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spaceships

What we’ve been playing – cat chases, ninja nostalgia, and wobbly oblong spaceships

by admin August 30, 2025

30th August

Hello and welcome back to our regular feature where we write a little bit about some of the games we’ve been playing. This week, Victoria searches for cats in Paris, Dom practises for Silksong on Shinobi, Ed enjoys the Rogue Prince of Persia, Marie calms herself by building ramen houses, Matt makes a wobbly oblong spaceship, Bertie goes ghost hunting, and Connor blasts through an old Resi.

What have you been playing?

Catch up with the older editions of this column in our What We’ve Been Playing archive.

Hidden Cats in Paris, Switch 2

Found one!Watch on YouTube

Last week was a busy one, and when I got back from Gamescom I just wanted my mind to switch to idle animation for a while. So rather than jumping into a game that would require me to use more brain power than I was in possession of, I decided to take a browse through the eShop for something cheap, mindless (in a good way) and that could be played while cocooned in bed. What I landed upon was Hidden Cats in Paris, which I scooped up for 89p, and ahhh, it ticked all of the necessary boxes.

Hidden Cats in Paris begins with a monochromatic illustration of a Parisian scene, with cafes, a cabaret, the Eiffel Tower and other French fancies. Hidden within this scene are – you guessed it – cats! The aim of the game is simply to find all of the hidden cats, and as I did so, the scene gradually coloured in. When I found the last cat tucked behind a railing, the French music that had been soothing me in the background swelled, and fireworks lit the inky blue night sky.

Honestly, it was the perfect tonic for the end of a very busy week. I think I may try Hidden Cats in Rome next.

-Victoria

Shinobi: Art of Vengeance, PS5

Watch on YouTube

Silksong who? I’m a 2D action platformer sicko, me. And I think this year is shaping up to be a golden year for the genre. We’ve already had the pulpy nonsense of Ninja Gaiden Unbound to drool over, and now we’ve got Sega coming back with a compelling, modern take on one of its most storied icons (no, not Sonic) in the form of Joe Mushashi.

Shinobi: Art of Vengeance is one of those games that I installed out of a sense of curiosity, but then promptly lost about seven hours to in one evening as I went sniffing out secrets, unlocking upgrades and Ninja Flipping my way over a rogue’s gallery of demons, commandos and rival shinobi. It’s fast, it’s flexible, and it’s hard without being unfair. A perfect training ground for my ageing hands as I try to wake up my synapses and reflexes ahead of Silksong’s launch next week.

-Dom

The Rogue Prince of Persia, PS5

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It’s not often a 2D game demands you interact with the background, but it’s one of the things I love about this new roguelike Prince of Persia game. As Matt eloquently put it last week, the series has always been known for its movement but this new game from the team behind Dead Cells is “beautifully balletic carnage”. Part of that is squeezing the left trigger for the Prince to run up and along walls, creating a pleasing rhythm to platforming and an opportunity to dodge attacks too.

Having spent plenty of time in Dead Cells, The Rogue Prince of Persia has proven easy to slip into and to while away a few hours in. I’m having a great time with it. I just wish it was better optimised. Loading often takes an age, and after a recent update I lost a chunk of progress. Thankfully, it was fun enough to do again – and isn’t that the point of roguelikes anyway?

-Ed

Minami Lane, Switch 2

Watch on YouTube

Existing is stressful at times, and while I do have other hobbies to help me relax, sometimes 15 minutes on a calming game is what I need. That’s how Minami Lane found itself in my routine this week.

Management games give me a space where I am completely in control, and for some reason I find that relaxing. Not only are the soothing colour tones and whimsical soundtrack enough to lull me into a calmer mood, but being able to create a small street with an Onsen on, and a Ramen Shop, that the townsfolk are enjoying, makes me breathe deeper and focus better on what I’m doing.

Somehow it tells my mind everything is OK. I don’t know how and I don’t need to know how. Minami Lane has a magic to it and it works wonders on me.

-Marie

No Man’s Sky, PC

It’s happening again! Firstly, this was the week I finally wrapped my rewatch of Twin Peaks: The Return, so – still haunted by the sound of Carrie Page screaming into an unknowable oblivion of an unfamiliar world – today’s WWBP entry is very much served with a side helping of unshakeable existential nightmare. Which is actually pretty appropriate, given the similar vein of bleak philosophy that continues to haunt No Man’s Sky and its doomed universe. Not that I’ve been dipping back in for such lofty matters!

Instead, this week finally saw Hello Games’ exploratory sci-fi sim introduce fully customisable ships, complete with multi-crew capabilities and functional interiors. And while they don’t fundamentally change No Man’s Sky’s familiar survival rhythms, there’s something deeply, wonderfully satisfying about getting to explore the cosmos in a gleaming vessel – or in my case, an awkwardly assembled eyesore – that you’ve carefully (hastily) assembled to meet your own idiosyncratic fancies. So, if you happen to see a garishly coloured oblong teetering through space on your travels, do come and say hello!

-Matt

Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden, PC

Watch on YouTube

I genuinely don’t know how this passed me by – and props to the Eurogamer Discord for encouraging me in its direction. It’s a Don’t Nod game, a studio known for Life is Strange, though its vampire game, um, Vampyr is probably more relevant. Banishers is similar, you see. It’s a different concept – you’re a ghost banisher working in the 17th century in what Europeans would call the New World, or New England, or New Eden in this case – but the thoughtful adult tone and darkness of the world to me feel exactly the same. I’d even go as far as to say Banishers is a slow game, but slow in a mature way, by which I mean ‘given time to develop, given time to breathe’.

It’s really interesting and creatively brave. On the surface it looks like a lot of other games but underneath are many points of difference. I don’t remember another game revolving around a deeply-in-love couple from the start. I don’t remember a game with ghost-banishing ideas like this, or with such consistently engaging quests. The English language vocal performances of the two main characters are also superb, from Russ Bain and Amaka Okafor. The vocal performances are strong across the game, actually.

Banishers is a surprise package – the sort of game I imagine many people would say they would want to see, if asked. But it didn’t do the business for publisher Focus Home – Banishers performed “well below” expectations, even. Will it mean Don’t Nod simply won’t attempt something like this in the future? Because that would be a shame. A great shame indeed.

-Bertie

Resident Evil 3 Remake, PC

I’ve redownloaded the RE3 Remake while I wait for another game to review properly, or for 2XKO to launch on 9th September. I needed something fast but chunky. Moreish, explosive, and replayable. What better game than the RE3 Remake?

The truth is there are likely 50 games better than the RE3 Remake in this regard, but I already owned it on Steam and it’s like 20GB to download, which isn’t bad. And I’d forgotten how great Jill is in this, and I love Nemesis so much. Carlos is also great, though the hospital defence segment isn’t. I hit credits last night with a B rank, and all but one of the little doll collectables found.

Now I get to go through again, with a bunch of points to spend on little bonuses. I’m going to go for either the fiery knife to save ammo, or a fancy new pistol as I work my way through the pistol kill challenge. Wish me luck.

-Connor

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August 30, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

No Man’s Sky adds fully customisable multi-crew spaceships you can build and fly with your friends

by admin August 27, 2025

Space can be a lonely place, what with it being – as a wise man once famously put it – so vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big and all. Which is where No Man’s Sky new Voyagers update comes in. Now, those long treks across the infinite expanse needn’t be quite so lonely thanks to the introduction of multi-crew space ships you can build, pilot, and stroll around with friends.

Customisable ships – not to be confused with No Man’s Sky’s existing customisable freighters, which essentially serve as gargantuan deep space bases – have been at the top of many a fan’s wishlist for quite some time. And today’s Voyagers update look to deliver and then some. After progressing to a certain point in the story, players gain access to a hangar-like workshop where new Corvette spaceships can be engineered both outside and within. Customisable components include hulls, wings, landing gear, engine parts, thrusters, and weapons, and all can be arranged to suit players’ whims.

And then there’s the habitable interior. “Add sleeping quarters,” developer Hello Games explains, “and you are ready to welcome a crew of friends on board. Add a mission radar and you are ready for adventure. A teleporter and you have an away team.” There’s also talk of med-bays and war rooms, or you can just add a window and watch the universe go by. And for thrillseekers, it’s even possible to flip open the Corvette’s airlock and go for a space walk together or, once within a planet’s atmosphere, sky dive to the ground.

Here’s a look at No Man’s Sky’s Voyagers update.Watch on YouTube

While newcomers to No Man’s Sky won’t have immediate access to Corvette construction given its unlock requirements, they’ll still be able to experience the feature in a brand-new limited-time Expedition. Alongside the usual array of cosmetic rewards, this’ll also unlock some ship parts players might find useful when trying to build their own vehicles in the core sim.

Hello Games says it’s had to rework “almost every part” of No Man’s Sky to accommodate Corvettes and their relative spaces, and to ensure crews can still roam their ship’s corridors and continue editing during the likes of warp jumps and planetary approaches. Much of the tech, it says, is shared with its upcoming Light No Fire, which will feature vast oceans players can similarly explore together on a single boat. This isn’t the first time No Man’s Sky has adopted technology implemented for Hello Games’ Earth-sized planet sim.

And it sounds like Hello Games is still far from done. “The most exciting thing about Voyagers for me,” writes Hello Games’ boss Sean Murray, “is the possibilities it opens in the future for No Man’s Sky, and I can’t wait to see where the team takes it from here.” And if you want to know more about No Man’s Sky’s Voyagers update, full patch notes can be found over here.

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August 27, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

No Man’s Sky adds buildable custom spaceships big enough to fit all your friends on board

by admin August 27, 2025

How many bases do you need in a single game? Ask someone who likes base-building, like me, and they’ll probably say “As many as you can give me.”

No Man’s Sky already has a few kinds of player bases. Base-building was added to the space sandbox in 2016, along with freighters that can be parked in orbit and customized. Settlements can also be built and managed, which is like making an entire alien town your base.

And in the new No Man’s Sky Voyagers update, you can build and customize huge new ships called Corvettes that are big enough to fly around the galaxy with your friends acting as crew. You can even get out of the cockpit while in flight, stroll around the ship, and edit the layout while you’re in transit.

“These ships have real interiors, med-bays, sleeping quarters, war rooms, radars, teleporters. It comes with you everywhere, which totally changes how you play. Decorating it with your friends gives you a space that you share together,” Sean Murry said in an email sent to PC Gamer. “Having multiple Corvettes flying over a planet together is incredible, especially when you pop the hatch and spacewalk or skydive from one ship to the other!”

Yep, you can jump right out and float around in space, or if you’re in the atmosphere, do a bit of skydiving, as you can see in the Voyagers trailer below.

For those of you who were hoping this announcement from Murray would involve Light No Fire, well, the planet-sized fantasy sandbox did get a mention, too. The same ship-building tech will appear in Light No Fire, though there it’ll be for the boats you need to cross the realistically massive oceans.

Along with the trailer, you can watch a more in-depth video about Voyager below. The update is live right now, and includes a new expedition so you can get started building your new mobile spaceship base.

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August 27, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

This week in PC games: a MGS3 remake, new Blumhouse horror and some freshly peeled spaceships

by admin August 26, 2025

Well, it happened again: the Maw devoured a Monday. My recent, highly suspicious news article about a sudden “bank holiday” was, of course, a hasty PR smokescreen to avert a stock market crash. In Horace’s name, we have now forced the Maw to sick up the missing Monday, but locating the gag reflex of a cosmic monster has its risks, and there have been a few casualties.

Mark has theoretically been “on holiday” since last Wednesday, returning tomorrow, but that’s another piece of disinfo – he’s actually stranded somewhere in the Cretaceous period. James, meanwhile, has come down with a case of the Schrödingers, neither away at Gamescom nor back at his desk. I am going to email him shortly – fingers crossed the quantum binary collapses in a way conducive to preview write-ups. As for this week’s new PC games – here you are. I’ve included the regurgitated Monday, but please handle with care as it’s still rather radioactive and, er, talkative.

Monday 25th August

NG Y’ STOOD L’ SAND OT GN’TH. NG Y’ MGEPMGR’LUH UH’ENYTH NAFL’FHTAGN YOGOR YOG OT GN’TH, HAVING YEEOGNGM NWW NG YEEOGOG HORNS, NG L’ H’ HORNS YEEOGOG UH’EOGHR’LUHH, NG L’ H’ NWW YAAH OT BLASPHEMY
Pizza Bandit is a Gearsy goof shooter in which you try to whip up a nice margherita while fending off aliens.
Watertight is a free horror game in which your submarine gets into difficulties while investigating the wreck of the Titanic. For clarity, this doesn’t seem to be about Oceangate.
good is a minigame package about an American teenager trying to avoid learning anything. It reminds me strongly of Homestar Runner.

Tuesday 26th August

Let’s continue the theme from Pizza Bandit with point and clicker The Supper: New Blood, which is about having people for dinner but hah hah, not like that. Gosh you sure look delicious when you’re anxious.

Wednesday 27th August

By eck, I love the cutaway spaceships of Pixel Starships 2, “an FTL-esque game in a MMO setting” with programmable crewmate behaviour.
Blumhouse-published Eyes Of Hellfire (pictured) is Among Us but set in a handsomely furnished, orthographic haunted house. I think this is “orthographic”, anyway. It’s the kind of elevated diagonal viewpoint that generally gets handwaved as “isometric”. Any pointers, geometry fiends?

Thursday 28th August

Friday 29th August

This week’s sacrifice upon the altar of Hybridisation is Neon Village, a match-3 town/deck builder with roguelike elements.
Shinobi: Art Of Vengeance marks the bloody revival of another ancient Sega side-scroller, I think, though it’s juuuust possible that it’s actually a painting sim.

As always, let us know if there’s any must-plays we’ve missed. My plans for this week include making sense of a big, tangly interview-driven feature and maybe writing something about liminality that would secretly be a love letter to a particular videogame level. Providing the superposition resolves in our favour, I imagine James will be Jamescomming it up with sundry impressions articles and interviewage. Assuming he overcomes the giant Venus flytraps and makes it past the Ankylosauri to the time portal, Mark should be on regular news and possibly a review. I seem to remember him bagsying something in the spreadsheet before he disappeared into the vortex. What are you up to this week?

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August 26, 2025 0 comments