Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2016 i PC Gamer

HIGHS Prey Nothing to do with the original, but a very cool-looking sci-fi immersive sim. Lucioball in Overwatch Free, fun modes to match the season are most welcome in Blizzard’s gigantic FPS. GTA Online The ever growing online platform for GTA V gets a track editor for its absurd kart-style racing mode. System Shock Remastered The remake of the cult classic PC title beat its Kickstarter goal by miles, plus the demo is good. Evolve Stage 2 and new events give Turtle Rock’s 4v1 monster shooter a boost. LOWS We Happy Few As refined as its striking E3 trailer was, We Happy Few is many country miles away from being finished. No Man’s Sky hype Boy, this got out of control, which will happen when people spend almost three years…

1 VIRTUAL REALITY Sony has a VR headset on the boil, and Microsoft clearly entertains ambitions in this area, having partnered with Oculus to bundle the Xbox controller with the Rift. The problem? Neither Xbox One or PS4 are as powerful as a VR-ready PC. 2 THE PHONE PHENOMENON New smartphones are released at a much faster pace than consoles. Microsoft claims this has created an appetite for more frequent generation refreshes that extends to videogame hardware, as long as key software is compatible across generations. 3 SHEER NAKED JEALOUSY PlayStation 4 has been beating the Xbox One’s pants off for years thanks to its modest specs advantage. Microsoft is evidently sick of 1080p jokes, and wants to ship a console that puts its competitor firmly in the shade.…

“I WANT IT TO PROVIDE LOTS OF OPPORTUNITIES TO GENERATE PLAYER STORIES” David Pittman’s previous game, Neon Struct , was a brilliantly minimalist, confident homage to the immersive sim, full of bespoke, carefully crafted levels. In Slayer Shock , however, he’s returning to the chaotic procedural generation of his Lovecraft-inspired dungeon crawler, Eldritch . But while the abstract, labyrinthine levels of that game felt suitably Lovecraftian, this world has to make more sense. Because you’re not exploring an ancient, forgotten underworld; you’re slaying vampires in Nebraska. “Near Dark and The Lost Boys are my tonal poles,” says Pittman. “And Buffy probably falls somewhere in the middle.” So while the procedural generation still creates random levels, it does so according to a…

This is a space exploration RPG inspired by such games as Starflight and Star Control , but with the replayability of a roguelike. It’s set “in a procedurally generated, endlessly surprising living universe inspired by modern science fiction shows like Farscape and Firefly” according to Daedalic, and is quite a shift from the developer’s usual point-and-click fare. The setup is reminiscent of Star Trek Voyager, with a jump drive malfunction catapulting you, your crew, and your ship to the other side of the galaxy. Now it’s down to you to find your way home, and your journey should be an interesting one. The developer is promising “complex quests and moral dilemmas”, secrets buried on ancient worlds, and danger. Lots of danger. Your diverse…

I’m at QuakeCon, surrounded by id Software’s most dedicated fans, watching the first footage of the studio’s next game. A cheer goes up from the crowd. I imagine it’s a relief for id. If Quake Champions doesn’t get a pop from a QuakeCon crowd, something’s badly wrong. It wasn’t a sure bet, because this isn’t a typical arena shooter. Like Overwatch and Team Fortress 2 , Quake Champions is a multiplayer FPS with characters, each with a unique ability. And yet, as the QuakeCon footage reveals, Quake Champions still looks, feels and, as far as I can tell, plays like Quake . “Seriously?!” exclaims Tim Willits, id’s creative…

Want to play Andy’s level for yourself? It’s called ‘A Cold Day in Hell’ and the map ID is B9MKXVBS. I’ve played, and reviewed, a lot of first-person shooters. So when id Software announced SnapMap – an accessible map editor bundled with their superb Doom reboot – I decided to try to apply that experience to creating my own level. Without having to worry about coding and all the other stuff actual game developers have to deal with, I’ll be free to focus purely on the design. And when it’s finished I’ll get some of the team who worked on the game, and on SnapMap itself, to give it an honest review. Because it’s about time we critics faced some criticism ourselves. People have created some wild stuff with SnapMap,…

1 HARVEST DOOM A cute emulation of farming simulator Harvest Moon. Plant crops, water them, and sell them to a Hell Knight for upgrades. A particularly impressive use of logic objects. 2 POKEDEMON BATTLE ARENA Players spawn demons in an arena and watch them battle it out. The player whose demons are left standing at the end of the AI brawl wins. 3 CARL’S FIRST DAY A comedic adventure inspired by The Stanley Parable, showing just how versatile SnapMap can be as a game creation – and even a storytelling – tool. Honestly, who expected that? 4 HOT POTATO: THY SPUD CONSUMED Race across a series of hazard-filled maps against the clock and buy health and speed upgrades from a talkative Cacodemon between runs.…

“WE’RE FINALLY ADDING SPACE, WHICH I THINK IS GOING TO BE A BIG DEAL FOR PLAYERS” PROFILES NIKLAS FEGRAEUS Design director DENNIS BRäNVALL Lead designer I’m glad you guys have introduced offline play to Star Wars Battlefront. What was the thinking behind introducing this mode? Niklas: It’s something the fans have been talking about for a very long time. It’s been on the forums, it’s one of the most requested things, to play offline in our big modes. And that’s what Skirmish is about. We’ve been working on it for quite some time – it’s not an easy thing. It’s one of those things we know fans really wanted, so we’ve been listening. Everyone knows you have a second Battlefront game on the way – was this a goodwill gesture?…

00%-10% A game of absolutely no value. Are you playing one of these games? Take 3d6 emotional damage. Example Big Brother 11%-39% Yikes. Technically broken, or so fundamentally flawed that it’s ultimately not worth any time or money. Bad. Examples Trials: Blood Dragon, Sonic: Lost World 40%-49% This game is functional, but majorly flawed and disappointing. Examples Firefall, Star Trek, Armikrog 50%-59% Mediocre. If it has any interesting ideas, they don’t work well. Might suffer from bugs or technical issues. Examples Primordia, Homefront: The Revolution 60%-69% An interesting idea poorly expressed, or a derivative idea executed averagely. Comes with caveats. Examples SimCity, Just Cause 3, The Division 70%-79% Good, but not a classic. This score is a recommendation, just not a glowing one. Examples Broken Age, Mirror’s Edge Catalyst 80%-89%…

“AUGMENTED PEOPLE ARE NOW SECOND-CLASS CITIZENS” Prague is the only major city hub in the game, which is disappointing While moody protagonist Adam Jensen is fitted with military-grade mechanical implants that let him turn invisible, punch through walls, and hack computers, most of his peers in this high-tech future just have advanced prosthetics. Cybernetic replacements for a missing limb or eye. But the ordinary citizens don’t see the distinction. To them, every augmented person is equally dangerous. It’s a paranoia born of the so-called Aug Event, in which augmented people around the world were driven violently insane, killing millions. The truth behind this disaster is revealed in the previous game, Human Revolution, which an optional 12-minute recap video recounts in convoluted detail. Set just two years later, Mankind Divided…

A world where augmented limbs coexist with portable vinyl players This is a game about heists. You scan documents from offices in lockdown, steal safes from banks, download the brains of coma patients in hospitals floating in space. You achieve this with the help of a hacking deck, some springboards, a tiny dog-like robot that can go places you can’t, and a gun turret in a suitcase. Except that, technically speaking, you never actually execute these heists at all. The plucky Impala team like to beat a virtual build of each job before risking their real-life necks. This affords you a lot of luxuries puzzle games rarely allow, such as the ability to no-clip through walls to look at the level from any angle. Instant restarts, tutorial messages and the…

ADAM JENSEN’S HEAD FROM DEUS EX: MANKIND DIVIDED Worth having for the retractable sunglasses alone, to be honest. BOOKER’S RIGHT ARM FROM BIOSHOCK INFINITE Grow tentacles, fire crows, throw fire – he gets a lot of use out of those arms. SCOUT’S LEGS FROM TEAM FORTRESS 2 Scout can double jump, which is useful in the vast majority of computer games. Sold! SNAKE’S LEFT ARM FROM MGSV: THE PHANTOM PAIN One hand has to be robotic, obviously, and Snake can grab enemies from a distance. Useful.…

You’ll be visiting wikis and forums as regularly as new planets I’m crossing the galaxy in a spaceship with a pig, a couple of aliens, and two heavily armed mercenary penguins. I myself am a robot – named Robot Baratheon – and I’m playing Für Elise on an electric guitar I stole from a massive library I found at the bottom of an ocean as we travel to a forest planet to find cotton so I can craft a teddy bear to give to an actual bear. None of this is particularly unusual in Starbound , the side-scrolling exploration and crafting game. What begins as a quest to save the universe from a newly awakened ancient evil (is there another kind?) quickly devolves into a fun and…

Platformers are a squalid hotbed of attitude and catchphrases. Stop wagging your finger at me, you wretched hedgehog. And I’ll wa-hoo you on the triple jump, you hairy turd. Give me 140 – a platformer that could barely discard any more from its genre without getting rid of jumps. But even with left-right-jump as your options, 140 unfolds its simple, unspoken rules to you so gimmick-free, so confident in its own music and minimalism, that you’ll not need a single word of instruction. You don’t even need to have learned the language of platformers – this is a little self-contained universe. As a game it’s paper-thin, but as an interactive AV experience, it’s driftaway bliss.…

In this game of logical thinking and code optimisation, Tomorrow Corporation has shifted its withering contempt for modern life from mindless consumerism (you idiots! Buying things!) to the automation of the workplace. Take items from the inbox, process them into the desired output using a series of commands. You’ve no control once the program has started, so make it good. Then ponder the fate of the employee, forced to act out your optimised code. Question his status, his autonomy. Congratulations! You’re the monster.…

APEX M500 SteelSeries £90 You know what I like? Cheap mechanical keyboards. SteelSeries has brought its incredible design and hardware, combined it with Cherry MX’s legendary red gaming key switches and slapped a great price on it. You get no bells and whistles with this one, but it’s classy and straight to the point. www.steelseries.com ELITE PRO HEADSET Turtle Beach £170 This is a well-rounded device, and its 12Hz-to-22kHz drivers will be a blessing to your ears, but at this price you’d be better off investing in a solid modmic and pair of Audio-Technica ATH-50Xs. Sound quality is a must, and I’m not sold on the quality of these. www.turtlebeach.com G610 ORION BROWN Logitech£105 Another well-priced mechanical keyboard. Its dedicated media keys and wider access to key switches give it…

1 CLOSER TO TABLETOP Are you a fan of the tabletop game, but not keen on changes made for this newfangled format? This bridges the gap, adding new and more lore-friendly units, while making balance changes. 2 BIGGER LARGE UNITS Sure, the Giants, Terrorgheists and Arachnarok Spiders in the base game are pretty big, but they could stand to be bigger. This does just that, making large units loom over piddly humanoids. 3 VARIED ZOMBIES There isn’t much difference between zombie units in the base game, so here’s a mod that ensures more colour and uniform variation for the undead. Some will also carry weapons and armour. www.bit.ly/TotalWarhammer3…

1 WARFRAME Digital Extremes’ sci-fi shooter has been ticking along for years now, and is a regular resident of the Steam top 10. 2 TEAM FORTRESS 2 Valve’s king daddy of multiplayer shooters is still being overhauled with new modes, nine years after release. 3 WAR THUNDER This online vehicle combat game takes place across land, in the air and at sea, and always lands somewhere on Steam’s most played. 4 ROBOCRAFT This 3D vehicle shooter lets its thousands of players extensively customise their tools of destruction.…

“There is no such thing as a quick game” Paving over the entirety of the New World may not be an easy task but, with a few hundred years and a copious coin purse, it is possible to become more of a threat to the environment than Jeremy Clarkson. Sid Meier’s Colonization may not now be the most grand looking game but, back in the day, Civilization’s little brother was something of a treat. Released in 1994 by MicroProse, the now oft-overlooked strategy management game pulled in positive coverage on the Amiga, despite lingering in the shadow of the wider-known Civilization series. Colonization is one of those games that lures you in with the promise of a sedate strategy experience as you…

INCA In at number one, with more gold than you can shake Mr T at are the Inca. They’ll fill your colonies with food, too, those lovely people. AZTEC Not quite as rich as the Inca, but they’re probably not jealous. They have enough to ensure top coin when trading full holds of prime resources. ARAWAK The Victor Meldrews of the New World – they may have some average/ decent coin but they get angry quicker than the Hulk. Haggle nicely.…

1 TOBACCO Drop everything to farm this. Worth more as a raw resource than a processed one to the natives. Tobacco + Inca/ Aztec capital = kerching. 2 TRADE GOODS Only available from the docks back in London, or from other European nations, these mysterious wares are often in high demand from the natives. 3 MUSKETS Check your morals at the door and stock up – not just against attacks, but to sell them to anyone who will buy. That’s everyone, in case you wondered. 4 RUM Raw sugar cane may be worth little, but turn it into this and you’ll be rich. The natives will give you more repeat mileage with rum than the unstable European markets. 5 TOOLS Another in-demand item, tools can be a quick way…

When James Sunderland arrives in Silent Hill, he finds strange creatures roaming the empty, fogbound streets. On the surface they’re simply enemies waiting to be shot or bludgeoned to death. But nothing in Team Silent’s horror masterpiece is that simple. As you journey through the town and learn more about Sunderland, you begin to realise that there’s more to these monsters as well. They’re so unusual. None of art director Masahiro Ito’s designs can be traced to creatures from other horror fiction. “I wanted to give them a human aspect,” Ito said in a 2001 making-of documentary. “When you first see one as a silhouette in the distance, obscured by fog, you think it’s a person. But then I undermine this human aspect by giving them strange movements and using…

LYING FIGURE A writhing humanoid trapped in a straitjacket of its own flesh. Spits toxic gas and skitters around on the ground. MANDARIN These curiously human-bodied creatures dangle from the ceiling and attack Sunderland with fleshy tendrils if he gets too close. ABSTRACT DADDY A disturbing creature from Angela’s personal version of Silent Hill that somehow ends up in Sunderland’s. MANNEQUIN The surprisingly graceful movement of these collections of plastic limbs is at odds with their grotesque appearance. NURSE A monster born from Sunderland’s fear of hospitals, and his wife’s terminal illness, with a bulbous lump of skin for a face. PYRAMID HEAD An executioner who hunts Sunderland throughout the game. He kills it a few times, but it always comes back, stronger.…

CHRIS THURSTEN On starless nights when the air is still, I sometimes play something that isn’t online and competitive. DOTA 2 www.dota2.com Dota 2 requires an extraordinary time commitment and sometimes (often) involves strangers shouting at you, but there’s no better competitive game for my money. Deeply rewarding five-on-five wizard war with a vast array of heroes, skills and items. Best enjoyed with others, particularly when you’re starting out. TOTAL WAR: WARHAMMER www.totalwar.com The old Warhammer Fantasy universe suits Total War to a tee, giving The Creative Assembly more space to create interesting interactions. A well-honed campaign game enables you to spin out a lengthy fantasy epic as your chosen faction, though smaller battles can get a little repetitive after a while. DARKEST DUNGEON www.darkestdungeon.com A beautifully designed 2D dungeon-crawler…

TONY ELLIS Specialist in Swearing, restarting This month Took a break from shrugging at indie games in Now Playing to share his slog to get Pillars of Eternity finished after a bloody year of trying. ANDY KELLY Specialist in Cyberpunk, 0451 Twitter @ultrabrilliant This month Joined the hallowed ranks of PCG’s Deus Ex reviewers. Deus Ex: The Fall didn’t count. PHIL SAVAGE Specialist in Shooters, beef Twitter @Octaeder This month Flew to Dallas for this year’s QuakeCon. Went for the meat, left because of the heat.…

‘VANQUISH’ IS THE ACTIVATION WORD FOR A GENERATION OF SMALL REMOTE EXPLOSIVES’ The Spy has been called many things since the end of the Cold War: espion, shpion, katáskopos and Jiàndié. Coincidentally, these all mean ‘spy’ in a number of different languages spoken across the many nations of our geopolitically delicate world. The countries in question are the last known destinations of a shaggy-haired informant named Gerald Preston, creator of the military’s first weaponised tractor (The Spy needs him, and more importantly his blueprints, intact), and also where The Spy goes whenever there’s a wodge of annual leave to use up before the end of the financial year. And yet, The Spy is on a busman’s holiday, with an eye on the enemies of the free world, even as The…

Yes MORE GAMES IS ALWAYS GOOD, EVEN IF SOLD VIA THE WINDOWS STORE. No THEY COULD LOSE INTEREST IN PC GAMING AGAIN, LIKE THEY DID LAST TIME. PHIL SAVAGE just wants to be smothered in the warm embrace of an all powerful megacorp. SAMUEL ROBERTS regularly bypasses GfWL and, in a very real way, adulthood. Phil: Xbox is back! On the face of it that doesn’t sound like a good thing. (Coming out in support of Games for Windows Live is too much, even for a column about indefensible opinions.) But the world is different now. Microsoft’s Xbox division needs PC in a way that hasn’t been the case for years. Here are two facts. One, the Xbox One is struggling. Two, Windows 10 is huge. Add them together and…

One of the more intriguing indie announcements of late came in the form of this free-roaming sci-fi game from the creators of Sir, You Are Being Hunted . The visual style of The Signal from Tölva is the work of the brilliant Ian McQue, formerly of Rockstar Games, who regularly shares his gorgeous sci-fi art on social media. Here he’s helping to create a world that deliberately evokes old sci-fi paperbacks or “prog album covers”. The game is about uncovering the truth behind a signal coming from the planet in question, while also blasting robots and exploring a mysterious world. You control disposable robots on the surface of this planet, looking for scrap and investigating signals in different locations. Unlike Big Robot’s previous…

“SOON AFTER THAT WE’LL GIVE YOU THE AIR BRAKES TO CATCH YOU WHEN YOU’RE FALLING” Grow Home is a joyous game that was created as a side project by a small team at Ubisoft Reflections. It was released without fanfare, but with brilliantly tactile climbing and physics-based platforming has built a devoted following. “We were overwhelmed by the positivity,” says producer Pete Young. “There was no marketing push. We just put it out there.” It started life as an experiment in procedural animation by a physics programmer, eventually becoming a proper game. “At first all BUD could do was walk, but then we gave him arms and wondered what it would be like if he could grab stuff, and it grew from there.” People liked it enough that…

DOOM Earlier this year, id successfully resurrected the Doomguy for yet another gory tour of Hell. He even gained some new powers, such as the ability to look up. UNREAL TOURNAMENT Epic is crowdsourcing the development of the new Unreal Tournament, meaning that it’s completely free. It’s still in alpha, but you can nevertheless play it right now. DEUS EX It’s like immersive sims never went away. Not only is Arkane working on Dishonored and Prey, but Square Enix has successfully revived the Deus Ex series. SYSTEM SHOCK And you thought SHODAN was down for good? Of course not. System Shock is returning on two fronts, via both a sequel and a remaster of the original game. SONIC THE HEDGEHOG Sega recently announced Sonic Mania – an old-school platformer featuring…

TRIGGER One of the most useful and versatile tools in SnapMap. When the player moves through it, something happens. For example, an enemy spawning or a door opening. MODULE Use this to trigger a lockdown when the player enters a room, blocking the exit until an objective is completed. For example, killing every enemy. EVENT This triggers an automated combat set-piece controlled by the AI. My level uses a wave event, which spawns four groups of increasingly tough demons. GAMEPLAY This controls the overall settings for the entire level, including whether health and ammo drop whenever the player performs a glory kill.…

Despite scoring highly, Mankind Divided gets the lowest number we’ve ever assigned a Deus Ex game. What does that mean? That the immersive sim genre is more competitive today than it has been in decades? That, despite creating an excellent set of systems, Eidos Montreal doesn’t quite stick the (Icarus) landing? That Kieron Gillen loved Deus Ex: Invisible War more than any other human being on the planet? In fact, it’s a combination of all three. Elsewhere, the 80s just keep coming. Quadrilateral Cowboy is a brilliantly inventive mix of heists and hacking, Lovely Planet Arcade promises hours of entertainment for FPS perfectionists, and Earth Defense Force 4.1 – guaranteed to be one of the dumbest games you’ll play this year – is a ridiculous amount of fun. LET US…

3 The fossil minigame will begin. Use the provided tools to carefully remove the rock, exposing the bones beneath. 1 Build a Fossil Station, and use it to craft a Master Fossil Brush. Then a dozen more: each brush can only be used once. 4 If you remove all of the rock without running out of tools, you’ll collect the fossil! Sometimes it’s a bit gross. 2 Head underground until you see some bones sticking out of a wall. Use your brush on them like a good palaeontologist. 5 Head back to your Fossil Station and craft a size-appropriate display case. Then place it and proudly display your find.…

UNGOR Distinguishing features: Bestial legs; human torso; head of a beast but with small, undeveloped horns. Temperament: Slightly furious. CENTIGOR Distinguishing features: Head of a beast; body of a man; four-legged hind- quarters of a horse or ox. Temperament: Often drunk, usually furious. MINOTAUR Distinguishing features: Bestial legs; vast, powerful body; head of a giant bull. Temperament: Greedy for flesh, completely furious. CYGOR Distinguishing features: Huge; hideously malformed; single, baleful eye. Temperament: Hungry for wizards, furiously mad.…

I’M HAVING A LOT OF FUN, BUT I’M NOT HAVING THE FUN THE ORIGINAL CONCEPT SHOT FOR Evolve is back, free, and easier to get into than ever. There are a ton of changes in Evolve: Stage 2 ’s free-to-play beta, and many of them encourage faster, more aggressive matches thanks to more powerful monsters and helpful new abilities for the hunters. Match times have also dropped from 20 minutes to 12 and the available maps have been redesigned to accommodate Evolve’s new priorities. The changes are big, but not necessarily permanent or complete – Turtle Rock Studios is reworking Evolve from the ground up. But one change is more transformative than the others: the Orbital Arena, essentially the mousetrap in…

IT’S NOT AVERSE TO ENCOUNTERS WHERE YOU START OFF SURROUNDED BY WILD DOGS The worst thing about Fallout: Resurrection using the old amnesia plot is that the main character never has to explain why, on the run from mysterious ghouls, he/she opted to seek solace in a cave so infested with mutant critters that even the people in the nearby town apologise for it. But that’s OK. Punching and stabbing a few rats and mole rats and scorpions is a fine reminder that this isn’t your modern, fancy, VATS-enabled Fallout 3 or 4 , but the far more brutal original. Resurrection is a Czech-made mod, ten years in the making and two and a half years in the translating.…

“YOU DON’T KNOW WHY YOU’RE ON THE STATION OR WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON” I was disappointed when Prey 2 was cancelled. Even if, as Bethesda claimed, Human Head’s sequel wasn’t up to its quality standards, I still loved the idea of playing a bounty hunter on an alien world. Sadly, that game is gone. In its place, we have Arkane’s Prey . Luckily, it too sounds pretty fascinating. Why that name? Arkane is pretty clear on this point: the new Prey has nothing to do with the original, or its cancelled sequel. “Arkane specialises in one kind of game,” says Ricardo Bare, lead designer for Prey. “We make first-person immersive sims – games with depth – and…

RICK STULTS Rick was the CFO at Gathering of Developers and Gamecock Media Group, two of Mike and Harry’s previous publishing companies. MIKE WILSON Mike’s involvement with PC gaming extends back to Windows 95 and DirectX, bringing more powerful games to an even wider audience. GRAEME STRUTHERS Graeme has been working in games for almost 20 years, including Command & Conquer. He is Devolver’s resident Scotsman. HARRY MILLER Partner in crime with Mike Wilson, Harry’s journey in videogames dates back to ‘96 as he was the CEO of Ritual Entertainment. NIGEL LOWRIE Being an ad man wasn’t cutting it, so Nigel went to work for Mike and Harry at Gamecock Media Group. He avoids social media like the plague. FORK PARKER Rumours abound whether Fork Parker is even a real…

Wherever possible, we finish a game before finalising the review. We review each game on its own merits, and try to match it to a reviewer who’s a passionate expert in the field. The main aim of the reviews section is to help you make buying decisions. ALPHAS & BETAS This means we’ll review any released alpha, beta or otherwise unfinished game that you can currently buy. For these games, we won’t assign a score, but we will tell you whether they’re worth your time in their current state. DOWNLOADABLE CONTENT DLC might be hours-long new missions for a game, or it might be a single new item. Either way, if we think you want to know about it, we’ll review it. THEY’RE BACK Whenever there’s a bargain or re-release…

ANDY KELLY Specialist in RPG, brooding Currently playing Deus Ex: Mankind Divided This month Reviewed the new Deus Ex. Yes, he did ask for this. TOM SENIOR Specialist in Action, heists Currently playing Quadrilateral Cowboy This month funnybio.think(60); mind.blank(1); it.phonein(30) JAMES DAVENPORT Specialist in Shooter, loveliness Currently playing Lovely Planet Arcade This month Wasn’t allowed to look up or down. Yes, we’re still hazing him. TYLER WILDE Specialist in Roguelikes, death Currently playing Necropolis This month Wasn’t a Necrophiliac. (We assume that’s what you call a person who loves Necropolis.) PHIL SAVAGE Specialist in Action, giant insects Currently playing Earth Defense Force 4.1: The Shadow of New Despair This month EDF! EDF! EDF! EDF! EDF! EDF! CHRIS LIVINGSTON Specialist in Crafting, blocks Currently playing Starbound This month Sought out new…

PAINTBALL GUN No, it doesn’t hurt your enemy, but it changes their colour, which must at least be annoying. VINE FISTS Wrap vines around your hands and punch stuff. Comes with a long-range finishing move. SNOWBALL SHOOTER Turn a snowball fight into a snowball war. Useful for pushing enemies away. LUNARANG It’s a boomerang that looks like the Moon. I forget why that’s cool but it’ll come back to me. BALL OF GNOMES They’re tiny, but you can hear their screams as you fling them at enemies.…

It starts with a touch of cynical, melancholy consumerism. The kind where children cheer not because they’re happy, but because they simply don’t understand the horror of the world yet. Or maybe they do, and they’re fully equipped as psychopaths to enjoy the carnage. But then! It goes happy. Blocks, combos, rewards, leaderboards, everything you need to feel you’re playing a game. Slick, responsive clicks, smooth bouncy animations. Does it matter that the game itself is a little simple? No. Because blocks are disappearing because you clicked on them. You are important. You are finally having an effect. Then it gets hard. So much for empowerment.…

1 4.6GHZ I7-6700K This eight threaded processor is already a strong contender, but bump up the clock speed even fractionally and in CPU-demanding games you’ll see a substantial performance increase. 2 SUPER CLEAN CASE The Corsair 400C is a favourite of mine. Sleek, elegant, surprisingly well priced, what’s not to love about this case? Couple that with a clean and tidy build inside and you’re on to a winner. 3 SAMSUNG 950 PRO PCIe SSDs are the future of storage. If you thought SATA models were fast, you’ve not seen anything yet. With speeds four times faster, boot times are absent and file transfers instant. 4 GTX 1080 Although not the most cost effective card, this is an absolute monster when it comes to framerates. 1440p gaming runs like a…

1 DIMENSION OF THE PAST MOD A new Quake episode, 20 years later Id Software announced Quake Champions at this year’s E3, a reveal that might have been less exciting had it not been for the release of Doom a few weeks before. Wolfenstein: The New Order developer MachineGames helped out with the level design of that hugely successful reboot, and the result is one of the shooters of the year. However, that’s not all the team has been up to since work finished on Wolfenstein . As a little surprise for Quake’s 20th anniversary, the developer revealed, and released, a brand new episode for the original game. Yep, we’re talking…