Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2022 i PC Gamer (US Edition)

HIGHS No FT A dev punked a crypto-sponsored conference in Brazil by turning his talk into a surprise attack on NFTs. GTA gassed GTA Online stays relevant with an update based around high gas prices and a heatwave. The cat’s meow Stray has been something of an indie hit, but PC got it best with a mod that makes the cat shout ‘Jason!’ Heroes of the Gone Blizzard’s done with Heroes of the Storm, with “no plans for new for-purchase content to be added”. DisUnity Game engine Unity completed a merger with IronSource, a company which has a history in malware. Anti-porn cap The Chinese Communist Party is testing a ‘mind-reading’ helmet that detects dirty thoughts, to aid in the censorship of pornography. LOWS…

GOOD DAY 65daysofstatic is a four-piece instrumentalist band from Sheffield, England. They’ve released eight non-game-related albums (including an alternate soundtrack to the 1972 movie Silent Running), as well as several singles and EPs. MOON ROCK The official No Man’s Sky soundtrack from 65daysofstatic (No Man’s Sky: Music For An Infinite Universe) consists of 16 songs, totalling almost two hours of music. It had a limited vinyl release via Iam8bit.…

I've played plenty of medieval survival city builders before, and the one I’m playing now is from the makers of bleak apocalyptic ARPG Grim Dawn. So I feel like I’m being practical, not pessimistic, when one of the first things I tell my citizens to build in my little town is a graveyard. It turns out to be the right move. Farthest Frontier doesn’t take its time putting my little peasants in mortal danger: they’ve only just started hammering together their first building, the town hall, when one of them is attacked by a vicious wolf. I’m pleased to see they’re a tough group, quickly swarming the predator and killing it, but that’s just the beginning of the threats. GRIM PAWNS There’s another wolf attack, followed by a bear rampaging…

TREASURE ISLAND 1881 Robert Louis Stevenson’s iconic story established the version of piracy that Monkey Island celebrates, such as all the treasure maps marked with an ‘X’. PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN RIDE 1967 Trips to the original Disney theme park attraction directly inspired much of Monkey Island’s atmosphere, and it really pays off. ZAK MCKRACKEN AND THE ALIEN MINDBENDERS 1988 Working on this earlier project filled Ron Gilbert’s mind with visions of a pirate-based adventure game.…

I honestly believed that Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered would struggle on keyboard and mouse. The web-swinging and slugfests of Insomniac’s open world Spidey game feel so specifically tailored to a PlayStation controller that I couldn’t imagine how anyone could feasibly translate it to the PC’s traditional control scheme. Yet not only is the game perfectly playable on keyboard and mouse, in some ways it’s superior to the PS4 experience. Swinging through the New York skyline was always the best bit of Insomniac’s title—with the Ratchet & Clank studio delivering possibly the best movement system in any game of the last decade. Traversing Manhattan as Spidey is equally enjoyable on PC, only now you press and hold left-shift to start and maintain a swing, interspersed with deft taps of the spacebar to…

Often, in romance movies, disparate characters fall for each other after being forced to work together. Hardship and camaraderie unite them. Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime feels like the same thing in reverse. A blossoming relationship can be smashed to ruins once you witness a potential paramour’s inability to operate a shield generator. The game even plays with this concept, with some levels dividing your spaceship in half, splitting your abilities like you’re allocating spoons during a messy divorce. When things click, however, the game is a celebration of working together, as satisfying as a meaty high-five. 81…

1 GROUP WORK Zurks will huddle together to chase you, and while you don’t want to manage a horde, getting them bunched together means you can clear a route quicker. 2 1.21 GIGAWATTS The Defluxor ray is powerful but overheats very quickly, so take your time near Zurk eggs and don’t burst them all at once. 3 CLOSE ENCOUNTERS It’s more effective at close range, so burst an egg, get to a safe height above them, and use it as they get closer.…

CYBERPUNK 2077 Not perfect, but there’s a lot of ray tracing happening in Night City. Looks staggering when you catch it just right. CONTROL Remedy’s secret government facility full of Twilight Zone episodes is a visual feast of luxurious granite surfaces. MICROSOFT FLIGHT SIMULATOR The entire world, or at least Bing Maps’ best approximation thereof. Very CPU-heavy. FORZA HORIZON 5 Most of the resources are being spent on the cars, which are better than any in games before, but Mexico scrubs up well too.…

The highlight of July’s Brazil International Games (BIG) festival was a surprise for everyone, especially the event’s blockchain sponsors: game developer Mark Venturelli’s viral talk ‘Why NFTs are a Nightmare’. In an interview afterward, Venturelli said something about the convention that I’ve kept thinking about since I left Brazil: “I don’t feel I have hurt BIG by talking shit about NFTs because BIG does not need these guys,” he said. “It’s the other way around. Our biggest event here in the Brazilian industry is not going anywhere.” Outside of Venturelli’s talk, which was a brilliant takedown of the design and politics of blockchain games, BIG didn’t make international headlines. It’s not an E3 or a Gamescom, but that belies how much potential is bubbling just under the surface of the…

This year’s TennoCon was about more than just the future of Warframe. There was the announcement of Soulframe (see p18), and also the surprise announcement of a new update, Veilbreaker, to launch before new expansion The Duviri Paradox. This will be under a new creative director, former Warframe community director Rebecca Ford. When Ford started out ten years ago, she could not have foreseen the bright future that lay ahead for the game and the company. She has played a vital role in shaping the special relationship Warframe has with its community, fostering stories like that of Filipino artist Lendel Fajardo, who managed to support his family with the money made from skins he created through the TennoGen program. “I was a 20-year-old intern and now I’m the creative director…

Ron Gilbert never really said he wouldn’t ever make another Monkey Island. The series’ creator certainly came close. In 2013 he penned a now infamous blog post asserting that he couldn’t return to the point-and-click series unless a list of specific circumstances were met. In fact, so thorough was the list that it effectively put an end to hopes of another Gilbert-led adventure with Guybrush Threepwood. And yet fans still never quite gave up hoping. And why would they? The Monkey Island games are famed for being subversive and silly. The series has something far brighter than a glint in its eye, and exudes an excited sense of mischief throughout. Through their jokes and puzzles, each Monkey Island game has delighted in toying with expectations. All that considered, many hoped…

“University gives you a bright future… and clouds it with debt.” Of all the gags Two Point Campus fires off over the university PA system, this one has stuck with me the most, capturing the experience of playing this management sequel as well as enrolling in further education. I had high hopes for my students, but by the end I only cared about how much cash I could bleed from them to keep the university in the black. Running a campus is expensive. The buildings and staff chip away at my bank balance regularly, and whenever I have a nice fat stack sitting in the vault, I know that all it’s going to take to burn through it is a request for a new supercomputer. Why can’t they just be…

I wonder how many monstrous combinations the Yooka-Layee team went through before settling on a chameleon and bat. Vulture and turtle? Too wizened. Peacock and skink? Too flashy. Eagle and rattlesnake? Too much like a frightening man’s forearm. In the end, the choice seems to have been made because bat puns are simple and slurping butterflies with an extendable tongue feels amazing. Blomp! It’s interesting playing a game built on foundations laid 24 years ago. Banjo-Kazooie passed me by completely and chameleons give me night terrors, so I’ll admit I’m not the target audience. Despite this, Yooka-Laylee has an endearing start. It looks great – an oversaturated explosion of tropical colors, like rinsing your eyes with full-fat milkshake. And the presentation is uplifting, with bright, bouncy menus that warble happily…

Consider It feels like penance after the rancor of Overcooked: a game in which you compete to be the most thoughtful player. In practice it’s like Wario Ware for the socially submissive, but instead of squeezing tubes of toothpaste you’re observing the correct queuing etiquette or pretending to sleep so you don’t make things awkward for Father Christmas. There’s even a game where you have to usher your demure girlfriend away from horny lions at the zoo. It sounds deranged, but it’s actually such a strong test of character I’m considering implementing it as part of future interview processes so I can root out sociopaths. Oh, sitting there are we? Fine 72…

TERRAFORMING MARS Fail to colonise Mars and you’ll be removed from office, but at least you won’t be eaten by monsters. MARS FIRST LOGISTICS No demons doesn’t mean no work to do. Build some robots and keep them busy in this physics sim. PER ASPERA Turn the red planet green. No worries about an evil AI: you’re the AI, and you can be trusted… RED PLANET FARMING Peacefully grow crops to feed your colonists in this charming and totally free game.…

There’s no denying the importance of a quality PC case in getting top performance out of your PC’s parts. Your choice of case can mean the difference between optimal airflow and a weak breeze that could barely cool a capacitor. It can decide whether you have space for SSDs or have to stick one to the back of your motherboard tray with tape. It may even be the difference between a pain-free PC building experience and needing a band-aid. Zauron AEROCOOL $47 The budget case champ 1 The Aerocool Zauron is quite simply the most impressive budget case. Not only because it delivers what any PC gamer on a budget would need of it, but because it also does it on a shoestring budget. The Zauron is the cheapest case of…

It doesn’t happen very often now. Cyberpunk 2077 came the closest in recent years, with its knack for a hype-baiting E3 sizzle reel and complex lighting up the wazoo. Before that, Metro Exodus and Battlefield V got some of the old nerve endings tingling too. But truth be told, there hasn’t been a bona fide, upgrade-your-PC-at-all-costs-to-play-this-seismic-new-title moment in PC gaming for a long time now. So long, in fact, that you might even consider those days to be over. And that’s quite a profound moment, when you think about it. On the other side of the divide, console platform holders Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft buy first-party studios and pay them to put out irresistible games. Titles that extol the virtues of each new console release, and make a life without…

The Mittani, a legendary and polarizing figure in EVE Online, has stepped down as CEO of two in-game ‘Goon’ organizations that control a significant portion of in-game space. The resignation happened in the aftermath of allegations he failed to address persistent sexual harassment and misconduct in the organization. “My people, I’m afraid that the sheer amount of smears being flung my way across the galaxy are simply too much to handle at a personal level,” The Mittani wrote. “[The accusations are] becoming simply too radioactive to continue leading Goonswarm without my presence being a net negative for the wider tribe.” “The accusations that I am aware of are unsubstantiated falsehoods, and I did not sign up to be the scapegoat for the entire galaxy … the only honorable thing to…

Sound design, music composition, voice direction… Paul Weir does it all, and pretty much anything else to do with audio that you can think of. He’s a free agent with experience in games, film, radio, advertising, and more; and he’s currently single-handedly working on No Man’s Sky’s audio for Hello Games. Weir had an unorthodox route into the game industry. Using a BBC course in TV directing as a conduit to radio work and composing, he went for a job interview at the now-defunct Perfect Entertainment, the London-based dev behind the Discworld games. He didn’t get the job, but while he was there, he passed a tape of some of his self-written music to their composer. A week later, Weir signed on for welfare. An hour or so after this,…

It’s not the most original name is it? But it is a clear declaration of intent. One part Warframe, one part Dark Souls. Though like both those influences, it’ll be far from simple. Pitched as an online RPG, this action game looks to task players with protecting nature. Warframe slowly crept into heavy narrative territory over its decade of existence, and Soulframe seems set to pick up the torch it carried, already emphasizing the personal journey of the player character in its reveal trailer. This hero is vanquished from a zealous order and cast out into the wilderness where they’re rescued by nature itself. By the end of the trailer they’re ready to return the favor, drawing a mystical blade from the earth and turning their foes to stone. In…

1 The lookout served as an iconic opening location in The Secret of Monkey Island, and appears again in Return to Monkey Island. 2 The team was keen to avoid making a retro game that leaned too heavily on nostalgia, so the pixel art style is now gone. 3 The team made sure to maintain the form and composition of many of the most iconic locations featured in previous games. 4 One of the most striking improvements is to the lighting, which now brings more pop and presence to the world. 5 We don’t know what this is (some sort of pirate rat maybe?), but we hope it means some new puzzles span existing scenes. 6 The art team used a different style, but always tried to respect the palette…

The definitive 100 greatest PC games to play in 2022 stretch out before you over the coming pages. Not the best of all time, or the most important, but the ones we think you should try right now—whether they’re modern hits or well-aged classics. 100 ZERO ESCAPE: THE NONARY GAMES RELEASED 2007 LAST POSITION New entry Jody: Puzzle dungeon visual novels of the “you wake in a room” variety, the Zero Escape games burst with gory deaths and narrow getaways. Nine people get trapped in mazes as twisty as the games’ jumbles of esoterica and hidden histories. Phil: Satisfying puzzles and philosophical paradoxes, through an anime filter. It keeps you guessing as you navigate the timeline, unpicking a grand mystery. Mollie: I’m still reeling from Virtue’s Last Reward years later. What…

It’s bizarre to look Iat Final Fantasy XIV’s last 12 months and witness a game that has been suffering from success. It’s a stark change for a game that, for a large part of its early life, was simply suffering. “Final Fantasy XIV is a project that got off to a very problematic start,” director and producer Naoki Yoshida admits. It’s a well-known tale in games: a messy, unfun MMO crippled by conflicting ambitions across its team. “There were issues not only within the project itself, but also in terms of the company structure. All these issues erupted with Final Fantasy XIV. The consequences were that we lost the trust of our fans, our gamers, and the media.” When Yoshida (lovingly nicknamed Yoshi-P by the community) puts it like that,…

The early novelty of playing as a cat in Stray soon gives way to a striking realization—we often behave like cats in games anyway. Particularly in platform-puzzlers like this, our first inclination is to explore, looking for unorthodox routes up the sides of buildings, say, or jumping on furniture and seeing which objects we can manipulate. Stray simply makes such activities more natural, giving us the perfect form for the job. The feel of your kitty is crucial here, and it’s instantly evident how much observational work has gone into her animation. The slender ginger tabby is one of a small feline colony living in a disused industrial district long since reclaimed by nature. As the game opens, your gang waits out a storm in a concrete shelter, where you…

It’s all going bad on the planet of Kwalasha. I’ve just sent dozens of the Federation’s finest to their deaths to restart the planet’s mining operation, only to discover that the miners have drilled into an Arachnid nest. This needs a counter-response, but the mines are no longer Command’s priority. Instead, they redirect my unit to a prison, where they want my forces to hold back a bug assault long enough to see through the execution of a dissident, which is being broadcast live. My soldiers man the defenses to prepare for the bug assault, but there’s barely enough room on the walls for my soldiers to raise their weapons, hindering their ability to shoot. This makes them sitting ducks for the hulking tanker bugs, whose incendiary spit eats through…

Overcooked is a liar. It wants you to believe it’s all bouncy text and goofy smiles and gently strumming guitars. But beating beneath its starched white apron of falsehood is a shriveled heart, poisoned by malice and condemnation. Friendships don’t just wither here; they’re chopped, boiled, baked, fried, blended, then scraped into the food refuse bin. You might argue that this is my fault and not the game’s, and that it says more about my ability to work efficiently as part of a team than it does Overcooked’s design. Allow me to throw an onion at your head by way of reply. If reality TV cooking shows have taught me anything, other than the right way to cook scrambled eggs, it’s that someone must be spasming with rage at all…

Rounding up the theme of comradeship we have My Friend Pedro: a game about a man who embraces murder at the behest of a sentient banana. It’s a shaky excuse for endless gun violence. It’s amazing when it works and even better when it doesn’t: like when I backflip over two goons, miss both of them, then land headfirst on a floor between them. It’s the action game equivalent of sneaking up behind a guard, trying to snap their neck, and just making them look very quickly to the left. 78…

In 1965, Coco Chanel said, “Mode passes, style remains,” and while the iconic fashion house founder probably didn’t have RGB standing desks or Razer Boomslangs in mind as she said it, it’s just as pertinent to our own strange little corner of cultural expression as it is to high fashion. Over the last decade we’ve seen a very distinctive visual theme emerge from PC hardware, one drenched in multicolored lighting, scribbled with tribal designs like a lower league football player’s arms, and built from black plastic into severe, angular shapes. The gamer aesthetic had us all in its thrall throughout the 2010s, but now manufacturers are steering away from it in favor of sleeker, more sophisticated product designs. Its days may be drawing to a close. It existed at all…