PC News

Valve won't let retailers stock physical Steam gift cards anymore because "scammers have adapted" to whatever security measures they've tried
PC

Valve won't let retailers stock physical Steam gift cards anymore because "scammers have adapted" to whatever security measures they've tried

Valve have stopped producing physical Steam Gift Cards for retailers, meaning once the current stock runs out you won't see them anywhere out in the wild. Valve say this is because no matter what protections they've added to the cards, "scammers have adapted". While Valve will continue to sell Steam Digital Gift Cards through their shop, this means the days of trading in old physical games and using the credit to buy a gift card are coming to an end. Read more

We're finally getting a Vanillaware game on PC - Muramasa: Revenant Blades, an expanded 4K edition of the gorgeous Japanese action RPG
PC

We're finally getting a Vanillaware game on PC - Muramasa: Revenant Blades, an expanded 4K edition of the gorgeous Japanese action RPG

For years, lovers of exquisite sprite designs have clamoured for Vanillaware to bring their action RPGs and strategy games to PC. Games like time-rewinding mecha soap opera 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim, or prancing kingdom saver Unicorn Overlord. The rationale for these games not appearing outside console has been nebulous, to date: at one point in 2024, Vanillaware and publishers Atlus appeared to blame each other for Unicorn Overlord's absence from desktops. Read more

"Even dry and lost places can flourish with a little care": Waterful is a gentle, beautiful puzzler about drawing rivers that makes me yearn for something overwhelming
PC

"Even dry and lost places can flourish with a little care": Waterful is a gentle, beautiful puzzler about drawing rivers that makes me yearn for something overwhelming

Waterful is that most appropriate and disquieting of things, a "nature-builder". It's a soft and colourful chillout game in which you cut rivers through procedurally generated landscapes with a cursor, drawing from a limited supply of water that is topped up by connecting springs. Importantly, and perhaps dispiritingly, you can dig and refill the terrain as you please. Depending on the shape of the river and the depth of its bed, you'll cultivate different vegetation. The vegetation, in turn,

In Am I Nima, you must find and fuse words to convince your mother you're really her daughter
PC

In Am I Nima, you must find and fuse words to convince your mother you're really her daughter

Oh dear, here's an existentially uncomfortable (and genuinely potentially triggering around themes of abuse) one for you. Am I Nima, shown off this weekend during the Story Rich Showcase, is a visual novel in which you take on the role of the titular Nima, who is trying to convince her mother that she really is her daughter by combining words in her brain. Read more