Star Wars: Fate of the Galaxy, a long-running fan-made PC mod, has been released for free download after roughly two decades in development. The project is described as one of the largest Star Wars mods in PC gaming history, reflecting the scale of work put in by its volunteer team over the years. It gives fans a chance to play a complete, independently made Star Wars project built outside of any official studio. via gamingbible.com
Update 10.0 of The Lord of the Rings: Age of the Ring, a fan-made total conversion mod, has been released for free. The update adds fifteen new missions, expanding the project's campaign content at no cost to players. Age of the Ring is built on an existing real-time strategy game engine and reworks it with Middle-earth content and lore from Tolkien's works. via gamingbible.com
Anthropic has quietly added a new instruction to its Claude Code AI assistant aimed at stopping it from being used to clone, reverse-engineer or decompile existing games. Spotted by users on Twitter/X, the rule, internally labelled "tengu_heron_brook" on line 2397, tells Claude to build original games, genre entries or designs based on a user's own assets, but not to recreate a specific existing game even under a different name. The change appears to be a direct response to growing use of AI coding tools for game cloning and decompilation projects. via timeextension.com
A physical edition of the Thief: The Dark Project remaster is now available to pre-order. The remaster is being made by Nightdive Studios in collaboration with Eidos Montreal and Atari, and is set to launch for PC and consoles on December 3. The original Thief: The Dark Project was developed by Looking Glass Studios and released in 1998, helping pioneer the stealth genre alongside Metal Gear Solid. via timeextension.com
Atari has announced that Thief: The Dark Project Remastered will launch on December 3. The remaster updates Looking Glass Studios' 1998 stealth game using Nightdive Studios' KEX Engine, the same engine behind several of Nightdive's other classic game remasters. Atari also confirmed the release will include a new chapter not present in the original 1998 game. Thief: The Dark Project is considered a pioneering title in the stealth genre, introducing mechanics around light, sound and shadow that influenced many later games. via gamesasylum.com
Games That Weren't has published research into Psychasm, an unreleased action game that was in development at Inscape around 1995. Inscape was the studio behind CD-ROM titles such as The Dark Eye, Drowned God and Bad Day on the Midway, but almost nothing had previously been documented about Psychasm before it disappeared without release. The project came to light thanks to researcher JomSpoons, who uncovered rare references to the game and tracked down composer Glenn Scott Lacey, who had worked on its music and audio. via gamesthatwerent.com
Developer TCKSOFT has released an updated version of Trashman Anniversary Edition, a free remake of Malcolm Evans' 1984 ZX Spectrum classic Trashman, available for Windows and HTML5. The remake originally debuted in 3D for the Retro Remakes 2004 competition as a 20th anniversary tribute and was later featured in Retro Gamer magazine. This new build has been reconstructed from the original source code so it can run on current systems. Trashman originally tasked players with emptying household bins while avoiding obstacles, for New Generation Software on the Spectrum. via itch.io
GOG has expressed interest in reviving physical releases of PC games. According to a report, representatives from the digital storefront said they hope to find a way to bring boxed PC games back to market after decades of digital dominance. No concrete plans, partners or timeline were confirmed, with the comments framed as an aspiration rather than an announced product line. GOG is known for focusing on DRM-free classic and modern PC games through its digital platform. via reddit.com/r/thisweekinretro
A developer is resurrecting a scrolling shooter originally written in Turbo Pascal for DOS in 1996. The project traces the game's code through a chain of tools, moving from Borland's original Turbo Pascal through Delphi and on to the modern open-source Free Pascal and Lazarus environment, with SDL2 used for graphics and input. The work documents how an old DOS-era codebase can be updated and kept running using current cross-platform development tools. via reddit.com/r/thisweekinretro
A fan remaster called Corpse Party Rebuilt+ has been released, updating the original 1996 Corpse Party horror adventure. The original was developed in RPG Maker for the Japanese PC-9801 computer and follows a group of students trapped in a nightmarish alternate reality where each meets a gruesome fate. Rebuilt+ offers an enhanced way to experience the cult classic that helped define the "kids get killed" horror genre in games. via timeextension.com
Publisher FAKKU has released Dead of the Brain: Day of the Living Dead on Steam, giving the 1992 PC-98 horror title its first official English translation. The game was originally made by Japanese developer FairyTale, which shifted from erotic games to horror following a real-life incident tied to its earlier release Saori: The House in Sunny Hill. Dead of the Brain is being launched as the first entry in FairyTale's "Nightmare Collection." The PC-98 was a Japanese personal computer platform known for hosting many niche and cult games that rarely saw release outside Japan. via timeextension.com
Mega Cat Studios and Exquisite Laundry Pet have announced Gumball and the Shrink Ray, a new adventure set for release on both Game Boy Color and Steam in 2027. The game is described as a 20-plus hour RPG featuring a day/night cycle, reworked battle mechanics, and more than 70 recruitable partners. It serves as the next project from the Exquisite Laundry Pet team, revealed through a trailer timed to coincide with Halloween. The Game Boy Color version continues a trend of newly developed homebrew-style RPGs targeting the handheld. via oldschoolgamermagazine.com
