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A footnote in Microsoft's submission to the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has let slip the reason behind Call of Duty's absence from the Xbox Game Pass library: Sony and Activision Blizzard have a deal that restricts the games' presence on the service.
The footnote appears in a section detailing the potential benefits to consumers (from Microsoft's point of view) of the Activision Blizzard catalogue coming to Game Pass. In it, Microsoft says that it plans to honour "existing contractual obligations that Activision Blizzard may have with other platforms" in the event of its $68 billion acquisition going forward.
What existing contractual obligations are those? Why, ones like the "agreement between Activision Blizzard and Sony," that places "restrictions on the ability of Activision Blizzard to place COD titles on Game Pass for a number of years". It was apparently these kinds of agreements that Xbox's Phil Spencer had in mind when he spoke to Sony bosses in January and confirmed Microsoft's "intent to honor all existing agreements upon acquisition of Activision Blizzard".
Unfortunately, the footnote ends there, so there's not much in the way of detail about what these restrictions are or how long they'd remain in effect in a potential post-acquisition world. Given COD's continued non-appearance on Game Pass, you've got to imagine the restrictions are fairly significant if they're not an outright block on COD coming to the service. Either way, the simple fact that Microsoft is apparently willing to maintain any restrictions on its own ability to put first-party games on Game Pass is rather remarkable, given that making Game Pass more appealing is one of the reasons for its acquisition spree.
The irony of Sony making deals like this one while fretting about COD's future on PlayStation probably isn't lost on Microsoft's lawyers, which is no doubt part of why they brought it up to the CMA. While it's absolutely reasonable to worry about a world in which more and more properties are concentrated in the hands of singular, giant megacorps, it does look a bit odd if you're complaining about losing access to games while stopping them from joining competing services.
We'll find out if the CMA agrees when it completes its in-depth, "Phase 2" investigation into the Activision Blizzard acquisition, which is some way off yet. For now, we'll have to content ourselves with poring over these kinds of corporate submissions for more interesting tidbits like this one. So far, we've already learned that Microsoft privately has a gloomy forecast for the future of cloud gaming, and that the company thinks Sony shouldn't worry so much since, hey, future COD games might be as underwhelming as Vanguard. Who knows what we'll learn next?
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I've been playing a lot of Overwatch 2 since its launch. As an avid Overwatch 1 fan, I've spoken at length about how I don't agree with some of the changes made to Overwatch 2 and fear that this version of the game won't have the same spirit the original did. Nevertheless, I'm going to be playing Overwatch 2 because Overwatch 1 is gone, and I want to see how 2 develops and improves. Now that the game is free to play, several friends have jumped in with me despite having sworn they'd never try it and, wouldn't you know it, they're having fun.
I'm a little confused. I stuck with Overwatch even when it had long past its golden age. During lockdown when my friends played games I didn't play, like DOTA 2, Warzone, Rainbow Six Siege, I'd quietly be clicking heads as Widowmaker while we chilled out in Discord. The joke on the server was always that I was playing a dead game, and I didn't mind that. Ask cool kids on Twitter about Overwatch and they'd have said the same thing because it's a meme. Similarly my little sister always swore Overwatch wasn't a game she would enjoy—she instead opted for Valorant, which I also spent a good amount of time playing with her over the last year.
So Overwatch 2 comes out and there is a lot of not ideal news about the bugs in the game, server issues, hero exclusions and the battle pass. Yet many of my acquaintances jumped in just to see what all the fuss was about, maybe hoping they could dunk more on 2 than they did on Overwatch 1. Many of them have asked what I think of the game, expecting me to profess my love for it, and are surprised that my adoration for Overwatch hasn't prevented me from criticising its sequel.
(Image credit: Tyler C. / Activision Blizzard)
My sister, the anti-Overwatch vanguard, is now saving clips from the game, laughing gleefully at hectic team fights
So the anti-Overwatch 2 naysayers in my life downloaded the game, ready to rinse it, and yet, they've all suddenly realised the game is pretty good. Odd that.
I'm having quite the time seeing my friends and my sister delving into Overwatch 2 and coming away feeling satisfied with the game, the characters, play of the games, and the desire to hop in again the next day. My sister especially razzed me over how much I liked Overwatch for years, always refusing to give it a go when I begged her.
She messaged me just the other day telling me she had finally tried it out after years of dismissing it. My response was shock mixed with a helping of fury that I wasn't there to see her reaction. My sister, the anti-Overwatch vanguard, is now saving clips from the game, laughing gleefully at hectic team fights and surprise PotGs. She'll show them to me, eyes bright, waiting for me to laugh too. It's kind of sweet.
(Image credit: Future)Dead Game
I had to then stand in the kitchen of our place and tell her things about Overwatch the game hasn't explained, like how the payload heals you as you push it and that shooting at Zarya's shield powers her up. And off she went on her merry way to play more, and tell her friends these new details too.
What I find so funny about this is that so many people seem to be shocked that they're enjoying Overwatch 2. It is a good game. As good as the original? Depends on who you ask. But Overwatch 2's foundations were built on what I and many others would call the best hero shooter of the 2010s. The first earned many game of the year awards back in 2016, it led a lot of gamers down the path to enjoying FPSes, myself included. Overwatch was always a great game right up until it went offline this month but when other hero shooters like Apex Legends came out, people just seemed to forget that.
Overwatch as a "dead game" became a running joke of the online gaming community, "no one played it anymore," they claimed, and in turn, those that never tried Overwatch believed that it wasn't worth their time. The premature reveal of Overwatch 2 didn't help because why would anyone buy a live game when the sequel was on its way? And let's not forget the massive hit to Blizzard's reputation in the wake of its unresolved sexual harassment scandal, a fairly understandable deterrent to new people trying the game.
(Image credit: Tyler C. / Activision Blizzard)With 2022 having been a quiet year for releases the anti-Overwatchers in my life have finally given Overwatch a go. They've found that, despite it being Blizzard, despite server issues, despite controversial design decisions, despite everything, Overwatch 2 is a pretty good game. I can spend all day talking about how much I don't like some of the new audio, that I preferred some of the maps at their alternative time-of-days, how annoyed I am that new players have to earn their heroes or how much grind seems to be involved in the game as a whole. However, now that I'm playing Overwatch with an active community again, I didn't realise how much I missed that.
I'm less smug about it than I am relieved. There are of course millions of Overwatch fans, but in recent years it did feel more like Overwatch was known more for instantly recognisable characters than any merits as a multiplayer game to sink your teeth into. And of course with the constant controversy surrounding Blizzard, good will towards the company and its products had rightly been eroded. I'm really just content to know that Overwatch still is, at its heart, a fun game. Overwatch 2 is far from perfect and I think it's missing some of the soul Overwatch 1 had, but a game built on the foundation of Overwatch 1 has to be at least a little bit fun.
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Give it up for the new SK Hynix Platinum P41 2TB. If that doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, it also doesn't help that SK Hynix isn't the most familiar brand when it comes to the sort of consumer-focussed clobber that's aimed at gamers, including SSDs.
Thing is, SK Hynix is actually one of the big beasts when it comes to manufacturing the flash memory chips that go into SSDs. Indeed, it just so happens that SK Hynix just got even bigger courtesy of snapping up Intel's SSD and flash memory operations wholesale. Well, minus the Optane bit, which is entirely toast, more's the pity.
But we digress. SK Hynix, of course, isn't actually new to this space, but the new P41 is arguably the brand's first tilt at a truly high-end M.2 drive. The old SK Hynix Gold P31 was a bit of a clunky old thing, limited as it was to the PCIe 3.0 interface and a controller chip with a mere four memory channels. The new Platinum P41? It's got it all.
Well, it's got it all if the context is PCIe 4.0 drives. The PCIe Gen 5 revolution is just around the corner. But for now, PCIe Gen 4 is not only where it's at. It's probably also the limit of your PC or laptop's capabilities. Anyway, the P41 has SK Hynix's brand new Gen 4 controller, known as Aries. While these things tend to be relatively mysterious black boxes, we do at least know that Aries has a claimed doubling of IOPS performance versus SK Hynix's old Cepheues chip, along with one-third faster IO speeds.
Not only that, it's also a quad-core design that sports eight memory controllers and allocates 2GB of DDR4 cache memory for this 2TB model. All of which makes it on par with top-end controllers like the Phison E18, as seen in various drives including the Seagate FireCuda 530, and the new Pascal chip in the Samsung 990 Pro.
SK Hynix Platinum P41 2TB SpecsCapacity: 2TB
Form factor: M.2 2280
Controller: SK Hynix Aries
Memory type: 176-layer TLC NAND
Interface: PCIe 4.0 x4
Rated performance: 7,000MB/s read, 6,500MB/s write
DRAM Cache: 2GB DDR4
Random IOPS: 1.4M read, 1.3M write
Write endurance 1,200 TBW
Warranty: 5 years
Price: $260As for the actual flash memory used, it's SK Hynix's latest and very greatest 176-layer 3D TLC NAND. It's about as advanced as TLC memory currently gets and SK Hynix claims a 40% performance boost over its old 128-layer chips. The net result is sequential read and write specs for this 2TB model of 7,000MB/s and 6,500MB/s respectively. Those numbers are a little lower than the very fastest competing drives by the official specs. But such measures are really only a rough guide, not a precise reflection of real-world performance.
Arguably the P41's performance highlight is the claimed random access performance specs. SK Hynix says the P41 will do 1.4 million read IOPS and 1.3 million write IOPS. That's the fastest read IOPS claim we've seen, although Samsung reckons the 990 Pro is quicker when it comes to writes IOPS.
Finally, on the speeds and feeds, this 2TB drive is rated at 1,200TB for write endurance. As it happens, that's exactly the same as the new Samsung 990 Pro 2TB. But it's also a fair distance short of some other competing M.2 SSDs. For instance, the Seagate FireCuda 530 2TB is rated at 2,550TB, so well over twice as long-lasting. However, that is almost certainly an academic advantage. Pop back here and let us know if you actually get to 1,200TB of writes with any SSD. It would take decades for most users. We're not holding our breath.
Image 1 of 5(Image credit: Future)Image 2 of 5(Image credit: Future)Image 3 of 5(Image credit: Future)Image 4 of 5(Image credit: Future)Image 5 of 5(Image credit: Future)All of which just leaves the minor matter of how this drive actually performs. When it comes to peak sequential throughput, the Platinum P41 is basically as fast as anything else out there, bar a few rounding errors. OK, the Samsung 990 Pro is a bit faster at 7,462MB/s for reads to the P41's 7,375MB/s. But, honestly, it's inconsequential. The same goes for writes, where pretty much all the top drives will do just under 6.9GB/s.
Ultimately, the same applies to 4K random access performance. The P41's 83MB/s reads and 255MB/s writes are very much in the same ballpark as other top drives. In a way, that's a bit disappointing, given random access is the one area where all these drives could do with stepping up. But we're probably going to have to wait for next-gen PCIe 5.0 SSDs to see substantial improvements.
Taking a broader view, the P41 does crank out a very good result in PCMark 10's overall storage benchmark, notching up 3,477 points. That's second only to the new Samsung 990 Pro's impressive 3,645 point tally. It's also very good for latency, pretty much matching the 990 Pro and the similarly quick WD Black SN850X.
Image 1 of 4(Image credit: Future)Image 2 of 4(Image credit: Future)Image 3 of 4(Image credit: Future)Image 4 of 4(Image credit: Future)Slightly less edifying are the P41's operating temps. At 71°C peak, it's a little toastier than we'd ideally like. Not that we actually saw any signs of any thermal throttling. But temps that high are a teensy bit of a long-term reliability concern. Speaking of more sustained elements of performance, during our pre-test drive prep routine, we measured the drive's high-performance SLC cache allocation at around 300GB, which is what we'd roughly expect from a 2TB premium SSD.
So, this is a damn fine drive. It's at least as good as pretty much anything else out there, trading blows with WD's new Black SN850X, Samsung's upgraded 990 Pro and the usual Phison E18-powered suspects. If you want a top-end PCIe 4.0 drive, there's certainly plenty of choice. And the SK Hynix Platinum P41 2TB should certainly be on your shortlist.
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They say no publicity is bad publicity, and boy is chess giving that old adage a workout right now. The game of kings does not have some pure and unsullied history—one of the reasons the story of chess can be so much fun is all the shenanigans and scandals over the years—but what's going on at the moment has come to be dubbed the biggest scandal in its history. That may not be hyperbole.
The long-and-short is that, after grandmaster Hans Niemann defeated world champion Magnus Carlsen at the Sinquefield Cup in early September, Carlsen implied that Niemann had cheated. The charge acquired widespread coverage before Carlsen was drawn against Niemann in an online tournament, resigned after one move, then came right out and accused Niemann of cheating in a statement.
Here's the detailed rundown. Subsequent to all of that, Chess.com came forward with its own report alleging that Niemann had cheated in 'more than 100' games.
So the accusations have flown thick-and-fast at Niemann, and the Chess.com report certainly shows the player admitting to cheating on a past occasion. There's been no hard proof about what happened or didn't in the Carlsen game, however, and in the absence of evidence the internet has constructed its own edifice of half-truths and nonsense (such as the completely made-up idea Niemann used 'anal beads' to receive signals).
Niemann has continued to insist on his innocence: and now he's taking it to court. The grandmaster's attorneys have filed suit in Missouri, which is Niemann's home state.
"Niemann is a 19-year-old, self-taught chess prodigy," begins the filing. "He brings this action to recover from the devastating damages that Defendants have inflicted upon his reputation, career, and life by egregiously defaming him and unlawfully colluding to blacklist him from the profession to which he has dedicated his life."
(Image credit: Saint Louis Chess Club)The suit is being brought against Carlsen and multiple other defendants, including Carlsen's Play Magnus chess company, Chess.com, Daniel Rensch, and Hikaru Nakamura. Carlsen is definitely some sort of prime target however, as the lawyers zero-in on arguably the greatest chess player the world has ever seen and, basically, paint him as a spoilt child intent on monopolising the sport by fair means or foul.
"Carlsen, having solidified his position as the 'King of Chess,' believes that when it comes to chess, he can do whatever he wants and get away with it," write Niemann's lawyers. They go on to outline the circumstances around the pair's Sinquefield Cup match, pointing out that had Carlsen won he would have remained on-track for some notable historical records, including a possible FIDE 2900 rating, the highest-ever.
"Making matters worse for Carlsen, Niemann embarrassed Carlsen by playfully taunting him during his post-match interview," reads the suit. What Niemann said after the game was "It must be embarrassing for the world champion to lose to me. I feel bad for him."
"Notorious for his inability to cope with defeat, Carlsen snapped," continues the filing. "Enraged that the young Niemann, fully 12 years his junior, dared to disrespect the 'King of Chess,' and fearful that the young prodigy would further blemish his multi-million dollar brand by beating him again, Carlsen viciously and maliciously retaliated against Niemann by falsely accusing Niemann, without any evidence, of somehow cheating during their in-person game and demanding that the organizers of the Sinquefield Cup immediately disqualify Niemann from the tournament."
Let's take a breath, because this suit is full of things to say about Carlsen. Shortly afterwards it describes the above demand as "corrupt and cowardly", goes on to detail Carlsen's "defamatory accusations", and so on.
This is an extremely confrontational account of events, and one which suggests motives for Carlsen's actions that are essentially unproveable. It does not even allow that Carlsen may have made a mistake: no, this was a deliberate plot to bring Niemann low.
Such is the nature of an adversarial system, anyway, and Carlsen's co-defendants come in for some pretty similar treatment. What is most incendiary, however, is that Niemann's lawyers end up alleging that these entities all conspired against Niemann at Carlsen's behest, in an effort to ruin his career.
"[Carlsen] unleashed the full force of his newly-broadened media empire to publicly bolster those allegations and drown out any legitimate sources of opposition that demonstrated why Carlsen’s allegations were untrue." Immediately after Carlsen's withdrawal from the Sinquefield Cup Chess.com banned Niemann from its website, deleted his slack account, and banned him from future Chess.com events.
"By design, this sudden ban, at the precise time that Carlsen accused Niemann of cheating against him, added instant credibility to Carlsen’s false allegations and suggested that they were true. Otherwise, there would be no reason for Chess.com to suddenly ban Niemann immediately after he defeated Carlsen.
"To bolster this unprecedented joint ban, which effectively blacklisted Niemann from professional chess, Nakamura leveraged his platform as Chess.com’s top streamer and credibility as a top chess player to engage in an all-out blitz of defamatory accusations to further confirm that Carlsen accused Niemann of cheating and to make it appear that those accusations are true."
The suit goes on to list various things Nakamura said on his streams, which are pretty up-front about his belief that Niemann cheated. It says that the scale and spread of accusations was such that Niemann's protestations of innocence were in vain, and then comes the only paragraph where perhaps the most infamous element of this scandal is referenced:
"Conspiracy theories began going viral on the internet, no longer concerned with whether Niemann actually cheated but, rather, how he could have possibly cheated in an over the board game with strict anti-cheating protocols," reads the suit. "These swirling conspiracy theories were so outrageous that they garnered the attention of, among many others, Elon Musk, who spread them in posts on Twitter, and Stephen Colbert, who spread them on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert."
(Image credit: NurPhoto via Getty Images)There's much more granular detail in the suit, but it also says part of the conspiracy was Chess.com releasing its "one-sided, self-serving and defamatory hit piece" on the morning of a big tournament in which Niemann was hoping to impress and begin salvaging his credibility. It further details what it describes as attempts to blacklist Niemann from professional chess (such as Nakamura raising the prospect of whether he should be allowed to compete at the US Open), all of which are elements of this over-encompassing Carlsen conspiracy theory, before moving onto the five charges.
These are slander, libel, violation of the Sherman act, Tortious Interference with Contract and Business Expectancies (this is Niemann's various contracts, tournament entries etcetera), and then… drum roll please… civil conspiracy.
The violation of the Sherman act charge is especially interesting as this is an antitrust federal statute: that is, it's saying that Carlsen et al were in violation of this by trying to kneecap a potential competitor. All charges are made against all defendants, and for four of the five Niemann's lawyers are seeking an award of $100,000,000 in damages. For the fourth charge, the contract-related one, they seek damages to be determined by the court.
Just when you thought it had all quietened down, eh. It'll certainly be interesting to see Hikaru Nakamura's reaction video to this one (neither he nor Carlsen have commented on the suit). And finally: it's worth bearing in mind this is a completely one-sided document, and I have no doubt that the figures and entities defending it can afford some extremely good lawyers.
A few obvious facts also stand in mitigation for Carlsen, as least as it relates to all the 'keeping Niemann down' side of things. These are, first of all, that Carlsen has never ducked the toughest competition. Second of all, and this relates to Carlsen trying to keep his fiefdom intact, the world champion has announced his intention to vacate the title. Which would be an odd move if what Niemann's lawyers are saying was true.
That said, stranger things have happened, and there's no doubt that this scandal gathered pace at a rapid speed, and whatever truth there may be is long-lost in the maelstrom. We will probably never know for sure what went on in that Sinquefield Cup game between the pair, even though it's destined to be pored-over for years to come, but no-one could deny that the 'cheating' charge will linger around Niemann for the rest of his career. There's also the question of whether organisations should be able to gatekeep a player out of the tournament circuit, which is after all how chess grandmasters make a living, without firm proof of wrongdoing.
One thing is certainly clear though: Niemann says he's no cheat, and now it's all-out-attack on those who say he is.
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Announced last night at a huge event in the Stade de France, Philips is coming at us with a new gaming focussed brand, Evnia. The lineup announced not only includes a new line of gaming monitors but a branching out for Philips into peripherals as well.
The literal Greek Evnia, or Εύνοια, translates to "good in mind," a Philips spokesperson explained. "Smart thinking, in other words." Today, she continued, we use it to "show interest to protect and support someone or something." All this is what the Evnia brand stands for, and it shows a real push toward a more inclusive future for gaming, with a focus on "not just what is in the hardware, but it's also who is using it."
Coming in three distinct tiers, the 5000, 7000, and 8000 series, Evnia will soon bring us matching gaming monitors, mice, and keyboards.
At the top end comes a vast, 42-inch, flat-screen OLED gaming monitor, the catchily titled 42M2N8900, which will come in at 138Hz with a 0.1ms response and HDMI 2.1. We'll also see a 34-inch, curved OLED (the 34M2C8600), a UHD gaming monitor with a 21:9 aspect ratio. A curved 32-inch, UltraWide monitor called the 34M2C7600MV will also be coming with a native 3440x1440 resolution, 165Hz refresh, DisplayHDR 1400 support. which is super descriptive. Also a high refresh, 27-inch curved VA screen is in the works.
Alongside the monitors announced, we'll be getting keyboards (sporting Cherry MX switches (the SPK8508 and SPK8708), two all new gaming mice (SPK9508 and SPK9708), and two gaming headsets (TAG5208 and TAG7208) so you can get a full Evnia setup going.
You can sync these up with Philips Ambiglow and manage them via another of Philips announcements last night: The Philips Precision Center, which will allow you to sync and save profiles into the cloud.
(Image credit: Future)By December we should see at least the 34M2C7600MV gaming monitor hit the shelves, with the 42M2N8900, 34M2C8600, and 27M2C5500W monitors following suit in mid-January next year. We only have pricing in euros at the moment; that's €2,069 for the high-end monitor, and stepping down the line the rest will be priced at €1,959, €1,849 and €579 respectively.
Sadly the accessories won't be coming until June next year.
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You're not alone if you're struggling to solve the windmill puzzle in A Plague Tale: Requiem. You won't find this puzzle until you reach Chapter 9, by which point you should've opened the way for Arnaud and perhaps saved the herbalist. In contrast to those examples, you might be pleased to learn that this is a more traditional—and optional—puzzle.
You should be feeling right at home in rat-infested medieval France by now, but that doesn't mean there aren't things left to discover. So if you're ready to solve the windmill puzzle in A Plague Tale: Requiem, here's what you need to do.
A Plague Tale: Requiem windmill puzzle solution
Once you reach the open area in Chapter 9, you will find four windmills and an underground map in a cave that gives you clues to the puzzle. Basically, you'll need to ensure the correct windmills are turning to nab a unique bracer for Amicia. The windmills are numbered with Roman numerals and the solution to the puzzle is to make sure I and II are off while III and IV are turning.
You can walk straight in through the door of the first windmill and interact with the mechanism at the top to stop it from spinning. The second windmill requires you to pull away some boxes blocking the door before climbing up and squeezing through the gab to get inside. Skip over the third one as it's already turning, then crawl under the wooden cart at the fourth windmill to get to the ladder. From here, you can shoot the lock on the inside of the door through the window to access the mechanism inside.
If you've done it all correctly, the ground will shake and Hugo will comment that it feels like something moved. Now you need to locate the underground cave.
Look for the stone archways nearby and head through them down the slope. At the bottom, turn right and look for the top of the ladder sticking out of the hole. Make your way down and follow the tunnel past the underground map until you reach an open area, then follow the wooden walkway around to the right. You'll find some goodies in chests here, along with a bracer that makes Amicia recover from enemy attacks faster.
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Tencent, the Chinese tech and gaming colossus that you'll know for owning a slice of seemingly everything in the games industry, is no longer China's most valuable company. Bloomberg reports that Tencent's stock price has hit a five-year low, and its overall market capitalisation was overtaken late last month by—of all things—Kweichow Moutai, a Guizhou-based firm specialising in the production of Maotai rice wine. At time of writing, Kweichow Moutai had a $235 million lead over Tencent's market cap.
This would have been unthinkable just last year, when Tencent was trading at between $50 and $90 per share and was easily the most valuable company in China, but Tencent's fortunes have been brought low by the increasingly hostile domestic environment. A combination of China's tech crackdown, strict COVID policies, and generally flagging economic growth have made it hard for Tencent—and plenty of other Chinese companies—to do business. Tencent has wiped $650 billion off its market cap since the beginning of 2021.
The downturn in its fortunes has led Tencent to pursue a strategy of downsizing, imposing a wave of firings in departments across China in an effort to make up for its losses. The frosty Chinese market even partially explains Tencent's ever-growing presence in the western games market: it's been buying up non-Chinese companies precisely because it's currently so tough to do business at home.
The struggle shows no sign of letting up. Tencent got its first game approval from the Chinese government in over a year this September, and it's not like COVID is going anywhere any time soon. We can probably expect the company to continue cutting back at home and expanding abroad in the foreseeable future. Kweichow Moutai, on the other hand, stands to benefit from promised government support for "consumer-driven" sectors. Maybe Tencent should just pivot into liquor production.
This is far from the end of the road for a company as massive as Tencent, but it is a stark illustration of how bleak things are looking for Chinese tech companies at the minute. Nevertheless, Tencent still has fingers in plenty of pies: aside from its stock woes, Tencent has most recently been in the news for penning deals with Ubisoft, trying and failing to make a Lord of the Rings MMO with Amazon, and opening up an AI-governed nightmare hotel in Hangzhou. Not bad for what is now only China's second most valuable company.
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Simon Hellwig, the co-founder, majority shareholder and managing director of the publisher Kalypso Media, has died at the age of 46. The news was announced via a statement from Kalypso's official accounts reading, in part:
"Simon's business acumen and affection for the video games industry began from an early age. Whilst others were developing homemade games in their bedrooms, Simon instead would buy and sell them to magazines. His love of one of the earliest play-by-mail strategy games, Gladius et Pilum, not only combined his interests in gaming and history but also established a lifelong passion for historical strategy games.
"This enthusiasm for the industry culminated in his diploma thesis 'Development of a Business Plan for the Foundation of a Company in the Entertainment Software Industry' which would go on to define the expectations and aims of the Kalypso Media Group. These goals were met and exceeded over the last sixteen years, in which Simon and his team grew Kalypso to become a name in the industry that continues to stand for quality strategy and simulation games."
We are still lacking words – and those we had to find will never be enough
pic.twitter.com/FN45GxdNtROctober 18, 2022See moreKalypso's official statement is bordered by a stylised black ribbon, which is the symbol of melanoma awareness.
Kalypso is probably best-known for the Tropico series, a humorous city builder/politics sim where you run a banana republic as El Presidente, trying to keep everything going while squeezing as much cash as possible out of the global superpowers trying to use you as a proxy. It bought Tropico from Take-Two in 2008, with Tropico 3 being the first entry under the publisher's aegis (the series is now up to Tropico 6).
The portfolio is wide indeed, including plenty of strategy gold like the recent Commandos 2 remake, but with a smattering of oddities along the way, like its involvement in publishing the MMO Darktide in Europe or the shooter Sine Mora.
"Kalypso Media has lost a hugely respected leader and friend," reads the statement. "Throughout his sixteen years at the helm, Simon has consistently inspired those around him with his dedication to his team, the company and the industry at large. His brilliant vision and endless enthusiasm knew no bounds and he will be sorely missed by his family at Kalypso Media and friends within the industry."
As per Hellwig's planned succession, Dr. Anika Thun is now managing director of Kalypso Media. The company now employs over 200 people worldwide and has offices in Germany, England, France, Japan and North America. Among its ongoing projects are Tortuga: A Pirate's Tale, Tropico 7, and a new Commandos title.
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There used to exist a divide between PC and mobile gaming. On one side you had the 'casual' gamer swiping away moreishly at Candy Crush or chucking red birds at pig-filled fortresses during stolen moments on the daily commute. On the other, we had the 'serious' gamers on their big rigs and headsets, capturing control points with their comrades on Battlefield 4, suffering through Dark Souls, and 'tactically' nuking maps on Call of Duty.
But now in 2022, the two separate gaming worlds have merged. With a little tinkering, your smartphone can become an invaluable tool to your PC gaming setup, and O2 Switch Up - a service that lets you switch over to a new phone and contract with no extra charges as many times as you like - is on standby to make sure you have the best tool for the task.
For a start, there's the ingenuity of in-home streaming. Say you've been working at your desk all day and you want to do some well-deserved gaming, maybe you don't want to keep sitting at the desk that's been your workspace for the last 8 hours? In that case, leave your PC on and use the Steam Link app on your phone to seamlessly pick up where you left off. The app streams the entirety of Steam to your phone, so assuming your phone and PC have strong connections to your home network (ethernet on PC helps), you'll be playing your PC games on your phone with pretty much 'native' quality.
If you happen to have an Nvidia GPU in your PC, then look into Moonlight, an open-source app (yep, we love those) that can stream games from your PC to phone not only from Steam but Epic, GOG, and other PC gaming platforms. With Cyberpunk 2077 finally having redeemed itself in recent weeks, why not celebrate by redownloading that launch-day copy, getting comfy on the couch, and playing it from your phone?
(Image credit: Andy Ford)If your gaming rig at home isn't quite cutting it for running the latest games at those frame rates you need, then no problem - just stream games straight from the cloud to your phone. PC Game Pass subscribers can enjoy hundreds of cloud games as part of the 'Game Pass Ultimate' package, while GeForce Now lets you stream tons of games you already own on Steam and other PC platforms (letting you pick up your progress from when you last played them).
At this point, some of you may be questioning whether our choice of energy drink is affecting our reasoning abilities - "PC gaming, on a touchscreen?" Well, first up we'll defend that idea and say that the touchscreen is actually great for strategy games like Civilization and deck-builders like Slay the Spire. For games that require that extra tactility, check out mobile gaming controllers like the Razer Kishi or the Nacon MG-X Pro. Alternatively, get a mount to attach your PS5 or Xbox controller to your phone. You can get yourself set up in seconds.
Then there's the potential to turn your smartphone into an emulation station. RetroArch, for example, is an incredible all-in-one open-source app that contains 'cores' for playing NES, SNES, N64, PS1, Game Boy Advance, and many other retro console games. There are some promising projects to emulate more recent consoles on phones too, such as AetherSX2 for PS2 games and Dolphin for GameCube, so keep an eye on those.
Get gaming-ready with O2 Switch Up
(Image credit: Andy Ford)Ready to upgrade to a phone worthy of your gaming PC?
O2 Switch Up can help you switch your phone as seamlessly as continuing a Skyrim quest via in-home streaming. Get an O2 phone on a Plus Plan, and you'll have Switch Up included, which means you can upgrade to a new phone without any extra fees. Just head into an O2 store, pick the phone you want, then bring it home and turn it into the most important tool in your PC gaming inventory.
Here's what you need to know:
You'll find all the details on the O2 Switch Up page.
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Hello kaktos,
Welcome to UnityHQ Nolfseries Community. Please feel free to browse around and get to know the others. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask.
kaktos joined on the 10/21/2022.
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Need a little help with today's Wordle? Perhaps you'd like someone to offer the answer to the October 21 (489) puzzle as quickly as possible, read a handcrafted hint, or just skim over some general tips designed to improve your game? Whatever you need, I'm sure you'll find it here.
Sometimes those greens, correct and immovable, throw up more questions than they do answers—completely shutting down possibilities I'd been chasing and making me rethink my approach. It's a fun experience, especially when it leads to the answer.
Wordle hint
Today's Wordle: A hint for Friday, October 21
This word's used to describe a group of trees of any type, anything from fruit-bearers to tall evergreens. Bamboo can also be grouped together like this, even though it's technically speaking not a tree but a grass.
Wordle help: 3 tips for beating Wordle every day
If there's one thing better than playing Wordle, it's playing Wordle well, which is why I'm going to share a few quick tips to help set you on the path to success:
- A good opener contains a balanced mix of unique vowels and consonants.
- A tactical second guess helps to narrow down the pool of letters quickly.
- The solution may contain repeat letters.
There's no time pressure beyond making sure it's done by midnight. So there's no reason to not treat the game like a casual newspaper crossword and come back to it later if you're coming up blank.
Wordle answer
(Image credit: Josh Wardle)What is the Wordle 489 answer?
Let's get you over the finish line. The answer to the October 21 (489) Wordle is GROVE.
Previous answers
Wordle archive: Which words have been used
The more past Wordle answers you can cram into your memory banks, the better your chances of guessing today's Wordle answer without accidentally picking a solution that's already been used. Past Wordle answers can also give you some excellent ideas for fun starting words that keep your daily puzzle solving fresh.
Here are some recent Wordle solutions:
- October 20: DENIM
- October 19: QUIRK
- October 18: EXIST
- October 17: STEIN
- October 16: SPADE
- October 15: CATCH
- October 14: FLOOR
- October 13: EQUAL
- October 12: IONIC
- October 11: VALID
Learn more about Wordle
Every day Wordle presents you with six rows of five boxes, and it's up to you to work out which secret five-letter word is hiding inside them.
You'll want to start with a strong word like ALERT—something containing multiple vowels, common consonants, and no repeat letters. Hit Enter and the boxes will show you which letters you've got right or wrong. If a box turns
️, it means that letter isn't in the secret word at all. 
means the letter is in the word, but not in that position. 
means you've got the right letter in the right spot.You'll want your second go to compliment the first, using another "good" word to cover any common letters you missed last time while also trying to avoid any letter you now know for a fact isn't present in today's answer.
After that it's just a case of using what you've learned to narrow your guesses down to the right word. You have six tries in total and can only use real words (so no filling the boxes with EEEEE to see if there's an E). Don't forget letters can repeat too (ex: BOOKS).
If you need any further advice feel free to check out our Wordle tips, and if you'd like to find out which words have already been used you'll find those below.
Originally, Wordle was dreamed up by software engineer Josh Wardle, as a surprise for his partner who loves word games. From there it spread to his family, and finally got released to the public. The word puzzle game has since inspired tons of games like Wordle, refocusing the daily gimmick around music or math or geography. It wasn't long before Wordle became so popular it was sold to the New York Times for seven figures. Surely it's only a matter of time before we all solely communicate in tricolor boxes.
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The trailer for Bloober Team's Silent Hill 2 remake recreated several scenes from the original game, only with higher-res faces and floppier hair. We saw James looking at himself in a public restroom mirror, hiding in a closet as Pyramid Head murdered a pair of mannequins, and reaching between bars to grab a key. But we also saw James from behind as he walked around, suggesting the adoption of a modern third-person view rather than the fixed-camera perspective of the original game.
Mateusz Lenart, creative director and lead designer at Bloober Team, told the PlayStation Blog that was indeed the case, saying, "One of the new elements that you could spot in the reveal trailer is the adoption of an over-the-shoulder camera. With that change we want to immerse players even deeper into the game, make them feel like they are a part of this unreal world, and deliver them a more visceral experience across the board."
While Bloober Team's previous game The Medium used fixed cameras, it's not surprising that a remake of Silent Hill 2 might go for a perspective reminiscent of the popular Resident Evil 2 remake. It's not the only thing that's changing, of course. "One change often brings another," Lenart said. "With a new perspective, we're rebuilding the combat system and certain setpieces, among other things. Now that you see basically what James can see, we could find new ways to keep the player on edge."
Combat isn't something we've seen much of in previous Bloober Team horror games, which have almost exclusively focused on stealth and chase sequences. Blair Witch was the exception, with a first-person combat system that involved aiming your flashlight at whatever creature your dog was barking at. That doesn't inspire a lot of confidence, but then Silent Hill 2's combat was never its standout feature. Swinging a plank with nails in the end often resulted in accidentally hitting a nearby wall or even your NPC companion.
Lenart also mentioned the engine, saying that, "With the possibilities of the Unreal Engine 5, we're bringing the foggy, sinister town to life in ways that were impossible up to this point." That shows in the Silent Hill 2 remake's system requirements, which are pretty demanding (and for some reason list Windows 11 as recommended; maybe for DirectStorage?).
According to Lenart, two features of Unreal Engine 5 have been important for the remake: the global illumination system Lumen and the rendering tech Nanite, which lets developers import 3D assets with billions of polygons. "Lumen is a fully dynamic global illumination solution that immediately reacts to scene and light changes," he said. "It means that the light interacts with the environment realistically, just like in the real world. The whole game environment is lit more naturally this way. The Nanite technology, on the other hand, is an amazing tool for level designers. With it, they can create incredibly detailed worlds and more realistic environments that look and feel almost lifelike."
Finally, Lenart gave a shout-out to the PS5's SSD, saying that, "The superfast data streaming means players won't see any loading screens as they seamlessly explore the entirety of the Silent Hill town." Presumably that'll be the case on PC too.
Meanwhile, there are multiple new Silent Hill projects in the works. Silent Hill F is a prequel set in 1960s Japan, Silent Hill Townfall is being made by Stories Untold studio No Code, and Silent Hill Ascension is an interactive live event with a story shaped by the audience.
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Hello AteBit,
Welcome to UnityHQ Nolfseries Community. Please feel free to browse around and get to know the others. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask.
AteBit joined on the 10/20/2022.
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Best of the best(Image credit: Paradox)
2022 games: This year's launches
Best PC games: All-time favorites
Best free PC games: Freebie fest
Best laptop games: Low-specsFPS games are close to our hearts here at PC Gamer, not only because the PC is the best platform to play them on, but because it's where they were born. The folks at id Software started a beautiful tradition of first-person combat that dominated the '90s and exploded into the next two decades. Of all the genres the PC gaming community considers 'ours'—the RTS, RPG, point-and-click adventure—the FPS is the one that's only gotten more popular over time.
It's a genre known for its violence, yet it's hardly the reason we're drawn to them. We celebrate the immersive potential of seeing through the eyes of someone else, and how the invasive point-of-view challenges our physical and emotional responses to problems thrown directly in our faces. FPSes are often intense tests of reflex, but they're also foundations for truly engrossing worlds and social spaces that rival anything else gaming has to offer.
Below you'll find a list of the best FPS games you can play right now. It's not a list of the most historically significant FPS games, but rather ones that we'd recommend today, right now, to PC gamers exploring the genre. This is also a living list, so expect updates in the future.
Singleplayer FPS games
Doom Eternal
(Image credit: Bethesda)Release date: 2020 | Developer: id Software | Steam
id got to sit down and reimagine what Doom is in the modern age, and it came up with a buttery smooth, highly acrobatic FPS that celebrates gratuitous indulgence while demanding discipline through HP-recovering glory kills. Eternal brings more verticality, greater enemy variety, and an enthralling campaign that never seems to end (boosted by two great DLC campaigns). It's never just run 'n gun and it's definitely not a cover-shooter. This is what the Doom clone would've become if modern military shooters hadn't taken over the world. Let the latest run of Doom games be a strong kick to the pants gaming execs: the singleplayer FPS is stronger than ever, and there should be more of them.
Read more: Doom Eternal has ruined all other shooters for me
Neon White
(Image credit: Annapurna Interactive)Release date: 2022 | Developer: Angel Matrix | Steam
The most exciting shooter of 2022, ironically, doesn't really have guns. In Neon White, an FPS speedrunning platformer, guns are represented by cards with secondary movement abilities like a leap, dash, or slam. Beneath its visual novel mission breaks and anime art, Neon White is a pure distillation of athletic FPS action. Levels often last less than a minute, but you can easily spend an hour perfecting a route until satisfied with your spot on the leaderboard. Perhaps Neon White's most genius design choice is built-in shortcut markers hinting at faster routes that require clever application of your kit.
Read more: Steam reviewers love Neon White despite its horny anime nonsense, or very much because of it
Titanfall 2
(Image credit: EA)Release date: 2016 | Developer: Respawn Entertainment | Steam
Years later, Titanfall 2's campaign still stands out for its inventive levels and comfortable linearity. You can tell the minds behind Call of Duty's most memorable campaigns had their hands in it—you're never far from an eye-pleasing set piece, but unlike Call of Duty, Titanfall 2 has more to offer than horizontal firefights behind chest-high cover. The flow of firefights depends entirely on the shape of the room and your ability to wallrun, double jump, or slide across it while shooting. And then, every once in a while, Titanfall becomes a pretty good mech game, too. It's the kind of delicious junk food game (uncomplicated, but beautiful) that's easy to forget about and pick up every few years to remember why it's so good.
Read more: Northstar didn't just save Titanfall 2, it completely transformed it
Hyper Demon
(Image credit: Sorath)Release date: 2022 | Developer: Sorath | Steam
Devil Daggers walked so Hyper Demon could run, run, oh my god keep running they're right behind you. It's another ultra-hard wave survival shooter, except survival is actually easier this time. Getting a high score, however, is just as hard, or harder, because your score ticks down when you start the game. To raise it, you have to kill demons as efficiently as possible. The faster you kill them, the more come after you, and the higher you can get your score. Special movement abilities, enemy interactions, attacks (there are lasers), and powerups create an enormous possibility space even within a flat, featureless arena. This time, there is an ending, according to the devs. But how many will actually reach it?
Read more: The progressive retro style of Devil Daggers
Prey
(Image credit: Bethesda Softworks)Release date: 2017 | Developer: Arkane | Steam, GOG, Epic
The modern System Shock that reminds us you don't need 18 different guns to make a good FPS. Prey 2017 lets you chart your own path through its arsenal, be it investing early in upgrades for the shotgun and pistol or delving into devilish alien powers that may turn the space station's defenses against you. Prey also wins the award for most satisfying shotgun/enemy duo thanks to the mimics: little menacing blobs that disguise themselves as everyday objects and pop like water balloons when shot.
Read more: The making of Prey's Gloo Cannon
Metro Exodus
(Image credit: 4A Games)Release date: 2019 | Developer: 4A Games | Steam, GOG, Epic
4A Games' Metro trilogy came to a gratifying end with its most ambitious game to date. Metro Exodus packs a lot of game into deceptively small open worlds, focusing its efforts on making every minor interaction meaningful. Guns are ultra lethal and ammo is scarce, meaning you'll almost never be shooting your precious AK-47 full-auto. Weapons can be modified anytime with transformative attachments or receivers capable of turning an SMG into a shotgun. Though the same gun will also jam if you don't take care of it. If you love diegetic design, Exodus is a feast. Every little gizmo and widget on Artyom's bracer has a purpose (the small piece of real estate holds a stealth indicator, a compass, a radiation meter, and a watch) and the map is a real-world object that Artyom holds.
Read more: Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition brings new light to old darkness
Co-op FPS games
Deep Rock Galactic
(Image credit: Ghost Ship Games)Release date: 2020 | Developer: Ghost Ship Games | Steam
We're enjoying a resurgence of the co-op FPS and Deep Rock is a golden example. Ghost Ship Games got just about everything right—you wouldn't guess by its low-poly look that Deep Rock is packing some of the best FPS combat out there. I'll never get tired of hearing alien bug carapaces crunch under the weight of a shotgun blast. Four classes with wildly different capabilities and progression trees make its procedurally generated missions highly replayable. Because missions are just as much about mining as shooting, the best co-op moments are usually a combination of fending off bug baddies and placing a clutch zipline or platform to reach a precariously-positioned ore vein.
Read more: Deep Rock Galactic is a doorway to infinite co-op adventure
Back 4 Blood
(Image credit: Turtle Rock Studios)Release date: 2021 | Developer: Turtle Rock Studios | Steam, Epic
Holy crap, we really got the Left 4 Dead 3 we were asking for, huh? Maybe not, depending on how exactly you were craving the purity of a 2000's Valve shooter. Back 4 Blood is more like what I envision out of a 'modern' Left 4 Dead—a co-op zombie FPS with better shooting, characters with unique abilities, loot, skins, a season pass, and somehow a card system, too. Back 4 Blood is a lot at once, and the added complexity has made it harder to pick up and replay, but amazingly, all of its weird systems gel together. It's a shame that PvP sucks, though.
Read more: How Turtle Rock Studios righted itself after rolling on its back
Left 4 Dead 2
(Image credit: Valve)Release date: 2009 | Developer: Valve | Steam
It should say a lot about the longevity of the Source engine that my friends and I can fire up Left 4 Dead 2 in 2022 and have the same fun we had in 2009. Back 4 Blood is a worthy successor, but not even Turtle Rock could totally replicate the magic of classic L4D. Its secret is its simplicity: four players, a handful of distinct weapons, and an AI director capable of making repeat missions feel different than the last. Left 4 Dead 2 even got a new player-created level as recently as 2020 on top of nearly a decade of readily available mods on Steam Workshop.
Read more: Gabe Newell once wondered if Left 4 Dead really needed zombies
Retro and old school FPS games
Doom and Doom 2
(Image credit: id Software)Release date: 1993, 1994 | Developer: id Software | Steam, GOG, Epic
Throwback shooters are great and all, but if you want a reminder of where all great FPSes ultimately came from, the original Doom and Doom 2 are still excellent games in their own rights. Maybe what stands out most about OG Doom nowadays are its gigantic maze-like maps rich with secrets and, of course, the inability to move your camera on the Z axis.
Read more: The story of Doom and how it changed everything—as told by co-creator John Romero
Halo: The Master Chief Collection
(Image credit: Microsoft)Release date: 2019 | Developer: 343 Industries | Steam
Did you know every Halo game from Combat Evolved to Reach is bundled together in one big mega videogame complete with crossplay co-op, multiplayer, and Forge? I smile just thinking about it. There was a time when The Master Chief Collection was considered a disaster, but in 2022, the entirety of it is playable on PC with minimal bugs. Even if you're not ready to go toe-to-toe with sweaty Halo 3 players who've been practicing for 15 years, MCC is still an amazing package for co-op. There are fewer gaming memories I cherish more than running through Halo's campaigns with a friend.
Read more: The Halo campaigns, ranked from worst to best
Black Mesa
(Image credit: Crowbar Collective)Release date: 2020 | Developer: Crowbar Collective | Steam
Black Mesa drags Half-Life into a shower and washes all that '90s stank off it. It's a slick, often beautiful recreation of Half-Life with revamped sounds, animations, and an entirely new Xen section that turns the worst part of original Half-Life into maybe the best. Black Mesa's largest changes center around Xen, but it also remixes some old areas and adds completely new puzzles in others. Being built on the base of Half-Life 2, it also benefits from better physics interactions (but don't expect a gravity gun). This isn't a 1:1 remake, so it's not a perfect replacement for experiencing the original, but it is the best way to play a version of Half-Life in 2022.
Read more: Half-Life Xen vs. Black Mesa Xen: a video comparison
Ultrakill
(Image credit: New Blood Interactive)Release date: 2020 (early access) | Developer: Arsi "Hakita" Patala | Steam, GOG
This absurdist retelling of Dante's Inferno stars a murderous robot fueled by human blood, or, as the game helpfully puts it, "Mankind is dead. Blood is fuel. Hell is full." Ultrakill's mega-grimdark existentialist nightmare is helpfully offset by a gleefully dark sense of humor, and its vision of hell is truly creative and unique. My favorite layer, Greed, consists of a vast desert of gold dust punctuated by Egyptian pyramids. More than any other shooter, Utlrakill is just fast. You're constantly bouncing around, swapping weapons, countering resistances, and trying to keep a Devil May Cry-esque style ranking high. It manages that Neon White thing where even low-skill play feels thrilling and masterful, while high-skill play looks impossible. Acts one and two have landed in early access so far, and their ample secrets and built-in replayability with the ranking system offer plenty of options to keep you busy.
Read more: How a remake of an obscure 1995 FPS led to a retro shooter revival
Competitive FPS games
Valorant
(Image credit: Riot Games)Released: 2020 | Developer: Riot Games | Epic, Official site
Riot stepped out of its MOBA-shaped fortress a few years ago to declare it's now making all sorts of games, including a competitive, economy-based FPS that gives CS:GO something to sweat about. Valorant cranks up the heat of traditional corner-clearing tactics with flashy hero abilities inspired by Riot's MOBA roots. All the nextra noise made by explosive drones, fire walls, and global space lasers can feel like a bit much at times, but the variety and style alone have been enough for many to make the jump from CS:GO.
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
(Image credit: Valve)Release date: 2012 | Developer: Valve | Steam
Counter-Strike is still one of the most-played games on Steam every day. Similar to Left 4 Dead, purity is a major draw—CS:GO stands in contradiction to the current accepted truth that videogames have to constantly change to keep players interested. For millions of players, nothing has topped the competitive core and sky-high skill ceiling of Counter-Strike. It's not for casual fun, but a hard-fought victory with a group of friends is extremely satisfying.
Read more: 10 years of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Overwatch 2
(Image credit: Blizzard)Release date: 2022 | Developer: Blizzard | Battle.net
Overwatch 2 might be the least deserving game to ever have a '2' slapped on it, but Blizzard's major update to the hero shooter has ultimately made for a better game. Years after kicking off a hero shooter trend, still nobody creates heroes more distinct, fun, or immediately accessible than Blizzard. Sojourn, Kiriko, and Junker Queen freshen up a roster that was growing stale with every passing year and I'm especially excited for the new cadence of hero and map releases. The new 5v5 format and key hero reworks have also transformed the flow of Overwatch's combat, shifting away from drawn-out barrier brawls and emphasizing mano-a-mano shootouts.
Read more: Here we go again: I can't wait until Overwatch 2 players learn there's an objective
Squad
(Image credit: Offworld Industries)Release date: 2020 | Developer: Offworld Industries | Steam
Squad remains the best modern PvP military sim out there, expanding on Project Reality's roots with Battlefield-like rules layered over a complex logistical metagame. Spawn points aren't automatic placements in Squad, they're player-built structures that need to be strategically placed and defended. The real heroes of Squad aren't the soldiers who storm bunkers, but the selfless truck drivers and helicopter pilots who keep the team's ammo reserves stocked and troops efficiently transported across several kilometer-wide maps. Here's another cool thing about Squad: it's one of the few regularly updated FPSes out there that's simply complete. No battle pass or premium store here.
Read more: How modders and veterans created Squad, a military sim like no other
Hunt: Showdown
(Image credit: Crytek)Release date: 2019 | Developer: Crytek | Steam
Our favorite of the burgeoning extraction shooter genre, Hunt: Showdown ditches battle royale circles in favor of a PvPvE format that pits hunters against zombies, bug assassins, aquatic tentacle monsters, and each other. Its 19th century American bayou setting is distinct, and compliments its unexpected arsenal of early firearms. It's not only the best cowboy FPS we've played, but one of the greatest multiplayer games around right now.
Read more: The future of battle royale is here, and there's no circle
Rainbow Six Siege
(Image credit: Ubisoft)Release date: 2015 | Developer: Ubisoft Montreal | Steam
The GI Joe of competitive shooters. Rainbow Six Siege has changed dramatically over seven years, but it's still a tremendous tactical shooter. The roster of 65 operators continues to grow, adding new (and increasingly unbelievable) gadgets that build on its lethal firefights with intel gathering drones, laser tripwires, and a dozen different ways to blow up a wall.
Read more: Rainbow Six Siege’s best moments don’t require a gun
Free FPS games
Destiny 2
(Image credit: Bungie)Release date: 2017 | Developer: Bungie | Steam, Epic
Bungie made an FPS MMO that millions of players have actually stuck with. It's a testament to the Halo creators' knack for crafting virtual guns that Destiny 2 players happily repeat the same missions over and over again to get the best stuff on offer. And at the end of the road are raids—expansive cooperative missions that test aim, timing, and communication all at the same time. There's nothing else like it in the world of FPSes.
Read more: Quiz: Destiny exotic or craft beer?
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
(Image credit: Valve)Release date: 2012 | Developer: Valve | Steam
Counter-Strike is still one of the most-played games on Steam every day. Similar to Left 4 Dead, purity is a major draw—CS:GO stands in contradiction to the current accepted truth that videogames have to constantly change to keep players interested. For millions of players, nothing has topped the competitive core and sky-high skill ceiling of Counter-Strike. It's not for casual fun, but a hard-fought victory with a group of friends is extremely satisfying.
Read more: 10 years of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Overwatch 2
(Image credit: Tyler C. / Activision Blizzard)Release date: 2022 | Developer: Blizzard | Battle.net
Overwatch 2 might be the least deserving game to ever have a '2' slapped on it, but Blizzard's major update to the hero shooter has ultimately made for a better game. Years after kicking off a hero shooter trend, still nobody creates heroes more distinct, fun, or immediately accessible than Blizzard. Sojourn, Kiriko, and Junker Queen freshen up a roster that was growing stale with every passing year and I'm especially excited for the new cadence of hero and map releases. The new 5v5 format and key hero reworks have also transformed the flow of Overwatch's combat, shifting away from drawn-out barrier brawls and emphasizing mano-a-mano shootouts.
Read more: Here we go again: I can't wait until Overwatch 2 players learn there's an objective
Team Fortress 2
(Image credit: Valve)Release date: 2007 | Developer: Valve | Steam
Valve may have forgotten that Team Fortress 2 exists, but we haven't. The 2007 team-based FPS that inspired so much of the current shooter landscape is still very much a big game—It remains one of the most-played games on Steam despite the fact that it hasn't gotten a major update in years. My friends and I still gather a few times a year for a joyous night of rocket jumping, spy checking, and uber charging, even if all those pesky bots can get in the way. Valve should really sort that out.
Read more: How Team Fortress 2's silly videos sparked a whole new era of shooters
VR FPS games
Half-Life: Alyx
(Image credit: Valve)Release date: 2020 | Developer: Valve | Steam
Valve's first Half-Life game since 2007 is also the first big-budget singleplayer VR game, and it's fantastic. Skulking the streets City 17 at a realistic scale often elicits genuine awe that a 2D screen capture can't quite replicate. As a shooter, Alyx is better than most of the gajillion shooting gallery games in VR, but don't expect a power trip. Even the best VR shooters are still clumsy affairs—it's hard to feel like a Gordon Freeman-level action hero when I'm constantly bumping into stationary objects, dropping grenades I meant to throw, and forgetting to pull back the hammer on Alyx's guns to complete reloads. Even still, Alyx is a worthy Half-Life 2 prequel and remains the best argument for picking up a VR headset.
Read more: How fidgeting playtesters convinced Valve to drastically shorten Half-Life: Alyx's intro
Boneworks
(Image credit: Stress Level Zero)Release date: 2019 | Developer: Stress Level Zero | Steam
Before there was a Half-Life: Alyx, Boneworks stood out as a VR shooter with a full-length campaign. Valve might've stolen its thunder a bit, but Boneworks is still worth playing for its unrestrictive physics systems, bone-cracking melee combat (a martial option that's entirely missing from Alyx's guns-only arsenal), and limited pool of guns that feel especially cool when combined with a dedicated slo-mo button. If you though Alyx was clumsy, don't even bother with the Boneworks man—because the player's body is fully simulated, you constantly have to fight babysit non-feeling limbs to make sure your arm isn't caught on a railing and you're feet are firmly planted on the ground.
Read more: Boneworks is the most fun I've had with physics in a game since Half-Life 2
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Resident Evil 4 is almost twenty years old, and god if that doesn't make me want to crumble into dust. The prospect of a remake, on paper, isn't that egregious given the timespan but the original is so widely available, so beloved and still perfectly playable in 2022 that the common question surrounding this remake has been: does it justify its existence? For newcomers, this will undoubtedly be one of 2023's best action horror games. For those familiar with the original, this will be a neat trip down memory lane that suffers perhaps for staying too close to the original.
The main concern I saw from fans was that this would dump the one liners and camp in favour of a more self-serious story. Not that the recent remakes are strangers to quips—Resident Evil 3 remake is full of 'em—but if that was your fear then I'm happy to report that, despite a slight shift in tone, your cheesy dialogue is here, as dumb and entertaining as ever. “Where's everyone going?” Leon utters, aloud, to nobody at all after nearly being stabbed and bludgeoned to death mere seconds earlier. “The bingo?” It highlights, though, the odd space this remake occupies. By not straying further from the original, it has less to entice returning players. Shouldn't the point of a remake be to do something different, to take the premise in a bold new direction?
(Image credit: Capcom)Which isn't to say it has nothing to offer those returning. Far from it. This is a souped up version of the original with overhauled controls that allow for moving and shooting. Even Leon's animations are different, portraying him a little more confident in light of the training he's undergone between 1998 and 2004. He can even parry attacks now, something that is sure to improve certain enemy encounters later in the game. Unsurprisingly, the remake's graphics are the most drastic change. Character models and environments have a level of detail that invites you to stare into the crazed expression of every blood thirsty villager you encounter. Leon's jacket looks positively cosy. The colour palette too has become richer, more diverse.
I'd need more time with the game to decide how I feel about the overall look, but while it's certainly an extremely handsome game in its own right, my initial impression was that I missed the sepia tone of the original's decrepit woods and locales. Even the time of day is initially different, starting in a gloomy early morning twilight that doesn't convey the same sense of barren forest. The remake has to sell the village's decay in props and other cues, something it does well—but one glance at the washed out brown world of the original was enough to tell you everything.
Paint the town
Creeping up on the iconic central village location is—save for the graphics—almost exactly as you remember it. Bringing out your binoculars to scout out the location, you can see the villagers burning a pyre with one of the missing cops on it. Then it's time to venture in, where one immediate difference is apparent: Leon can sneak now. Earlier in the demo I use stealth to avoid an enemy altogether. The village encourages more crouched creeping, and while it's pretty simplistic, it allows me to take out a few villagers (mainly old nans) before things kick off. It feels like a tweak to the formula rather than a substantial addition. No matter how stealthy you are, sooner or later you'll be faced with an entire village who want to run pitchforks through you. Cue blocking doors with bookcases, kicking ladders from windows… the idea of Leon as an outsider under siege is wholly intact. At this point the remake's energised take is realised.
(Image credit: Capcom)There's a lot more villagers in the remake than in the original, and the village square is itself a bit larger, with more paths and areas to explore. Able to sprint and move while aiming, Leon handles more in the remake like how you feel, enabling panicked scrambling behind barns and over fences to stay out of reach of enemies. None of the gentle pacing of last year's Resident Evil Village (itself littered with homage to 4) is here. There's no blocking or guarding. Enemies will grapple and lodge their axes in Leon with ferocity, or even throw weapons, not hovering around to give the player a window of opportunity.
Aggressive speed breathes new life into the classic village set piece, a scene a good bit larger and more populated than in the original.
Neither do they lurch forward like the zombies of the recent remakes or shuffle at the pace of the original game's villagers—here your foes will run and lunge at you, easily matching the mobility the remake's controls afford Leon. Though for all his movement, he lacks Jill Valentine's helpful dodge move, so evading enemies feels a lot more fraught than it did in 3. You do, however, have that parry, which opens enemies up to follow up attacks. The knife in the remake is no longer a weapon to be equipped, but a tool always at the ready, bound to a melee button for quicker use. But it does have a draining meter, so if you use it too much it will break and leave you a bit more defenceless. Leon is never truly helpless, though. You'll still be able to roundhouse kick a whole group of enemies so long as you can stun one of them. Which was always really the magic of Resident Evil 4: finding creative ways to overcome seemingly impossible odds.
Spanish chainsaw massacre
This aggressive speed breathes new life into the classic village set piece, a scene a good bit larger and more populated than in the original. A ramped up pace makes every moment feel that bit more desperate and chaotic. Standing your ground never lasts long. Turning the tide means being a little lighter on your feet instead of lining up perfect shot after perfect shot.
(Image credit: Capcom)It's loaded with new dynamic moments, too. Like when the iconic chainsaw lad cuts down a balcony, blocking one of the paths around the village and depriving me of options. Or later, when he collapses a floor I happened to be standing on. You bet I absolutely squealed in surprise. You can even set a bull on fire, turning it into a raging battering ram, though if I'm honest I would rather spare the poor cow. If the remake can keep up this degree of complexity for the whole game, it will be something quite impressive to behold, and I'm already curious about how it'll tackle other set pieces from the original.
Despite all this new vigour, the portion I played went through all the same moments as the original. Get besieged in the house, wait for Dr Salvador to show up with his chainsaw, survive until the bell tolls and the villagers are summoned away. Cue cheesy one liner. I'm not immune to the charm of nostalgia, and, look, Resident Evil 4 is still a great game—by extension, so is the remake. I just can't shake the feeling that all this effort is a little bit wasted on something that, despite a couple of minor twists, I could recite by heart.
These remakes have pushed the series to an unrivalled level of polish and slickness, wielding its tools so expertly, that it feels a shame to throw that effort at a retread of a game fans will know inside out. For all the clever changes, and promises of greater divergences, I can't shake how thrilling it would be if all this craft was brought to bear in a new instalment, one with its own voice and memorable moments. The Resident Evil 4 remake is going to be a riot for new players, realising a scope the original could only dream of while staying true to its vision. Yet I'd be a lot more excited were all of this applied to something new, something where I didn't know each step on the path. Capcom have perfected their action design across these three remakes, I just wish it was truly let loose instead of chained to the past.
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We've played the Resident Evil 4 Remake, and it's, well, very Resident Evil 4. That's a good thing! At least from this early taste, it sure doesn't seem like Capcom's going to screw this one up: it still looks and feels much like the 2004 action game, with some modern conveniences like being able to reload while you're jogging away from a horde of angry ganados.
There are some notable changes, though, like stealth: Leon can crouch now. And 18 years of lighting tech evolution has made a dark, flashlight-lit room a whole lot spookier than it used to be. Until now, we've had to speculate on whether Capcom planned to push RE4 more towards horror, or whether it would be shortening the game substantially for the remake. And perhaps most importantly: what the heck are they doing with those QTEs?
I asked Capcom producer Hiroyuki Kobayashi all of the above and broke down his answers in this video, adding in my own impressions from the demo of RE4's opening village segment.
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As part of RazerCon 2022, Apogee Entertainment showed a revamped look at Exocide, an early 2000s throwback FPS where you defend humanity from legions of genetically engineered giant insects.
Exocide's look immediately appeals to me. It's a souped-up "how you remember it" take on PC graphics from between 2000 and 2004—higher-res textures and more defined models than what came before, but not quite to the "approaching photorealism" level of the Xbox 360 era.
It looks very similar to the upcoming Phantom Fury, as well as Apogee stablemate Turbo Overkill. Everything's punctuated with these sickly neon greens and yellows, which jibe perfectly with the game's focus on mutant bug extermination.
Man's reach has exceeded his grasp yet again, and our genetically engineered soldier insects have turned on us. As a "Handler," you not only fight the bugs with the requisite boomer shooter arsenal of shotguns, machine guns, and rocket launchers, but also have two additional hands to help you out. They hold bonus weapons, or else help you handle super-sized giant guns, and live in the upper right and left corners of the screen.
It's not clear how exactly you'll control them, but I already love the concept. Your eyes are always drawn to the center or bottom of the screen in FPSes, and I like it when they find ways to upend that and present a weirder sort of first-person view. I'm thinking of mechanics like the shoulder cannon in Doom Eternal, the arc soul in Destiny, or the hanging lantern in Coven—they really help spice things up.
It doesn't seem like we'll have to wait long for Exocide either. There's no demo, but it's currently marked as entering into early access by the end of this year on Steam.
Image 1 of 7(Image credit: Hellforge Studios, Apogee Entertainment)Image 2 of 7(Image credit: Hellforge Studios, Apogee Entertainment)Image 3 of 7(Image credit: Hellforge Studios, Apogee Entertainment)Image 4 of 7(Image credit: Hellforge Studios, Apogee Entertainment)Image 5 of 7(Image credit: Hellforge Studios, Apogee Entertainment)Image 6 of 7(Image credit: Hellforge Studios, Apogee Entertainment)Image 7 of 7(Image credit: Hellforge Studios, Apogee Entertainment) -
Overwatch 2 got off to a rough start when it launched on October 4, and so to make up for it Blizzard promised to hold "several" double XP weekends. Dates weren't announced at the time, but today Blizzard revealed that the first double match XP weekend starts tomorrow.
The first double match XP weekend will begin at 11 am PT/2 pm ET on October 21 and run until the same time on October 24. The second weekend will follow a week later, beginning on October 28 and running until October 31, while the third will kick off on November 24 and go until November 28—all of them beginning and ending at the same, time, 11 am PT/2 pm ET.
THIS WEEKEND IS A 2x MATCH XP WEEKEND! The #Overwatch2 festivities run from Oct 21 at 11am PT thru Oct 24
See you there! pic.twitter.com/fQEc7Gao9ZOctober 20, 2022See moreDoes three double XP weekends count as "several?" I envisioned it as implying more, maybe four or five, but the nice thing about using the word "several" is that it really doesn't lock you down to anything: Dictionary.com defines it as meaning "more than two but fewer than many," which of course compels us to define "many," meaning "constituting or forming a large number; numerous." In other words, "several" means "more than two" and that's what we've got here, so I guess Blizzard has officially delivered.
Nonetheless, reaction to the date announcement on Reddit was not overly positive. Several users complained that it was a very low effort at recompense on Blizzard's part; others pointed out that only match XP is being doubled, while daily and weekly challenges (the stuff that gives you by far the most battle pass XP) will continue to deliver the regular amount.
"Daily and weekly [challenge] XP levels you up literally 10x faster than match XP," g0atmeal wrote. "So unless you grind for hours in one sitting, this won't make much of a difference."
Blizzard also announced today that Halloween Terror will return to Overwatch beginning on October 25. Details on that weren't announced, but previous Halloween Terror events included new cosmetics, weekly icon, spray, and skin rewards, and the Junkenstein's Revenge co-op horde mode.
*creepy laughter* Prepare yourselves
Halloween Terror begins Oct 25! pic.twitter.com/iFlde0vgAoOctober 20, 2022See more -
As Katie noted back in February, Settlement Survival isn't the most creative name for a city builder. But what's in a name? Much more important is what's behind it, in this case a Banished-inspired survival city builder that Katie said quickly became one of her favorite colony sims, "with oodles of depth, a homey atmosphere, and a gorgeously mystical soundtrack."
At the time Settlement Survival was in early access, but that's about to end. On October 24 Settlement Survival will launch into 1.0, and to mark the occasion there's a new trailer to check out above. Feast your peepers on the beautiful low-poly world, a settlement being carved out of the wilderness by tiny workers, and threats to the city in the form of fires, floods, earthquakes, and devastating tornadoes.
Even when their houses aren't being torn apart by cyclones, your citizens won't have an easy time of it. Your villagers' clothing and tools will slowly deplete as they toil in the fields and hammer together buildings, they'll freeze their butts off when the temperature drops, and if they get too unhappy with their living conditions they'll eventually resort to crime. Plus, there's always the threat of the plague that can wipe out a bunch of your population. Either get some soap production going early so they can practice proper hygiene, or make sure you've got a nice big graveyard.
Along with a tech tree for unlocking new buildings and choosing a direction for your village, which can include agriculture, mining, resource processing, education, and more, there's a pretty robust trading system. You can swap goods with traveling merchants who visit your trading posts, but you can also form caravans to go out into the world to trade with different factions, though that comes with the risk of being attacked by bandits.
But with all the death from plague, floods, and bandits, there's still somehow a cozy and comfy feel to Settlement Survival. It's also mod-friendly via the Steam Workshop, and there are plenty of mods that let you tweak the difficulty of various settings like villager happiness, tool durability, immigration levels, and more.
You'll find Settlement Survival on Steam, with the 1.0 launch planned for Monday, October 24.
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Vampire Survivors studio Poncle said in September that the 1.0 release update, set to arrive on October 20, would be "a surprise and should hopefully offer a little something for everyone." Now the big day is here, and I think it's fair to say that the promise has been kept.
Today's 1.0 update didn't go through the usual public beta process in order to avoid spoilers, Poncle said, which means two things: First, if you run into "any problems, frustrations, or balancing issues," you're asked to please report them in either Discord or the Steam forums; and second, if you're concerned about spoilers yourself, you might want to stop reading now because update details are going to be posted below.
There'll be an ad below this, which should help protect from unintentional glances, but after that you're on your own.
We already know about some of this new content. Inverse Mode, for instance, which amps up gold reward and enemy health, and literally flips levels upside-down, looks "extremely evil" in the eyes of our resident Vampire Survivor Fraser, who worried last week that it's "going to be the end of me." There's also a new Twitch mode, which enables viewers to make level-up decisions, choose special commands, and vote on special events.
(Image credit: Poncle)Poncle said in the announcement that even though Vampire Survivors is now in full release, they won't be done with it until "I—or you—get tired of it."
"We'll probably start developing something new in poncle, but support for VS will also carry on," they wrote. "As anticipated in the v1.0 announcement, we’ll need to do some QOL improvements on niche mechanics like Eggs and Limit Break, plus finishing the engine port. But brand new features are also in the works…
"A huge thank you once again to all the players who turned this little weekend project into an insane success!"
The full details of the Vampire Survivors 1.0 update are below:
New Content:
- 3 achievements to fix existing unlocks:
- Complete any 30 minutes stage with Gallo or Divano. [Unlocks: Bracelet]
- Discover every standard evolution and union. [Unlocks: Candybox]
- Evolve the Bracelet and then the Bi-Bracelet. [Unlocks: 500 gold]
- 4 new achievements (each unlocks a new stage, mode, or feature):
- Find all the relics from all stages.
- Obtain Gracia's Mirror.
- Obtain the Seventh Trumpet.
- See the final fireworks.
- 1 new event stage
- 1 new weapon
- New skins for: Pugnala, Giovanna, Poppea, Concetta, and Mask of the Red Death.
- New "Side B" soundtrack. Every Side B track unlocks together with the stage it belongs to.
- New option for "blast processed" sound effects.
- Added missing music tracks for Il Molise (and Boss Rash in 0.11.400)
- Added 11 languages: French, Italian, German, Spanish, Polish, Portuguese, Turkish, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Korean, and Japanese.
- Added Twitch integration: the chat makes decisions for you and triggers special events. Enable in Options by typing in the chat's name, no need to login or doing anything weird.
Inverse Mode:
- Stages layout is upside down (can be disabled in Options) plus minor visual changes depending on stage.
- Gold gains are increased by 200%. Luck bonus of 20%.
- Enemies start with +200% Max Health.
- Enemies gain 5% Max Health every minute and and 1% movement speed every 2 minutes (cumulative with the Bone Zone enemy bonuses).
- The merchant also sells: Skip, Banish, and Reroll (can carry up to 20) and 1 extra Arcana.
Endless Mode:
- The Reaper won't spawn at the final minute.
- Reaching the final minute of a stage will make the enemy waves to restart from minute 0, completing a "cycle".
- Enemies gain 100% of their base Max Health per cycle.
- Enemies spawn frequency and amount is increased by 50% per cycle.
- Enemies deal 25% more damage per cycle. The player's max damage cap is diminished by 1 per cycle.
- The merchant respawns on every cycle and sells "+1 Revival" instead of Golden Eggs.
Achievement Tweaks:
- Reduced level requirements for character achievements (reach LV 100 is now LV80, reach LV99 is now reach LV50)
- Mindbender now unlocks at 50 COLLECTION items instead of 100
Tweaks:
- New UI to show what relics are available in each stage
- New UI to show what stages have been cleared for each character (plus option to turn it off)
- New UI option to lock the selection of a music track so it persists between runs
- Each rank in Banish and Reroll now grants 2 of them instead of 1.
- Picking up an Orologion also slows down Gold Fever decay by 50%
- Lightning Ring and Thunderloop are now affected by Arcana II - Twilight Requiem
- Bracelet is now affected by arcana XIV - Jail of Crystal. Bi-Bracelet is also affected by Arcana II - Twilight Requiem. Tri-Bracelet is also affected by Arcana XIX - Heart of Fire
- Reduced Sketamari's HP recovery when absorbing other skeletons.
- Increased XP gain in the early minutes of the Dairy Plant.
- Increased base gold amount in treasure chests.
- "Recovery" stat now also affects the potency of health recovery pickups.
- Arcana II - Twilight Requiem's explosions damage is now affected by Curse.
- "quick start" now becomes available after unlocking the 5 main stages.
- Capped all Limit break bonuses other than Might (this in particular is very open to suggestions in case it makes sense to increase some caps)
And finally, for those of you who already have everything from the 0.11 release and want to get straight to the new stuff in 1.0, here's what you need to do:
- On opening the game, you should automatically get the new Achievement "The Eudaimonia Machine". If not, make sure you're not missing any relic from 0.11, then enter and exit a run. The achievement will unlock a new event stage.
- Enter the new stage "Eudaimonia M." and do stuff.
- Enter and exit any stage while using the option you have unlocked in step 2.
- Go back to "Eudaimonia M." and do stuff.
- Enter and exit any stage while using the option you have unlocked in step 4.
- Go back to "Eudaimonia M." and do stuff.
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Colour, the streamer who logged 6,000 hours of playtime on the Stadia edition of Red Dead Redemption 2, is about to be saved from the doomed platform. Stadia players will be able to transfer currency and progression from Stadia to another platform according to a screenshot of a message from a Rockstar support account that Colour shared. .
Google's sudden announcement that Stadia would shut down in January 2023 sent developers and players scrambling. Some devs with work-in-progress for Stadia got shafted, while others had to set about figuring out how to help players transfer their saved game progress.
Very few people seemed as screwed as Colour, a content creator who specializes in Red Dead Online 2 on Stadia. With the announcement of the platform's closure, he feared he would lose nearly 6,000 hours' worth of progress on the game.
Thankfully, Rockstar has stepped in and announced account transfer for Stadia players, following in the footsteps of Bungie, IO Interactive, and Zenimax Online. In a message to Colour shared by the content creator, the company states that Red Dead Online players will be able to transfer all currencies and experience from Stadia to an account on another platform via the Rockstar Social Club.
Rockstar has yet to share details or a timetable for the process, and we've reached out to the company for comment.
Colour is understandably relieved by the news, and said the collective jostling to get Rockstar to address the issue "helped save an entire community of players from losing all their online progress." Here's to 6,000 more hours then. I just hope he remembers to take breaks.
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Capcom's getting into the Halloween spirit today with a livestream devoted to Resident Evil.
The Resident Evil Showcase, which kicks off on YouTube and Twitch at 3 pm PT, will include looks at the upcoming Resident Evil Village Gold Edition and the Resident Evil 4 Remake. If you already own Village, the most interesting thing from that segment will be Winters' Expansion DLC, which comes out very soon,—on October 28. The update also adds Lady D to the Mercenaries mode, should you want to get your stepping-on-people on.
Seeing more of RE4 Remake is probably the bigger draw, though: Capcom's update of the acclaimed action game is out in March, 2023. You can catch the livestream when it airs in the Youtube vid above.
Here's a timezone breakdown of when the Resident Evil Showcase begins:
- UK: 11 pm BST
- US West coast: 3 pm PST
- US East coast: 6 pm EST
- Sydney, Australia: 9 am AEDT
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Epic's weekly free games are practically a routine at this point, but this week's giveaway is worth a little extra attention: It's Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition, Bethesda's first first-person foray into the famed post-nuclear world.
Fallout 3 is 14 years old now, and it shows. We said in a 2015 retrospective that "technically, it hasn't aged well," and that was seven years ago. "The world is blighted by grubby low-res textures and the character models are hideous," we wrote, adding that they didn't even look all that great when they were new in 2008.
Even so, it gets a lot right—enough to make it my favorite post-Interplay Fallout game. For my money (and setting aside the 'find your dad' main quest nonsense), it captures the feeling of wandering through a devastated wasteland far better than the subsequent games. That 2015 look back at Fallout 3 very nicely captures why:
"The Capital Wasteland is still a wonderfully evocative place. The grey, overcast skies and shattered landscape make for a strangely beautiful post-apocalypse. There’s a lot of empty space—I mean, it is a wasteland after all—but Bethesda scattered enough interesting things around that it never feels barren."
The Game of the Year Edition, by the way, includes all five add-on packs released for Fallout 3: Operation: Anchorage, The Pitt, Broken Steel, Point Lookout, and Mothership Zeta. It's a whole lotta Fallout in one package.
Of course, you may feel differently about how the Fallout games should be ranked and that's fine, but you cannot argue against the price, because it is free for the taking until October 27. The giveaway coincides with the 25th anniversary of the original Fallout, which Bethesda has been marking in various ways, including by putting the pre-Bethesda games—Fallout, Fallout 2, and Fallout Tactics—on sale on the Epic Store for $2.50 each.
The Epic Game Store is celebrating #Fallout25: https://t.co/LJhDnGLPmeStarting on 10/20 be sure and snag:
Fallout 3 GOTY edition for free until 10/27. Fallout 1, Fallout 2, and Fallout Tactics for 75% off until 11/1 pic.twitter.com/GojWHBBsjCOctober 20, 2022See moreFallout 3 is not the only giveaway game this week, although it might seem that way given how I've gushed about it. You can also grab Evoland Legendary Edition, "a journey through the history of action/adventure gaming." The Legendary Edition is actually a bundle including Evoland: A Short Story of Adventure Video Games Evolution and Evoland II: A Slight Case of Spacetime Continuum Disorder. They're both very good, too.
Both Fallout 3 and Evoland Legendary Edition are free for the taking on the Epic Games Store until 8 am PT/11 am ET on October 27. For a list of all the games Epic has given away, going all the way back to December 2018, hit up our regularly updated list of what's free on the Epic Games Store right now.
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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is set to go into full release on October 28, but if you preorder you can jump into the campaign right now, on October 20.
Activision clarified that this preload is strictly for the singleplayer campaign: Preloading for the full launch, which will also include multiplayer and special ops, will begin the following week, just ahead of the official launch date. Modern Warfare 2 will finally, fully unlock at 9 pm PT on October 27, which as illustrated in the handy map below is actually October 28 in most of the rest of the world.
(Image credit: Activision)Modern Warfare 2 preload times
Campaign preload times for pre-order players:
- 10 am PT, October 19
- 1 pm ET, October 19
- 6 pm BST, October 19
- 4 am AEDT, October 20
Full launch preload times:
- 10 am PT, October 26
- 1 pm ET, October 26
- 6 pm BST, October 26
- 4 am AEDT, October 27
The preload announcement also detailed system requirements, for those unsure whether—or how well—Modern Warfare 2 will run on their rigs. Basic requirements were revealed in September but the new breakdown gets into greater detail across four distinct specs.
(Image credit: Activision)Minimum:
- CPU: Intel Core I3-6100 / Core I5-2500K OR AMD Ryzen 3 1200
- RAM: 4 GB
- Storage: 72GB at Launch
- GPU: Minimum: Nvidia GeForce GTX 960 or AMD Radeon RX 470, 2GB
- Hi-rez assets cache (optional disk space that can be used to stream high-resolution assets. The option can be turned off in the game’s settings.): Up to 32GB
Recommended:
- CPU: Intel Core I5-6600K / Core I7-4770 OR AMD Ryzen 5 1400
- RAM: 6 GB
- Storage: 72GB at Launch
- GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 or AMD Radeon RX 580, 4GB
- Hi-rez assets cache: Up to 32GB
Competitive:
- CPU: Intel Core I7-8700K OR AMD Ryzen 7 1800X
- RAM: 16 GB
- Storage: 72GB at Launch
- GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060Ti or AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT, 8GB
- Hi-rez assets cache: Up to 32GB
Ultra 4K:
- CPU: Intel Core I9-9900K OR AMD Ryzen 9 3900X
- RAM: 16 GB
- Storage: 72GB at Launch
- GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 or AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT, 10GB
- Hi-rez assets cache: Up to 64GB
Regardless of your hardware spec, you'll also need Windows 10 64-bit with the latest updates installed, and the latest drivers for your video card.
The PC version of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 will support an array of advanced visual features and customization options, and will also require a phone number, unless you're already verified for Call of Duty: Warzone. It will be available for PC on Steam and Battle.net.
This early access space 4X smartly reinvents the genre's early game
in Gaming News
Posted
I'm never happier than when I'm pottering around in the exploration phase of a space 4X. It's when the galaxy has the most potential, and where every turn could spit out a new discovery, whether it's intelligent life or some cool new lasers. And whenever I fire up a new 4X, playing through the early game is like popping on a comfy pair of slippers, all cosy and familiar.
The Pegasus Expedition, which launched in early access this week, immediately says "Screw your cosy slippers and get ready for some wars." This story-driven 4X kicks off in medias res, not long after your human expeditionary fleet arrives in the Pegasus galaxy. They've left Earth to find a solution to a war they're losing against an alien adversary, but it turns out Pegasus is just as much of a shitshow.
See, there are aliens in Pegasus as well, and the surprise appearance of humans has spooked them, starting another war. And we're not talking about the first contact wars you usually encounter in a 4X. This isn't a few scouts exchanging pot shots. This is a war against an established force that controls multiple worlds and has old, complicated relationships with other aliens who you're yet to meet.
Luckily, you've arrived in this galaxy with plenty of ships. Though you might argue that arriving in a new place with an armada bristling with weapons is exactly why you're now embroiled in a war. This isn't a point of view that goes ignored, either. You'll constantly question the ethics of your mission. But first, to battle!
You control space battles indirectly by selecting the fleet you'd like to use and then giving them some broad orders. A lightning strike, for instance, will split your fleet into six battlegroups and improve their damage and speed, but also the amount of casualties they'll take. You also have some control over what direction your ships enter the system from, and thus what worlds they'll target first.
The size of the enemy fleet and how it's distributed through the solar system will determine the best strategy, and then you get to watch the ships duke it out like little brawling fireflies. With this focus on the macro, it emphasises your role as a leader, making the big calls without needing to control every ship. But you can have your cake and eat it too, as there are still ways to get involved even when the fight is in full swing. You can order a retreat to save your precious ships, launch missile salvos and, at the cost of your reputation, even fire off some nukes.
This results in battles that are engaging but never fiddly, making The Pegasus Expedition a rare 4X where I'm actually very eager to keep wars going. But this warmongering is expensive. Even my most successful assaults cost me ships, and repairing fleets requires rare-earth minerals that, as a newcomer, I had limited access to. Thus, amid this war against the new aliens, I still had to explore and colonise, fuelling the war machine.
Habitable worlds appropriate for proper colonies are rare, but there are plenty of worlds that can host simpler outposts, many of them containing traits that encourage specific specialisations. Volcanic worlds or those with rare-earth minerals, for instance, are best taken advantage of via industrial outposts, generating the resources you'll need to maintain your fleets.
Between battles and colonisation efforts are plenty of meetings. You'll chat away with your admirals, diplomats and scientists, figuring out the best way through this crisis together. Earth has sent other fleets to Pegasus, too, who will also colonise worlds, fight aliens and sometimes join you in your ventures. These aren't just generic advisors and allies, either. They're fleshed out characters with set personalities and pasts that help define them.
After a tense first contact with yet another alien race, this time the de facto rulers of Pegasus, my top diplomat wanted to know if I thought he'd made the right call, inspiring a discussion on his particular diplomatic methods. Getting to know him meant I felt I could trust him to make some decisions himself, rather than selecting responses for him in future chats with aliens.
The story is fairly linear at the outset—your first meeting with aliens will always end in a war, and so will the next one. But at every point there are still decisions for you to make, whether it's how to specialise your new outposts or if you should tell the folks back home how badly things are really going in this new galaxy. And things do start loosening up. Humanity's arrival has a destabilising effect on Pegasus, eventually creating a power vacuum that promises to give you a bit more freedom.
Despite flexibility being one of the key components of a 4X, however, I've been really enjoying this more scripted start, which is proving to be a great way to slowly introduce new players to this rich galaxy. I've never played a 4X that offers such a strong sense of place. Instead of being a fresh map where every faction can spread out as they see fit, it's full of established space-faring peoples and plots already in motion. The result is something that feels so much more tangible than the randomised galaxies I'm used to exploring.
The writing could do with a bit more polish, but I'm already invested in the story. Fighting to survive, worrying about what this means for the future of Earth, being forced to become a conquering coloniser because the alternative is extinction—it's all incredibly compelling stuff.
Kalla Gameworks aims to release the final version in mid 2023, which will include various new scenarios and an additional playable race. With the early access version, though, you can already play through the main story campaign, which is shaping up to be fascinating. There are quite a few story-driven 4Xs knocking about now, with more coming, but so far this is the one that feels most distinct. I'm looking forward to seeing how it evolves.
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