Whew I've done it! 11 interviews later, and many thousands of worlds, I've written probably my most ambitious piece yet about the wonderful world of maps. Please give it a read!
This is close to the longest interview I've ever published on Eurogamer. It's with the wonderful
@LarAtLarian
, and it's about Larian's past, present and future.
He reveals a cancelled DOS2 spin-off that was codenamed Soul for Frost Island. Lots here!
I am frightened to share this but I've never liked the secrecy there is around pay, and if I want people in junior roles who do as much work as me to be equally rewarded then I have to speak up. So as a senior staff writer at Eurogamer I earn 34K. (1/2)
Five years ago I had an opportunity I'm unlikely to ever get again. I got the chance to be a fly on the wall at a studio for a few days while it launched its new game.
@witchergame
will hold a place in my heart for so many reasons for a long time.
Here is a piece I've been working on for months. I'm a bit nervous to share it but also super proud. To be able to swim out of the current and take time to look into an issue like this has been an enormous privilege, so thank you Eurogamer. But I would never have been able...
Be it through digital purchases, large patches, or streaming via the cloud, video games are more reliant than ever on the internet. But what do all those downloads do to the planet?
Our long-read on the climate impact of gaming's all-digital future:
Thrilled to finally get this out. I talk to Darkest Dungeon creators
@BourassaArt
and
@tylersigman
about the ideas behind the series, the challenges they faced making it, and the sequel, and what happens now
Why fire them at all? Why not give them a warning first? Were Price's comments really so strong as to warrant automatic removal? And what about Fries? Were his remarks really enough to bring more than 13 years of employment abruptly to an end?
Mildly alarmed to hear
@LarAtLarian
- who considers Ultima 7 the game that started it all for him and Larian - has never met
@RichardGarriott
!
These two must meet!
I travelled to
@CDPROJEKTRED
last week to see The Witcher 3 next-gen update. Fascinating to be back there - I'll write something about it. But for now, here are my thoughts on the update
Just catching up on this. There's a moment where Mike (
@RTalsorianGames
) talks about
@CDPROJEKTRED
building an actual wall of guns from
@CyberpunkGame
in the office. Just wanted to say that this is an actual, real thing - I've seen it!
Anyone else watching The Boys? Rather enjoying it! Loved the first series. Love Homelander. I mean, I hate him, but he takes his part so well. Dodgy British accent from Karl Urban but love his character. So many great moments!
Oh my god I was watching the old
#HorribleHistories
with my son yesterday and it's so good!
@realmatbaynton
you are hilarious (you all are). I'm all of a sudden very excited for the movie!
I have worked here for 15 years and nowhere else in the industry. I have never freelanced because I was and still am scared no one will commission me. I began on 14K in 2005. My salary has mostly risen as a result of yearly gains. It's flattened out now and barely moves.
I'm looking for people who worked at a
#GamesWorkshop
store in the UK, in early 2000, for a piece I'm writing. If you know anyone who knows anyone, or you're that someone, please can you drop me a DM?
RTs very welcome! Thanks!
"A teenage Scott Lynch (
@scottlynch78
) was so fond of the game [FF6] that, years later, the protagonist of his novel ('The Lies of Locke Lamora') was named as a homage to one of the main characters in the game."
I did not know this! 🤯
#finalfantasy
I spoke to
@LarAtLarian
about BG3 while he previewed the latest Barbarian patch to me. And OK, it's a shame it won't be out this year, but every time I see that game, or play it, the level of detail they're realising just delights me. And it's in everything - how it looks... 1/?
OK this is the big one I spent a fair few days pulling together. It's a beefy list of some of the best pieces we've put out on Eurogamer. And what I love most about it is the variety of voices, particularly from our annoyingly talented contributors (don't take my job please)
I'm finally just finishing Citizen Sleeper and it's just beautiful. Brilliantly beautiful. So much human warmth beating at the heart of a cold exterior. I'm a bit teary eyed! It's wonderful
@JumpOvertheAge
❤️
It's frustrating about the price though. It sounds to me like Housemarque of course doesn't want to charge £70 for Returnal but what can they do? They're a Sony-published game. It's not their call.
Bristol, 5am. 10 people in two lorries take 15 minutes to give the city a new statue where Colston used to be. I love everything about this. I hope it's allowed to stay
Delighted to finally properly share this. Fighting Fantasy is as old as I am (a couple of months older actually). And here I tell the origin story of it and Games Workshop, to a degree. It's all poky flats and living in the back of a van and passion-driven ambition 1/?
Without Dungeons & Dragons, Fighting Fantasy might never have existed.
Creators
@ian_livingstone
and
@stevejacksonuk
take us on a trip down memory lane as their phenomenal series turns 40 years old
Here it is, my bumper piece for your Saturday morning. Sit back and emerge yourself in all things Matrix. A huge thank you to
@smbhax
who was so candid with his replies
I invented a new series! I'm quite proud of that. OK admittedly it's only one article so far, but hey, all AMAZING GREAT things start somewhere! So here are Five of the Best potions in games! List by no means exhaustive so have at me!
Here's a brand new series for Friday lunchtime (the peak of the working week). It's Five of the Best, a celebration of the little things that make games great. And up first we have... POTIONS!
#glug
Today they help Xbox and PlayStation design their accessibility controllers. But 15 years ago, it was a few people trying to make a difference to people's lives, to help physically disabled people play games. Thank you
@MickDonegan
for the interview and all that you do
"It's like you've helped them open the doors to this wonderful world of gaming, having just been looking in through the window for years and years and years."
How much do you know about the life-changing work
@SpecialEffect
does?
This was cool! A game where you're the squelching, oozing monster in the walls and air shafts. It's called Carrion and you gobble up helpless humans as you romp along. Feels delightfully gruesome
@KhaloshTweets
#DigitalDragons
I'm in a play at the moment called Pickwick & Weller, adapted from Dickens by my dad no less! Just had a review call us "a triumph", and me "outrageous", which I am ever so happy about. (All sold out now I'm afraid.)
#theatre
@nvt_brighton
We've got these super snazzy Quake 2 toilets at
@eurogamer
(part of our heritage). Thing is, they're a bit out of fashion now - so I updated them 🤭
#fortnite
Happy
#WorldMentalHealthDay
. I've struggled before and sometimes I struggle still. Every day I understand more. I talk more, I share more, I shrug more. I hope more. Big love to one and all ❤️
Who does Geralt's voice better, me or
@DCockle
? I know you *think* you know the answer, but do you really? I'm serious by the way. This podcast opens with an actual vocal showdown
It was equally lovely meet
@mustangsart
and explore the work they're doing to push disabled representation forward in TTRPGs and beyond. Thanks Sara!
This episode will be available to all in two weeks' time!
@joningold
@joethephish
Now available to premium supporters: Meet the person putting wheelchairs into D&D, and highlighting Geralt's disability. A lovely chat with
@mustangsart
about rewriting the ableist rules of fantasy and everything that comes with it
3/3
Catching up on the Diablo 4 systems and features panel and... Diablo 4 will have Hardcore characters and couch co-op - but only for two people and only on console. There's a new Mythic class of item and ancient legendaries. Dungeon Keys are a big thing. They...
As a heads-up, I have probably my best piece of work ever - for real! - going live tomorrow morning. I'll be insufferably promoting it then so maybe unfollow me now x
Mic drop moment for
@uncannyvivek
just after talking about accessibility in Spider-Man Miles Morales: "With great accessibility comes great inclusivity."
#GAConf
Writing about
@dragonage
earlier reminded me 1) how I'd like to go back and play it again (I like how this happens), and 2) how much I love the tarot card art in the game. Artist
@Nthornborrow
seems to be responsible for a lot of it
I had my Moderna jab in Brighton on Saturday. Was all super-organised and very calm. Probably the calmest place in all of town. Achy arm but otherwise feeling fine
Quick shout out to this wonderful Making of Karateka interview by Donlan. There are crossovers between what
@DigitalEclipse
is doing and what I/we do as journalists every day, so there's a lot of interesting thinking in here about how to best tell a story.
I love how rude the world of Witcher 3 is. So I decided to find out which potty-mouth at
@CDPROJEKTRED
was responsible for it!
Big thanks to
@olasondej
for all her help tracking the various people down!
Oh I wanted to add: I think it was brave of CDPR to demo Cyberpunk 2077 as it did, remotely. I thought it showed confidence in the game. I don't think either party (developer or press) thought it was ideal but there were positives. It was nice doing a press event in my pyjamas.
What is White Protagonism in games? You'll know it instinctively even if you've never heard the term. It underpins almost everything we play. This is a long piece by
@betterthemask
that explores and then unpicks it. It's long but stick with it...
This thought about crunch from
@11bitstudios
'
@YerisTR
really struck me. She said: "I think a level of sensitivity is required to be creative and [crunch] takes a great toll both on the creative output and on them as humans... 1/2
Merry Christmas! I've been up for hours. I've opened all my presents and now I want to open YOURS. Oh ho ho not really. What I've really done is put together of some lovely articles we've published on Eurogamer this year