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Nvidia’s native support for Logitech racing wheels for GeForce Now has me excited for sim racing on a budget

by admin August 20, 2025

Nvidia has announced a huge raft of changes and improvements to their GeForce Now cloud gaming service as part of their Gamescom 2025 announcements, but it’s actually one of the smallest sections that has me most excited.

As part of their extensive press release covering exciting updates such as RTX 5080 power for GeForce Now Ultimate subscribers and the ability to play games at up to 5K2K 120fps on supported screens, one of the footnotes near the bottom mentions the following:

Support for popular peripherals also grows, with native support for many Logitech racing wheels offering the lowest-latency, most responsive driving experiences.

That’s right, folks – GeForce Now now has native support for Logitech G29 and G920 racing wheels for playing the service’s selection of sim racing titles, granting important force feedback and more analogue controls versus a mouse-and-keyboard setup or even a controller. Indeed, this has been quite the popular request on forums for a number of years, so it’s pleasant to see Nvidia respond.

At a recent Gamescom event, deputy tech editor Will and I had the chance to go hands-on with a demo rig Nvidia had set up (pictured above) using a budget Logitech G920 wheel on a proper cockpit playing arcade racer The Crew Motorfest. It perhaps wasn’t the most hardcore sim racing setup in terms of game or gear, but it was still an effetive demo that proved out the concept.

I didn’t have any issues with the gameplay experience, in terms of stutters or input latency, and was largely impressed by what’s become possible with the cloud gaming space. Of course, with the venue in Cologne offering gigabit speeds to a regional data centre, it’s easy to see this as a best-case scenario that will have to be borne out in real-world testing on less capacious connections. The main thing was that the game’s force feedback was present and correct, whether I was drifting around roundabouts, running up the highway, or crashing off-road. Having used the G29 and G920 for several years at home, the cloud version didn’t feel any different.

Wheels such as this Logitech G29 are natively supported in GeForce Now.

The big thing for me is that it involved no computational power from the host device itself – in this instance, it was some form of small Minisforum mini PC, but Nvidia also had games running natively on LG TVs (4K 120fps with HDR is now accessible on 2025/2026 LG TVs with the new GeForce Now update) or off an M4 Mac Mini. Theoretically, this means all you need is a wheel, some kind of computer or device with support for the wheel, and a GeForce Now subscription, and you can be up and running – no need for a dedicated gaming or living room PC.

Of course, that is the whole point of cloud gaming, but it adds another string to your bow if you’re a current GeForce Now subscriber and you’ve felt the lack of a proper racing experience has been a sore miss. In addition, if you’ve already got a Logitech wheel from years ago and you want to jump into sim racing without the faff of a PC and such, then you can pay the subscription, and away you go.

An Nvidia representative told me that the technical difficulty was passing through effects such as force feedback in respective games over the cloud, while the reason they chose Logitech peripherals initially was due to the convenience of their G Hub software in part, which is running in a compatibility layer of sorts to get the wheels to work. They also chose Logitech because of the wide range of wheels they do, with the G29 and G920 being the only supported models at present, with more wheels to be supported in the future.

Before I go, I’ll provide a quick rundown of the other key additions for GeForce Now:

Implementation of Blackwell architecture – RTX 5080 is now the ‘Ultimate’ tier, bringing DLSS 4 MFG and so on, plus streaming at up to 5K 120fps.
‘Cinematic Quality’ mode for better extraction of fine detail in areas where the encoder would previously struggle.
More devices supported with native apps, including Steam Deck OLED at 90fps (to match the refresh rate), plus some 2025+ LG TVs at 4K/120fps.
Support for 1080p/360fps and 1440p/240fps streams for competitive esports title, involving Nvidia Reflex and sub 30ms response times. (We saw 17ms figures in Overwatch 2, for example.)
A GeForce Now installation of Fortnite integrated into the Discord app, providing a limited-time trial of GeForce Now’s 1440p ‘Performance’ tier, requiring only connection between an Epic Games and Discord account.
‘Install to Play’ feature in GeForce Now app, which more than doubles the playable titles to some 4500, giving access to over 2,000 installable games through Steam alongside Nvidia’s fully-tested ‘Ready to Play’ games. Installs must be repeated each session, unless you pay for persistent storage in 100GB+ increments.

It’ll be fascinating to see whether Nvidia continues to expand their peripheral support over time, as I’m sure flight sim fans could also benefit from a cloud-streamed version – especially with the CPU and GPU requirements that Flight Sim 2020 and 2024 entail.

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August 20, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

1930s media mogul sim News Tower leaves early access in November, letting you build your journalism empire on the shoulders of the Mafia

by admin August 17, 2025

Playing a game about being in the newspaper business sounds a bit like a busman’s holiday to me, though with News Tower being set in the 1930s, at least the bus won’t be at constant risk of breaking down or steering into a ravine.

In any case, I’m always up for a new spin of the management sim, and that goes double when your managerial duties also involve dealing with the Mafia. Such criminal complications is one of several new features News Tower will add when it publishes its 1.0 edition this November.

News Tower sees players don the waistcoat of a newly minted media mogul aiming to seize control of Noo Yoik Ciddy through the power of print. Starting with just your own willpower and, er, an entire skyscraper at your disposal, you’ll build a functioning newsroom by hiring journalists and photographers, assigning them leads, and assembling your paper article by article before sending it off the presses every Sunday.

But News Tower is about more than what happens in the newsroom. Your magnate’s goal is to have total oversight of what the city reads. Your news tower exists in a larger overworld map where you can attempt to push two rival papers—The Jersey Beacon and the Empire Observer—out of other regions and claim their readers for yourself.

The 1.0 version will bring several extra layers to this. Within your tower, the perception system allows you to define your paper’s editorial voice, choosing between informational, moderate, or sensationalist styles. This decision will affect how readers view your paper, and enable you to boost your sales in as-yet unspecified ways.

News Tower – Release Date Announcement – YouTube

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In the streets, meanwhile, there are two new mechanics at play. The first is that competition system I already referred to, though there’s a lot more to it than what I summarised. Your competitors only appear once you already control a sizeable chunk of New York, which you achieve by rolling out your paper into new districts on a weekly basis.

Once your rivals appear, you can choose either to prioritise empty districts, or muscle in on a competitor’s turf. If you opt for the latter, this will trigger a journalistic scuffle over that region’s news, with both papers competing over time-sensitive stories and one-off scoops that can be nabbed by a carefully placed reporter.

Beyond this, News Tower’s release version will also introduce a faction system. Here, you can align your paper with one of several non-media organisations in the game. These are the mayor’s office, the military, high society, and the Mafia.

Developer Sparrow Night hasn’t explained this in as much detail as the competitor system yet, but it appears more narrative focused, with set quests you can take on to build your reputation with a given faction. Those objectives might oppose the interests of another faction, though, so you’ll need to choose your allies (and your enemies) carefully.

News Tower leaves early access on November 4. Alexander Chatziioannou proof-read the alpha version in February last year, and found its approach to building a virtual paper to be both characterful and smartly implemented. “Sparrow Night has come up with an array of unexpected flourishes and tactical dilemmas inject considerable depth into the process, meaningfully interweaving individual assignments with the overall progress of your organisation.”

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August 17, 2025 0 comments

A cargo ship rests in port having spilled numerous containers into the ocean.

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SnowRunner dev’s latest vehicle sim lets you channel your inner Frank Sobotka by managing a struggling port

by admin August 17, 2025

I recently finished rewatching all of the Wire, and on reflection I think Season 2 is my favourite of five. This is in large part due to the tragic character of Frank Sobotka, the stevedore and union leader driven into the arms of organised crime as he struggles to keep his workers paid and Baltimore’s ailing trade port afloat.

While it’s unlikely that Docked will be as thematically complex as one of the most critically acclaimed TV shows of all time, it does lump you with a similar challenge as poor ol’ Frank. This latest entry in Saber Interactive’s fleet of vehicle simulators puts you in the role of a longshoreman tasked with rebuilding and expanding a struggling dockyard. In this case, your problems aren’t caused by economic tides, but by a recent hurricane that has battered your port.

Like this year’s Roadcraft, Docked involves a mixture of driving enormous vehicles and higher-level management. The central game loop involves unloading massive cargo ships of their cuboid containers (or “cans” as Frank would call them). To do this, you’ll need to master driving flatbed trucks, heavy-duty lifting tractors, and dock-specific vehicles like massive cranes and straddle carriers.

Docked Announcement Trailer – YouTube

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More broadly, you’ll need to keep the port’s finances in check by snagging new contracts and ensuring your customers get the cargo they need, as well as maintaining and repairing the dock equipment and investing in its infrastructure. Fulfilling contracts will enable you to buy better machinery, upgrade the dock’s yards and offices, and expand the scale of your port.

It’s intriguing how Saber’s vehicular games are shifting from straight-up driving challenges to being broader, more managerial affairs. I also wonder whether it’s the right direction. RoadCraft proved divisive when it launched back in April, with many players lamenting that its broader scope came at the cost of quality vehicle handling.

Indeed, our own Shaun Prescott was forced to adjust his expectations when he tested RoadCraft earlier this year. “In some ways it’s a physics puzzler wrapped in a lavish simulator outfit,” he wrote back in February. “When I started to think about it like this, I started to enjoy it more.”

Docked may be able to provide both advanced logistics simulation and detailed vehicle handling, of course. But I do think making a proper SnowRunner sequel alongside these more adventurous titles would alleviate much of the complaining. In any case, there’s no release date for Docked yet, but I imagine it’ll float into port sometime next year.

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August 17, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Multiplayer stealing sim Thick As Thieves lets you leave snide calling cards when you beat people to the loot

by admin June 22, 2025

While prowling the ramparts of this year’s Summer Game Fest, I rode a zipline to a broken attic window and snuck into a sealed chamber containing Thick As Thieves, the unofficial multiplayer Thief game from Otherside Entertainment. Also in the sealed chamber: celebrated Looking Glass dude and Deus Exman Warren Spector, who walked us through a hands-off demo of the PvPvE heisting sim.

I didn’t, if I’m honest, see much that wasn’t broadly covered by Jeremy Peel’s write-up of Thick As Thieves from last December. As such, I’m in two minds about whether to do a full impressions piece – this news article is testing the waters. But I did turn up a few objects of novelty. For one, the new multiplayer burgling sim features an ability that lets you pose temporarily as an NPC, as with the Semblance power in Dishonored: Death Of The Outsider. For another, it turns out that when you rob a joint, you can leave a knavish calling card for other players hunting the same treasure.

It’s possible, Spector told me, that you’ll be able to customise your calling cards, beyond just displaying your player alias. Being a fundamentally vindictive person, I already have a few ideas for what I’d write on mine.

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The earlier bird caught the worm.

The second mouse did not get the cheese.

The third anteater did not bag the swag.

The fourth raccoon did not scoop the loot.

You snoozed and you losed.

Opportunity knocked.

The real treasure was hopefully the friends you made along the way.

IOU one quest reward

Let me guess, someone stole your sweetroll.

Behind you.

Naturally, a topic like this demands the attention of the full Treehouse. I asked our recently recruited newsfiend Mark what he’d put on his card, and he suggested transcribing the entirety of this Seinfeld video into the textbox. James, our hardware Gandalf, came back with “didn’t expect weak foe”. Reviews reassembler Brendy had the pithiest and, I think, most obnoxious proposal: “first”.

But you, reader dear – what would you leave on your catburgling calling card?

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June 22, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

The Dishonored-style sim about escaping a town ruled by a kaiju policeman is getting a public playtest

by admin June 19, 2025

TallBoys and Critical Reflex have announced an open public playtest for Militsioner, the immersive sim in which you try to escape a town that swelters in the shadow of an extremely large, temperamental policeman. It would be nice to think the premise has gotten less relevant since we first covered the game in 2021, but I suspect that if you are currently living in, say, Los Angeles, you will find much to relate to. Here’s a trailer.

Watch on YouTube

The playtest has yet to kick off, but you can sign up already on Steam. It’ll run for two weeks, and will contain “a fraction of the game with most of the mechanics”, which are as follows:

– Lonely and needy giant with his wishes, attachments and emotions. Learn how to keep his mood in check or to hide when things go south.

– The town’s district, packed with a variety of NPCs, items and secrets. All is systematic, interactable and changing based on the time of day

– Flood creeping in from below – when the giant feels bad, the whole town is submerged in water.

– Gifts to build relationships – most items can be gifted, resulting in unique reactions and outcomes.

– Stealth to hide from the giant’s wrath – avoid the light and choose the right time to go for illegal options.

– Evading the giant’s hand – hide under awnings and pipelines and wait for the right moment to run for it. The hand might not get everywhere, but it’s faster than it looks.

– Complete player freedom. Almost every problem has multiple solutions. There are no wrong ways to play the game.

The devs caution that this is a test build and as such, subject to change. In particular, you may notice some missing textures. If you’re wondering how Militsioner has come along since we covered it last, they also posted a progress report earlier this month. Amongst other recent changes, the giant now has an inventory (meaning you can pick his titanic pockets) and the ability to take a day off, which improves his mood and may cause new routes to appear. Townsfolk will now report you for breaking and entering, but you can also persuade them to be your alibi if you’re under suspicion.

I’ve been coming and going with imsims, lately. I think the genre needs some kind of shot in the arm. Perhaps by “shot in the arm” I really mean “King Kopper”. If you are similarly enthused, please check out our interview from 2024 for more on what TallBoys are cheekily calling an Orwellian “dating sim”, inspired by Dishonored and Hitman.

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June 19, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

Date Everything claims to be a dating sim, but it doesn’t love or understand its own genre

by admin June 18, 2025

Romantic games are one of the most overlooked successes in all of gaming. There are million-selling series spanning decades amongst them, and the loosely defined genre thrives on Steam in all its beautiful forms, encompassing everything from breezy pop star fantasies and summer adventures to hot gothic stories. Date Everything, a comedic “sandbox dating simulator” where I romance tables and lamps thanks to a pair of hi-tech glasses, has a lot of competition—and a lot of work to do if it wants to convince me that the jokes here aren’t aimed at the genre, or at me for playing it.

And to its credit, the writing is often genuinely funny. The slight problem is this game clearly has no idea what a dating sim actually is.

There are 100 dateable objects in the house, and I really do have to romance the vast majority of them all at once if I want to see anything close to a semi-satisfying credits roll. This fact alone instantly turns these intimate interactions into a meaningless “Gotta date ’em all!” clickfest (there’s even a date-a-dex installed on my in-game phone, with everyone given an ID number). And it makes me into the gaming equivalent of a brainless cushion-humping chihuahua.

No, worse than that—it makes me nothing. I am the submissive counterpart to the attic dominatrix. I am the perfect date of my charming desk. I am loyal to everyone and no one, and worst of all nobody seems to care.

Bedding my bed and getting topless with a trophy has no impact on the “love” state of the throuple I’m in with the washing machine and tumble dryer, and the magnifying glass will treat me like I’m the only one for her even though I’m already sleeping with four dozen different appliances, like a lovesick handyman let loose in a hardware store.

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(Image credit: Team17)(Image credit: Team17)(Image credit: Team17)

In an actual dating sim, like 1994’s Tokimeki Memorial (and a heaving shelf’s worth of others), pursuing someone takes time and effort, and always comes with risks. Rivalries form when I favour one person over another, or a scheduling conflict or special event forces me to pick a side. If I agree to meet someone next Tuesday, then I’d better meet them next Tuesday or not only will I tank their opinion of me but their friends will hear about it too, and tear my entire social life to pieces.

One of Date Everything’s dates is a cat clock, and their entire personality and mini-storyline revolves around timeliness and scheduling. Makes sense. I agree to make an appointment so we can introduce ourselves properly—12:00pm. The conversation ends. It’s noon. Fantastic, I can keep my promise. Except I can’t, because I already spoke to them today and that means the UI says no.

So I eventually show up at 12:00… three days later, and that doesn’t seem to be a problem. For the clock. The clock-person whose entire being is all about timeliness.

Without stakes, friction, or consequences, it’s all meaningless. A dating sim where I never have to commit to anyone or anything, and my dates are just passive pushovers who could surely do better than someone who doesn’t care which Thursday they eventually showed up for.

But that’s no problem, right? This is a silly game, so I should just roll with it and enjoy the laughs.

That would be nice. The thing is, Date Everything is silly—until it isn’t.

While talking to my biggest fan—in every sense of the word—I get my first content warning. These give me a quick heads-up when the conversation might veer towards subjects including, and I quote, “PTSD, violence, stalking, manipulation, domination, mental health issues, addiction, and many more…”, and then the option to skip the character entirely (while still receiving the bonuses for clearing their story).

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(Image credit: Team17)(Image credit: Team17)(Image credit: Team17)

Interactive fiction can be a fantastic place to safely explore these subjects. But this is a game where my microwave is called Luke Nukem, a “warrior” convinced they’re fighting a bizarre sci-fi battle, and my shower talks like Elvis. In this context these dabbles with something deeper feel out of place, as if the drafts for something darker got mixed in with all the pink hearts and lengthy conversations about fitness and makeup.

“If you don’t like sociopaths…” reads one content warning, which, if nothing else, is surely the opposite of someone emotionally available and looking for love. And maybe the personification of my personal diary isn’t the ideal place to drop a random allusion to date rape?

A good dating sim has consistency. A mood, a tone—a promise. It will always offer a reasonably clear idea of what sort of romantic attention I’m in for, and because of that I’ll know what sort of romantic gestures are expected of me in turn. You know, the way Koei’s Angelique managed to do so with its sweet magical fantasy decades ago. On the Super Nintendo.

Pushing on anyway and obtaining the final, final, romantic ending for a particular character sees them… leave me. My ultimate reward, in a dating sim, is to see the characters I’ve poured 20+ hrs of work into and had supposedly heartfelt, life-altering conversations with… leave. Literally as soon as the dialogue box closes. One down, 99 to go. The house I worked so hard to transform into a literally loving home emptied out, one relationship at a time.

Sure, it’s nice that they go off and have fulfilling careers and large families, but am I seriously supposed to be OK with all that because the script assures me some of them come back and sleep with me from time to time? And for a game that’s so quick and careful with content warnings, it’s jarring to see my own sexual consent and personal desires never factor into these endings.

(Image credit: Team17)

This game has no idea what it wants to do, never mind what it’s supposed to be. Sometimes it’s tooth-rottingly wholesome. Sometimes it’s plain horny. And then just sometimes it ventures into deeply unsettling nightmare territory. It’s like they put 100 short stories, covering everything from popcorn prep to actual murder, in a blender and then locked me in a house with them.

It’s mush in dateable form, a mess of a game that lacks the narrative and mechanical depth of dating sims made before some of the people reading this were even born, and a playable example of why other examples of the genre don’t offer anything close to 100 dateable characters.

Dating sims are so much better than this. I just wish Date Everything knew that.

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June 18, 2025 0 comments

Game Reviews

Paralives, the long-anticipated indie Sims-like, finally announces an early access release date, adding to 2025’s already packed life sim line-up

by admin June 9, 2025

It’s been almost exactly six years since developer Alex Massé (of PewDiePie’s Tuber Simulator fame) announced his indie life sim Paralives; now, the game finally has an early access release date, courtesy of its appearance at last night’s PC Gaming Show at Summer Game Fest. And, as promised, it’s going to be coming out this year – although you’re going to have to wait until December 8 to get your hands on this painterly Sims-like.

The project originated as a solo effort from Massé, but the Paralives team has now expanded to around a dozen developers, supported by a Patreon that pulls in around $30K a month from fans eager to see a serious indie rival to EA’s long-running The Sims franchise.

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Paralives clearly takes a lot of cues from the life sim giant that’s been doing the rounds for a full quarter-century now, and long-time Simmers will be on familiar footing when they encounter the core gameplay loop. But there’s plenty to recommend Paralives on its own merits, from its softly stylised art style that advertises its crowd-pleasing cosiness, to its back-to-basics approach to life simulation that aims for loving detail over expansive scope.

The release date trailer confirmed my suspicions that Paralives could well be considered a spiritual successor to earlier generations of The Sims, focusing on daily life in an impossibly gorgeous little town where the architecture and decor of aspirational yet lived-in family homes take centre-stage. Paralives also seems very grounded – there’s no sign of the urban fantasy themes that frequently slip into The Sims (which I love, for the record, but recognise that not every Simmer does) – with trailers focussing on that ideal of middle-class suburbia that was a hallmark of The Sims back in the day.

Grab a coffee with friends, go to yoga class, play catch with your adorable two-point-five kids on your well-manicured lawn, and then have a sobbing breakdown in the bathroom once the family’s in bed – this is surely the dream of adulthood that was sold to me when the life sim genre first hit it big at the turn of the millennium.

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Massé’s team have previously asserted that they plan to keep Paralives add-ons free for all players – in stark contrast to EA’s practice of expanding The Sims with countless paid DLCs at various price points – and although they haven’t yet outlined exactly how they plan to do this, it’s reasonable to suspect that some kind of early access deal for Patrons might be part of the plan.

Paralives isn’t the only life sim in the news this week, as fellow Sims rival inZOI has emerged from hiding to announce a release date for its first major content update since its launch; the update finally remembers to properly enable same-gender romance (just in time for Pride Month!) as well as the much-anticipated arrival of mod support. And The Sims 4 itself hasn’t been quiet either, releasing a summer content roadmap teasing the long-awaited return of fairies in the new Enchanted By Nature expansion pack that’s being officially revealed this month, too.

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June 9, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Ocean 4X strategy sim Endless Legend 2 will release in early access this August

by admin June 9, 2025

The wait for Endless Legend 2 is no longer without end. Developers Amplitude and publishers Hooded Horse have announced that the 4X strategy game will release into early access on 7th August 2025.

As you hopefully learned from my hands-on earlier this year, Endless Legend 2’s key differentiating factor is that it takes place on a procedurally generated waterworld that gradually dries out as you grow your civ. The water pulls back at intervals to reveal new tiles. This is helpful when the tiles harbour precious resources, and less helpful when the tiles form a causeway to your awful shithead neighbours. Shoo shoo!

Leaky ocean floor aside, the sequel also introduces a cleaner turn-based combat system in place of the original game’s divisive method of having units move automatically based on initiative, after you’d given them orders. Beyond that, the broad strokes are as in Endless Legend 1. You plump and fortify your cities while training up hero characters with RPG-style skilltrees. There are NPC villages to befriend or beat into submission; adding their units to your construction options is part of how you’ll tailor your civ to overcome your dastardly neighbours. And there are terse yet colourful quests that dig into your faction’s backstory.

The game will offer five major factions, according to the latest press release. We currently know about three: the Kin of Sheredyn, aka Greco-Roman wall-builders, the Necrophage, aka ravenous bastard insects, and the Aspect, aka manipulative and insidious coral people. If I were a betting man, or alternatively a person capable of recognising familiar iconography on key art, I’d say Amplitude are also bringing back the Cultists from the first game. Their signature quirk was that they could only found one, gigantic city and were reliant on brain-washing NPC villages to extend their reach.

When they announced the game, Amplitude promised us six factions by the end of early access. Perhaps the Necrophage cannibalised one of other civs? Perhaps they’re struggling for development resources? I guess I should do a journalism and ask. Amplitude bought their independence back from Sega last year – here’s my interview with CEO Romain de Waubert de Genlis about how that happened. Since then they’ve scrabbled together $13.5 million in funding, which isn’t Ubisoft money, but not to be sneezed at. I try not to sneeze at money, regardless of quantity.

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June 9, 2025 0 comments

Game Reviews

Sunless Sea studio Failbetter’s Mandrake is a rural life sim with a folklore twist

by admin June 8, 2025

Sunless Sea and Mask of the Rose developer Failbetter Games has unveiled Mandrake, its very first project away from the Fallen London universe. It’s a rural life sim set in a “world of old, wild powers” where horticulture is forbidden, and it’ll eventually be making its way to PC.

Taking inspiration from British history and folklore, Mandrake casts players as the last in a line of horticultural sorcerers – one who finally returns to their family’s abandoned home in the ‘small, complicated’ village of Chandley after a long time away.

Initially at least, Mandrake sounds like pretty familiar stuff. You’ll tend to your garden, fish, forage, cook, and craft furniture to decorate your home; you’ll venture into the woods, to the beach, to the mine in search of minerals, and into the community to befriend the locals, learning their stories and becoming intertwined with their lives.

Mandrake announcement trailer.Watch on YouTube

But Failbetter’s announcement hints at something a little darker and more mysterious around Mandrake’s periphery, and it’s here the studio’s knack for the peculiar starts to peek through. Soon, for instance, you’ll be trading turnips and runner beans for stranger, more intriguing seeds; you can befriend a river, eavesdrop on the dead, drink with a god who lives in your chimney, and spend a haunted night at the Butcher’s Oak.

The eccentric locals, meanwhile, include a hunter who makes pacts with the woods, and a girl saved from the sea, who still hears voices calling to her from beneath the waves. Chandley is home to spirits and other strange creatures too, including the long-armed Granny Jakes who lives in a hidden orchard, and Hroame, “sometimes stone and sometimes not”. But not everything is friendly. “Don’t go out after dark,” Failbetter warns, “the night is not for you.”

Mandrake doesn’t have a release date yet, but Failbetter says that due to its complexity and “some very unusual features” it’ll be seeking player feedback as the game continues its journey toward launch. To that end, it expects to run a number of playtests prior to Mandrake’s release, so curious sorts should considering wishlisting it on Steam.

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June 8, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

The cozy management sim Discounty arrives on August 21

by admin June 8, 2025

There’s a new shop management sim in town. Discounty will be released on August 21 for PC, Switch, PS4, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. The game tasks players with managing a discount supermarket in a bustling town.

The core gameplay loop reminds me of the shopkeeper portion of Moonlighter, but Discounty lets folks freely organize the shop’s layout. It’s also more than just a management sim. Players can walk around the town and “get caught up in small-town drama” while attempting to strike lucrative trade deals.

There’s a story here, as the tight knit community of Blomkest will react to how well the shop is doing. Getting too popular could ruffle feathers in the town, so players will have to manage sales expectations against the needs of the community. A tagline asks “will you pursue endless profits, or find a way to benefit everyone in Blomkest?”

First time developer Crinkle Cut Games promises that the game holds some kind of dark secret, and we are dying to know what it is. Do capitalistic ghosts come out at night to haunt the town’s residents? We’ll find out this August.

This news came to us via the Wholesome Direct livestream, which happened right in the middle of Summer Game Fest. Follow all of the SGF happenings and trailers right here.

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June 8, 2025 0 comments