General Gaming News

[Wrathbone]

Quite a lot of Steam reviews citing poor performance

My immediate thought reading that was "I bet it's using UE5", so I googled it. It's using UE5. Seems like every game running on it has performance issues or stutter for at least a few months until the devs address it. If it was just a case of devs getting to grips with the engine, I'd have thought they'd be comfortable with it by now.

[Sly Boots]

Quite a lot of Steam reviews citing poor performance

My immediate thought reading that was "I bet it's using UE5", so I googled it. It's using UE5. Seems like every game running on it has performance issues or stutter for at least a few months until the devs address it. If it was just a case of devs getting to grips with the engine, I'd have thought they'd be comfortable with it by now.

I'm not the least bit technically minded, so I had a quick google and it looks like people have been complaining about Unreal engine performance for years, or at least since UE4 lol. People saying it's something to do with the way shaders are compiled?

[Wrathbone]

I can't pretend to know the technical side of it, but I've also heard shaders as being the culprit for stuttering. Some quick reading up suggests there is also a skill issue in the sense that UE4 and UE5 work great if you know how to get the best out of them, but can easily result in poor performance if you don't organise assets properly, or just throw a bunch of 4k textures at the engine. So maybe studios are hiring a bunch of cheap, inexperienced devs who can make things look pretty but have no clue what will cause the engine to chug, and then the experienced devs come in later to tidy everything up.

[Animalmother]

I gave it an extremely quick go on the Xbox earlier. Seems to run fine and looks nice. The character models look weird though, are they supposed to be clones or did they just use the same face 5 times? There's also a lot of clutter on the screen, I wonder if there's a way to remove some of the HUD icons.

Will try a bit more later and see how it goes. I've practically no experience with MechWarrior. I tried Mercenaries a while back but got bored of that very quickly.

[Raid]

Clanners are genetically engineered descendants of the Inner Sphere's main military force, which fled to pastures new rather than be co-opted into another destructive war (see, I have been paying attention!). It's apparently appropriate that they all look a little messed up.

I was expecting a few performance issues just because it's UE5. Mercenaries was based on more mature UE4 tech so I'm not surprised if there's a few teething problems. The big downside to it is that it probably won't be useable in VR for a while.

[Raid]

I'm not sure what to think of this really. I haven't watched the full thing through, but I scrubbed through it and there doesn't look to be any actual fighter piloting in over an hour of gameplay (there's a bit of turret gameplay). It's an hour-long in-engine cinematic with a handful of playable bits, which perhaps shouldn't be too surprising given the Wing Commander DNA. It looks absolutely stunning, but also not what I was really expecting it to be.

...of course they're now also saying they're confident of a release in 2026, when I'm sure they said they were feature complete on Squadron 42 last year. They're taking longer to polish it than most games take to develop in their entirety.

[Sly Boots]

https://www.pcgamer.com/games/the-day-b ... ouncement/

The studio declared the game's cancellation on X and, staggeringly, proceeded to announce a third game in the exact same post. This new project you're meant to get excited about ("exactly what you've been waiting for", Fntastic alleges) is an action-horror prop hunt game called ITEMS—fwee! That was the sound of the world's saddest party horn. I also want to take a moment to point out that, prior to The Day Before, Fntastic actually had a prop hunt game called Propnight, which it shut down. I guess it's never too late to start over.

OMG just fucking die already

(The studio, I mean, not anyone involved in it)

[Animalmother]

Are working software developers exempt from the military draft in Russia? Might explain the determination to get a project going.

[Sly Boots]

Well this is a dash of cold water in the face for the upcoming Indy game:

https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/after ... mment-jump

At least it's coming to GamePass day 1 so I can play it there relatively risk-free, but sounds a bit disappointing nonetheless.

[DjchunKfunK]

Well this is a dash of cold water in the face for the upcoming Indy game:

https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/after ... mment-jump

At least it's coming to GamePass day 1 so I can play it there relatively risk-free, but sounds a bit disappointing nonetheless.

I'd trust PCGamer on anything these days about as much as I trust Trump, site has turned into a clickbait mess.

Most other places have been much more positive in their previews.

[Animalmother]

https://www.nme.com/news/gaming-news/de ... ry-3810875
Always thought this was a PlayStation exclusive, only 20 quid as well. Probably won't like it but I'll give it a punt.

[Sly Boots]

https://www.nme.com/news/gaming-news/de ... ry-3810875
Always thought this was a PlayStation exclusive, only 20 quid as well. Probably won't like it but I'll give it a punt.

It was on GamePass a while back, although it looks like it's not there currently. I played it for a bit but it didn't really grab me tbh.

I find Kojima stories to be so impenetrable as to be off-putting, on the whole.

[Mantis]

It's an incredible game when it clicks. The story gets rather whacky and makes no sense until the end but I was absolutely gripped by the chilled out delivery gameplay throughout the entire game.

One of the most unique games I've ever played for sure. Such a nice vibe to it.

[Animalmother]

I played for an hour. Well I watched 55 minutes of cutscenes and walked for 5 minutes to be more accurate. It does look amazing though and I'll give it a proper look tomorrow maybe.

[Mantis]

I think you have to be in the right frame of mind for it to click. It's a good game to play if you just want something quiet and introspective to enjoy.

The inventory system seems like a bit of a nightmare at first but if you just press the button to optimise your packages every time you pick new things up you can fly through the menus very quickly and it becomes a lot less annoying. Don't get caught thinking about what shoulder to put what box on, it accomplishes absolutely nothing and just winds you up.