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  • Super Woden is back with the next great arcade racing game

    Super Woden is back with the next great arcade racing game


    A side on view taken in Photo Mode of Super Woden Rally Edge
    Image of Paul McNally

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    Published: Jun 27, 2025 09:08 am

    Oh, this is good. If you have played Super Woden GP 2 you will instantly know why this is exciting news. SWGP2 (okay, silly name but..) remains a staple on my Steam Deck and is just pure, glorious, arcade racing fun. In many ways, it shows what the big publishing houses have been doing wrong with arcade games for years.

    Anyway, if you haven’t, then you simply must play it – and it currently has 35% off its price in the Steam Summer sale, so fill your boots.

    The more exciting news though is that developer Vidjuda has dropped a limited time demo for his just announced racing stablemate – Super Woden Rally Edge, and it is superb, really good fun.

    If you a fan of games such as the classic Neo Drift Out on the NEO Geo back in the day you are going to be right at home with this. Rally Edge takes the same isometric viewpoint as Super Woden GP 2 and transports it to the forest. Even at this stage, with only a vague release date of “2025” the level of polish is remarkable.

    Vidjuda describes the games features thus:

    ■ A vast variety of vehicles: from the smallest and humblest to the unstoppable Hillclimb machines.

    ■ A renewed, unique graphical style, carefully crafted down to the last detail.

    ■ An original soundtrack created to perfectly capture the emotions of rally racing.

    ■ Buy, sell, upgrade, and customize your cars in the garage.

    ■ Show off your photography skills in the photo mode.

    ■ Local multiplayer for up to 4 players in split-screen.

    ■ Record your times online and compete to beat other players’ records.

    The solo developer from Spain’s passion for the genre is literally seeping through in every aspect of the demo. There’s a competition for the best shot in Photo Mode, you can see my attempt at the top of the page, and the competition ends on July 5th, so with the demo being earmarked as “Limited Time” we can probably assume it will disappear around that point, so you need to move quickly to get on board.

    The Escapist is supported by our audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn a small affiliate commission. Learn more about our Affiliate Policy





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  • Spooky new Metroidvania Shadow Labyrinth gets a great pre-order discount

    Spooky new Metroidvania Shadow Labyrinth gets a great pre-order discount


    Everyone loves Pac-Man. The yellow ball of joy has been a staple in videogame history since his debut in arcades back in 1980, and after decades of spin-offs, formula changes, and other bizarre twists, it’s time to take things back to basics – of course, that doesn’t mean a basic arcade game, but a Metroidvania with spooky vibes and action-packed combat, right? Well, if that intrigues you, Shadow Labyrinth has now got a great discount before launch.

    While that may sound like a strange place to take the long-running series, when looking at Pac-Man’s lengthy history, it actually works quite well. Over seemingly hundreds of titles, the puck has been going from classic PC games to even taking a shot at becoming a great battle royale game, but Shadow Labryinth feels different, like a new step for the iconic character.

    In my mind, Hollow Knight Silksong is one of the best Metroidvanias, but I’ve been waiting on that for over a year. So, while the Hollow Knight Silksong release date remains elusive, Shadow Labyrinth is doing a great job of scratching that itch.

    In this action game, Shadow Labyrinth puts you in the role of a character lovingly called “Swordsman No. 8” as you explore a large maze (see: labyrinth) and fight plenty of monsters, as well as upgrade your abilities. Fortunately, you’re not alone in your adventure, as a floating orb called Puck (see: Pac-Man) joins your side.

    YouTube Thumbnail

    Ever since I saw the announcement trailer, I’ve been enthralled by the idea of diving into this world. Call me basic, but I always love a premise of “this light-hearted thing, but dark”, and Shadow Labyrinth takes the very idea of Pac-Man and turns it into something new, yet familiar. In a wave of upcoming PC games, Shadow Labyrinth has got me waiting to dive into the halls of its terrifying maze.

    If you’re ready to explore this haunting take on Pac-Man, you can grab Shadow Labyrinth for just $25.19 at Fanatical. That’s a 16% discount on the game before it launches, and cheaper than Steam itself, so you’re getting an exciting new game to experience for a great price with this deal.

    While you wait for the doors to swing open on Pac-Man’s new adventure, make sure to check out the best PC games right now for something to pass the time with. Personally, I’d recommend grabbing a copy of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 to sink your teeth into, as it’s one of the best RPGs I’ve ever played.

    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.



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  • Tips for Running a Great Board Game Demo — Pine Island Games

    Tips for Running a Great Board Game Demo — Pine Island Games



    Go With the Flow

    No two demos are going to be the same, so it’s important to make sure everyone knows your games inside and out, and to stay flexible in a teach.

    Some gamers like to skip around and ask a bunch of questions, some gamers are hands on with components, some are content to let you monologue.

    And all those approaches are ok.

    Converting a Sale

    The ultimate goal of demoing at a convention is to show off your games and get them into the hands of people who will love and play them.

    This means that you need a call to action to convert those would be fans into consumers. At Gen Con we ran a special price on Nut Hunt (since we didn’t have to pay for shipping). This was a strong incentive to buy the game now, rather than wait and mull it over, and maybe let it slip their mind on their flight home.

    Sigil was a harder sale since we don’t have physical copies to sell (we wrapped up the Kickstarter in June and were taking late pledges at the con).

    What I found worked for Sigil was to be frank about where in the process we were, and to appeal to consumers who the game really clicked with.

    This is roughly the closing script I settled on by the end of the weekend.

    “Sigil is our second game. It’s not even out yet. For context, we Kickstarted Nut Hunt last June and delivered it over two months ahead of schedule in January. We Kickstarted Sigil this June, and like Nut Hunt are targeting a March delivery. We can’t promise it will be early because obviously some things are out of our hands, but from our perspective we are on schedule.

    “So, what we’re asking people to do today is to go on our website and join the mailing list, and you’ll get notified when we open it up to late pledges next month.

    “And, what’s been pretty incredible is that a lot of people know they want the game today. They either demo it or sit down and play it. And, this is one of those games where if this is in your genre – if you like GO, Hive, Onitama – if this is your kind of game, then once you play this you’ll love it.

    “If you know already that you want the game, then what we can do today is ring you up and charge you for the base game, and we’ll get your email and when we open up the pledge manager next month you’ll already be in there with all of the Kickstarter backers and have access to the add-ons and all the Kickstarter components.

    I think the script I settled on did a couple of things really well.

    1. It gave context around where we are in the process and set expectations.

    2. It didn’t pressure people to buy now – but gave them a few ways to engage with us.

    3. It normalized late pledging in person at the convention.

    People like being part of a crowd, and by highlighting that a lot of people were taking the late pledge in person option, I normalized for our con goers that it was a good route to go.

    Stay Hydrated

    Cons are long, you’ll be talking a lot and your voice will start to go. So, stay hydrated. Take breaks when you need them. Treat yourself well and you’ll keep up that energy to have a successful con full of memorable demos with amazing people.

    What are your favorite demo experiences?





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  • great party games for small groups — The Treehouse

    great party games for small groups — The Treehouse



    The game begins with players receiving their secret role card, determining whether they’re on team villager, trying to track down a possible werewolf in their midst before it’s too late, or team werewolf, trying to lie low and avoid detection. Certain village team roles come with special powers, giving players nuggets of information to help put them on the scent, while others act as instruments of chaos adding extra layers of intrigue.

    Cue the night time phase: all players place their character cards face down in front of them and close their eyes. The various roles then trigger one at a time, letting the relevant players peak at other cards around the table, swap roles around, or perhaps lock eyes with a fellow werewolf. The game comes with a handy app to talk you through the steps, complete with (optional) spooky disco soundtrack. Then daybreak arrives, giving players a matter of minutes to exchange information, hurl accusations, and finally… decide who to lynch! If the majority vote for a werewolf, it’s victory for the villagers, but if not, the werewolves win the day.

    This game needs 5+ players to shine, and the range of roles in the box leaves you with plenty of options for switching things up.

    Codenames

    If you haven’t yet played this absolute blockbuster of a modern classic, consider your party plans sorted! There are no hidden roles here, just plenty of tension and occasional opportunities for feeling like a genius… or the opposite.

    The game set-up is a five by five grid of word cards in the centre of the table, selected randomly from a sizeable stack. Players form two teams, red and blue, then each team selects a ‘spymaster’ who will be their clue-giver for the rest of the game. The two spymasters sit where they can both see a card which allocates each word in the central grid to either the red team, the blue team, a decoy beige category… or one final option which I’ll come back to.

    Spymasters take turns to provide a clue to their teams in a specific format: a single word that relates to one or more of the words of their colour in the grid, plus a number which indicates how many words the clue links to. Coming up with the clues is fiendishly tricky, but once that’s done, spymasters simply sit back and maintain a poker face as their team members decide how to interpret their new information, and make a guess at which word(s) in the grid the clue relates to. Each word guessed correctly is covered by a card of the team’s colour, bringing them one step closer to victory. Incorrect guesses either end the turn (beige words), give points to the other team (words of the opposing colour) or, possibly… LOSE THE ENTIRE GAME, in the case of the one black word on the grid: the DEADLY ASSASSIN.

    With so much at stake, there’s no shortage of tension here, and few moments in gaming are as satisfying as thinking up or cracking a particularly great clue… or as nerve-wracking as watching your team confidently take hold of the wrong end of the stick. This game works well with four players and brilliantly with six, and if you can’t get together in person there’s an awesome free online version here.

    If you’ve mastered Codenames and aren’t put off by the idea of getting your head around a few more rules, we’d strongly recommend Decerypto – check out the review here to find out why.



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