Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2018 i PC Gamer

PC Gamer|June 2018

“YOU’LL FIND THAT LARA’S LEARNED SOME NEW TRICKS”

Stealth game expert Eidos Montreal is teaming up with Crystal Dynamics for Shadow of the Tomb Raider – the final entry in Lara Croft’s origin trilogy. It’s a familiar mix of platforming, combat and puzzling, as players head to Mexico to prevent a pesky apocalypse. While there, you’ll find that Lara’s learned some new tricks. Expect a more capable Croft, who stalks through the jungle, striking fear in the hearts of her foes. See the full story on page 42. Also this issue, we bring back a PC Gamer tradition: silly team features. This month we attempt to cooperatively build a city. How does it go? Head to page 50 to find out. PHIL SAVAGE Specialist in Stealth, quesadillas Twitter @Octaeder This month Hid in the back of a Montreal…

1 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

Highs & Lows

HIGHS Dragon Quest We’re finally getting a slice of the JRPG series, with Dragon Quest XI set for release in September. Graphics cards A new wave of next-gen GPUs is almost upon us, and framerates are about to get real high. Ghost Recon It’s nice to see Sam Fisher pop up in Wildlands, voiced by an appropriately weary Michael Ironside. LOWS Filler We’ve noticed a worrying trend of games forcing you into side missions to unlock more story. Just don’t. Yakuza Sega, we’re thankful for Shenmue, but can you please release the Yakuza series on PC? Quitters If you prematurely quit a Rocket League match because your team is losing, you’re a bad person.…

1 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

This month in… 2009

1 This was a landmark issue in PC Gamer history, featuring a large redesign that turned it into the magazine you know and love today. This was the first issue to feature a new-look Extra Life section, containing brand-new regular features, such as Now Playing and Reinstall. Nine years later, these features are still going and they’re some of our favourite parts of the magazine. 2 Our lead review was Demigod, the DotA-like that you’ve only now just remembered existing. Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust earned a score of 19. 3 Perhaps the best feature of the issue is Quintin Smith’s haunting tale of a particularly bad day in sandbox MMO Wurm Online. “Lost. In the middle of a dense forest, crowded with ravenous mountain lions. I’m kind of…

1 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

THE ART OFWAR

1 AN EYE FOR DETAIL EVE uses an LOD (level of detail) system which reduces the amount of detail rendered on an object that’s further away. When you get close enough – LOD 0 – you can see everything from weapons to the name of the ship. 2 BUBBLING UP These are Warp Disruption Fields. When enough of them overlap, you start to lose detail. CCP uses a system to switch off visual overlapping if lots of bubbles are close together so players can still see what’s going on. 3 STAR-GAZING This web is made by ships doing something called spider-tanking. The beams going from green to orange show armour/hull repair. Pink to yellow is energy transfer which is what enables the repair ships to keep repairing. 4 A CELESTIAL…

1 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

PLAY 100 GAMES IN 2018

BIG ACHIEVEMENT I’M HAVING A LOT OF FUN MESSING AROUND WITH MATES The opening hours of Far Cry 5’s campaign feel promising, but it’s hard to shake the feeling that this is just Far Cry again. That’s not a bad thing, necessarily, but I’m still waiting for the sequel to do something that feels surprising enough to catch my interest. I’ve also been dipping into Sea of Thieves. I’m not sure how long I’ll last – the missions are incredibly repetitive – but I’m having a lot of fun messing around with mates on the open water. The level of coordination needed to sail a galleon leads to some entertaining hijinks. My big achievement this month was completing Metal Gear Solid V. It’s one of my favourite stealth games, and…

2 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

RHYTHM DOCTOR

Forget expensive drugs, in Rhythm Doctor you cure patients by hitting your space bar to a beat – specifically the heartbeat. You need to hit the button on every seventh beat to overcome your patient’s illness. Throughout, the virus you’re battling will retaliate – glitching the music and visuals. Each patient’s heart beats to a different tune, and each virus has a different effect. In one level, a virus causes the patient’s hearbeat to skip and freeze in time to the glitchy EDM soundtrack. Another is a satirical musical about overworked doctors. The full game promises over 20 levels, each based around a different concept of rhythm theory. I’ve been a fan of Rhythm Doctor since playing the IGF demo that won 2014’s Student Showcase, and…

1 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

THE ELDER SCROLLS ONLINE: SUMMERSET

I REVELLED IN THE CHANCE TO GO ALL MINDHUNTER ON A MURDER CASE If it’s been a while since you’ve visited The Elder Scrolls Online , new expansion Summerset is the perfect excuse to go back. Just be prepared for a bit of a culture shock, what with all the high elves, vineyards and fancy, gilded architecture. It’s like returning to your parents’ town after a couple of years away to find the dingy local pub has a vegan menu and the local church holds hot yoga sessions. Of course, The Elder Scrolls Online‘steam has always delivered top-notch fantasy – it’s got more lore to draw on than a Star Trek version of Trivial Pursuit – but the couple of hours that I…

3 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

TOWN COUNCIL

Arguably the best city builder available right now, Cities: Skylines is a regular fixture in PC Gamer’s annual Top 100. It’s been further bolstered by DLC, updates and a huge Steam Workshop library of mods. Wanting to take a look at the breadth and variety now available, the PC Gamer team is embarking on a shared project to build a utopia. The AI civilians of a Cities: Skylines city aren’t capable of democracy, so we’re going to utilise the next best method: taking it in turns, regardless of experience. Each team member gets two years to craft their utopia. To make things interesting, we get unlimited money and all buildings are unlocked. But we also have to aim to make our city profitable, ensuring its viability…

1 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

“I find a cul-de-sac and install multiple cemeteries”

Idon’t really remember how to play Cities: Skylines , much less how to make a functional city with a vaguely healthy economy. But I did just install a whale from the Steam Workshop so there will be at least one element I understand. (I do not understand where the whale will live yet.) Figuring all of that out can wait though, because Andy’s version of leaving the city in profit involves a $34,000 deficit. My initial inspection of the city also reveals that at least one building is on fire and several buildings appear to be accumulating dead folk. I plonk an emergency cemetery into the first chunk of available space I see and throw down a few fire stations to bring the…

3 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

in the MIDDLE of SOME WHERE

Somewhere is a game which Studio Oleomingus has been working on for more than half a decade. I can describe it. I have seen screenshots and sketches from it and relating to it. I have written about it. I’m writing about it now. Yet Somewhere might not exist. “ SOMEWHERE , LIKE THE CITY OF KAYAMGADH, DOES NOT EXIST” My conversation is with Dhruv Jani, the author and artist who, with programmer Sushant Chakraborty, makes up the studio. Somewhere , he tells me, began life as a single game. “A simple project where we would tell the story of Kayamgadh and its discovery by narrating it through a series of characters.” You can catch glimpses of that project if you scroll back far enough through…

11 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

This month’s king slayers...

FRASER BROWN Specialist in Strategy, regicide Currently playing Total War Saga: Thrones of Britannia This month Contemplated ruling Britain. Played Total War instead. CHRIS LIVINGSTON Specialist in Shooters, chaos Currently playing Far Cry 5 This month Can’t even go fishing without being attacked by an eagle. CHRIS SCHILLING Specialist in Indie, cooperation Currently playing A Way Out This month Realised mediocre adventures are easier with a friend. SAM GREER Specialist in Multiplayer, tanks Currently playing World of Tanks This month Discovered that tanks can be expensive. A trip to the dark web confirms this is true. TYLER WILDE Specialist in Multiplayer, ships Currently playing Sea of Thieves This month Was given an official warning for excessive grog consumption during work hours. ANDY KELLY Specialist in Adventure, monks Currently playing The…

1 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

WINNING THE GAME OF THRONES

CONQUEST This victory condition is a Total War mainstay, tasking you with gobbling up and controlling lots of territory on the map. You will ultimately want to control 80 settlements and 15 provinces for the short victory, or 110 settlements and 15 provinces for the long victory. That’s a lot of conquering. FAME Fame generates as you do… well, anything. Research tech, raise your influence, take over settlements – play the game and you’ll get fame. And once you hit 256, that’s you done, at least with the short fame victory. For the long victory, you’ll need 532. It’s not a very engaging way to win. KINGDOM For both the short and long kingdom victories you will need to expand out and conquer a specific group of provinces, depending on…

1 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

VIKINGS ON TOUR

It’s spring and my Viking colonists are gleefully filling their bellies now that the snow has melted and our food stores are filling up. The farmers and hunters are working hard, and with their appetite sated, my warriors are itching for a fight. I don’t have time to enjoy it. I’m already preparing for Northgard’s next harsh winter. Even more than dragons or undead, foul weather is the greatest threat to my growing settlement. Northgard looks like a throwback, a game that would have fit in with Age of Empires and Settlers, but while the inspiration is clear, it would be a disservice to imply that it’s trading in nostalgia. This Viking saga builds on the RTS romps of the 90s, but it s not beholden…

4 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

BEST BUDS

CHEESEBURGER Class: Tank Alignment: Chaotic Grizzly Perks: Draws focus, is a bear Likes: Salmon Pros: Again, he’s a bear Cons: Can’t ride in cars with you NICK Class: Air support Alignment: Neutral Yokel Perks: Drops bombs, strafes fools Likes: Quips Pros: Won’t get in your way Cons: Loves to repeat one-liners BOOMER Class: Scout Alignment: Good Boy Perks: Spots enemies, licks faces Likes: Everything (he’s a dog) Pros: You can pet him Cons: You might see him explode…

1 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

TANKS, A LOT

After a while, the accessibility becomes a double-edged sword If you’re in the market for digital tanks, well, World of Tanks lives up to its name. There are hundreds of them. Tanks from Russia, America, Britain, Japan… I’m no military fanatic, but I’m in awe of the sheer number of armoured vehicles on offer. There’s something a little sinister about this vast arsenal of death machines being displayed to you like toys. It’s got loads of tanks, is what I’m saying. But how much fun are they to actually use? World of Tanks feels like it’s been in beta for a decade (nope, only eight years) but, if you’ve still not heard of it, it’s a free-to-play competitive online multiplayer game that pits dozens of tanks…

4 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

HISTORY CHANNEL

You can dramatically alter your relationships with people Whether it’s rewinding time, surviving a zombie apocalypse or becoming a famous pirate, adventure games tend to hinge on a specific theme or gimmick. And that’s what makes The Pillars of the Earth so refreshing. It’s an understated adventure about ordinary people, with a rich setting based on a fascinating and rarely explored period of history. The result is a game that is, admittedly, not as immediately thrilling as some, but that rewarded my patience with one of the deepest, most mature stories I’ve ever encountered in a videogame. The pace is glacial and the mood is almost unrelentingly downbeat, but you soon settle into its steady rhythm, and I found myself wishing more games were as confident…

4 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

POLY-AMOROUS

The only way to drop equipment is to ‘purge’ everything While he works on his ambitious, robot-based roguelike Cogmind , developer Josh ‘Kyzrati’ Ge has used its source code to make a smaller title for this year’s 7-Day Roguelike game jam – a game jam where, like the name suggests, developers create a roguelike in a week. That game is Polybot-7 , a bot-focused dungeon delver that does some novel things with the humble inventory system. Settling itself somewhere between ASCII roguelikes and modern games with more approachable UIs, Polybot invites you to explore a multilayered facility populated by murderous machines and loot. Make it to the end of the five-level gauntlet and you can new game plus your way through it again. The…

3 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

FREAKY FIGHT-DAY

It’s not just a fighting game for the sake of being a fighting game Zeno Clash is a grimbright punk first-person, beat-’em-up oddity where you meander from arena to arena beating seven shades of shit out of gangs of unique-looking weirdos. You are, yourself, one of those weirdos: a wiry cipher called Ghat who exists somewhere on the continuum between Planescape Torment’s The Nameless One and Ewan McGregor’s character from Danny Boyle film Trainspotting. Ghat is one of the hundreds of children of an androgyne bird-thing called Father-Mother. The game begins in the present (sort of ), when Ghat detonates a big skull bomb in Father-Mother’s face. Ghat, unconscious, is then taught to punch weirdos by the ghost of a forest-dwelling beefcake with no…

3 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

ALTITUDE

I suppose we’re doing dogfighting games this month, then. Altitude is a lovely little aerial combat game set inside what appears to be a series of pinball tables. You control your plane’s bearing and throttle, accounting for gravity and other aeroplane things like stalling as you attempt to line up guns and special weapons. There’s a bunch of modes, including a Rocket League-before- Rocket League plane football game and a base defence variant where you have to grab bombs from the middle of the map and make runs on your opponent’s territory. Nobody’s playing it online, so you’ll be relying on bots, and it looks a bit rough: but you can get it for free, so who’s complaining?…

1 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

REVIEWS

CORSAIR ONE ELITE www.corsair.com £2,699 The One Elite is an ultra-compact PC that packs the very latest high-end gaming components into a case that’s so small it has to be seen to be believed. It’s also a beautifully built machine and even manages to offer plenty of upgrade options too. It’s the ultimate mini gaming PC, for a price. P C So the Corsair One Elite doesn’t come cheap, but you really are getting the best of the best. An Intel Core i7-8700K and Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti would set you back well over £1,000 alone, plus you also get a mini-ITX motherboard, a 2TB hard drive, a 480GB SSD and 32GB of DDR4 RAM. The latter three can all be upgraded without voiding the warranty, too. All this is…

3 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

BUDGET BUILD

MOTHERBOARD Z370-A Pro MSI £110 What better place to start than with MSI’s Z370-A Pro. With plenty of expandability, it’s perfect for any entry rig. PROCESSOR Core i3-8100 Intel £95 Intel’s new Coffee Lake processors add an additional two cores to the lineup. Think of this as a Core i5 processor, but cheaper. GRAPHICS CARD GeForce GTX 1060 3GB Inno3D £195 The GTX 1060 3GB is the clear choice of graphics card for this price point, and at the moment Inno3D is offering the best value. MEMORY Vengeance LPX 8GB (2x4GB) @2400MHz Corsair £93 DDR4 prices are still high, however this Corsair pair is a good value option. POWER SUPPLY 500BQ EVGA £57 It may be cheap, but this 500W PSU is more than enough to handle any budget build.…

2 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

“Let’s see what people with actual talent can do”

PHIL SAVAGE THIS MONTH Wasted an incredible amount of explosives. ALSO PLAYED Sea of Thieves, Vermintide II I regret to inform you that I am back on the barrels. I’ll get around to playing Far Cry 5 properly one day, but right now I’m placing explosive barrel on top of explosive barrel, creating a giant, improbable stack on a flat, untextured environment. The original plan was to fill a pit full of explosives and bears, but I quickly hit the limit of how many unsuspecting ursine victims I could stuff into a single grid and things have just escalated since then. I’ve been a big fan of doing dumb shit in map editors ever since Crysis, and the niche trend of detonating thousands of explosive barrels…

3 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

“A squawking bird repeatedly shrieks ‘You owe me!’ in a cockney accent”

LEVEL-5 HAS DONE AN IMPRESSIVE JOB CREATING ITS OWN WORLD ANDY KELLY THIS MONTH Visited a city that leaves everything to chance. ALSO PLAYED Far Cry 5 I’ve always loved a good JRPG town. Those little pockets of calm where the battles stop, the heroes lick their wounds, and you learn something about the world. The best ones are more than just a random scattering of houses littered with static NPCs. It’s when they feel like they have their own distinctive history and culture that they become memorable, and one of the most recent examples of this I can think of is in the wonderful Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom . Goldpaw is a city covered in neon signs, and one of the prettiest locations in…

3 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

THE ELDER SCROLLS: TOTAL WAR

The orcs have a crappy deal in the Elder Scrolls series. They’re the elves nobody fancies. Their god got eaten. Their full name, Orsimer, literally translates as ‘pariah folk’. They don’t even have their own homeland, instead sharing the province of High Rock with the magic-loving Bretons. Well, that’s about to change. Like the vanilla games, The Elder Scrolls: Total War mod lets me redirect the course of history. But instead of saving Carthage or keeping hold of Britain’s colonies, I want to make the orcs a world power. And there’s scope here to go as big as I want: the mod features all of Tamriel, so my orcish kingdom could stretch from the far western region of High Rock, through Skyrim, all the way across…

4 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

MUST PLAY

ANDY KELLY Videogames are portals to other worlds, to places beyond imagination. Come, friend, and let us step through together. BATMAN: THE TELLTALE SERIES www.telltalegames.com Focusing more on Bruce Wayne than his alter ego, this adventure tells a wonderfully entertaining and original Batman story. Episode four is particularly good, taking an established relationship and turning it on its head. The first episode is currently free on Steam, so you have no excuse not to give it a shot. ROCKET LEAGUE www.rocketleague.com Cars playing football has no right being as good as Rocket League. This accessible, competitive and wildly entertaining ‘sports’ game is something I come back to every few months and get hopelessly addicted to. And thanks to the slick front-end and volume of players, you can be in a…

2 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

The PC Gamer team

ANDY KELLY Specialist in Shooters, arms Twitter @ultrabrilliant This month Replayed the ambitious mess Trespasser so that you don’t have to. PHILIPPA WARR Specialist in Indie, metafiction Twitter @philippawarr This month Demonstrated we can also write about games that maybe don’t exist. SAMUEL ROBERTS Specialist in Management, murder Twitter @SamuelWRoberts This month Somehow racked up a bodycount during our Cities: Skylines feature. JOHN STRIKE Specialist in Design, babies This month Became a father! Luckily, he has years of experience dealing with grouchy babies. (Or writers, as they’re also known.)…

1 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

Incoming

Game jam Event Game release Esports PC Gamer 3 MAY THRONES OF BRITANNIA On the day this issue hits stores, Total War Saga: Thrones of Britannia arrives on Steam. Turn to page 66 for our review. 8 MAY PILLARS OF ETERNITY II: DEADFIRE Returning to this page for the third month in the row, we’re confident that Pillars of Eternity II will finally be released on May 8. You should know the drill by now: there’s a ship to sail, there’s a big, blue god to stop, and there’ll be many, many hours of adventuring to delve into. 11 MAY CRYPTO GAMES CONFERENCE The purpose of this event seems to be, ‘What if blockchain, but videogames?’ Is this what hell is? MAY 12 – 13 BITSUMMIT We’d bet that most…

2 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

IRANIAN DEV TROUBLES

In October last year, Mahdi Bahrami released Engare , a beautiful puzzle game about mathematics and geometry. But he was afraid. He was worried that it would be removed from Steam the next day. “I worked on this game for a few years and it would be so painful if that happened,” he says. What if he’d never get the proceeds from its sales? What if no one would be able to play it? Bahrami is worried because he’s Iranian. He is technically unable to sell games on Steam because of trade sanctions the US has imposed on Iran since 1979. And he can’t officially be paid the money Engare has earned because most Iranian banks can’t interface with US ones. “The money is not directly coming…

5 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

UNDER THE SURFACE

ONE OF THE MOST CUTTING-EDGE SOLUTIONS IN GAMING HIDES IN THE CODE OF A 2D PLATFORMER Indie studio National Insecurities was well on its way to completing its latest first-person murder mystery parody, 2000:1: A Space Felony . It had an eye-catching name, a publisher, and a rock-solid visual and thematic base it could use to play off audience expectations. There was just one problem: the centrifuge didn’t work. An astronaut jogs around a stark centrifuge, punching the air as he travels in an endless loop. This scene, from 2001: A Space Odyssey, is one of the most iconic in film history. And National Insecurities’ parody couldn’t replicate it. No matter what it did, the team couldn’t find a reliable, smooth way for the player to run…

4 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

THE TOP 5

OVERCOOKED Work with a friend to cook up a variety of dishes in a procession of wacky kitchens. KEEP TALKING AND NOBODY EXPLODES A person disarms a bomb while the other gives instructions. CUPHEAD This characterful hardcore run-and-gun is only slightly easier with a friend. DIVINITY: ORIGINAL SIN II A huge RPG that supports co-op play. Let’s hope your pal doesn’t kill that NPC you like. Want to track your progress? Print out our checklist at www.bit.ly/pcgchallenge PORTAL 2 The co-op campaign for Valve’s puzzler is arguably even better than the singleplayer.…

1 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

THE BEAST INSIDE

FILMS SUCH AS SHUTTER ISLAND AND MEMENTO ARE CITED AS INSPIRATION The year is 1979 and Adam and his wife Emma have moved to a house deep in the countryside, which is your first clue that The Beast Inside is, yes, a horror game. Nothing good ever happens in isolated rural houses. Adam is a CIA cryptanalyst working on cracking a Soviet code that could alter the course of the Cold War, and he needs a quiet place to do it. In the opening their car pulls up to the new home – a grand colonial house surrounded by woodland – and your first job is moving in. A stack of boxes on the porch needs to be relocated, giving you an early taste of the…

2 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

SHADOWS: AWAKENING

IT’S CLEAR THE DEVELOPER HAS SPENT TIME ON REFINING THE FEEL OF THE GAME Devourers are shadowy, magical creatures with the ability to eat people’s souls, absorb their memories, and reanimate them as puppets to do their bidding. At the beginning of Shadows: Awakening , you play as one of these Devourers and are given a choice of three long-dead champions to bring back to life: a ranger, a warrior and a mage. This is essentially your starting class, but throughout the game you’ll be able to devour additional souls and recruit more puppets to join you on your adventures. You can switch between the Devourer’s shadow realm and the real world at the push of a button. In the shadow world, everything is ghostly; in the…

3 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

“When I’m done, we’re subscribed to 528 items on the Steam Workshop”

Opening the Steam Workshop, I spend a while playing with various district styles. My plan is to give each district a theme. I want vibrant, contrasting communities – pockets of cyberpunk technoliving next to medieval townships and fantasy wonderlands. But then I change my mind. After all, isn’t PC gaming one big melting pot – a confluence of community and individuality? I hope so, because using district mods is complicated, and keeps making the game crash. Instead, I just download pages and pages of buildings that will automatically construct on any residential, commercial or industrial zones I lay. We’ve got neon skyscrapers, we’ve got classical architecture, we’ve even got a KFC. When I’m done, we’re subscribed to 528 items on the Steam Workshop. I open up Cities: Skylines and wait…

3 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

“Now seven meteors have hit the city, as well as two fires and a hurricane”

I want to extend the city in my time as mayor, and put my mark on this place. I’m going to build a new district that has high-end shopping and nice houses. I lay down some road to a quiet area of the map and build a pentagonal region that links to the Just Dance 2018 district. The site of my new utopia for bastards. How do you connect pipes again? I’ve forgotten. Everyone needs electricity and water and I’m not ready! I should’ve put the utilities down first. I’ve barely built my new area of the city and we’re over $30,000 in debt. I start to panic that my city is doomed to never break even, and I’ve only been mayor for two months. I don’t know how you…

3 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

GLIMPSES OF SOMEWHERE

A MUSEUM OF DUBIOUS SPLENDOR Alternate between reading poetic snippets and exploring a surreal museum space. UNDER A PORCELAIN SUN Releasing in summer 2018, this project promises salt bandits and brass astronomers. TIMRUK Similar to Dubious Splendor, 2D storybook sections alternate with a number of 3D rooms you can look around. TUMBLR The Studio Oleomingus Tumblr offers gorgeous artwork and tantalising tales as well as a heads-up on new releases.…

1 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

MUSICAL CHAIRS

Beset on all sides by scheming monarchs, an assassination attempt on the king, and our closest allies implicated – in its greatest moments, Thrones of Britannia almost plays like Total War crossed with Crusader Kings II . As villages burn and warriors smash into shield walls, there’s political intrigue and betrayals from within and without the kingdom. Vikings prowl the coast, rebels stir and everyone seems to need help getting married. It’s tough to sit on the throne. Total War Saga games, of which this is the first, are smaller standalone games that hone in on a flashpoint in history. This time it’s the age of Alfred the Great, King of the Anglo-Saxons and historical celebrity. It’s fertile ground…

12 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

PRINCELY

Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom has done a fabulous job of hiding its best feature. It’s an open world action JRPG, but at its heart is a building sim starring a dollhouse-like kingdom. You raise buildings, generate resources, and research tactics and sciences. Managing your realm is not just a thing to do between quests. It’s what connects Ni no Kuni II’s many systems and keeps them running. And it’s what keeps me coming back. Evan Pettiwhisker Tildrum, the half-catfolk prince of Ding Dong Dell, loses his crown to a coup staged by the ratfolk faction. During his escape, Evan meets Roland, a mysterious leader sent from another world. With Roland’s help, Evan resolves to build a new kingdom, Evermore, and…

3 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

CLASH OF CLANS

STAG The clan of the campaign’s protagonist is a bit in love with itself, but extra resources and a focus on fame make it a good one to start with. BOAR The Boar Clan’s bonuses are a bit scattershot, but its penchant for mysticism means that it can research faster than other clans. GOAT Despite the name, this clan is more enamoured with sheep. They can rear them, giving them more opportunities to keep their food stockpile high. BEAR Objectively the best clan because it can summon an armoured bear the moment a training ground is built. It’s name is Kaija and it’s wonderful. WOLF If you want to fight a lot, this is the clan for you. Its warriors generate happiness and, by killing bears and wolves, extra food…

1 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

GRATE ESCAPE

Five years ago, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons seemed to have established Lebanese filmmaker Josef Fares as a bold new voice in games, expertly interweaving story and systems to moving effect. As such, A Way Out , Fares’ new game, is something of a comedown. Essentially a boneheaded B-movie you play with a friend, it’s not a good game by most standards. Yet between its charm and a handful of creative flourishes, it’s a hard one to dislike. This isn’t a game that can be played alone. You can go through the whole thing with an online pal, but A Way Out is best with someone sitting next to you. Immediately we’re introduced to Vincent, who’s about to start a 14-year sentence…

4 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

WAVE COMBAT

It takes strong coordination to pull off a flawless journey Waking up in a grog-induced daze on one of Sea of Thieves’ painterly islands for the first time is exhilarating. You have a ship waiting at the dock and little direction as to what to do. Raise the anchor and slam into a rock if you want. As the water reaches your neck, you’ll either drown or discover that you have to equip planks to repair holes, and then use your bucket to heave the seawater out. Sea of Thieves represents a technical maturation of multiplayer action games, which are complex enough now to throw four players on a galleon in a big sea of other player-controlled ships and let them all go at it. By…

8 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

BIG SHOT

There isn’t enough to justify that questionable price tag When one of Extinction’s giant, screen-filling ogres first lumbers into a level, it’s hard not to be impressed by it. The scale of these ugly brutes is awe-inspiring, and you wonder how you – a relatively tiny, sword-wielding warrior called Avil – could ever hope to topple such a creature. But as intimidating as the ogres are, they also have weaknesses that can be exploited to bring them crashing down. The colourful ogres come clad in various types of armour, including wood, bone and iron, which have to be destroyed in different ways before you can deliver the killing blow. This is where Avil’s Rune Strike comes in: a powerful move that lets you target a piece…

3 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

LYNCHPIN

Last year, a seismic event happened in the world of television – and I’m not talking about Bake Off jumping ship to Channel 4. Twin Peaks returned to our screens after more than 25 years off the TV, and every show I’ve seen since has felt safe and more than a little unimaginative. One of the best things about Twin Peaks: The Return was the increased presence of Gordon Cole, the hard of hearing FBI chief played by series co-creator David Lynch. His peculiarly loud and slow manner of speaking is captured near-perfectly in David Lynch Teaches Typing, a short parody of touch-typing training software Mavis Beacon that transitions into an insightful celebration of Lynchian weirdness. Lynch is impersonated here by developer Luke Palmer, who does a bang-up job of…

1 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

CANCEL BOOKING

This is an adaptation of the ’80s Fighting Fantasy novel by Steve Jackson, one of those adventure books you’d get from the library, attempt to play without cheating, and then cheat at until you’d seen all of the scary or sexy bits. In this case you are the superhero protector of Titan City, tasked with thwarting an evil plot in three days. You pick your superpower, find clues, and spend half an hour meandering through plots until the baddies win. Here’s the thing: the more granular and unforgiving the retro choose-your-own-adventure novel, the more pedantic and unrewarding the subsequent videogame. Light randomisation might play to the strengths of Appointment With F.E.A.R.’s new medium, but it’s not a reactive enough detective game for this to cause anything but frustration. You’ll hoover…

1 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

LUFTRAUSERS

Vlambeer’s sepia shooter is what you’d get if Jeff Minter directed Dunkirk. You fling a fighter out of a ship and attempt to navigate a fast and lethal aerial tangle. It bears a lot of the hallmarks of its era of indie shmup design, including a soundtrack that the kids might call ‘bouncing’ and effects that one might regard as ‘crunchy’. I confess that I am drawn to it because it’s called ‘Lovetrousers’, which doesn’t mean anything, but is evocative enough that I feel compelled to find a meaning for it.…

1 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

ROUND-UP

MSI CLUTCH GM60 www.msi.com £90 This mouse has a customisable design that makes it suited for many different shapes and sizes of hand. It wasn’t my favourite, but mileage always varies in this regard. With a competent optical sensor its gaming performance is decent, but overall it feels a touch pricey for what is largely a mid-range mouse. 72 % ASUS BLUE CAVE www.asus.com £180 Asus’ router boasts Alexa support that allows you to pause your WiFi at your command or have it email you when you children/parents arrive home. This aside, it delivers solid WiFi performance, while TrendMicropowered smart protection keeps your network secure. And, no, the blue circle doesn’t do anything. 75 % AMD RYZEN 2400G www.amd.com £130 If you’re looking to build a tiny but still powerful PC, or you…

1 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

MID-RANGE BUILD

MOTHERBOARD Z370 Tomahawk MSI £110 This is a nice-looking bit of kit at a good price. Couple that with two M.2 slots, and it’s the perfect place to house that Core i5. PROCESSOR Core i5-8400 Intel £160 Intel’s latest boasts six of its Coffee Lake cores, with great single-core performance. It even gives last-gen’s i7 a run for its money. GRAPHICS CARD GTX 1070 SC Gaming ACX EVGA £550 Trying to balance prices, we’ve opted to drop down to an SC Gaming card. Don’t worry, you only lose out on a very minor overclock. COOLER MasterLiquid Lite 240 CoolerMaster £42 This 240mm, dual-fan, all-in-one liquid CPU cooler is ludicrously cheap, but performs well and stays quiet, too. MEMORY Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) @2666 Corsair £165 16GB is the minimum amount…

2 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

“Like a teen trying to be edgy”

TOM SENIOR THIS MONTH Became the Duke. Had to shower immediately. ALSO PLAYED Slay the Spire If you’re unfamiliar with Duke Nukem, he’s a sexist balloon animal who somehow managed to crawl out of the ’90s into Gearbox’s grab bag of intellectual properties. Over the course of seven years or so the studio made a game about him and, by most accounts, it was terrible. I have decided to voluntarily crawl up this tailpipe to see if the Duke can be salvaged for a modern era. After all, B.J. Blazkowicz was successfully reformed, and Doomguy came back recently, and those games were good. I should say that the ’90s Duke Nukem games were important, fun, and made in a formative time for shooters, but the opening scene of Duke Nukem…

2 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

THE DIVISION

THERE ARE EVEN MODIFIERS FOR THE MODIFIERS A sequel to The Division was announced in March, but Ubisoft and developer Massive are keen to stress that it’ll continue to support the original. For how long, though? A roadmap has Global Events planned until September, but what happens after that is unclear. Even so, if you’re a lapsed player, right now is the best time to return. The game has had some major updates and many quality of life improvements since its launch, and it’s in better shape than ever. Last year, in update 1.7, Global Events were added to The Division. This was an attempt by Massive to address complaints that the open world aspect of the game was stagnating, adding modifiers to existing PvE content…

3 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

OF MEN AND MER

CYRODIIL EMPIRE Picking the Empire is like choosing Britain in Empire or Rome in, well, Rome You start off well, but managing that large expanse from the off could prove tricky. THE KINGDOM OF SKYRIM The game takes place over two centuries years before the events of the fourth Elder Scrolls game, so don’t expect dragons or Thalmor. ALDMERI DOMINION They’re not quite the official ‘bad guys’ of the Elder Scrolls universe yet, but you can play them that way if that’s how you choose to live your life. GREAT HOUSE DAGOTH This is a cool touch: you can play as House Dagoth, the lost, corrupted Dark Elf house, and strike out from deep inside the Red Mountain. GREAT HOUSE REDORAN To experience that ‘everything you do being manipulated by…

1 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

COURT IN SESSION

QUEEN MATILDA ‘THE CONFESSOR’ Queen of Sardinia and Corsica. In possession of an infinite warchest and an unnatural spate of good luck. KING SHABSAI Married to Queen Matilda. Perhaps the only thing that they actually have in common is they hate each other. KAISER ORDULF ‘THE DRUNKARD’ Ruler of the Holy Roman Empire, and Matilda’s liege. Spoiler: there’s a reason he’s behind bars. BISHOP LEALDO Matilda’s chaplain and not-so-secret lover. He is father to her first child, and an ostensible paragon of virtue.…

1 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

REVENGE IS SWEET

DEPENDING ON WHO YOU ASK, IT’S EITHER A MASTERPIECE OR A MESS The first Shenmue – a martial arts revenge story that was, at the time, the most expensive videogame ever made – has only ever been playable on Dreamcast. It’s the reason I still have one under my TV, long after the console’s demise. But soon you’ll be able to play it and its sequel on PC, thanks to a long overdue re-release by Sega. The game tells the story of Ryo Hazuki, a teenager living in Japan in the ’80s who swears revenge on the man who killed his father. It’s part-fighting game, part-RPG, and set in a richly detailed world. It’s also a weird, idiosyncratic game, and has been dividing critics since its…

3 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

The Spy

ASSASSIN’S CREED ORIGINS IS MOVING ACROSS THE MEDITERRANEAN FOR ITS SEQUEL The Spy needs everybody to sit down for a minute. Are you comfortable? Good. Actually, no! That’s bad! That’s bad because The Spy wants you to be uncomfortably aware of how time-consuming it is to both hunt down the videogame industry’s deepest secrets and then present them as part of an arguably overwrought ‘bit’. What you do not do, when you are The Spy, is simply ‘find something out’ and then ‘Tweet it’. That’s right, Kotaku’s Jason Schreier – if that is your real name – The Spy sees you. The Spy sees you visiting Mafia III developers Hangar 13 for a story, publishing said story, and then simply tweeting that next door a new 2K studio is working…

3 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

IRANIAN GAMES

SHADOW BLADE: RELOAD A ninja action platformer with comic book visuals that evokes Strider made by Iran-based studio Dead Mage. 41148 A horror adventure with a striking shadow puppet visual style, made by an art teacher called Mahdi Fanaei. PARVANEH: LEGACY OF THE LIGHT’S GUARDIANS A colourful action adventure fantasy by Tehran-based studio Bearded Bird. 1979 REVOLUTION: BLACK FRIDAY iNK Studios’ adventure depicts the events of Iran’s revolution.…

1 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

CANCELLED APPEARANCES

SUBNAUTICA Jonas Bötel, a Software Engineer at Unknown Worlds Entertainment, claims Subnautica has creatures “100% driven by physics”, and destructible terrain. These features just… didn’t fit the game. They still lurk in the code, unused. SPARTAN FIST This first-person puncher initially had boxing-style combos, mirrored based on the leading fist, but players reacted negatively to the lack of reliable input. Stances now serve as a visible way of swapping between attacks. X-COM: APOCALYPSE The alien dimension players enter during the endgame of X-COM: Apocalypse was planned as the first of many procedurally generated dimensions. However, the publisher objected to this. DEFENDER’S QUEST: VALLEY OF THE FORGOTTEN DX Statues connected to secret content in Defender’s Quest were supposed to be fightable. However, the cost of creating this battle for a miniscule…

1 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

SUNLESS SKIES

CRICKET HELPS REDUCE THE TERROR YOU ACCRUE AS YOU ROAM THE HIGH WILDERNESS I have just crashed into London. Not the London nestled in the buttcrack of the UK’s south-eastern bulges, you understand; the London of Failbetter Games’ Sunless Skies, where Queen Victoria, the Traitor Empress, sits on her Throne of Hours. Victoria presides over a precarious empire within the High Wilderness, peppered with ports which you — an enterprising space locomotive captain — set out to explore. The crash came because I was drinking in the differences between the newly added industry-heavy Albion region and The Reach. The Reach is all about little outposts, each with their own character. From your top-down perspective, you guide your steam train across the expanse of space, discovering its…

7 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

DISCO ELYSIUM

SKILLS ARE CHARACTERS IN THEMSELVES, SPEAKING UP DURING DIALOGUE To be a cool police officer, you need Composure, the ability to walk into any situation and not betray your inner fears (and also dance really well). But maybe you want to be a different kind of cop. A cold Logic-driven one, perhaps? One filled with Empathy? Or how about Authority? That’s all for you to choose as you begin Disco Elysium as a pot-bellied blowout lying on the floor of a trashed hotel room in an unknown city. Waking from an unholy binge that has wiped your memory, you’ve no idea that you’re a detective, or that you’re meant to be investigating a putrefying body hanging from a tree nearby. Yes, Disco Elysium hinges on an amnesia-powered plot, but don’t…

3 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

FEAR EFFECT

In 2013, we met Crystal Dynamics’ rebooted Lara Croft – a young archaeologist who crash lands on a deadly island off the coast of Japan. Far from the confident adventurer of Tomb Raider games of old, this Lara was scared and unsure of herself – albeit in possession of a quiet, burning determination to survive and rescue her friends. In the reboot’s follow-up, 2016’s Rise of the Tomb Raider, Lara is more proactive. She travels to Siberia in order to follow up on her father’s research, and in doing so learns of the secretive and sinister Trinity organisation that killed him. This year’s Shadow of the Tomb Raider completes her origin story. Lara is now taking the fight to Trinity, and discovering how far she’s willing…

11 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

“I survey what I’ve created so far, and this is a very ugly city”

I take over from Phil and find a small, pleasant city buzzing with blimps, and I’m appalled. There isn’t enough sin in this town. I build a long four-lane road, which I name the ‘Alley of Sin’, and line it with clubs, commercial zones, and an enormous, garish casino. That’s more like it. People in this as-yet-unnamed city have somewhere to take a load off and indulge in some good old-fashioned hedonism. But to ensure the crime rate doesn’t get out of control, I build the police tower from Blade Runner – a reminder for all the crooks in the Alley of Sin that the future-police are watching, always. I notice that pretty much the entire city is blinking with the ‘abandoned building’ icon, and I realise that it’s because…

3 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

DEBRIEFING

CONGRATULATIONS ON ALL OF THE MURDERS, EVERYBODY DEATH Pip’s mausoleum helped alleviate Andy’s corpse crisis, but its function as a peaceful getaway has been lessened by the wind turbines. Nice whales, though. HAVEN Samuel’s successful attempt to make a gentrified district. It has a massive traffic flow problems, but probably stocks some nice artisan cheeses. INDUSTRY Chemical Plant Zone is not only a blight on our picturesque landscape, but is also mostly abandoned thanks to a lack of residential zones. FAILURE Somehow Samuel missed the bulldoze option, and so had to summon a deadly meteor strike to erase his mistakes. One family still lives here. POOP Despite Phil’s best efforts to keep the drinking supply pure, Andy put a sewage outlet upstream from the water pumps. Stick to bottled water.…

2 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

Conflict resolution

This month is all about conflict, and the different forms it can take. In Total War Saga: Thrones of Britannia, for instance, you’re a king on an island full of kings. You’ll all throw armoured men at one another until you’re officially declared the actual king. This is an unusual Total War game that’s full of interesting twists on the decades-old formula. Turn over to the next page to find out if it pays off. If you prefer a more personal conflict, Far Cry 5 makes you battle every bear, eagle and cougar in a massive radius. Or there’s Sea of Thieves, in which you and some mates must fight for your right to steal loot on a sea lightly populated with other pirates. Alternatively, there’s the conflicts of The…

1 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

CULTURE CLUB

THE ANGLOSAXONS The descendants of Germanic invaders and settlers, the Anglo-Saxons now find themselves defending England against the pesky Vikings. This, you will soon realise, is a theme. THE GAELS The Gaelic kingdoms in both Scotland and Ireland also have a bit of a Viking problem. The water is lousy with them. Thinking of going for a dip? Can’t. Vikings have swarmed the sea. THE WELSH The disparate Welsh kingdoms are spread out as far north as Scotland, surrounded by Vikings and Anglo-Saxons. They’ve seen better days and they’ve got some beefs. THE GREAT VIKING ARMY Also known as the Danelaw, the Viking kingdoms of England are in an extremely uneasy, peace with Alfred the Great after he spanked them at the Battle of Edington. THE VIKING SEA KINGS More…

1 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

FOR EVERMORE

SKIRMISHES Defend your kingdom from rival armies and earn gold to spend on upgrading Evermore in the process. QUESTS Complete sidequests to persuade citizens, soldiers and craftsmen to move to your kingdom. COMBAT Upgrade your equipment at your kingdom’s smithy, and improve your abilities or spells at the spellworks. HIGGLEDIES Build a Higgledy workshop where you can create and upgrade new adorable allies who will assist you in battle. EXPLORATION You can also use your spellworks to research spells that open new paths and unlock new NPCs out in the world. DUNGEONS Find and fight your way through all nine secret dungeons to recruit a special Evermore citizen.…

1 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

CULT HIT

In Hope County, Montana, you might find yourself using a guided missile to kill a charging bear. Not because a missile is the best weapon to kill a bear with – a crossbow would be more sporting – but simply because you already have the weapon resting on your shoulder. A moment ago you used it to blow an enemy plane out of the sky and a boat out of the water, so dispatching a bear with it is just quick and convenient. And the sooner the bear is dead, the sooner you can get back to the important task at hand: breaking the county record for catching the heaviest golden trout. Welcome to Far Cry 5, where a quiet spot of fishing can and often will result in piles…

8 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

INPUT LAGS

VINCENT MORETTI Age 43 Personality Total charisma bypass Strengths Laundry ruses, crane operation Facial hair 6/10 - Solid goatee Most likely to say “Calm down, Leo.” Least likely to say “I’m so excited and I just can’t hide it!” LEO CARUSO Age 36 Personality Annoying loose cannon Strengths Punching, toilet unscrewing Facial hair 8/10 - Impressive ‘burns Most likely to say “I’m afraid of heights.” Least likely to say “Heights? Love ‘em.”…

1 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

SEA OF TWEE

1 THIS ROCK As far as rocks go, this is one of the cuter ones I’ve seen. 2 THESE PALM TREES The spirit of Donkey Kong Country lives on. 3 CHRIS CARRYING THIS GIANT CHEST That treasure chest is a bit too big for ya, bud! 4 CHRIS SHOWING ME THIS OVERSIZED TREASURE MAP There’s no ‘pinch cheeks’ emote but there oughta be. 5 A LITTLE PIGGY I refuse to capture and sell these guys.…

1 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

SKILL ISLAND

GLIDE Activate after jumping to glide through the air, which is handy for hopping between buildings and destroying hard-to-reach ogre armour. GRAPPLE WHIP Crack this magical whip at a target and you’ll be rapidly yanked towards it. The whip works on both objects in the environment and enemies. LIGHTFOOT When you jump on canopies or trees, you’ll spring into the air, which can be combined with a glide. This skill makes you jump much higher. HASTY PORTALS Rescuing helpless civilians can take a while, especially if there are any enemies nearby. Use this skill to teleport them away a lot faster.…

1 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

ART ATTACK

If the classic RPG Dungeon Master had been inspired by The Trap Door rather than Dungeons & Dragons, I like to think it would resemble the delightfully colourful, refreshingly silly The Attic’s a Dungeon?!. It’s a first-person dungeon-crawler in which a party of characters moves around a large, vibrant dungeon, turn-by-turn. Your ultimate goal is to locate a lost treasure, something you’ll achieve by first collecting four parchments, and then finding the appropriate spot in which to use the scraps of paper. This is harder said than done, given that TAaD?! shares one of the flaws of early dungeon-crawlers: it’s all too easy to lose your way in the samey environments. There’s no minimap, while the enemy respawn rate is slightly too high –…

1 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

HAMMERFIGHT

Hammerfight is inexplicable and might be some kind of masterpiece. You are a warrior in a Dune-ish world where combat takes place between wooden helicopters with swords and hammers attached to them. You fight by swinging your mouse around to generate momentum, with the amount of damage depending on how heavily you’re able to connect to the enemy that you’re attempting to smash. The disconnect between Hammerfight’s storytelling and the mania of its combat is so pronounced that it constitutes a feature in its own right, a rare opportunity to see what it may be like if fighting in Lord of the Rings was replaced with events from Gladiators.…

1 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

PREMIUM CASES

If you really want to make a splash with your PC, the latest premium-build cases add a real touch of luxury to your setup. I’ve grabbed five of the most popular options to see which ones deliver on their bigger price tags. Q&A Why glass and aluminium? Because it looks good. Thick sheets of brushed, anodised aluminium and windows of tempered glass immediately make any case look and feel more up-market. But what if the glass breaks on the case? Run! Seriously, though, you will have to be careful handling cases like these. Tempered glass is tough but it’s heavy and will break if you drop it. What else do premium cases provide? Generally these sorts of cases are larger than entry-level ones, providing ample space for components and cooling.…

6 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

GOING GREEN

No Planet B You might not think it’s possible to save the world by fiddling with your GPU settings, but gaming PCs use a lot of juice. Cutting down is not only a win for the environment, but also for your electricity bills. It’s funny how gamers will jump through all sorts of hoops to save a fictional planet if they’re asked to by a quest-giving NPC, but rarely think about doing the same when it comes to the real thing. The energy-guzzling PC sitting on, or below, your desk may not compare to a coal-fired power plant when it comes to environmental impact, but a 2015 study ( www.bit.ly/energypc ) found that a typical gaming computer uses about the same amount of energy as three refrigerators (or…

5 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

ADVANCED BUILD

MOTHERBOARD Crosshair VI Hero Asus £207 The best Ryzen board out now. It provides a stable backbone for any early adopter looking to join the red core revolution. PROCESSOR Ryzen 7 1800X AMD £270 The 1800X, combined with 32GB of 3200 MT/s, dominates both single and multicore tasks with ease. GRAPHICS CARD GeForce GTX 1080Ti Turbo Asus £840 The GTX 1080Ti isn’t cheap so any chance to knock money off the price is one we’ll take. This Asus version does just that. COOLER Kraken X62 NZXT £125 The Kraken is the culmination of three of our favourite things: an infinity mirror, a 280mm radiator and slick braided cooling. MEMORY Vengeance LED RGB 32GB @3200 Corsair £375 Ryzen is the one processor that does benefit hugely from higher frequency memory. This…

2 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

“My inner voice has taken on the shouty cadences of a celebrity chef”

RAMSAY YELLS AT THEM AND OCCASIONALLY PUNCHES ATRAY OF RUBBERY SCALLOPS EMMA DAVIES THIS MONTH Served up perfect beef Wellingtons ALSO PLAYED Portal Everyone has an inner voice, whether they’d care to admit it or not. Recently, mine has taken on the shouty cadences of a celebrity chef and (much like my outer voice) utters a lot of expletives. I have an inner Gordon Ramsay, and Cook, Serve, Delicious! 2!! is to blame. When I first downloaded CSD!2!!, I bounced off it quickly. Compared to the first game, it’s hard, and life is short enough even without games raising my blood pressure. But, thanks to a Netflix binge of Hell’s Kitchen, I’m back. Don’t enjoy trashy American pseudo-cooking shows? Here’s the nutshell version: a gaggle of…

3 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

NEW AND IMPROVED

1.1 12 APRIL 2016 The first major update. Added Falcon Lost, an Incursion mission, and a selection of new gear sets with stat bonuses. 1.5 22 NOV 2016 As well as a brilliant Survival mode, this update increased the chances of regular enemies dropping better gear and materials. 1.6 28 FEB 2017 This update added the Last Stand mode, which sees you and your squad capturing and holding points on a Dark Zone map. 1.6.2 27 JUNE 2017 A small but vital patch that dealt with the infamous glitch that made some players invisible and immune to gunfire. 1.8.1 12 APRIL 2018 Adds two new Global Events, Exotic drops to open world bosses, and increased Classified gear drop rates.…

1 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

CRUSADER KINGS II: PART 1

I WANT TO SEE IF, WITH THE RIGHT PRODDING, THEY’LL MAKE A PLAY FOR THE THRONE As much as I’ve enjoyed Crusader Kings II over the years, I’m still not good at it. Sure, I can embroil myself in drama and intrigue just as well as the next aristocrat, but when it comes to ambition – to expanding my kingdom and crushing my enemies – it almost always goes wrong. To counter this failing, I’ve devised a new strategy: don’t play Crusader Kings II . At least, don’t play it directly. Instead, I’m going to pick a character and use the ‘observe’ console command to hand them over to the AI. Then, as the computer does all the heavy lifting, I’ll offer support…

9 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

TRESPASSER

“ Trespasser is far from a good game, but it’s an interesting one” Billed as a digital sequel to The Lost World, Steven Spielberg’s second Jurassic Park movie, Trespasser was both groundbreaking and a complete disaster. The large jungle environments, procedural dinosaur animation and real-time physics were impressive for the time, resulting in a lot of breathless previews and overblown prerelease buzz. But when it was finally released after a year-long delay, it was a mess of half-baked ideas, it barely ran on even the most powerful PCs, and it featured a peculiar arm-based control system that was so hilariously clumsy it came to define the game. Trespasser is set on Isla Sorna, where John Hammond’s dinosaurs were created in a secret laboratory…

6 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

WORLD OF WARCRAFT THE OFFICIAL COOKBOOK

I HAD CONVINCED MYSELF THAT I WAS GOING TO FINISH THE DARN THING Pausing on a snowy Northrend cliff, the icy twist of the wind sharpens as I gaze upon the Icecrown Citadel. I can hear a distant thud of Magnataur hooves and flap of blue drakes. But none of these virtual sensations comes as close to bringing Northrend to life for me as the remembered tastes of biting juniper, smoky pine, and chilled, fresh-caught salmon. On December 25, 2016, my parents showed up for Christmas Day dinner and I, a disorganised young adult, had no plan for the turkey. In desperation I cracked open one of my Christmas Eve gifts, World of Warcraft: The Official Cookbook, and flipped to the recipe displayed on the cover: Slow-Roasted Turkey. A quick…

3 min

PC Gamer|June 2018

A FIVE-COURSE MEAL

LUKEWARM YAK ROAST BROTH It’s not made of yak meat, but it is one of the easiest soups to make. The sriracha kick does wonders for a sore throat. MULGORE SPICE BREAD The spices are just noticeable enough to make this bread stand out without overpowering the loaf’s flavour. GRACCU’S HOMEMADE MEAT PIE This meat pie is a fantastic teaching recipe for pie crust, and you’ll have leftovers for days. MOSER’S MAGNIFICENT MUFFINS Once you’re done, you will forever possess the secret magic of making streusel topping. JUNGLEVINE WINE The alcohol soaks into the fruit over time, so prepare it the night before if you want a more energetic party.…

1 min