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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The F1 series’ Braking Point modes have always been an interesting thing to dip into, getting more refined as the TV-drama elements of the sport itself become more prominent. The mode may not be what you’re looking for if you’re in the mood to go all-in on the real-world simulation aspect of the game, or just stick to being out on track as much as possible, but there’s a place – and an audience – for it.
Drama’s always been part of the draw, don’t get me wrong, but it feels more central to how we all interact with our watching of cars going round in circles today. That’s for better or worse, depending on who you are, but if you’re looking for a bit of the dramz to spice up your Sundays, the third instalment of Braking Point in F1 25 sounds pretty promising.
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“When we introduced characters of Braking Point in ’21, and then when we introduced Konnersport – the team – back in ‘23, it was kind of really important to us that it felt authentic,” creative director Gavin Cooper explained when introing this year’s mode. “It didn’t feel realistic that those characters could come in and start winning championships right from the outset.”
Braking Point 3 changes that. Konnersport is now at the front following a winter with some fresh investment and a strong opening test, set to take on the existing real-world frontrunners of F1. Cooper alluded to a “key event that happens early in the story which throws the team into chaos”, and from the brief bit I played, it looks like the ongoing drama of the Butler family long-time players’ll be familiar with is set to still be a key cog this time around.
Following the events of Braking Point 2, Aiden Jackson and Callie Mayer are the driver pairing, and you’ll be able to choose which of them to race as for key races and events in the story.
Codemasters says it’s put a bigger focus on this offering more player agency this time around, with some “different on-track objectives and narrative elements” popping up depending on who you pick. You’ll also get an “alternative ending” to the story depending on which you’ve raced as more often, so we’ll have to see whether those feel distinct enough to be worth trying both.
Jackson or Mayer – it’s your call. | Image credit: EA/Codemasters
I picked Mayer for the first two events I got time to play through, one of which was just testing in Bahrain and took the form of your standard ‘do a few laps to get comfortable with the car and nail a certain lap time’ affair. The first proper race at Imola was a bit more exciting, with you being plunged into the action mid-race after losing ground in a turn one collision with a certain Dutch Red Bull driver (points for accuracy to Codemasters there).
Starting from about seventh, the goal was to get back the podium by the chequered flag and earn some additional points by getting back past Verstappen prior to a certain lap in the process. Since this was the first bit of the game I played, I wanted to get a feel for the car and so opted for about the most minimalistic level of driver aids I can generally cope with alongside a pretty steep difficulty.
It’s fair to say that with the cars up ahead already well strung out given the late stage of the race, I really struggled to make any ground. Knocking things back down made it thoroughly doable though, so more than anything, this was a lesson in how much the higher-level AI is tuned to face either folks running on rails with plenty of aids, or the elite of the elite.
Codemasters says it’s rebalanced the difficulty levels this year, with the addition of a fourth hardness rung to the existing three supposedly having the aim of making it easier for everyone to find their ideal setting. However, in this brief hands-on, the cut-off between too hand and too easy did still seem to be missing in-between that’d constitute the exact best match for my pace. That said, such a thing is nearly impossible for developers to help you nail down without endless tweaking, since everyone’s pace will vary from track to track and condition to condition.
Where will Callie’s story lead? I’m quite keen to find out. | Image credit: EA
Going back to the off-track drama of Braking Point, that new investment I mentioned has come from the mode’s long-time rich guy Davidoff Butler, father of both Callie Mayer and Devon Butler, the latter of whom is now a sort of team advisor after being forced to retire from racing in BP2. Jackson’s in there too, as is team boss Casper Akkerman, but it looks like the relationships between Davidoff and his kids are going to be key to a lot of the drama.
While I’m not all that invested in the tale Braking Point’s been weaving to this point, I’m at least interested to see how this year’s edition advances Mayer’s story as a fictional first female F2 champion; now stepping up for a full season in the big time. Real-world F1, lest we forget, hasn’t had a female driver actually be entered for a full race weekend since Giovanna Amati back in 1992 (though there has been testing and development work done for teams much more recently by the likes of Jamie Chadwick, Jessica Hawkins, and Tatiana Calderón). Shout-out, also, to the all-female F1 Academy series that’s been a part of the F1 support series package for a good couple of years, now.
To bring the tale to life, Codemasters has invested in some Nvidia Audio2Face facial animation tech, which feeds into a more detailed and realistic setup for press conferences and interviews, allowing you to actually watch your driver deliver the answer you’ve picked. Plus, once you’ve run through the story, you’re now given the option to import your Konnersport team into the MyTeam 2.0 mode, so you can carry on beyond the single season of Braking Point, though obviously in that mode’s regular team management fashion.
Though, whether you’ll be engrossed enough to want to do that once you reach the end of Braking Point 3, or whether you’ll have had your fill of the Drive To Survive-ish drama, remains to be seen.
