Specialist in Fake holidays Twitter @robinlvalentine This month Ran around in so many PC gaming worlds that he got a digital blister. If the past few months of self-isolation, political unrest, division and… I think at one point there were murder

Many developers and publishers have expressed their support for the Black Lives Matter movement this month, along with pledging donations to it, the NAACP, and other related causes. Events and announcements have also been moved back to draw attention

The Street Fighter subreddit raised $15,000 with an impromptu Black Lives Matter online tournament. Next year’s Odyssey expansion will finally let you get out of your ship and explore worlds on foot. The mythological Total War spin-off will be free t

ISSUE 216, August 2010 ON THE COVER World of Warcraft Cataclysm IN THE CINEMAS Toy Story 3 1 It’s something of an MMO special this month, as – for the second time on its cover – PC Gamer tackles World of Warcraft’s apocalyptic expansion Catacly

I thought I was an introverted person before this,” says Kirk Williford, a senior game designer on Guild Wars 2. After a few months in self-isolation as a result of the coronavirus, working on the MMO’s latest big update during the day and playing ot

When games journalists outline the problems with a game, they’re often met with a familiar retort, “Why don’t you make one then, if you’re so clever?” And of course, most of us aren’t. But for Tom Francis, a former staff writer at PC Gamer for nine y

An enormous caterpillar has taken up residence in the waste disposal sector of Black Mesa. Unlike many of its peers from the planet Xen, the monstrous pit worm cannot be dislodged with machine-gun fire or experimental weapons. Instead, like the toxic

A fully-fledged tactical FPS that tugs at the heart strings. A sequel developed in seven months. Last and least well-received in the series. Valve’s masterpiece spawned a series of spin-offs. Gearbox shines in its first attempt at a squad shooter. Ba

Two armies hold opposing ends of a battlefield. The sun’s out – it’s a nice day for a fight – and in the background sits a city, nestled behind stalwart walls. It’s the calm before A Total War Saga: Troy’s storm, but any second now a man dressed up a

Project Cars has amassed a large, loyal following of virtual motorsport fans, thanks in part to its impressively realistic car physics. But the series has always been missing a few of the features expected from a modern racing sim – something its dev

In this unusual sim, you play as a one-person restoration company specialising in cleaning and repairing abandoned railway stations. In the same vein as House Flipper or Viscera Cleanup Detail, there’s a big ol’ mess, and you’re the muggins that’s go

The night fog is thick as I drive towards Windland Plains in my borrowed company hatchback, its engine rattling so loud I can hardly hear the radio. A few feet in front of the windscreen, my headlights cast a sodium haze. Any further, and the weather

Sometimes the real world weighs heavy on us all. This year, it’s felt like about 2,020 kilos’ worth. It can make luxuries like videogames feel pretty frivolous. But, at the same time, your PC can provide the perfect escape. Virtual worlds, despite m

The scene before me is unfathomably ghastly. Charred limbs and torsos the colour of charcoal are only things that suggest that these are humans littering the ground as I pick through the gore to find a man’s lost brother. I’ve witnessed the carnage t

Hereby, I offer my apology to every environment artist working in games, past, present, and future. How many hours do they spend creating lavish, gorgeous, massive open worlds? Hundreds? Thousands? Huge teams spend years bringing to life spaces we co

The reason space sim MMO EVE Online’s universe is so special – and enduring – is its relationship with its players. Thanks to an interwoven tangle of reactive systems, it’s a sandbox that plays host to dynamic politics, economics, espionage and warfa

Meditation rocks are not only for a quiet rest but also inform the player of the different species they are looking at. The name of the fish appears at the bottom of the screen, and the camera switches from watching the diver to examining the fish, a

Underwater levels in games can make you flounder. Weird water physics, breath timers, and clunky character movements have historically made submerged worlds daunting. But Giant Squid’s subaquatic adventure ABZÛtakes all that away, turning even the cl

It’s interesting how two of the most atmospheric, detailed and well-realised worlds on PC – Yakuza’s Kamurocho and Shenmue’s Yokosuka – are among the smallest. Each game presents a painstakingly recreated, but economical, slice of Japanese life, root

When it comes to virtual tourism, it’s hard to beat the atmospheric streets of Sleeping Dogs’ Hong Kong. It’s at once an authentic snapshot of a unique and historic city, and a kind of exaggerated martial arts flick soundstage writ impossibly large.

The most compelling open worlds are the ones that feel like they would exist even if you never visited them, and the key to that illusion is to fill the world with convincing people. I’m not talking about the main characters, the quest-givers, or th

Many fervent Dark Souls fans have written off Dark Souls II as an accident. But, in the words of Bob Ross who’d no doubt look over Medula with a tear in his eye, the sun setting over an endless sea, bathing the ruins of a once proud civilisation in g

When you think about open world games, your mind tends to leap to Assassin’s Creed, Grand Theft Auto, and all the other big hitters of the genre. But you might be surprised to learn that one of the best, biggest, most varied, and constantly evolving

Fast travel is ubiquitous in open world games. I get why – it’s a time-saver in an industry more packed with massive games than ever. But I think it also undermines the scale of these virtual realms. More and more I find myself swearing off using it

A special piece of armour that collects all the delicious souls. How can you harvest the souls of the dead without a good ol’ scythe? A cube of immense destruction that uses souls to unleash a high-powered beam. A tome that siphons souls and then rel

I’m in a dark crypt, surrounded by skeletons and creepers. I’m blasting mobs with my firework arrows which explode into a cloud of colourful sparks, dual-wielding sickles that freeze enemies, and harvesting the souls of the fallen to power my laser c

I’ve lost track of how many people I’ve eaten. My mission was to consume ten golfers, and since people don’t golf in the ocean I had to jump out of the water and shimmy my way onto the golf course to start chowing down on them. Three patrol boats fil

Hell is empty and all the devils are here. By here I mean on this train, teaming up with monsters to fight angels across the frozen wasteland that used to be their home, until they reach Hell’s heart and relight it with the last Pyre-flame. Surprisin

Checking all of the boxes needed to fit into the service game climate Cruciblehas: a roster of heroes with diverse abilities, cosmetics, a battle pass with dozens of progression levels, and snippets of lore that suggest a larger world. Unfortunately,

You’ve no doubt heard that Deep Rock Galactic is like Left 4 Dead, if Valve’s co-op classic swapped zombies for alien arachnids and took place exclusively in dark, confounding tunnels. That’s more or less accurate, but Deep Rock Galactic’s eponymous

VALORANT is way more than a copycat. It’s wild how quickly Valoranthas captured the collective consciousness of FPS fans. Riot’s competitive shooter is just barely out of beta, yet it already stands toe-to-toe with the biggest games in its genre. It

To Sebastian, the singing crab from The Little Mermaid: I dispute your claim that life is better, under the sea. I’ve been down there, just now, fleeing from soggy horrors in the creepy Swallow the Sea, and frankly I’m relieved to find myself back on

After playing this post-apocalyptic train sim, I have new sympathy for British Rail, who can hardly be expected to keep the trains timely with all the monsters trying to climb aboard, all the time. To make matters worse, here you’re running a train a

Should you ever need to feel bad (or just worse) about your level of productivity, consider this fact: developer Rusty Lake has already made 15 games in its five years of operation. The team’s latest room-escape-ish adventure game is actually a remak

Professional wrestling is fascinating, isn’t it? First you think it’s real, then you think it’s fake, then you realise it’s more real than you ever imagined, in ways it’s hard to comprehend. The injuries are legit. Real-life feuds spill over into sto

You remember that bit in The Shining when Jack typed the same sentence over and over? This entry could be that but with the words ‘sorry I got it wrong’. I reviewed Rocket League in 2015 and scored it an idiotic 87 percent, when it’s clearly one of t

Just because this month’s theme is sport, it doesn’t mean they all have to be real. This is proof, were it needed, that I’ll find a way to put Warhammer in anything. That sandwich you just made. The jumper your mum knitted. The magazine you’re readin

When searching for a cricket tie-in, it’s tempting to go back to Ashes Cricket 2013, a game so heinous that all trace of it has been scrubbed from Steam. But Cricket 19 is good, and something of an antidote to a summer spent without the reassuring cr

This skateboarding game’s presentation really appeals to me. Or, rather, its total lack of it. You skate in a utilitarian hellscape while cool music plays. That’s it. It’s the opposite of WWE’s creatine-gorged bulk of pointless extras around a brittl

There’s no component more crucial to a gaming PC than a graphics card. It’s the heart of any system that favours frame rate and fidelity above all else, and that’s why it’s of the utmost importance to leave aside plenty of budget and choose wisely wh

You’re trapped in something the size of a camper van with three of your buddies for the next three years. The payoff is that you get to go to Mars, but at what cost? How do you look after your mental health on such a strange journey? Crewed mission

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

A healthy dose of ports and PCIe SSD support has this B450 at the heart of our budget build. AMD has packed its latest Zen 2 architecture into a speedy four-core package, and that’s great for gaming. The GTX 1650 Super is much more than a rebrand of

A reliable platform for your build, the Tomahawk Max also comes in black to complement any style. This CPU is one of the greats, and uses the Zen 2 architecture to dominate in gaming and productivity. The RTX 2060 is a taste of the good life, where f

If you want all the bells and whistles, the Aorus Master delivers alongside Intel’s high-end chipset. It’s one of the fastest gaming chips around and you don’t need Intel’s integrated graphics with a great gaming GPU in place. The RTX 2080 Super is t

Attempted potty training with disastrous results. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star on a miniature xylophone Regrettably I wasn’t lucky enough to get my hair cut in the last week before lockdown, but I was fortunate enough to have my brother-in-law rig up

Discovered how hellish public transport can be. Middle-earth: Shadow of War, Blood Bowl 2 There’s a strange idea in PC gaming that all games should strive for balance. A good game, conventional wisdom goes, is one in which every option feels as viab

Stayed inside, dreaming of the sunlit world outside. Control, Gears Tactics Here in the real world, it’s Saturday. In the eternal night of The Longing’s caves, it’s impossible to tell what day it is. What I do know, though, is how much time remains:

Took pictures of pretty reflections and dead guys. Valorant, Generation Zero After upgrading my GPU to an RTX 2070 Super, I picked Controlto be my first ‘RTX On’ experience. It’s a good game to play for any reason, but it’s also the best showcase of

May 6, 2003 CCP Games In-house eveonline.com Last July, EVE Online players fell victim to an alien invasion of unprecedented scale. Across the lawless outer reaches of New Eden, where EVE’s player alliances battle for territory, fleets of alien ves

Los Santos has a massive crime problem, and no one knows that better than anyone who plays Grand Theft Auto V… because we spend most of our time committing those horrible crimes. But when the thrill of bank heists, chases, and shootouts with the cops

Hanging up my phone on anyone who calls. Killing myself to change the time of day. Losing a lot of money in the casino online. Winning a little money in the online casino. Doing a real mission. Shooting out car tires from a roof. Trying on outfits bu

1 Every weapon and armour set has up to three slots for enchantments. You’re awarded one enchantment point with each level you gain and you can invest them in various abilities that can be upgraded twice to increase their power. 2 When you find bet

More Nameless Ones spawn here, which means more fireballs to evade. This is where the fight gets hard, so ensure you have your roll and a health potion at the ready. The Nameless One spawns shielded skeletons, so they’ll take multiple hits to take do

It’s my birthday and my uncle is footing the bill. My birthday is today. And tomorrow. My birthday stretches from now and into infinity, spilling out over the horizon. My birthday eats the sky and the stars, it laps up the morning light and spits out

Alien’s Xenomorph is one of cinema’s best known monsters, but at what point does the creature become boring? The comics and movies that rose to feed Alien’s hungry fandom have reduced the creature to a cartoon villain. The Xenomorph has battled Batma

One mouth isn’t enough for this predator. Brushing its teeth is complicated. It’s difficult to hurt it but don’t let the Alien bleed on you, it’s acid blood. The Alien hunts methodically, and is sensitive to every noise you make. ■

It’s 11.00pm, and my phone starts to buzz. It’s Samuel – former PC Gamer editor-in-chief, current pal. “An hour of Apex?” he asks. It’s 1.30am. We’re jumping in for what we’ve promised ourselves will be the final match. It’s 1.50am. We’ve just won. T

Enjoy the wonderful sights and sounds of this historic motorway from the comfort of your own truck! It’s the kind of spectacle only virtual worlds can provide. Take a romantic stroll across the rickety scaffolding as the sun sets through a tiny, ti