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IGN PC ArticlesDec 27

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IGN PC ArticlesDec 27

Preview: Scrabdackle Act 1 Feels Promising Scrabdackle is one of those games where we get a front row seat to its development. Jakefriend started things with a (successful) Kickstarter that ran between March-April 2021. There were pretty regular updates on its progress since. Now the game is in early access, with basically an act released every year. Though only the first of three parts is live now, it already seems promising. The concept behind Scrabdackle is short and sweet. Blue is a student at Wizard Academy. One day, a red mage attacks, petrifying people there like Blue’s roommate Viridian. Blue gets ejected. After a brief lucid dream called a waydream, in which Headmaster White explains basic gameplay concepts in a tutorial, our hero wakes up in the Junk Heap. It’s up to you to get your wand back, explore Scrabdackle as you attempt to get home, and find a way to defeat the academy’s enemy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WV3NmLOgTyQ Scrabdackle can feel a bit like going through a The Legend of Zelda game, though Blue’s wand attacks can make it feel more like going through a twin-stick shooter like The Binding of Isaac . While you start with Strata Blast, which lets you survive encounters and blast through things like junk, you’ll need to get additional abilities to reach new locations. However, it’s very open-ended and you can take whatever path you’d like once you’re in the world to explore. So while some spells are necessary to make progress through certain parts, how you approach things is up to you. That freedom is handled really well in the first act of Scrabdackle . The backtracking doesn’t feel too overwhelming, at least in these early hours. Reaching save spots does mean you’ll be able to heal, refill your vials, and have enemies respawn so you can earn more currency. It does feel like certain spots will be naturally visited first, like Peanut Village since it is early on the taskroll (mission list). So while it is freeform, there’s enough structure to ensure someone doesn’t feel lost. I will note some of the enemies and bosses could use a bit of rebalancing, but that’s something I’m sure will come following feedback and patches. Images via Jakefriend But what struck me most as I went through some of the early hours of Scrabdackle is the personality. It’s a really charming and funny game! There’s fourth-wall breaking that doesn’t feel egregious. It’s both subtly and overtly hilarious. Even explanatory segments and descriptions are silly in a fun way. It matches the sketchy and doodle-y appearance of the world, so both the artistic direction and script maintain the same sorts of sentiments. I appreciate how open Jakefriend has been with Scrabdackle development on Kickstarter, and I’m hoping we’ll see the same sense of positive progression now that it’s in early access. It’s really a pleasant game with a fantastic atmosphere to it. I think as long as it keeps this level of charm, it could turn out quite well even if the rest of the adventure doesn’t get any deeper. Act 1 of Scrabdackle is in early access on PCs via Steam , with two more acts in development. The post Preview: Scrabdackle Act 1 Feels Promising appeared first on Siliconera .

PC News Category - SiliconeraDec 27

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IGN PC ArticlesDec 26

Drywall Eating Simulator Gets Frustrating Life is frustrating, and Drywall Eating Simulator is an attempt to capture that while also being funny and driving you to gnawing through walls when your anger hits its peak. It’s relatable! However, the unfortunate part is that this simulation does still feel like a work in progress. While patches did make things easier to deal with along the way, it’s still a bit buggy. Drywall Eating Simulator is about dealing with everything annoying about life. Dealing with an apartment complex where you’re trapped inside, encountering annoying neighbors, and can’t get out. The stress builds until you explore and encounter enough irritants that the Stress Buddy shows you’re about to lose it. At this point, you’ll see glowing red segments of walls. These can be eaten to make new paths and reduce stress. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-Nj3y8PQKo So the first really frustrating thing about Drywall Eating Simulator is the speed of the camera. While moving forward and backward is fine, as is strafing, actually moving the camera felt shockingly sluggish and slow on a handheld gaming PC. This meant actually turning and exploring felt like a chore. This persisted even after the patches that fixed some softlock situations, which is annoying. I tried messing with the settings as well and didn’t encounter the issue when playing on a laptop, so it must be tied to the Steam Deck sort of experience. Also troublesome is the fact that sometimes Drywall Eating Simulator stages don’t work well. The first and second levels are working reasonably well as of time of writing, with the recent patches up to this point making it possible to see which parts of walls are susceptible and the Questlog.txt tracker keeping accurate notes on what needs to be done. But I experienced issues with the mission list not updating and the fourth level still locked up on me. Images via Peripheral Playbox But even when Drywall Eating Simulator is working well, the way in which you progress can get a bit irritating. That’s because it’s essentially an “explore everywhere and click on everyone” type of experience. There are times when the commentary from NPCs can be funny! The idea is hilarious. The situations are perfect examples of irritating moments of life. But actually getting to the progression points can be difficult in some stages. This felt most noticeable in the first stage, but it also happened to me in the fourth as well. The idea behind Drywall Eating Simulator is amusing and captures the frustrations encountered at work or in society. Unfortunately, I feel like this is a game in need of another few patches. Some Steam Deck optimization would be great too. Peripheral Playbox did already release one patch on Steam and seems responsive, so this could be a situation where it’s in a much better place in a few weeks. Drywall Eating Simulator is available for PCs. The post Drywall Eating Simulator Gets Frustrating appeared first on Siliconera .

PC News Category - SiliconeraDec 26

AU Deals: Boxing Day Game Deals I'd Actually Spend My Own Money On This YearI've ignored the filler, skipped the eternal backlog traps, and pulled out the handful of deals that genuinely deserve attention across consoles and PC.

IGN PC ArticlesDec 26

Review: Death Howl Can Test Your Resolve Games like Slay the Spire and Into the Breach involve careful plotting, deck-building, tactical awareness, and patience to succeed, and Death Howl is the latest new title to follow in their footsteps. The Outer Zone often references both types of genres, as well as soulslikes, when discussing its strategic affair. It’s an absolutely gorgeous game with some situations that can prove truly taxing. It can be a challenge! But some of the situations can prove quite daunting. I’d say in a good way, as it makes you think while surrounding you with an appropriate atmosphere. Ro’s son is dead. However, the warrior won’t accept that. She is determined to do whatever it takes to retrieve Olvi, even if that means braving the dangers of the Spirit World. So she undertakes a ritual to traverse unknown areas and face opponents in the hopes of reuniting with him. It’s a dangerous path, one that involves fighting and taking Death Howls from fallen foes into Ro’s self. By wandering through realms, facing spirits, opening up nodes on skill trees to get Spirit Cards and abilities, grinding past spirit fights to get Death Howls and crafting materials, getting totems for boosts, and unlocking fast-travel via Sacred Groves, you can build better decks of cards with actions and attacks and come closer to Ro’s goals. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7J4c7mzP2M While some roguelike games and strategy titles like this feature picking nodes on a map, Ro actually wanders through various realms in the Spirit World. Once you happen upon a Spirit, you choose the starting position on the grid from the initial row. You then get five cards from your deck dealt to you, with each one featuring a certain energy cost to them. Ro herself also has 20 health. Your goal will be to defeat the spirit you face, using different attacks and abilities to retaliate. Attacks may also have effects like poison or push, and actions might involve sprinting a certain distance to go further than usual or adding armor. You can have 20 cards in a deck, I will warn you that Death Howl isn’t for everyone for a number of reasons, even though it is excellent example of things happening in the deckbuilding and tactical genres. The references to soulslike refer to the ambiance and difficulty. Even some standard enemies are really challenging, until you’ve faced them a few times and realized what their gimmick and range is. Speaking of which, RNG itself can be brutal and result in moments when you won’t have much of a chance. Which is a whole thing in standard roguelikes, but becomes extra punishing here. This means there’s a lot of grinding necessary to become strong enough to actually survive. At times, it might even feel a bit unbalanced. Images via The Outer Zone Especially since Death Howl falls into the soulslike trap of often not explaining things to the degree necessary. This is very much a game where I felt like I learned by doing. If you aren’t familiar with titles like Into the Breach, Lost in Fantaland , and Slay the Spire , then Death Howl will confound you. It fill feature icons like skulls, drops of blood, shields, spirals, and plus signs next to cards and assume you know what that means. Enemy stats aren’t well explained. There’s nothing wrong with having a game where you need to work things out on your own, but it’s another thing to be aware of when it’s already quite challenging. However, because there is grinding in Death Howl and quite a few side quests, it doesn’t feel truly impossible. If you keep pushing forward and experimenting with which path you take through a realm, things might go better. I found sometimes I’d find a solution to get past an encounter that was troubling me or get the crafting materials I needed. Images via The Outer Zone I also feel like, considering how fantastic the story is, it is worth weathering the storms you’ll face when aiding Ro on her journey. It’s a dark, sad tale that also incorporates lore as she encounters different individuals. It’s a haunting tale about grief, beautifully executed with its spritework and punctuated with battles that feel like they test your limits. It all comes together so well. The struggle in Death Howl is real, both in terms of its story and challenge. It’s meaningful and haunting. While it can mean going through quite a bit of grinding and dealing with major foes and a bit of unfair RNG, it is a battle worth fighting. Death Howl is available for PCs. The post Review: Death Howl Can Test Your Resolve appeared first on Siliconera .

PC News Category - SiliconeraDec 25

AU Deals: Holiday Savings Hit Switch, PlayStation, Xbox and PC HardThere are a few deals here that feel less like discounts and more like apologies.

IGN PC ArticlesDec 24

New Zenless Zone Zero Figures Are Miyabi, Harumasa, Ellen Joe Myethos announced three Zenless Zone Zero figures of Asaba Harumasa, Hoshimi Miyabi, and Ellen Joe that are in various stages of development. The Sparkling Wonderland Gift+ version of Harumasa is furthest along, while the Ellen Joe one is only confirmed as a teaser silhouette . There are no release windows for any of them. We should see them worldwide like past figures based on characters from the game . As Harumasa is furthest along in development, we have the best idea of how he’ll look. He’s wearing a casual outfit with an oversized blue sweater over white and black shirts and black pants. He has a guitar at his side, with his right arm leaning on it. It will be 1/8 scale and already showed up as a painted prototype, so it’s possible we’ll see it release in 2026. The Miyabi and Ellen Joe designs are earlier in the process. Miyabi did show up as an unpainted prototype . That design featured her in a formal-style dress while playing a keytar. The Ellen Joe silhouette only hints at her possible pose, which suggests she’ll be holding a guitar and waving. Here are all the Myethos teaser photos for the Gift+ Zenless Zone Zero Asaba Harumasa, Hoshimi Miyabi, and Ellen Joe figures. Images via Myethos and HoYoVerse Myethos is well known for its HoYoVerse series figures. One that we’ll see in 2026 is a Honkai: Star Rail concert figure of Castorice playing a harp. The Zenless Zone Zero Asaba Harumasa, Hoshimi Miyabi, and Ellen Joe Myethos Gift+ figures are in development. The game is available on the PS5, Xbox Series X, PC, and mobile devices. The post New Zenless Zone Zero Figures Are Miyabi, Harumasa, Ellen Joe appeared first on Siliconera .

PC News Category - SiliconeraDec 24

Siliconera’s PC Game of the Year 2025 The PC has been a welcoming home in recent years to the best indie releases, letting them catch on and work out bugs before heading to other platforms. Siliconera’s PC Game of the Year selections carry on this spirit, with games that did make it to other systems but were made possible through the PC ecosystem. These awards represent the consensus of the Siliconera staff. Multiplatform games are considered on the platform for which they received the most staff support. For more of the year’s award selections, check out our Game of the Year 2025 archive . Hades II Building on the ideas of the first game (and developer Supergiant’s long line of work building indie darlings), Hades II is a game in which it’s hard to find fault. The team’s hard work to polish and iterate in Early Access shows through , and the resulting lack of friction makes it a joy to go through its gameplay loop over and over again. Monster Train 2 Following up on the excellent first Monster Train , this sequel pulls a Gold & Silver and effectively doubles the possibilities for strategy. Or maybe more than that? Since it relies on a mash-up approach, doubling the factions means an exponential increase in the number of combinations. And each pair has its own strategies! Its effective daily challenges make it a handy companion for the long term, so we’ll be playing it for quite a while to come. Winner: Blue Prince Exploration puzzle games like Myst certainly have their fans, but others bounce off the genre because the solutions seem a bit obtuse. Blue Prince grounds its delightful puzzles in established systems with clues and clear throughlines, making for a solve that feels thoroughly rewarding but never overly frustrating. Add to that the wit and commitment to aesthetic and you have a game that shouldn’t be missed . (Just bring along a journal for notes!) The post Siliconera’s PC Game of the Year 2025 appeared first on Siliconera .

PC News Category - SiliconeraDec 24