Trans representation in Cyberpunk 2077 matters, but not because it’s cyberpunk

Even before its recent public gameplay unveiling, Cyberpunk 2077 was the target of a very particular piece of criticism. Perhaps sparked by the transphobic joke made by the game’s Twitter account, many online have been calling out 2077 for presenting yet another future that, despite its overt themes of transhumanism and body modification, falls strictly into the gender binary. Despite the gender diversity already prevalent in our own world and time, players in 2077 are asked to choose between a strictly male or female character. Many online have been saying that this is at odds with the very genre from which the game gets its name and ideas. “Cyberpunk shouldn’t be cis!” is more or less the argument. This criticism has dogged the game for weeks now and will probably follow it all the way to release. Yet it doesn’t quite ring true to me.

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GTFO looks great terrific flipping ‘orrible in new gameplay video

“The atmosphere is pure Aliens, and the monsters are otherworldly and demonic,” our Brendan said after playing GTFO at E3 in June. “One of them casts horrible scent tendrils out into the air. Others are lanky, pustule-covered giants.”

He’s got a vivid imagination, that boy, so I’d want to see the cooperative sci-fi FPS myself before- oh, wait, here’s a nine-minute gameplay video for us all to watch and yup these sure are horrible fleshmen alright okay noted thanks thanks great lovely going to enjoy having those horrors lurking in my head tonight cheers.

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Welcome to the jungle in Hitman 2 trailer

A new trailer for Hitman 2 shows Ian Hitman off on his hols in sweltering Colombia, creeping through the rainforest to murder fellas out S.T.A.L.K.E.R. in the gas masks and ponchos and all. What exactly these tropical cosplayers have done to deserve murder is a mystery we cannot begin to guess at, but the video shows that goodness me the forest really is lush and not just a wee base with trees in the skybox. I look forward to creeping through there, maybe even grabbing a swim. Have a look below.

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Steam Charts: Crikey! Edition

I imagine in direct response to all my moaning insightful criticism, everyone in the world has upped their game and started buying some more interesting games from Steam. Such that this week’s Steam Charts, with an extraordinary four new entries, barely resembles those of the last couple of months! Hurrah! And you clickbait won’t believe clickbait where PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds falls this week! CLICKBAIT!

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Scum adds anti-cheat to fight the real scum

It’s always galling to be murdered when you’re on the pot, but doubly so when killed by a cheater. The ‘DayZ but with robots and pooing’ survival sandbox Scum has (hopefully?) solved that shitty problem over the weekend by adding anti-cheat tech, which is a feature I’m honestly surprised to hear a high-profile murderous multiplayer game had launched without. Known cheats for Scum included an aimbot, a wallhack with labels and healthbars over players, teleporting to the location of another player, infinite ammo… bad things.

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Watch a full match of Artifact

There’s a lot going on in Artifact. I’d already read enough to know that, but apparently I needed to see a game play out before the extent of the complexity sank in. Now I can’t wait to start laying cards down on three separate lanes, working towards two different victory conditions, parsing each card’s stats and tooling up heroes with equippable items.

Artifact is Valve’s upcoming card game adaptation of Dota 2, made with Magic: The Gathering creator Richard Garfield. The public got play it for the first time over the weekend at PAX West, where the victor of a mini-tournament earned the chance to play a veteran in a casted match on a fancy stage. Here’s the first match from that, where the commentators do their very best to explain what on earth is going on.

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The Binding Of Isaac adding Antibirth mod in next expansion

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the basement, another expansion for The Binding Of Isaac: Rebirth has been announced. Following the small-ish Afterbirth+, which was supposed to be the roguelikelike cry ’em up’s final expansion, The Binding Of Isaac: Repentance will be a big’un: rolling in the wild mod Antibirth, along with new stuff. First released in 2016, Antibirth adds so many new characters and floors and enemies and things that work in different and surprising ways, and feels mighty polished too. As someone still playing Isaac every day, I’m always up for more.

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