Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2017 i PC Gamer (US Edition)

It’s the PC Gamer Top 100! Again! This is my favorite issue of the year, and not just because everyone else has to do the hard work. This year’s list is terrific—a fine mix of PC games old and new. This is also my last issue as editor, sadly. Phil Savage takes over next month, and I’m sure he’ll do a great job. I hope you’ve enjoyed my era of PC Gamer. Your loyalty means a lot. Thanks for reading. TALK TO PC GAMER Have your say! Tweet us @PCGamer Our team of writers Chris Livingston Specialist in Moon landings, hoverbikes Twitter @screencuisine This month Played Star Citizen for our feature on p36. It sounds like Firefly. Andy Kelly Specialist in Aliens, stock photos Twitter @ultrabrilliant This month Andy revisited…

I n recent years, alongside big strategy games, such as Total War: Warhammer and Company of Heroes 2, Sega has brought some of its more eclectic console classics to PC, like Bayonetta, Valkyria Chronicles, and Vanquish. Sega’s got much more to come, though. Sega Europe’s John Clark explains the process behind porting these games, and I press him on what else we can expect to see on PC in future. What motivates your choice of which old console games to bring to PC? If I asked you to write me a list of the ten games you want Sega to bring out on PC, it probably isn’t any different from the list [we have]. What motivates that [is] that people just have an affinity with [our] games, and there’s no…

The first time I set foot on the Azim Steppe, a sprawling grassland home to the Mongol-like Xaela, I felt a sense of adventure that I haven’t encountered in an MMO in a long time. I had come to this rural pocket of Othard, the new far-eastern continent in Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood, to find an exiled prince and convince him to take up arms against the militaristic Garlean empire. It’s a story that’s almost as old as time, but Stormblood breathes new life into this familiar tale with endearing characters who I cared deeply about during my time with them. Stormblood isn’t just an expansion, it’s a Final Fantasy game in its own right—and it tells a better story than half of them. Picking up directly where Final Fantasy…

Cole Black doesn’t know who he is or why he’s trapped in a creepy asylum where the patients all wear weird VR headsets. And, by extension, neither do you. This is a game about a man piecing his fragmented jigsaw puzzle of a brain together, and the revelations come thick and fast: About your past, your flaws, and about the girl you see dying in an explosion in the prologue. It’s a twisting labyrinth of a plot, with some interesting beats, and a lot of quite hokey, predictable ones. But the problem with Get Even isn’t really the story itself, but how it’s told. The asylum is a hub of sorts. You wander its grimy, dilapidated hallways, occasionally having to kill aggressive patients who lunge at you from the shadows,…

I f you were to list three ideal qualities that futuristic androids should possess as standard, they would be intelligence, resourcefulness and, above all, beauty. In the world of Nier: Automata, beauty is key. Set in the aftermath of an alien invasion on Earth, humans have retreated to the Moon, and created androids called YoRHa to fight back. They’re not just perfectly made subservient killing machines, but delectably dressed, in black lace, leather, and gossamer. Instead of utilitarian uniforms you may expect from an army deployed for destruction, YoRHa look like ghosts from Gothic romance crossed with children’s toys. At times this feels far-fetched, especially when watching a woman fight machines in a gown and stiletto heels, but it’s also a celebration of contemporary fashion from Los Angeles to Milan.…

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 MID-RANGE BUILD Our recommended build for playing the latest games ADVANCED BUILD Go above and beyond with a PC powerful enough to end worlds…

We’ve only got the five reviews this issue. That might not seem like many—we needed the space for the Top 100—but a good number of those five are well worth your attention. Take Final Fantasy XIV, which, with Stormblood, now makes a compelling case for itself as a must-play MMO. Our reviewer, Steven, praised its story, its characters and even its boss fights. Elsewhere, there’s Rising Storm 2: Vietnam, a compelling (if somewhat janky) take on multiplayer warfare. Or, if you’re looking for something brighter and more arcadey, you can try your luck at the fiendishly difficult Nex Machina, or the varied Caveblazers. Even in these lean summer months, there’s plenty to get stuck into. Here’s hoping next month is just as strong. P H I L S AVA G…

Caveblazers is a sidescrolling roguelike with random loot and permadeath. As you delve down further into a cave full of riches, you’ll encounter powerful enemies and find new gear to kill them with. You’ll find gold, and spend it on items and health refills from shrines. You’ll find blessings—buffs that can tweak and enhance you build. And you’ll die, in many painful, cheap, and amusing ways—often as a result of your own hubris. On my ninth run I found a blaster. A ranged weapon, it fires a barrage of bullets, but equipping it means a penalty to move speed and jump height. That was a big price to pay, until I realized that, if I shot at the floor, the knockback would propel me upwards, allowing me to jet pack…

What the hell just happened? Your first go of Nex Machina will leave you feeling pleasantly dazed, as this exhilarating and ferociously tough twin-stick shooter from Finland-based Housemarque sucks you in and spits you back out almost immediately. It’s the kind of game to make you shuffle forward a little in your seat, as you take a deep breath and prepare to dive in for another attempt. It dispenses with the niceties to get you into the action that much quicker. All you need to know is that it’s sometime in the future, we’ve all been too busy gawping at our phones to notice the machines getting smarter than us, and lo and behold, they’re keen to assert their authority over humans by wiping us out. As the game starts,…

T he reveal of Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus has put me in the mood for some mindless fun. What better way to sate that urge than with more Wolfenstein? WolfenDoom: Blade of Agony is a GZDoom mod and an unofficial successor to Wolfenstein 3D. Downloading it, I assumed it would offer an answer to the unasked question: What if id Software had stuck with Nazis, instead of messing around with demons on Mars? In fact, it’s so much more. There are elements of Wolfenstein, such as the chunky Aryan bosses dual-wielding arm cannons. And there are elements of Doom, notably the combat, which has Doom’s pace, if not its plasma gun. But what makes Blade of Agony exceptional is that it’s more than just PC gaming alt-history fan fiction.…

TOM SENIOR A wise old man once told me, ‘Get busy leveling or get busy dying.’ I live by those words today, Deckard Cain. TEKKEN 7 tk7.tekken.com The story mode is absolute drivel, but if you’re prepared to go online Tekken 7 is a surprisingly accessible beat-’em-up with some really fun characters. Play as a panda (who fights with a style called Kuma Shinken, by the way), and maul an irritating British boxer called Steve to unconsciousness, it’s good times. DISHONORED 2 dishonored.bethesda.net/en The Death of the Outsider standalone expansion was announced at E3, so this is a good time to get reacquainted with the Outsider’s smug, stupid face before you put an end to him forever. Play as Corvo if you played as Emily the first time, or vice…

EVERY’80S RPG RELEASED 1989 | LAST POSITION A forum thread Phil: Sure, the interface is unwieldy and confusing, and you have to squint to make out the sprites amid the muddy environments, but this is still miles ahead of all the streamlined console abominations that idiots today have the temerity to call an RPG. What’s the point of a levelling system if you can’t ruin your playthrough by putting all of your skill points into cross-stitching? THAT MMO YOU AND THREE OTHER PEOPLE STILL PLAY RELEASED 2011 | LAST POSITION Your Discord Samuel: The character designs were lambasted at launch (is that a grizzly bear in a chain mail bikini?), but the crafting is bloody fantastic. CULT CLASSIC THAT NEEDS 14 MODS JUST SO IT DOESN’T CRASH RELEASED 2004 |…

E very year, the team compiles a list of the 100 best games you can play today. Our process is deliberately subjective: Each participant picks their personal top 15 games, and then the team gathers to narrow that list. We only allow one entry per series, with a couple of notable exceptions. You’ll also find some of our personal picks thrown in. Enjoy. 100 DWARF FORTRESS RELEASED 2006 | LAST POSITION New Wes: In Dwarf Fortress I’ve seen the circle of death and rebirth. It’s less of a game, more of an ambitious simulation, representing the complexities of existence in ASCII. Eventually you’ll feel like Neo, seeing the truth behind the symbols. Just remember: Losing is fun. Shaun: You don’t even need to play Dwarf Fortress to marvel at its…

STEVEN MESSNER Specialist in MMOs, poopsocking Currently playing Final Fantasy XIV This month Made the mistake of agreeing to review an MMO. 70 hours later... TYLER WILDE Specialist in FPS, panic Currently playing Rising Storm 2 This month Muttered, “You weren’t there, man,” whenever anyone played Jefferson Airplane. ANDY KELLY Specialist in Adventure, apps Currently playing Get Even This month Continued to claim that Twin Peaks’ Dick Tremayne was good. Ludicrous. CHRIS SCHILLING Specialist in Arcade, heroism Currently playing Nex Machina This month Saw a world overrun by robots. Terrifying, but neon. SAMUEL ROBERTS Specialist in Adventure, houses Currently playing Perception This month Wandered through a house full of dolls and BioShock references. PHIL SAVAGE Specialist in Roguelikes, spiders Currently playing Caveblazers This month Killed many digital spiders. Still won’t…

The latest from Tripwire and Antimatter is a lateral move: The same 64-player WWII battles of Red Orchestra, now in Vietnam, with assault rifles, helicopters, and tunnels. Where Battlefield provides military playgrounds with solo activities for everyone, Rising Storm 2 demands commanders, squad leaders, and pilots lead teams of GIs to victory. Soldiers are fragile, long lives are unlikely, and every kill is a feat of marksmanship. Even with how hard it is to hit moving clumps of pixels among the jungle’s browns and greens, having 64 automatic or semi-automatic weapons on the field makes open spaces deadly. No longer can players dance around each other, swinging the long barrels of Springfields and Karabiner 98ks, firing, missing, and firing again as if playing Unreal Tournament instagib. Close-quarters meetings are resolved…

B ack when I was a naïve teenager, I was really into Pirates of the Caribbean. And I mean, really. The kind of person who had Jack Sparrow posters on her wall, Pirates cushions, Pirates T-shirts, even Pirates PJs. Thankfully, those days are long gone now—even I won’t defend Pirates 4—but after thoroughly enjoying Pirates 5 at the cinema (anyone who didn’t belly-ache at that guillotine scene can fight me), I’ve had an itch to revisit Failbetter’s nautical roguelike, Sunless Sea. I had to abandon it after several crews started eating their own limbs before we’d even set sail, but with its unplayed Zubmariner expansion still docked in my Steam library, I thought, like Pirates, I’d give it a second chance. It turns out my captaining skills are still as…

“LucasArts was doing some really innovative stuff here” I n Rogue One we’re told the story of hero Jyn Erso, who infiltrates a heavily defended Imperial base and heroically steals the Death Star plans for the Rebel Alliance. But before Gareth Edwards’ film, Star Wars fans knew a different story about another hero. In this version of events, the focus of the first mission in Dark Forces—now officially declared non-canon by Disney—it’s mercenary Kyle Katarn who steals the plans from the planet Danuta. And he doesn’t do it by ducking between AT-ATs and TIE Fighters on a lush tropical world. He does it by walking down some corridors and blasting a few Stormtroopers. But Dark Forces is an FPS from 1995, and Rogue One is a $265 million movie from 2016,…