Austin Wood
Austin freelanced for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree, and he's been with 12DOVE since 2019. They've yet to realize that his position as a senior writer is just a cover up for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a focus on news and the occasional feature, all while playing as many roguelikes as possible.
Latest articles by Austin Wood
Palworld player turns the survival game into a city builder with a mod-free tribute to Attack on Titan that took 2 weeks to make
By Austin Wood last updated
news Palworld players are taking builds far beyond the Palbox sphere
After $90 million driven by Baldur's Gate 3, Hasbro says games will be "huge" for D&D and Larian's hit RPG is "just the first of several new video games" to come
By Austin Wood published
news Baldur's Gate 3 is a "mega hit" that Hasbro expects to pay dividends for years
After Palworld and Enshrouded, Sons of the Forest keeps a year of survival games going with update 1.0 coming this month
By Austin Wood published
news Sons of the Forest is finally leaving Early Access in just over a week
Total War: Warhammer 3 dev surrenders in game of DLC chicken, says unpopular $25 update "didn't give you enough" and will be expanded alongside "FreeLC"
By Austin Wood published
news Total War: Warhammer 3's Shadows of Change DLC is getting a big free update
Helldivers 2 creative director says games have to "earn" microtransactions, which is why its purchasable revolver is anti-pay-to-win and "not that good"
By Austin Wood published
news You can't swipe the difficulty away in Helldivers 2
The Steam Next Fest demo of this bullet hell roguelike has big Risk of Rain energy, and some cool tricks of its own
By Austin Wood published
news I'm jamming to the soundtrack of Gatekeeper right now, too
The co-op roguelike from indie powerhouse and Don't Starve dev Klei Entertainment is even better than I'd hoped, and a must-play Steam Next Fest demo
By Austin Wood published
news Rotwood immediately feels polished and compelling
After weeks of DLC speculation, Elden Ring fans crash back to Earth as FromSoftware parent company hits them with a vague "we are currently working hard"
By Austin Wood published
news No release date, no updates, and definitely no shadow drop
Subnautica 2 devs rush to put out fires after their publisher calls it a live service game: "No season passes. No battle passes. No subscription"
By Austin Wood published
news It's also not launching in 2024
Just like every Palworld player, developer Pocketpair needs more workers and is desperately looking for new hires
By Austin Wood published
news The dev doesn't even care what engine you've worked with before
Ubisoft says it's going to make good games again after a "turnaround" led by Assassin's Creed Mirage
By Austin Wood published
news Mirage and others mark "the beginning of our turnaround to consistently creating and delivering" good games
This impossibly colorful Metroidvania is an early frontrunner for best art of the year, and my favorite Steam Next Fest find so far
By Austin Wood published
news It's immediately clear that Ultros is something special
In one of the coolest RPGs of the year, former Blizzard and Epic vets use MMO and D&D ideas to tell stories meant to be made and played with friends like Among Us
By Austin Wood published
feature Hands-on | Lightforge Games' Project ORCS is a fascinating spin on multiplayer party games
Stellar Blade dev, also known for butt-jiggling game Nikke, says he "put special attention" into the female lead's back because that's what players see most of the time
By Ali Jones published
News "This is entertainment for adults"
Homeworld 3 gets another delay in the middle of its Steam Next Fest demo after feedback from people who were brought in to "play through the full game"
By Austin Wood published
news At least you can still try it for yourself
Steam got a dwarf tag just in time for the screen-destroying, ore-collecting mining roguelike that I'm struggling to put down this Steam Next Fest
By Austin Wood published
news Bore Blasters is exactly what it wants to be: loud, shiny fun
I played the lawless competitive RPG dominating Steam Next Fest like the second coming of Dark and Darker, and I'm immediately biased because I haven't died yet
By Austin Wood published
news Dungeonborne is a primitive but promising spin on Dark and Darker
Stellar Blade director says it's a "great honor" for the action RPG to be called "Korean Nier" because he's a big fan of Yoko Taro
By Hope Bellingham published
News The developer says the two games are "pretty different" though
Pocketpair has a new co-op Metroidvania roguelike that rips off Dead Cells way harder than Palworld ever copied Pokemon, and its Steam Next Fest demo is awesome
By Austin Wood published
news Never Grave is Dead Cells wearing the skin of Hollow Knight but with co-op and farming
2023 was the year of the RPG – now 2024 looks like the year of JRPGs
By Austin Wood published
feature From Persona to Final Fantasy to Suikoden, 2024 is stacked with JRPG greats
Louder than ever, Steam records suggest Elden Ring DLC is entering the final stretch as FromSoftware moves onto QA and debugging
By Austin Wood published
news QA and debug measures may point to an impending reveal
The Day Before fallout continues as former devs allege awful working conditions and management so bad that some staff didn't know they were supposed to make an MMO
By Austin Wood published
news The Day Before's design goals reportedly changed almost daily
Judas, the new game from the BioShock creator, looks more like BioShock than ever
By Austin Wood last updated
news That's a Ken Levine special, all right