Articles by Andy Chalk

Technology

Our most anticipated 13th-century Mongolian horse game had such a popular Next Fest demo the developers have decided to delay it

The Legend of Khiimori, which according to our very own Joshua Wolens is basically Death Stranding but you get to ride a 13th-century Mongolian horse instead of Norman Reedus, was meant to launch into early access in a couple weeks following a triumphant showing in the recently-concluded Steam Next Fest. I'm sorry to say that's not going to happen: The Next Fest demo went so well that the development team has decided to give it a few more months in the oven. "The wonderful reception during Steam Next Fest has led to us sitting down with our publisher and together we have decided to take more time to create a more feature and content-rich experience!" the team wrote. "While this does mean that you all have to wait a little longer to get your hands on Khiimori, it also means we’ll be able to make sure you get a better game when we do release into Early Access." You might think that the decision to push back the early access launch reflects a negative reception to The Legend of Khiimori demo, but the dev team says that's not the case—and to prove it, they're leaving the demo up on Steam until November 30 rather than taking it down today as originally planned, so more people can sample it. The numbers also point to a positive overall response: SteamDB says The Legend of Khiimori picked up more than 1,700 new wishlist additions during the week of the Next Fest, and while that's nowhere near the 40,000+ pulled in by the chart-topping Arc Raiders, it's a significant bump that's good enough to place it among the top-50 gainers on Steam. That's especially noteworthy when you consider that The Legend of Khiimori isn't exactly aimed at a mainstream gamer audience: You play as a horseback courier in 13th-century Mongolia, delivering mail, running errands, and taking care of a remarkably detailed and—based on Josh's telling—often finicky mount. But in a good way. (Josh, for the record, opined upon hearing about the delay that The Legend of Khiimori is good but "also probably good to give it a few more months in the oven.") The release date isn't accurate anymore but this is still a pretty cool trailer. I'm pretty jazzed for The Legend of Khiimori myself. Horses make me nervous and I'm too much of a fan of indoor plumbing to willingly give it up, but imagining that fresh, bracing Mongolian air while galloping across the steppes from the comfort of my expensive office chair? Yeah, that sounds like my cup of suutei tsai. I'm downloading the demo now.

Oct 20, 2025

Technology

Ubisoft reportedly cancelled an Assassin's Creed game set around the American Civil War because of Yasuke backlash and political turmoil in the US

A new Game File report claims that Ubisoft cancelled an Assassin's Creed game that would have been set in the US Civil War and the Reconstruction period that followed. According to Game File's sources, the decision to cancel the game was made in 2024 in part because of the backlash against the reveal of the Black samurai Yasuke in Assassin's Creed Shadows, but more pressingly over concerns about the current political climate in the US. Game File says it interviewed five current and former Ubisoft employees, who spoke about the project and its cancellation under the condition of anonymity. The game was apparently going to tell the story of a formerly enslaved Black man who, after moving west to start a new life, is recruited by the Assassin Brotherhood. Following that, he would return to the US south, coming into conflict with groups including the emerging Ku Klux Klan, the white supremacist hate group that continues to operate today. The game was in the concept phase and years away from release when the cancellation occurred, but work was reportedly underway. Game File's sources, all either current or former employees of Ubisoft, said developers were "enthusiastic" about the game, which some felt had the potential to make a positive social impact. But despite initially being approved by Ubisoft leadership, it was eventually decided that the subject matter was too controversial, especially now, as the Trump administration makes moves to walk back civil rights legislation and restore honors and memorials to the Confederacy, which fought to maintain slavery during the American Civil War: One source said it was "too political in a country too unstable, to make it short." While some of the game was meant to take place during the Civil War itself, the bulk of it would've been set during the Reconstruction era, the decade-plus that immediately followed. While Reconstruction was intended to address matters like granting citizenship to former slaves and reintegrating former Confederate states into a restored United States, the process faced furious and often violent resistance from whites in the south, which ultimately undermined it; Reconstruction was formally ended in 1877, leading to a resurgence of white supremacy and violent repression and disenfranchisement of Blacks in the American south. It is, in other words, an intensely fraught topic in the US, a point driven home by the reaction to Yasuke in Assassin's Creed Shadows, which was ugly, to put it mildly. That reaction also exposed the soft underbelly of Ubisoft leadership: In response to noise from the worst corners of gamerdom, CEO Yves Guillemot said in September 2024 that "our goal is not to push any specific agenda," and that its intent is simply to make "games for fans and players that everyone can enjoy." Ironically, the people who actually make those games seem less reticent about standing up for themselves and their work—but they're not the ones who make the final decision about what does and does not get made. Ubisoft's self-professed apolitical bent goes back much further than Assassin's Creed Shadows. Despite making games that look from a distance like they might have something to say—Far Cry 5 leaps immediately to mind, but it's far from alone—Ubisoft has repeatedly insisted in the past that it does not make political videogames. But there are limits to how long you can maintain that "no politics" facade, and making a game about a Black assassin during Reconstruction would unavoidably be way beyond them. The cancellation happened amidst a very rough period for Ubisoft, which was struggling with delays, under-performing games, and a sagging share price: As PC Gamer's Fraser Brown put it, 2024 was an "absolutely dire" year for the company. One source told Game File that Ubisoft's finances had an impact on the decision to cancel the project as well: Ubisoft was naturally more risk-averse than it might have been five or six years ago when it was still riding high. Does that mean we might see this game resurrected at some point in the future? Anything is possible, but given how things are going right now in the US—and, frankly, some of the reactions to the Game File report I've seen on social media—I wouldn't bet on it.

Oct 8, 2025

Technology

The original System Shock 2 is being removed from sale on Steam later this week

I can't say I'm entirely surprised, but it's still a little disappointing: The original 1999 edition of System Shock 2 will be removed from Steam on October 10. "System Shock 2 (1999) will be delisted from PC platforms on October 10, 2025," Nightdive parent Atari says in the delisting announcement. "Existing owners of System Shock 2 (1999) will still be able to re-download and play it from their library, but new users will no longer be able to purchase System Shock 2 (1999) as a standalone product." You'll still be able to access the old version of the classic immsim: The 1999 edition of System Shock 2 will be given to all current and future owners of the System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remastered edition that arrived earlier this year. And that's where I become emotionally conflicted on the whole thing. On one hand, the old version of System Shock 2 runs well, especially if you have the gumption to get some mods rolling, and it's a fraction of the price of the updated version: It's normally $10/£7/€10, compared to $30/£24/€29 for the remaster, and can easily be had for a small fraction of that price in Steam sales and the like, where it's often marked down to just $1. But on the other hand, the System Shock 2 remaster is really how you should play the game these days: PC Gamer's Ted Litchfield, who knows a thing or two about it, said exactly that in his 85% review, in which he described the remaster as "a perfect pairing with Nightdive's far-reaching System Shock 1 remake." And look, $30 for a game of System Shock 2's caliber? That's like getting the Stones to play your wedding for 20 bucks and a six-pack. It's also possible that the original, cheap edition of System Shock 2 will remain available elsewhere: It remains available on GOG (and included in GOG's Preservation Program), and at this point I've seen no indication that it's going to be removed from that storefront. I've reached out to ask and will update if I receive a reply—in the meantime, this isn't a bad time to pick it up if you want to be sure, because it's currently on sale for $4.

Oct 7, 2025

Technology

Today's Steam outage may have been part of a massive DDoS attack targeting Xbox, PlayStation, Riot, and other game companies

Steam went offline earlier today in an odd but thankfully brief hitch that may have been a small part of a much bigger thing: Xbox, PlayStation, Riot Games, and Epic all suffered a very sudden spike in outage reports at around the same time last night, and that's led to speculation that it might be part of a massive DDoS targeting online game services. As seen in outage reports on Downdetector, the timing is awfully coincidental. Epic Games Store: PlayStation Network: League of Legends: At a little before 11 pm ET on October 6, Riot reported "game disconnection issues" on its League of Legends and Valorant status pages. Those status reports remain active for now. Shortly before that, reports of Steam and Riot being hit with a DDoS attack also began to surface on Reddit and social media. Steam being DDOS'd from r/DotA2 As reported by Cybernews, there's some speculation that the attack was launched via the massive Airsuru botnet. A PC Mag report says the Aisuru botnet was determined to be the source of a "hyper-volumetric DDoS attacks twice as large as anything seen on the internet before" reported by Cloudflare in September. It's not clear why Steam would be hit with subsequent attacks while the other services were spared, and in fact the execution of a large-scale DDoS attack against multiple gaming services is entirely unconfirmed at this point, although the timing and scale of the problems pretty strongly suggests that there's more than just a whole lot of bad luck going around. In a statement provided to PC Gamer, Riot Games spokesman Joe Hixson acknowledged that something is going on, across multiple companies, but didn't speculate on the underlying cause. "We can confirm that our teams have been working to resolve intermittent network issues affecting our games over the past ~36 hours," Hixson said. "Like many companies over the last day or two, we've faced challenges to network stability and taken proactive steps to protect the player experience. We've temporarily disabled ranked queues in some regions and enabled ranked points loss compensation where appropriate. For the latest status, players can check directly in each game client. We appreciate everyone's patience while we work to get things fully back to normal." As for why this is happening, that's a matter of conjecture too, but the most common assumption seems to be a simple one: It's a demonstration of power. "An important part of selling your product is a proof of its capabilities," redditor paulHarkonen wrote in the Steam subreddit. "This is a great way to demonstrate you can take down even resilient targets."

Oct 7, 2025