There are plenty of great medieval RPGs out there right now, from fresh releases like Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 to stalwarts such as Skyrim, and there are plenty more on the horizon as well. Adding to that list is Valorborn, which isn’t lacking in ambition, despite its tiny team of just three developers. With an old-school feel of games like Gothic and even a dash of Runescape, and embracing party-based gameplay, it’s certainly worth checking out.
Given its scope, and its general vibe, I half expected Valorborn to be a multiplayer, MMO-style affair at first. However, it’s aiming to deliver a lot of the depth and many of the features you’d expect from larger experiences into a single-player, open-world RPG. Its medieval fantasy world is home to everything you’d expect. It’s got several varied biomes, including an intriguing looking grayscale location or realm. You’ll face enemies such as reanimated skeleton soldiers, wolves, and trolls. You’ll encounter a swathe of NPCs. Every single building, castle, and cave can be entered and explored.
As you progress through Valorborn, you can take your custom character down one of two paths – assemble a party of companions to aid you in battle, or become a lone ranger taking everything on solo. Should you choose to bring other characters along for the ride, you’ll not only unravel your own story but theirs as well. I do love a good companion questline.
As all good RPGs should, you’ve got the freedom to level up in whichever disciplines and skills you feel fit. Become an all-rounder, or specialize in certain areas to become a super strong warrior, a master hunter, or a sneaky assassin.
Acquiring resources, building, and crafting are also core components of Valorborn. As well as renting houses in villages that you can then customize to your heart’s content, you can also construct bases out in the field when exploring. Weapons, armor, and tools can all be crafted from your home or a base. The resources you’ll need for all this can be looted, harvested, or hunted from the world around you.
I wouldn’t say there’s anything massively groundbreaking or surprising about Valorborn in comparison to other third-person RPGs out there already, but what is commendable is how a world this big and systems this deep are being made by Laps Games, a team of just three developers.
Valorborn is aiming to launch in early access in Q3 of 2025. If you want to learn more about it, or add it to your Steam wishlist, head to its store page here.
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Except when it isn’t. Because Reddit as a whole incorporates some less-than-inclusive viewpoints, it’s generally rare that I like what I see on the site. /r/boardgames suffers less from this than other areas, since board gaming isn’t the most politically charged subject, but it’s still an unfortunate feature of the website. On top of that, while Reddit’s news is comprehensive, it’s also ephemeral – it doesn’t serve as a really source of information much older than a couple of days. The threads are all archived, of course, but Reddit doesn’t make it easy to find them.
Review Sites
There are a ton of different board game review websites out there, so I thought I’d call out a few of the most popular and my personal favourites. The best reviewers in board gaming tend to follow the same rules as in other media – they clearly state their own view with the benefits of experience and authority, transparently admit their own blind spots (because everyone has them), and above all entertain their audiences.
Shut Up & Sit Downare the kings, no question. Their videos are sheer delights of whimsy, mixed in with loveable personalities, maddeningly dumb running gags, and startling good insights into board gaming. Not everyone agrees with their reviews (they more often appeal to the newer gamer than the hardcore, particularly in their choice of game) but nobody can deny that the craft they put into their work is without equal.
The Dice Tower, on the other hand, are certainly the reviewers closest to global recognition in gaming. Since 2005 Tom Vasel and co. have been a respected voice in the community, with their seals of approval and excellence gracing the cover of many modern games. In fact, publishers Arcane Wonders have released a line of games partnered with The Dice Tower called Dice Tower Essentials, games considered necessary for any collection. Their ideas are generally well-reasoned, and the sheer quantity of content they have produced makes for an enticing catalogue.
No Pun Includedfollow more in the vein of Shut Up & Sit Down, with witty and likeable hosts at the fore of reviews and sketches. They’re also very willing to play with the form, meaning you never quite know what you’re going to get from an NPI review.
Meeple Like Usdo primarily written reviews, of mostly older games, but have a special focus on accessibility. Every week, as well as a typical review, they publish an “accessibility teardown”, detailing the various ways in which the game helps or hinders players with disabilities such as vision impairment, communication barriers, cognitive difficulties, and so on. The teardowns are remarkably detailed, and make for fascinating reading. When thinking of board gaming as a cohesive community, Meeple Like Us ought to be a pillar – or at least get more recognition than they currently do.
This list could keep going, of course. There are no shortage of great content creators out there, as well as organisations and services dedicated to teaching people about gaming. But if I did this article would be a million words long. There’s a whole world out there to explore, but hopefully this gives you a place to start. And as always, the friendly staff of The Treehouse are always around to answer your questions. After all, it’s just our job!
Is it possible to play a quicker game of monopoly that lasts under one hour on average with only two players? If so, how? I am not looking for anything that specific, but I need house rules that will speed the game up. By the way, I lost my Speed Die.
In Dead Planets, a Roblox game inspired by Dead Rails, players drive a truck through desolate space landscapes while fending off relentless zombie hordes. To survive the journey, players choose from a variety of unique Classes, each offering distinct abilities and roles. This Dead Planets Class tier list and guide breaks down every Class and how they contribute to keeping the truck moving and the team alive.
Dead Planets Class Tier List
Image via Tiermaker.
Sharpshooter and Drone Operator are undoubtedly at the best Classes in Dead Planets, as they have the best utility and damage options in the game. You want to be able to get as much loot as possible while killing zombies at the same time. Sharpshooter gets a good weapon at the start, along with a nice damage boost, while Drone Operator gets a Drone that kills zombies for him, making his gameplay very easy.
Dead Planets Class List
Below is a complete and detailed list of all Classes in Dead Planets, ranked by usefulness and cost:
If you are looking for a good Dead Planets Class, I recommend trying to go for Scout. It’s the best early Class and holds up even in the late game. It has a lot of speed and helps you avoid enemies easily with his Highlight ability. If you are looking for even more mobility or utility, go for Jetpacker, as it has a flying ability, but it is a bit pricier.
How to Change Classes in Dead Planets
Jump in there, trust me.Did anyone else see a gnome run past?
Firstly, you will need to collect some Credits by playing. You can find packs all over the map that will give you a certain amount of Credits. Once you have enough Credits, head back to the Hub and jump into the Classes hole. Trust me, it is safe. From there, you will be able to see all the different Classes, along with their price and abilities. Once you decide which one you want and which one you have the Credits for, click Purchase below the price on the right side of the screen to make it yours and enjoy!
That is all for my Dead Planets Class Tier List. Check out our other Dead Rails Potions Guide and Tier List for a similar game that i know you will like.
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After a PR disaster, the team fall in love with KeyForge, give some tips on the best family games for Christmas, and gamble their docks away in Port Royal.
In a 2 player game, if a player forgets to draw from the stock and tables their first meld (without needing to draw the top discard), would there be a penalty? Or, once noticed could they then draw from the stock?
Diablo 4 Season 8 is perfectly fine, but feels safe and more of the same. Path of Exile 2’s Dawn of the Hunt has improved dramatically since its rocky release, but the early-access ARPG still has a long way to go. Last Epoch Season 2 is strong, but by now you may be looking for something fresh. Enter The Slormancer, a pixel-art indie ARPG from Slormite Studios that was launched out of early access at the start of this week, and has since built up impressive momentum with very positive Steam reviews and an ever-growing player count.
As either a Mighty Knight, Fierce Huntress, or Mischievous Mage, it’s your job to put a stop to an evil warlock called The Slormancer and his hordes of troublesome minions. It’s got everything that makes the best games like Diablo tick. Fast-paced action that sees you dancing through environments and blowing up dozens of hostile goons in quick succession, pouring damage numbers across the screen. Over 200 abilities, upgrades, and passives to create near-limitless build variations. An endless hunt for perfect loot with 200 legendary affixes, 120 game-changing unique weapons, and the ability to keep boosting your gear’s power as much as you want.
Slormite Studios emphasizes its focus on “collection and progression,” meaning you’re able to switch at any point between absolutely anything you’ve unlocked. That includes all skills you’ve gained access to, any items you’ve previously found, and even the very classes themselves. This creates a level of flexibility beyond what you’ll find in most other ARPGs, encouraging and rewarding experimentation.
Don’t worry about losing all your hard work when you switch builds, either; from loadouts to loot filters, The Slormancer has lots of welcome quality-of-life features. It even boasts a sprawling Ancestral Skill Tree that could give Path of Exile a run for its money, with more than 150 element-related skills and passives available to unlock. Your journey will take you across seven environments with a ton of visual variety, and its brief campaign is just the beginning of a much longer quest for power.
First launched into early access in 2021, The Slormancer is now out in full, and it’s quickly beginning to snowball as word of mouth spreads. What began as a gradual climb has escalated to a weekend high of 10,989 concurrent Steam players. The user reviews are filled with praise, too, with particular love given to the freedom of experimentation on offer and the ability to create weird and wacky builds on a whim based on just one small starting idea.
The Slormancer 1.0 is out now on Steam. Developer Slormite Studios is offering a 25% discount until Tuesday May 20, meaning you’ll pay $14.99 / £12.56. If you’re reading this early on and fancy yourself a new adventure, there’s still time to grab it at the lower price, so do so while you can.
For more stat-based satisfaction, here are the best RPGs on PC right now. Alternatively, take a look through the best indie games in 2025 to make sure you aren’t missing any hidden gems.
You can follow us on Google News for daily PC games news, reviews, and guides. We’ve also got a vibrant community Discord server, where you can chat about this story with members of the team and fellow readers.
After a mixup with head office, the team get cozy with Ex Libris, get frugal with a cheap-to-free board game collection, and get positively warlike with 7 Wonders.
I’m looking for the combo using the fewest cards from the start of the game that allows you to generate unlimited mana using Historic-legal cards. It doesn’t have to be viable or practical, but I have two restrictions:
No using Codie, Vociferous Codex, because I need to cast permanent spells for what I’m trying to pull off and Codie doesn’t allow that.
The opening hand may be assumed. If a solution requires more than 7 cards, you may assume perfect results from random events. If it requires 7 or fewer cards it must be deterministic.
I devised a method using 11 cards over 4 turns, requiring you to be on the draw and draw perfectly.
Oblivion Remastered modders continue to drop more and more interesting mods by the day, with an ever-advancing set of tools at their disposal to pull off whatever tweaks or additions strike their fancy.
There’s a deluge of interesting stuff arriving as the boundaries continue to be pushed, and depending on what you’re looking for, different stuff will catch your eye.
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One of the mods that made me personally do a double take when I came across it on Oblivion Remastered’s Nexus Mods page earlier this week was NaiadGirl’s ‘Martin Septim and the Terminator Gambit’, for obvious reasons. It’s a mod that sees you and Sean Bean be pursued wherever you go by a killer level 70 Terminator. From the moment you leave the sewers, there’s a murderous machine which only becomes defeatable once you finish the main quest right on your tail.
I was curious how much work had gone into pulling such a cool concept off at this still relatively early stage of Oblivion Remastered modding, so reached out to NaiadGirl. We talked Terminators and how she’s been finding modding the remaster as she’s made this mod and also tackled making the game’s iconic Oblivion gate battles and goblin wars more dynamic. Here’s my conversation with her:
VG247: What drew you to modding Oblivion Remastered? Did you have any previous experience modding classic Oblivion or other games?
NaiadGirl’s been venturing into those pesky gates for a good while. | Image credit: NaiadGirl
NaiadGirl: I’ve been a fan of Oblivion since I was a little girl, and the same goes for my wife. At first, we were skeptical about the remaster, but soon, we couldn’t help but be drawn in. I’ve been modding Bethesda games casually for over a decade now, but only recently took to making mods myself.
My only previous modding experience was with Deep Rock Galactic, another game that involves Unreal. My wife, on the other hand, has been making mods for years now! Since we both love Oblivion so much, we took to making mods for the remaster.
VG247: How have you generally found modding the remaster so far and getting to grips with tools like UE4SS and TesSyncMapInjector?
NaiadGirl: Modding the remaster has been a rollercoaster of emotions, with highs and lows. The old tools still work, more or less, but there are limitations. There are many features we still can’t work on or with, due to the lack of a proper modding toolkit for this new version of Oblivion.
UE4SS, OBSE64, TesSyncMapInjector; I can go on about the awesome tools people in the community have made. They’re all insanely impressive, and they make things possible that wouldn’t have been without them. I wish some of them had more in-depth documentation, but what can you do? Modding has always been a challenge, and part of the fun is hunting down answers to problems.
The last thing you ever see…provided you don’t make good use of that new sprint button. | Image credit: NaiadGirl
VG247: What inspired the premise for your Martin Septim Terminator mod and what was the process of putting it together like? Were there any elements of it that proved tricky to pull off, or anything you had to cut?
NaiadGirl: My inspiration for my Martin Terminator mod came from a game series I hold close to my heart: Resident Evil. It was originally going to just be the Pursuer itself, its name being ‘Nemesis’. I love the idea of something big and scary chasing you down while you’re already crushed under the pressure of saving the world. Eventually, I switched gears, and made it into a mod that included Martin.
What’s better than just you getting hunted by something scary? You and a friend getting hunted by something scary. Terminator rocks (at least two of them do), so I came up with the idea that Mehrunes Dagon had sent back in time a killer to save his butt at the end of the game. Putting it together had me looking at the code for the Conjurer that chases you down at the start of the [OG Oblivion] Spell Tomes DLC. After I had made a new NPC with the help of UE4SS and TesSyncMapInjector, I put together AI packages & two quest scripts to watch over everything.
Modding is a constant learning experience, and it’s so much fun, even if you can run into walls at times. Frustration quickly gives way to new inspiration. In the end, I didn’t have to cut anything! It’s a simple mod at the end of the day, but one that was incredibly fun to put together.
VG247: Aside from cheesing and running away, is there any other advice you’d give to players trying to beat the Septim Terminator challenge, even if it’s just to invest in spare underpants?
The thread of prophecy has been severed. | Image credit: NaiadGirl
NaiadGirl: I’ve been doing a lot of messing around with the Terminator in my latest playthrough. It’s tough, but not impossible to defeat (at least after the MQ is over!). Until you beat Dagon, you have to always be one step ahead of this machine marvel. It doesn’t care where you might be, because it will find you.
I was doing the Mythic Dawn Shrine quest, and by the time I had cut my way through the dungeon, freed the prisoner, and slept an hour to level up, there it was. The Argonian I worked so hard to protect was dead at its cold feet. I had no choice but to cut my losses and run. Plan your journey, hit stores up when you can, and always keep moving. It will kill indiscriminately if it finds you!
Once you finish the main quest, you have a few options: Dungeon traps, boss NPCs, crowds, or a duel to the death! You need to be at a fairly high level to defeat it! I would think there’s feasibility in taking it on at around level 25 on, if you plan your build well. The Terminator regens health, so always keep the damage on it!
You’ll need powerful equipment or a massive numbers advantage. I’m thinking I’ll slay my dragon at Cloud Ruler Temple, the place I have been keeping it away from at all costs. The Blades and I will make a final stand against Oblivion! I wish only the best of luck to would-be challengers. I love to hear stories about this fella.
VG247: What’s the Oblivion Remastered modding scene been like community-wise from your perspective so far? Have you had any interactions with other modders where you’ve gotten any helpful support/feedback on your mods or learned things you might otherwise not have?
NaiadGirl: The modding scene is filled with incredibly talented people. Many are willing to offer a helping hand, in my experience (within reason, of course!). Getting feedback on my mods is always greatly appreciated, and seeing the kind things people have said makes my day that much brighter.
Like I’ve touched on, modding is a constant learning experience, and you’re always finding something new that you didn’t quite know yet. Margaret, my wife, has quite a bit of Bethesda modding experience, and even she learns things through me as we work together. Modding is a beautiful, delicate dance, and it’s not one to be rushed. Take your time, do your research, and make something amazing with the community at your side!
We could end up dealing with even more terrifying modded threats than this, Grandmaster. | Image credit: VG247
VG247: What are your personal and general hopes for Oblivion Remastered modding going forwards? Are there any complex mod ideas you’re keen to try and make or any tools you’re hoping will pop up to make certain things easier/possible?
NaiadGirl: I have immense hopes for the modding scene going forward. Bethesda may be saying that mods aren’t officially supported, but I still hold onto the hope that we may one day get a proper Creation Set for Oblivion Remastered. They haven’t dropped the ball yet, and I would hope they wouldn’t now, with one of their all-time best creations. I truly believe a new kit is on the way, sooner or later.
If we do get official tools, modding is going to really pop off. You look at what we have now, and it’s only going to get bigger, and more accessible to the masses. Access to official tools will make a world of difference, and change things for the better. I’m hoping for an expansion on the Oblivion Remastered Script Extender (OBSE64) if the official tools give way. That won’t stop me from trying to make something crazy, though.
My next mod is focused on a pandemic outbreak. I’m very excited to continue my work on it, and share it with the world. I’m even more excited to see what the rest of the community can cook up. The community is insanely resourceful, and official tools or not, we’ll be making something beautiful together. Never stop making what you love.
