Subset GamesCameron Faulkner (he/him) is Polygon’s commerce editor. He began writing about tech and gaming in 2013, and migrated from The Verge in 2023.Turn-based strategy games and RPGs of all sorts are getting their turn in the sale spotlight over at Steam. Through Oct. 7 at 1 p.m. EST, you can score discounts on a range of titles that’ll definitely keep you busy for a while on your gaming PC or Steam Deck.As is usually the case, the amount of games on discount at Steam is overwhelmingly large — a good problem, but a problem nevertheless. I recommend checking out Steam at some point during the sale, where you’ll find some automated suggestions based on your personal preferences and play history. But we’re more than happy to provide some curatorial assistance if you want a hand in picking out a few of the greats.Octopath Traveler 2$30$6050% off$30It doesn’t matter which of the eight heroes you pick at the start of Octopath Traveler 2. This sprawling throwback RPG gives each character their own compelling arc while intertwining bigger challenges.Read More$30 at Best Buy$50 at AmazonSteamWorld Heist 2$20$3033% off$20Our review calls Heist 2 a “multi-classing masterwork,” a refinement of what worked in the original SteamWorld turn-based tactical XCOM-like title, plus a whole lot more.Read More$20 at SteamArco$16$2020% off$16Arco’s action will have you on your toes. It’s turn-based, but both you and your enemies act at once, leaving precious little reaction time to figure out your next move.Read More$16 at SteamGloomhaven$14$3560% off$14Gloomhaven started life as a board game, but the video game is well worth playing even if you aren’t into TTRPGs. Our review calls it a “marvelous turn-based dungeon crawler.”Read More$14 at SteamFinal Fantasy 8 Remastered$8$2060% off$8Final Fantasy 7 gets all of the remake love. But with Final Fantasy 8 turning 25 in 2024, it’s the perfect time to revisit Square Enix’s underappreciated RPG with slightly updated visuals.Read More$8 at SteamInto the Breach$7$1553% off$7One of the best turn-based strategy games in recent memory is Into the Breach. It’s also one of the best in the genre for first-timers to the genre, delivering a steady increase in difficulty.Read More$7 at SteamDragon Quest 11 S: Echoes of an Elusive Age – Definitive Edition$20$4050% off$20An RPG jam-packed with heart and big-eyed doggies. The latest mainline Dragon Quest game contains the work of the late Akira Toriyama, and that’s just one of many reasons to check this one out.Read More$20 at SteamPersona 4 Golden$11$2045% off$11A turn-based RPG that began life as a PS2 game, Persona 4’s infectious music and unforgettable characters eventually found their way onto PC in 2020 with the definitive edition.Read More$12 at Steam$11 at Fanatical
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As Christopher Nolan prepares his next movie at Universal, more has been revealed about his post-Tenet relationship with Warner Bros. and whether he’s had serious talks about James Bond in the past. The latter feels like a given, but do we really want that from him?Variety shed some light on where Nolan is at right now, how his previous studio tried to lure him back after a falloff following Tenet’s release strategy, and whether he’s properly flirted with the 007 IP at some point. It’s an interesting read, but I have some thoughts about this whole ‘Nolan doing Bond sooner or later’ matter.To see this content please enable targeting cookies.Manage cookie settings First thing’s first: It appears we can rule out a return to Warner Bros. anytime soon, as Variety’s report claims “Warner Bros. w…
Read moreTake note, other developers: this is how you do it. Capcom has removed gender-restricted armor sets from Monster Hunter in the upcoming PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC title, Monster Hunter Wilds.As show in the developer diary streams that were broadcast live from Gamescom 2024 today (and confirmed in a hands-on demo by yours truly), Capcom has decided to bin off the binary armor choices for female and male hunters. Now, no matter what character you decide to make when you create your avatar for the game, you will be able to equip all variations of armor without any restriction.To see this content please enable targeting cookies.Manage cookie settings Typically, Monster Hunter games have locked you into one of two variants depending on the make-up of your custom character, but in the upcoming …
Read moreWhile it’s set for full release on August 30, the early access period for Star Wars Outlaws is already underway, though in the cases of some PS5 players, it looks like that’s not proving to be quite as much of a head start as they’d expected. This is thanks to issues that are seeing folks get stuck in space, and have to start a new save in order to proceed.If you pre-ordered either the Gold Edition or the Ultimate Edition of Outlaws, the game will have started unlocking over the past day or so, in order to offer you your “up to three days” of early access, which is one of the big benefits of having pulped for a more expensive version, alongside the usual kinds of extra goodies rolled in at launch that you might expect.To see this content please enable targeting cookies.Manage cookie settin…
Read moreIt seems that there just still isn’t an end in sight for layoffs, as Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League developer Rocksteady has reportedly been hit by them.According to a report from Eurogamer, Rocksteady’s QA department has been essentially cut in half over the past month, going from 33 team members down to 15. This was caused by, you won’t be surprised to hear, Suicide Squad’s poor sales, which Eurogamer says was directly cited as a reason for the studio’s “restructuring.” QA isn’t the only department to have suffered from layoffs either, though it doesn’t appear to be clear which teams have been affected just yet. Apparently one staff member shared publicly on social media over the weekend that they were being made redundant, having learnt this new while in the middle of parental l…
Read moreGood news, Warhammer fans. It looks like the community consensus over Space Marine 2 is on the upturn, as Steam community reviews for the game have tipped over into the Very Positive range the morning of its general release to the public. A good sign for the game as the flood gates open.The game has proven popular among those who paid a little extra to jump in early. This isn’t unexpected, obviously, but this is despite a few issues here and there with server stability and length. The game appears to have gone over well with those with an appreciation for the universe Saber Interactive have jumped headfirst into, a crowd that has historically proven hard to impress when it comes to bringing the popular tabletop game to life in the video game medium.To see this content please enable targeti…
Read moreYesterday, Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead revealed the next Warbond that’ll be arriving in the game, Chemical Agents, which is set to kick up a stink when it drops on September 19.Part of this latest Warbond are a couple of stratagem variants – the TX-41 Sterilizer and the AX/TX-13 ‘Guard Dog’ Dog Breath – with this being the first time Arrowhead’s elected to include some in a Warbond, rather than offering the usual couple of new primary weapons. How are players feeling about it? Well, pretty ok, it seems.To see this content please enable targeting cookies.Manage cookie settings As we reported yesterday, Arrowhead acknowledged this change in the blog detailing Chemical Agents by writing: “Adding stratagem variants to Warbonds is new with Chemical Agents, but our designers felt that since…
Read moreUPDATE (18/09/24, 3:00 PM BST): Arrowhead has now deployed a hotfix that fixes the shield generator pack, as well as a crash which can occur “during host migration when a new player joins”. The studio has urged those currently playing to restart their game, presumably to make sure this update gets applied right away.Helldivers 2’s Patch 1.001.100 has generally been going down a storm since it dropped, but that doesn’t mean its deployment has been totally faultless, with a sheild generator bug that’s making players immune to melee attacks having popped up.Arrowhead’s already on the case though, even if some players would seemingly not mind the studio leaving this one alone, and CCO Johan Pilestedt’s taken the opportunity to start teasing the sorts of changes that might be coming with the ga…
Read moreShift Up and Sony, the developer of one of this year’s about 15 million games that came with weird or problematic social media discourses, are reportedly facing a lawsuit over the use of the name Stellar Blade for said game. A film company called – you guessed it – Stellarblade, is the one doing the suing.As reported by IGN, the non-video game Stellarblade is a Louisiana-based film production company, and it’s filed a suit in its home state which alleges that Shift Up and Sony’s use of the name Stellar Blade is damaging its business and infinging on a trademark.To see this content please enable targeting cookies.Manage cookie settings The film company is owned by Griffith Chambers Mehaffey, having been established to provide “multimedia entertainment services” in 2010. “Mr. Mehaffey regist…
Read moreKojima Productions showed off another look at Death Stranding 2: On the Beach at Tokyo Game Show, where it revealed the game’s photo mode.If you’ve even seen Hideo Kojima’s Twitter account, you can probably quite quickly see that the man loves a photoshoot. Seriously, just go on the game developer’s media tab, whether it’s casual photos with friends and colleagues, or proper fancy ones, he loves ’em. And today, during Kojima Productions’ panel for Death Stranding 2 at this year’s Tokyo Game Show, some footage for the upcoming sequel was revealed, the most notable bit being that the game has a photo mode, except honestly it’s more like a photoshoot mode. #TGS2024PlayStation Presents “DEATH STRANDING 2” Special Stage!First public release of game footage.Part 4: ‘Photo shoot event…
Read moreAvatar: The Last Airbender now has a huge action-RPG in the works, and it’s coming from Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 developer Saber Interactive.The AAA project was exclusively revealed by IGN on October 3, 2024. While the Last Airbender franchise (which also includes Korra) has received a number of video games in the past, this will be the first one working with a larger scope and the adequate budget to try to compete against the greats. After Saber’s Space Marine 2 and other IP-based wins such as World War Z and Evil Dead, we’re feeling confident about this one.To see this content please enable targeting cookies.Manage cookie settings The game is currently in early development for PC and consoles, but it’s been revealed that it’ll tell an all-new story set in the franchise’s past. “I…
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