedia’s index for mentions of time and compared the clock face to shapes in a book of hermetic symbols. Each time I drew a blank I yanked the pendulum a few more times, just in case.

This follow-up to the joyous 2022 puzzler Strange Horticulture is packed with these promises of future puzzles: a locked cabinet with no key, a sliding-door cupboard with no clear purpose, three empty plinths beneath your shop counter, an engraved desk with four missing chunks. I knew they were all clues, I just couldn’t tell what for.

Until, in a series of glorious moments, I could.

When I realised how the clock fit into a multi-part puzzle that revealed a new area of my shop, I genuinely chuckled with delight, and that feeling repeated several times during my 10-hour playthrough. This is a longer and more uneven puzzle game than Strange Horticulture, but also more ambitious, and just as beguiling.

The general concept remains the same. Customers come to your shop for a specific named item. Your encyclopaedia holds clues for each one, from the concrete – like the shape or material – to the more abstract, such as the feeling it evokes when you hold it, or the fact it’s used to draw blood in an initiation ritual. You touch, listen to, and smell the objects on your shelves, and if you pick the right one you can strike it from your long list. Outside, a story of curses and cults unfolds, and some of the decisions you make, such as which of two items to give a particular customer, can change the outcome.

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Iceberg Interactive

The objects are imaginative: carved totems with unfamiliar symbols, bejewelled boxes that catch spirits, medallions designed in the image of a snake god, a blood-stained stone held by an eagle’s talons. They all look wonderful on your shelves, however you choose to arrange them. Descriptions are evocative, sometimes with double meanings that made me want to decipher them even more. Does this necklace give me goosebumps because it’s cold or because it’s creepy? Which of these wooden objects could conceivably be described as a “finger”?

At the start, simply knowing that an object is made of bronze with a single gemstone is enough to identify it, but soon the puzzles become tricky, layered challenges. Alongside your encyclopaedia you get a book on gems, a book of symbols, and a book of curses, and you’ll often need to flip between them multiple times to identify a single object. A simple example: if somebody comes in for a curse cure, you’ll first read your curse book to identify their malady, find that curse in your encyclopaedia’s index, and then read all the related entries to identify the object you need.

I was regularly stumped, but every time I split the puzzle into small chunks I could whittle down the possible answers. The hint system points you vaguely in the right direction without outright telling you the answer, which I like, but you can ask for multiple hints at once. When you solve a puzzle you’re handily told which clues were relevant – sometimes these were details I hadn’t even noticed, and that gave me new ideas for solving future puzzles.

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Iceberg Interactive

I love the feeling of mastery it builds. When you get a new encyclopaedia entry it flashes on screen. You can ignore it, but the key information often stuck in my mind. I lost count of the times I later thought “Wait, I know that name”, and it’s satisfying to use knowledge you didn’t even realise you had. The way encyclopaedia entries flow from one another encourages you to follow your trail of thought, and before you know it you’ve identified three or four objects, rather than just the one. By the end of the game I’d become a proper expert shopkeeper: I knew, without thinking, which gemstone meant death and which meant fire, which symbol meant summer, and which winter. Sometimes I could pick the right object without consulting my books, which felt fantastic.

Its best moments – like with the clock’s pendulum – are not when you’re identifying objects, but when you’re poking around your shop, discovering puzzles hidden in plain sight. To open the locked cabinet in one corner I had to manipulate an object in a way that I hadn’t initially thought was possible, and that empty cupboard I mentioned earlier proved instrumental in a way I won’t spoil, but was equally delightful. The game’s scope constantly surprised me, and it delivers on every one of the promises it teases.

Even the game’s collectible maps conceal secrets of their own. Click on a location and you get a story vignette, often ending with the discovery of a new object. The clues to find these locations – riddles, matching shapes, pattern recognition – are simpler but no less engrossing, and later, you get a device you have to place over one of your maps to find the right spots. I felt like a genius when I figured it out.

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Iceberg Interactive

In a game with so many puzzles, and so many different types of puzzle, a few duds are inevitable. I gave up identifying a particular medallion only for the hint system to tell me I had to first solve another puzzle I’d picked up (and put down) much earlier in the game, in what seemed like an arbitrary process. On another, I narrowed it down to two possible objects and simply had to guess – even when I saw the correct solution, the other object appeared to fit as well. Still, Strange Antiquities’ density and consistent generosity make it easy to forgive these small missteps.

It helped that I enjoyed simply inhabiting the shop, listening to the rain and thunder outside. I petted my cat every morning until he purred, and stuffed my papers in their drawers every night. After the first customer of every day I reshuffled my shelves to match my mood. Early on I arranged medallions by material – bronze, gold, wood, tin – with a separate section for items that looked particularly arcane. Later, I moved all my identified objects to a separate shelf and sorted medallions by the colour of their gemstone. This isn’t busywork – it’s flexibility that makes the shop feel like a deeply personal space.

I wish it was slightly easier to navigate with my mouse, though. When several objects seemed to fit the clues, I liked to stack them on the desk below my counter, a book open next to them, so I could better compare their markings and gems. To move an object from your shelves to this desk you have to grab each one, hold it at the bottom of the screen until the desk appears, and then drop it – an annoyingly fiddly procedure when it involves shifting four or five items in a row. It is, admittedly, easier if you use the keyboard too, but if ever there was a game designed for a mouse in one hand, coffee in the other, this is it. I also found it too easy to zoom in on a book (double click) when I simply meant to open it (single click).

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Iceberg Interactive

My enthusiasm for the puzzles also waned in the final hours, partly because its best challenges are all in the middle, and partly because I didn’t care about what was happening outside the shop. The town’s tale of curses, death, betrayal, and rival factions is, like all the words in Strange Antiquities, finely written, direct, and concise. Mildly poetic, even. But because you spend so much time buried in your books and staring at artefacts, it’s easy to forget what the last plot development was. And even if you keep track, the story loses its momentum about two-thirds of the way through, delaying and delaying what feels like an inevitable conclusion.

Even so, the satisfaction of a fully-ticked list kept me going to the end, and I happily lingered for a few more hours to identify objects I’d missed. The highs of Strange Antiquities – and there are many – match those of anything else I’ve played this year, and surely put it up there with Blue Prince among the best puzzle games of 2025. It is fiendish and delightful, and hopefully, one of many more Strange games to come.



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