Indholdsfortegnelse for July 2024 i PC Gamer (US Edition)

Sergii Greben’s path into game development is an interesting one. Having worked in a web development job for a few years, and finding that this failed to give him much satisfaction, he joined a group of passionate Mount & Blade modders; a group that soon blossomed into its own developer, Donkey Crew. In the early days of the company, when things leaned more towards a group of enthusiasts rather than a professional team, he could essentially choose whatever he wanted to work on—and chose AI for human NPCs. “I was just trying to make them behave a little bit more like actual humans,” says Greben. “It’s all about iteration. Just try playing it. See what doesn’t work, what feels off, try to fix it. Try again, and so on, until…

The release of Unreal Tournament 2004 represented a remarkable moment in PC gaming history. Not only was the game a joy to play, building on the multiplayer shooter mechanics that had originated in 1999’s Unreal Tournament, but it was also able to be modded, and some of those mods would become standalone games themselves, launching the careers of their devs. Released an astonishing 20 years ago, Unreal Tournament 2004 was one of the outstanding first-person shooters of its time. This third iteration in the franchise brought a bounty of fantastical levels and deliriously lethal contraptions to the shooter scene, returning Unreal Tournament to the podium to rival interlopers such as Halo. It provided a counterpoint to a flood of military shooters while bringing the franchise “up to date” in the…

Putting Challenge 2 is (deep breath) a fan game based on the fake videogame featured in an episode of The Simpsons. Remember? Bart received it as a gift instead of the ultraviolent Bonestorm. While another developer has recreated the game featured in The Simpsons, here’s Gumpy Function with a Game Boy ‘sequel’ containing very little actual golf content, instead exploring Lee Carvallo’s life after the release of his licensed game. As you might expect, this game is packed with Simpsons deep cuts, with almost every room in Carvallo’s house containing an item bearing a reference to the show in its heyday. It’s a very funny game, although the pixel art is particularly impressive, successfully mimicking the style of The Simpsons with only four shades of green and in a teeny…

First Encounter Assault Recon is an example of one my favorite videogame tropes: the laughably functional acronym. Instead of sounding cool, FEAR makes you imagine a team of dull military minds sat around a secret table in the Pentagon, trying to think of the perfect name for soldiers who shoot ghosts. Special Operations Occult Kill Initiative was almost certainly an option. Forget everything and remember. It’s one of many conceits which, upon return, make FEAR harder to take seriously. But this is largely unfair. It’s deeply atmospheric, full of interactive environmental touches such as clanking cans, flapping birds, and flickering lights, which feel surprising even by modern standards. There’s even an overhead projector which actually projects; something I’m apparently far more excited about than I should be. Sound design, too,…

You know that thing where your brain slightly alters any memory it recalls? Evil West is the videogame version of that. I picked it up because I’ve been pining for linear third-person action games lately, the kind that followed in the bloody wake of Gears of War. No open world, no fancy level design, no nuanced characterization. Just me, a big gun and a long line of enemies desperate to throw themselves in front of it. On the face of it, Evil West is precisely that, an over-the-shoulder action adventure that asks two simple questions, “What if the Wild West had vampires in it?” and, “What if you could punch those vampires to death with electrified gloves?” Filled with spectacular set pieces, daft one-liners, and lead characters who are almost…

PC gaming isn’t governed by universal logic. We build a new PC to meet Ark: Survival Evolved’s demands, and then spend a hundred hours playing Vampire Survivors on it instead. We wear RGB headsets and then sit there, not seeing the RGB lighting. And we pressure ourselves to buy a new GPU every 17 minutes while other elements of our gaming setup like the monitor we took from work in 2012 soldier on. All of which is to say, there are no hard and fast rules when it comes to upgrading. Usually it takes a new game’s arrival and subsequent refusal to run faster than flipbook speed to prompt some new componentry. But such a haphazard approach doesn’t sit well with all of us. And when it comes to the…

Friends, the worst fate has befallen me: my GPU’s getting a bit old. Not so much that certain new releases are off limits, you understand. That used to be the case in a bygone era of PC gaming when advancements moved quicker. Minimum requirements were to be agonized over, parents pleaded with, witnessing the cool new game on even the lowest settings a triumph. No, what I mean is there are now some games I have to use the ‘performance’ DLSS mode with. I know. I’m really sad about it. Because it only feels like five minutes ago that my RTX 2080 TI—Founders Edition, mind you—stood atop the GPU pile, metaphorical legs splayed wide in a power pose favored by Beyoncé or, less convincingly, right-wing politicians. For a moment back…

Back in 2021, indie developer Wolfire filed an antitrust lawsuit against Valve that accused the gaming giant of anti-competitive business practices—including its habit of taking unfair cuts from developers on its store. Valve’s 30% fees have come under criticism before—and they are high when compared to some other online platforms. Valve offers cuts, but only if your company’s earning millions on millions—no alms for the little guy. The suit was dismissed without prejudice later that year. However, that dismissal gave Wolfire 30 days to bring the suit up-to-par, which it did, reigniting the legal battle in 2022. Now, details have emerged from the suit’s discovery phase—both sides’ legal teams were able to exchange documents to help build out their cases. One particular email chain between Valve employees stood out, though.…

What were you doing in 2010? Chances are you weren’t playing a Korean MMO called Vindictus, also known as Mabinogi Heroes, which won the grand prize at the 2010 Korea Game Awards. It’s still going today, has been praised for its combat, and Defying Fate is a spin-off story. A warrior enters a sunlit valley. She wears highly feminized armor that’s a little drafty around the thighs, and carries a sword and shield. A dual-blade wielding male character is also available at startup, but the extra protection will probably come in handy later, especially when I start looking at the alternate costumes. The game is full of artifacts from its MMO heritage. Defying Fate takes place in the same universe as the original Vindictus, features some of its characters and…

Level Zero: Extraction is a simple concept, it’s what you would get if Escape From Tarkov took place in the Alien universe. This combines the gear fear of the former with the genuine terror of being stalked by an alien to create an incredibly tense experience. It may not sound particularly unique, effectively taking the idea of one of the most popular games in the world and throwing it into a world that holds more than a few similarities to one of the most loved film universes ever created, but there is one key feature that makes Level Zero: Extraction a little more interesting than that—light. When you spawn in as a human on the only map available in the closed beta, an abandoned research facility in the South Pole,…

Few online RPGs have transformed as much in the past decade as The Elder Scrolls Online. First debuting in April of 2014 as a confused, awkward thing, loved by few. Today, it proudly stands alongside its singleplayer peers. Here’s how TESO escaped Oblivion’s grasp and reconnected with Elder Scrolls fans. In the past couple of weeks, I’ve made a return tour around TESO’s world, wrapped up the main story arc, and got to have a talk with two of the game’s production leads—game director Matt Firor (previously of classic PvP MMO Dark Age of Camelot) and creative director Rich Lambert. Both were eager to share their stories of the highs and lows of development, and how the game found a new identity through one of the most comprehensive overhauls of…

There’s a fundamental contradiction between how Outcast – A New Beginning looks and sounds to how it actually plays. Visually, it’s often epic. The alien world of Adelpha has never looked better, with Pandora-lite environments seamlessly alternating between lush forests, coastal beachfronts, rocky mountainous expanses, snow-capped peaks and waterfall-laden ancient metropolises partially reclaimed by nature. The audio is also beautiful and atmospheric – it always speaks of wondrous cosmic adventures that await. What a shame, then, that hero of the hour Cutter Slade spends so much of his time in Outcast – A New Beginning undertaking very mundane, far from epic, open-world busywork. Here’s a typical sort of exchange. Cutter Slade, ex-Navy SEAL and now, after far too long trapped on the alien world of Adelpha, haggard-looking dad bod chosen…

This sure is a game made up of 20 small mazes, but of course there’s a little more to it than that. I’m not sure if there’s even one without a gimmick behind it, whether it’s VVVVVVstyle gravity flipping, teleporters, or walls you can smash down while driving a digger. I spent a very enjoyable hour and a bit solving all the mazes, but it’s the way they all link together that’s truly impressive. The mazes are all laid atop one another, like windows on a horribly cluttered computer desktop, and to move between them you have to drag the others away from you. It’s satisfying on a tactile level, but the fact that the mazes are all in the same space also plays into the puzzles. There are clues…

TikTok would have us believe the idea of hunting ghosts and cryptids is wholesome fun. You gather your flask, checked shirt and antique camera, then sashay into abandoned spaces in search of the restless dead. Phasmophobia proves, as if it was even necessary, that listening to social media is usually a mistake. The practical nature of Phasmophobia is part of what makes it so unsettling. If you were just wandering around cursed houses, bracing yourself for jumpscares, you’d probably become numb to its terrors. But everything here is underpinned by busywork. It feels like someone in middle management will be assessing your performance if you don’t lay your quota of souls to rest. The slow-burn revelations help, too. It’s important to gather all the evidence in order to make an…

The world is ending in a matter of days. Doom is upon Nova Chrysalia, the corrupted, dying world created when the world of Gran Pulse and the limbo realm of Valhalla, collapsed together. Chaos surrounds this last bastion of humanity against the endless nothingness of non-existence, and when the doomsday clock hits zero, the apocalypse shall arrive. On the edge of apocalypse, Lightning, a hero from the past, returns. Awoken by the god Bhunivelze to save as many of the remnants of humanity’s souls as she can to be reborn into a new world, Lightning must race against time itself to not only save as many people as she can, an act that she has been promised will see her reunited with her deceased sister Serah, but also herself. So…

KEY Budget build PC gaming is for everyone. Pick the parts you want to build a new, well-rounded PC for a good price. Mid-range build You want to run every new game at 1080p 60fps. This recommended build will see you through. Advanced build You’re looking for the best PC on the market and superior components. But you still want to spend smart. BUDGET BUILD Enjoy 1080p gaming without breaking the bank TOTAL $1,106 MID-RANGE BUILD Our recommended build for playing the latest games TOTAL $1,588 ADVANCED BUILD Go above and beyond with a PC powerful enough to end worlds TOTAL $5,739…

Over 160 copies of Factorio, a base building game from four years ago, ran simultaneously on servers around the world to make history. Factorio’s first ‘God Factory’ was born through the efforts of a Discord server full of people who refuse to stop building. The over 400 players behind Eternity Cluster, a project that had only existed for a month at the time, broke 1,000,000 science per minute (SPM) in February. Normal players of the factory-building automation game only need around 30 SPM to achieve the game’s ultimate goal: sending a rocket into space. But for the Factorio players who really get a thrill from efficient mass production—a drive that has kept the game relevant since its 2018 Steam early access launch—one rocket is not enough. “The most difficult obstacle…

It’s becoming increasingly difficult to make a splash among a sea of game announcements. An estimated 14,000-plus games were released on Steam alone in 2023, with that number only expected to rise in the years to come. To combat this, one indie developer has already attracted the attention of millions by looking to the past for inspiration. Mouse, a new first-person shooter that utilizes the ‘rubber hose’ animation style of the 1930s, has seen massive interest since early development footage surfaced online. Developed by Warsaw-based Fumi Games, players control a private detective who battles their way through a chaotic city full of criminal rodents, utilizing an assortment of cartoonlike weapons to stamp out the corrupt politicians. Unsurprisingly, a lot of the studio’s roots stem from animation with Fumi Games CEO…

At 11 Bit studios’ office in Warsaw, game director Kuba Stokalski is trying to show me Frostpunk 2. But the citizens of New London, the game’s virtual metropolis, have other priorities. Food and fuel are both running low, meaning large portions of the city are hungry and cold. Stokalski’s recently built extraction district is finally producing coal, but he’s placed it too close to several residential areas, causing a sharp uptick in squalor. Now, the city’s representative Council is about to conduct its first vote—to decide whether to oust Stokalski as its newly appointed Steward. “I’m not doing so well, and they see it.” Stokalski says, sounding flustered. “This isn’t going to be an easy one.” Inside the Council’s circular hall, Stokalski has a small group of loyalists—known as Stalwarts—on…

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Cor! Look at those swaying aquatic plants as you dive underwater, ready to hide from mechanical foes. Look at the neon lights that form the cyber-ghost of Las Vegas above the post-apocalyptic dunes! Horizon: Forbidden West is a technical tour de force for Guerrilla Games and its Decima Engine. But, while the tech has certainly evolved, little else has, making for a disappointing sequel in a series that was once packed with promise. The gorgeous visuals at least make this a game that feels right at home on PC, where its ambition can be pushed further. With a good enough rig, this port can meet and exceed what’s still one of PS5’s most resource hungry titles—able to match its speedy open-world fast travel, and deliver higher framerates while retaining a…

There’s something oddly comforting about a world you explore on a fixed grid, methodically, as if you’re filling in a crossword. There’s no map to fill in, alas, in Psychopomp, but it’s still a fascinating place to roam around in, square by square. With its conspiracy-theory-spouting, potentially delusional protagonist, it’s fair to say this is not your typical dungeon crawler, as the dungeons you’re crawling around are nightmarish versions of real-life environments: a school, a factory and sewer network. Each is populated by peculiar NPCs, who chat cryptically and occasionally harbor vital switches or key items. However, this is not the sort of game where you can simply reason with them to hand the keycard over. Instead, you have to get your hammer out and, well, left-click. There’s a vein…

Rounding up this month’s spectral collection is Pac-Man Championship Edition DX, if only because Phasmophobia has made me want to turn the tables on the undead for shaving actual years off my life. Does it hurt the ghosts when Pac-Man eats them? I hope so. If nothing else, all this makes me feel better. And Championship Edition DX really is all about feel. It’s easy to look at the luminous screenshots and assume this is nothing more than a neon upgrade of a beloved classic. But it’s fast and endless and exhilarating, taking the grim inevitability of the original game away and replacing it with a perfect, dizzying loop of amphetamine enjoyment. It’s even fun in the moments where you’re the hunted, not the hunter—there are genuinely few things in…

Standard keyboards just aren’t great for your body. The key layout makes your fingers constantly stretch and splay, and forces your wrists to rotate inward. Your hands sit close together, so your shoulders don’t get much chance to relax. A quality ergonomic keyboard counters all of this and the best ones are designed to relieve the stresses you get from typing and gaming all day long. Picking the right one is no easy task and there’s no such thing as a perfect choice, as everyone’s needs are different. What suits one person could well be an annoyance to someone else. There are some important things to watch out for, though, so avoid paying for a label and look for the right features. Here are six ergo keyboards to whet your…