Do you remember that famous scene when Ellen Ripley round house kicked the Alien straight in the face? No of course you don’t, because in a world of sci-fi and lasers, somehow that would be ridiculous. It seems SavySoda disagree, however, as they have announced the iconic beat 'em up series Double Dragon is coming to the world of Pixel Starships.

It is an absurd team-up that makes no sense, especially seeing as I don’t recall any Double Dragon property on the horizon, but it is amusing nonetheless. It will also no doubt add a bit to Pixel Starships playerbase, not that they need the help. It’s racked up over 10 million users during its time for good reason. I was one, and it is an excellent title.

There are a lot of good games popping up, but few that grab my attention as much as Athena Crisis. It is a delightful callback to the grid-based tactics of old with all the charm you remember. So charming in fact, that the developers felt they needed to give it an injection of mayhem with a new feature.

It is called Invasions and is befitting of that name. During campaign battles, you may happen upon a shiny crystal, and as all gamers are wired to do, you will immediately touch it. At first, it imparts an attack boost to you, for what seems like a lovely time. If only that’s where it ended.

We spoke about PUBG Mobile yesterday and their Esports development, so it is a little early to revisit them, but we have to because this is just too amusing. Someone needs to tell Krafton that PUBG Mobile is a massive title because out of all the car producers they could team up with, they picked Volkswagen.

Forget tanking through gunshots with friends in the safety of a Hummer, forget blitzing across the battlefield in a Bugatti, you can tackle the mayhem in a Volkswagen. And not just any Volkswagen, this collaboration focuses on the Beetle. Perhaps the least desirable car in combat. It is so absurd, I somehow love it.

The emergence of Esports is perhaps one of the best things to happen in gaming. It shows our little hobby can be a serious thing, gets more people intrigued, and allows players to use their skills to earn money. And on that last point, PUBG Mobile has announced a new ranking system to give players more chances to reach pro Esport team tryouts.

When the version 3.4 update drops in November, it will introduce the Ultimate Royale ranked mode. This consists of five ranked tiers, each adhering to professional esports tournament scoring rules. Play well enough and make it to the top, and you will have a shot to try out for a professional team.

If you played version 5.0 of Genshin Impact, you would probably be a bit bummed by the lack of a Pyro version of the Traveller. Well, annoyingly HoYo has stopped short of officially announcing them in 5.1 outside a possible sighting in livestream art, we have received a host of other reveals.

Continuing from the latest Archon Quest, Natlan is perched precariously on the literal Abyss, and in need of urgent help. The Traveller will team up with Xiolnen to forge an Ancient Name for our beloved MC, whilst Citali, part of the Masters of the Night-Wind, will finally offer assistance.

I have mentioned it before, somewhere in the aether, but I love mythology. Primarily Norse, but I will take whatever you have. Recently KartRider Rush+ took on the Arthurian legends, a great piece of British mythology, and now they have moved on to the Greek gods, in the Olympos update.

I can’t fully work out the pun in that title, maybe something to do with NOS? Either way, it is Season 28, and it is time to get some godly karts. The Crash Thunderbolt and Flash Thunderbolt are available to collect, clearly inspired by Zeus, as well as the new highlight ones; Mantis Buggy and the White Cow. I need that last one so badly.

Blue Archive has recently released its latest update, packed with quite an arsenal of content. Named Rowdy and Cheery, you will take part in an all-new game mode, recruit two new students, and follow the team's adventures in Hyakkiyako.

In this event, the students of Gehenna Academy went on a field trip to nearby Hyakkiyo, where they quickly ran into a welcoming committee of Allied Hyakkiyako Academy students. You will follow the story of the occurrences between the two across 10 episodes, picking up the obligatory Pyoxenes and Credit Points as you do so.

The Lord of the Rings series shows us what happens to enterprising Hobbits such as Frodo, Bilbo, Sam, Merry and Pippin if they don’t stay in their lane and decide to leave the Shire. It looks bloody dangerous, which is why September 23rd is an important date thanks to the announced launch of Tales of the Shire.

To give it the full name that no one will use, Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of The Rings Game places you in the gigantic feet of a Hobbit living an idyllic life in The Shire. You start by creating your character, complete with personality moods and, amusing, foot-hair styles, before being released to your home of Bywater.

If you know anything about Hobbits you can guess what this whole game will revolve around. You are all correct; food. It will be up to you to cook delicious meals to share with other characters to grow relationships and start putting your village on the map as the jewel of the Shire.

Athena Crisis is a game I have been following during its development, and not just because of its brilliant marketing genius of letting you play a level on the webpage. Well for me, and I assume many of you, the wait is over as Athena Crisis has officially launched.

If you haven't heard of Null Games' turn-based strategy game, I feel bad for you. It takes a lot of inspiration from the classic strategy grid games like Fire Emblem, Shining Force, and most prominently the Advance Wars series. You put together an army, and then tactically command them to obliterate your enemies.

Since colossally shooting themselves in the foot with a bazooka and fumbling their deal with EA Sports, FIFA is no doubt scrambling for other games to plaster its name on to cover the financial blackhole they made themselves. Enter Matchday, with their officially licensed Matchday Champions recently launching in early access.

In Matchday Champions, you put together your dream squad of legends and send them onto the pitch to carry you to championship glory. Sounds like the basic formula of a sports game so far but there's a twist; you can use both men’s and women’s players. It would be fantastic to see Kevin De Bruyne setting up Sam Kerr, and this might be as close as we ever get.

If you are a fan of AFK Journey then Christmas is coming early as Farlight Games has dropped the biggest update in the title's history. Waves of Intrigue is packing new characters, mechanics, game modes, and most important, the ability to find hidden sunken treasure.

After loading into this update you will find yourself where all great adventures start; a wretched hive of scum and villainy named Rustport. A conflict between rival gangs, the Carmine Whispers and the Water Wights will be a prominent part of the story, and you will have to choose who to support.

To help you navigate this warzone there are three new characters to recruit. Possibility signposted the correct side to choose, you can pick up Nara, a member of the Water Wights and a Graveborn rogue. There will also be a Lightbearer rogue named Sinbad, and the powerful Celestrial Dunlingr as potential recruits.

Compliment your recruited members with the seasonal artefacts to give yourself a boost in battle, and embrace the debut of the faction talent trees. This allows you to prioritise certain factions to boost themed teams. Set your squad up, and send them to tackle the new game modes such as the roguelike Heroic Gauntlet, or the Peaks of Time that let you experience past season content again.

If you grow weary from combat, head over to the Stormy Strait, Wave of Intrigues’ first map. Here you can take part in two new mechanics; sailing and fishing. Hit the seas and try to locate the underwater treasure, or simply cast a line and kick back waiting for the fish to bait. You can now also use stealth to sneak through the overworld and loot enemy camps, all without alerting anyone.

To enjoy this update you will need a Resonance Level of at least 240. Exceed this, and you will be auto-levelled to 240 so everyone gets a fresh start and a fighting chance to be the best. When the season ends all your seasonal progress, artefacts, magic charms and etc will be converted into Epic Invite Leter and Temporal Essence. Always feels a bit of a letdown, but there you go.

AFK Journey is available to download from the App Store and Google Play.

Watcher of Realms players might have been a little bit gutted if they missed the game Valentine’s Day Limited Hero, the rather fittingly named Lust. They turned into quite a popular character, and luckily for those who didn't pull them at the time, Moonton is bringing them back.

However, there is a slight caveat. You will need to act fast. That is because Lust will only be around until September 23rd, so if you want to add them to your army, log on soon. In another turn of good fortune, Moonton is releasing a few events tied to this character to get you in the mood.

I miss demo discs, the ones you got for PlayStation from the magazines. There was one that had a fighting game called Destrega on it, I played that one to death. Demos are incredible things that should be around more, and Feral Interactive clearly agree since Sid Meier’s Railroads is available in try-before-you-buy form.

It seems that we are hearing more and more lately that mobile developers are releasing lite versions of their games or giving us one or two free levels, which is genuinely fantastic. It is a feature that should be around more, and personally, it makes me more inclined to buy the game. So this a more than welcome move by Feral.

I don’t know about you, but I am all for a big, interconnected tree of lore in games or series. The MCU, the fabulous marathon that is The Legend of Heroes, and the long-running MMO Runescape. The Ode of the Devourer quest has released and is the continuation of the main story.

Never being allowed a day off, you find yourself summoned by the guardian of the dead Icthlarian. The Devourer is suffering from a curse, and it is down to you to uncover the secrets of the Sanctum of Rebirth and find a way to cure him. Team up with some old friends and cure Bill of Amascut’s curse before his soul is destroyed.

We all know that the audio and visual aspects are just so incredibly vital in making a good game, but sometimes beyond an, “Oh this looks or sounds nice,” it feels these parts are overlooked in favour of pure gameplay. It's because of this that it's so lovely when Hoyoverse highlights these aspects, such as with Genshin Impacts festivals.

Recently we had the HoYoFair 2024 New Year and Spring Fan Art Special Programs, shows that rightly smashed through millions of views. Coming up soon is the Flame Fusion Music and Art Festival, set to premier on September 21st and poses one question; what would Genshin Impact look like across the multiverse?