2018-10-01_pc_gamer_usa.pdf

E3 spEcial

H RT A N NO ERIC ION AM EDIT

HARDWARE BUYER’S GUIDE INSIDE!

THE

CYBERPUNK 2077 InsIde Cd Projekt’s astonIshIng rPg

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ExclusivE accEss

WORLD WARCRAFT of

Blizzard reignites the war Between horde & alliance

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P C GAMES 2 0 18

PlUs

Beyond Good & evil 2 The SimS 4: SeaSonS ToTal War: Three KinGdoms & moRe!

BE A sTREAMER HOW TO

HaR DWaR E

GAMING lAPTOPs

The Top picks for gaming on The go

Issue 309

What you need to get started on tWItCh

WELCOME

“reigniting the war at the heart of warcraft” A series of common enemies had softened tensions between the Horde and Alliance. Could the two one day be friends? Not if Blizzard has a say. For the next World of Warcraft expansion, the two sides are again turning their attentions on the other. Battle for Azeroth is reigniting the war. We’re not only diving deep into the expansion, but also celebrating the history of Blizzard’s MMO. PHIl SaVaGE Specialist in Battle Twitter @Octaeder

Also, it’s the PC Gamer Top 100—our picks of the best games you can play today. Enjoy!

This month Traveled between sci-fi USA and third century Japan to bring you a roundup of E3 delights.

ta lk to PC GaMER

Have your say! Email us at letters@ pcgamer.com

PHIl SaVaGE EDITOR

[email protected]

#309 OCTOBER 2018 Future Publishing Ltd One Lombard Street, Suite 200, San Francisco, CA 94111 (650) Tel 01225 442244 Email [email protected] Web www.pcgamer.com

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The PC Gamer team

StEVEN MESSNER Specialist in Azeroth This month Our war correspondent Steven investigated the growing tensions between Horde and Alliance.

X al aVIER NElSoN JR Specialist in Craft This month Celebrated the one-year anniversary of his PC Gamer column.

All contents © 2018 Future Publishing Limited or published under licence. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be used, stored, transmitted or reproduced in any way without the prior written permission of the publisher. Future Publishing Limited (company number 2008885) is registered in England and Wales. Registered office: Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA. All information contained in this publication is for information only and is, as far as we are aware, correct at the time of going to press. Future cannot accept any responsibility for errors or inaccuracies in such information. You are advised to contact manufacturers and retailers directly with regard to the price of products/services referred to in this publication. Apps and websites mentioned in this publication are not under our control. We are not responsible for their contents or any other changes or updates to them. This magazine is fully independent and not affiliated in any way with the companies mentioned herein.

a N DY k E l lY

PHIlIPPa WaRR

Specialist in World

Specialist in War(r)

This month Toured a virtual USA, stopping only for some chicken-grilled coffee and a single shoe.

This month Kicked off an argument in the PC Gamer office, and then wrote it all down and called it The Top 100.

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OCTOBER 2018

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Chief executive Zillah Byng-Thorne Non-executive chairman Peter Allen Chief financial officer Penny Ladkin-Brand Tel +44 (0)1225 442 244

Contents #309

REVIEW

OCTOBER 2018

Monitor

08 THE TOP STORY 12 SPECIAL REPORT 14 INSIDE DEVELOPMENT

56

Previews

20 Cyberpunk 2077 24 Beyond Good & Evil 2 28 Just Cause 4 30 Total War: Three Kingdoms

Features 37 The PC Gamer Top 100 56 World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth 64 World of Warcraft mega-feature

Reviews 78 The Crew 2 82 Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy 84 Wreckfest DLC 86 Prey: Mooncrash 88 The Sims 4: Seasons

104

Extra Life

90 NOW PLAYING 94 UPDATE 96 MOD SPOTLIGHT 98 HOW TO 100 REINSTALL

Hardware

37

104 GROUP TEST 108 TECH REPORT 110 BUYER’S GUIDE

24

6

SEPTEMBER 2018

37

THE PC GAMER TOP 100

56

BATTLE FOR AZEROTH

104

The latest edition of our annual list running down the best PC games you can play right now.

Steven travels to Blizzard to find out why the Horde and Alliance are back at each other’s throats.

Gaming on the go? Ed Chester rounds up the best gaming laptops on the market right now.

LAPTOP GROuP TEsT

MonIToR News | OpiNiON | Dev eLOpmeNt

An artistic representation of League’s roster looking for Clash.

Clash Poor

L

What happened to League of Legends’ biweekly tourney option?

eague of Legends’ fortnightly tournament plan has hit a snag. Clash was intended as a way of bringing the thrill of competitive LoL events to the masses via three-day contests. But the launch weekend never got off the ground—games failed to start and teams were auto-losing. Riot made the call to cancel Clash. But why did the problems start and what’s the plan for Clash now?

As detailed by League of Legends lead producer, Joe ‘New001’ Tung, in an official blog post, many of the problems stem from the fact the 8

OctOber 2018

platform which powers League of Legends was created quickly, “responding to rapid scale around the globe”. He goes on to explain, “Technically, the platform was written as a monolithic service, which means that when things go wrong, it’s difficult to debug.”

The creaking of old sysTems isn’T a new problem for league of legends

It’s this monolithic platform which handles starting games. That’s important because, “Clash behaves in a unique way, insofar as it’s the only experience in League that asks the platform to create a huge number of games simultaneously.” So on a tournament day, Clash players would have a 30-minute window to lock in to the tournament, then a short scouting period where they could check out opponents’ strengths and weaknesses, then the games would start. It was positioned as an event you could plan to attend at a specific time every two weeks. The beta testing Riot conducted in the run-up to the launch weekend

sHoPPIng aRound

RocK on

dIvIne defInITy

TencenT WegaMe

TuRTLe RocK

dIvInITy: oRIgInaL sIn II

I’m definitely in favor of Steam having a bit of competition. that’s why I’ll be keeping an eye on chinese tech investment behemoth, tencent, and its plan to take its digital store, WePlay, global. PW

turtle rock is working on a game in a “globally known franchise”. I’d be up for a new Left 4 Dead, but I’m excited to see what series the studio may be lending its multiplayer chops to. AK

I poured 30 hours into Original Sin II. Soon, I’m going to do it again. the Definitive edition looks to be a fine upgrade: expanding the story, improving the tutorial and questlog, and adding free DLc. PS

highs & lows

highs overwatch

Sales of the special Pink Mercy skin resulted in over $12.7 million for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

sgDQ

The charity speedrunning marathon raised over $2.1 million for Doctors Without Borders.

Warframe

An update to the sci-fi shooter will bring co-op space combat that sounds like playing 3D FTL.

ABOVE, TOP: Poro Mind Games will need to wait a bit longer for its tournament win. ABOVE, BOTTOM: Clash gives players a window of time where they need to lock in for the tournament, then divides them into a single elimination bracket.

left it confident the platform would hold up, but the strain proved too much for the system. Riot is now investigating fixes as it figures out how to relaunch Clash. In the short-term, staggering game starts should help, as well as making other changes so the events are less demanding on the existing platform. The long-term solutions include prioritizing work to separate out the elements of the platform involved in game starts so it’s easier to debug, fix or, as they note, “fail gracefully”.

ageing tech

The creaking of old systems isn’t a new problem for League of Legends, both on the engineering side and in terms of game design. For example, Riot has had to replace its game client in order to provide new features and get rid of old bugs. It also regularly reworks champions who have started to show their age or no longer fit with the current game. Dealing with the creaking bits which affect Clash means a return to beta testing, then regional testing, before looking at a new launch date. There’s no date set for a relaunch yet, but Riot is obviously anxious to avoid another launch failure. The mode will return “only when we have high confidence in Clash’s stability”. Philippa Warr

overwatch

Charity aside, Blizzard’s shooter also revealed its next hero. It’s a hamster in a giant mech ball. Er, what?

The Elder scrolls Vi

Now the excitement of E3 has died down, we face a long, long wait for any more information to emerge.

arenaNet

The studio issued a tone-deaf statement after firing two devs in response to Twitter remarks.

loWs

OctOber 2018

9

Special Report p c g i n v e s t i g at e s

Imagine a world without sudden stabbing sensations.

ENEMY WITHOUT How modders are removing enemies to create stress-free experiences

M

ods for games are usually additive. New features, forgotten content… mods are usually about putting more into a game. Yet in recent years we’ve seen the rise of a particular kind of mod that takes things away. Specifically, taking away a game’s enemies or threats. We previously covered a mod which removed all danger from first-person sci-fi horror Soma – it later become an official game mode – but there are plenty more games out there getting mods that do the same and they’re equally fascinating. The nerve-shredding Alien: Isolation seems like an obvious candidate for the no-enemy treatment and Paul Huwe, senior scientific software developer at NASA, took it upon himself to create that experience. “I did find a ‘no alien’ mod, it didn’t remove the alien, but rather spawned it as an inert NPC,” he explains. “In addition to being very jarring, it prevented the alien from performing scripted events which I found both insufficient and experience-destroying. Given all this, I decided to try to make my own mod which would have the alien act like normal, except that it would ignore Amanda. In that way I could explore the station in a far more enjoyable fashion.” 12

OctOber 2018

It was a task which didn’t prove too tricky for Paul. “I started with another modder’s (MattFiler) Alien: Isolation modding guide and scripting tools,” he says. “After using these tools to extract the configuration files, the mod simply required editing long XML files.” Editing those files and testing the mod was tedious and required careful attention to detail, but after 40-60 hours the mod was ready. At the time of writing it has had 1,392 downloads. That’s not a huge amount but it shows that there’s definitely an audience for this kind of experience. If it seems outrageous to remove the threat from Alien: Isolation, it might seem downright sacrilegious to remove enemies from Dark Souls. But that’s exactly what modder Jgwman did with Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin.

making peace

“There’s certainly a tangent discussion to be had here about whether the main appeal of the Dark Souls games is their difficulty—I was simply drawn in by its weighty melee combat, monster designs, and darker atmosphere,” they explain. “Though I created the level editor with the goal of allowing other players to create surprising new encounters, I knew that it could potentially be used to remove challenge from the game, and that didn’t bother me. I’m personally of the opinion that if you’re not harming anyone else’s experience, you should be able to

What is a noenemy mod? Exactly what it sounds like. The idea is to allow players a chance to appreciate game worlds and stories without needing to master the combat or conflict. Some simply make it so enemies are harmless rather than gone, while others remove them from the game entirely.

FAR LEFT: A no-enemies mod makes for a rather different experience. LEFT: Taking out danger in Mirror’s Edge to let fans focus on free running.

SAFER ZONE

Other games where you can have a danger-free alternative experience

SOMA

This has become the poster child for validating these kinds of mods as a legitimate way to experience the game.

QUAKE II

An odd choice. After all, what’s left if you’re not blasting the Strogg? But it’s here if you want it.

experience the game in any way you like. If someone wants to explore the world of Dark Souls II as an empty sandbox, I’m glad I can help them to enjoy the game.” Creating the mod was not the most straightforward task, however. “Given that FromSoftware does not support community content (quite the opposite, in fact), creating mods for the Dark Souls games tends be complicated,” says Jgwman. “For this mod in particular, I had to essentially discover how many of the game’s filetypes worked on my own, with help from others knowledgeable about Dark Souls II.” Fellow modders Benzoin-Gum and Atvaark proved particularly helpful. Removing the enemies and threats of Dark Souls might seem blasphemous, but the situation was completely different for the cult classic Mirror’s Edge. Fans were clamoring for a way to remove the danger from the game and just enjoy its wonderful free running. Modder Saverio Ruggieri, known as S1y, would eventually create an option for this with his No Enemies mod, but started with a very different aim: Taking on the role of a pursuit cop and chasing runners instead.

StEllARIS

The mod’s entitled Fermi’s Paradox and sets up a truly bleak scenario where the galaxy is devoid of alien life.

thE WItchER 3: WIld hUNt

If you ever just wished to experience the story and world of Geralt, then this is your chance.

producer, the initial idea was finally abandoned because there was no framework that would allow me to interface with the game code.” Leaving that project behind, Ruggieri turned his attention to a no-enemy mod. “The problem with the standard maps, however, is that they are basically thought of as linear paths, with some variations of the route, but which inevitably lead from point A to point B.” Ruggieri wanted instead to offer a space with multiple routes, and allow players to make better use of the maps. “Hence the idea of creating a new map, which is more or less a faithful reconstruction of the one viewed in the original game. I took care to also include many buildings that were originally inaccessible, elements of the game present among the assets, but eliminated from the final product, and many additional graphic effects. All this to offer a free-roaming experience that the basic game did not have.” None of these mods are hugely popular, but they do still have an audience. With Frictional now offering a no-danger experience as an official part of Soma, it’s perhaps time to ask whether more games could offer similar ways to explore their worlds. Not everyone has nerves of steel, after all. But, even if ‘no-enemy’ or ‘no-threat’ modes stay out of the official experience, there are many modders out there that are willing to step in and provide that experience for everyone. Sam Greer

it might seem downright sacrilegious to remove enemies from dark souls

up and running

“Thanks to the help of some collaborators, we were able to integrate a complete character in first and third-person but a whole part of the AI was missing: NPC runners fleeing from the player,” Ruggieri says. “Unfortunately, not having complete support of modding tools from the

OctOber 2018

13

Inside Dev MAking gAMES iS HArd

Happy accidents Why systems surprise their creators. By Xalavier Nelson Jr.

W

hat is a bug? Asking that question can send you on an unusual journey, especially when you consider games like Caves of Qud, where a ‘flaw’ could easily be an incredible source of tactical complexity. “It’s possible to acquire a mental mutation that lets you dominate the minds of other creatures,” says Caves of Qud cocreator Jason Grinblat. “What this means is: For a limited duration, you walk around the map as the dominated creature—with access to their skills and powers—while your body remains dormant. If the dominated creature itself has the same mental mutation, or if you manage to acquire it while possessing the creature’s body (by, say, gaining a level as the dominated creature and spending your mutation points to buy Domination), you can then dominate your own dormant body. But the game only tracks the domination stack one level deep. So when the duration of this second domination expires, you end up back in the body of the creature you originally dominated. Permanently. Players have used this quirk/ exploit/existential ego-death to play out the rest of their characters’ lives as goats, plants, robots and even sentient doors.”

distinguish between ‘alive’ or ‘dead’ characters for this mechanic, though the design always assumed that ‘alive’ enemies would be the ones to get frozen. As a result, the player can still create that same traversable block of ice around dead characters. Dead bodies can be picked up and moved. This mechanic exists for the traditional stealth game reasons of hiding a body so that other enemies won’t be alerted by it. However, in this example, the player froze one dead enemy, then threw another dead enemy on top of the first frozen one, then froze that second enemy, to create an ‘ice staircase’ allowing them to reach higher unintended areas.” Hindes decided to reinforce ice staircases as a set of performable actions. “Wildfire was created precisely to explore systemic design and the resulting emergent gameplay in a smaller scale, 2D format. It does, however, exponentially add more time to development to include them,” says Hindes.

“It does exponentIally add more tIme to development”

X al avier NelsoN Jr.

I’m a full-time game writer and narrative designer, with credits inside and out of gaming.

One of the difficulties of encouraging systemic interactions is that the process is reactive. It requires time to build, time to test and even more time to adjust the factors making up the final result you want to create. Once the result is put into the hands of players, new complications are revealed, as Dan Hindes of 2D immersive sim Wildfire can attest. “The player character has the power over fire, water, and earth. They draw that power from sources of those elements in the environment, hold it in their hands, and throw it somewhere else to create a new effect,” Hindes explains. “The player draws from a source of water, turns that water into ice, then throws that ice at a guard to freeze them. When frozen, characters form a block of cubic ice around themselves. This ice is solid and can be grabbed, mantled onto, or stood upon. The game does not 14

OctOber 2018

EmErgEnt ExpErimEnts

The core of emergence is player action—what someone will do with the world, and whether it’s actually possible. In space survival roguelite Deep Sixed, where players attempt to keep a ramshackle starship together while completing missions, developers Little Red Dog Games found them recording the mating calls of prey and using it to distract predators. “There was a fear that this exploit would break the game—making it too easy to survive an onslaught of apex monsters by calling in some fresh meat,” says co-founder Ryan Hewer. But not all predators would “take the bait” as it were, and those that did often were able to work with others in their pack to take out the prey. “It was cool to watch, and might buy you a few critical seconds, but it was far from game-breaking, so we decided to keep it.” This player-focused line of thought thrives in multiplayer. “Players found a way to use shrink potions to grow items to enormous sizes which would crash the server if they collided with these windchimes we had in the game,” the developers of absurd lo-fi graphical chatroom WizMUD tell me. “We ended up just taking out the windchimes for that one.” Developing games with emergent systems means constantly defining and redefining the line between a noteworthy addition, or a horribly complicated burden. It’s a hidden, messy, work-intensive, reactive process—one that makes you truly question the line between a bug, and the features you fall in love with every day.

The brainwashing mechanics and multi-tiered espionage of Phantom Doctrine can be a saboteur’s dream, or nightmare.

FAR LEFT: Recorded mating calls from creatures inside space survival adventure Deep Sixed can be played to distract local predators.

CuttiNg edges

you Must Be 18 or older to eNter

dIsClaImer As a professional developer, I am on friendly and/or working terms with parties mentioned in this piece.

LEFT: WizMUD allows players to combine strange chatroom emotes with simulated physics and items to subvert its lo-fi world.

Where developers found cutting a system necessary to make their game better

The adolescence-themed horror game originally allowed your protagonist to get caught and ‘fail’. Eliminating that made the fear inspired by the game’s systems significantly more effective.

Blade ii

This action game contained a system where wounded vampires could retrieve allies from further in the level and bring them back to fights, allowing the player to eliminate an entire level’s forces in one extended battle.

the spatials: gal aCtology

Officers in the space colony management game could be influenced by the aesthetics of their environments, causing players to blame carpet choices and potted plant placement for the failure or success of their stations.

v ulture

Action-building game Vulture ensured that allies couldn’t crash into each other—at first. But when ships contain many blocks, the calculations that determined if an overlapping piece was from a friendly ship crashed the game.

OctOber 2018

15

NETWORK

CH A LLENGE

PLAY 100 GAMES IN 2018 Clear your backlog and expand your horizons. Here’s what the team played this month JEt LAGGEd

tHrowiNG sHApEs

idEA box

Phil Savage Editor

Philippa Warr Deputy Editor

Andy Kelly Section Editor

ook, I don’t want to make excuses, but it’s been a busy month, and my printout is still missing, presumed recycled. As a result, I have not played any new games this month. Instead, here’s a couple of games I played last month, that I never wrote about because I wasn’t much of a fan. The first, Horizon Chase Turbo, was recommended to me after I reviewed Outrun-alike Slipstream. It’s… fine. The world is colorful, and it’s a breezy enough way to spend 20 minutes, but the handling fails to capture the arcade pleasure of those early time-attack racers. The second is Cultist Simulator. Our reviewer, Chris Livingston, was a fan, but I found the way it delivered its story too obtuse and hard to follow. I felt like I was spinning the wheels, trying to earn resources without ever making progress.

his month has been dominated by review games so I’ve been sneaking some small games in during odd moments (and also building a replica of my own house in The Sims 4). One is Cognizer—a puzzler about picking tiles on a grid. You need to click on tiles which color or shape (or both) match the ones listed by a happy face at the bottom of the screen, and avoid colors and shapes listed next to a sad face. So if blue is happy and triangles are sad, you click on every blue tile except the ones with triangles on them. It starts simple and gets difficult quickly, especially as the time limit gets shorter! My color-spotting skill keeps overriding my ability to differentiate shapes as soon as my concentration lapses for a second. It’s easier to replicate my house than pick out diamonds for 15 seconds!

bought puzzle game The Room in a sale for 99p, not knowing a thing about it, and now I know why it has an ‘overwhelmingly positive’ rating on Steam. This is a clever game based around a series of tactile puzzle boxes, and I finished it in one sitting without realizing. OK/NORMAL is a nightmarish experiment in digital art borrowing its aesthetic from the early days of the original PlayStation. The suffocating, surreal atmosphere is harrowing, and there’s something about those warping polygons I find incredibly compelling. There are probably too many 2D platformers on PC, but Octahedron is one of the best I’ve played in a while. It has stylish neon visuals that pulse to the music, and the construction of the levels, which you must navigate by conjuring up platforms in midair, is clever in places.

L

tHE top 5

T

I

Modern adventures

1

2

The Lion’s song Set in Vienna in the early 1900s, this adventure tells a story about art and inspiration.

Unforseen incidenTs A mystery set in an stylish world. Investigate, and stop, a diabolical conspiracy.

3

ThimbLeweed Park An adventure by genre veteran Ron Gilbert. It’s got smart puzzles and a detailed world.

4

TechnobabyLon A police procedural set in a vividly realized future with some nuanced characters.

5

broken age The puzzles are pretty basic, but the art, story, and voice acting are all wonderful.

Want to track your progress? Print out our checklist at www.bit.ly/pcgchallenge 16

OCTOBER 2018

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OctOber 2018

pREviEW Cyberpunk 2077

need to know RELEASE When it’s ready

DEvELopER CD Projekt Red

pubLiShER In-house

Cyberpunk 2077 CD Projekt Red’s RPG was the most exciting game at E3 t’s 2077, and the country is in a bit of a state. It’s everything you’d expect from a cyberpunk world: Megacorporations rule all aspects of people’s lives, and organized crime is rife on the streets. There’s extreme poverty and extreme decadence both. It’s like now, but more so, and with cyborgs.

I

You play as V, an ‘urban mercenary’ who… well, that’s up to you. Unlike The Witcher and its white-haired lead, Cyberpunk 2077 lets you define your character—their look, their tattoos, their gender, and even their backstory, which, depending on what you choose, will unlock different possibilities throughout the game. You can also assign stat points into a number of attributes—I spotted RPG regulars such as strength, constitution, and intelligence, but also reflexes and ‘cool’. This latter attribute also appears in Mike Pondsmith’s Cyberpunk pen-andpaper RPG, upon which Cyberpunk 2077 is based. “It’s going to unlock certain things that you might not have been able to do, certain options when dealing with situations,” level designer Max Pears says of the cool attribute, in an interview with PC Gamer’s Steven Messner. “Or, another example, the vendors that you have, the ripperdocs, if you have that cool and street cred level, they might bring down certain weapon prices or unlock certain weapons you might not have had there. So it is an integral part of it. It’s also a throwback to the original tabletop game as well. So we are thinking of—forgive me for saying this—cool ways to use it. It’s going to be an important thing for sure.” In the demo, CD Projekt Red picks a female V, and heads off on a contract to retrieve a missing girl. While later in the demo we’ll see V in cutscenes, the game is played in a first-person perspective. “The

First Look

LiNK www.cyberpunk.net

reason for this,” says Pears, “and it was a purposeful decision, it wasn’t just us saying ‘hey, let’s do it’, for Cyberpunk, CD Projekt Red … felt that when you are first-person, it immerses you better. “Say with Witcher, you’re really immersed in that game, but you’re kind of with Geralt. Here, in Cyberpunk, because you create your own character as well, being first person, it’s more your story, it’s more your adventure, of a cyberpunk. What are you going to do in this world? That’s why we chose first-person perspective, in terms of making it more immersive. Using it as a story technique. That’s why we want to go for that. If you haven’t seen the demo, just believe us that we’re not doing it to scare or anything. We’re doing it because we believe it can help make this game better.”

Got your number V and her partner, Jackie, break into the hideout of some scavengers, who have been snatching people off the streets and harvesting their implants to sell on the black market. Before the fight begins, V takes a reflex booster—an inhaler that gives temporary access to a slow-mo ability. Combat, and the mix of abilities and gunplay, looks comparable to Deus Ex: Human Revolution, albeit less stilted, and with Borderlands-style damage numbers popping off enemies on each hit. The action seems more fluid, although it’s hard to get a good sense of it based on watching someone else play. “We don’t want to say ‘first-person shooter’,” admits Pears, “we just want to use the words ‘first-person perspective’. It will feel different to a traditional FPS because it is an RPG, so there’s going to be numbers. And we’ve got a great team, so that is a challenge for us. Not only do we have to consider the range in combat, but also think about how that’s going to work in terms of stats and figures.” With the building clear, V finds her target unconscious and naked in a bathtub. She jacks into her biomod—the

“being in first person, it’s more your story, it’s more your adventure” OctOber 2018

21

pREviEW Cyberpunk 2077

target is alive, but she needs medical attention. By disabling the virus blocking the biomod’s signal, a trauma team is dispatched. V carries the woman to a balcony, where the trauma team swoops in. There’s a tense standoff—the trauma team is armed—but V calmly hands over the woman, and the mission is complete. The demo cuts to the next day, with V getting a call from Jackie who asks if they can meet up. First, she gets dressed. Clothes will bestow stat bonuses—in the demo she picks a jacket that boosts her armor and street cred. V exits her apartment, and steps out onto a floor of a high-rise megabuilding. This is the most impressive section of the demo. The building is enormous; a series of floors filled with apartments and shops—an ecosystem packed into this single location. V takes an elevator down to the bottom and exits to the street below. It’s here that you can sense the scale of the game. The megabuilding itself was packed with life, but here it’s revealed to be just a small part of the entire city. “One of the biggest challenges is that seamless transition from being in a megabuilding—these buildings, depending on the district you’re in, are going very vertical,” says Pears. “So you’ve got your own kind of ecosystem, in the sense that there are different things happening in those buildings than on a street level. So having that transition there has been one of the bigger challenges. From that, as well, it’s about making it feel dense. We want it to feel packed, depending on the district. Making sure it feels alive. That’s been the big part. Not just alive as in it’s populated with numbers, but it feels like stuff’s actually happening around you.” Jackie tells V that a local fixer, Dexter Deshawn, has a job for her, and the two head over to see what he wants. Deshawn explains he wants to test her abilities, and asks her to acquire a combat bot from Maelstrom—a gang obsessed with dehumanization and cyberspace. There are many ways to go about this mission, but in the demo, V arranges a meeting with the agent of a corporation recently targeted by Maelstrom. First, though, she heads to the local ripperdoc to upgrade

the building is enormous, a series of floors filled with apartments and shops 22

OctOber 2018

her implants. She buys a cybereye— letting her scan and analyse objects.

V-hicular Back on the street, V jumps in Jackie’s car and drives them both to the meetup. “It’s definitely not fast-travel,” Pears says of driving. “You’re going to have control over that, and as you saw there’s car combat. That’s going to be on you as the player, being in those moments as well. Everything you saw in the demo, our player was playing that. So he was driving.” Vehicle handling seems like it still needs plenty of tuning—it was the most unnatural looking part of the demo—but Pears suggests CDPR understands the importance of getting it right. “It’s not just through cars, there’s bikes as well. It’s an important thing to make that feel good.” V exits just out of sight of the meeting point, and uses her new implant to scan the corporate agent and her bodyguards. They’re well equipped and clearly dangerous, so V takes the nonviolent approach—not responding to the agents’ taunts and threats. She strikes a deal—the agent will give V the money to buy the bot in exchange for information. This deal has consequences later on, when V is inside the Maelstrom gang’s HQ, negotiating for the combat bot. The agent had secretly installed a virus on the credit chip—frying Maelstrom’s systems and killing a gang member jacked into their terminal. V is trapped, and surrounded by pissed off psychopaths. During this final breakout sequence, I get a sense of the flexibility Cyberpunk 2077 will offer. V reprograms the combat bot so she can use it in battle, then uses her engineering skill to take apart a maintenance panel, giving her a route out. CDPR uses a debug command to unlock some high-level abilities and weapons. There’s a targeting system that lets her ricochet bullets off of walls, and a gun that autotargets enemies. There are even retractable arm chisels you can use to attach to a wall—letting you take down an enemy from above. It’s versatile stuff, ensuring players should have plenty of options as they tailor their character. This was a small, controlled slice of what CD Projekt Red has planned, but I couldn’t help but come away excited at the possibilities. The size and scale of the city, and the variety of options to tailor combat style and approach—it’s a tantalizing mix of RPG and immersive sim, and I can’t wait to see more. Phil Savage

Armed medics is probably commentary on… something.

Living in a dystopia? Get some arm chisels.

pREviEW I have zoomed and enhanced, but can’t tell if the ramen is augmented.

YouTube makeup tutorials have advanced over the years.

OctOber 2018

23

pREviEW The scale sounds amazing, but I’m not convinced.

Beyond Good & Evil 2

need to know RELEASE TBA

DEvELopER Ubisoft Montpellier

Beyond Good & evil 2 Ubisoft’s long-awaited prequel still needs a lot of time

pubLiShER Ubisoft

LiNK www.bit.ly/bgande2

As the pirate captains move on the scientists, they’re attacked by guards. Combat features four abilities: Gun, sword, shield, and jetpack. Each of these can be augmented by tech that you’ll find in the game. Equip a gun with slowdown, and you reduce the movement speed of players that you shoot. Equip a sword with knockback, and… well you can guess.

Aug ChArt

It’s easy to understand the potential implications of this system, but I don’t get etween the CGI trailer and Joseph a sense of any tactical play in the demo. I Gordon-Levitt’s boyish face, Ubisoft’s E3 can imagine players equipping tech to fill a conference made Beyond Good & Evil 2 specific role, and you can scan enemies to feel impossibly ambitious. A seamless, see what augs they have equipped— shared world space opera taking place across a letting you tailor your build to an solar system—can such a game even exist? Having upcoming fight. But none of this plays out seen a 30-minute behind-closed-doors demo, I in the demo. Again, it’s early. don’t think it does. Not yet. With the scientists defeated, the devs head out into the city of Ganesha proper. To be clear, I’m not saying BG&E2 won’t One dev hops in a spaceship to go and become what Ubisoft says it will, just that dogfight with police, while another grabs a the road from what I saw to what it claims hoverbike to tour the nearby area. You can seems long. use your scanner to analyze landmarks, The demo begins in a forgotten temple which offers suggestions for the sort of in Ganesha, a city in the New Indian missions it might contain. A police station, continent of the moon Soma. In for instance, could be holding a fellow Beyond Good & Evil 2’s world, the pirate to bust out. A bank could be first people are infertile, and can only robbed of its cash. look populate the world by cloning the The demo ends with the dev DNA of the first settlers. Everyone is jumping in a ship, hitting hyperspace, a clone, basically, which means the and seamlessly flying their pirate out of character you generate will be picked from the planet’s atmosphere and towards their a DNA profile—with individuality mothership. Mostly seamlessly, at expressed instead through clothing least—the jump into hyperspace customization and fighting style. noticeably lowers the texture quality and Your DNA decides your role in life— detail of the city. That might seem like a with hybrids at the bottom of society. But pedantic point, but the guy sat next to me you play a space pirate captain, living literally gasped, and, while this is still an outside of the status quo. In the temple, impressive sight, it’s not magic. I’m trying two such captains are tracking down a to manage expectations, after all. group of scientists who are experimenting Ubisoft’s final trick is to open the map on hybrids. The two developers playing screen—zooming out more to show the the demo move through the corridors, at scale of System 3 and the many stars and one point splitting up to arrive at their planets within it. It’s an impressive idea for target from different locations. That a showcase, starting small, in a single players will be able to go and do their own temple, and expanding further outwards, thing is reiterated throughout the demo. to the city, to the planet, to the galaxy beyond. But I see little of what that grand scale means, and what detail I am shown still feels like it needs lots of work. And that’s all fine—Beyond Good & Evil 2 is a long way off. It could definitely become something amazing. But it’s not there yet.

B

the road from what I saw to what It claIms seems long

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OCTOBER 2018

Phil Savage

The game does not look like this. Yet.

pREviEW x

Every character is a clone of the original colonists.

You’ll be able to pilot a variety of hovercars and spaceships.

OCTOBER 2018

25

pREviEW Just Cause 4

need to know RELEASE December 4 2018

DEvELopER Avalanche

pubLiShER Square Enix

Just Cause 4 Can Rico Rodriguez tame the forces of nature? ood news: Rico is back on his bullshit. This time, he’s causing carnage in the fictional island of Solis off the eastern shore of South America. For once, though, he’s not the only destructive force in town. Just Cause 4’s big new feature is weather— specifically, extreme weather. At E3, I see Rico get up close and personal with a rampaging tornado.

G

Before the twister, though, I’m given a demonstration of Rico’s new upgradeable grappling hook. A staple of the Just Cause games, the grapple is now more than just a method of traversal. In addition to the tether option of previous games, in Just Cause 4 the grappling hook can also place rocket boosters and airlifters—helium balloons used to lift things off the ground. You can mod each of these functions. I see an upgraded tether that explodes when attached objects (or people) collide, and an upgraded airlifter that causes the object it’s lifting to follow Rico. The absurdity continues to build, until finally, I’m shown one of Just Cause 4’s missions. In it, Rico meets the tornado, which is being controlled by the Black Hand—your enemy in Just Cause 4. The Black Hand has set up a number of wind cannons that are steering the tornado away from its base. By destroying these cannons, the tornado changes course, wrecking the base before carrying on towards a nearby city. Here the demo ends, leaving me to imagine the destruction that’s about to be wrought.

Phil Savage

LiNK www.justcause.com

Outside of its scripted appearance in campaign missions, the tornado will rampage across the island throughout the game. Avalanche suggests Rico will eventually gain access to the Black Hand’s wind cannons, letting you harness the tornado’s destructive power.

1

It’s not just tornadoes. Just Cause 4 is big on weather simulation, and its wind currents will prove useful while traversing the map with your parachute and hang glider. Avalanche also hypes up the detail of the game’s river simulation.

2

Solis is made up of four major environment types, each with a couple of sub-biomes. Whether it’s the rainforest, mountain range, desert, or grasslands, each environment features specific extreme weather effects—from tropical storms to blizzards.

3

The constant warring between Rico’s resistance and the Black Hand charts your progress through the game. As you complete missions and destroy Black Hand bases, the resistance will push the frontline of its assault forward across the map.

4

Chaos objects—the oft explosive bits of infrastructure Rico must destroy to clear an enemy stronghold—are back. This time each has specific behaviors to manipulate. In the demo, I see a fuel canister repurposed as an ad-hoc missile thanks to some airlifters.

5

Avalanche says Just Cause 4 ’s baddies are smarter than ever—and in the demo I see them deploy shields and drones to try to take Rico down. I’m not really convinced Just Cause needed deadlier foes, but these different enemy types should add some variety to battles.

2

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29

pREviEW Total War: Three Kingdoms

Cao Cao is far too much of a big shot to look where he’s attacking.

need to know RELEASE Spring 2019

DEvELopER Creative Assembly

pubLiShER Sega

ToTa l Wa r: Three Kingdoms Heroes come to the fore in CA’s characterful strategy iahou Dun, my fiercest warrior, is stood outside the central courtyard of the castle I’m sieging, trying to bait out Lu Bu. Around him, armies clash in classic Total War style—large blobs of soldiers hacking away at one another until one runs away. Lu Bu answers Xiahou Dun’s call and strides out to meet him face to face.

X

A duel begins—the heroes taunting each other as they square off, unconcerned with the larger war that rages nearby. This isn’t traditionally what happens in a historical Total War game, but then Three Kingdoms isn’t a traditional Total War. Set in China in the late-second and third century, it’s a time of heroes—heavily mythologized thanks to the 14th century novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Creative Assembly is taking elements of that story, as well as the historical text Records of the Three Kingdoms, to create a grand strategy that emphasizes characters and relationships. “We have the Records of the Three Kingdoms from the third century, which is the very factual army by army flavor of what was happening,” says art director Pawel Wojs. “And then Romance is the Records with that added personal relationship between the different characters, the different factions, the different forces.” Just because Romance of the Three Kingdoms trades in legends, though, it doesn’t mean Total War: Three Kingdoms is a fantasy take on the period. “We looked at Records for a historical recollection of events,” says Leif Walter, senior director, “and then we look at the Romance novel and it doesn’t necessarily mean that we took liberties—it’s more the lens that we use to look at the historical events.” Wojs characterizes Creative Assembly’s approach as a plausible, 30

OctOber 2018

Pl ayed it

LiNK www.totalwar.com

authentic retelling. “The approach we took was seeing these characters not as demigods, but more thinking how these legends come to be. And they’re generally told by the peasants—the simple folk of the period—looking up to these largerthan-life characters.” Hence my need to bait out Lu Bu. Left to his own devices, he could prove a serious threat to my army. But he’s also got a score to settle with Xiahou Dun, and this duel could buy me just enough time to finish off the remainder of Lu Bu’s forces. Xiahou Dun isn’t expected to win here—Lu Bu, arguably the most fearsome warrior of the land, is likely to emerge victorious— but by activating special abilities at key moments during the duel, in between attack animations, I can attempt to turn the battle in my general’s favor. It works. Lu Bu routs, fleeing to fight another day, but this isn’t the only way this encounter could play out. “If you play in the Romance mode, you will encounter all of the Romance events,” explains Wojs. “All of these events are present, for instance Xiahou Dun: If he fights with Lu Bu there’s a chance he’ll lose his eye.”

Romancing the known If you’re familiar with the story, either from Romance of the Three Kingdoms itself, or, in my case, from playing far too many Dynasty Warriors games, you can choose to follow the events—attempting to pursue the ideal outcome. “Or you can choose to ignore it,” says Wojs. “You can say, ‘I’m not going to make that choice. I know where it leads, I’m going to make my own history.’ So very much like in the Total War sandbox, you can change history. Here you can do the same, but also change the way Romance plays out.” By causing Lu Bu to run, I’ve created such a change. “In Romance of the Three Kingdoms, at the end of this battle, Lu Bu is captured,” says Wojs. “Cao Cao wants to recruit him for himself; Liu Bei advises he execute him instead because he can’t be trusted. Now, in the game, you could do

“very much like in the total War sandbox, you can change history”

pREviEW

OctOber 2018

31

pREviEW

In the demo, Lu Bu is holed up in a ransacked Xiapi.

What is it with this guy not looking where he’s going?

32

OctOber 2018

pREviEW Total War: Three Kingdoms

Your buildings will appear in battles. And then burn down.

that, but potentially if your relationship with Lu Bu wasn’t too bad—if Lu Bu didn’t hold too much against you based on previous history that he’s had with you, you could be able to convince him to join you after you’ve captured him.” This is possible because, in Three Kingdoms, the heroes aren’t tied to their faction. They build relationships with other characters, and that can affect what they do and who they follow. “You might have a rival in your own faction because you pissed him off, because he doesn’t agree with your politics,” says Walter, “and then he might join your enemy, and you’ll see him again on the battlefield fighting you.” This sounds like an enjoyable spin. As fun as it can be to grow the borders of your nation, adding specific characters with their own views, goals, and relationships increases the potential for sandbox narrative drama, which is what I ultimately want from a grand strategy. If you prefer the traditional approach, you’ll have that option, too. While Romance mode offers an authentic experience imbued by its characters’ personalities and relationships, Three Kingdoms will also offer a more subdued Records mode. “If you play the classic mode, the heroes aren’t as strong, they’re more human, they’re within a bodyguard unit as you would expect from a Total War game, and the Romantic events don’t occur—it’s mainly the historical thread,” says Wojs. Not that the actual history wasn’t full of crazy feats. “As we found out reading the Records,” Wojs says, “some of the craziest stories in Romance were recorded in Records as well. There’s this test of strength where Lu Bu wagers that he [can] hit his halberd from however many paces with his bow. It sounds ridiculous in the way it’s told in the book, but that actually happened according to Records.” Just because Lu Bu has been defeated in my battle, doesn’t mean I’ve won, although victory is now very close. In many ways this is a traditional Total War assault: I use artillery to breach the walls and send my armies through, and then push back the enemy forces as I move in to capture the castle. It’s not particularly hard—this is the culmination of what, in the game, would be a months-long siege.

“you might have a rival in your oWn faction because you pissed him off”

By now the city has been flooded and, even though the water has now receded, most of Lu Bu’s units have deserted. I’m essentially fighting a militia—no match for my elite soldiers. And those soldiers are further improved by another character in Cao Cao’s army. With multiple generals on the battlefield, different characters will provide different roles. In addition to Xiahou Dun and his martial prowess, I also have a strategist, who doesn’t fight, but who improves the firing rate of my archers and enables new, beneficial formations. Thanks to him, my fire arrows rain down over the castle, and my cavalry charge in wedge formation into a pack of militia spearmen—usually that’s suicide, but here my riders have both the tactical and experience advantage. Lu Bu’s armies start to retreat. In Three Kingdoms, the AI won’t just stand and be slaughtered until that unit routs. Instead, they’ll draw back to defensive positions, such as the towers lining the central thoroughfare of the city. I don’t take the bait, instead taking a longer but safer path around the left-hand side. Along the way, I pass a number of districts containing buildings that confer tactical advantages.

Settle down The plan, I’m told, is to create a compelling connection between the campaign map and individual battles. In the campaign, you develop your settlements and build buildings, and then you’ll see those districts and buildings in battles. That means you can target specific enemy buildings to remove bonuses. Destroy a granary, for instance, and the supply of the settlement is reduced, lowering the time it takes to siege. Raze a patrol building, and your troops will no longer suffer attrition when they enter the region. Inevitably, I capture the castle. This was just one battle, but I leave impressed. While there’s plenty I’m yet to see, including how things play out on the campaign map, Three Kingdoms’ character focus sounds like a significant, positive change, and the AI improvements and combat tweaks will hopefully have a dramatic effect. More superficially, it looks beautiful, too—sporting a painterly style that heightens atmosphere and clarity. This is a strong return to historical warfare for Creative Assembly, one that feels like nothing that’s come before it. Here’s hoping the strategic half of the game looks just as good as what I’ve played of its tactical battles. Phil Savage OctOber 2018

33

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PC GAMES 2 018 very year, the PC Gamer team embarks on an epic quest to choose the top 100 PC games. Where previously we voted for our favorite games, this year we talked: Discussing each of our nominations and deciding which games should make the list. The result is a more honest, considered reflection of

E

our conflicting tastes and opinions as PC gamers. This list represents what we think are the best PC games you can play today. We wanted to celebrate the breadth and variety of PC gaming, and so, for the most part, have restricted ourselves to one game per series. You’ll also find a selection of personal picks: Games we individually love that didn’t quite make the cut.

P rPERSONaL E V i E WPIck Gamenamexxxx

Samuel Roberts

100 Path of ExilE

aSSaSSIN’S cREED ORIgINS I’m not traditionally a fan of Ubisoft’s series, but almost everything here, from world layout to combat to quest structure, has been revamped. I think everyone should see this open world before they die. It’s a staggering creation.

99 twistEd insurrEction

niGht in thE 97 woods

rElEASED 2013 | lAST PoSiTion New

rElEASED 2010 | lAST PoSiTion New

rElEASED 2017 | lAST PoSiTion New

Steven: Path of Exile has quietly become one of the best action RPGs around thanks to its almost incomprehensible depth and wildly different seasonal leagues, where whole new systems are introduced. But the best part is its character customization and spell crafting system. Path of Exile encourages players to make marauders who let spell totems do all the killing for them, witches who melt hordes with a fiery beam, or duelists that cover every inch of the map in a deadly rain of arrows.

John: Tiberian Sun’s best mod brazenly shames the original Firestorm expansion in almost every way. It’s bigger and bolder, offering new buildings, a whole fleet of new units, and even a new faction. There’s a completely new musical score and dozens of single player missions, some of which are based on the original Command & Conquer. Not only are new missions and units still being added, but, as a standalone free download, it’s the most accessible way to play one of C&C’s greats.

Phil: A coming-of-age platformer starring a cat returning home to a dead-end town after dropping out of college. On paper, Night in the Woods sounds like it could be intolerable, but its relationships are so well developed that it’s impossible not to get drawn into Mae’s world, and to want the best for her and her friends.

96 dEadly PrEmonition:

thE dirEctor’s cut rElEASED 2013 | lAST PoSiTion New

P rPERSONaL E V i E WPIck James Davenport

STORIES UNTOLD Using a computer shouldn’t be scary, but Stories Untold makes it so. the fidelity of the keys and knobs draws you into its world. Sitting at your computer while the protagonists are tormented by their own makes the events of these four short stories feel more real and unnerving.

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OctOber 2018

98 Killing Floor 2 rElEASED 2016 | lAST PoSiTion 81

Evan: There are disturbingly few places in video games where I can cut an evil clown in half with a quad-barreled shotgun. Killing Floor 2 is the world’s greatest gore effects system laid atop an enjoyable skeleton. Hordes of monsters trickle into the map, magnetized to your position, and you mulch them with buzzsaw-spitters, incendiary shotguns, rocket launchers, or a microwave cannon that heats enemies from the inside until they burst. The dynamic slow-mo system adds so much, dampening the chaos just enough— granting extra moments to take aim or take in the sight of an intestine flying across the screen. Tripwire is a skilled

digital gunsmith, and the detail lent to particle effects and reload animations holds up wonderfully even under the scrutiny of these plentiful, slowed-down sequences. I also love that KF2 doesn’t simply make these mutants into bullet sponges. On higher difficulties, enemies adopt different behavioral triggers that make them genuinely harder to handle. Wes: The precision and teamwork it takes to play Killing Floor 2 at higher difficulties is especially thrilling. Also, I once played a community map that was monochrome purple and themed after Game Boy-era Pokémon. It was pretty bad, but I appreciated the option.

Pip: Yes, the cars handle horribly. Yes, the PC version has crashed extensively. Yes, it has frustrating quicktime events. And yes, some reveals draw on lazy tropes. But within that is a supernatural-tinged mystery that alternates between survival horror shooter and a horror comedy investigation.

95 stick shift rElEASED 2015 | lAST PoSiTion New

Pip: My go-to example of a game which invokes complex subject matter while being fun. As per developer Robert Yang’s description: “Stick Shift is an autoerotic night-driving game about pleasuring a gay car.” It’s part of a trilogy alongside Hurt Me Plenty and Succulent – together they explore eroticism, consent, arousal, politics, and more.

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94 ElitE danGErous

88 drawful 2

rElEASED 2014 | lAST PoSiTion New

rElEASED 2016 | lAST PoSiTion New

Phil: Aliens! Dogfights! Smuggling! Ferrying pesticides to an outpost six lightyears away! However you decide to play, Elite is a masterfully crafted simulator. I love the design and feel of its ships, particularly the holographic UI and peerless sci-fi sound design. Elite remains entertaining even if you’ve chosen the life of a glorified space trucker.

Wes: A chill, surprisingly hilarious party game I can play for hours. Everyone joins in on a smartphone and gets a phrase to draw on the touchscreen, then writes their own descriptions of everyone else’s drawing to trick the crowd or simply get the most laughs. It’s like millennial Pictionary, so inevitably people draw a lot more dicks.

no kuni ii: 93 ni rEvEnant

kinGdom

rElEASED 2018 | lAST PoSiTion New

Andy: While the original Ni no Kuni was co-designed by Studio Ghibli, it wasn’t involved in this sequel. But developer Level-5 has done fine, creating a rich world with a cast of vivid characters. This is a JRPG about an usurped boy king on a quest to reclaim his throne. It’s also one of the most colorful, vibrant games on PC.

92 mu cartoGraPhEr rElEASED 2016 | lAST PoSiTion New

Pip: You’ll probably feel lost as to what you’re supposed to do. But once you start tinkering with all the different buttons and dials, you begin to see how to explore. The peaks and troughs of digital noise on your display suddenly turn into recognizable shapes as you tweak the settings. Stepped pyramids rise up where seconds ago all you had was a fuzzy mess.

91 guilD WArS 2 rElEASED 2012 | lAST PoSiTion 86

Phil: Guild Wars 2 is full of clever quality-oflife features—it’s still one of the few MMOs that’s figured out how to let you easily play with friends of a different level. The flow and pace of its maps are a thing of beauty, too. Groups expand and contract naturally, as people wander off to explore on their own, before coming together for a small-scale event or organizing to complete a single map-wide objective. You get all the joy of cooperation without the need to commit a significant amount of your time. Just turn up and play. Then, when you eventually get tired, go off and do something else. There’s also no subscription, and none of the expansions

90 suPEr mEGa BasEBall 2

have raised the level cap, so you’re free to come and go as you please, playing at your own pace without ever worrying that you’re falling behind. You can play for hours every week if you want—ticking off the hardest achievements and earning the rarest loot— but I’m happy to log back in every six months or so, safe in the knowledge that I’m ready for whatever’s next. Tom: I have fought huge dragon bosses and a marionette the size of a skyscraper, and I didn’t need to grind for 200 hours for the privilege. Guild Wars 2 earnestly tries to reinvent the MMO by reshaping the bullshit grinding and levelling systems that had become rote in the genre.

89 thE stanlEy ParaBlE

rElEASED 2018 | lAST PoSiTion New

rElEASED 2013 | lAST PoSiTion New

Wes: I’m about as bad at this surprisingly deep baseball game as I am at real baseball, but as a lapsed fan of our pastime, I appreciate how good this rendition is. It walks the line between a hyper-detailed sports sim and an arcadey NBA Jam-like, with simple controls but tons of nuance in pitching and hitting. Chris: The customization is great, letting you change everything from player abilities to team logos, and its Pennant Race mode makes every online game feel important.

Samuel: You start in an abandoned office with a narrator telling you what you’re supposed to do next. If you obey his instructions it will lead you to an ending. But if you don’t, you’ll discover many more fascinating, exciting little stories. Phil: An antagonistic dialogue between a man with no body and another with no voice. Weird, funny and full of ideas. Pip: Games often struggle with comedy. The Stanley Parable manages to be consistently funny as well as whip smart.

87 nidhoGG 2 rElEASED 2017 | lAST PoSiTion New

James: The back-and-forth struggles of Nidhogg were already unpredictable, but bows, axes, swords, and daggers transform simple fencing standoffs into tense, sweaty battles for control. Nidhogg 2 is an excellent way to graft friends to the couch. Evan: A see-sawing melee mess. No PC game’s produces more smileyelling than Nidhogg 2.

86 stEPhEn’s sausaGE roll rElEASED 2016 | lAST PoSiTion New

Pip: Stephen’s Sausage Roll and I are on a break. I can’t remember exactly why, but I know that I definitely rage-quit the sausage-grilling puzzler a while ago and haven’t become sufficiently not angry to go back. That isn’t a criticism, though; this is the puzzle game I recommend to the friends who want a real challenge. Phil: I managed one level. OctOber 2018

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85 BattlEtEch

79 doom ii

rElEASED 2018 | lAST PoSiTion New

rElEASED 1994 | lAST PoSiTion 76

Evan: It’s turn-based MMA with walking tanks. Unlike XCOM 2, the durability and modular design of mechs makes for drawn out, back-and-forth exchanges that become micro-stories of attrition and mettle. You trade blows with an Atlas, weave and evade it, it cleaves off one of your body segments, you circle around, knock it down and KO it with a face stomp.

Wes: People are making mods and maps for this game like it was released a year ago. That’s awesome. But what really strikes me about Doom II is how fun it still is, and how different it feels from decades more advanced shooters. There’s a purity in how it moves, how it sounds, and the minimum frames of animation it takes to sell firing the super shotgun.

83 thumPEr rElEASED 2016 | lAST PoSiTion 34

Phil: The dark, grungy synths and unusual time signatures create an ominous soundscape that draws you into the claustrophobic, reactive action. Thumper offers a mesmerizing blend of palpable dread and empowering mastery—at least it did for me until the later levels, which required a degree of dexterity I’m not sure I possess.

84 footBall manaGEr 2018 rElEASED 2017 | lAST PoSiTion New

Joe: Football Manager 2018 gives us the most sophisticated soccer management simulation yet. Piss off the wrong players, and you’ll risk a dressing room revolt. Suck up to the most popular, and you’ll isolate your fringe stars. You need to balance influence and social standings to prevent the beautiful game from turning ugly. 40

OctOber 2018

82 Euro TrucK SimulATor 2 rElEASED 2013 | lAST PoSiTion 89

Andy: The problem with simulators is that they’re often badly designed, technically janky, or both. But Euro Truck Simulator 2 is neither of these things. This is a deep, polished, and immensely playable driving game set in a vast, mostly accurate replica of Europe. You can drive seamlessly between countries, and there’s an understated beauty to the scenery that passes you by. It’s also incredibly atmospheric, especially at night or in the rain. There’s no better game to play while listening to music or catching up on podcasts, and it’s deeply customizable too, meaning you can make each road trip as realistic or accessible as you like,

81 ftl: fastEr than liGht

depending on how deep you want the simulation to be. Phil: In many ways I prefer American Truck Simulator. That’s not because I love weigh stations—they’re fine, if that’s your thing— but because America’s vast, terrifying emptiness feels more isolated, more epic, and, dare I say, more romantic. Euro Truck Simulator 2, on the other hand, is dense and busy, but also muted—it’s altogether greyer and more moodily atmospheric. Both games are fantastic, and which one you prefer is likely a matter of which style of road trip speaks more to your personality. How many simulation games can you say that of?

80 stalkEr: call of PriPyat

rElEASED 2012 | lAST PoSiTion 21

rElEASED 2010 | lAST PoSiTion 41

Samuel: It turns out being the captain of your own spaceship is stressful as hell, but you’ll encounter some great stories along the way. FTL is a superior mix of roguelike and strategy. While Into The Breach is taking its place in my life, this is still one of the best space-set games around. Wes: It can make for a great party game, too. Put someone in the driver’s seat and let the crowd make choices. Suddenly, half your ship is on fire, and you’ve accidentally vented one of your crew into space.

Chris: This grim and unforgiving open world FPS never turns you into an invincible superhero. No matter how much gear and weaponry you scrounge from the irradiated exclusion zone, you’re still mortal and fragile, alone in a terrifying world of mutants, monsters, and roaming factions of AI-controlled humans. This lends STALKER an unending tension and fills every encounter with dread. From start to finish, there’s a sense that at any moment you could meet your unceremonious end.

fandanGo 78 Grim rEmastErEd rElEASED 2015 | lAST PoSiTion 96

Pip: Twenty years after its initial release, it’s still a real pleasure to revisit the film noir world of Manny Calavera, travel agent of the afterlife. Nowadays, I play purely for the story so I keep online hints at hand for when progress stalls. Tom: Shout out here to Glottis, the giant orange demon who’s too big and happy to quite fit into the world he’s in.

77 warhammEr: vErmintidE ii rElEASED 2018 | lAST PoSiTion New

Samuel: There’s a long tail to Vermintide II if you’re willing to stick with this four-player Left 4 Dead-alike set in the Warhammer universe. It looks prettier than the first game, offers more in-depth character progression, and has much better combat. Phil: It feels really good to stab up a rat, and if that’s not worth a spot on this list, I’d love to know what is.

P rPERSONaL E V i E WPIck Andy Kelly

76 oxEnfrEE

75 rEGEncy solitairE

73 final fantasy xiv

rElEASED 2016 | lAST PoSiTion New

rElEASED 2015 | lAST PoSiTion New

rElEASED 2014 | lAST PoSiTion 40

Samuel: This spooky adventure game has a group of young friends inadvertently unlock a supernatural force on a haunted island. The relationships and various tensions between all the characters feel very real, and the dialogue is funny and poignant. These characters feel like they could’ve been people I went to school with. Phil: The snappy, fun dialogue makes Oxenfree feel more theatrical than realistic, but that fits perfectly with the eerie mystery and interpersonal drama.

Pip: I added Grey Alien’s card-game-slashRegency-romance to our Top 100 discussion list, then reinstalled the game and spent three hours of the Top 100 discussion playing this in the background. I’m fighting the urge to play it again now instead of finishing this incredibly short paragraph about why it’s good. The solitaire aspect is really strong, it’s super easy to play just one more round, and the story is light but charming. Are we done? Can I boot it up again?

Steven: Square Enix’s from-the-ashes MMO enjoyed another stellar year following the release of Stormblood. Though its endgame has become a predictable grind, Final Fantasy XIV is still able to keep things exciting thanks to the steady pace of new bosses, dungeons, and raids to clear. Each one is just as memorable as the last.

norwood 72 thE suitE

ELSE HEaRT. BREak() In a digitized world, anything can be hacked. that’s the premise of else Heart.break(), a unique game about love, freedom, and cybercrime. You can hack objects to change how they behave. Hero Sebastian uses his newfound coding skills to join a gang of hacktivists.

rElEASED 2017 | lAST PoSiTion New

Pip: Cosmo D’s firstperson jazz hotel exploration has you poking around a converted mansion and uncovering the secrets of its former owner, celebrated pianist, Peter Norwood. As you dig around you’ll also discover the game’s sense of humor via visual gags and surreal chats with guests and visitors.

74 mETro: lAST lighT rEDux rElEASED 2014 | lAST PoSiTion 95

Tom: Not many shooters have you frantically pumping up a pneumatic gun before you can fire it, but that’s Metro for you. These ramshackle weapons carry you through a filthy, atmospheric corridor shooter set in the depths of the Moscow undercity. The tunnels hide mutant creatures and nests of horrible spidery things, but the most dangerous enemies are the human clans trying to scrape out a living in the post-apocalypse. Samuel: A beautiful and grim FPS that’s refreshingly bleak for a modern triple-A game. The world building in Metro: Last Light is dazzling to me—the little snapshots of human civilization that show

how there are children in these underground settlements who never knew the world before it got into this bleak, decrepit state. And the story features some unforgettable moments, such as an early flashback that shows—from the perspective of the pilots—how a passenger plane was destroyed in the nuclear blast. It’s a chilling world that’s hard work just to exist in, but I love that it’s a postapocalyptic setting that doesn’t succumb to the desire to over-stylize anything. It commits to showing the horrors of what a nuclear war would do to the modern world, and I’d recommend it to absolutely anyone.

& BladE: 71 mount warBand rElEASED 2010 | lAST PoSiTion New

Evan: Mount & Blade: Warband is what we so often clamor for: an RPG where you’re not an intergalactic savior or chosen one, but just some dude leading a small army on a sprawling map filled with other dudes leading other armies. It’s sandbox in the truest sense, and the feeling of loosing an arrow into a line of galloping cavalry still holds up.

P rPERSONaL E V i E WPIck Evan Lahti

OxygEN NOT INcLUDED the intricate systems-maths of a sim wrapped in the handmade charm of a Klei game. Within hours of starting a new colony, you’re optimizing airflow and figuring out the right number of toilets to fertilize your plants. It’s still in early Access, but this is already my favorite ant farm on Pc.

OctOber 2018

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P rPERSONaL E V i E WPIck Gamenamexxxx

Tom Senior

70 starcraft ii

THIEf gOLD It’s surprising how well thief still holds up. It’s tense and atmospheric, and the labyrinthine levels feel huge, substantial and ambitious even today. It’s punishing, and the spindly NPcs look kind of ridiculous now, but I still get the fear when I snipe out a torch with a water arrow, hoping that nobody sees it.

69 Galactic civilizations ii

and thE 67 ori Blind forEst

rElEASED 2010 | lAST PoSiTion New

rElEASED 2011 | lAST PoSiTion New

rElEASED 2015 | lAST PoSiTion 62

Andy: Across its three campaigns, StarCraft II boasts some of the best, most cinematic single-player RTS missions on PC. New challenges are constantly being thrown at you, forcing you to try new units and tactics, and the story isn’t bad either. When you’re done with all that, you can take your newfound skills online, which still has a huge and dedicated following. There’s a bottomless pit of tips, tutorials, and strategies online, meaning new players have a decent chance of catching up.

Tom: Maybe a game like Stellaris will knock this classic spacebound 4X strategy game out of the Top 100, but not this year. It’s hard to beat a game that’s so smart and complete, and that can generate so much strategic intrigue with every campaign. The AI is so cunning that former PC Gamer staffer-turned-developer Tom Francis once wrote an entire book about one of his attempts to thwart it. Singleplayer games don’t get much deeper than this.

Tom: Ori is not the moonlit animal paradise it appears to be at first glance. It’s a game about loss, revenge, and bastard-hard jumping challenges. The movement is so quick, precise, and responsive I just want to squeeze it, even as it stabs me repeatedly in the heart. Approach with caution and keep some hankies and a swear jar within reach.

66 frostPunk rElEASED 2018 | lAST PoSiTion New

P rPERSONaL E V i E WPIck Phil Savage

SHaDOw TacTIcS: BLaDES Of THE SHOgUN A stealth puzzler that’s not afraid to make you wait. You embark on missions throughout edo period Japan, silently breaking into well-guarded strongholds using wits, patience, and an adorable raccoon dog. Deep, tactical and rewardingly tricky.

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OctOber 2018

68 PriSon ArchiTEcT rElEASED 2015 | lAST PoSiTion New

Chris: There’s an engrossing amount of depth to the management simulation of Prison Architect, where building a workshop for inmates to make license plates doesn’t mean they’ll just walk in and begin working. First they’ll need training, which requires classrooms, which require instructors, who require work and class schedules and their own facilities. Oh, and metal detectors to make sure the inmates don’t smuggle out tools to use as weapons against guards or other inmates, or to tunnel under the walls of your prison. It’s not easy building and managing a small city where most of the population is plotting escape.

Andy: I love it when things go to shit in management sims, and Prison Architect is enormously fun to watch (and manage) when disaster inevitably strikes. A streak of black comedy runs through the game, and there’s something darkly hilarious about a riot erupting—these cartoonish little characters shivving each other, starting fires and beating up guards. Something as simple as a fight in the canteen can be the flashpoint for a full-scale riot, and trying to suppress it safely and quickly is a real test of skill. But that doesn’t mean you can’t have some fun observing the chaos before rolling your sleeves up and stepping in to deal with it.

Chris: A survival and crisis management sim about building and sustaining city in a frozen world. Frostpunk asks two questions: ‘How far are you willing to go to save lives?’ And, ‘No, really, how far?’ It’s a masterful exploration of the burden of leadership, the true costs of survival, and the balancing act between guiding your citizens and controlling them.

65 diaBlo iii rElEASED 2012 | lAST PoSiTion 30

Tom: ‘Maybe I should start another Crusader run’: six words that could take up 60 hours of my life. Diablo III has only become more generous year on year. The necromancer is a fantastic addition that calls back to Diablo II without retreading the same ground. If you want to smash up thousands of monsters for gold, there aren’t many games that do it as well.

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64 BayonEtta

58 final fantasy xii

rElEASED 2017 | lAST PoSiTion 32

rElEASED 2018 | lAST PoSiTion New

Samuel: A superb hack-and-slash game that rewards mastery with feeling like a badass. It’s the first place I’d send anyone new to this genre that has its modern roots in Capcom’s Devil May Cry. This, from that game’s creator, is funny, stylish and satisfying. Its sequel, which Nintendo published, doesn’t come close to matching the original.

Tom: This feels like the most PC-friendly Final Fantasy to me. Like the rest of the games in the series, it’s a beautiful big RPG with a cast of characters that span from annoying (Vaan) to awesome (Balthier). This entry is the only one with the excellent gambit tactics system, which lets you program your party’s AI to blitz dungeons and bosses with satisfying efficiency.

cryPt of thE 63 nEcrodancEr rElEASED 2015 | lAST PoSiTion New

Pip: The combat is so polished that I love it even when it’s stressful. You have to move on every beat or risk losing your cash multiplier. Is it all that important? Only if you want to afford new items at the shop where the catchy soundtrack is given an EVEN MORE AMAZING operatic flavor thanks to a singing shopkeeper called Freddie Merchantry.

gATE ii: 61 BAlDur’S EnhAncED EDiTion rElEASED 2013 | lAST PoSiTion 48

Tom: Baldur’s Gate II is still a magnificent achievement. Few RPGs since have been as broad, deep, or fully featured as this sprawling classic. Pillars of Eternity and other games are steadily bringing the classic RPG back to prominence, but Baldur’s Gate II is still very much worth playing today, and is still one of the most faithful videogame interpretations of D&D’s Forgotten Realms setting. It’s a great party RPG too. Few modern games would be brave enough to implement a morality system that causes party members to fall out with you and leave the

party—the closest you might get is Wrex’s rebellion in Mass Effect. While we all remember Minsc and his space hamster companion Boo, the roster went much deeper and accurately reflected the spread of D&D classes, from lawful good paladins to chaotic neutral thieves. Phil: After the slightly too long tutorial dungeon, Baldur’s Gate II hits the ground running, setting you loose in the massive city of Athkatla to earn money to fund the next leg of your journey. It’s a great way to encourage you to explore the city, seeking out its stories and adventures.

62 sunlEss sEa rElEASED 2015 | lAST PoSiTion 75

Pip: I bounced off Sunless Sea so hard when it first came out-. Returning to the game with the Zubmariner DLC, I found myself suckered in, devoting hours to pottering away in the Unterzee, drinking in Failbetter’s prose, and luxuriating in the art style. I’m singing Sunless Sea’s praises now, lest seas be eclipsed by skies in the near future!

60 fEz

59 80 days

rElEASED 2013 | lAST PoSiTion 67

rElEASED 2015 | lAST PoSiTion 37

Phil: A vast, beautiful mystery that’s equal parts intriguing and relaxing, Fez is a puzzle-platformer that forgoes enemies and peril, instead offering a pleasant adventure about a strange world full of questions to answer. At its most basic, you rotate between four 2D planes, shifting the world in order to create a path to the next door. But over the course of the game, you’ll solve riddles, uncover secrets, and even decode languages. Fez is a tantalizing puzzle box just waiting to be unlocked.

Samuel: Take a journey around a steampunk-infused world as Passepartout, Phileas Fogg’s indispensable assistant. Then, whether you succeed or fail, take the journey again and again, and see all the places and stories you missed the first time around. 80 Days is almost entirely dependent on great writing and little bits of art, and it’s enough to bring the entire world to life. While it feels made for mobile, you should definitely pick it up on desktop if you’ve never played it.

57 hExcElls infinitE rElEASED 2014 | lAST PoSiTion New

Pip: This is the third game in Matthew Brown’s hex-grid logic puzzler series, and it’s the best of the bunch. The ‘infinite’ part of the title refers to the fact that it can generate infinite puzzles if you want to keep playing. But the real joy, and the reason I keep replaying it, is the set which Brown has hand-crafted. Absolute puzzle bliss.

56 homEworld rEmastErEd

collEction

rElEASED 2015 | lAST PoSiTion New

Tom: The saddest spaceships in games must travel the galaxy looking for a new home in Relic’s classic RTS. If you love brain-scrambling 3D battles then this is the only strategy game that really delivers. Deserts of Kharak is excellent too, but I’d sooner play a game bold enough to deploy Adagio for Strings in a scrap. OctOber 2018

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55 dOta 2

49 BiOShOck

RELEASED 2013 | LAST POSITION 54

RELEASED 2007 | LAST POSITION 17

Pip: You do not need to know how much money I have spent in this game. But that investment was because this MOBA continued to reward me. There’s a rich esports scene, a daft and creative community, the ability for friendships to blossom, and for groups of players to cross pollinate as friends of friends move in and out of your teammate invite list.

Samuel: While as a shooter it’s far from best-in-class these days, exploring the different parts of this underwater world and learning its story is an experience no other game has matched for me. Andy: Rapture is still one of the most atmospheric settings on PC, letting you explore a bizarre, broken society in a state of fascinating decay.

54 PlayerunknOwn’S BattlegrOundS RELEASED 2017 | LAST POSITION 25

Andy: I play PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds as a stealth game, moving carefully between cover, keeping out of sight, biding my time. But the thrill here is that the ‘guards’ are real people, which makes sneaking under their noses even more exhilarating.

52 FALLOuT 4

RELEASED 2015 | LAST POSITION New

Samuel: I’d recommend all of the modern Fallout games to someone who’s never played them for various reasons, and this, in essence, represents that entire era of the series on our list. New Vegas is the best for reactive storytelling, Fallout 3 has my favorite side quests, and Fallout 4 feels the most refined when it comes to combat, presentation, and world design. Even if the choices towards the end didn’t produce outcomes I was happy with, I loved journeying around that world with Nick Valentine and Piper. And taking on the role of pulp-style hero The Silver Shroud represents my favorite superhero experience in any game.

Evan: There’s nothing quite like Fallout’s setting. Its cynical, post-apocalyptic, Atomic Age sci-fi is dripping with black humor and absurdity. I’m grateful that something so esoteric continues to get the big-budget treatment. Phil: We’re big fans of immersive sims at PC Gamer, and yet I love Bethesda’s RPGs for being practically the opposite. Fallout 4 lets you be a silent stealth killer who wears a giant suit of power armor—not because it makes sense within the world, but because it makes sense within the underlying systems. It’s an anti-immersive sim, offering satisfying freedom in how you build your wasteland wanderer.

53 deuS ex RELEASED 2000 | LAST POSITION 23

Tom: This has slipped down the list, largely because we‘ve seen developers pick up the immersive sim baton. Deus Ex is still a classic, though. Even though the visuals, UI, dialogue, and sound design seem more creaky each year, the scope for experimentation and player-authored action is still impressive. 44

OctOber 2018

51 Stardew Valley

50 eVe Online

RELEASED 2016 | LAST POSITION 22

RELEASED 2003 | LAST POSITION 44

Andy: A miserable office worker inherits a farm and starts a new life in the idyllic Stardew Valley. This Harvest Mooninspired farming sim is pleasantly freeform and lets you live the way you want to, whether that’s just lazily growing a few crops here and there, or starting a ruthlessly efficient mayonnaise empire. Bo: Stardew Valley is everything I ever wanted out of Harvest Moon, but unchained from Nintendo’s puritanical approach to content.

Tom: It’s obtuse, and it takes a lot of time and effort to become properly mixed up in the corporations that drive EVE Online’s greatest dramas, but I have taken a lot of pleasure in hopping into a vessel and mining for a few hours, quietly turning in a small profit and enjoying the vibe of EVE’s cosmos. It looks beautiful stretched across two monitors, and if I do find myself yearning for the grand stories of war and betrayal, I can always read about them later in PC Gamer.

48 warframe RELEASED 2013 | LAST POSITION New

Steven: Digital Extremes’ cooperative loot shooter quietly became one of the best free-to-play games, and people are only just now catching on. In the years since its rocky release, Warframe has grown into a deeply satisfying and complex online game with thousands of hours worth of quests to complete and gear to farm.

47 darkeSt dungeOn RELEASED 2016 | LAST POSITION 83

Evan: Even as DLC has made it a bigger experience, I continue to value Darkest Dungeon’s focus. It’s an intimidating game for all the right reasons: Difficulty, uncertainty, risk, and reward. The audio and combat camera effects deserve an award for how they make fights between illustrated paper characters feel like Eldritch kung fu.

P RPERSonal E v I E WPicK Gamenamexxxx

Tyler Wilde

46 OPuS magnum

tOrment: 45 PlaneScaPe: enhanced editiOn

43 inViSiBle, inc

RELEASED 2017 | LAST POSITION New

RELEASED 2017 | LAST POSITION 60

RELEASED 2015 | LAST POSITION 50

Tyler: Solving an Opus Magnum puzzle isn’t satisfying the first time. You build an alchemy machine with tracks, rotating arms, and flowchart instructions— producing gold from lead, for instance. Your sloppy contraption may look beautiful in motion, but how could you move on to the next challenge when your friend solved the same problem more elegantly? That quest for perfection is deviously engrossing. Few puzzle games feel so good to finally master.

Andy: The Enhanced Edition of Torment is currently the best way to play this supremely weird RPG on modern PCs. You play as an immortal being with amnesia, trying to piece his past together. The writing is the star here, bringing Dungeons & Dragons’ Planescape setting to life in exquisite, wordy detail. Think of any RPG convention, and Torment will subvert or twist it in some fascinating way, and the characters who join your party along the way are truly strange.

Tom: This turn-based tactics game has you controlling a squad of superspies. As with Into the Breach, Invisible, Inc. gives you tons of information about what’s going on with enemies. You can see their sight lines and judge their intentions. Do you grab your objective and flee before security arrives, or take a gamble for an upgrade?

42 OVercOOked

chESS UltRa For online chess, I recommend chess. com. but if you want to relax with a few AI games, chess Ultra has many of the features of pro chess software without the complexity. It’s for people who just want to play chess, and it works wonderfully. the twitch integration and Vr support are cool, too.

RELEASED 2016 | LAST POSITION 77

44 CIvILIzATION v RELEASED 2010 | LAST POSITION New

Tyler: I vacillate between them, but even though I like Civ VI’s city districts, Civilization V with all the expansions is still the evening destroyer I’d recommend. I wish the series would reexamine its assumptions about the world and make more radical changes in the future, but for now, Civ V is still the standard bearer for turn-based empire building: Complex enough not to become too rote, but accessible enough for just about anyone who enjoys rewriting history. Evan: I prefer Civ VI—it’s shallow, but I need my 1440p boardgames to look as pretty as possible, and the expressive,

animated leaders of Civ VI add a lot. But the fact that there’s still a debate between the two is an endorsement of Firaxis’ approach to putting meaningful new spins on one of PC gaming’s longest-standing, most celebrated genres. Andy: In all the time I’ve played Civ V, I’ve never actually won a game. And so it’s a testament to just how compelling and accessible its strategy is that I keep coming back, trying new tactics and shaping my civilization in new and interesting ways. It’s the journey—taking my people from humble beginnings to advanced empires—that I really enjoy. The destination ultimately isn’t that important.

Samuel: So enjoyable to pick up, then fiendishly difficult to master as you chase those three star ratings. If only I could take it less seriously—me and my partner had to stop playing because I was treating it like a part-time kitchen job. Phil: It’s like if the TV show Hell’s Kitchen was a game—swearing and all.

41 SuPer hexagOn RELEASED 2012 | LAST POSITION New

Jody: Super Hexagon makes you a triangle trapped in pulsing, multicolored hexagons, dodging through gaps in spinning walls at high speed. It’s the definition of easy to learn and bloody impossible to master. I used to think hexagons were fine. Now I hate them. They give me a rash. Terrible shapes. To hell with hexagons.

P RPERSonal E v I E WPicK Chris Livingston

DUSKERS Issue text commands to drones to steer them around abandoned space stations where scary aliens lurk. You can only see what your drones see, giving Duskers a spooky foundfootage feel. It’s a scary, surprising roguelike where everything going wrong is as much fun as everything going right.

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Bo Moore

40 maSS effect 2

PREY the first 20 minutes of Prey are one of the most inspired sci-fi set pieces of recent memory. An immersive sim that offers fantastic problem solving, enjoyable enough combat (even if the enemies are a bit uninspired), and, true to its pedigree, a level of environmental storytelling that rivals rapture.

39 hearthStOne

37 cOmPany Of herOeS

RELEASED 2010 | LAST POSITION 7

RELEASED 2014 | LAST POSITION 45

RELEASED 2006 | LAST POSITION 56

Samuel: The facial animations really date BioWare games, but Mass Effect 2 is still the best at showing darker, more interesting sides to its dense sci-fi universe. Plus, it still has my favorite party of characters from a modern BioWare RPG. Andy: The greatest ensemble cast in RPG history. The idea of recruiting the galaxy’s most notorious warriors and criminals is a brilliant excuse to gather up a motley crew of weird, flawed, interesting people, and I cared about all of them.

Tim: Hearthstone is in a funny spot. It’s as gigantic as it’s ever been, but with the departure of game director Ben Brode and the looming threat of Valve’s Artifact, now would be a good time for Blizzard’s CCG to shake things up a little. The arrival of a tournament mode later this year may do that, but despite an atypically diverse meta, I’ve felt my desire to grind the ladder wane. Regardless, for now Hearthstone remains peerless in terms of the quality and polish of the experience.

Tom: It’s Relic’s best game, and frankly still one of the best real-time strategy games ever made. Jumping into a skirmish against the AI, it holds up today as well as it did at launch, which is a testament to the quality of the art and sound direction, and the success of Relic’s squad-based take on unit control.

36 half-life 2 RELEASED 2004 | LAST POSITION 11

P RPERSonal E v I E WPicK Steven Messner

SlaY thE SPiRE this deckbuilding roguelike isn’t out of early Access, and already I’ve sunk more hours into it than I’d care to admit. It’s a deceptively simple game that anyone can play, but learning to build the perfect deck—and getting all the lucky drops to pull it off—can make hours vanish.

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38 GRAND ThEFT AuTO v RELEASED 2015 | LAST POSITION 12

Andy: GTA V is one of the most lavish singleplayer experiences you can have on PC, with impeccable production values, superb mission variety, and a wonderfully vibrant city. It’s massive, but I’ve finished it three times—that’s how much I love being in Los Santos. For me, Michael is Rockstar’s best protagonist: a weary, slightly pathetic crook past his prime trying to make it in a world that’s left him behind. Samuel: I change my mind about GTA Online every few months, but the fidelity of the world is unbeaten. I’ve seen those streets so many times now, though, and am desperate to play whatever comes next in the series.

Phil: Whatever you think about GTA Online (relationship status: It’s complicated), that first set of multiplayer heists are among the best co-op experiences you can have on PC. The way they divide your team of four into smaller groups, each performing a specific task that slowly draws everyone together for a single, action packed finale is—when you successfully pull it off— tense, exciting, and memorable. Joe: GTA Online is a shop window, and few games let you observe other players’ wares with such impact. Seeing that new car, aircraft, or chopper hurtling towards you makes you want it—which makes grinding to get it less of a chore.

Andy: Gordon Freeman awakes to find Earth transformed into a dystopian hellscape. Valve’s influential FPS is still fantastic, particularly its eerie, understated atmosphere. The Combine are genuinely unnerving antagonists, but they didn’t anticipate facing a mute physicist who can yank radiators off the wall and launch them at high speed.

35 deVil daggerS RELEASED 2016 | LAST POSITION New

Jody: FPS design often copies the Halo idea of a single, repeatable loop, but Devil Daggers really boils it down. Here the loop is backpedalling in an arc while shooting daggers at nearby enemies, clearing enough room to aim at the weak spot of a distant, tougher enemy, then spinning around to take out the skull-face jerk sneaking up behind you. Perfect.

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28 undertale

RELEASED 2016 | LAST POSITION 29

RELEASED 2015 | LAST POSITION 61

Phil: A gloriously silly arcade playground that takes the Forza series’ deep love of cars and customization and transports it into a vibrant, luscious world full of ridiculous races and off-road mayhem. The best feature is the skill chain system, which turns an otherwise basic drive into a challenge to string together stunts without crashing.

Tyler: Undertale subverts RPG cliches with constant self-reference, but unlike many ‘parody games’, it’s not cynical or derivative. It plays on expectations without succumbing to them, with characters we’d love even without the metacommentary on game design, fandom, and authorship. Undertale is a great RPG even if you don’t get every reference.

elder 33 the ScrOllS V:

Skyrim

RELEASED 2011 | LAST POSITION 26

Andy: One of the most evocative settings on PC. It’s not as big as some game worlds, but the varied biomes make it feel bigger. The role-playing is shallow and the writing isn’t great, but the sense of freedom make up for it. Picking a direction, going for a wander, and seeing what you’ll find is Elder Scrolls at its most captivating.

31 CRuSADER KINGS II RELEASED 2012 | LAST POSITION 52

Phil: Crusader Kings II isn’t just a grand strategy about medieval kingdoms. It’s a grand strategy about the people in charge of those kingdoms. You’re not the abstract concept of the country of France; you’re the King of France, a 60-year-old man who, after a protracted battle against the rebellious Duke of Burgundy, is now on his deathbed, about to leave the fate of his dynasty to an idiot son. You’re not the ever-expanding territory of the Holy Roman Empire; you’re an increasingly deranged emperor who people think has been possessed by the devil. By generating stories about people, Crusader Kings II is an endlessly fascinating soap opera that’s

different every time. In my last campaign, I didn’t even play. I used the command console to simply observe the action, watching as an epic period drama played out across the map. Chris: What’s most interesting is how your relationships change when you die and continue playing as your heir. Those three children you had don’t seem so wonderful once you’ve assumed the role of the eldest. The other two, while devoted to their father, now hate you and may plot against you. Your entire view of the world changes regularly, not just because the players change, but because you yourself do, by dying and playing as someone new.

32 PrOteuS RELEASED 2013 | LAST POSITION New

Pip: If this was Pip’s Top 100 Proteus would be number one. I often find myself drifting back to it in moments of stress, treating myself to a short digital holiday. One time I forgot I’d tweaked the game files and accidentally turned everything red, so that was a surprise. Seas of blood. But if you don’t make seas of blood it’s gloriously restful!

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29 wOrld Of warcraft

RELEASED 2011 | LAST POSITION 5

RELEASED 2004 | LAST POSITION 59

Chris: It should have been impossible to top the near-perfect Portal in comedy, storytelling, and physics-bending first-person puzzles, but Portal 2 somehow manages it, and even throws in some fantastic multiplayer on top. Andy: Portal 2 brings a funny and sometimes disarmingly poignant story to its mind-bending puzzles, and the results are exceptional. Your journey through the various eras of Aperture Science make the game a constant delight.

Andy: Blizzard’s long-running MMORPG simply refuses to die, and in fact seems to be getting better with every expansion. The most recent, 2016’s Legion, brought in a swathe of quality-of-life improvements and some of the best questing in World of Warcraft’s nearly 14-year history, making it worth playing all over again. It’s still pretty grindy, especially compared to the more streamlined Guild Wars 2, but there are few online worlds this rich and storied to spend time in.

27 fOrtnite Battle rOyale RELEASED 2017 | LAST POSITION New

James: Fortnite’s battle royale mode started as a weak PUBG imitation, but an unprecedented update cycle has made it not just the best battle royale game, but one of the most fascinating games in development today. With map changes, new items, and one-off world events almost every week, Fortnite is endlessly entertaining to live in.

Of 26 league legendS RELEASED 2009 | LAST POSITION New

Wes: Regular changes to the meta have kept League alive and on top for years. It’s still the best entry point for the MOBA genre. Pip: I favor ARAM—a five-vs-five battle where randomly assigned characters let spells and punches fly across a single lane. I visit the pressure of the three lane Summoner’s Rift from a safe distance— as an esports spectator. OctOber 2018

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19 rOcket league

RELEASED 2015 | LAST POSITION 82

RELEASED 2015 | LAST POSITION 16

Samuel: The best game of its kind. Plus, you can destroy your city with meteors—like I did when I was mayor of Pipville several issues ago. Andy: While the most recent SimCity did everything it could to stifle creativity, Cities: Skylines gave players the power to make anything they want. The result is the best city-builder around.

Tyler: I’ve hit a skill plateau in the best and only rocket car soccer game (I play the hockey variant), but I just have to find the next slope. I don’t think one can ever stop getting better at Rocket League. There’s always a better position I could’ve been in, an aerial I shouldn’t have botched. It hasn’t changed much over the years, but I feel like I could play it forever.

24 arma 3 RELEASED 2013 | LAST POSITION 55

Evan: Arma 3 stands alone as the highest-fidelity FPS, the best multiplayer story generator, and a bottomless trough of community missions and mods. You can play it with the utmost seriousness, with an add-on that lets you administer simulated CPR on injured comrades, or as a silly military take on Black & White with its Zeus DLC.

22 TOTAL WAR: WARhAmmER II RELEASED 2017 | LAST POSITION 35

Tom: Total War is a complex grand strategy series that fuses turn-based 4X-style empire-building with vast real-time battles. So far we’ve mostly seen the format used to explore historical scenarios, but it turns out the Warhammer universe is a perfect fit. For fans of the setting it’s a joy to see each faction rendered so vividly, but I would recommend Total War: Warhammer II to any strategy fan regardless of your Warhammer knowledge. If you want to command a traditional army, the Empire is there for you. If you want something more adventurous, you don’t need to know much about the undead Tomb Kings to

enjoy sending hordes of skeletons after magical relics. The sequel’s campaign is brilliant. Four factions fight for control of a big magic vortex in the middle of the map, which keeps the campaign interesting all the way into the endgame. Jody: Replay that campaign, and eventually you’ll see behind the curtain, but what makes it worth replaying is the factions. Warhammer II gets its factions right in ways that should please all but the fussiest fans, even though they’re a diverse collection of uptight magic elves, dinosaur-riding lizards, sneaky rat bastards, and “we’re really into leather” sex dungeon kink elves. That’s no easy feat.

23 her StOry RELEASED 2015 | LAST POSITION 19

Phil: You start with a police database open and the word ‘MURDER’ entered. Hit enter, and you’re given four short video clips from a police interview. In one, the woman being interviewed says, “I didn’t murder Simon.” OK, let’s search ‘SIMON’. More video clips—more hints at a mystery that twists and changes as you unlock more of its parts. 48

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21 the SimS 4

20 cOunter-Strike: glOBal OffenSiVe

RELEASED 2014 | LAST POSITION New

RELEASED 2012 | LAST POSITION 49

Pip: The latest instalment of the longrunning life sim has absorbed many hours of my life as I generate idiotic stories starring my beloved cast of citizens. Four years after release, it’s at the point where features missing at launch have been patched in (toddlers! pools!) and you can use the glut of expansions, game packs, and stuff packs to tailor the game to your playstyle. I’d like to see the pricing model better support people who dip in and out, but overall there’s no other game like it.

Evan: Valve’s half-hearted updates dented its ranking this year, but CS:GO remains the purest team FPS on the planet. Every round is a joust of plays, counters, and outmaneuvering, where a smart flash or reflex AWP pick shifts the balance. You can spend a lifetime improving your grenade technique, your de_inferno mid push, your eco round playcalling. It’ll never be enough. Each gun is a wild animal with its own unique spray pattern and tendencies that can take dozens of hours to learn.

18 hitman RELEASED 2016 | LAST POSITION 14

Phil: This stealth sandbox about a bald assassin features six huge, absurdly detailed maps, each filled with interesting ways to bump off your targets. Hitman’s social stealth systems—where disguises are more important than not being seen—gives you the time to plan, experiment, and refine your approach. It’s now the best game in the series.

SPace 17 kerBal PrOgram RELEASED 2015 | LAST POSITION 39

Phil: Build a rocket, launch a rocket, fly a rocket, crash a rocket. And then do it all again—tweaking and experimenting until your design is bona fide spacefaring craft, able to maintain orbit or visit nearby celestial bodies. Kerbal Space Program is a sublime mix of physics and slapstick that makes for the perfect playground for space exploration.

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16 SPelunky

15 alien: iSOlatiOn

13 life iS Strange

RELEASED 2013 | LAST POSITION 10

RELEASED 2014 | LAST POSITION 8

RELEASED 2015 | LAST POSITION New

Wes: No one’s topped the way Spelunky’s pieces play off one another to make its world feel deeply knowable and random at the same time. It’s a game you play for hundreds of hours, until getting the key to unlock the chest to find the Udjat Eye to reach the black market to buy the ankh to die and come back to life to fight Anubis to take his sceptre to unlock the City of Gold to find the Book of the Dead to journey through Hell to fight King Yama just feels like another day playing Spelunky.

Andy: The best horror game on PC, because the thing chasing you has a mind of its own. There’s no pattern to predict, no patrol route you can exploit. The alien is intelligent. It will learn your habits and it will fuck with you, and that is terrifying. Samuel: I replayed it this year, and it’s amazing how much mileage they get out of the same two repeated enemies by making clever use of set pieces and different types of environments. Probably the best horror game ever.

Pip: Dontnod’s episodic teen drama develops from an awkward-but-sweet first episode into a story capable of delivering real emotional sucker punches. It’s not perfect, but OH MY! The cast of characters and the strength of their relationships elevate things, and the Instagrammy aesthetic bolsters the teenage intensity.

12 hOllOw knight

cRaDlE cradle, like Deadly Premonition, is wonky but fascinating, and stays with you for years. It’s a transhumanist puzzler where you try to repair a mechanical girl who is also a vase in a yurt on the Mongolian steppe next to an abandoned theme park that dispenses block-based minigames.

RELEASED 2017 | LAST POSITION 46

Wes: The best Metroidvania since Super Metroid. Hollow Knight gives you a massive, decaying, interconnected bug kingdom to explore. It can be overwhelming, but the feeling of discovery is immensely rewarding. The responsive platforming and combat keep backtracking from feeling like a chore, something similar games have struggled with.

14 OvERWATCh RELEASED 2016 | LAST POSITION 13

Andy K: I love Overwatch because, as someone lacking the skill to play most other online shooters competently, I can still make a difference in a match. The sheer variety of brilliantly-designed characters and their wildly varied toolsets means there’s something for every kind of player, even if they can’t pull off a decent headshot. It’s also impressively accessible, cleverly explaining the intricacies of its heroes’ abilities without overloading you with information. Bo: A year ago, Blizzard told me they had “barely scratched the surface” of abilities and character archetypes they’d like to explore in Overwatch. With the

11 dOOm newest hero being a giant hamster ball mech with a Spider-Man-style grappling hook piloted by a literal hamster, I’m finally inclined to believe them. Overwatch continues to be one of the most unique and accessible shooters. And on the esports front, the Overwatch League’s adoption of a city-based team model has ignited local enthusiasm in a way that no other game, tournament, or organization has been able to thus far. Phil: We decided this list’s order before Wrecking Ball was announced. I’ll leave you to speculate whether he would have raised or lowered Overwatch’s position.

RELEASED 2016 | LAST POSITION 9

Tom: A modernization of Doom that puts the focus on speed and guns. The DOOM reboot resists decades of shooter trends that either ape Call of Duty or try to crossbreed the FPS with other genres. There’s nothing wrong with this experimentation, but it’s refreshing to boot this game up and blow chunks out of the forces of hell. Bring on the next one, id.

P RPERSonal E v I E WPicK Joe Donnelly

KEntUcKY RoUtE ZERo Kentucky route Zero is wonderful. Its storylines are weird and interesting. Its minimalist art style is gorgeous. Its sprawling open road and Mark twainesque echo river are a joy to explore. Its cast are quirky and often funny. And it’s not even finished. Look for its final act this year.

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PhantOM Pain

RELEaSED 2015 | LaSt POSitiOn 6

Tom: I loaded my MGS V save a month ago to find Snake decked in a leopard skin combat suit. I forgot that my dog had a knife and my horse had a face shield, and that I named my squad TACTICAL OCTOPUS. It’s a terrific

open world stealth game, but its sense of fun makes the supernatural military nonsense bearable. Samuel: My favorite stealth action game ever, that sits somewhere between immersive sim and Metal Gear of old.

8 Subnautica RELEaSED 2018 | LaSt POSitiOn New

Pip: I usually tap out pretty fast when it comes to survival games, but this one takes place in a gorgeous underwater world, involves a compelling plot, AND I adore tinkering with my underwater base. It also lets me choose how much survival-ing to have, meaning I can switch off thirst. It’s not exactly better 50

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down where it’s wetter given the wealth of creatures and situations which can kill you, but it’s exactly where I want to be. Andy: Exploring is genuinely rewarding, both in terms of finding resources to build submarines and environmental detail. It’s a world with a story to tell, and it tells it brilliantly.

SOuLS 9 DaRk REMaStERED RELEaSED 2018 | LaSt POSitiOn 2

Tom: Have you met Gravelord Nito? He’s a roiling mass of skeletons shrouded in a cape of souls. He lives in Dark Souls catacombs, and is just one example of the game’s extraordinary art direction, and powerful sense of dark fantasy horror. People go on about

Dark Souls’ bottomless lore, but underneath the theatrics it’s a very simple game. You raid dungeons, chop up monsters, loot chests, and level up. Without strong combat fundamentals, I wouldn’t have kept playing long enough to uncover the gods’ tragic stories.

7 XcOM 2

RELEaSED 2016 | LaSt POSitiOn 4

Tom: Strategy games are good at making me care about numbers and systems, but XCOM 2 is one that translates the numberwang into emotional investment. Losing a squad member can be devastating. You nurture them, gradually upgrading their gear and unlocking sweet new skills, only for an alien to blast

them in a routine mission. When things go wrong, they go very wrong indeed, which is all part of the drama in a game that casts humanity as the underdog. Evan: XCOM’s art direction is ridiculously underrated. Its maps are believable, colorful dioramas that shatter into pieces under the heat and intensity of your insurgent combat.

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RainbOw 6 SiX SiEGE RELEaSED 2015 | LaSt POSitiOn 15

Evan: Sure, you can play Siege as if it’s Counter-Strike, pre-firing and out-angling your opponents with snap marksmanship. But the real joy is in outsmarting the other team by poking clever holes in the maps, placing your gadgets in unexpected positions, and careful drone scouting. I also love Siege’s tempo: This is a shooter that gives you time and a canvas of breakable space to stop, strategize, and execute a dumb plan with absurd gadgets like an eyeball turret that shoots lasers, invisible poison mines, and a drone that shoots concussions. Ubisoft remains devoted to supporting Siege with meaningful systems renovations and with four annual updates that add new characters and maps.

what REMainS 5 OF EDith Finch RELEaSED 2017 | LaSt POSitiOn 27

Samuel: This first-person narrative game is constantly inventive. Edith Finch ventures into the home where her family used to live, before they all died in various tragic circumstances and their rooms were sealed up. You uncover each of their stories. It’s the high point of this genre. Andy: Exploring the abandoned home of the eccentric Finch family and uncovering their history is one of the most satisfying storytelling experiences a game has ever given me. But it’s a game I’ll never play again, simply because one scene in particular was so emotionally-charged that I can’t face it. Any piece of media that holds that kind of power has to be special. OctOber 2018

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4 intO thE bREach RELEaSED 2018 | LaSt POSitiOn New

Tom: Into the Breach is a game about turn-based battles between mechs and kaiju-sized bugs, and it’s almost perfect. Unlike many turn-based strategy games, Into the Breach doesn’t use chance to inject battles with tension—the UI tells you pretty much everything that’s going to happen next turn. The pleasure

comes from solving the next turn state as efficiently as you can. It’s a small game—battles only last a few turns on an eight-by-eight grid—but the varied mech teams and increasingly nefarious bug types create a huge amount of tactical variation. It shows that strategy games don’t have to be long and laborious.

3 DiVinity: ORiGinaL Sin 2 RELEaSED 2017 | LaSt POSitiOn New

Tyler: Divinity: Original Sin 2 feels less stodgy than other classic RPG revivals while heightening their best qualities: Turn-based combat (I hate real-time, sorry) with physics-based spells and exploding barrels, great characters, and a commitment to letting players do what they want, even if it breaks everything. Wes: It offers you an intricate RPG sandbox to play in, and it invites you to break the rules in as many ways as you can imagine. The first game did that, too, but this one marries that freedom with across-the-board great writing and genuinely thoughtful roleplaying. It walks the walk and talks the talk. 52

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Wes: There’s so little randomness that random moments have immense impact. In one run, I had two buildings resist damage at a pivotal point. I’ve never done a more exaggerated fist pump.

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DiShOnORED 2 RELEaSED 2016 | LaSt POSitiOn 3

Samuel: This is the best immersive sim there has ever been. While the highconcept levels like A Crack in the Slab and Clockwork Mansion get a lot of attention for their clever one-off twists, more traditional stages like Royal Conservatory and Dust District are so detailed and fun to explore. There’s no sense of repetition, and each level feels like a huge event. It’s the precision of Dishonored 2 I love. Unlike some other modern attempts at this kind of game, every sequence of movements and every successful takedown feels like something you’ve earned. Andy: Dishonored 2 has some of the best level design on PC, both in terms of the architecture and aesthetic, and in how the environments are rich playgrounds that let you really flex your creativity. Every location has something interesting about it, whether it’s the time-hopping of A Crack in the Slab or the intricate house-sized puzzle box that is the magnificent Clockwork Mansion. And the sheer volume of ways to navigate the levels and complete your objectives really captures the spirit of PC gaming. Tom: I want to savor every moment in Karnaca, because those levels are so dense and fun to explore. Immersive sims have always been good at creating broad levels like these, full of sandbox opportunity, but I really value that simple acts of moving, shooting and fighting feel great in Dishonored 2. Your regenerating mana bar gives you license to use your

traversal powers freely, and I love blink and Emily’s tentacle leap. The introduction of Emily just broadens your toolset further. Domino, which lets you chain NPCs fates together so that one attack affects them all, is an inspired ability, and it’s emblematic of the way Dishonored 2 builds on the tenants of immersive sims like Deus Ex, and spins them out in spectacular new ways. Augmented special forces dudes are cool, but warlock assassins are even cooler. Phil: For me it’s the reactivity of the world. Yes, the combat is fluid and satisfying, the level design is intricate and beautifully balanced, and the abilities perfectly tailored for absurd displays of skill and problem solving. But what ties it all together is the lengths Arkane has gone to make it all feel believable and real. Immersive sim is, I will admit, a clunky term, but it’s a useful way to encapsulate a core philosophy: That a game’s systems must work to make you believe in a world, even if that world features magical parkour assassins. I believe in Dishonored 2’s world because throughout I encountered ways Arkane had anticipated player behavior. The most extreme example is found in the standout mission A Crack in the Slab, which features an alternate timeline that only occurs if you do something that’s never asked of you—that most people will probably never try. Arkane knew someone would try, and so made a response. That’s amazing dedication to the craft. OctOber 2018

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1 thE witchER 3: wiLD hunt RELEaSED 2015 | LaSt POSitiOn 1

Tom: It’s a great execution of the ronin fantasy set in one of the most beautiful worlds on PC. The craggy Skellige isle might be one of my favorite places in games, or is it Novigrad, or the sunlit vineyards of Toussaint? Even the dripping bogs in the early areas are pretty, in their own miserable way. Within these places you meet people with interesting problems. Maybe their well is haunted. Maybe their spouse is haunted. Usually something is haunted, or cursed, or being pursued by a hideous mythical beast. I treated the sidequests as the main quest, to be honest, roleplaying a mutant outcast on a mission to make the world a slightly better place. Oh, and let’s not forget Gwent, one of the best games-within-agame since Final Fantasy VIII’s Triple Triad. Jody: The fact you play a character with his own place in the world, including allies, enemies, and ex-girlfriends, is a definite strength of The Witcher 3. But it wasn’t always this way. In the first Witcher game Geralt was an amnesiac sleazebag, and honestly a bit of a tool. He wasn’t a fun person to be around, let alone to be. But by The Witcher 3, Geralt’s a caring father figure with a heart of gold beneath layers of beard and gruff, and more than that he feels like someone you personalize. How much he cares about getting paid, who he

loves, how seriously he takes his creed, that’s all you. The Witcher 3’s version of Geralt is the perfect videogame protagonist not because he’s more integrated into his world than a character you make from scratch, but because he’s a solid outline with room to maneuver inside that. He contains multitudes—but not too many. He has well-defined areas of doubt and uncertainty. Wes: “Place” really is what makes The Witcher 3 so spectacular, and like no other game I’ve played. It’s not just that the world is gorgeous and detailed, though it is both of those things. The Witcher 3 has this unparalleled combination of artistry and technology that makes its locations and characters feel authentic. Accents and architecture differ between the mainland and Skellige. The characters you encounter out in the world have quests that involve their families or monsters native to their region, and the more of these quests you take, the more you appreciate how natural and human they seem. No one’s asking you to go out and slay five wolves because that’s a good way

to spend ten minutes in an RPG. If you’re killing beasts, it’s probably to save a village’s flock or get revenge for a grieving father, and even straightforward quests often end with surprising deviations. Depending on how you play Geralt, you can be a mercenary in search of coin, or calmly talk someone out of a decision you know they’ll regret. You can haggle with assholes who don’t respect the value of a witcher’s work, and you’ll have to decide what to do when a poor farmer doesn’t actually have the money he promised you. Those touches, along with the motion capture, the voice acting and the wind on a blustery night in Velen, make the whole thing come alive. What a world. Phil: A thing I hate about most RPG writing is that something as simple as asking to be rewarded for your time and effort is treated as the most evil thing a protagonist can do. But in The Witcher 3, Geralt is a professional doing his job. His haggling with clients over money isn’t a deviance or a crime, but the expected cost of hiring a man who is good at what he does for a living. Andy: I love The Witcher 3 because it’s a game where almost everything is meaningful. When you pick up a quest, it isn’t just some thinly-written excuse to get you to go kill a monster. There’s a backstory, a motivation, and often a twist. Quests can spiral, turning an encounter with a peasant in a tavern into a sprawling epic that ends with you fighting some great, mythical beast atop a crumbling tower in a raging storm. The game is heaving with interesting characters and worthwhile things to do, and Geralt is the foundation of it all: a complex lead who makes other videogame characters look like cardboard cutouts.

An unpArAlleled combinAtion of Artistry And technology

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BLOOD in the

WATER World of Warcraft players have killed gods and kings. Now it’s time to kill one another in Battle for azeroth. By Steven Messner

ven in defeat, Sargeras casts a shadow over Azeroth. In the climax of Legion, the titan plunged his sword into its crust—a final effort to destroy the planet. As you may guess, sticking a continentsized sword into a living world isn’t a good thing for its denizens.

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The battle with Sargeras and his Burning Legion cost the Horde and the Alliance more than lives, however, it also destroyed any trust that existed between the factions. Battle for Azeroth marks a new chapter for World of Warcraft—not just because Blizzard is returning to the conflict that started it all, but in how it’s pushing this 14-year-old MMO into brave new frontiers.

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THE WORLD OF WARCR AF T ISSUE Battle for Azeroth “Horde and Alliance tensions have been an undercurrent throughout all of Warcraft history, but we’ve never really tried or had the chance to tell the story of a full-blown war between them,” game director Ion Hazzikostas tells me. “And now it’s time to settle that score.” It’s a bold vision for an MMO that has historically focused on defeating mutual villains, like Arthas the Lich King. But Blizzard is reinforcing this theme of all-out warfare on multiple fronts. Each faction sets sail to their own continent, and when players reach the new level cap of 120, they’ll invade the other faction’s territory. Two radically different game modes and a completely new PvP ruleset lay the groundwork for battles at every turn. Nothing and no one is safe, as evidenced by the Horde burning the night elf capital city to the ground while the Alliance tries to retake the undead city of Lordaeron. “There’s a lot of inspiration that is taken from the early real-time strategy roots of the entire Warcraft franchise,” Hazzikostas says. “But we really set out to craft an expansion that reflects that Horde-versus-Alliance conflict every step of the way.” All-out war isn’t the worst of Azeroth’s problems. After Sargeras stabbed the planet, a powerful resource began bleeding to the surface all around Azeroth; the literal blood of the planet herself called Azerite. Both sides are eager to use it as a weapon against the other. “In that sense, this is a battle for Azeroth with two meanings,” Hazzikostas says. “You have war raging between the Horde and Alliance, but you also have a dark cancer effectively killing the world beneath our feet, and if we don’t do anything about it there won’t

War StorIeS

the BurnIng cruSade A demon army invades Azeroth through a portal opened by Doom Lord Kazzak.

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Brave new world

For the first time ever, players will have entirely separate leveling zones in Battle for Azeroth based on their faction allegiance. In search of new allies to help in the war effort, the Alliance is rekindling its relationship with the naval superpower of Kul Tiras, an island nation of headstrong human mariners now divided by political turmoil. Horde players will likewise travel to the primordial island of Zandalar, home of an ancient and decaying troll empire on the verge of total collapse. Unlike Legion’s Broken Isles, which played out like a mixtape of Warcraft lore, Kul Tiras and Zandalar are a cohesive set of three zones that tells an overarching story. And each one is a showcase of how a 14-yearold MMO can still immerse players in a rich and detailed world. “World of Warcraft is a game about adventure and exploration and the world is the star first and foremost,” Hazzikostas says. “And that’s been true since 2004.” “One of the ways we tried to bring humanity to these people is to give them a living breathing culture and society,” lead environmental artist Ely Cannon tells me. When designing the Kul Tirans, for example, Cannon says the team spent an unprecedented amount of time figuring out how to reinforce their culture and story through the environment itself. The capital city of Boralus in

The Warcraft saga so far

Wr ath of the lIch KIng

Another army, undead this time, commanded by the dreaded Lich King, invades Azeroth.

OctOber 2018

be anything for the victor to claim.”

catac lySm

Deathwing the Destroyer arrives in Azeroth, and lives up to his name by destroying everything.

mIStS of PandarIa

The Horde and Alliance fight over Pandaria, a misty island populated by giant pandas.

WarlordS of draenor

A disgraced Garrosh Hellscream travels to an alternate timeline to rebuild his army.

legIon

With help from Gul’dan, the same demon army from the Burning Crusade expansion invades Azeroth, again.

Bat tle for azeroth

The Alliance and Horde factions go to war, again, recruiting new allies to bolster their armies.

Tiragarde Sound, for example, isn’t just a smattering of buildings clumped along the coast, but a richly detailed port metropolis where forges churn out a steady stream of cannons for the Kul Tiran armada. Unlike World of Warcraft’s older and more static cities, Boralus feels lively and immersive. It feels real. “We’re supporting that with a lot of new character animations to give you a sense that people are doing tasks and really living in this space,” Cannon says. That’s not the only big addition to Warcraft’s visual toolset, either. Cannon says the team has updated weather and lighting systems, and is expanding its use of skyboxes to create a greater sense of scale, making even subterranean caverns feel vast beyond measure. Even if these new worlds and their cultures are more vividly represented, Battle for Azeroth is still built upon that familiar structure of questing. Innovations introduced in Legion, like level-scaling and dynamic World Quests are making a return, but Battle for Azeroth has its own ideas, too. When players reach level 120, the entire continent of the other faction becomes available to explore, along with new quests and dungeons. “When you hit level 120, you have three zones opening up for you

ABOVE: The serpentine Sethrak worship a corrupted nature spirit named Sethraliss. RIGHT: A new expansion means new mounts, though this Alliance Charger isn’t yet confirmed.

instead of just one,” Hazzikostas says. “Suddenly you have double the landmass that you are accustomed to and now begin exploring as these journeys now collide in a very direct, head-on way.” It’s here that the war spreading across all of Azeroth will come to a head, and where players will start to see some of Battle for Azeroth’s most innovative ideas flourish. Coupled with World of Warcraft’s usual offering of dungeons and raids, two new forms of group content are going to have a substantial impact on how you spend your time at max level.

land-ho!

Of all the new features coming in Battle for Azeroth, Island Expeditions are the most bizarre and intriguing. If World of Warcraft’s dungeons and raids are like a dance recital where players master specific choreography in order to succeed, Island Expeditions are an improv show where victory lies in how well you can respond and adapt to wildly different situations. “The idea is that there are hundreds of islands out in the great sea, and we should explore them and we’ve got this seafaring theme behind this expansion,” senior game designer Jeremy Feasel explains. “So how can

all-out war isn’t the worst of azeroth’s problems

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Stormsong Valley is home to Kul Tiran Sea Priests who bless new ships.

we play that out in a way that feels awesome?” The idea is simple: Groups of three players (your class doesn’t matter) land on an uncharted island, and must race another group of three advanced AI-controlled players to collect Azerite. But here’s the kicker: Every time you visit an island, the monsters, items, and miniquests that populate it are randomly generated. “You never know how your adventure is going to unfold,” Feasel explains, calling it “competitive PvE.” Each monster your party kills gives you Azerite, but players can also complete miniquests or mine it from the earth. Meanwhile, the enemy team will be doing the same thing. On islands as small as these, however, conflict is inevitable. And there’s plenty of opportunity to ambush and steal Azerite from the enemy team. It’s more akin to Blizzard’s Heroes of the Storm than the traditional Warcraft group experience. When Battle for Azeroth launches, there will be seven different island types each capable of housing 1,300 different types of monsters. But the real fun comes when one team is close to gathering the requisite amount of Azerite needed to win. Blizzard has designed 17 climaxes that can trigger on any Island Expedition—epic showdowns where, 60

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with a little strategy, an underdog team can clutch victory. In one of these final battles, a portal might open up on the island that leads to a small dungeon where a boss guards an exorbitant amount of Azerite. The group can venture in to challenge the boss, but they might be sandwiching themselves against a vicious monster and an enemy team looking to gank them. And that is something to worry about because the AI opponents are Warcraft’s smartest enemies ever. “We wanted to think about how do players play, but more importantly what impactful things can players do to other players that you’ll always remember?” Feasel says. “What is the rudest thing that can happen to you in PvP? Being jumped by a rogue? We definitely have a rogue that can jump you.” There are six enemy teams you can face off against and each one has their own strategy and style in combat. These aren’t your regular Warcraft enemies, either. Some might try and ambush your team, while others will avoid direct conflict entirely, but are exceptionally fast at killing monsters for Azerite. No matter who you fight, all of them are adept in combat and will coordinate abilities and targets just like a real human team. It’s an entirely new

THE WORLD OF WARCR AF T ISSUE Battle for Azeroth

ABOVE: It’s also home to some mighty tall ogres.

KnoW your enemy Major players in the upcoming war Each faction is led by legendary and capable commanders. Here’s who the biggest names in Battle for Azeroth are and why they’ve got an axe to grind.

anduIn Wrynn

The king of Stormwind inherited the throne after his father, Varian, died when Sylvanas ordered the Horde to retreat during a crucial battle, leaving the Alliance surrounded. He’s got good reason to be pissed.

JaIna Proudmoore

If anyone has reason to hate the Horde, it’s Jaina. They killed her father and brother, and bombed the kingdom she started. Now she’s keen on being the bridge that connects the Alliance with Kul Tiras, her family’s empire.

Sy lvanaS WIndrunner

Leader of the undead forsaken and warchief of the Horde, Sylvanas and her people are seen as a scourge to be wiped out by the Alliance. That makes her one of the most callous, brutal warchiefs.

hIgh overlord Saurfang

Saurfang was Sylvanas’ ally until events during the Battle of Lordaeron forced him to question her leadership. He is now an Alliance prisoner in a war he doesn’t want to fight.

generation of artificial intelligence that Feasel says took Blizzard months of engineering to get right. “It’s a pretty significant effort, but we’re really happy with what came out of this,” he tells me. Like dungeons and raids, Island Expeditions can be played at three different difficulties that’ll curb how difficult these enemy teams are. Or, if you’re exceptionally brave, you can play Island Expeditions in PvP mode and go up against human opponents for the ultimate challenge. It’ll be worth it, though, as Island Expeditions reward “hundreds” of unique items, including goofy weapon skins like a hook hand and over 20 new pets like a crab with a pirate hat. “I don’t think you’re going to get the same items for many months,” Feasel laughs.

20 players to harvest resources, build a base, and launch an assault against an enemy stronghold—a typical Warcraft III mission, but from the perspective of your own character instead of a floating mouse cursor. Gross says that once players reach level 120 shortly after launch, the first Warfront set in the Arathi Highlands will be activated. When it goes live, Horde players will first spend time amassing a stockpile of crafting materials and resources. Once they reach a certain threshold, the Warfront itself will become active and players can jump into teams of 20 to fight against the Alliancecontrolled fortress of Stromgarde. This isn’t a PvP mode, however. The Horde attackers will be up against one of three AI Alliance commanders that have their own strategy and units they bring to the battle. Meanwhile, Horde players will choose which structures to build, upgrades to purchase, and areas of the map to assault. A friendly AI-controlled Horde commander will handle producing units and dispatching them, creating an ever-changing battlefield where hundreds of units clash at any given moment. “It’s a very dynamic event,” Gross tells me. “The other faction is sending attack waves at you and your troops are being sent out. There’s a lot of things you can be doing. If you just want to go out and fight on the frontlines, you can do that, or you can coordinate with your team to take specific objectives.” After a certain amount of real time the Warfront event will end and the Horde will take control of the Arathi Highlands, opening new World Quests and special world bosses to kill. Meanwhile, Alliance players will begin funnelling resources into their own stockpile, opening a Warfront for them to take Stromgarde and the Arathi Highlands back from the Horde. As Battle for Azeroth continues, Gross said the team is looking to add other Warfronts in different zones for players to battle over. While it’s not true PvP, Warfronts will simulate battles on a scale that

“i don’t think you’re going to get the same items for months”

drums of war

While Island Expeditions focus on small-scale skirmishes, Warfronts are where players are going to do battle on a scale never seen before in World of Warcraft. “We have these little skirmishes, we have the story of going to Kul Tiras and Zandalar, but we needed to have that moment of showing what the war looked like,” explains lead game designer Matt Gross. “Our vision was, what does it look like if you’re fighting on the ground in a Warcraft III battle?” Heavily inspired by Warcraft’s RTS roots, Warfronts task a team of

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THE WORLD OF WARCR AF T ISSUE Battle for Azeroth Warcraft has never attempted outside of scripted moments in the story. Like Island Expeditions, there are dozens of dynamic events that might crop up that could suddenly shift the tide of battle, like an ambush of dwarves from Iron Forge blindsiding your army, or a powerful golem that rampages across the battlefield. “Each time you play it, we want you to have that excitement of wondering what’s going to happen this time,” Gross says. Fortunately, those who have a soft spot for ganking players don’t need to feel left out. One of Battle for Azeroth’s biggest changes replaces a system that has been central to World of Warcraft since it first launched in 2004. Dedicated PvP servers are going away entirely, and now players can opt in to openworld PvP at their leisure, and also earn a boosted amount of gold and experience for their trouble. Now, players can turn on “War Mode” while in their capital city, and World of Warcraft will automatically place them in instances of the open world filled with other players who want to fight while hiding all others who don’t. It’s an elegant solution that means players are no longer stuck on servers with wildly disproportionate faction populations, and Blizzard can finally design better reasons to engage in PvP outside of competitive modes. “With the new technology we have for cross-server gameplay, it made sense to solve all of the problems we had with PvP servers at once,” Hazzikostas explains. “This acts as a platform upon which we can build all new types of content.”

that players will come to own. Similar to Artifact weapons, which had their own individualized skill trees, players will choose one of several traits at different thresholds as their Heart of Azeroth gains more power from Azerite. Though it won’t have the same hand-crafted touch that each unique Artifact weapon had, Hazzikostas says Azerite armor will offer more interesting choices for far longer into the expansion’s life cycle. “Artifact weapons were at their best in the first three or so weeks of the expansion,” he says. “But really, once you’re a few weeks in, you had most of those options unlocked. For the rest of the expansion it was just linear incremental power increases. We didn’t have the depth of choice that we really valued early on.” That’s just one of the few ways Azerite is playing a key role in both the overarching narrative and the player’s personal story. With both sides racing to hoard the resource and use it to fuel new war machines, I can’t help but wonder what kind of terrible consequences that might have for Azeroth itself. Compared to the immediate threat of the Burning Legion and Sargeras, though, Battle for Azeroth strikes a decidedly different tone in its approach to storytelling. And creative director

“it will have emotion and more of the things you care about”

heartBreakers

The new ‘War Mode’ is one of just several changes. Among the usual redesign of classes, one of the biggest changes from Legion is to the Artifact weapon system. Once Battle for Azeroth starts, players will retire their Artifact weapons in favor of the Heart of Azeroth. This necklace is powered up by Azerite and unlocks the potential of special Azerite armor 62

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ABOVE: The prolific hunter Rexxar will also make an appearance in Stormsong.

allIed raceS Allied Races are variants of existing race options that players will unlock. Here are a few of the confirmed ones.

alliance

horde

voId elf

nIghtBorne

lIghtforged draneI

hIghmountaIn tauren

darK Iron dWarveS

zandalarI trollS

Kul tIran humanS

mag’har orcS

Blizzard’s environmental design only continues to improve with each expansion.

Alex Afrasiabi agrees. “The stories that we’re telling in Battle for Azeroth have more consequence to some degree,” he tells me. “They’re more personal, more relatable. That feels more interesting to me.” Even now, new quests are setting the stage for what’s to come. While war is inevitable, you don’t have to look hard to find players who are concerned about how far either faction is willing to push the engagement. Afrasiabi says that’s the point. More than ever, he wants players to question what it means to be a member of the Horde or the Alliance. “You have all of these different races that, at an ideological level, just cannot see eye to eye,” he says. “I feel like as we delve into Battle for Azeroth, it might not initially have all of those huge moments we saw in Legion, but it will have emotion and more of the things you care about. It will help you understand what it means to be in the Alliance. What does it mean to be in the Horde? We want to give people the tools to ask that of themselves.” For over a decade players have been shouting, “For the Horde,” or, “For the Alliance,” as they ride to war. Battle for Azeroth wants to make sure we understand the weight of those words.

RIGHT: It’s a real shame we don’t get to sail boats in Battle for Azeroth.

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THE WORLD OF WARCR AF T ISSUE

CHANGE the

WORLD Looking back at World of Warcraft, PC gaming’s most important MMO.

CONTENTS 66

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The Scarab Lord

WorLd of WoWcohoL

cLaSS Warfare

By Steven Messner

By Nika Harper

By Chris Bratt

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WorLd of ariSe, My advenTure chaMpionS! By Andy Kelly

By Emily Marlow

barrenS of heLL By Matthew Elliott

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THE WORLD OF WARCR AF T ISSUE scarab Lord | WOWCOhOL | CLASS WARfARe | WORLD Of ADventuRe | ARiSe, My ChAMpiOnS! | BARRenS Of heLL

The

SCARAB LORD

Destiny 2 ’s game director talks about World of Warcraft’s most ambitious world event ever. By Steven Messner hen Destiny 2 director Luke Smith sends an email, his signature reads a little differently than you might expect. “Luke Smith, Scarab Lord”—an honorific given to just a few hundred WoW players. It’s a title Smith came to own when his tauren Shaman, Aganathyre, stood before thousands of players on the Eredar server one fateful Saturday morning in spring 2006 and rang an ancient gong. “Aganathyre, Champion of the Bronze Dragonflight, has rung the Scarab Gong,” read a broadcast to every player in Azeroth in that moment. “The ancient gates of Ahn’Qiraj open, revealing the horrors of a forgotten war...”

W

EnEmy at thE GatEs

In 2006, Blizzard launched a world event so ambitious that, to date, nothing has eclipsed it. With many of Azeroth’s original threats defeated, players’ attention turned to Silithus, a land on the doorstep of the dormant insectoid empire of Ahn’Qiraj. To open the gates and unleash the monsters within, players had to contribute to a war effort that required cooperation on a scale never seen in World of Warcraft. As the raid leader of Paradox, Eredar server’s top Horde guild at the time, Smith didn’t realize what he was doing when he claimed Broodlord Lashlayer’s head. The guild had cleared the Blackwing Lair raid, where the Broodlord resided, plenty of times. But Lashlayer’s head was a new item. Because only one version of it dropped for the 40 66

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players in the team, Smith took it. “I said hey this thing is going to drop from Broodlord, it’s the head, and I’m going to take it,” Smith says. “This was before people knew what it was for.” He didn’t know it would put him on the path to becoming a legend. Lashlayer’s head became the first piece in a quest chain to build The Scepter of the Shifting Sands, an artefact that would ring the Scarab Gong and open the Gates of

“We Were sharing in this quest together as a group” Ahn’Qiraj for everyone on the server. To fuel the war effort, players in each faction had to gather just over a million different supplies, from 90,000 copper bars to 250,000 Mageweave Bandages—each one handcrafted by an actual player. Meanwhile, Smith and his guild were racing to build the sceptre first. Part of that race involved grinding reputation points with the Brood of Nozdormu by killing Qiraji monsters and turning in their carapaces. Smith and his guild enlisted the aid of other Horde guilds, offering to run them through difficult raids for gear in exchange for turning in carapaces on Smith’s behalf. “You had to create a supply chain,” Smith says. “It wasn’t

just Paradox, it was a server-wide effort—easily hundreds of players.” It was a 24-hour effort for Smith’s character. When he slept, friends would log into his account to play and receive carapaces. During the day, Smith organized raids to defeat the bosses required to earn the three shards to craft the sceptre. One quest required defeating a raid boss that broadcast a message to all players letting them know what was happening so opposing guilds could interfere. Another involved a ‘smash and grab’ operation where Smith had to infiltrate the human capital of Stormwind and steal the page of a book. “It was completely transcendent,” Smith explains. “I didn’t do any of this by myself. We’d all get into Ventrilo, and I would read the whole quest text I was seeing to everyone. We were really sharing in this quest together as a group.” Amazingly, Smith and his guild became the first to complete The Scepter of the Shifting Sands, grind the requisite reputation, and amass the millions of supplies. It was official: He would become Azeroth’s champion against the Qiraji threat and the Scarab Lord.

OpEn sEsamE

Smith logged in to an audience of thousands. Paradox formed a protective line creating a path to the Scarab Gong while a sea of Alliance and Horde players waited. The moment is etched so clearly in Smith’s mind he can remember the armor his Shaman was wearing. “I walked up to the gong, and the game was running at a profoundly sad framerate,” Smith laughs. “It’s like you’re playing a slideshow, though that’s not how it felt at the time.” The moment that gong was rung, and the game-wide broadcast made sure everyone knew Aganathyre’s name, the Gates of Ahn’Qiraj opened, and hundreds of monsters spilled forth. It was a battle that would last ten hours, but Smith and Paradox weren’t there to see it. They waded through the hordes and began a new race: The first to clear the new raid. Smith didn’t realize it, but that gong rang an end to a life-defining moment. “It was such an important chisel that would hammer me into what I would become today,” Smith tells me. “My time with World of Warcraft is really embodied by the Scarab Lord experience.”

THE WORLD OF WARCR AF T ISSUE Ahn’Qiraj

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THE WORLD OF WARCR AF T ISSUE Scarab lord | WoWcohol | claSS Warfare | World of adventure | arISe, My chaMpIonS! | barrenS of hell

World of WoWcohol Building World of Warcraft’s most impressive booze collection. By Nika Harper t all started in Zul’Gurub, in 2005… wait a second, strike that. It started with World of Warcraft’s launch in 2004. WoW is a game with so much content that it’s impossible to have everything, and collecting achievements, mounts, pets, or armor is not rare. I ended up taking a different route: Since the old days of WoW, I have collected alcohol. When the game launched, alcohol was included simply for whimsy. Upon drinking, your screen blurred a bit, typed speech would slur, and walking in a straight line was nigh impossible. This was completely

I

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BELOW: The NPC bartenders don’t seem to care about tips at all.

useless, yet tons of fun. Getting drunk was a money sink and a pastime you shared with friends, but the habit was also surprisingly cost-prohibitive. It’s difficult to get loaded on 40-silver bourbon all the time when you had to save up for that expensive mount. Regardless, my friends and I imbibed with impunity, spending our time being social and ridiculous instead of grinding for cash. There was an unobtrusive island in the Zul’Gurub dungeon which nonstop-spawned Darkmoon Special Reserve, the most potent alcohol in the game, and it could be looted for free. As a Druid, I would stealth around, dodging the murderous mobs, and fill my packs with a bounty

of booze to share with friends. For a time, I was the guild drunk, my chat messages all punctuated by a “…hic!” Over time the prices of this habit became trivial, but I still had appearances to keep up. When achievements were released, guess which I got first?

Tipsy

One thing I’d noticed is that although the achievement ‘It’s Happy Hour Somewhere’ required 25 beverages, the progress bar kept count of every unique drink above that amount, and since I was the guild drinker I took pride in raising that number. With some finagling, the game could show you a list of the drinks you had not yet consumed for further credit, and this is when the true obsession began. I started to appreciate how varied and difficult it could be to attain these drinks. Some were obscure quest rewards, others required a special dungeon run or killing certain mobs. I got Alliance friends to sell Rhapsody Malt on the black market, or gathered pals to do a Dire Maul tribute run so Stomper Kreeg would sell me Gordok Green Grog. Mostly, these drinks functioned in the typical way, but Sulfuron Slammer actually set your character on fire. Suddenly, I was hooked: I needed to try as much of this liquor as I could get, and the collection began in earnest.

With every expansion to the game, it became clear that the developers were having loads of fun, and it was those little touches that made playing such a delight. Drinking Moonglow made your character sparkle, and Brewfest was an entire event based upon getting trashed, with items like a pony keg and amusingly, a keg pony. There were callouts to local breweries in Lavastone and Da Bruisery, and ingratiating yourself with a tiny tribe of murlocs allowed purchase of a Winterfin Depth Charge. This game was as obsessed with getting loaded as I was, and it provided a plethora of ways to go about doing so. An intrepid Rogue could pickpocket alcohol that would, presumably, be smashed into oblivion upon the mob’s death, so of course I made a Rogue with the express purpose of liberating liquor from the pockets of my enemies. In addition to adding whimsy to the world, alcohol seemed to cater to the roleplaying contingent of World of Warcraft. Buying a keg of Aged Dalaran Red wine displays a timer of 365 days, so if you keep it in your bank for a whole damn year it turns into a blue item, Peaked Dalaran Red! In the ever-exclusive Brawl’Gar Arena zeppelin, buying a single bottle of Moneybrau for one thousand gold makes you puke up piles of cash. Diligence in using Blingtron or an Ogre Brewing Kit sometimes yields

This game Was as obsessed WiTh geTTing loaded as i Was

ABOVE: Anything to get myself out of an awkward situation.

exclusive alcohol not found anywhere else in the game. And it does absolutely nothing! It exists for the sheer joy of it!

smashed

Finally, I joined a roleplay server with the notion of collecting, cataloguing and sharing every single alcoholic item I could, which still challenges me to this day. I have spent countless hours fishing, pickpocketing, murdering, rep-grinding, questing, and waiting for those special weeks (or even single days) in which an in-game event might have booze that I haven’t snagged before. I have even managed to contribute names to two drinks in the Kirin Tor Tavern Crawl: Mechs on the Beach and Entangling Rootbeer (I’m still fond of the unselected Val’Shiraz and Mrrrglrita). Little details can make a good game very special, and with every looted Half Empty Bottle of Prison Moonshine, I found a way to collect those nuances of creativity in the world and get wasted in the process. So if you’re ever on Moon Guard and see the Darkmoon Drink Society, ask for a cocktail. I’ll mix ya up somethin’ good …hic! OctOber 2018

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or me, World of Warcraft has never been about the dungeons or the raid bosses. As much as I’ve enjoyed trying to defeat the latest demon lord hoping to destroy all of Azeroth before looting his shoes as a trophy, I would always struggle to return to the same fights week after week. Instead, it was the other half of the game that really got its hooks into me. The often-overlooked PvP. Back in Wrath of the Lich King (the greatest expansion WoW has ever had, if you ask me), I fell in love with its most competitive PvP mode, the Arena. Here you can choose to play in 2vs2, 3vs3, or 5vs5 setups, as you attempt to kill everyone that isn’t on your team before they do the same to you. It’s explosive. This is where the best players in the world (of Warcraft) come to prove their worth.

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CLASS WARFARE

The pull of World of Warcraft’s PvP Arena. By Chris Bratt

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UnHoly fire

I used to stick to the 2vs2 bracket back then, playing an unforgivable number of matches alongside a buddy of mine each season. He played a Rogue, which is a class very clearly designed for PvP combat with its emphasis on stealth and dealing damage quickly. I, on the other hand, favored the Shadow Priest. Back in the Wrath of the Lich King days, at least, this meant I spent the vast majority of my time running away from the other team wishing I’d levelled up a Warlock instead. It was fantastic. Similarly to raiding, you do need some decent gear to hold your own in the arena, but two other factors truly separate the best players from the rest of the pack. First of all, you need an encyclopedic knowledge of how each of the game’s classes work. This means learning what their

THE WORLD OF WARCR AF T ISSUE PvP Arena

abilities do and how often they can use them. With 12 classes, each offering three specializations, this is a lot easier said than done. Fighting a Feral Druid, for example, is a different experience to taking on a Balance Druid. Despite them being the same base class, you could be dealing with either a stealthed melee damage dealer, or a giant magical owl. These require rather different responses. The other key to PvP is timing. Many of the abilities in WoW have cooldowns. This stops you from only relying on your most powerful skills over and over again, because that’d be boring and we’d all end up playing mages spamming Dragon’s Breath or something rubbish like that. The trick, then, is to use your cooldown abilities at the right moment, and likely in conjunction with your teammate. But more than

that, it’s about noticing when your opponents are trying to do the exact same thing to you. If you see this coming and survive, you’ll suddenly be presented with a window in which your team has the upper hand. With your opponents’ most powerful abilities on hold, they’ll likely want to back off. That’s when you strike.

Hold back

The best example of this rule can be seen with an ability that removes movementimpairing effects from your character. If you’ve been stunned or snared, you can use this ability to escape. It’s a vital part of PvP and an ability you’ll be using in almost every match you’ll ever play, but it’s also got a hefty two-minute cooldown. Use it too early and a good team will punish you for it, controlling how and when you move from that point onwards. This presents some amazing tactical

you do need some deCent gear to hold your oWn in the arena

MAIN: Looking for an Arena partner? I found mine duelling outside Orgrimmar.

decisions for you to contend with as you’re playing. Let’s say you’re frozen in place for a few seconds while your partner is being shredded to pieces by the other team: Do you use your ability now and help them out, but risk being in an even worse situation in a few seconds time? Or, do you try and hold out? Can your teammate survive long enough for that to work? Is that a risk worth taking? Those questions are what I love about WoW’s PvP combat. In the Arena you’re constantly reacting to what’s just happened. It has its problems, of course. Blizzard has struggled to balance WoW in a way that works for both PvE and PvP. Characters end up using a lot of the same abilities across both aspects of the game and this has caused no end of issues over the years (2009 was cruel for Shadow Priests, let me tell you). But I have such fond memories of my time spent with this game. It’s not for everyone, and it can make for a very confusing spectator sport, but WoW’s PvP is why I play each new expansion. Keep your raid invites to yourself, I’m after the Gladiator title. OctOber 2018

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WORLD of ADVENTURE

NorthreNd

Introduced in the Wrath of the Lich King expansion, Northrend is an icy continent located in Azeroth’s frozen north. From the Howling Fjord to Crystalsong Forest, it’s a brutal landscape ruled by the Lich King, and one of the game’s most striking regions.

A guide to Azeroth. By Andy Kelly

AzshArA

This forest zone was pretty unremarkable until the Cataclysm expansion changed it. Goblins transformed the landscape with their janky industrial tech, and the post-Cataclysm quests here are some of the most enjoyable and varied in the game.

orgrimmAr

The Kalimdor equivalent of Stormwind City, evoking similar feelings of nostalgia for Horde players. This vast multicultural capital is somewhere you’ll return to often throughout your Horde character’s life, and is fun to zip around on a flying mount.

AsheNvAle

This forest wilderness, located south of Darkshore, is one of the most popular Alliance zones for levelling. It was also a notorious PvP hotspot, with ganking (MMO speak for high-level players killing low-level ones) being a regular occurrence.

zANdAlAr

This subcontinent, the homeland of the Zandalari trolls, will become accessible in Battle for Azeroth. It’s a lush tropical island dominated by Mount Mugamba, and the jungle is littered with ziggurats where troll Shamans and Witchdoctors dwell.

the BArreNs

thuNder Bluff

This is the capital city of the cow-like tauren race, located in the center of Kalimdor. The city is built on towering bluffs, and is only accessible by elevator, making it a dramatic setting for some interesting quests that give you an insight into tauren culture.

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Once upon a time, the Barrens was a major 10-20 leveling zone. As a result, the chat was infamous for new players asking (in the eyes of veterans) stupid questions. However, the zone was changed forever when it was torn apart in the Cataclysm expansion.

THE WORLD OF WARCR AF T ISSUE A Guide to Azeroth

BrokeN isles

The Broken Isles became accessible for the first time in the Legion expansion. The island chain is scattered with ancient elven ruins, including the remains of the night elf city of Suramar, and is crawling with demons emerging from the Tomb of Sargeras.

silvermooN Cit y

The arrival of the blood elves in The Burning Crusade gave us a chance to explore their grand capital. Silvermoon City is arguably the prettiest of the game’s urban zones, with Art Nouveau-influenced architecture and a striking red-and-gold color palette.

kul tirAs

Another new addition to Battle for Azeroth, this island is home to proud seafaring humans. The Alliance turns to the island, and its strong navy for help in the war against the Horde. The landscape is cold, mountainous, and surrounded by wild seas.

stormwiNd City

PANdAriA

Mists of Pandaria introduced us to this mystical land and its divisive fluffy natives, the pandaren. Influenced by Chinese history and mythology, Pandaria is a vibrant setting with some of the best questing and environment design in the game.

This capital is one of the most iconic locations in World of Warcraft. Players enter through the dramatic Valley of Heroes, a bridge lined with statues of heroic figures. If you’ve been Alliance since the early days of WoW, the nostalgia here is powerful.

twilight highlANds

A new zone added in Cataclysm, this rolling green landscape of hills and forests is home to the warring Wildhammer dwarves and the Dragonmaw orcs, as well as Twilight cultists, who have sensed the presence of the Old Gods there.

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ARISE, MY CHAMPIONS!

An ode to one of WoW ’s most beloved dungeons. By Emily Marlow carlet Monastery, originally a set of four separate spaces introduced into World of Warcraft in 2004, was a dungeon painted in vivid narrative brushstrokes. It was a commitment, an ordeal even, but also it was a campy, horror tale full of pop culture references. It spoke of Hammer horror, of Sleepy Hollow, of The Exorcist, and Raiders of the Lost Ark. It is, to this day, a fond memory for many a nostalgic World of Warcraft player, because we all remember Scarlet Monastery.

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TOP: The faithful of Scarlet Monastery eagerly await your input on their doctrine.

For WoW players, Scarlet Monastery became a rite of passage. Similar to its plotline of zealots deep in devotion to their cause, Scarlet Monastery required you to commit to it. If you were from the Alliance you would have to travel through countless map zones to arrive at the monastery, including traveling quite close to the Horde-controlled Undercity. It took hours. Because many players would originally attempt the dungeons at a low level and couldn’t yet ride a horse, the journey to Scarlet Monastery also had to be undertaken on foot. Whilst

workarounds were eventually invented to cut the walk down, this epic march (or should I say pilgrimage) was part of what made Scarlet Monastery so memorable. And of course, no Alliance trip to Scarlet Monastery was complete without a lighthearted Undercity raid after the dungeon was cleared.

They’re Baaack

The dungeon was a series of seemingly endless corridors lined with stained glass, a monastic setpiece that featured nearly every reference in the Gothic horror rulebook. Militant zealots blindly fighting in the halls? Check. Powermad priests in the library? Check. A gladiator-style miniboss that one could only access if they had a mythical key? You betcha. It even included a haunted sword that actually talked. The quests for Scarlet Monastery required players to ‘cleanse’ the monastery of the rabid cult members, playing directly into the ways in which the Alliance players had already interacted with religion. The Church of Holy Light, based out of

tHE WOrLD OF WarCr aF t ISSuE Arise, My Champions!

RIGHT: How do you solve a problem like the Plaguelands? BELOW: Scarlet Monastery used Gothic architecture, tropes, and references to great effect.

the Alliance stronghold Stormwind, holds the virtues of respect, tenacity, and compassion in the highest regard. Similar to other fantasy churches featured within gaming, such as the Church of Eternal Fire in the Witcher franchise, or even the Chantry in Dragon Age, the church within Warcraft has priests, bishops and archbishops, cathedrals, abbeys, relics, and reliquaries. All iconic signifiers of a particular type of organized religion—one of structure, hierarchy, and the purity of devotion. The act of resurrection, performed within the original dungeon, as part of a dynamic final boss fight, is perfectly suited to fulfil this stylistic choice. As players continually interacting with fail states, or the ‘You’ve Died’ title screens of the gaming landscape, we often forget how impactful a resurrection is narratively. The resurrection of the initial boss Durand by High Inquisitor Whitemane was a shocking part of the battle. Additionally, her ability to resurrect any other dead enemies within 100 yards was particularly frustrating.

For players, scarlet Monastery becaMe a rite oF passage Rather than a hero’s redeeming return to life, this corrupted resurrection referenced the ‘they’re back’ reveals present within horror film franchises—the final jump scare reveal that the film isn’t over and the hero isn’t actually safe yet.

amen

Religion is often used within games to enrich narrative, allowing for greater immersion—it makes virtual worlds seem real. It can also be used in a purely aesthetic way—there are easily identifiable tropes and motifs that speak of the religious within media. One of these

is the way in which games reference the Christian Last Supper imagery— promotional materials featuring game cast members in portraits designed to remind viewers of Leonardo Di Vinci’s famous painting. While Far Cry 5’s use of Da Vinci is still recent, it has also been seen in Dragon Age: Inquisition. This overt referencing can be seen throughout Scarlet Monastery’s entire quest design. Here, religion is used not only as an antagonist, in the form of the zealous Scarlet Crusade, but also as the protagonist’s motivation. All of this—the campy references, the Gothic overtones as well as the inherent drama—was why I loved Scarlet Monastery. How could you not love something that required from you a full evening’s work and paid you back with such dramatic, pulp fiction goodness? It wasn’t grinding, or a forgettable dungeon that you only did for an achievement. For me it was the best of what World of Warcraft could offer—a compelling narrative that was built on relatable tropes, full of references so incredibly cinematic that you instantly understood them. OctOber 2018

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ew games contain true rites of passage— watershed moments you can share with other players, which elicit excitable, relatable anecdotes. Beating Ornstein and Smough in Dark Souls is an obvious one. Your first romance in Mass Effect is another. But for me, nothing defines an era in gaming quite like The Barrens in World of Warcraft. Whereas the first two examples endure because of martial prowess or emotional resonance, the experience of The Barrens galvanized those who survived it precisely because it was a bit shit. An example: [1. General] [Doombull]: Where is makriks wife [1. General] [Ahanu]: In bed with chuck norris lol [1. General] [Revara]: Chuck Norris doesn’t sleep. He waits. [3. Local Defense] The Crossroads is under attack! If you never played WoW, this will be gibberish. But for anyone who wasted weeks and months grinding for XP in WoW’s Horde faction, it’s a window to the past. Barrens chat was a stream of requests, insults, and Chuck Norris jokes—like the ur-YouTube comments, long before

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BARRENS of HELL

Lost wives, rare drops and Chuck Norris: in defence of WoW ’s worst area. By Matthew Elliott

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THE WORLD OF WARCR AF T ISSUE The Barrens

MAIN: A bubbling river of lava never improved anything. The Barrens is no different.

Pepe avatars or Logan Paul—and it was a constant, reassuring presence during the lonely slog of levels 10-25. To understand why The Barrens, and by extension its chat window, elicits such nostalgia, we need to examine the area’s construction. It was a vast, unavoidable corridor, through which most Horde players would inexorably be funneled. If you rolled a troll, orc, or tauren, The Barrens was the place you’d come when you hit level 10. Even undead players would take the trip to join their Horde brethren rather than brave Silverpine Forest alone. It represented a player’s first steps into a larger world, as you moved out of the starting areas into zones that had high-level players, and enemy Alliance combatants.

The Grind

So the stabilizers came off, you’d start to pedal furiously… and keep pedaling for the next 15 levels. Because back in vanilla WoW, nothing happened quickly. This was a time before Dungeon Finder, when you couldn’t earn XP from careers like Herbalism or Alchemy. Horde players trying to level up in 2006 would have to find a group and spend three hours in the Wailing Caverns, or do quests in The Barrens. There were a few problems. Firstly, The Barrens was huge—an area so big that when the Cataclysm expansion came, it was split into two separate zones. There were also only three flightpaths—one to the goblin settlement of Ratchet, one to Camp Taurajo, and one to the legendary town of The Crossroads—which meant lots of traveling between outposts. At the risk of sounding like an old man grunting at a cloud, we didn’t get mounts until level 40. You were lucky if you could turn into a ghost wolf and move 30% faster. If you wanted to get anywhere in The Barrens, you were going to have to walk. Or, more accurately, autorun while reading Chuck Norris jokes. And then there were the missions. Endless, doddering quests which had you collecting zhevra hooves with an absurdly low droprate and enough

quilboar murder to start your own pork farm. But the hunt for Mankrik’s wife is perhaps the most memorable quest of all—partly because it was so obtuse, and partly because barely a day went by without some Barrens chat innocent asking for directions, only to be met with a slurry of in-jokes and insults. It sounds wretched, but like a hygienicallychallenged relative in a slapstick buddy movie, we learned to love it.

Gank Squad

Another idiosyncrasy in The Barrens’ design was that it was incredibly easy for high-level Alliance players to hop on the boat to Ratchet, take the short walk to The Crossroads, and kill all the flight masters and quest givers. The area was always under attack, becoming a hotspot for world PvP as high-level Horde players returned to clear out the gnome Warlocks. Whether through design or accident, constant Alliance attacks made Horde players feel persecuted. The first place I visited after The Barrens was Duskwood: Not to quest or level up, but to spend two months killing Alliance players. When I go back to The Barrens now, it’s changed. It’s been refined, bisected, and—if we’re being honest—vastly improved. There are so many ways to level in WoW that most players skip it, giving the area the same vibe as an abandoned factory—the products once made here have been superseded, the staff are long dead. But I’m glad I got to play it. Hearing that music stirs memories of months spent butchering plainstriders, of random conversations with strangers around flickering digital campfires. I’d wake up early to go fishing at Lushwater Oasis in the hope of catching lucrative deviate fish to sell. I’d stare in envy at top-level players stomping past on mounts I’d never afford. While World of Warcraft Classic will give me the chance to go back, it’s madness to think it’ll be the same. But for those who will experience it for the first time, I say this: Chuck Norris can strangle you with a cordless phone

THe Barrens represenTed a player’s sTeps inTo a larger world

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SORRY STATE the Crew 2 is a road trip that isn’t worth taking yet. By Andy Kelly

I

t’s the roads between cities where The Crew 2 shines. Those great swathes of highway that curve through deserts, snake through canyons, and cut through forests. Here the game’s scale, arcade handling, and speed coalesce into something thrilling—especially if you have a couple of friends with you. But it’s a feeling that doesn’t last, because outside these blissful moments the game is determined to sabotage the purity of its driving with an endless parade of bullshit. The Crew 2 is an open world racer set many more you could get if you take part in this awesome event, dude. in a massive, condensed The dialogue is astonishingly bad, approximation of the continental and the whole thing comes off like a United States. To give you an idea of desperate attempt to piggyback on its size, it took me 46 minutes to contemporary youth culture without drive non-stop from Los Angeles to really understanding it. New York City in a It’s just vapid, Ferrari 458. It’s a vast The cars are far treating internet fame and varied setting, and like it’s somehow the it’s undoubtedly the superior to peak of human best thing about it. every other achievement, and the There’s fun to be had in mode of constant, cloying just aimlessly driving validation of everything from state to state, transport you do, no matter how watching the scenery banal, is exhausting. change around you, But here’s the thing—it could have visiting famous landmarks. But the been interesting. What if, as well as game gets impatient when you do earning followers, you also lost them? this, insisting you focus on earning So every failed stunt, crash and followers instead: The primary spin-out actually counted against you, metric of your success in The Crew 2. and you were constantly at war with Followers are earned by winning yourself to maintain your following. races, performing stunts, driving That would have at least given the dangerously, and dozens of other social media concept some bite, activities that send the counter rather than it just being an arbitrary ticking up. As you play, a cast of number that increases to make you obnoxious, horribly written feel good about yourself. characters are forever buzzing in It’s on the road away from all this your ear about how rad you are, how embarrassing ‘how do you do, fellow many followers you have, and how

FA M I LY A F FA I r

The four racing families you can join

Street rACINg

Pro rACINg

FreeStYLe

oFF-roAd

These guys are into drag, drift and street races and are based in a derelict parking lot in LA.

Monster truck and boat races are what this crew gets up to from its base at the southern border.

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The pros are into Alpha GP, power boat races, touring cars and air races, and have a nice HQ in NYC.

This team is into open-ended motocross and rally events, and it’s based in Monument Valley.

Need to KNow What is it? A massive open world racing game. EXPECt tO PaY $60 DEvElOPEr Ivory Tower PublishEr Ubisoft rEviEWED On Core i5-6600K, 16GB RAM, GTX 1080 MultiPlaYEr One to four players link www.ubisoft.com

kids?’ noise where The Crew 2 comes alive—particularly in the way it lets you seamlessly transition between land, sea, and air vehicles on the fly. You can be screaming along the highway in a supercar, before transforming into a plane and taking to the air, then changing into a speedboat as you fly across a river, landing safely in the water. It’s immensely fun being able to switch your mode of transport on a whim, however that enjoyment is tainted by the fact that, driving cars aside, the vehicles just aren’t much fun to drive in The Crew 2.

DIRT POOR

The motorcycles, particularly the motocross bikes, are frustratingly stiff to control, with completely rote physics. Flying in planes feels sluggish and labored, with a feeble sense of speed. And the boats are unremarkable, failing to create a convincing sensation of moving through water. None of the vehicle types (well, except for the motocross bikes) are terrible—they’re just underwhelming. But they do have their moments, such as navigating a plane through the snaking rocky corridors of the Grand Canyon or backflipping a Harley Davidson off the top of Mount Rushmore. It’s a shallow thrill, however, and I found myself spending as much time in cars as possible. The Crew 2 is not a great driving game, but the cars are far superior to every other mode of transport. The arcade-style handling is smooth and responsive, but has none of the wonderful, weighted nuance of Forza Horizon. The cars all feel vaguely the same, and the physics are cartoonishly bouncy, like your chassis is made of hard rubber. But when you hit those long desert roads, which seem to go on forever, it’s hard not to feel a rush of excitement. This is where the size of the map earns its keep, giving you miles of road to tear up and a powerful feeling of travelling across a great distance.

rEviEW The Crew 2 Cities can look nice from above, but they’re ugly at street level.

I just wish the planes were faster.

It doesn’t feel like you’re driving through water.

Screaming along highways at sunset is the best part.

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rEviEW The Crew 2 The motocross bikes are a pig to control.

The Inception-style world-bending is cool.

The cities look great when you fly over them at night.

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Going on cross-country road trips with friends is easily the most fun I’ve had in The Crew 2. But if you want credits to buy new cars, you’re gonna have to take part in some events. This is the game at its most basic, with all manner of checkpoint races to take part in, as well as distractions such as drag races, aerial acrobatics and motocross competitions. I do like the off-road races and how they let you choose your own path to each checkpoint, but otherwise this is stuff I’ve seen and done in a dozen other (and far better) open world driving games.

CheaP TRICk

grILLed PIZZA

reStAur ANte

This eatery on Venice Beach in Los Angeles serves chicken grilled coffee and pizza pizza grilled pizza. Mmm.

A closer look at The Crew 2’s weird shops

FreNCh CuISINe

A French restaurant with a sign in the window boasting such fantastical Gallic classics as, uh, ravioli and fettuccine?

microtransaction storefront to tempt weak-willed players into spending The AI is maddening, too. You can money on them. And despite an drive perfectly for two laps, only to admirable attempt to make the game make one minor mistake and see the more charming than the gloomy, rest of the pack immediately rush self-serious original, it’s completely past you. It’s some of the most devoid of personality. I think The obscene rubber-banding I’ve encountered in a racing game outside Crew would benefit from having no story at all and focusing entirely on of Mario Kart. There’s also a the driving, which should stand tall hilariously jarring loot system that on its own without the player being lets you upgrade your car with new forced to become an insufferable parts. I couldn’t help but laugh at the ‘rare exhaust’ I found that gave me an Instagram star against their will. It’s a shame, because there’s a utterly meaningless 0.07% boost to huge amount of potential in The my follower gain. But upgrading Crew 2. The scale of the world is doesn’t appear to give you any edge quite extraordinary, and being able to over the AI, which always seems to warp to the other side of the adjust to your current specs, continent nearrendering the whole instantly is impressive activity futile. It’s one of the on a technical level. If you’re in a crew you can enter these most visually Cresting a hill at night some lonely desert events with friends and inconsistent on highway and seeing the race against them. But games I’ve neon glow of Vegas far this, amazingly, is the in the distance is a extent of multiplayer in ever played moment I won’t soon The Crew 2. You’ll see forget. And I love how other players in the you can share these moments of world as you drive around, but they discovery with friends. The ten can’t be challenged to a race, unless you go to the trouble of inviting them minutes I spent in a plane doing loops through the legs of a giant cow to your crew first. There’s no lobby system either, meaning you can’t race in Wisconsin with my friends was way more memorable than any of the against strangers on your own. Even tepid race events, and I feel like the if you start an event in a crew, the game could have leaned into the other racers will be AI. GTA Online co-op side of things more. has this figured out, so why doesn’t a The PC version of the game runs $60 online-focused driving game? well on my GTX 1080, and Ubisoft says a December update will occasionally looks stunning—at least add PvP, but it’s bewildering that it from a distance. There are some didn’t launch the game with such remarkable vistas to be found here, basic multiplayer functionality. but the world doesn’t hold up to There are other issues, too, such much scrutiny. The cities, which as the waypoint system that sometimes just plainly refuses to snap include San Francisco, Dallas, Washington DC, and Chicago, are to any roads. Unless you’re grinding boxy and unconvincing. The lighting events, some of the best vehicles are is often flat and lifeless, and there’s outrageously expensive—and of some fairly severe pop-in when course there’s a cynical

MoteL

Apparently you can rent apartments here for the low price of just $3B.9B a month. Now that’s a confusing bargain.

Shoe

Do you need a single, solitary shoe for some reason? Then SHOE has you covered, and it’s not afraid to shout about it.

moving at high speeds. The vehicles look great, but their fidelity is at odds with the world around them. It’s one of the most visually inconsistent games I’ve ever played, which I suppose is a side effect of creating a world this large. It’s clear where the corners have been cut. And what’s with the snow? Sometimes the world will be blanketed in it—and I mean the whole world. So that means you’ll be carving through powdery snow as you drive through the usually sun-scorched Mojave desert, and the Hollywood sign will be covered in it. Even in a game where you can transform seamlessly from a plane into a boat, this is weird. Localized weather accurate to each region would have been cool, but this shotgun approach to climate is bizarre. Although, admittedly, there is something quite striking about seeing the Las Vegas strip transformed into a winter wonderland. The first Crew improved after a series of updates, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the sequel received the same treatment. But right now this is a full-price game released by one of the biggest publishers in the world, and I can’t recommend it in its current state. The lack of multiplayer options is inexcusable and, on a more fundamental level, the driving isn’t as fun or refined as it should be. The Crew could be something special, but Ubisoft doesn’t seem to know what to do with it. I’m willing to give it a chance after a few updates, but until then I’ll stick to Forza Horizon. vErDiCt A huge, occasionally beautiful map doesn’t make up for mediocre driving and a lack of multiplayer options. OctOber 2017

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CRASH AND BURN Crash BaNdiCoot N. saNe trilogy brings Naughty Dog’s jorts-wearing marsupial to PC for the first time. By Andy Kelly

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ong ago, in a period historians call ‘the ’90s’, the mascot reigned supreme. These anthropomorphized animals had bad attitudes and big sneakers, and would often spontaneously breakdance. One of the most notorious of these creatures was Naughty Dog’s Crash Bandicoot, a denim-clad marsupial who spun onto the original PlayStation in 1996, becoming the stupid, grinning face of the console. And now, for the first time, he’s on PC. thrown back to a checkpoint or the The N. Sane Trilogy is a remastered start of a level. The elaborate Looney collection of the first three Crash Tunes-style death animations are Bandicoot games. There have been amusing the first time you see them, some tweaks to the physics that but waiting for them to play out hardcore Crash fans and when you just want to get back into speedrunners have taken issue with, the action is tedious. but for most people it And Crash just doesn’t should feel the same as feel satisfying to It feels like it did in 1996—and with that’s part of the going back to a control, weightless physics and problem. This is a game time when a short, stiff jump that I from the oldest and games were a hated back in 1996 and creakiest of schools, still do now. with punishing jumps, lot worse Honestly, this kind traps that demand of basic, timing-based, pixel-perfect precision, pattern recognition platforming just and foes who can kill you in one hit. isn’t entertaining anymore. Especially Some people will love the sound when I could be playing one of the of this, of returning to an era when 3D platformers were unsullied by the many PC platformers that, in the 22 years since Crash was first released, trappings of the modern videogame. But for me it feels like going back to a have taken the genre in interesting new directions. That’s a lifetime time when games were a lot worse when it comes to game design, and than they are now. Hell, I even Crash feels like a relic, even if those remember thinking Crash felt crisp remastered graphics try their outdated back then, which makes its best to make you think otherwise. linear levels and frustrating design This is, at times, an astonishingly even harder to stomach in 2018. pretty game—especially running at The fixed camera angles make 4K. Everything is big, chunky, and gauging the start of a jump difficult, tactile. In terms of maintaining the which is a problem in a game where look of a classic game and falling down a pit means being

Need to KNow What is it? A collection of three remastered PlayStation platformers. EXPECt tO PaY $40 DEvElOPEr Vicarious Visions PublishEr Activision rEviEWED On Core i5-6600K, 16GB RAM, GTX 1080 MultiPlaYEr None link www.crash bandicoot.com

a N C i e N t h i s t o r y Other terrible ’90s mascots

Zool

He’s a ninja designed to be a rival to Sonic. But while Sonic still stars in dreadful games, Zool has the dignity of being forgotten.

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BuBsy

Starred in a string of games, starting with Claws Encounters of the Third Kind—a pun befitting the quality of the character.

Cool spot

Someone decided to put sunglasses on the red circle in the 7 Up logo and made it star in its own platformer series.

simultaneously updating it for modern hardware, Vicarious Visions has done a remarkable job here. But the downside of those sumptuous visuals is that they highlight just how archaic the game feels to play. It’s authentic, and that’s exactly what some people will want from a Crash Bandicoot remaster. But if you have no investment in the series, no nostalgia, and are looking for a well-designed 3D platformer—a genre woefully underserved on PC— you’ll be disappointed. The addition of autosave is one of the few concessions it makes to modern game design, but otherwise it clings stubbornly to the past.

SECOND WIND

It’s not all bad. The gruelling, repetitive first game has aged badly, but the second, Cortex Strikes Back, has some well-designed levels that are an enjoyable test of dexterity. It almost feels like a rhythm action game at times, memorizing patterns, maintaining your momentum, and it can be exhilarating in the moment. At least until the next cheap death. The third game in the trilogy, Warped, is the most varied of the three, although time has been particularly cruel to its motorcycle levels. As a faithful remake of the first three Crash games, the N. Sane Trilogy is pretty much perfect. The problem is those games arguably weren’t that great in the first place, and have only gotten worse with age. There’s fun to be had here, but also a lot of frustration as you wrestle with design decisions that were made over two decades ago, in an era when 3D jumping and movement were still being figured out. We need more 3D platformers on PC, but ones that look to the future, not the past.

gex

A gecko who gets sucked into a TV set and has to escape from the Media Dimension—a story that may have some subtext.

vErDiCt A well-made remaster with beautiful modern visuals and outdated platforming rooted firmly in the past.

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rEviEW Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy Ice levels are required by law.

Mario collects coins, Crash smashes crates. Dr Neo Cortex is Crash’s nemesis.

These animals deserve death.

Bonus stages yield precious extra lives.

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rEviEW

Just a scratch Doing it wrong feels so right in wrecKfest. By Phil Iwaniuk

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or sim racers and casuals alike, Wreckfest is a different flavor of driving game. The spotlight is on physics simulation and damage modelling above all else here, every race a spectacle of exploding tire walls, mangled bonnets, and nasty screeching sounds. It’s presented like a traditional sim-cade racer. So when the destructive novelty wears off, there’s still the dangling carrot of career mode progress to keep you behind the wheel.

It isn’t just that the crashes look Championships lead to more great when they happen, although championships, in faster cars this that’s certainly part of the draw. It’s time, and the odd special event like a the way your brain starts to connect fiasco involving lawnmowers different neural pathways as you play, punctuates it all. A 20-strong garage accelerating where it might once of proudly unlicensed vehicles have braked, taking provides an excuse for wildly different lines some aesthetic and than convention would It’s brutal performance fiddling as ideal, and you unlock better parts, racing, and so deem cracking a smile, rather but this all feels nice to have an than a monitor, when secondary to the point excuse to your race ends in a of being optional. devastating pileup. Wreckfest just wants indulge in it Example: It’s turn you to make a mess. one in an online race Which means the and there’s another racer on the racing itself is unlike anything else in inside, about halfway-level with your the genre. The handling model gets a car. If this was Gentlemanly Racing pass for its weightiness despite Simulator 2018 you’d hold your line aesthetic damage having little effect and brake at the usual point, but on vehicle behavior, but that only since it isn’t, you brake much earlier seems in-keeping with the spirit of and watch your opponent overshoot the endeavor. It’s the kind of game the turn haplessly. You know they that’s more enjoyable when you’re were counting on using your nursing an unrecognizably mangled passenger side door as their brake, car around in 13th place in a pack of and you were smart about it. Later in 20 than when you’re winning. The the race you might employ that same kind of game in which you don’t feel inside line tactic on an opponent, the least bit bad about nudging someone into what would surely be a flagrantly ramming them into an advertising board. It’s brutal racing, fatal collision, whether the and so nice to have an excuse to opportunity to do so arises in solo or indulge in it. online play.

wheeler dealers

Need to KNow What is it? A racer that places destruction at center stage, from the FlatOut developer. EXPECt tO PaY $45 DEvElOPEr Bugbear Entertainment PublishEr THQ Nordic rEviEWED On Core i5 6500, 16GB RAM, GTX 1070 MultiPlaYEr Up to 24 players link www.wreckfest game.com

Which wreck is best?

And that’s just the circuit racing. Cult classic demolition events, like Destruction Derby and the more recent Dirt Showdown, drop the facade of sportsmanship altogether and simply provide arenas for an intractable scrum of vehicles. In other words: Everyone drives into one another until only one car is left functional. This kind of thing has fallen out of favor in recent years, not least because no one seemed able to attach much order to the chaos or discourage game-breaking strategies like the old ‘driving in a big shameful circle around the arena perimeter while everyone else fights’ staple. And that’s true here too, but still deeply enjoyable.

Fine-tuned

The house of cards would fall down if the physics and damage modelling underpinning it all weren’t sound. As you might expect from a game that’s spent over 1,500 days in Early Access, sound they are. It’s easy on the system, too, for a game with so many particles being tossed into the air, and so many crumple zones to accurately model. Max settings on a GTX 1070 will yield a stable 60fps at resolutions exceeding 1080p, thought not at 4K. It’s obvious that Bugbear has succeeded in what it set out to achieve. The question is whether that’s enough to sustain Wreckfest as a long-term prospect. There’s some longevity in the multiplayer and its unnervingly friendly patrons, but unfortunately compared with the big dogs of the genre and their esports leagues, Wreckfest doesn’t have the infrastructure to keep a community in it for the long haul. It’s one for the physics sim lovers and the junkyard fighters—just don’t expect months’ worth of depth. vErDiCt

Killerbee

More of a travel hairdryer than a car. Crumples like sugar paper, stings like a...

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Nexus rx

Stylish, with shades of Japanese hatchbacks and category B performance.

speedbird

A category A monster that can take a fair whack of damage. And it will.

Muddigger

As the saying goes, guns for show, beaten up station wagons for a pro.

The scope’s ultimately limited, but what a roaring spectacle of broken car bits Wreckfest manages.

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rEviEW Wreckfest Like a physics tech demo made into a real boy.

Don’t feel guilty—they like it. This one told me afterwards.

That’s why you don’t see more people racing lawnmowers.

One previous owner. Spares or repairs only.

At night, cars return to the track to retrieve their dead.

First-person cockpit cam is pretty, but impractical.

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F*** you, moon Prey: MooNcrash is an unusual roguelite expansion for Arkane’s 2017 FPS. By Samuel Roberts

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hen I finished Prey, I felt like I’d comprehensively done all the good stuff in the game, including the major sidequests. My two main issues upon reaching the credits were the endless fights with corrupted operators, the game’s drone enemies, and the feeling that I’d seen the same beautiful environments too many times. This DLC offers endless fights in the same environments repeatedly.

harder enemies to the world each Mooncrash is Prey’s curious spin on a time the level increases. When this roguelite, channeled within a story reaches its final level, the run ends, framework where you’re entering a meaning you have to reset the simulation of a Transtar base on the simulation again. moon over and over again. It’s When a character dies, they’re somewhere between a new mode rendered unplayable and a traditional until you reset the expansion. There are simulation. These can I can see five characters, each a annoying, but different specialist who diehard Prey be they’re not big a deal, has a piece of Morgan players since you’ll spend a lot Yu’s power set: a enjoying this of the early game security specialist with playing Mooncrash like high HP capabilities curve vanilla Prey anyway: but no Typhon powers, Exploring, finding new for example, or an fabrication plans, learning how places engineer who can drop a turret at a are laid out. moment’s notice. Riley Yu, So much about the base changes meanwhile, has Typhon powers and a on each run, especially when you’re psychoscope, which unlocks new deeper into the game. One area might powers for other characters. be powered down, and you’ll have to You start with one character, and depower another area to get it online follow objectives to unlock the others. Along the way, you also figure again. A staircase might vanish. A shortcut might be caved in. The door out potential escape routes. One of to the useful tram station might be on the main goals, along with fire. The loot carried by the station’s completing the story quest for each dead NPCs changes, too, meaning character, is to complete a run with all five using wildly different methods there’s no reliable place for an exact item you need—you just have to go to of escape. This is made trickier by a ‘corruption level’ that ticks up, adding a security station or medical area and

Need to KNow What is it? A time-looping expansion for 2017’s 79%-rated Prey. EXPECt tO PaY $20 DEvElOPEr Arkane Studios Austin PublishEr Bethesda rEviEWED On Core i5 3570K, 8GB RAM, GTX 970 MultiPlaYEr 5v1 PvP mode coming soon link www.bit.ly/ preymooncrash

M o o N w a l K e r s Your five characters in Mooncrash

aNdrius aleKNa

riley yu

Weak, but has good psi abilities, such as the powerful kinetic blast.

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Cousin of Morgan, she’s an all-rounder, and can unlock plenty of decent Typhon powers.

OctOber 2018

Vijay Bhatia

A security expert. He’s adept with weapons, and his upgrades provide decent health buffs.

claire whitteN A stealth expert and hacker, she’s also a spy on the moon base where Mooncrash is set.

hope the thing you’re looking for is there. I like this unpredictability a lot: It makes the same spaces feel like they’re changing, which is important given how often you’ll explore them. I can see diehard Prey players enjoying this curve. In my case, I wish everything moved a bit faster, and resetting wasn’t always as necessary as it is. Yeah, this is part of what roguelikes and survival games do, but Mooncrash could be more generous with rewards and progression, especially early on. If you liked the story parts of Prey, each character has a quest with dialogue and cool moments—but jeez, this expansion makes you wait for them.

Lunar Looper

Mooncrash does represent the most I’ve enjoyed Prey’s combat, though. The finite nature of each run means you might as well let rip with Typhon powers, recycler charges, and shotgun ammo. Fighting is less precise than in Dishonored, but that’s more down to specific combat options. This is still a decent framework for Prey’s action. You also get a decent amount of new space to explore in Mooncrash, which feels smartly designed around its repeated format, and the way loot upgrades as you get deeper into the expansion is clever. So too is the structure, which even with its cyclical nature, uses its meta story to make you feel like you’re moving forward. Mooncrash feels like it was never intended for everyone to enjoy—it reaches out to a certain type of Prey player who will appreciate its systems in a purer form. For me, the slow progression holds it back a bit, but this is an innovative expansion that captures much of what I enjoyed about the base game.

joaN wiNslow

An engineer who can deploy their own turrets, which can be a handy way to rack up sim points.

vErDiCt A smart, unique expansion that probably won’t be for everybody—but the right player will love it.

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DlC rEviEW Prey: Mooncrash Running out of ammo is a common issue.

This hub on the moon base is full of horrors.

This is a sub-optimal way to fight the moon shark, but I needed a decent screenshot.

With each corruption level, the enemies get tougher.

This escape ended well.

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SunShine State Enjoying all weathers in the SimS 4: SeaSoNS. By Philippa Warr

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oretta Hewitt had a truly wonderful New Year’s Eve. She hung festive lights all over the house, she shared New Year’s greetings with every passerby, she made a resolution and she watched the countdown to midnight on the television. Marring the celebrations slightly was the fact that she shared these joyful moments with the Grim Reaper because her cat, Mr Wiggles, had died while she was having a festive bath. already maxed out the gardening skill Holidays come to The Sims 4 courtesy of the Seasons expansion. As and was swimming in snapdragons. She has also bought a beehive and with The Sims 3 expansion of the suffered a creepy Halloween-flavored same name, Seasons aims to flesh out haunted gnome infestation. the world further by bringing a cycle My other household has just of seasons which alter the in-game celebrated Winterfest, weather, temperature which meant I and so on. Seasons makes festooned the building Accompanying these Christmas trees, are seasonal activities. the world of with holiday garlands, piles Some are tied to the The Sims 4 feel of gifts, and whatever calendar—Love Day, richer and else I could find in the New Year’s Eve, festive item menu. The Winterfest—and others, more real day itself was pretty like making snow cute. Dad, Justin angels, are about taking Delgato, loves Winterfest, so he was advantage of the changes in weather. excited to be sharing festive remarks Harvestable plants will only bear with everyone. He also made a big fruit or flowers in particular seasons so those plants now have a rhythm to turkey dinner for everyone to share together. Unfortunately I forgot to follow. The rest of the garden also buy a dining table, so they ended up goes through a yearly cycle, although sharing the meal in, uh, different it’s not as dramatic in terms of how it rooms of the house. looks. Relatedly, Seasons brings Presents were opened and the changes to the gardening career path. whole family gathered by the You can pursue the flower-arranging fireplace to wait for Father Winter to variant, converting inventories full of arrive. I had made them wait by the bluebells and crocuses into cold hard wrong fireplace, so the family also cash, or become a brilliant botanist. enjoyed the traditional festive rush to Loretta has gone down the the other room for his gifts. flower-arranging route given she has

t h e d ay o f G r u d G e S Three ways to mark this homebrew holiday

Need to KNow What is it? An expansion adding weather and holidays to the base game. EXPECt tO PaY $40 DEvElOPEr Maxis, The Sims Studio PublishEr EA rEviEWED On Core i7-5820k, 16GB RAM, GTX 970, Windows 10 MultiPlaYEr None link www.thesims4.com

Turns out Father Winter is actually just one of the local elders who appears to have magic chimney powers for the day, and then just pops round a bunch to socialize afterwards. You can definitely WooHoo with Father Winter, BTW. There was a holiday lull at the beginning of summer, so I took advantage of the option to create my own holiday. It’s called the Day of Grudges, and features such traditions as ‘airing grievances’, ‘drinking’, and ‘fighting’. In other words, it’s like any holiday get-together you might see on telly. I mixed cocktails, got into a fight with a teenager and shoved a schoolchild. I did also get struck by lightning, but that was because the day happened to coincide with a thunderstorm weather variant rather than cosmic comeuppance.

Out Of seasOn

The preset holidays will probably wax and wane in their appeal for me. I couldn’t find a quick way to put every hand-placed decoration into my inventory after the day was over so decorating was a faff, and each year the tasks for a successful holiday are the same. After this review I’ll set the season length option to its maximum to allow for the longest periods of time between holidays. On a personal note, the gardening career developments are a lovely bonus, because gardening is the hobby I tend to gravitate towards in the game. But, more generally, Seasons makes the world of The Sims 4 feel richer and more real. The events are useful for pushing you out of ruts in your playstyle and mixing up the day-to-day routine of your households. It’s the same price as the base game, but it’s worth it because it reinvigorates the whole prospect. vErDiCt

remembraNce

The dead pet’s ashes you forgot to move to a shelf will come in handy for grieving.

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airiNG Grie vaNceS

Anything goes as long as it’s mean. Shout forbidden words! Shove a child!

fiGht

The elder Loretta is exempt from this, but that didn’t stop her getting stuck in.

Changing weather, festive traditions, and create-your-own holidays enrich this four-year-old life simulator.

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A lovely summer evening with my evil cowplant. The flower-arranging career is going well.

Dating one of the many elderly men posing as Santa.

He’s behind youuuuuu.

Trying to improve the quality of this honey.

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ExTrA LIfE CONTINUED ADVENTURES IN GAMING

T’was beauty who killed the beast.

“His stats are mediocre—how far can one man go on looks alone?” Conquering Venice with the power of handsome in CruSADEr KINgS II here are a lot of ways to ‘break’ Crusader Kings. You can become an immortal warrior, a devil worshipper with magic powers, or the literal antichrist. But recently I discovered a new way: By being super hot.

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I first noticed this while playing as a character who had both the ‘attractive’ and ‘strong’ traits. I was surprised how high an opinion boost this gave and, like any gaming veteran, I immediately thought “Can I minmax this?” Step forward Hunk McManmeat, the sexiest man in Christendom. Hunk was created using the Ruler Designer DLC, which lets you design 90

OctOber 2018

TOM H ATFIELD THIS MONTH Slept his way to the top. ALSO PLAYED

Sexy Brutale (which involved much less sex)

a custom character, and ‘pay’ for traits with age. I give him ‘attractive’, ‘strong’, and ‘master seducer’, all of which makes him aged 69. I bring him down to 44 by making him wounded and stressed as well. He has no other talents, his stats are mediocre—how far can one man go on looks alone? I decide to start Hunk in Venice because I find the phrase ‘Sexy Doge’ hilarious, and take up the hobby of all

merchant republics; murdering other merchants for their trade assets. At this point the true power of Hunk’s smouldering good looks becomes apparent. Y’see, one of the things that governs whether someone will join in a murder plot is if they like the plotter, and women like Hunk. They really like Hunk. Soon my rival Domenico de Morosoni is dead. It turns out this power can be enhanced even further. I invite half a dozen women to court. All six have a high plotting skill, and they’re all

she agrees to double indemnity her husband with an exploding privy

N O w P L AY I N g The gameS we lOve rIghT nOw Crusader Kings is just an elaborate dating sim.

Pictured: Shapes (but not beats).

“There are too many shapes” single. Soon Hunk, despite being described as an ‘amateurish plotter’, is capable of assassinating anyone in the land with ease. Within a few months the last member of House Morosoni (a baby) is dead. There are lots of reasons to do a bit of child murder in CK2, but “because the guy who asked me to was really good looking” isn’t a common one. With the family line eliminated, several of its trading locations become mine.

if looks could kill

Eventually my irresistible force meets an immovable object, one Patrician Giovanni de Ziani. Ziani has a mammoth intrigue score which even my relentless killers can’t defeat. Worse still, his wife is a skilled spymistress, and in Crusader Kings, just like in real life, your spouse’s stats are added to your own. But his biggest asset is also his biggest liability. I go on a charm offensive with Lady Ziani. It’s all too much, and she agrees to Double Indemnity her husband with an exploding privy. At this point I realize my own wife, who has been surprisingly tolerant of my philandering ways, has died, so I make my annihilation of De Ziani complete by marrying his widow. Hunk passes away aged 62. He never conquered any new lands, but he did amass enough wealth to buy all of Europe several times over. He wasn’t the best man, but he was the hottest piece of ass in Venice, and maybe that’s enough.

Struggling to deal with JuST SHAPES & BEATS PHIL SAVAGE THIS MONTH Just couldn’t. ALSO PLAYED

Guild Wars 2, Destiny 2

’ve spent a significant portion of the past couple of weeks dealing with post-E3 jetlag. I am in no position to deal with decisionmaking, twitch reactions, or geographical complexity. Divinity: Original Sin II? I’m not in the mood to read things. Into The Breach? Too much planning. BattleTech? The thought of its positional armor system is giving me a headache.

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I scroll through my Steam list, mentally dismissing game after game until I come to a recent addition: Just Shapes & Beats. ‘Shapes’? I think I can handle them. ‘Beats’? Those will simply go in my ears. ‘Just’? This word in particular is the best of the bunch—a promise of simplicity is exactly what I need right now. I launch the game, and a blue square appears on the screen. This, it seems, is a shape. A triangle also appears. This too is a shape, but I think it’s meant to represent a beat. I

move the square into the triangle and, sure enough, a chime plays, and the beat kicks in. The beat is simple, and with each note, red circles appear. Even in my diminished state, I intuit that these are bad shapes, and avoid them as I make my way to the next triangle. I can deal with this.

Block rockin’

Oh no! On hitting the next triangle a snare drum joins the grungy chiptune beat, causing the circles to explode into smaller, faster shapes. I hit the triangle again. Massive red lines flash across the screen. I hit the triangle again. Huge circles flit in and out of existence. I hit the triangle again. Static walls block my way through. I stop, until some birds appear and dash through the impasse. I hit spacebar and also dash through. I hit the triangle again. Oh no! Red shapes burst and dance around the screen, flitting in and out of existence as I desperately attempt to dodge out of their way. There are too many shapes. The beats are too fast. There is no triangle. I’m stuck, dodging until something happens. I survive, barely, and the triangle appears. I hit it, and am taken to a level select screen. It turns out I’ve been playing the tutorial section. I immediately quit. Maybe I’ll return later. For now, I’m not even in a fit state for just shapes and beats. OctOber 2018

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N O w P L AY I N g The gameS we lOve rIghT nOw Rest in peace, Big Boy.

The circle of life.

“I’m just going to assume they drop the dead dinosaurs into a volcano” Life and death in JurASSIC wOrLD EvOLuTION t was a sad moment when my first dinosaur died in Jurassic world evolution. A triceratops I named Big Boy, forgetting that all the dinosaurs in the Jurassic universe are female, was the star of my park. But then, because I only researched her genome to 76%, she died early.

I

I wanted to give Big Boy a funeral, but the only option you have when a dino dies in Evolution is calling in a helicopter to haul their body away. It doesn’t show you where they take them, and it’s weird that you can’t sell dead dinosaurs in the same way you can sell fossils. I’m just going to assume they drop them in a volcano. Fast forward 15 hours, and I have three parks on the go, spread across three islands. And death is no longer a tragedy: It’s just a part of the job. Dinosaurs are dying constantly, and sometimes there are multiple choppers in the air above my parks with dead beasts strung up under them like festive hams. I wonder what that must be like for new visitors to the park. They arrive, eyes sparkling with wonder, and the first thing they see is a fleet 92

OctOber 2018

A N D Y K E L LY THIS MONTH Dealt with the dicey issue of dinosaur death. ALSO PLAYED

Pillars of Eternity

of helicopters roaring overhead carrying a load of dead Ceratosaurs. “Welcome to Jurassic World.” The Jurassic films are cautionary tales, really, about mankind taking science too far, sidelining morality for profit. And I’m glad that, while the game does reward you for breeding these creatures, Dr Ian Malcolm pops up occasionally to scold you in Goldblumese for your cavalier attitude towards the sanctity of life. As I ferry yet more dead dinos away, I’m suddenly aware of how I’ve turned the miracle of these creatures’ rebirth into a soulless production line. The star rating for my park is dropping, I think. Must incubate

i’m exactly the kind of person who ends up being eaten in the third act

scarier dinosaurs. Must make more money. Must keep guests happy. I’m almost certain this wasn’t Frontier’s intention when making the game, but I love how it has turned me into an analogue of those characters in the films who treat the dinosaurs as amusements to be profited from. I am exactly the kind of evil person who ends up being eaten in the third act while Chris Pratt speeds away on a motorcycle.

Personal Touch

I don’t even name my dinosaurs anymore. They all have autogenerated names like TR-14, which does make it less depressing when they inevitably die and I have to cart them away. Would I have cared as much about Big Boy if I’d kept her generated name? Maybe not. So perhaps this is the solution to my loss of respect for these creatures. I’m going to start naming them, projecting personalities on them. And I’m going to spend more time and money building their genome so they don’t die so quickly. My star rating and profit margin might suffer, but I’ll feel less like a ruthless, moneyhungry tycoon. Providing I don’t get eaten by a dinosaur as a result of my own hubris first.

ExTrA LIfE NOW PLAYING

I

uPDATE

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MOD SPOTLIgHT

I

HOw TO

I

rEINSTALL

“They seemed in a hurry and I had ladybirds to attend to” Postcards from fOrTNITE BATTLE rOYALE ast month’s Now Playing saw Chris Thursten exploring low-stakes PUBg matches. The idea was to stack the odds so heavily against yourself that losing was almost certain and you could enjoy getting as far as you could. I have decided to embrace a similar philosophy in Fortnite to allow myself to experiment with faux longexposure screenshots.

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As with real-life photography, you either need very understanding friends to come on the trip with you, or you must embrace total solitude. Just as it is not okay to assume your IRL walking companion wants to spend three hours standing near a cluster of damselflies, it is also not okay to assume three strangers will delight in having a teammate who is only there to stand perfectly still near a weeping willow for 30 seconds. As such I have been booting up solo games of Fortnite Battle Royale and heading straight to Loot Lake. Loot Lake caught my eye when I was playing a traditional round of the game. I’m a sucker for a weeping willow near water so I took a couple

PHILIPPA WARR THIS MONTH Took long-exposure photos in Fortnite Battle Royale. ALSO PLAYED Photoshop, GIMP 2, Instagram, Fraps...

of in-game screenshots—landscape images overlaid with a mess of HUD elements and an obtrusive reticle plopped in the middle of the picture space—and vowed to return. A colleague mentioned you could use a free camera to explore the map when watching your game replays. Combining that with the option to turn off all the display elements proved a screenshot goldmine. It also let me work on a related project—the faux long-exposure shots. Long-exposure photography means you keep the shutter of your camera open for a long period. The still parts of the image end up

i’m a sucker for a weeping willow, so i took a couple of in-game screenshots

pin-sharp and the moving elements become blurry and soft.

image conscious

You can mimic the effect in games by using software. I tend to record the screen for a few seconds then import the video frames as layers into a program like Photoshop. Once I have a file with those layers, I save it and open it in an image editing program called GIMP, where I have a plugin that merges the layers into one image. The points which move over time become softer or form trails while the points which are still stay sharp. After that it’s just a matter of tinkering with settings to achieve the result you want. I’m trying to make a home in the middle of the lake look like a haunted house in an old photo, so there is some EXTREME field of view going on, as well as a lot of fiddling with the color balance and adding layers to give the illusion of wear and tear. I did see a few other players as I was hanging out near the lake. I even contemplated moving the few yards to pick up a weapon. But ultimately I decided to live and let live. They seemed in a hurry and I had ladybirds to attend to.

Partway through making a haunted house image.

A charming sunset over Loot Lake.

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U P D At E What’S neW In the BIGGeSt GameS

GUILd wARS 2 ArenaNet’s MMO is calming within; troubled without. By Phil Savage t was while writing the PC Gamer Top 100 that I remembered: “Oh yeah, Guild Wars 2!” I’ve been off-again, on-again with ArenaNet’s MMO for years, and haven’t returned since the release of last year’s expansion, Path of Fire. Since then, three episodes of the new chapter of its ongoing ‘Living World’ story have been released, adding new zones, new storylines, and a new mount: The Roller Beetle.

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The day before I return, though, ArenaNet announced it had fired two of its developers, with president Mike O’Brien citing, in a statement on the game’s forums, “attacks on the community” as the reason. The reality is less clear cut. Narrative designer Jessica Price responded negatively to a Guild Wars 2 partnered streamer who tweeted at her with suggestions for how to improve the game. Price later told Kotaku, “I was so tired of having random people explain my job to me in company spaces where I had to just smile and nod that it was like, ‘No. Not here. Not in my space.’” Writer Peter Fries, who tweeted in his colleague’s defense, was also fired.

they See me RoLLIn’

need to know RELEASE August 28 2012

DEVELOPER In-house

PUBLISHER ArenaNet

LINK www.guildwars2.com

This is a very basic retelling of an event with far more at its root; one that has become the latest battleground in an intractable and depressing culture war. For my part, I don’t think ArenaNet should have fired Price or Fries. It feels like a dangerous overreaction—one that ignores a lot of context about the everyday harassment faced by women in the games industry online. When I log into Lion’s Arch— Guild Wars 2’s main city—the day after the firings, I’m expecting it to be a major topic of conversation. But no. Map chat is, as is often the case, mostly silent. I head into the first of the three new zones added across the last three chapters. Here things are more active, but only because a meta event is about to start and people want to know if there’s anyone with a Commander tag to help lead the map. I join in. These map-wide meta events are one of my favorite things about Guild Wars 2. It’s all the fun of cooperating with people, but with none of the social anxiety of having to

Introducing the Roller Beetle

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Unlocking your beetle requires completing three separate item collection sets. I probably won’t earn mine until sometime in 2020.

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You accelerate by rolling the beetle downhill—it’s pretty nippy at full speed. You lose speed going uphill.

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Once you’ve fully levelled your Roller Beetle, you can hold space to do some sick tricks that recharge endurance.

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disappoint them because you don’t yet know how it works. Each of the new maps has its own meta events— often triggering at set intervals every hour or two—but the assault on Palawadan in the Domain of Istan proves to be the most enjoyable of the bunch. Every couple of hours, players can fight their way in to an otherwise inaccessible area of the map. The resulting fight is lengthy and filled with lots of hard-hitting bosses with some interesting quirks. Fortunately, the rewards are good enough that the event is usually well populated— something other, older maps can struggle with.

The ploT Thickens

The Living World’s story often suffers with the power of its protagonist—they’ve killed multiple dragons and even a god—so it can be hard to raise the stakes sufficiently.

the solo story boss fights devolve into frustration But undead season antagonist Palawa Joko at least proves an entertaining, scenery-chewing foil. The Living World’s story is a mostly enjoyable series of quests, with plenty of variety in its mission design, but one prone to difficulty spikes. Perhaps it’s my fault for playing one of the game’s squishiest characters, but the solo story boss fights devolve into frustration. Maybe it’s just me, but respawning my way to victory doesn’t seem very heroic. Still, my time with Guild Wars 2 is largely enjoyable—some bullshit story encounters aside. But then I leave the game and its helpful, friendly players, and return to the threads full of vitriol towards Jessica Price on the subreddit and in the forums. I notice the Twitter arguments between developers defending their right to speak freely on social media, and those who think they should be a 24/7 customer service resource— always polite, responsive, and available. One of the things I used to value about Guild Wars 2 was how uncomplicated my relationship with it was. I’m not sure that’s the case any more.

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This is one of the better story mission boss fights. Break into prison with the help of some grog.

Spoiler: This lad gets got. Joko’s voice actor sounds like he’s having a good time.

The Springer remains by far the most useful mount.

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MOD SPOTLIGHT major mods, analyzed Something strange is afoot in Vault 117.

The LosT VauLT Discover the dark secrets of a forgotten Vault in Fallout 4. By andy Kelly ocated among the stormy radioactive wastes of the Glowing Sea, Vault 117 was once teeming with life, but now lies rotting, irradiated and empty. Well, almost. Some of its residents have transformed into mindless ghouls, cursed to endlessly roam the shadowy corridors of their former home. But what happened to them?

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The Lost Vault was created by Spiffyskytrooper, who is perhaps best known for his acclaimed Fallout 4 landscape mods. Regrowth Overhaul fills the Commonwealth with lush flora, while Dustbowl Overhaul does the opposite, transforming the map into a desolate and arid desert. But this mod is something else entirely, being an atmospheric dungeon dive set in a sprawling ghoul-filled Vault. 96

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After downloading The Lost Vault from www.nexusmods.com, drop the files into your Fallout 4 installation directory, then activate it via the in-game mod menu. This will make the entrance to Vault 117 discoverable at the bottom-left of the map. Just make sure you have the Vault-Tec Workshop DLC or it won’t work. I arrive at the Vault and see the entrance looming through the sickly yellow haze of the Glowing Sea. Skeletons litter the exterior and I notice a sign with ‘WE HAVE CHILDREN’ scrawled on it by some desperate parent who didn’t make it inside before the bombs fell. This sets the tone for The Lost Vault, which is unrelentingly bleak.

DARK FORCES

Inside, the Vault has been plunged into almost complete darkness, forcing me to use the light on my

Pip-Boy to navigate. There are skeletons everywhere, of people who seem to have been caught off-guard by something. In the atrium I see tables toppled over, presumably used as makeshift cover, and security officers lying dead, weapons at their sides. Blast marks cover the walls. Spiffyskytrooper clearly has a knack for environmental storytelling. As I study these grim scenes, I find myself piecing a story together, trying to figure out what happened. Then the eerie silence is interrupted: a horde of ghouls wearing Vault 117 jumpsuits comes tumbling out of the darkness. Luckily I brought a sawn-off shotgun, but it’s still a tough fight. There are lots of them, and the low light means I’m not sure where they’re coming from. A lot of the Vaults in Fallout feel a little too small, not really selling the

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Not all the Vault’s residents turned into ghouls.

idea that entire communities were supposed to have lived in them. This makes the sprawling Vault 117, which is broken up into several large areas, particularly impressive. It really does feel like an underground city, with a logical layout and a large residential area that I spent a good 40 minutes exploring every corner of. In the residential district I find clues about what might have happened to the Vault, but I appreciate how Spiffyskytrooper shows restraint when it comes to storytelling. Nothing is spelled out, giving your imagination some room to play. At the end of a corridor I see a strange glow, only to discover a gruesome fungus growing over the walls, almost as if it’s eating the Vault.

GHOUL ME ONCE

The Vault is crawling with ghouls, which I have to admit gets tedious at times. Some enemy variety would have been welcome. The Vault’s size can work against it, too, with a lot of

Me waiting for Cyberpunk 2077 to come out.

aLL MoD CoNs

FuLL DIaLogue INTerFaCe

This displays exactly what your character is going to say, rather than the vague default paraphrase.

other great Fallout 4 mods

True sTorMs

A Skyrim mod, remade for Fallout 4. True Storms adds radioactive rain, dust storms, and other dramatic weather.

empty rooms that would have benefited from some additional decoration or loot to scavenge. But overall The Lost Vault is a very well-made mod, and if you told me it was a part of the main game, I’d have probably believed you. Mods for Bethesda games often take things to extremes, such is the temptation of such a powerful suite of editing tools. But I love The Lost

IMproVeD Map

This overhauls the Pip-Boy map, adding roads, railway tracks and water lines. There’s also the option to add markers.

BeTTer seTTLers

If you’re sick of the same people turning up at your settlements, this mod adds 240 lore-friendly new wasteland citizens.

It really does feel lIke an underground cIty wIth a logIcal layout Vault because it succeeds in blending in with the rest of Fallout 4. Spiffyskytrooper has constructed the Vault with the same design philosophy as Bethesda, staying true to the style of the game, and that makes it stand out from the crowd. The Vault ends with a boss fight that, while difficult, does at least give you a break from the onslaught of ghouls. There are a few chests containing a selection of randomlygenerated loot, but I would have liked a special weapon or something else relating to the story of the Vault as a memento, and as a reward for getting through it. But as an effective horror experience and a quality dungeon, The Lost Vault is worth exploring. OctOber 2018

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HOW TO GET MORE FROM YOUR GAMES

RUN A LIVESTREAM The basics of playing games in front of an audience. By Alysia Judge NEEd To kNow DIFFICULTY Medium TIME Two hours VITAL LINKS Twitch: www.twitch.tv Mixer: www.mixer.com Caffeine: www.caffeine.tv

BUFF YOUR PC

PICK A PLATFORM

DOWNLOAD SOFTWARE

Streaming makes your PC sweat, but 1 audiences expect high-quality broadcasts. Twitch recommends a setup with at least an Intel Core i5-4670 and 8GB of RAM alongside internet speeds of 4,500kbps to 6,000kbps.

I’m using Twitch in this guide, but 2 there are many other options. Mixer is Xbox’s service with loads of interactive features, and Caffeine is great for newbies, since it has built-in tools so you don’t need to download extra software.

Unless you’re using Caffeine, you’ll need to download a broadcasting app to begin streaming. OBS is free with lots of customization options, though Bebo is recommended for newbies. For this guide I’ll be using OBS.

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CHOOSE YOUR GAME Many first-timers begin by playing popular games, but that means you’re competing against thousands of other streams. Pick a game you’re passionate about that’s not as saturated.

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FIND YOUR KEY We need to connect OBS to your Twitch account. To do this, log into Twitch and copy your ‘Stream Key’ under Settings. In OBS Settings, select Stream > Stream Type > Streaming Services > Twitch. Paste in your key and that’s it!

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ADD A GAME Run your game. In OBS, click the plus sign under Sources. Select Game Capture and create a new Source. Click the Mode dropdown menu, select Capture Specific Window, and add your game’s exe file.

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SET THE SCENE A stream of plain gameplay—no matter the quality—would be very dull. You’ll need to create a Scene in OBS with multiple Sources, including a webcam feed of you playing. Later, you can add in overlays and a watermark.

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Mapping out the OBS basics

SoURCES

These are all the inputs that your streaming software pulls from. You can even import your own custom overlays.

PREVIEw

Play around with the setup in this window. Drag each source to play with sizing and positioning.

SCENES

This is where you’ll find all your saved streaming setups. You can create multiple scenes for different games or streams.

ADJUST RESOLUTION

ADD YOUR WEBCAM

ADD YOUR VOICE

You should now see a preview of your 8 stream running in OBS (if not, highlight ‘Game Capture’ under Sources). Use the red outline around your feed to change the size of your footage if your GPU can’t handle 1080p.

Click the plus sign under Sources, 9 head to Video Capture Device, then select your webcam from the options in the dropdown list. Drag your webcam window around the OBS Studio window until you find a position that doesn’t block gameplay.

OBS will add your mic to the stream by default, but if you have multiple inputs you should specify your preferred device. Hit the settings cog for Mic/Aux in OBS’s Mixer panel, go to Properties > Device, and select your microphone.

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SHOW TIME Once you’re happy with your preview, head to Twitch. enter your stream info (including a title) in the dashboard then flick back to OBS. Click ‘Start Streaming’, wait a few seconds to allow for lag, then start talking!

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ADJUST YOUR LEVELS Stay in the Mixer panel and experiment with your levels until you think you have the right balance. Viewers will likely want to hear you more than the game audio, so have the Desktop Audio slightly lower than Mic/Aux.

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r e i n s ta l l Old games, new perspecTives

Thief may not be a great Thief game, but it’s a decent burglary sim 100

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Garrett’s Swoop ability lets you glide past guards unseen.

THIEF Indulge in housebreaking with Eidos’s flawed yet intriguing reboot. By rick lane hief: The dark project was a game obsessed with feet. Its protagonist, Garrett, seemed to enjoy making life difficult for himself by wearing clogs on any job he undertook. His wooden-soled shoes would scuff stone cobbles, crunch on grass, click loudly on tile floors, and clang like church bells on metal walkways. To avoid detection and successfully infiltrate a building, players had to listen intently to both their own footsteps and those of the city watch. It was even possible to interpret a guard’s alertness, whether they’re patrolling, searching, or chasing after you purely by the rhythm of their movements.

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By comparison, Eidos Montreal’s reboot of Thief doesn’t care much for feet, but it certainly has a thing for hands. The rebooted Garrett sports a lovely pair of mitts. Whether it involves swiping a cup off a tabletop, daintily picking the lock of a safe, or caressing the edges of a picture frame in search of a switch, almost every manual interaction in the game is beautifully animated. You can even see the chips in Garrett’s fingernails. Many would argue this switch of emphasis marks the point at which the reboot starts to go wrong, a misguided emphasis on what looks and feels good, as opposed to what’s important for quality stealth. There’s some truth in that, but as an advocate of tactility in games, I can’t help but love the attention to detail directed at touching stuff. I’ve plundered every corner of grimy, topsy-turvy Dayport twice over, solving every riddle and raiding every smuggler’s stash, all because I love rummaging through its virtual drawers and cupboards.

previous game in the series, 2004’s Deadly Shadows, Thief attempts to expand its stealthy play into an open world scenario. In many ways it’s a similarly compromised vision, but Eidos Montreal is far more successful in presenting us with a metropolis ripe for plundering. Dayport comprises two main districts, each of which is made up of two or three separate areas, alongside a bunch of specialized locales reserved for main quests and sidequests. These districts are towering mazes of cobbled streets and muddy alleys, rain-slick rooftops and wooden walkways. They’re also gloomily gorgeous. The city’s endless night is painted in a thousand shades of black, conveying a moonlit darkness without leaving the player blind. I love the canal area of South Quarter, where apartments are stacked three or four storeys high, teetering over waterways that run deep beneath the

Stealing heartS

releaseD February 28 2014

As I’ve done so, I’ve come to admire what Thief gets right, rather than bemoan what it gets wrong. Like the

nEEd To know

PUBlisHer Square Enix

DeVelOPer Eidos Montreal

linK www.thiefgame.com

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r e i n s ta l l Old games, new perspecTives The game’s AI is passable, although not much has evolved since 1998.

There are various kinds of ‘collectible’ loot.

Some of the apartment interiors are wonderfully designed.

streets, connected by crisscrossing boardwalks that resemble a halffinished game of Jenga. Crossing the city efficiently is a challenge in and of itself. When you start the game, the Thieves’ Highway is only half-constructed, and you fill in the gaps by lowering ladders and gantries, and shooting rope arrows in the appropriate places. In some ways it’s more restrictive than the earlier games—disappointingly, the rope arrows which used to attach to any wood surface now only latch onto designated ones. But in others the freedom to scoot over rooftops and use people’s homes as a thoroughfare is hugely liberating, like Thief II’s Life of the Party writ large. The real joy of exploring Dayport, however, is in shops and apartments ripe for pilfering as you pass from mission to mission. Some of these involve little more than simple burglary. Hop through the window, grab everything that glints, exit through the grift shop: Job done. But in what is by far the game’s best design decision, many require you to solve a little puzzle. These come in countless different forms, such as pressing a switch 102

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But Eidos also applies it to the game’s larger story missions, and this is where problems arise. The first proper mission, which sees Garrett searching for a ring in an ironworks, hooks you onto a rail for much of its duration. Indeed, the levels are far more linear than those designed by either Looking Glass or Ion Storm. A few, like the House of Blossoms and Eastwick’s Grand House, allow a level of creative approach, but Thief only features one mission—Baron

behind a bed to reveal a false wall, or disabling a series of traps by following a wire to a nearby junction box. The best ones revolve around spatial puzzling, such as a basement visible through a window at street level, but with no obvious point of entry, or figuring out how to access a lofty rooftop flat. Deciphering these often elaborate teasers is my favorite part of Eidos Montreal’s vision. This design works fantastically for the game’s smaller-scale distraction.

CAnAL dREAMS

How garrett can use the canal area to his advantage

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Garrett can use these wooden walkways to bypass guard patrols on the street below.

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An open window provides easy coin for a master thief.

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The canal itself provides access to other areas of the city.

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This beam can be combined with a rope arrow to provide access to the game’s rooftops.

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Many doors in the city can be opened to access buildings.

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Thief ’s stealth is led much more by light and vision than sound.

EvEn thE gamE’s strongEst fEaturE, thE city itsElf, is a flawEd gEm Northcrest’s manor—that truly embodies the design philosophy of those older games. Even this is bookended by linear sequences, including an explosive finale that is as far removed from the Looking Glass games as possible.

Writ large

There are other problems, too. The story is terrible and full of onedimensional characters. It revolves around Garrett’s search for his protégé Erin, who goes missing after they interrupt an occult ritual at Northcrest’s manor during the intro. But Erin is far too brattish and annoying to incur much sympathy. By far the weakest character, however, is the antagonist, the Thief-Taker General. The game is keen for you to understand just how evil he is, showing you how he kills his subordinates and beats prostitutes for little reason. It couldn’t be less

subtle. Mercifully, aside from some questionable costume design, Garrett survives largely intact, although the game’s awkward attempt to paint him as a reluctant hero is summed up in the clanging line, “To be alone, you need something to be alone from.” The actual stealth play is enjoyable enough. I particularly like the ‘Swoop’ system, which lets Garrett glide several paces in any direction while minimizing detection. But the fundamental act of sneaking past guards is sometimes lost in the game’s haphazard attempt to blend an open city with linear setpieces. There are several levels in which stealth is barely required at all, including the Moira Asylum—a knockoff of the Shalebridge Cradle that has a few good scares but lacks the layered dread baked into Deadly Shadows’ standout mission. Even the game’s strongest feature, the city itself, is a flawed gem. There’s a sense that it is unfinished, hinted at by the minimal number of Basso jobs—sidequests you pick up from your fence—in the second half of the game. Most of these reuse areas that you’ve explored, indicating they were added in to pad the game out.

Small change

Other clues can be found in the Clients, NPCs who provide you with more elaborate missions that take place in specialized locations. But there are only two clients—Ector and Vittori—each of whom offers three missions each, a small number for such a large map. Finally, the way the different zones are stitched together feels roughshod. There’s a whole area of the city—Grandmauden—that you can easily miss until the game directs you straight to it in its closing stages. In a weird way, the city’s muddled layout feels somewhat appropriate. I like the fact that to move between districts, you often have to clamber through a window or squeeze into a tunnel filled with crates, rather than simply walking through a gate. It adds to the organic feel of Dayport’s Gothic sprawl, conveying the idea that Garrett treads a path unique to him. Meanwhile, that thrill of choosing which building to break into has an appeal that I believe transcends the game’s flaws. Thief may not be a great Thief game, but it is a decent burglary sim and, while it may not achieve the lofty heights of its predecessors, I believe it. OctOber 2018

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UPGRADE

group test

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By Ed Chester

Q&A 60Hz or 144Hz? For esports a 144Hz display can’t be beat, but if your laptop gaming is more about fun, sticking with a 60Hz model is a good way to save. What about upgrades? Some laptops will provide easy access to upgrade their RAM, SSD, and hard drive. Graphics and CPUs are nearly always fixed, though. How long will it last? Battery life on gaming laptops is less than

impressive. You’ll only get an hour or two, and even for general desktop work most won’t last a day without a plug socket. What games did you use to test them? Deus Ex: Mankind Divided and Rise of the Tomb Raider. They were set to 1080p resolution and in-game detail settings to high.

Dictionary Desktop replacement: Desktop-replacement laptops are designed to take over all your PC duties.

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aming laptops have come a long way in recent years, with some surprising portable models packing enough power for some serious performance.

Not that you have to go the backpack-friendly route. If you’re after a laptop to replace your desktop, there are plenty of big, beefy options, too. We’ve grabbed five of the latest machines to see what choices are out there.

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MSI GE63 RAIdER RGB PRO

ALIENwARE 13

www.msi.com $1,985

www.dell.com $1,800

The MSI GE63 Raider RGB Pro has several key things going for it, including a 1080p, 120Hz, 15.6-inch screen with a 3ms response time. This makes it feel particularly snappy and an excellent choice for competitive gaming.

There’s no mistaking an Alienware laptop, and sure enough the latest R3 version of the brand’s 13-inch model has all the usual hallmarks. There’s the soft touch finish, the alien logo and, of course, the angular design.

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You also get a powerful GTX 1060 graphics card and the six-core grunt of the Intel Core i7-8750H. As such, it’s got the necessary performance to make the most of that screen. As its name suggests, this is also the laptop for fans of RGB lighting. You get prominent RGB keys that glow from the sides as well as the characters. The lighting can also be controlled via SteelSeries GameSense software. This can make the keys animate things like your in-game health bar, team goals or ammunition. There are also a couple of RGB backlit strips on the lid, so those gazing from afar can appreciate the color show too. This configuration also includes 16GB of RAM, a 250GB SSD and a 1TB hard drive, making for a nicely balanced system overall. The main downside here is the styling. It’s perhaps the most garish of the laptops on this test. If that doesn’t bother you, though, this laptop offers excellent performance and value.

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Design isn’t the most striking thing about this laptop, however. That honor goes to its OLED display. This provides a vibrant, high-contrast picture that puts most LCD displays to shame. It also helps that it has a 2560x1440 resolution, making for a pin-sharp image. That said, this is primarily a gaming laptop. With a 60Hz refresh rate, this panel isn’t going to be an esports gamer’s dream. The screen is particularly reflective, too. Still, thanks to its Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060, you get plenty of good performance here. The trade-off in this regard is the thickness of the machine. It’s no monster, at 22mm thick, but it’s chunky enough to not fit in some 13-inch laptop bags. Elsewhere, you get a respectable spec sheet, with a nippy 250GB NVMe SSD and 16GB RAM, meaning performance is solid all round. A slightly mushy-feeling keyboard and sticky trackpad take the edge off slightly, but this is still a good premium option if compactness is key.

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RAzER BLAdE 15

HP OMEN X 17

www.razer.com $2,600

www.hp.com $2,800

The Razer Blade 15 isn’t cheap, but it represents the pinnacle of gaming laptops. It looks amazing with its metal black chassis. It’s slim, too, and has a surprisingly small footprint despite its 15.6-inch screen.

The HP Omen X laptop is a brute of a gaming laptop. With its 17-inch screen, overclockable CPU and Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080, it is the epitome of a desktopreplacement machine.

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It also packs in a mighty set of components, with the latest Intel Core i7-8750H joined by 16GB of RAM, a Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 and a 512GB SSD. This little lot powers through my benchmarks, with no component proving a bottleneck. The screen is excellent too. With a refresh rate of 144Hz, gaming is buttery smooth, while the use of IPS LCD technology makes for great viewing angles and excellent color accuracy. The keyboard also feels fantastic, though I found the RGB backlighting a tad distracting as it has a slight flickering quality to it. There are no issues with the trackpad, though. It’s huge and offers a smooth and responsive surface that puts most other laptops to shame. The battery life is also better than some, although that’s not saying much when it comes to gaming laptops. You can typically expect around three to four hours of non-gaming use. You pay a hefty price for the Razer Blade 15, but it delivers the goods on every front.

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It’s not a bad-looking device, either. It has plenty of gamer style cliches, with striking angles, an RGB keyboard, and illuminated logo, but there’s a degree of classiness to the thing. The underside window that allows you to see the innards is a fun touch, too. Joining the GTX 1080 is the slightly older 7700HQ processor, so multicore performance is down compared to some rivals, but when it comes to gaming this machine still runs away with it. That massive screen also offers a fantastic view. Its 1080p resolution may be relatively modest, but a 120Hz refresh rate, IPS LCD technology and G-Sync combine to make for a smooth, high-quality image. You also get an ample 16GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD, and a 1TB hard drive. There’s certainly room to upgrade these, but that’s enough to get started. Given its large proportions, you might hope this would have a strong battery life, but that isn’t the case. Two to three hours is about your lot. This is a hugely pricey machine, but it largely delivers where it counts.

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HARdwARE Group Test

stACKeD up PRICE ($) CRYSTAL (MB/s) Write Read

FPS Deus Ex: Mankind Divided Rise of the Tomb Raider

CInEBEnCH R15 Single thread Multithread

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Higher is better in each category

MSI GE63 Raider RGB Pro

4

1,985 203

550 169

5

1153 73

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58

Alienware 13 1,800 470

1,674

150

684

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54.7 55.8

2,600 2,201 2,386 175

1002

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73 86.6

HP Omen X 17

AcER NITRO 5

2,800 1,207

www.acer.com $899

155

1,734 677

899 334 455 161

642 31.6 43.8

Processor

Graphics

RAM

Storage

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Intel core i7-8750H

GtX 1060

16Gb

250Gb SSD, 1tb HDD

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Intel core i7-7700HQ

GtX 1060

16Gb

250Gb SSD

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esseNtIALs

Intel core i7-8750H

GtX 1070

16Gb

512Gb

4

75%

Acer Nitro 5

Intel core i7-7700HQ

GtX 1080

16Gb

256Gb SSD, 1tb HDD

5

5

It’s a slower card compared to the likes of the GTX 1060, but it still delivers enough to get by. Results of 31.6fps and 43.8fps in our game tests show that you can still get just about playable framerates at 1080p resolutions and with high detail settings in the latest, most demanding games. Drop either of these down a notch and you’re well away. Elsewhere, this laptop delivers all the essentials, with a 1080p IPS screen that provides decent image quality, a backlit keyboard that has no glaring flaws, and there’s a decent trackpad too. That said, none of the above are outstanding. The keyboard’s a little wobbly, the trackpad isn’t a patch on the finest available, and the screen isn’t the best when it comes to color accuracy. Still, for such a modestly priced laptop, I can’t complain too much. Plus, battery life is a little better than some—pushing out about five hours of power. If you’re just looking to dip a toe into the gaming laptop world, the Acer Nitro 5 is worth a look.

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5

100

The Acer Nitro 5 is a surprisingly affordable gaming laptop with enough performance to still pack a punch. Its heart is a Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 graphics card, which is the main reason it’s so modestly priced.

Intel core i7-7700HQ

GtX 1050

8Gb

120Gb SSD, 1tb HDD

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T EC H rEp o r T

TAkinG ConTrol Peripherals that make games inclusive for gamers with disabilities

T

he question of videogame accessibility is nothing new to people who have been gaming with disabilities. The lack of options, such as subtitles, adjustable font size, colorblind mode, varying difficulty options, and button remapping, have long been barriers in games. Devs have become increasingly responsive in designing inclusive games, but hardware has always been an issue. Thankfully, times are changing. The Tobii Eye Tracker is a peripheral which uses eye movement to control certain aspects of gaming and computer navigation. With this piece of hardware, you can use your gaze to turn the camera, target enemies and perform other tasks with which many gamers with disabilities struggle. Options for using eye-tracking hardware are being added to more games as it continues to grow as an input source. Final Fantasy XV, Far Cry 5, and Assassin’s Creed Origins are just a few of the titles to add support for this technology. Perhaps the biggest milestone is the addition of free software developed by Special Effect, an organization that supports gamers with disabilities, to help many people who could not enjoy Minecraft since it relied heavily on the use of controller or keyboard inputs. Its software, called EyeMine, allows gamers to play Minecraft using only the movement of their eyes. By letting the player gaze at onscreen buttons 108

OctOber 2018

which control every aspect of the game, the game no longer relies on physical movements that players with some disabilities are unable to make.

AdApting Accessibility While software and peripherals can help overcome accessibility issues, a standard gaming controller has little to offer in terms of options. Accessible controllers and control schemes are vital in making sure gaming is for everyone, and a few companies have tried to deliver. One such company, Evil Controllers, has been letting players customize controllers to meet their needs for over a decade. Accessible controllers come with options like thumbstick extensions which let you move the thumbstick to parts of your body that have more mobility, remappable buttons so you can assign the game actions to controller buttons you can use best, and one-handed controllers which make everything easy to reach and press using just one hand. For people who have little-to-no movement, modifying controllers isn’t always helpful. An option in this scenario is the Quadstick; a device that you operate using your mouth. It has a joystick, a lip position sensor, and a push switch, as well as sip and puff sensors which the player activates by inhaling or exhaling air. The result is a hands-free accessible controller. But the announcement of Microsoft’s soon-to-be-released Xbox Adaptive Controller on May 17 (on Global Accessibility

Access Granted Accessibility has been something gamers with disabilities have struggled with. The lack of options and the high cost of hardware has left people feeling excluded, but with more companies focusing on inclusion, things are improving.

HArDWArE Tech Report

FAR LEFT: The Xbox Adaptive Controller gives players with disabilities a game controller that can be tailored to their individual needs. LEFT: Players with disabilities sometimes need special equipment and peripherals to be able to easily play videogames with friends.

The RighT Tool

1 lighT Touch swiTch

Switches that are tailored to different abilities

These switches take very little pressure in order to press. They are like clicking a mouse.

2 Pedal swiTch

Foot-activated switches are perfect for players who have limited or no movement of their arms.

Awareness Day) demonstrated a significant shift in the gaming industry’s focus on inclusion. This announcement was huge for many gamers with disabilities since no console company has ever marketed an accessible controller on this scale before. It also looks to be an affordable option. Erin Hawley, a streamer and writer known as the Geeky Gimp, beta tested the new controller. “Accessible gaming hardware is hard to find, outrageously expensive and requires a lot of set-up. The XAC is great because, compared to other accessible tools, it’s cheap,” says Hawley. “We’ve not seen a major gaming company include disability in their mainstream marketing, either—so for Xbox to do this shows their commitment to full inclusion. It’s not just about disabled people being able to play games—it’s about bringing us in from the margins.”

tAking control

3 BuTTon swiTch

Switches resembling buttons come in all sizes, and can be triggered with any body part.

4 QuadsTick

The Quadstick works with the Xbox Adaptive Controller so people can use their mouth and chin to play.

“We love our traditional Xbox controller, but when we look at it through the lens of the social model of disability we recognize that it has been optimized around a primary use case that makes many assumptions. We recognize that these assumptions may be barriers for some people.” says Bryce Johnson, inclusive lead for Microsoft hardware. “The Adaptive Controller was designed to include more people in gaming.” These ideas are key to a more inclusive industry. When companies assume that everyone can press all the buttons or move the thumbsticks on a standard controller, people who can’t end up excluded through a lack of alternatives. There are already a variety of switches on the market that are compatible with the Xbox Adaptive Controller, but even more are being designed with the controller in mind. Warfighter Engaged, an organization which customizes gaming hardware for veterans with disabilities, is already stocking its online store ahead of the controller’s release in September in order to meet the differing needs of players. While improvements have been made, videogame accessibility still has a long road ahead. Prices are high for a lot of products since there has been little competition. Some developers still leave out accessibility options, not listening to or understanding the needs of players with disabilities, while others include them but don’t improve on them. Companies who do try to make gaming more inclusive inspire hope that we will someday see barrier-free gaming experiences, but more need to join the cause to ensure we get there.

“The AdApTive ConTroller wAs designed To inClude more people in gAming”

The device itself looks basic with a d-pad and two large buttons on top. What makes it special is that it’s made to be tailored to the individual player. Since there is not one solution to meet the needs of every disability, the Xbox Adaptive Controller comes equipped with a port for each function of a traditional controller. Switches, joysticks, or combinations of both can be plugged into the ports so the player can decide what peripherals will work best with their unique needs. For example, a person who can’t use fine motor skills to press traditional controller buttons could set up the controller with switches to use via other parts of the body. They might use large switches they could press with their elbow or pedals to press with their feet.

April Dickerson

OctOber 2018

109

your next PC

BUYER’S GUIDE Build the best PC for your budget

ADVANCED

MID-RANGE

BUDGET

KEY Budget build

Mid-range build

Advanced build

PC gaming is for everyone. Pick the parts you want to build a new, well-rounded PC for a good price.

You want to run every new game at 1080p 60fps. This recommended build will see you through.

You’re looking for the best PC on the market and superior components. But you still want to spend smart.

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OCTOBER 2018

HARDWARE

Motherboard GraPhICS Card CooLer

Hyper 212 Evo

MeMory

Vengeance LPX 8GB (2x4GB) @2400MHz

PoWer SuPPLy

500BQ

SSd

MX500 250GB

hdd

Caviar Blue 1TB 7200rpm

CaSe

Neos

dISPLay

VP247HA

MouSe

T O TA L $964

Intel $119 A great processor for out-of-the-box gaming performance. Opt for the AMD Ryzen 1300X if you’d like to overclock.

GeForce GTX 1060 3GB

Keyboard

Enjoy 1080p gaming without breaking the bank

Core i3-8100

Gigabyte $65 It lacks overclocking options, but the new B360 chipset is far cheaper than Z370, and perfect for this budget build.

Inno3D $230 The rumors were true, and graphics card prices are starting to fall. Our pick for this build is bit cheaper than last time.

CoolerMaster $30 We’ve dropped the controller from this build and added in a better CPU cooler, for a quieter, cooler system.

Corsair $103 DDR4 prices are still high, however this Corsair pair is a good value option.

EVGA $50 It may be cheap, but this 500W PSU is more than enough to handle any budget build. This rig only draws 269W at maximum load, too.

Crucial $70 Crucial’s SSD range is fantastic value and offers good performance, too. It’s also time we jumped up to 250GB.

Western Digital $44 One terabyte of old-fashioned hard storage is the perfect home for all of your media, backups, and AAA titles.

Bitfenix $40 The Neos provides decent airflow, good support for 3.5-inch hard drives, and a fairly painless build experience.

Asus $130 1080p and 24 inches is a perfect match for that GTX 1060 GPU. Expect an easy 60fps in all of your titles, in crisp clear HD perfection. EN NEW TR Y

BUDGET BUILD

B360M-DS3H

ProCeSSor

Buyer’s Guide

K55

Corsair $48 This keyboard may lack mechanical keyswitches but it offers decent typing, plus it has RGB and extra gaming keys.

Rival 100 SteelSeries $30 SteelSeries’ Rival lineup is ideal for those looking to get a quality gaming mouse at a respectable price. OCTOBER 2018

111

HARDWARE Buyer’s Guide

Motherboard

Z370 Tomahawk

MSI $130 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

GraPhICS Card

GTX 1070 SC Gaming ACX

CooLer

Intel $180 Better default gaming performance and a lower price puts this chip ahead of the AMD Ryzen 2600X.

MasterLiquid Lite 240

EVGA $470 Again, we’re making a saving this month on our choice of graphics card. This time you can expect a chunk of savings.

CoolerMaster $45 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 $177 16GB is the minimum amount of RAM we’d recommend for a system of this caliber.

PoWer SuPPLy

RMx 650W

T O TA L $1,781 112

OCTOBER 2018

SSd hdd

WD Blue 1TB 7200RPM

Crucial $70 This is still our SSD of choice. We’ve kept the capacity the same as our cheaper build, but upgrading to 500GB would be ideal.

Western Digital $44 SSDs are great, but they’re still far from cheap. This 1TB HDD will hold as many games as you can handle.

CaSe

Eclipse P400S TG

dISPLay

Phanteks $80 The clean lines, intuitive build features, and fantastic price cements the Eclipse as our midrange case of choice.

AGON AG251FZ

Keyboard

MasterKeys Pro L

AOC $300 Not only does this 1080p monitor have a lightning-fast 240Hz refresh rate, but it produces decent image quality, too. EN NEW TR Y

Our recommended build for playing the latest games

MX500 250GB

MouSe

MID-RANGE BUILD

Corsair $120 There’s nothing like having a quality power supply. Get a decent cable kit for this one and you can easily spice up your rig.

CoolerMaster $105 This is one of the cheapest mechanical keyboards, yet it looks and feels great. It only has single-color backlighting, though.

Castor

Mionix $60 Mionix’s Castor is a dream to use, supportive like a glove. With clutter-free software and an optical sensor, it’s hard to go wrong.

HARDWARE

T O TA L $3,216

ProCeSSor

Kraken X62

NZXT $156 The Kraken is the culmination of three of our favorite things: An infinity mirror, a 280mm radiator, and slick braided cooling.

Vengeance LED RGB 32GB - 3200

PoWer SuPPLy

970 Evo 500GB M.2 PCIe SSD

WD Blue 4TB

CaSe

HX750i 80 Plus Platinum

SSd

Corsair $390 Ryzen is the one processor that does benefit hugely from higher frequency memory. This kit is perfect for any would-be video expert.

Corsair $163 Modular, custom cable kits, and a platinum efficiency rating. What’s not to love about this Corsair PSU? Nothing, that’s what.

Samsung $198 Samsung’s newest NVMe SSDs push performance to new heights, and cost the same as the previous 960 range.

Western Digital $104 With a large boot SSD, there’s little need for a large, cheap SSD. Instead we’ve opted for a huge 4TB hard drive for all your bulk data.

Enthoo Evolv ATX TG

Phanteks $180 The 5mm thick aluminum panels resonate with svelte professionalism, and the interior makes building inside this a dream.

dISPLay

T O TA L £2,862

Asus $810 Prices of GTX 1080 Ti’s don’t seem to have dropped as much as other cards, but you’re still saving a decent amount.

SSd 2

MeMory

CooLer

GeForce GTX 1080Ti Turbo

AMD $320 Easy to overclock, and with huge performance out of the box, AMD’s new flagship CPU is the one to go for.

XB271HU

Keyboard

Go above and beyond with a PC powerful enough to end worlds

Asus $195 Get the most from the new AMD Ryzen 2700X with this matching X470 motherboard that’s packed with features.

Ryzen 7 2700X

K70 LUX RGB

MouSe

ADVANCED BUILD

Strix X470-F Gaming

GraPhICS Card

Motherboard

Buyer’s Guide

Acer $500 Our previous choice, the AOC AG271QG, has shot up in price. This Acer is now the best value 165Hz IPS gaming display.

Corsair $140 Even when money is no object it’s hard to argue against Corsair’s latest K70. A no-fuss, solid piece of aluminum craftsmanship.

Rival 700

SteelSeries $60 Swappable sensors, back plates, 3D printed rear guards, and an OLED display. The most comfortable, adaptive mouse we’ve used.

OCTOBER 2018

113

IT’s ALL OVER...

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