Yeah, especially if they are on the longer side.

Luckily, there are short ones - I've played Cleared Hot, as you said it's quite short, and not what I expected really, but it's dumb fun.

I had to try Theropods as well, P&C adventure with pixel art, though unlike most modern indie pixel art games that has very small pixels, thus quite massive amount of pixels on screen to properly convey that 8-bit/16-bit era, this one is on the opposite side, with only 144p vertical resolution (if my pixel counting was correct). I used ShaderGlass with some old CRT preset over it to play, so it looked quite authentic (though I don't recall any hardware from that era having such a low resolution). Gameplay is very nice, really has feel of that 16-biut P&C adventure games era, with some timed actions. Quite short demo, but it made me want to play more.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1091870/Theropods/

A bit too blocky for my taste. Looks like the kind of game okr would like.

I tried the #DRIVE Rally Demo. I liked the visuals but not the controls. A shame.

I'll see if I can try the Hell is Us demo today, and maybe Tavern Keeper (it's from the same studio that did Game Dev Tycoon).

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 GPU To Feature 20 Gbps GDDR6 Memory, 8 GB VRAM & 5-Phase VRM

https://wccftech.com/nvidia-geforce-rtx-5050-gpu-20-gbps-gddr6-memory-8-gb-vram-5-phase-vrm/

AMD Confirms Next-Gen EPYC Venice “Zen 6” CPUs With 256 Cores In 2026, EPYC Verano “Zen 7” CPUs & Instinct MI500 GPUs For 2027

https://wccftech.com/amd-zen-6-epyc-venice-zen-6-cpus-256-cores-2026-epyc-verano-zen-7-instinct-mi500-gpus-2027/

AMD’s Next-Gen Instinct MI400 Accelerator Doubles The Compute To 40 PFLOPs, Equipped With 432 GB HBM4 Memory at 19.6 TB/s & Launches In 2026

https://wccftech.com/amd-instinct-mi400-accelerator-doubles-compute-40-pflops-432-gb-hbm4-memory-2026-launch/

AMD launches 6-core Ryzen 5 5500X3D, budget 3D V-Cache CPU for Latin America

https://videocardz.com/newz/amd-launches-6-core-ryzen-5-5500x3d-budget-3d-v-cache-cpu-for-latin-america

AMD introduces ROCm 7, with higher performance and support for new hardware

https://videocardz.com/newz/amd-introduces-rocm-7-with-higher-performance-and-support-for-new-hardware

AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT with Samsung memory shows slight benchmark drop in 22-card comparison

https://videocardz.com/newz/amd-radeon-rx-9070-xt-with-samsung-memory-shows-slight-benchmark-drop-in-22-card-comparison

Stellar Blade debuts on Steam with over 183k CCU (best-performing single-player PlayStation Studios release)

https://www.neogaf.com/threads/stellar-blade-debuts-on-steam-with-over-183k-ccu-best-performing-single-player-playstation-studios-release.1685234/

It’s time for the Friday gaming news:

SALES/PLAYER COUNTS & DEALS

Stellar Blade is doing better numbers than almost every other PlayStation port on Steam, and it's probably not just because of the nude mods
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/stellar-blade-is-doing-better-numbers-than-almost-every-other-playstation-port-on-steam-and-its-probably-not-just-because-of-the-nude-mods/
It's great that so many PlayStation games have come to PC in the last few years, letting me stack a heap of extra big-budget videogame junk food on my pile of shame. Welcome to the backlog, Horizon Zero Dawn. These games haven't always set the Steam top sellers list on fire, however, sometimes thanks to a marketing budget you'd have to squint to see. How many people even knew Marvel's Spider-Man 2 came out on PC at the end of January? No wonder it only managed a peak player count of 28,189.
Meanwhile, the newly released Stellar Blade is currently number one on the global top sellers list and hit a peak of 183,380 concurrent players. As far as PS5 ports go, that puts it behind only Helldivers 2, which made it to 458,709 players at release. In the number three spot? Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut, with 77,154 concurrents.
For the sake of completeness, here's a bunch of other PlayStation games Stellar Blade is doing better than on Steam: God of War (73,529), Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered (66,436), and The Last of Us Part 1 (36,496). In the case of the last one especially, Stellar Blade has the advantage of being a much better port. You'll still want a controller because it's that kind of game, but testing out the demo I found it ran smoothly and looked great, with no slowdown even when things were exploding all around me.

There are two new deals at Humble

• Humble Bundle presents the Case & Consequence Collection, with up to 7 games to get during 13 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/games/case-and-consequence-collection
• Meanwhile, the Humble Store has launched the Every Choice Matters Sale, with games up to 95% off during 6 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/every-choice-matters/

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin 25.6.2 driver
https://videocardz.com/driver/amd-radeon-software-adrenalin-25-6-2

HIGHLIGHTS
New Game Support

• The Alters
• FBC: Firebreak

New Game Support for AMD FidelityFX™ Super Resolution 4 (FSR 4)

• The Alters
• Delta Force
• Dragonkin: The Banished
• RoadCraft

FIXED ISSUES

• Oculus Rift S may display with a green tint on AMD Radeon™ RX 7000 series GPUs.
• Stutter and lower than expected performance may be observed when using alt-tab and streaming to Discord with multiple monitors.
• Intermittent application crash or driver timeout may be observed while playing Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 with Ray Tracing enabled on Radeon™ RX 9060 XT.
• Intermittent application crash may be observed when first launching The Last of Us Part I on Radeon™ RX 9060 XT graphics products.
• Lower than expected performance may be observed while playing Warhammer 40,000: Darktide on Radeon™ RX 9070 series graphics products.

Steam's store now lets you search for games by accessibility features like 'narrated game menus' and 'adjustable difficulty', and more than 5,000 games have already added their accessibility details to the database
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/steams-store-now-lets-you-search-for-games-by-accessibility-features-like-narrated-game-menus-and-adjustable-difficulty-and-more-than-5-000-games-have-already-added-their-accessibility-details-to-the-database/
Back in April, Valve announced the Steam store would start highlighting accessibility features on games' store pages. And now, it has. Not only can you see them in the sidebar beneath the controller support section for selected games, you can also search the store by individual accessibility features.
"This update comes after gathering valuable feedback from developers as well as players with disabilities," Valve says in its blog post announcing the news, "and over 5,000 applications have added details about their accessibility support (with more developers updating their games each day)."
>> And Steam now runs on Apple’s ARM chips.

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Driveclub is almost fully playable on PC with 60FPS via shadPS4
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/driveclub-is-almost-fully-playable-on-pc-with-60fps-via-shadps4/
In April 2025, we shared a video that showcased the PS4 emulator, shadPS4, running Driveclub. And now, just two months since then, Driveclub is almost fully playable with support for 60FPS on PC via shadPS4.
YouTube’s ‘talhaONE’ has shared two videos, showcasing the game running on the latest version of shadPS4. And, as you will see, we are almost there.
To capture this gameplay footage, talhaONE used an AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D with 32GB of RAM and an AMD Radeon RX 9070XT. And, as we can see, this PC system can run the game with 60FPS.
What’s crazy is that a high-end PC system could only push 38FPS back in April 2025. Not only that, but you needed hacks to get an output image. Oh, and that output image was awful. The progress we see in just two months is crazy. Plus, it shows how talented the shadPS4 team really is.
For those unaware, the PS4 version (and the PS5 version via backward compatibility) is locked at 30FPS. So, if you want to enjoy this PS4 racing game with 60FPS, you’ll have to play it on PC. And that’s why we love emulation. The emulation scene is doing what Sony should have done in the first place. It’s inexcusable how Sony has treated this game. Thank God for shadPS4—it will allow more and more gamers to experience this racing game with smooth framerates.
As I said, we are ALMOST there. Right now, there are still some minor visual issues. For instance, rain is still broken in cockpit camera. This is something that the shadPS4 will have to address. After all, Driveclub had (and still has) some of the best raindrop effects in a racing game. There might also be some other graphical glitches. So yeah, it’s not perfectly emulated yet.
>> The article has two videos.

FromSoftware left hints for Elden Ring Nightreign's enhanced bosses update in the files and modders have already dug them up
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/fromsoftware-left-hints-for-elden-ring-nightreigns-enhanced-bosses-update-in-the-files-and-modders-have-already-dug-them-up/
In typical FromSoftware fashion, it teased an Elden Ring Nightreign update coming this month that will add "enhanced" boss fights with zero clues as to what that actually means. Well, it turns out, those clues have been sitting in the game files since it came out, and there's already a mod that will let you fight each boss in what seems to be those "enhanced" versions.
The first thing that tipped people off was unused sections in every boss theme on the soundtrack for a third phase. Then they found unused relics associated with each boss that look like the kind of rewards you'd get for defeating them in hard mode. And now they've dug up the files that let you actually fight the enhanced versions yourself.
You'll need TerraMag's Enhanced Nightlord Fights mod on NexusMods to do it, or you can visit their YouTube channel to see footage of them. Some of the fights slightly change the look of the Nightlords as they unleash new attacks and others bring in a whole new enemy to hound you. It's hard enough surviving two nights in a chunk of the Lands Between before it's swallowed whole, and now you get to cap off your run with a boss fresh out of the hyperbolic time chamber.
While all of the new fights look playable, they don't quite look finished. The updated models and attacks aren't as polished as the normal versions, but you can see what they're going for. It's also possible that these are really early concepts that will end up much different in the final update. Either way, it's neat to peek behind the scenes on how FromSoft designs bosses, even if we were not really meant to see all this.
>> The article has no media.

GAMING NEWS

First MindsEye Performance Patch Released, Does It Run Better?
https://www.dsogaming.com/articles/first-mindseye-performance-patch-released-does-it-run-better/
As promised, Build A Rocket Boy has just released the first performance patch for MindsEye. This patch is 5.3GB in size, and we’ve tested it. So, does the game run better now? Let’s find out.

Here are 17 minutes of gameplay from Gears of War Reloaded Beta + PC Benchmark
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/here-are-17-minutes-of-gameplay-from-gears-of-war-reloaded-beta-pc-benchmark/
Microsoft has launched the first beta phase for the MP mode of Gears of War Reloaded. So, below, you can find a video showcasing 17 minutes of gameplay from the PC version. Moreover, we get to see the new PC benchmark tool in action.

The second part of the gaming news:

You can manipulate time itself in this ambitious MMORPG with soulslike combat
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/mmo/you-can-manipulate-time-itself-in-this-ambitious-mmorpg-with-soulslike-combat/
Chrono Odyssey appears to be a pretty traditional fantasy MMORPG for the first 30 minutes, but then time stuff happens and the entire look of the world and its monsters change. This is an ambitious MMO all about time-manipulation and I'm curious to see if it can pull it off.

Halo Infinite says 'screw it' and just becomes Halo 3 for a month—complete with grifball
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/halo-infinite-says-screw-it-and-is-just-becoming-halo-3-for-a-month-complete-with-grifball/
Halo Infinite has announced the start of Operation: Legacy, a range of multiplayer tweaks, maps and modes that essentially makes Infinite resemble the golden age of Halo 3. We've been here before, kinda: last year saw Infinite throw a similar Halo 2-themed nostalgia party for that game's 20th anniversary.

'I don't actually play horror games': Phasmophobia's lead developer had no intention of making a horror game but still kicked off a whole new genre
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/horror/i-dont-actually-play-horror-games-phasmophobias-lead-developer-had-no-intention-of-making-a-horror-game-but-still-kicked-off-a-whole-new-genre/
I'll never forget the first time my friends and I played Phasmophobia. It was like nothing I'd ever played before, absolutely hilarious, and surprisingly terrifying—it still is. So it's rather funny to me that not only does Phasmo's creator not really play horror games but he didn't intend to make one either.

Konami announces Metal Gear Delta will include a new multiplayer mode, but don't expect Metal Gear Online 4 because 'the landscape of multiplayer games has changed a lot'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/konami-announces-metal-gear-delta-will-include-a-new-multiplayer-mode-but-dont-expect-metal-gear-online-4-because-the-landscape-of-multiplayer-games-has-changed-a-lot/
Konami has shown off a new take on Metal Gear multiplayer, with Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater boasting an online mode, Fox Hunt. This follows a recent tease that many, myself included, thought indicated a return of the beloved Metal Gear Online.
Well, no dice, but Fox Hunt actually looks pretty cool and, more than anything else, reminds me of rival stealther Splinter Cell's similarly cherished Spies vs Mercs multiplayer. The new video features Yu Sahara, the director of Fox Hunt, talking over some footage of the new mode, which features a pared-back version of MGS4's octocamo stealth system: When a player briefly pauses while touching a surface, they'll automatically blend into various environmental textures rather than having to select the right one from a menu like in MGS3's singleplayer.

Would-be Sims competitor Inzoi's publisher says Steam concurrents aren't as important as sales, which is only technically correct
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/life-sim/would-be-sims-competitor-inzois-publisher-says-steam-concurrents-arent-as-important-as-sales-which-is-only-technically-correct/
Meant to be a direct competitor to the woefully under-staffed life sim genre—specifically, the Sims-like part of it—Inzoi's a bit of a strange beast. While it landed to some solid sales figures, over a million in a week, and is enjoying a "mostly positive" overall review score on Steam, it's also experienced a pretty sharp dropoff in players.
Speaking with IGN about these numbers earlier this week, Krafton responded: "Inzoi continues to steadily generate sales, and as a singleplayer game, it would be most appropriate to refer to the additional sales count at each major update point as opposed to concurrent player count on Steam in measuring the game's performance."

Cities: Skylines 2's latest patch has introduced quays and piers after seeing players using makeshift substitutes: 'We know how challenging they can be to build'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/city-builder/cities-skylines-2s-latest-patch-has-introduced-quays-and-piers-after-seeing-players-using-makeshift-substitutes-we-know-how-challenging-they-can-be-to-build/
Cities: Skylines 2's latest patch includes a bunch of new fixes, and introduces actual quays and piers, which means players no longer need to play Frankenstein with their shoreline.
"We’ve seen how you have used the cut-and-fill roads to create makeshift quays in your cities, but we also know how challenging they can be to build," a blog post says. "Where roads and pedestrian paths are designed to follow the terrain, creating retaining walls and bridges only when there is a significant elevation change, quays detect the slightest change in elevation and create a retaining wall on the lower side."

'We have people working on fixing the goomba stomping'—Dune: Awakening's PvP is getting dominated by packs of rabid ornithopter pilots squishing their enemies
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/we-have-people-working-on-fixing-the-goomba-stomping-dune-awakenings-pvp-is-getting-dominated-by-packs-of-rabid-ornithopter-pilots-squishing-their-enemies/
Dune: Awakening's PvP meta has evolved—on the sand-blasted lands of Arrakis, one weapon has been dominating all others. That weapon is 'let's repeatedly try and squish someone with our ornithopters like we're the world's most inefficient flock of seagulls fighting over a single chip'.
As observed by Bombe18 on the game's subreddit, vehicles in Dune: Awakening don't take any damage when they whomp into stuff, which makes anything airborne a supremely effective weapon when you have an ornithopter and your enemy doesn't.
(...)
The unanticipated consequence being that players, being made of flesh and blood, do take damage from the vehicles colliding into them. Joel Bylos, creative director of Dune: Awakening, stepped in and replied to the thread, writing: "Yeah sorry about this. We have people working on fixing the goomba stomping ASAP."
>> Other players have found another way to be a d*ck to other players.

'Originally it was like, no, we are not interested': It apparently took 5.5 hours of hardcore pitching to get Thanos in Fortnite—and as you know, the rest is history
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/originally-it-was-like-no-we-are-not-interested-it-apparently-took-5-5-hours-of-hardcore-pitching-to-get-thanos-in-fortnite-and-as-you-know-the-rest-is-history/
It might be hard to imagine in our Fortnite-ified era of shooters, but Fortnite, once upon a time, didn't have a single crossover to its name. The battle royale, added to the game in 2017, was once free of twerking Thani (is that the plural?), famous pop stars, and Peter Griffin. What's more, there was even a vision of Fortnite without Goku getting wrecked by Rick Sanchez wielding a lightsaber, or uncomfortable AI Darth Vaders saying slurs.
Per a roundup from The Game Business live, our current Thanos-based future wasn't… inevitable. As a matter of fact, it was apparently a really hard sell. The president of interactive technology at AGBO—Joe and Anthony Russo (of Marvel fame)'s production company—Pete Wanat shares a story relayed to him by coworker Donald Mustard, who was Epic's chief creative officer at the time.

'No gay, no pay': The RuneScape community is absolutely mauling Jagex's new CEO over his decision to cancel new Pride Month events
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/mmo/no-gay-no-pay-the-runescape-community-is-absolutely-mauling-jagexs-new-ceo-over-his-decision-to-cancel-new-pride-month-events/
RuneScape players haven't relented since news broke a few days ago that new Jagex CEO Jon Bellamy—also known in-community as Mod North—was effectively killing off Pride Month celebrations in RuneScape and Old School RuneScape (OSRS) in order to "ensure the business is protected against those that would wish us harm."
(...)
That didn't mollify staff—who penned an open letter to Jagex execs asking to be allowed to run Pride content—and it certainly hasn't mollified the community. Across social media, RuneScape players are in a continuous uproar about the rollback.
>> When you try to please everyone, you end pleasing no one.

And now, the weekend deals at GOG and Steam:

+GOG

• We have new Weekly Deals, with up to 93% discounts during 5 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20250612_weekly_deals_2_june.
  As a side note, the sales/promos launched this week, plus the fact that the above sale will last less than usual, makes me wonder if we’ll have a big Sale next week.

+Steam

• Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor, still in Early Access, is going to be 30% off until the 19th of June: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2321470/Deep_Rock_Galactic_Survivor/
• PARANOIA PLACE gets a 40% discount until the same 19th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1592290/PARANOIA_PLACE/
• The Early Access title Stardeus will be free to try during the weekend and 50% off until June 19th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1380910/Stardeus/
• Creature Lab, that has a demo, will have a 75% discount until the 26th of June: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1309990/Creature_Lab/
• And there are also a ton of sales/events:
  • Publisher/Developer QUByte Interactive puts its game on sale with up to 50% discounts until the 26th of June: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/40644789/sale/QUBytePublisherSale2025
  • Anshar Publishing puts its games on sale with up to 80% discounts until the 26th, although some deals will end sooner than that: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/41215820/sale/publishersale
  • The Total War franchise celebrates its 25th anniversary with the games up to 80% off until the 26th of June: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/TotalWar25HistoricalFranchiseSale
  • The Krafton Publisher Sale has games up to 85% off until June 26: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/kraftonpublishersale2025
  • The Tomb Raider franchise is on sale with up to 89% discounts until the 26th of June: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/35801496/sale/tombraidersummersale2025
  • Publisher HypeTrain opens its Summer Sale and puts its games on sale with up to 90% off. Most deals will end on the 26th, but some will end sooner than that so, be careful: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/26684285/sale/HypeTrainSummerSale2025
  • Time for Curve Games’ Feels Like Summer Sale, featuring up to 90% discounts. As with the former sale, most deals will end on the 26th, but others will end as soon as the 17th: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/33019968/sale/CurveFLSSale25
  • Publisher Klei Publishing (... that doesn’t feel right), puts its games on sale with up to 90% discounts until the 26th: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/kleifest2025
  • The 505Games Summer Sale features up to 90% discounts until June 26: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/33027220/sale/SummerSale2025
  • Crunching Koalas celebrates its Summer Sale and puts its games up to 90% off until the 26: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/34046344/sale/summerSale2025
  • Team17 has a sale with up to 90% discounts until, once again, June 26: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/Team17PublisherSale25
  • Related to the former sale, Hell Let Loose will be free to try during the weekend: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/32941731/sale/hll_freeweekend_celebration25

And that’s it. While you wonder why some many Steam deals/sales end on June 26, I leave you until the next time wishing that you have a happy and gaming weekend.

Yeah, it's quite blocky - I intended it to play it anyway with ShaderGlass, but when I fired it up and saw how low res it is, ShaderGlass with some old CRT/composite emulation preset was a must - I have no problem playing pixel art games when they look the way they actually did back then on CRTs, but raw, unmodified pixel art is very grating to me.

Managed to try Hell is Us?

Somehow, I don't think the 8GB of VRAM are going to be this card's main limiting factor.

I'm really curious about how those new CCDs and CCXs will perform. The jump from 4 to 6 cores per CCX is a necessity if AMD wants to keep up with Intel and its army of mixed cores, at least for productivity.

Also a rare win for Latin America. Good for them! I don't think the CPU will be very good, but the price will hopefully make sense.

While the difference is small, it's not something you expect to cause any difference at all.

I did, yes!

It's painfully obvious that my 1070 isn't up to the task, those min rquirements are likely for 1080p and 30fps so, while expected, the experience wasn't as smooth as I would have liked.

I like the exploration, although for players like me that like to explore every inch of the map, that openess may cause some headaches further into the game if the maps get bigger. The puzzle to open the door to the cave was easy to guess and I had no problems finding the "treasure" of the little girls note.

Combat was a mixed bag, because the framerate wasn't great and, for some reason, I tried to use the left trigger to lock on enemies instead of using R3. Which yes, I understand that you using the trigger to give orders to your drone is necessary, but R3 for lock on is weird to me.

In any case, with not too many enemies on screen, the fights felt ok, not too challenging but not a walk in the park either.

So yeah, I'm digging the game, but I'll need a GPU upgrade to play this game.

Somehow the specs read almost like an overclocked 3050. Same amount of VRAM, just a bit faster (20Gbit vs 18Gbit), same amount of CUDA cores (about 1Ghz faster)...

And I'm sure the MSRP of $249 will also read about the same, because they lack the headroom to overclock that one, too.

Yeah, GTX 10s are getting really long in the tooth. Have you tried how TSR vs XeSS compares performance and quality wise?