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PC Gamer (US Edition)|December 2021“IT COULD BE A HUGE STEP FORWARD… OR A VERY COSTLY STUMBLE”It’s not often we get to put a console on the cover. OK, technically it’s more of a handheld PC, but it feels like it could be a huge step forward for this hobby of ours… or a costly stumble. We’ve broken down everything you need to know, informed by a hands-on at Valve’s offices, a chat with the developers, a full run through the technical specs, and a dash of expert opinion.I just hope that in a world where you can play your entire Steam library on the bus, you’ll still find time to read a magazine…robin.valentine@futurenet.comROBINVA LENTINETwitter@robinlvalentineThis monthHeld all sorts of things in his hands without Valve’s assistance.TALK TO PC GAMERHave your say! Email us at letters@pcgamer.com…1 min
PC Gamer (US Edition)|December 2021BODY POLITICIT WOULDN’T BE TRUE TO SAY THAT DEUS EX WAS BORN FROM A UNIFIED CREATIVE VISIONThe life of a studio famed for big, difficult decisions began with a no-brainer. When John Romero approached Warren Spector with a blank cheque to make his dream game, Spector’s team was unemployed—showing up to the defunct Looking Glass Austin office to pitch ideas unpaid. In their sketches and documents was a concept for a spy game called Shooter, in which an agent could hack devices and control nanotechnology. The year was 1997, and the air was thick with Hollywood actors in mirrored sunglasses tapping away at chunky keyboards.Suddenly, with Romero’s backing, anything Spector and his studio could imagine was fair game. The fundamentals were clear for a team that had coalesced around Thief: The…5 min
PC Gamer (US Edition)|December 2021FAR CRY 6A megalomaniacal villain prone to lofty speeches rules the land with an iron fist. A lone hero sparks a rebellion, taking back outposts and defeating the villain’s lieutenants, one by one. Meanwhile, exotic animals routinely burst from the trees and attack anyone in sight. Stop me if this sounds familiar.Not that familiar is a bad thing. The last few entries in the Far Cry series have settled into something of a formula, and it’s a formula I’ve mostly had a lot of fun with. I haven’t played much of Far Cry 6, only a few hours of a preview build that mostly took place at the start of the game on a small section of the map. But from what I played, it really doesn’t feel like it’s reinvention of…7 min
PC Gamer (US Edition)|December 2021JURASSIC WORLD EVOLUTION 2In Jurassic World Evolution 2, Earth has entered the so-called Neo-Jurassic Age, a brand new time period signalling the re-introduction of dinosaurs to the planet. Our large reptilian friends now coexist with us humans, frolicking around Earth’s green pastures, scorching deserts, and the backyards of suburban family homes.Even though they’ve only just escaped, Jurassic World Evolution 2 wants you to put the dinos back in their habitats, and tasks you with building a sprawling dinosaur wildlife park. It’s interesting to see how Frontier has developed its dinosaur-centric management sim, especially considering the success of the studio’s other creature theme park sim, Planet Zoo. King penguins and meerkats are cute, but prehistoric reptiles from another age have a special place in my heart.In the first chapter of the campaign, a poacher…3 min
PC Gamer (US Edition)|December 2021Full Steam AheadPictures of the Steam Deck couldn’t prepare me for seeing it in person. After working on the Steam Deck in secret for years, Valve invited us to its offices to be among the first to test out the handheld gaming PC, before game developers have even gotten their hands on it. And wow, is it big. This is the full tower PC case of videogame handhelds.Once I actually picked up the Steam Deck, though, the size didn’t seem to matter much. At 1.47 pounds, it isn’t too heavy to hold comfortably. It’s wide, but the inputs are close enough to reach naturally. The button arrangement may look a little odd, but it fits how you grip the device. The Steam Deck is as big as it needed to be to…7 min
PC Gamer (US Edition)|December 2021Tech specsSPECS AT A GLANCECPUAMD Zen 2Core count4-core/8-threadCPU clock speed2.4–3.5GHzGPUAMD RDNA 2GPU Compute Units8GPU clock speed1–1.6GHzRAM16GB LPDDR5 @ 5,500MT/sStorage64GB eMMC / 256GB NVMe SSD / 512GB NVMe SSDDisplay7-inch LCD touchscreenResolution1280 x 800Refresh rate60HzAudioStereo speakers, 3.5mm jack, dual mics, USB Type-C/BluetoothConnectivityWi-Fi, Bluetooth, USB Type-C with DisplayPort 1.4 supportBattery40WhrSize11.7 x 4.6 x 1.8-inch (298 x 117 x 49mm)WeightApproximately 1.47 lbs (669 grams)Price$399 (64GB) / $529 (256GB) / $649 (512GB)…3 min
PC Gamer (US Edition)|December 2021Emulate everythingWhy stop your Steam Deck gaming with your Steam library? Dream bigger: Valve’s handheld PC will also be able to play retro and modern consoles games thanks to emulators, most of which run natively on Linux. It has the potential to be the greatest emulation device ever made.“Everyone I know has relatively high hopes for the Steam Deck,” said JMC4789, a contributor to GameCube/Wii emulator Dolphin. JMC4789 is optimistic about how well Dolphin could run on the Steam Deck, and so are the developers of Switch emulator Yuzu. “We believe that the hardware should likely be capable enough to run some games pretty well right out of the box, and potentially run Yuzu very well with optimizations to the emulator,” the developers said.Emulators sometimes have issues with AMD’s Windows drivers,…3 min
PC Gamer (US Edition)|December 2021CULTURE CLUBHARAPPANSPicking Harappans for your first culture will put you in a good position for early expansion.JOSEONPicking Joseon as your next culture nets you +3 to every tile that generates science.PERSIANSI recommend picking Persia for their increased city cap, letting you conquer or erect new cities.FRENCHThe French get a huge 10% bonus to science in every city. With all this tech, you’ll be well set.KHMERThe industrious Khmer let you field Dhanvi-gaja, otherwise known as ballista elephants.SOVIETSConquer the world with the Soviets. The combat strength and reduced cost for units are great.…1 min
PC Gamer (US Edition)|December 2021DOT HACK1 TARGET LOCKEDThe new hacking device isn’t a gun—it’s a field that will latch onto any enemies or switches in range. You’re given multiple options, for instance: To slow down enemies or disable weapons.2 BAR NONEIt’s probably not called MP, but some hacks cost more of the game’s new MP bar than others. You can extend it by spending skill points, which are hidden around the world.3 WHY BOTHERHacking is one option—but you could also whack the enemy a few times instead. It’s a sophisticated system, used occasionally during puzzles, but combat feels too brief to ever require it.…1 min
PC Gamer (US Edition)|December 2021ROYAL PAINKing’s bounty is an odd series, always more strategy than RPG, more a game of tactics, cash upkeep, and combat maneuvering than one of epic roleplaying and exploration. In theory, King’s Bounty II wants to change that, to make it a story that follows a main character whose choices affect the world. King’s Bounty II does just that, and it sucks the fun right out of it. Though it has the occasional joy, it simply wastes far too much of your time.In King’s Bounty II you pick one of three characters to take through the main story, each of which follows the same plot. Having been released from prison your character takes on a bog-standard fantasy magical apocalypse because a wizard told you you’re the chosen savior. It’s nothing you…4 min
PC Gamer (US Edition)|December 2021PINCREDIBLERAINBLOWSIt’s punching, but prettier. Good for screenshots, which is good for PCG’s art editor, which is good for my future work prospects.BOBBY PINWhispering Rock bully Bobby Zilch doesn’t make the cut, but his irritating body popping does. Newcomers can skip this one.BEASTMASTERYCan you pet the dog? I’ve not found one. But you can pet a rat, a goat, and a squirrel. Good luck launching a Twitter feed about those.PIXEL PALPixelate Raz’s new clone. Included in this boxout because it looks cool and I’d like someone to make a physical version of it.PLUCKYWhen there are no objects to throw, just tear a chunk out of the ground. Grim implications in levels made of flesh/other assorted meats.PSI CLONESpeeds up Raz’s new clone. Only included because it looks like he’s on fire and…1 min
PC Gamer (US Edition)|December 2021SMOOTH OPERATORGoing back to an old game is like waking up on New Year’s Day. You erupt out of bed with fresh drive and purpose. Then you realize it’s March, and you’ve spent three months watching the same video about cranial nerve examinations instead of Unity tutorials and the only book you’ve read is about vegetables that look like celebrities.This is the thought that occurs to me as I try, for the second or third time, to kill a man by flushing his head down the bog. You always go into Hitman predicting a degree of efficiency. You expect to sashay your objectives and escape while your target’s body is still warm. But Hitman is a dark temptress, beckoning you off course with a come-hither hammer or seductively turned box of…3 min
PC Gamer (US Edition)|December 2021COSTUME QUESTThere’s always one game in these lists that removes all doubt when it comes to the theme. This time: Disguises. It’s also a month-appropriate game, because Halloween waddles toward us like an insulin-resistant child in a pirate outfit. Costume Quest is the warmest, most autumnal slice of seasonality you can play on PC. And if it feels like a Pixar spin-off, there’s a good reason: Director Tasha Sounart worked there for years before joining DoubleFine, then returned to become associate creative director of theme parks, a job title so nice it sounds like it was made as a reward at the end of a Muppets movie. And it’s likely why Costume Quest feels like a cosy ghost train.70…1 min
PC Gamer (US Edition)|December 2021“You’ve got to earn your scraps of story”THIS MONTHOfficially became a grumpy old man who yells at clouds.ALSO PLAYEDDreamscaper, Marvel’s AvengersWith its surreal, creepy visuals, distinctive combat, and solid metroidvania level design, Grime was a lovely indie surprise for me this month. I just wish it wasn’t trying to be Dark Souls.I like the Souls games well enough, but for me their influence on the indie scene has been pretty tragic. It feels like these days any time I spot any kind of action game with a cool, attention-grabbing art-style, it turns out to be burying its best features under borrowed ideas.Grime’s world is so intriguing—a bizarre alien landscape inhabited by malformed rock people and worse. It somehow evokes an unsettling atmosphere of body horror in a setting where everyone’s made out of minerals, and you can’t…2 min
PC Gamer (US Edition)|December 2021MINECRAFTEven though Minecraft has gotten new monsters, new blocks, new biomes and even new planes of existence over the last ten years, some things have stayed consistent. And one of these golden rules I never thought would be broken is the fact that the world was 256 layers tall, from the depth of the deepest cavern to the highest point you could place a block. With the Caves and Cliffs update (part of which is already out and the rest is slated for later this year), that’s finally changing. A lot.With the new world generation code, the underground portion of Minecraft is doubling in size. If you like to dig too greedily and too deep, this is amazing news. Before the update, layer zero was where the game would start…4 min
PC Gamer (US Edition)|December 2021ELECTRIC CITY1 SKY-HIGHSummoning an Electrogranum lets you use Thunder Spheres to travel quickly through the air and get to hard-to-reach places or collect impossibly high Electroculi.2 BARRIER ISLANDYou’ll find Thunder Barriers dotted around the region and you’ll need an Electrogranum to get past them. Upgrading the Sacred Sakura Tree lets you get through the higher-strength barriers.3 THUNDER STRUCKThere are various areas around Inazuma affected by Balethunder. Summoning an Electrogranum will temporarily nullify its damaging effects and let you get across small areas in relative safety.…1 min
PC Gamer (US Edition)|December 2021VOXELSRather than learning to make bread, my desperate quarantine hobby turned out to be learning voxel art. Using the fantastic MagicaVoxel software, I went from building abstract animals to building illuminated Dance Dance Revolution machines, quaint Japanese storefronts, and even the subway tracks outside my apartment. Most importantly, voxel art has given me an appreciation for the amount of work that goes into a game’s visual design, especially when it’s consciously constrained, not necessarily sacrificing style or substance. From trendsetters like Minecraft, to physics experiments like Teardown, to narrative adventures like Cloudpunk, voxel art has changed the way I look at almost everything I play.If the last year has taught us anything, it’s that many game devs shoot for the moon, but also like Jeff Bezos, barely manage to get…3 min
PC Gamer (US Edition)|December 2021WAR GAMESCOMPANY OF HEROES 2Get the Ardennes Assault DLC, which includes a dynamic turn-based campaign, and this becomes one of the most explosive and deep WWII real-time strategy games. Our score: 80HEARTS OF IRON 4An enormously deep wargame that lets you rewrite history and play as practically any country involved in WWII, Hearts of Iron 4 is grand strategy at its best. Our score: 88STEEL DIVISION: NORMANDY 44Real-time battles with scope and a ton of options make this one heck of a hybrid between real-time strategy and traditional war games. Our score: 88…1 min
PC Gamer (US Edition)|December 2021TALES FROM THE CRYPTOWith the expert timing exhibited by all great comedians, we wrote in these pages earlier this year about cryptocurrency mining and encryption, only for the whole crypto landscape to suddenly change.At a time when Norton is launching crypto-mining antivirus software, Nvidia has taken steps to reduce the mining hashrates of its latest gaming GPUs, and yet crypto prices remain high, and low, and high again. It can sometimes feel that trying to keep up with this sector of the tech market is an impossible task. Not only does it move fast, but it can surprise you with every new twist and turn. Especially where its environmental viability is concerned.Enter the president of El Salvador, a tiny Central American country with an area ever so slightly greater than that of Wales…5 min
PC Gamer (US Edition)|December 2021MID-RANGE BUILDMOTHERBOARDB450 Tomahawk MaxMSI $115A reliable platform for your build, the Tomahawk Max also comes in black to complement any style.PROCESSORRyzen 5 3600XAMD $210This CPU is one of the greats, and uses the Zen 2 architecture to dominate in gaming and productivity.GRAPHICS CARDGeForce RTX 3060 Ti Founders Ed.Nvidia $399The RTX 3060 Ti is a little overkill, but we’re willing to make sacrifices elsewhere to make it work.COOLERWraith SpireAMD Free with the CPUWe love a freebie, especially one as capable as the cooler included with the 3600X. This’ll keep your machine running smoothly.MEMORYBallistix 16GB DDR4 (2x8GB)Crucial $80With plenty of capacity at 16GB, this unembellished memory has everything you need for gaming and more.POWER SUPPLYCX650MCorsair $108The heart of your gaming PC is your PSU, and this 650W Corsair promises to keep your rig…1 min
PC Gamer (US Edition)|December 2021The PC Gamer teamWES FENLONTwitter@wesleyfenlonThis monthActually held the Deck in his grubby little hands. Er, sorry, his anti-bac washed little hands.DAVE JAMESTwitter@Not_the_GKThis monthAdded his hardware know-how to the feature with a bunch of words I don’t understand.MORGAN PARKTwitter@MorganRParkThis monthBetween CoD and Hell Let Loose, spent more time in WWII than is strictly healthy.RACHEL WATTSTwitter@rachel_watttsThis monthKept telling us how much she loves dinosaurs. (That’s what she calls anyone over 30.)…1 min
PC Gamer (US Edition)|December 2021FONT AND CENTERAfter long getting by with the ported mobile versions of the early Final Fantasy games, at last Square Enix announced it would treat PC players to proper remasters. When we finally got a look at the Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters though, the reactions quickly got chaotic. What fans focused on in the first trailer wasn’t the refreshed pixel art or newly arranged classic songs, but the tragically condensed sans-serif font that left awkward amounts of blank space in menus and text boxes. It was indeed difficult to ignore. A dozen font-replacement mods were online just days after launch.How does such a small (but clearly vital) decision go wrong? And who actually chooses the fonts that games use? “It really depends on the game and the team,” says John Ricciardi, co-founder…5 min
PC Gamer (US Edition)|December 2021GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXYWhile the official title for Square Enix’s latest superhero tie-in is Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, it would be more appropriate to call it Eidos Montreal’s Guardians of the Galaxy because Eidos Montreal’s game will offer a new take on those characters and the galaxy in which they reside.“It’s not based on the MCU. It’s not based on the comics,” says Jean-François Dugas, senior creative director at Eidos Montreal. “It’s its own thing, its own reinvention, its own reinterpretation of those characters and the backgrounds.”Yes, the Guardians will have altered back-stories in Eidos Montreal’s game, and those stories will play a significant role in the game’s central plot. Taking place roughly a year after Star-Lord, Gamora, Rocket, Drax and Groot join forces, Eidos Montreal’s story sees the Guardians short on…3 min
PC Gamer (US Edition)|December 2021IXIONYou just test-fired the experimental engine on your orbiting space station and, well… it kinda blew up the moon. That’s not even the worst bit of news you’ll get today. In Ixion, you’re managing a space station and its crew as things quickly go from bad to worse to utterly unthinkable.The developer and publisher of Ixion, Bulwark Studios and Kasedo Games, walked me through the first half-hour of the city building and colony management sim, which serves as a tutorial and sets the stage for the calamity that will change everything. You’re the administrator of the space station orbiting Earth, charged with getting things up and running: Managing the power supply, maintaining the hull integrity, setting up supply lines, and building supplemental structures like crew quarters and science labs.You’ll also…3 min
PC Gamer (US Edition)|December 2021TEST DRIVEDEATH STRANDINGKojima’s game pushed the Steam Deck to its limits, and it was pumping out some heat to maintain 30 fps. But it was surprisingly playable, making me believe Valve’s claim that the Deck can handle all they’ve thrown at it.GUILTY GEAR STRIVEAfter a couple crashes I got Guilty Gear to run on the Deck. It was slow to load from the SD card, but once it was running it looked great. Valve also had it running with a Bluetooth controller to highlight the Deck’s versatility.DEATH’S DOORContinuing the death theme, I played this delightful indie adventure, which felt mighty smooth with the Deck’s analog stick. I expect to play a lot of indie games on the Steam Deck at 60 fps that can only run at 30 fps on the…1 min
PC Gamer (US Edition)|December 2021Steam Deck vs Nintendo SwitchVALVE STEAM DECKThe Steam Deck is a whole gaming PC that you can hold and control in two hands. That’s both its biggest strength and potentially its greatest weakness. It means there is a huge back catalog of games available to the Deck, starting with Steam itself, but stretching out to every other PC gaming store front out there, all delivering games to your handheld machine. But there’s the potential issues with Linux game compatibility for its SteamOS, and the fact that it feels like a genuinely hefty system to hold for a long gaming sesh.IN SHORT+ Access to the biggest game catalog around+ Impressive-looking AMD APU+ LPDDR5 could be a game-changer- Some games not optimized for Deck or SteamOS- Likely less accessible to use- Bulky and heavyTHERE IS A…1 min
PC Gamer (US Edition)|December 2021YOU MAY ALSO LIKE…Mac|Life is the world’s leading magazine for owners of all Apple devices, from Mac to iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch.→ Exclusive reviews of the latest products and interviews with the leading forces behind Apple production.→ Comprehensive advice to help you understand the complicated world of your Apple devices.PRINT ONLYOnly $36 EVERY YEARPRINT + DIGITALOnly $41 EVERY YEARDIGITAL ONLYOnly $18 EVERY YEARMaximum PC is your absolute source for the latest in guides, reviews, and in–depth analysis on cutting edge PC hardware.→ Access all the information you need, from our industry experts, complete with benchmarks about the latest hardware, and product launches.→ Learn all of the ins–and–outs ready to put you on the path to building your next dream PC.PRINT ONLYOnly $30 EVERY YEARPRINT + DIGITALOnly $35 EVERY YEARDIGITAL ONLYOnly $18 EVERY…1 min
PC Gamer (US Edition)|December 2021PERFECT WORLDDIFFICULTYEmpire is the first difficulty level to provide a proper challenge, with aggressive leaders and cultures.MAP SIZEEach map size is recommended for a specific number of players, and is relatively balanced for that number, so choose wisely.SPEEDNormal is fine, but I recommend picking slow, which lets you spend more time with each culture.AII like playing against six opponents. The AI hasn’t made much of a difference in my games, so I just go with who has the most punchable face, as usual.…1 min
PC Gamer (US Edition)|December 2021TIME WASTEDThere’s a puzzle in adventure game Gabriel Knight 3 infamous for being so illogical that ‘the cat hair moustache’ has become the bad puzzle that all others are compared against—the pinnacle of design that makes you ask yourself, “How the hell was I ever supposed to think of that?” I had that exact feeling while playing 12 Minutes, which uses a time loop to let you live out its frustrating and obtuse puzzles again and again and again.You start 12 Minutes as a nameless man coming home to your small apartment, where your wife greets you warmly with a candlelit dessert and a surprise: She’s pregnant. A few minutes later, a cop kicks down the door, accuses your wife of being a murderer, and strangles you to death. Enter the…4 min
PC Gamer (US Edition)|December 2021GAME OVER, MAN5% ALIENDistilled horror and avuncular androids gone bad? Nope, not really, but there is the occasional cheap scare.60% ALIENSSquad-based action and a steady strum of radar plips, but lacks the solid action story.0% ALIENNo prison-break tones or Charles Dance in Fireteam—a shame for those of us who enjoyed this series outlier.25% ALIEN: RESURRECTIONFireteam has some of the silly dialogue of this late ’90s mishap.10% ALIEN: COVENANTNo hom*oerotic androids, but brings in some interesting Engineer lore.…1 min
PC Gamer (US Edition)|December 2021TRICKS OF THE MINDMENTAL CONNECTIONConnects the dots between thought bubbles, which is the Psychonauts way of saying ‘it’s a grappling hook’. Using it in the brain of Psychonauts boss Hollis lets you link random ideas to implant new lines of thinking.TIME BUBBLEThe ability to slow down enemies and deadly propeller blades may not sound very original, but it is taught to you by Jack Black, which earns it a bonus point. New enemies move at humminbird-like speeds until you hit them with it.PROJECTIONTwo heads are better than one? Yes and no. Creating a clone of Raz lets him slip through cracks the fleshier original can’t, but it does mean enduring the helium gibbering of your creation. You can buy a pin badge that modifies him into a mute.…1 min
PC Gamer (US Edition)|December 2021SIN CITYThe Forgotten City is a time loop game, one that makes excellent use of its magical reset button. You begin the adventure in the present day, stumbling into some ancient Roman ruins filled with golden statues, before being whisked back in time through a portal. You arrive in the same Roman city, but now it’s pristine and all those statues are living people. What happened to them? Why were they turned into gold?The answers to those questions require lots of conversations with the citizens, who are almost without fail well-crafted characters, many with troubling secrets and interesting stories to tell. And the time loop is your best weapon, transforming you from a confused newcomer to a detective in a city full of suspects. It’s a satisfying way to investigate, rewinding…4 min
PC Gamer (US Edition)|December 2021BUG HUNTA 2011 study by psychologists Jonathan D Leavitt and Nicholas J S Christenfeld of the University of California showed that humans don’t actually like surprises. Each group read three mystery stories. Some had the twists ruined, others went in cold. Across all conditions, people enjoyed the spoiled stories the most. And that’s perhaps why Prey is such a nerve-shredding experience. There’s only so many times a bar stool can turn into a scurrying intergalactic meat-spider before you stop going ‘oooh, you got me!’ and start gobbling Xanax.There are few other reasons Prey’s constant state of unseen threat is troubling. Firstly and most damningly, the combat is slightly unsatisfying. If I want to effectively waft a wrench around I’ll stop writing and become a car mechanic. The speed and surprise of…1 min
PC Gamer (US Edition)|December 2021STACKINGTwo DoubleFine games in one list feels like cheating, but Stacking puts such a dark twist on dressing up it’s impossible to resist. I like to imagine a world where little Charlie Blackmore isn’t a matryoshka doll, but a real boy who, in an attempt to save his family, dons the skins of his enemies. Does it hurt when Charlie wears you like a hazmat suit, you ask? Yes. It’s excruciating. Buffalo Bill analogies aside, Stacking is a piece of gently compelling Victoriana with some pleasantly distracting puzzles.73…1 min
PC Gamer (US Edition)|December 2021“The environments are cluttered, bustling, and convincingly lived-in”THIS MONTHRose to the top, like cyber-augmented cream.ALSO PLAYEDThe Great Ace Attorney ChroniclesMan, Night City left me cold. As a fan of dark future cities, I was excited to explore the streets of Cyberpunk 2077’s setting. But the closer I looked the more I stopped believing in it as an actual place. Which is the opposite of the experience I had with The Ascent, a new action RPG made by a tiny 11-person indie team made up of veteran game designers.The Ascent is set in The Arcology, which is essentially an entire city squeezed into a monolithic skyscraper. It’s a vast, multi-tiered metropolis. It’s derivative, sure, but rendered with such fidelity and style that I found it hard to care. It’s honestly mind-blowing how good it looks, and the sheer…2 min
PC Gamer (US Edition)|December 2021TIE FIGHTER: TOTAL CONVERSIONIt can be hard going back to play a game you loved years ago. Sometimes nostalgia is strong enough to overlook things like ageing graphics, tinny sound and fewer of the features we’ve become accustomed to with modern games. But sometimes no matter how much you enjoyed a game in the past, it’s just too difficult to get back into it again when so many years, or even decades, have gone by.And it can be especially hard convincing other people to play a game from a couple decades ago. I can tell people until I’m blue in the face that LucasArts’ 1994 dogfighting simulator TIE Fighter isn’t just the one of the best Star Wars games ever, but that it’s one of the best games ever, full stop. It’s a…7 min
PC Gamer (US Edition)|December 2021TOTAL WAR: WARHAMMER IIThere is such a thing as a dwarf ranger, but they’re viewed with suspicion. In dwarf society, all that sun and fresh air is considered bad for your health. So the idea of taking an army from the cool, comforting holds of the World’s Edge Mountains all the way to the westernmost part of the Mortal Empires map in Total War: Warhammer II is a fool’s errand. Only a wazzock would contemplate such a thing. I’m proud to say I am that wazzock.First, I need to pick a goal. I choose the Fallen Gate, a savannah settlement on the western fringe of the map with a climate inexplicably suitable for dwarfs. This involves a bit of planning, which feels like cheating, but it’s a necessary concession. In my head, it’s…9 min
PC Gamer (US Edition)|December 2021CLOSE COMBAT V: INVASION NORMANDYDuring the frigid Canadian winters, the forest behind my house became a battlefield. Every night I’d meet my friends there and distribute our collection of toy guns, and then we’d reenact the scenes we had seen in war movies. I vividly remember sitting in the snow, back against a tree, pretending I was pinned down by my friend, who was now a German sniper. I was ten years old, and blessed with an absurdly active imagination. Immersion was everything, so crawling for an hour through freezing slush just to get to safety was not out of the question.This was just one of the ways my childlike fascination with war manifested itself. Between gory drawings of battlefields or watching what few WWII documentaries I was allowed to see, ten-year-old me was…8 min
PC Gamer (US Edition)|December 2021MUST PLAYPARADISE KILLERparadisekiller.comThe mystery of a violent massacre sits at the heart of this endlessly stylish and utterly bizarre detective romp set in a failed virtual heaven. I’ve bitten off more than I can chew, trying to describe it in just 50 words, but it’s brilliant and weird, and you should play it.SUNLESS SKIESbit.ly/3gncuj6Failbetter’s flying locomotive sandbox got a huge free update, inspiring me to return to its peculiar universe. The Sovereign Edition is full of new stories, progression changes, and a new train, giving you an excuse to enjoy some of the best game writing around.PHASMOPHOBIAkineticgames.co.ukWandering around an empty house while shouting someone’s name doesn’t sound like a good time, but Phasmophobia finds a way. A romp where you talk to ghosts, it’s best played with some friends, each yelling…2 min
PC Gamer (US Edition)|December 2021GENERATIONWUDONGDE HYDRO STATIONCHINAFully operational this year, this dam is expected to generate 39 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity a year.INGA IIIDEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGOA third dam (Inga I is pictured) tapping into the power of the powerful Inga falls would generate 4,500 MW of electricity.KEEYASK HYDRO STATIONCANADAOpening this year, the generator on the Nelson River (pictured) will have a capacity of approx 630 megawatts.HORNSEA WIND FARMUKPhase Two of this English development should provide 1.2GW of energy via 165 turbines in the North Sea.…1 min
PC Gamer (US Edition)|December 2021ADVANCED BUILDMOTHERBOARDMPG Z490 Gaming Carbon WiFiMSI $270A heady mix of enthusiast motherboard functionality and build quality that stops short of god-tier motherboard pricing.PROCESSORCore i9 10900KIntel $529If you want the fastest gaming CPU, look no further than Intel’s flagship Core i9.GRAPHICS CARDGeForce RTX 3080 Ti Founders EdNvidia $1,199The RTX 3080 Ti is the latest flagship graphics card from Nvidia, but savvy builders may prefer the RTX 3080.COOLERKraken X63NZXT $150One of the most stunning AIO coolers rebuilt with an updated pump and, of course, RGB lighting for more pizzazz.MEMORYVengeance RGB Pro 32GB DDR4 (2x16GB) @ 3,200Corsair $164If you truly want to show off, even your system memory should be aglow in RGB.POWER SUPPLYSuperNOVA 1000 G5 GoldEVGA $214This calibre of gaming PC draws a lot of power. Thankfully, this PSU can handle it with…1 min
PC Gamer (US Edition)|December 2021NICE FRAMES BRODigital Extremes’ Warframe is a live service game which makes money largely through cosmetics, and the developer embraces community content. In 2015 it started a competition called TennoGen, where artists can submit cosmetic designs for inclusion in the game. If the work makes it, the artist gets a 30% cut.It can result in a life-changing amount of money. Lendel Fajardo (LED2012 online) is one such creator who has spent six years working on Warframe creations.Fajardo’s first submission was rejected, which only made him more determined. “I started reading and watching tutorials on the processes in making 3D assets,” Fajardo says. “I kept trying, but I couldn’t seem to handle how to properly design helmets and full skins so I focused more on Syandanas [capes].”I WAS EARNING TEN TIMES, SOMETIMES EVEN…3 min
PC Gamer (US Edition)|December 2021WIKI WILD WESTHave you ever fallen down a ‘wiki-hole’? Or played Six Degrees of Wikipedia, finding the shortest hyperlink path from, say, Denzel Washington to the page for Boring, Oregon? The truth is, we’d gamified online encyclopaedias long before writer Joannes Truyens got to them.“There’s an immediate literacy there,” he says. “Wikipedia as a medium lends itself to non-linear storytelling.”The goal of Truyens’ game, Neurocracy, is to solve a murder by digging through a near-future version of the site—bouncing between pages, unpicking the revision history as events unfold, and finding the human drama hidden between the lines of dry, matter-of-fact prose.The tagline of the fictional Omnipedia is ‘building your world’; Truyens’ own touchpoint for worldbuilding was Deus Ex. “I soaked up all the attention to detail in its depiction of a grounded…3 min
PC Gamer (US Edition)|December 2021AUGMENTATIONDNA TracingDAIKATANAJohn Romero founded Ion Storm to make this underwhelming FPS.ANACHRONOXAn oddball JRPG from id Software’s Tom Hall.DEU SEXRightly celebrated as a feat in non-linear action and storytelling.DEUS EX: INVISIBLE WARFlawed but bold sequel. Still deserves a look.THIEF: DEADLY SHADOWSHosts the best horror level ever made.ULTIMA UNDERWORLDA wordy first-person RPG that led to greater things.SYSTEM SHOCKWarren Spector produced this groundbreaking immersive sim.THIEF: THE DARK PROJECTThe blueprint for half the stealth genre.THIEF II: THE METAL AGEWent harder on the steampunk.…1 min
PC Gamer (US Edition)|December 2021SAINTS ROWSaints Row is getting a complete reboot, and it’s just called… Saints Row. All those wacky antics from the four previous games, like diving into computers, killing zombies for Burt Reynolds, becoming president, and ruling the world with superpowers? None of that happened in Saints Row’s new American southwest-inspired world, Santo Ileso.This time around, the Saints crew is a close-knit group of four young friends, each with their own expertise: Planner and business mind Eli, expert driver Neenah, DJ and smooth talker Kevin, and the slightly off-the-rails Boss (that’s you). As the Boss, you can still create a completely custom character that’s big or small, young or old, and anywhere in between.Interestingly, Saints Row won’t have an expanding cast of characters that join the core Saints crew over time. You…3 min
PC Gamer (US Edition)|December 2021CALL OF DUTY: VANGUARDAfter months of rumors about just what’s going on with Call of Duty this year, Call of Duty: Vanguard has been confirmed as the next mainline game in the series. This new entry takes the series back to WWII with a campaign that lead developer Sledgehammer Games hopes will feel new to the series.Sledgehammer, which hasn’t led development on a CoD game since Call of Duty: WWII, is shaking things up by setting most of the campaign after the official end of the war. Hitler is dead, the Nazis have lost, but the Allies learn of a troubling plan (called Project Phoenix) to somehow facilitate Hitler’s successor.What the heck does that even mean? Your guess is as good as mine. Vanguard’s main villain is the fictional Heinrich Freisinger (inspired by…3 min
PC Gamer (US Edition)|December 2021STEAM POWEREDCOLORFUL CASINGIt’s just black at launch, but color was hotly debated among the development team. Greg Coomer says, “We might do a lot more with that in the future.”DELUXE DISPLAYThe Deck uses an off-the-shelf display, which Coomer would like to improve, “The screen would be the center of our focus in what we do different with a next version.”A LITTLE BIT MORE ZENCoomer says Valve isn’t designing a Deck 2.0 yet, but they’ve “definitely talked with AMD about what [they’d] like to do next”. Going up to Zen 3 mightn’t be an issue.RE-ARCHITECTEDCoomer says that “if the Steam Deck is really a hit, then I think that should drive the architecture of upcoming CPU/GPU/APU devices. And probably not just from … AMD”.…1 min
PC Gamer (US Edition)|December 2021Are we buying a Deck?DAVE JAMESHardware LeadI’m not sure if it’s a symptom of the patented Gabe Newell Reality Distortion Field, but I’m a whole lot more positive about the Steam Deck now than I was when it was first announced. It’s normally the other way around, getting dragged on by the hype machine before the devil in the details convinces me otherwise.I’m actually loving the chonky look of it, the AMDbased hardware has a lot of potential with its LPDDR5 backup, and SteamOS 3.0 and Proton could genuinely bring Linux gaming to the masses. But there is one potential sticking point that’s going to have to be ironed out for the Deck to be the sort of broad appeal success Valve seems to think it will be. That issue is optimization.THE AMD-BASED HARDWARE…3 min
PC Gamer (US Edition)|December 2021THE DUNGEON MASTERSIt explains a lot about Warren Spector, the driving force behind Deus Ex, that his first dungeon master was the author Bruce Sterling. Not only was Sterling destined to become one of the fathers of cyberpunk—the science fiction genre that spliced future tech with social commentary, just as Deus Ex would—but he was a generous and accommodating DM.“What was most powerful about that first night, and all the nights that followed for the next ten or so years, wasn’t the story Bruce was telling to us,” Spector says. “It was the story my friends and I were telling with him.”Spector’s head still swims with memories of the Rat Gang, the street crew he ran with as Botara Chitan, a samurai who never smiled. He remembers the way the gang fought…11 min
PC Gamer (US Edition)|December 2021IT’S ONLY HUMANThere’s something weirdly mythical about the historical 4X and the dominance of one series, Civilization, for 30 years. Amplitude Studios has been working on a challenger for a decade, preparing to rewrite the myth. Humankind is the result: a behemoth that’s kept me on its hooks until sunrise a few times. But in trying to make its own Civ, Amplitude may have sacrificed too much of what made its games such compelling weirdos.This is not to say that Humankind doesn’t have any bold ideas. It’s clear that isn’t the case as soon as you hop into a campaign. Normally you’d need to pick a civ, faction, or race of nerdy dragons first, and then plonk down a city, but not here. Before picking a site for your first settlement, or…8 min
PC Gamer (US Edition)|December 2021AXIOM DISRUPTORI can remember the last time I felt excited about a Metroidvania. It was Axiom Verge, a game inspired more by the original Metroid than the other half of the equation, Symphony of the Night. Its standout feature was a device that let you ‘hack’ the world, by turning foes into friends or clearing glitched-out obstacles. In truth, the Axiom Disruptor was just a power-up like any other, but it gave the illusion of letting you mess rebelliously with the game code.I mention the Disruptor—such an iconic element of the original game—because it’s absent from this daring sequel, replaced by a similar hacking tool that’s perhaps more versatile, but less exciting to use. It’s emblematic of a game that has changed almost every aspect of its predecessor, while still retaining…4 min
PC Gamer (US Edition)|December 2021ALIENTIDEAliens: Fireteam Elite is dumb explosive fun—a swarm-based action game that’s derivative of both Left 4 Dead and Gears of War, but with a few nice touches of its own. It has that competent mid-budget feel that’s becoming identifiable as publisher Focus Home’s house style, with sparse story and cheesy dialogue, and NPCs who talk without opening their mouths.It’s also very co-op dependent, and how good a time you have will be dictated by whether you play alongside real people or the voiceless bots that stand in for them.Set across four chapters of three missions each, the Fireteam campaign is a slideshow of distinctly ‘Alien’ environments. There’s the occasional pretty vista, but your traversal of these spaces is mostly flat and non-interactive. That’s not too much of a problem because…4 min
PC Gamer (US Edition)|December 2021GALAXY BRAINYou can tell a lot about a game’s soul by what it deems a ‘perk’. In Psychonauts 2, Double Fine will sell you a ‘beastmastery’ pin badge modifier that allows Raz’s psychic fist—usually used for thumping and tossing—to stroke woodland animals. You spend money to hurt fewer things. Another pin makes him groove when left unattended; dance like no is watching, when no one is playing. Honestly? It’s a tonic.As headlines go ‘Tim Schafer game favors silliness over sadism’ is hardly a shocker. But it’s been 15 years since the original; time enough to forget how silly Psychonauts can be, and the startling places those jokes can take us. Of course, for the game’s inhabitants, it’s been but three days: wannabe Psychonaut Raz left Whispering Rock Psychic Summer Camp on…8 min
PC Gamer (US Edition)|December 2021PAINT IT BLACKWarhammer 40,000: Battlesector is the latest attempt at putting some of the scale of tabletop 40K onto our screens. Which is to say, it’s another turn-based tactics game about the Space Marines. But rather than generic armored lummoxes, it features one of the more interesting flavors: Blood Angels, the marines you get into if you watched too many horror movies when you were young.Blood Angels suffer from Red Thirst, making them literally and figuratively bloodthirsty. In Battlesector this means they get more momentum points, which are normally earned for kills, the closer they are to their enemies—the enemies in this game being the dinobug alien Tyranids. When a unit gets 100 momentum they ‘surge’, getting a movement bonus and the option to trade in those points for an extra action…4 min
PC Gamer (US Edition)|December 2021DEAD RISING 2You have to feel sorry for Chuck Greene. It’s bad enough that he looks like the reflection of an Easter Island statue on the back of a spoon and his daughter is a probably-zombie. But then Case West comes along and retcons him from his own game. That’s like spending ages reviewing a game, only for some berk to shamble up years later and change your scor… oh.Yes. Lack of Frankness aside, Dead Rising 2 is an absolute riot. Working against the clock is still a thing, but there are fewer of the maddening frustrations that damaged the first game. Plus, among many other things, you can dress up in a hula dress and blend zombie heads with a murder bucket.79…1 min
PC Gamer (US Edition)|December 2021“You’d best beware my energy sword should ye step anywhere near it”THIS MONTHCamped the Banshee spawn on Valhalla.ALSO PLAYEDApex Legends, TeardownJust over a year ago, a friend messaged me with an idea. Halo 3 had just hit Steam via The Master Chief Collection, and he was planning on getting a bunch of pals together to play a few rounds of Slayer like it was 2007 all over again. Fifty-two weekends later (give or take) and we’re still going, testament to the fact that this wasn’t just an experiment in nostalgia.Every weekend we’ll gather for an evening of Halo 3 shenanigans. Here’s how a night usually goes. It starts with a small free-for-all on Guardian to warm up, waiting for folks to finish up their dinner and jump in. We’ll move onto our staple of bigger maps as the gang arrives—The Pit,…3 min
PC Gamer (US Edition)|December 2021GENSHIN IMPACT 2.01 TALL STORYWhen you first arrive in Inazuma, you’ll be stuck on the island of Ritou. To unlock the ability to explore the rest of the region, and gain access to the Adventurer’s Guild, continue with the Archon quest line until you’re sent to Inazuma City.2 MAPPED OUTFind and activate the three Statues of the Seven across Inazuma to uncover the complete map of the entire region. You’ll find one statue on each of the three main islands, and locating each will make getting around the area that much easier.3 LENS FLAREMake sure you complete the Sacrificial Offering world quest to pick up the Memento Lens. This is a new gadget in 2.0 that can reveal hidden objects at various locations across Inazuma, and is helpful for solving certain puzzles.4…3 min
PC Gamer (US Edition)|December 2021POSTCARDS FROM THE WORLD’S EDGE“Leaving Karaz-a-Karak. Is it too early to send a postcard? Also, I forgot my lunch, what am I going to eat now?”“Athel Loren. Hate it. Hard to breathe the fresh, leafy air and the trees keep giving my axe funny looks.”“My first trip in a Dreadnought! It’s like being inside an Ironbreaker who can float. Not as bad as it sounds.”“Sailed past Ulthuan, where even the mountains look weak and elfy. Don’t bother unless you’re invading.”“Finally arrived! It’s flatter, hotter, and greener than expected. Can I come back home now?”…1 min
PC Gamer (US Edition)|December 2021WAR STORIESALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONTERICH MARIA REMARQUEA haunting fictional account of a German soldier fighting in WWI. It paints a picture of how war dehumanizes people.THE LONGEST DAYCORNELIUS RYANBased on thousands of interviews and featuring 383 different personal testimonies, covering everything soldiers, officers, and civilians.NORMANDY ‘44JAMES HOLLANDCovering the 77-day battle for France, this novel draws on first-hand accounts and focuses on the intense human story at the center of Operation Market Garden.…1 min
PC Gamer (US Edition)|December 2021PC WEBCAMSSure, you could stick to making TikTok videos on your phone, but if you’re serious about making a professional impression on the web, a quality webcam could be your first step toward internet fame and fortune. In fact, a world without webcams doesn’t bear thinking about.Without them, the well-loved world of Vloggers and Twitch streamers would be all but diminished, along with your chance to make a name for yourself as an internet personality.If that thought has you excited, or if you just need to appear less pixelated, or prove you’re out of bed in online meetings, it’s time to have your face witnessed by a crystal-clear, high-definition webcam.The main considerations in choosing a camera are image quality, ease of use, software utility, and whether the built-in microphone is any…7 min
PC Gamer (US Edition)|December 2021BUDGET BUILDMOTHERBOARDA320M-A ProMSI $69Everything you need and nothing else. This MSI motherboard is simple, but it works. And that’s all we can ask for at this price.PROCESSORRyzen 5 3400GAMD $150Capable budget CPU and GPU in one tiny package, and it also comes with its very own CPU cooler.GRAPHICS CARDNoneThis build is tailored to today’s GPU shortage. But don’t fret, once cards are back in stock, you could slot one in to this PC for an upgrade.COOLERWraith SpireAMD Free with CPUThe Wraith Stealth is a great cooler made even better by the fact it comes free with our choice of chip. Budget heaven.MEMORYVegeance LPX 8GB (2x 4GB) DDR4-3000Corsair $65For gaming we only really need 8GB of RAM, and this stuff is quick to boot.POWER SUPPLYMWE White 400WCooler Master $48Small by today’s standards,…1 min
