Rebecca Jones
Guides Writer
After a six-month stint at VG247 back in 2021, Rebecca (she/her) finally settled in as a permanent addition to the team in 2023. A former member of staff at our sister site Rock Paper Shotgun, she's also had her writing featured on Eurogamer and PC Gamer over the course of her five-year career.
She holds a BA in English and an MA in Medieval English, and isn't entirely convinced she's putting the latter to its most logical use writing about a medium that's barely 50 years old, but at least she's enjoying herself. A veteran fan of the life sim genre, she's racked up almost 2,000 hours of play time between The Sims 4 and Animal Crossing: New Horizons alone, and still isn't sure whether that's a badge of honour or a source of shame.
Agnostic when it comes to platform, AAA vs indie, or free-to-play vs one-time-purchase, Rebecca is nevertheless very clear about what she most likes to play and is way likelier to know a lot about a game if it features sad teenagers, hot lawyers, or kissable vampires; in other words, she particularly enjoys horror games, visual novels, adventure games, and RPGs. She can also be heard enthusing about her favourite indie games over on the Indieventure podcast.
Guide
Seeing In Polychrome | Zenless Zone Zero codes
Claim free Polychrome and more using our list of ZZZ codes, checked and updated regularly.
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Clover Retribution codes
Get free spins and stat resets in Clover Retribution with these codes.
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HAVE HOPE | Sword of Convallaria Codes for free Hope Luxites and more
Sword of Convallaria has plenty of codes offering Hope Luxites, crafting materials and more!
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Ghost In The Machine | 10 years on, P.T. remains the most influential horror game that never existed
A playable teaser for the Kojima-helmed Silent Hill game that never was, looking back on a decade of P.T. proves that it has one of the most unusual legacies in gaming.
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Anime Last Stand codes
Get rerolls, gems, emeralds and more in Anime Last Stand with these codes.
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Hot And Heavy | Life is Strange: Heatwaves proves that the franchise is still willing to experiment, and has me more excited than ever for Double Exposure
The second prose novel tie-in to Square Enix's coming of age superhero drama series is more interesting than Steph's Story, but not quite as satisfying.
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Hot Date | How to set Turn Ons and Turn Offs in The Sims 4 Lovestruck
The Sims 4's new Attraction system revives the popular Chemistry mechanic that's been absent since The Sims 2.
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Open And Honest | How to make Sims polyamorous in The Sims 4 Lovestruck
The new Romantic Boundaries system in The Sims 4 allows you to modify your Sims' feelings on monogamy in a series first.
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The Lottery | Zenless Zone Zero Scratch Cards: All possible prizes from Howl's News Stand
Your adorable and friendly Thiren neighbour Howl lets you have a free winning scratch card every day — so it's just a matter of how big the prize is.
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Double Dipping | Zenless Zone Zero trophy list
Which ZZZ achievements ping on your PlayStation Network account?
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Boo! | Zenless Zone Zero Bangboo list: What are the best Bangboos for your teams?
Every Bangboo in Zenless Zone Zero V1.0, their skills and team compositions.
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Hit The Arcade | How to play Zenless Zone Zero multiplayer with friends
Zenless Zone Zero does indeed feature co-op, though only in a limited mode.
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Maximise Your Pulls | How to claim all 180 free pulls in Zenless Zone Zero Version 1.0
HoYoverse have talked up 180 free pulls as a big draw for ZZZ's launch, but how do you get those goodies?
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Mellifluous Tones | Zenless Zone Zero voice cast: Who are the voice actors in the English dub?
Who voices your latest husbando/waifu? Where have you heard that voice before? Do we know who Billy Kid's actor is yet?
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Make A Wish | How to wish in Zenless Zone Zero
When can you wish in Zenless Zone Zero? Here's how long you can expect to wait before ZZZ lets you into its gacha.
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Free Agents | Zenless Zone Zero: How to claim free characters
Bulk up your Zenless Zone Zero roster before even touching the gacha by getting a respectable handful of Agents for free.
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Welcome To New Eridu | How to get Zenless Zone Zero pre-registration rewards
Unlock plenty of freebies ahead of the ZZZ release date.
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We Are Family | Zenless Zone Zero: Should you play as Belle or Wise?
Choosing your protagonist from between ZZZ's sibling duo leads to something a bit different than in previous HoYoverse games.
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New Eridu Ethereals | Zenless Zone Zero Agent list: All characters in Version 1.0
Zzz is hardly a snooze
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Together At Last | How to add Epic Games titles to your HoYoPlay Launcher on PC
HoYoverse's new in-house launcher is having some trouble identifying games installed via Epic, but luckily, there is a fix.
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LUSTROUS TIDES | Wuthering Waves codes
Don’t miss out on any free Astrite, Tides and other WuWa rewards!
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Back To The Future | HoYoverse has another Genshin-level hit on its hands with Zenless Zone Zero, if this dystopian urban fantasy can find itself a suitably nostalgic audience - hands-on preview
ZZZ is far more than just an inner-city Genshin Impact reskin, but do enough millennials care about gacha games to make it pay off?
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Looking For WooHoo | By popular demand, EA is bringing not-quite-Tinder to The Sims 4
The Sims 4 Lovestruck expansion pack has been announced for next month, introducing a dating app to the long-running life sim.
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We Like Both | Don't Nod is delaying its spiritual successor to Life is Strange and being refreshingly honest about the reason
Lost Records: Bloom & Rage has been delayed to early 2025, to avoid splitting fan attention with the new Life is Strange sequel.
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Maybe Go Outside | In a break from HoYoverse tradition, Zenless Zone Zero doesn't aim to punish you for taking breaks
ZZZ's producer likes being able to walk away from a game for a while, and thinks you should be allowed to as well.
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Urban Retrofitters | Think Zenless Zone Zero was inspired by Persona 5? Think again - one of the biggest influences was Digimon
Plus, thousands of hours in Street Fighter had an understandable impact on combat design.
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Bangboos For All | Zenless Zone Zero lead would like to see Switch and Xbox ports in the future
But the team's focus is on polishing the PC, mobile, and PS5 versions for now.
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Death Of A Life Sim | Life by You has been cancelled by Paradox, just weeks after it was described as being "ready for early access"
The hotly-anticipated Sims competitor was "unable to meet expectations" after three delays.
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You Have The Power | Don't worry, Life is Strange: Double Exposure won't canonise either ending of the original game, Deck Nine says
Did you save Bae or Bay? Either way, your choice will still count when Max Caulfield makes her long-awaited return to the franchise this October.
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They Really Resonate | Wuthering Waves tier list and suggested team comps
A run-down of the best DPS, sub-DPS, and support characters in Wuthering Waves V1, plus our advice on how to put together the best team compositions.
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Totemo Suteki Desu | So to Speak gamifies the teaching of basic Japanese, but you shouldn't sleep on this fun retro puzzle game even if you have no aspirations to learn the language
Relax and take in the sights in a pixel-art Japanese town while practising your kanji, in this upcoming indie by solo dev Erik Andersen.
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IMITATION OF LIFE | For better or worse, The Sims 3 set the standard for modern life sims
15 years on, The Sims 3's ambition has left an impressive legacy, but so has its aggressive embracing of what it means for games to be always-online.
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MANY HAPPY CONVENES | What happens on your birthday in Wuthering Waves?
An overview of what to expect on the day you set as your birthday in Wuthering Waves, plus a full list of WuWa character birthdays.
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PLEASE, CAPCOM | I am once again asking Capcom to remaster Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth (and its sequel) for modern platforms
AAI1 turns 15 today, so let's party like it's 2009 with one of the fandom's most popular talking points.
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RUNNING HOT AND COLD | Wuthering Waves Verify File Integrity error: What to do if you see this problem on the launcher
Wuthering Waves players have noticed that the Verify File Integrity progress has a tendency to freeze during updates.
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LIGHT A BEACON | How to fast travel in Wuthering Waves
We explain how to connect to Resonance Beacons and the Resonance Nexus in WuWa for easy long-distance travel across the open world.
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BETTER TOGETHER | How to add friends in Wuthering Waves
What's better than a game you can play for free? A game you can play for free with your buddies, of course.
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SWEETENER | How to redeem pre-registration rewards in Wuthering Waves
Around 30 million players pre-registered for Kuro Games' latest gacha RPG, and if you're one of them, here's how to get your hands on your one-off bonuses.
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VENUS AND MARS | Wuthering Waves: Should you play as male or female Rover?
You can't get very far without picking your protagonist, so here's everything you need to know to help you make a decision.
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STAY HUMBLE | Much-anticipated Sims challenger Life by You catches another delay, just two weeks before its planned early access launch
Paradox Interactive's new deputy CEO has declined to name a revised release date this time around.
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DECISIONS, DECISIONS | Honkai: Star Rail Beauty and Destruction choice outcomes
How to answer Sunday's questions about three key decisions that led to the formation of his philosophy.
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PLAY IT AGAIN, SAM | Honkai: Star Rail "Hope Is the Thing With Feathers": Where to find the phonograph record disk
How to locate the disk and unlock the song "Hope Is the Thing With Feathers (Overture)" for your phonograph in the Parlor Car.
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SIDE-EYE EMOJI | Recently departed Project Rene (a.k.a. The Sims 5) director is teaming up with former XCOM devs on another new rival life sim
Sims veteran Grant Rodiek has been recruited by newly-founded studio Midsummer Games.
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Star-crossed | Honkai: Star Rail walkthroughs and beginner's guides
Here are all of our walkthroughs, guides and tips for HoYoverse's latest RPG, Honkai Star Rail!
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BEAUTIFUL SIMPLICITY | How to skip the Argenti boss fight and unlock a secret achievement in Honkai: Star Rail's Seabiscuit mission
If fighting Argenti once was enough to last you a lifetime, here's the shortcut to bypass the confrontation during the Penacony arc.