[Valve edits Steam Deck trailer to remove Nintendo Switch emulator icon]

Valve published an upbeat Steam Deck video on Thursday, announcing that its handheld gaming PC was finally available to order without a reservation. The video also celebrated the arrival of the Steam Deck dock and OS improvements that make the Deck work better with external displays. But gaming Twitter newshound Nibellion also spotted something surprising in the Steam Deck library in Valve's video: an icon for Nintendo Switch emulator Yuzu. You can see it above, hanging out next to Hades on the home screen's recent games list.

After Nibellion's tweet got a couple thousand retweets Friday morning, Valve delisted the video and uploaded a new version without Yuzu visible. The original video is now set to private.

Valve has long maintained that the Steam Deck is a PC, and thus yours to customize and use for whatever software you see fit. But it understandably hasn't promoted the Deck as an emulation device (even though it's a really, really good one). Yuzu is a legal, open source piece of software, but not one that Nintendo is exactly thrilled exists.

Back in March, when Steam Deck reviews first landed, Nintendo started issuing DMCA takedowns on YouTube videos that showed Nintendo Switch games running on Valve's handheld. You can find more of those videos on YouTube now, so Nintendo may have eased up on the takedowns. Still, considering Valve and Nintendo have a friendly enough relationship to put Portal on the Switch, the safe political move here is probably not tacitly endorsing Switch emulation on the Steam Deck.

I've reached out to Valve for comment on the video and will update this story if I receive a reply.

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[Here's a survival game first: I just went fishing for giant moths off the edge of my blimp]

My favorite part of any game is when I get to do something I've never done in a game before. So here I am, standing on the edge of the blimp that serves as my mobile base, using a small crane to lower a cable down into the toxic clouds below, then reeling it back in to see I've caught a giant moth the size of a seagull.

I've never gone mutant moth fishing while hovering in a blimp over a post-apocalyptic Earth before. That's a 10/10 in my book. I look at the 3D printer in my blimp's cabin and see that I don't have enough resources to fabricate a cooking pot, so I just shove the giant moth into my mouth and eat it raw. Never done that before, either. Another 10/10.

Forever Skies is a first-person survival game set on a ruined Earth, where your base is an airship—technically not a blimp, but sue me, I like using the word blimp. You pilot the airship from skyscraper to ruined skyscraper as you gather resources, craft gear, and hunt for food (or moths) and drinkable water. And as you progress you can make your flying base bigger and fill it with more sci-fi gadgets. The survival game from developer Far From Home isn't out yet, with a release window set for later this year, but there's a playable demo out now on Steam during Next Fest. 

As for why the Earth is in such bad shape: our humble planet was devastated by some sort of ecological disaster that left it swallowed up by an unrelenting toxic dust storm. Some remnants of humanity went offworld for a few centuries, but now you're back hoping to find the cure for a horrible disease, presumably because no solution can be found in space.

I spent most of the demo scrounging resources, crafting sci-fi tools, and carefully clambering around on narrow walkways. You're exploring areas built by long-dead humans who cobbled together bridges and platforms at the tops of skyscrapers to stay above the clouds of toxic dust, so you really need to watch your step. Everything is rusty and busted, though there are computer terminals you can power up to learn more about what happened in diary entries. I'm glad to find myself in yet another apocalypse where people are diligent about keeping personal journals.

(Image credit: Far From Home)

Here's a tip while exploring post-apocalyptic earth: Be careful what you eat. Before I started fishing for moths I found some melons that looked pretty tasty, but eating them gave me a virus that made me take damage whenever I looked up at the sun. That doesn't sound so bad—why would I ever need to look at the sun—but I wound up trying to aim my deck extractor (a mounted sci-fi ray I can use to break down objects into resources) at some metal panels on a roof I couldn't reach, and wouldn't you know it? The sun was hovering in the sky right behind them. I had to give it up. Damn those delicious apocalypse melons.

I got to build a few other useful items in my tiny airship: I bolted a water purifier onto the wall so I could collect dirty water pooled in satellite dishes, decontaminate it, and drink it. I added a storage box to stow my spare resources. I 3D printed out an engine, along with some fuel (3D printing has gotten really good in the post-apocalyptic future). And I fabricated my insect catcher and a lure, even though at that stage I didn't really know what I was catching insects for. Or how big those insects would be.

(Image credit: Far From Home)

And then I was off in my blimp base, slowly flying toward a beacon I could barely make out through the dirty, hazy atmosphere. The blinking light signified another place to land, scrounge more stuff, and hopefully wind up with enough resources to fill my food and water meters, and maybe heal myself from the sun damage I took every time I glanced at the sky. The locations I visited were all a bit same-y, a few different levels of skyscraper with resources scattered here and there. The world surrounding you feels suitably hazardous, with howling winds, occasional driving rain, and an eerie green glow to the sky at night.

On my to-do list was crafting a new module that would let me change the elevation of my blimp, promising to take me above the clouds to see more of the world without the dust obscuring everything, but I never got to build it. The main downside to the demo is that once you repair, fuel, and begin piloting your airship for the first time, a timer starts and you only have 20 minutes to play from that point on.

That's not quite enough time to form a strong opinion about Forever Skies—I'm intrigued by the premise and love having a mobile blimp base, but I can't really say I had a blast in the demo having only crafted a few gizmos and visited a few different (but same-ish) locations. I'm mostly just sad I didn't have enough time to craft a cooking pot. I'm sure moths taste better boiled than raw.

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[EA's Origin is officially dead]

Back in 2020, Electronic Arts announced that its Origin launcher was being updated and rebranded as the EA App. More than two years later, it's finally ready to go: EA announced today that the app is now out of open beta and will soon step over Origin's corpse to take its place as EA's "primary PC platform."

"The EA app is our fastest and lightest PC client to date," EA said. "With the new streamlined design you will easily find the games and content you’re looking for and discover your new favorite games. With automatic game downloads and background updates you can ensure that your games are ready to play when you are."

Along with all the usual launcher stuff, the EA app will also connect to other platforms, including Steam, PlayStation, and Xbox, so users will be able to integrate their friend lists and stay on top of what everyone else is doing. 

The process of upgrading from Origin to the app is simple: Download the EA app, run the installer, and it'll rip out the old launcher root and stem, and drop itself in its place. Is it better? Honestly, I used Origin so rarely that I can't fairly compare, but but the app definitely seems faster, and the layout is simpler. The store page is a simple grid of icons that can be sorted by genre, players, languages, or inclusion in EA Play, and installed games are listed in the left-hand sidebar, just below a link to your library. Store pages load quickly, and their layouts are simple and easy to read. 

(Image credit: Electronic Arts )

Overall then, I'd say the EA app is definitely a step up, aside from the name of the thing, which is just flat-out bad. (I mean, "EA app," really? They don't even capitalize the word "app." It's terrible.) If for some bizarre reason you want to stick with the old Origin, you can, but probably not for long.

"We will be inviting you to make the move soon, and by the time you receive your invite, all your games and content, including games previously installed, will be ready and waiting for you on the EA app," EA said. "Your local and cloud saves will transfer forward ensuring you can pick up where you left off. Your friends list transfers, too, so you won’t have to worry about remembering all those player IDs."

That doesn't exactly scream "optional" to me, but based on my experience there's no reason not to just go ahead and make the move now. You can pick up the installer at ea.com.

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[This gorgeous grid-based dungeon crawler is based on real folklore]

Back when Durante declared the CRPG renaissance underway, he mentioned Might & Magic X: Legacy and Legend of Grimrock, two grid-based dungeon crawlers. While there have been a handful of games following in their footsteps, like Operencia: The Stolen Sun and StarCrawlers, the vast majority of CRPGs since have been pseudo-isometric instead. They've looked down on their miniaturized heroes from a distancing height rather than getting up close to their portraits. It's been a renaissance with plenty of Bruegels, but few Botticellis.

Dungeons of the Amber Griffin aims to fix that. It's a blobber, which is to say a game where you see things from the perspective of your whole party of adventurers—melee fighters up front, wizards and archers safely hidden at the back—who all stand on the same square and move together in a single blob. They're also known as gridders, or DRPGs (the D stands for Dungeon). They deserve a second chance whatever you call them.

"For me it's just Dungeon Crawlers," says Tomasz Rożyński, who credits himself as the "CEO, game design, 2d/3d graphics, animations, level design, marketing, social media, VJ artist" of Frozengem Studio and is basically a solo developer.

"I am aware that our title, which is based on moving around a grid and rotating 90 degrees, may not appeal to everyone", he says. "However, the use of such classic movement mechanics means that the game is not simply a hack and slasher. True, there is an effort to create dynamic and flashy combat, but after defeating the monsters, players have the option to slow down the pace of the game. They can take their time to search the terrain, look for hidden passages and solve puzzles."

In the grand family tree of grid-based dungeon crawlers, one branch includes games where meeting enemies means transitioning to a turn-based combat battle screen. This branch leads from the Wizardry series down through games like Operencia, while the other branch, which spreads from 1987's Dungeon Master down through Legend of Grimrock, has real-time combat taking place in the same UI as exploration. Dungeons of the Amber Griffin grows from the latter branch, so while Tomasz emphasizes the need to examine your surroundings between fights—right-clicking to free yourself from 90-degree turns so you can mouselook around finding hidden food or buttons that open secret doors—the combat can get frantic. I've misclicked while trying to cast a spell and got myself poisoned by a giant bug more than once.

There's even a "music mode", where you fight through levels designed to fit songs like the folk-metal of Percival Schuttenbach, unlocking items for use in other modes if you kill enough enemies. "Don't jump straight into the game's music mode," warns Tomasz, "because you'll get chewed out there."

A couple of things mark Dungeons of the Amber Griffin out from its subgenre. The most obvious one is how it looks. There are sweet weather effects like pouring rain and snow, dense forests blocking your path, and smoke billowing out of a mushroom-picker's chimney. Much as I like the goony clip-art of Dungeon Master, it's a definite improvement. (If you want to see how it looked, you can download a free Windows version of Dungeon Master's expandalone Chaos Strikes Back.)

The current version of Dungeons of the Amber Griffin was made in Unreal Engine 4, Tomasz explains, which "was crucial for us to implement the weather system, which has a huge impact on the gameplay. We have also started working on VR helmet controls and believe me, exploring in VR will be a very enjoyable experience. In the future, we will be migrating the game design to Unreal Engine 5. We have already conducted tests and the game looks much better in full raytracing," he says.

(Image credit: Frozengem Studio)

That's impressive for a developer who does almost everything on his own, though he has a little help from an unlikely source: the Midjourney AI, which he used to create background art for the in-game bestiary. New entries in the book are unlocked as you defeat monsters like the mutant boars called szargan, or the demonic fludin, which look like hairless bears without eyes. Rather than being blank, the pages for creatures you haven't encountered are covered in faded pseudoscientific scrawlings of larvae, leaves, and beakers based on art produced by giving prompts to Midjourney.

"Midjourney AI is a great tool because it opens up the possibility for solo developers to achieve very good visuals at a low cost", Tomasz explains. "I can't imagine explaining to an illustrator what my vision is for creating the diabolical organic devices that might be in the bestiary. In my opinion, combining the work of illustrators with the work created by AI is an excellent combo. Of course, it's not as if these blank pages in the bestiary are ready-made—all the graphics had to be cut into pieces, processed, cleaned, adjusted. It's a bit like buying stock graphics."

(Image credit: Frozengem Studio)

Would Tomasz consider using AI-generated art for other graphical elements of his game? "Yes, I would very much like to use graphics created by AI," he says, "but in collaboration with illustrators. I think it is unethical to completely replace people, because in the same way someone will replace me one day. There are things that are simply better done using AI. Mostly it's about the budget to produce the game anyway. Another problematic issue is the licensing of graphics based on Midjourney AI. I use the licence in private mode and, in the game, show graphics already processed heavily by me. I know there is a lot of argument about this. Until the situation on the legal side is fully resolved, I am using the AI in such a way that when the funds for the production of the game are raised, the AI graphics can easily be replaced by graphics made by illustrators."

The second thing that marks out Dungeons of the Amber Griffin is its basis in the real-world people and locations of Kashubia, a part of Eastern Pomerania in what is now Poland. "Kashubian culture is distinguished by its language. It is a Slavic language spoken by more than 150,000 people," Tomasz says. That's why in his game you'll choose from classes like the underworld priests called maga, the hunters called jachtorz, and the knightly warriors called ricerz. "Unfortunately," he continues, "it is a language that is in danger of extinction—it is being supplanted by the Polish language."

Kashubian words and places are everywhere in Dungeons of the Amber Griffin, preserved as if in amber themselves. Its fantasy setting includes a version of Gdańsk city, as well as "place names that are somewhat forgotten, such as names of lakes, hamlets and small villages". The countryside above the dungeons, complete with traditional branching paths through the woods, is inspired by real locations too. "We have tried to depict the varied landscape of Kashubia quite faithfully—dense forests, hills, hillocks, valley gorges, numerous rivers and lakes. There is especially a lot of forest, as the area was once densely wooded."

(Image credit: Frozengem Studio)

Though Tomasz says that Slavic mythology in general isn't well-researched, "due to the small number of historical sources," one aspect of it that is well-known, and particularly useful when you're filling a fantasy bestiary, is demonology. "[D]emonic figures, whose names and descriptions have been preserved in legends, fairy tales, proverbs and curses, are quite well researched and described. This is also the case with Kashubian demonology. Interestingly, in Kashubian demonology, the world is not unequivocally black and white; there are characters who have both bad and good traits. There are also many figures who in pagan times were probably some kind of idols or spirits, but under the influence of Christianity were degraded to the role of devils."

Making a game in Poland, in particular a fantasy RPG influenced by Slavic folklore, means having the grim visage of The Witcher leering over your shoulder. Watch the first 30 seconds of the announcement trailer for Dungeons of the Amber Griffin, and you'd be forgiven for expecting something like CD Projekt's games.

But, Tomasz explains, both are simply part of a broader development scene in Poland—albeit at opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of budget, scope, and profile. "I am glad that there are so many developers because there is someone to learn from," he says, "and watching the effects of the work of my compatriots really fills my heart with pride. I don't feel that I am in the shadow of anyone. We go our own way and we don't try to compete with anyone in any way. CD Projekt is light years ahead of us so there is no question of any comparison at all. All we can do is learn with humility, but keep our feet on the ground. In short, we're a small team armed to the teeth with poor quality swords and wooden, crumbling shields…"

And, presumably, wizards and archers safely hidden at the back.

Dungeons of the Amber Griffin is scheduled for a 2023 release on Steam. You can download a demo there during Steam Next Fest, which ends on October 10. 

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[Modern Warfare 2 has the same 'no prepaid phone' requirement as Overwatch 2]

Blizzard announced last week that all Overwatch 2 players will be required to attach a phone number to their Battle.net accounts in order to play the game. The requirement was added as part of Blizzard's effort to combat toxicity and abuse in the game. But there's one major problem: The new 2FA system, called SMS Protect, will not accept certain types of numbers, "including prepaid and VOIP." This understandably caused a stir, because it effectively meant that if you own a prepaid cellphone, you can't play Overwatch.

It's a baffling move. Requiring a phone number for ranked play is nothing new—Dota 2 implemented such a policy way back in 2017 and Rainbow Six Siege has the same requirement—but demanding one to access the game at all, and excluding a large chunk of potential players based solely on their choice of phone plan, is an entirely different level of restrictiveness. The backlash against the policy was strong enough that Blizzard quickly eased the phone number requirement for some Overwatch players. 

Yet Overwatch 2 isn't the only game rolling with that rule: It turns out that the upcoming Modern Warfare 2 wants the same thing.

The phone notifications page on the Battle.net support site states that Modern Warfare 2, Overwatch 2, and "newly created" Modern Warfare accounts all require a phone number in order to allow access.

"Adding a phone number will allow Blizzard Entertainment to send you notifications when important changes are made to your account," the page states. "Any mobile phone in a supported country with a data plan, and that is not prepaid or a VOIP number, can be used with this service."

That seems fairly definitive, although the situation is confused somewhat further down the page, where it says that "mobile phones with prepaid plans may not work with the phone notification service." But that's in direct reference to phone notifications from Battle.net and not game access.

Some players are definitely being locked out: One Call of Duty fan from Florida told PC Gamer that after installing the Modern Warfare 2 beta in September, they were asked for a "post-paid phone number" in order to start it. Battle.net refused to accept their prepaid phone number—they're with Cricket Wireless, which has also reportedly failed with Overwatch 2—and so they were unable to play.

"This seems very wrong to require videogame players to enter into a contract with a telecom company before being allowed to play the game they paid for," they said. "Especially when prepaid phone plans like mine are becoming more and more common. It isn’t the gas station special of yesteryear anymore, I have an iPhone and a phone plan that works no different in practice than any other contract plan: Unlimited talk, text, data etc. Yet because I make a monthly payment I am somehow ineligible to play future Activision titles?"

It is definitely strange, and Blizzard's decision to drop the phone requirement for some existing Overwatch accounts does nothing about the restriction on prepaid phones. That leaves newcomers to Overwatch 2, and anyone who wants to play Modern Warfare 2, out of luck if they have a prepaid plan. I've reached out to Activision Blizzard for comment on the phone requirement, and will update if I receive a reply.

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[Get instantly hooked on this free fishing puzzle browser game]

I have a great idea! Let's kick off the weekend by getting hooked on Curious Fishing. It's free, it's fun, it's filled with fresh fish, and it runs right in your browser. Play a few levels and I guarantee you won't want to stop until you've solved them all.

This isn't a traditional fishing minigame. Curious Fishing, created by developer RhythmLynx (and brought to my attention by Wholesome Games) is a puzzle game. Drop your hook in the water and move it in four directions with WASD, the arrow keys, or by clicking on the simulated controller's d-pad. Your goal is to hook each fish in each of the 30 levels. At first that's easy enough: just steer your hook to each of the four fish in level one, then tap the spacebar to reel them in. But things get more complicated the deeper you go, and each new fish you discover is a little different.

Squid, appropriately, squirt ink when you hook them, which blocks a few squares so you can't pull other creatures through them. If you hook a fish and pull it through the stinging tentacles of a jellyfish you'll wind up with a fish skeleton on your hook—though that might not be a bad thing. Crabs can be dragged through obstructions, letting you clear a path for the rest of the fish you're after. On later levels there's even a turn-based challenge with little green fish that move one square each time you move your hook. Catching them all is gonna take some real thought and planning.

There are some pretty fiendish puzzles, too, and each new level adds a new twist to the mix, like one where several crabs need to be fished out but each time you collect one your fishing line grows shorter, meaning you can make fewer moves. Despite some really complicated levels, Curious Fishing doesn't ever want you to stress. You can undo your moves, reset the level without penalty, and skip any level you're having trouble with so you'll never feel like you're hitting a wall. 

There's even a little aquarium in the main menu that collects all your different catches so you can admire them while taking a break, and you can customize your fisherperson and even adjust the control scheme on the simulated handheld game deck you're playing on. (And if you love it, you can donate to the developer via the link just below the game's window.) Try it out! It'll make your Friday fun and fishy.

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[More than half a billion dollars stolen from world's largest crypto exchange]

Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange, had $570 million worth of tokens stolen after hackers found an exploit in the Binance Smart Chain. The company went as far as temporarily halting all trading on its exchange in reaction to the theft, but has since resumed trading.

CNBC reports that hackers made off with 2 million Binance Coins, or BNB, about $570 million in value. Binance initially reported that only $100 million worth of tokens were stolen but later confirmed the larger amount on its blog after an internal investigation.

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao took to Twitter to explain that "an exploit on the cross-chain bridge, BSC Token Hub, resulted in extra BNB." A bridge acts as a go-between so that you can transfer assets from one blockchain to another. Hackers used this exploit to forge transactions, essentially tricking the bridge into moving tokens off-network and into their digital wallets. 

Binance worked with several network validators (people or groups who validate transactions on the blockchain) to halt the creation of new blocks and to pause all transactions while the company looked into the security breach. 

Zhao said the issue is "contained now" and that "your funds are safe." 

An exploit on a cross-chain bridge, BSC Token Hub, resulted in extra BNB. We have asked all validators to temporarily suspend BSC. The issue is contained now. Your funds are safe. We apologize for the inconvenience and will provide further updates accordingly.October 6, 2022

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Binance told CNBC that most of the stolen tokens are still in the hacker's wallet and that $100 million was "unrecovered."

Binance says it will be holding an "on-chain governance vote" among validators in the next few days to address issues after the attack, like whether to freeze hacked funds or start a bounty program for catching bugs and hackers. Binance plans to share more information about how it plans to defend its blockchain from future cross-chain bridge attacks. The last time we saw a crypto heist this brazen was in 2021, when someone stole over $600 million in cryptocurrency from the Poly Network and weirdly ended up giving back half of it. 

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[Of course everyone's Dreamlight Valley villages are prettier than mine]

Disney Dreamlight Valley has reached my least favourite stage of every hit life sim—any game with a building system, really. It's the part where everyone's had a month to fiddle with the particulars of their builds and now I'm inescapably envious of everyone else's village.

Just one day into Dreamlight Valley, I did what I always do in games with a build system: I stripped the place down to the studs. Every decorative tree, bush, lamp post, and flowerpot got shoved in my inventory so I could squint at my canvas in peace. I've slowly started putting everything back: designing an orchard corner for all my fruit plants and trying to decide whether Remy's ostentatious house belonged in the little glade neighbourhood with Mickey and Goofy or if his wild city townhome belonged up in the plaza. 

As it stands, I've only halfway rebuilt my Plaza and Peaceful Meadow areas, without so much as touching the beach, forest, or glade I've unlocked. That hasn't stopped me from surfing around social media looking for build inspiration though, and of course I'm drastically outclassed by these talented village planners. Here are some of the most inspo-worthy builds I've seen so far and the things I will absolutely be stealing from them:

@yannytokyo

♬ Disney BGM Easy Winners(828906) - Yuumi Iida

Yannytokyo has single-handedly convinced me that curved paths are doable and totally worth the time investment. Dreamlight Valley's build system snaps to a grid, so of course I've been doing what I'm told and making paths full of right angles and just a bit of weaving to keep things looking not too tidy. Yannytokyo's builds look so casually cute by comparison, despite being very specifically shaped and lined with bushes. 

I originally found AJayy's nice garden build for Wall-E but I think the Merlin speed build above is the inspiration I really needed. Once again, those path edges are getting covered up (this time with stones instead of bushes) and lots of colorful trees line the path to Merlin's tower and potions area. Appropriately, there's tons of purple going on in this build with those fir trees from the Forgotten Lands. I definitely need a reminder not to neglect colors other than green.

I finally got the Mickey Mouse fountain! How I wished it! #DDLVCommunity #DDLV #DisneyDreamlightValley #Disney #MickeyMouse #acnh #gameloft #NintendoSwitch pic.twitter.com/QXVWbJzYg5September 27, 2022

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Ylly's designs for the Plaza area are all very orderly, refined courtyards. I don't think I want to snatch this style specifically (the maximalist clutter is more my jam) but I particularly enjoy the octagonal bracket shape of those garden beds around the Mickey fountain. The muted color on those bushes is also a nice reminder that you really don't have to put Plaza bushes in the Plaza. You're free to mix plants and trees from any biome you like—whatever looks nice. 

Autumn has fallen in the valley #DisneyDreamlightValley #DDLVCommunity #Disney pic.twitter.com/L4SQCNZDSVOctober 3, 2022

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Speaking of maximalist, this autumn veggie garden by Cinnamon_Isle is delightfully stuffed with sunflowers, huge hay bales, barrels, and more. Like tons of other Dreamlight Valley screenshots you'll see going around on Twitter or Instagram, the color filters and angle are of course doing some lifting here. With all the trees stuffed in close to trellises, I get the feeling this build still looks super cozy from a player's perspective. 

This Forest of Valor neighborhood build by HorribleGaming is one I'll be particularly cheating off of. I've gone for a neighborhood style on my own island, but I don't think I've sold myself on the shared back gardens concept I'm attempting. This build is all winding front pathways through the forest to connect the front doors of each villager's home. Much as I enjoy the central backyard, a central front area is probably easier for me, and all the villagers, to get around.

It's no surprise that several of these lovely builds come from players who also shared their builds in Animal Crossing, Stardew Valley, and The Sims 4 where maximalism also reign. From all of this I've learned: the key to cuteness is always more clutter. 

Be careful with the cluttery stuffed look though. Dreamlight Valley does have a 600 object limit for your village, which includes villager houses, trees, bushes, and all those rock clusters that everyone's lining their paths with. You'll probably want to focus that energy into a few key areas of your island instead of cramming 100 bushes into just one section.

That's me back to building, then. Because my Plaza is still only half finished and I've not moved a single tree in the Forest of Valor yet.

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[Elle Stranding? Death Fanning? Actress Elle Fanning to appear in Kojima Productions project]

After a sequence of classically Kojima Twitter teasers, the developer has revealed that actress Elle Fanning (The Neon Demon, Galveston) will be making an appearance in… something being made by Kojima Productions.

During the Tokyo Game Show, the developer unveiled a website and a cryptic tweet, both featuring an image of a silhouetted woman and text reading "WHO am I?" On October 5, Kojima tweeted that "The answer to 'WHO' at TGS will be in the next 'WHERE.'" The "WHERE" in question seems to have been PAX East, where content creator @n4sa found a Kojima Productions advertisement with a QR code linking to a reveal of the mystery woman as Fanning. Additionally, early on October 7, Kojima tweeted out a confirmation that "WHO" is Fanning.

TGS→"WHO"→ ELLEPAX→"WHERE"→??????→"???"→??? pic.twitter.com/bbeTBsUtLeOctober 7, 2022

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But the fun doesn't stop there. A day earlier, on October 6, the developer asked "WHO is WHERE?" over another silhouetted woman, while I would like to know WHERE is my ASPIRIN. One sharp-eyed fan in the comments, @MichaelPayneV, argues this second woman is actress Shioli Kutsuma, perhaps most famous for her role in Deadpool 2, and honestly that seems as good a guess as any.

Now WHAT could this all be for? It doesn't feel like Death Stranding to me, but there's a reason Kojima is the beloved auteur and I am only left to puzzle out his cryptic leavings. My money's on this being a teaser for Kojima's aforementioned collaboration with Microsoft rather than anything in the Death Stranding Continuum. Then again… are those strands I see on the Elle Fanning poster? Only Kojima knows for sure.

Kojima's text accompanying the Elle Fanning Tweet, "TGS→'WHO'→ ELLE / PAX→'WHERE'→??? / ???→'???'→???" indicates that there will be yet one more of the five Ws accompanied by a silhouetted actor in the coming weeks, perhaps with a reveal at The Game Awards 2022 in November. I'm going to stake a claim on it being "'WHY'→BELOVED CHARACTER ACTOR PAUL WALTER HAUSER, MOST FAMOUS FOR HIS ROLES IN RICHARD JEWELL AND I THINK YOU SHOULD LEAVE. 

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[Bethesda finally confirms it: Deathloop is a Dishonored game]

Almost immediately after the release of Deathloop in 2021, fans began theorizing that it might somehow be connected to Dishonored, Arkane's previous game series. The two games are very different in many ways, but there are quite a few shared elements too, some overt and others quite subtle. Today, Deathloop creative director Dinga Bakaba made it official during an Xbox podcast: Deathloop is "one of the futures of the Dishonored world."

Some of the similarities between Deathloop and Dishonored are impossible to miss, like the supernatural abilities and the architectural style of Updaam. But there are less obvious pieces of connective tissue, too: This Reddit post from September 2021 is a good example of some early analysis of the two games that puts them together along a fairly consistent and convincing timeline.

Speaking during a new Xbox podcast, Bakaba said there's enough going on in Deathloop that not everyone sees everything, and so he's enjoyed watching the community discover the clues and put the pieces together—and he confirmed that, "Yes indeed, we envisioned Deathloop to be happening in the future, after Death of the Outsider."

Arkane didn't position Deathloop as a Dishonored spinoff because it wanted the game to be its own thing, with its own unique story, characters, time period, and so forth. At the same time, there was interest among developers about what would happen to the Dishonored world after the Outsider was no longer a presence. "And as we were making Deathloop, we said hey, that could be one of the things that could happen after that," Bakaba said.

"There are a lot of clues in the game, actually. There are some that are abused. One of them is really spoiler-y, so voila. But there are a lot of small things, and some that were under people's noses all the time, but people are just figuring out."

Bakaba said his favorite gentle hint is found on the Heritage Gun, a shotgun that can switch between conventional shotgun shells and slugs. "On the side, there is a little logo that you can barely see," Bakaba said. "But now that we've added idle breaks where the character plays with his guns, you can actually see that the logo is Dunwall Tower."

Even though fans had pretty well figured it out, it's fun to finally have the connection between the two games made official. "Once you know, you can unravel everything," Bakaba said. "And yes, it does make sense."

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[Is 5 new Witcher games too many Witcher games?]

CD Projekt unceremoniously announced this week that it has three—no, four—no, five?—new Witcher games in development, alongside a sequel to Cyberpunk 2077. Big Geralt is back.

Or at least, witching is. We don't know whether any of CD Projekt's planned games will star or guest star Geralt of Rivia, though the company has said that its next big RPG won't be Geralt's story. We now know that game, which we're tentatively calling The Witcher 4, will be the start of "a new triple-A RPG trilogy." CD Projekt has given that game the codename Polaris. Will it star Ciri or an entirely new cast of characters? We don't know.

It seems more likely Geralt will show up in one of the planned spin-offs that CD Projekt referred to with codenames this week: there's Canis Majoris, a "full-fledged Witcher game, separate to the new Witcher saga starting with Polaris," and also Sirius, a Witcher game from former indie studio Molasses Flood that will include multiplayer in some way. 

These are not the only rumblings in the Witcherverse. Season three of the Netflix Witcher series is out next year, and prequel spin-off The Witcher: Blood Origin, starring Michelle Yeoh, debuts in December 2022. Netflix has said it has another anime film and a "family-friendly" animated series on the way, too.

That's a lot of Witcher. But is it too much Witcher? Is CD Projekt just out to appease investors, or is it finally giving the series the attention it deserves? Our team is split between skepticism and excitement, so we argued it out.

Can CD Projekt really release three RPGs in six years?

Wes Fenlon, Senior Editor: If you believe CD Projekt is actually going to manage three new RPGs over a period of six years, I have a bridge in Novigrad to sell you. 10 years sounds way more realistic. Six years(!?) seems like an impossible schedule for a studio that had to delay The Witcher 3 twice and Cyberpunk 2077 three times. And not just because those games take years to develop: CD Projekt also has a long history of supporting its games post-launch, with months of patches and updates polishing them up. Cyberpunk has desperately needed that time to feel like a finished game, but in the case of The Witcher 3, CD Projekt was just making a great game better—still, that vital post-release time seems unrealistic if two sequels have to get done in six years. On the positive side, since I'm assuming each sequel takes a year or two longer than expected, I'm less worried about burning out on Witcher games than I otherwise would be.

(Image credit: CD Projekt Red)

Lauren Aitken, Guides Editor: Three games delivered over a six year period is absolutely doable! After the first game drops, it could be a three or four year wait for the next before the final chapter arrives two years later. It's ambitious, and CDPR has definitely done a 180 from the "we aren't going to give definite time scales ever again!" vibe since Cyberpunk 2077 came out. It makes me think these games will be smaller in scope and are way further into production than has been claimed. Or, they're building it as one big game that, when just about ready, they'll dice up into three games and fire out a trilogy. Blood and Wine and Hearts of Stone added an extra 30-40 hours to Witcher 3, and both came out within a year of Witcher 3's release, so the expectation it can work is already set.

A trilogy released over a short timespan worked with Mass Effect so it can work here! Either way, stick it into my veins.

Are back-to-back-to-back Witcher RPGs going to feel samey?

Wes: This is the bigger concern for me. I've played all three Witcher RPGs and enjoyed them all, but they each have a very strong, very different identity. If CD Projekt is making three more in rapid succession, I imagine the necessary reuse of assets and design learnings will make them much more similar. Maybe the developers end up overcoming that through the sheer quality of writing and quest design—that'd be amazing. But assuming they're all open world RPGs following the same characters—which seems likely if they're planning out a distinct trilogy—I have trouble imagining them feeling as distinct as the first three Witchers, or improving as dramatically between games.

Announcing three games from the jump just strikes me as a business decision, not one driven by game developers with so many plans and ambitions that a single game just wouldn't cut it. But hey, if they do aspire to make something like the Mass Effect trilogy with story decisions that carry over between games, I'm curious to see how it goes.

(Image credit: CD Projekt Red)

Lauren: There's a lot going on other than just a trilogy! Project Sirius is being made by The Molasses Flood, so will be a separate development to the in-house Witcher team. Looking at their previous games (The Flame in the Flood, Drake Hollow) it'll probably be unlike any Witcher game in existence right now, including Gwent and standalone and spinoffs like Thronebreaker. 

Canis Majoris is also being developed by a separate team—a third party studio founded by Witcher veterans. It's unclear whether that's a subsidiary of CDPR or a yet-unnamed team—they may even be part of the new Boston team (though it looks like that studio will be focused on Cyberpunk 2077 and its sequel Project Orion Orion). I think the trilogy will be the most recognisable—I am loathe to say samey—and Canis Majoris has the potential to feel very Geralt-y if it's lead by a team who worked on The Witcher 3's design and quests. Maybe Canis Majoris will be the Ciri game instead of a whole trilogy about her, or maybe it's the Dandelion RPG Fraser wishes he could play.

If the trilogy focuses on a new school, which the Lynx medallion strongly suggests, then there must be a new way of recruiting Witchers, and maybe a new way of mutating them (could Keira & Lambert have something to do with that?). This would take it in a "modern" sorcery and alchemy direction as the two, alongside potentially Ciri, Geralt and co. could come up with new methods of monster hunting with new Witchers. Or, maybe they move away from monsters on this planet and can traverse time and space using portals? You've also got to wonder which of these games, if any, will be based on the canon 'Ciri becoming a Witcher' ending. Or are we looking further in the future at new threats? Who else is lurking in the shadows that we need to consider, even scarier vampires than Detlaffe or the Unseen Elder? Use your imagination, Wes!

Wes: I'm trying. I'm trying! Um… The Witcher: Time Bandits? 

Between games and TV, can we see too much of the Northern Realms?

(Image credit: Netflix)

Wes: As much as I love The Witcher 3, I think the last few years of media generally has really soured me on too much of a good thing. I lived and breathed Star Wars in my teens and even my 20s, and I've seen nearly everything from the MCU, too, but I'm feeling the fatigue for both these days. They really made a movie about young Han Solo and I watched it like a sucker. I don't want to play a game starring young Geralt, or daddy Vesemir, or watch a Netflix spin-off about Dandelion. I love these characters! But I partially love that I don't know everything about them.

My favorite thing about The Witcher 3 is how certain quests will see Geralt crossing paths with another Witcher or an old acquaintance; CD Projekt did a brilliant job of writing dialogue that sketched out their relationships and history without infodumping their life stories. It made the world feel bigger, and more real, and reinforced how many adventures Geralt had been on. You lose something when each one of those characters has their own origin story and every piece of media interconnects, Marvel-style, and starts prioritizing building the shared universe over making the individual pieces great.

Maybe that will never happen with The Witcher—since CD Projekt and Netflix are each doing their own thing, it's not really an MCU situation. But a new trilogy and more spin-off games on top of that all being developed simultaneously is enough to make me nervous. And tired.

(Image credit: Netflix)

Lauren: There's so much of the world beyond the main cities that needs exploring, though! Visiting Aretuza in-game would be rad, as would exploring Mahakam, Lyria and Rivia but further afield than we've yet been able to. You get to briefly visit these areas in Thronebreaker but it's not the same as full world-building. Witcher's aren't restricted solely to the Northern Realms or Novigrad and it's time to go further.

I'd like to see more Witchers in one place and not just have a token quest where they all get drunk in a fortress—that's one of my favourite Witcher 3 quests for sure, but seeing them interact in the wild was great, too. I'd like to see CD Projekt place a slightly heavier focus on the sorceresses, and definitely more elves, considering their storyline from The Witcher 2 was shafted in The Witcher 3. And I want to play more of the cool stories from the books involving golden dragons. But that's because I'm a big nerd.

I am equally hesitant about the Witcher going a bit MCU. But honestly, I enjoy the Witcher universe so much outside the games this isn't really a concern for me. It does feel risky stating so many Witcher projects are being developed at the same time, alongside a CP2077 sequel and more. I get it, though—CD Projekt is seeking more investment, wants to drive a bit of mystery and hype for fans, and wants to prove that despite the "failure" of CP2077 at launch, it's committed to making games. Striving ahead with a brand new Boston studio is proof of that. It is once again an exciting time for CDPR. Nevermind new games right now, though—where's that Witcher 3 next-gen update?

Wes: As wary as I am of stuffing the Witcher world with side stories and origins, if they give me a turn-based strategy game in the style of Final Fantasy Tactics I'll be there in a second. If you can turn Metal Slug into a tactics game, it'll sure as hell work for Geralt! 

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[The best RPGs in 2022]

Whether it's an action-packed combat and intricate buildcrafting, or a massive, branching story that responds to your actions, the best RPGs can be found on PC. But in a genre known for games that can take hundreds of hours to complete, how do you know which are worth your time?

In this list, we're running through the best RPGs you can play today—our recommendations for those enduring classics and newer favourites that reward the time you invest in them. And, because RPG systems are continually evolving, there's a wealth of variety to enjoy. From fantasy to sci-fi, from JRPG to ARPG, from dialogue trees to dice rolls, there's something here no matter your preference.

The best open-world RPGs

Elden Ring

(Image credit: Tyler C. / FromSoftware)

Release date: 2022 | Developer: FromSoft | Steam

With the Souls series, FromSoft has perfected the art of creating irresistibly hostile worlds. Elden Ring is the studios' largest yet, a massive map packed full of danger and mystery. An epic journey full of potential, where exploration is rewarded by stunning boss encounters. But in addition to being larger and more sprawling than its predecessors, it's also arguably the most accessible FromSoft game to date—its open-world structure giving you more control over the challenge and pace.

Worry not, though. Like Dark Souls before it, Elden Ring is a game about overcoming bosses through trial, error and eventual mastery. And, despite leaning into more traditional fantasy, it's as weird and distinct as the studio has ever been—shining a light on the horrors of its world, rather than hiding them away in a poisonous swamp. As an RPG, too, it's some of FromSoft's best work, with extensive buildcrafting options that let you tailor your character and combat style in many different ways.

Read more: The best builds in Elden Ring

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Release date: 2015 | Developer: CD Projekt Red | GOG, Steam

Many of the best RPGs focus on tales of lone, wandering adventurers, but few if any pull it off with such artistry as The Witcher 3. That artistry is most apparent in the setting itself, which is so packed with breathtaking sunsets and wind-tossed groves of trees that, years later, I still find myself opting to go to destinations on foot rather than taking the fast travel points.

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(Image credit: Paradox)

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But the true strength of The Witcher 3 is that it populates these memorable landscapes with NPCs doling out humble but memorable quests (by the dozen) that help create one of the most human RPG experiences on the market. In decaying wayside towns, the witcher Geralt might find impoverished elves struggling in the face of local racism; elsewhere, he might help a self-styled baron reunite with his long-estranged daughter. These quests deftly navigate moral issues without being heavy-handed or offering obvious solutions.

Read more: How The Witcher 3's best quest was made 

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

(Image credit: Bethesda)

Release date: 2012 | Developer: Bethesda Softworks | Steam, GOG

Pick a direction and run. You’re almost guaranteed to discover some small adventure, some small chunk of world that will engage you. It’s that density of things to do that makes Skyrim so constantly rewarding. A visit to the Mage’s Guild will turn into an area-spanning search for knowledge. A random chat with an NPC will lead you to a far-off dungeon, hunting for a legendary relic. You could be picking berries on the side of a mountain and discover a dragon.

And if you somehow run out of things to do, rest assured that modders have more waiting for you (check out our guide to the best Skyrim mods). That lively community has kept Skyrim in the Steam top 100 since its release, and given us endless ways to adventure through a great world. Some on the PC Gamer team keep a modded-up Skyrim install handy, just in case they feel like adventure. That’s some high praise.

Read more: Auto-installing over 600 mods makes Skyrim beautiful and confusing

Fallout: New Vegas

(Image credit: Bethesda)

Release date: 2010 | Developer: Obsidian Entertainment | Steam, GOG

While Fallout 3 was successful, it was a different beast entirely from Interplay’s classics. Obsidian’s take on the franchise moves the action back to the West Coast, and reintroduces elements such as reputation and faction power struggles. Obsidian expands on nearly every aspect of Bethesda’s take, making the game less about good or evil, and more about who you should trust. It also adds much of the humour that we loved from the classic games: How can you not appreciate a game that gives you a nuclear grenade launcher?

New Vegas' "Hardcore" mode makes survival in the wasteland more interesting, limiting the power of RadAway and Health Stims. It makes the game harder, but also more rewarding. If that’s not your thing, there are plenty of additional mods and tweaks available, including game director Josh Sawyer’s own balance-tweak mod. What we love the most about New Vegas is how it adds the Fallout feeling back into Bethesda's first-person RPG framework.

Read more: How to have the best Fallout New Vegas experience in 2022

Assassin's Creed: Valhalla

(Image credit: Ubisoft)

Release date: 2020 | Developer: Ubisoft Montreal | Epic Games

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The last few Assassin's Creed games—starting with Origins back in 2017—have augmented the open-world adventuring with more and more RPG systems. But Valhalla, specifically, goes further, dialling back on the checklist of activities in favour of a world that offers more depth and feeling. Sidequests aren't an exclamation mark that adds to some growing to-do list of busywork, but weird and memorable encounters that give context and texture to the larger world.

If those frequent moments are the highlight, Valhalla is also a more solid RPG in its fundamentals too. Level-gating is gone, meaning progress and exploration feels more natural. And the combat is more refined, offering an additional level of strategy that rewards your preparation and skill. It's also one of the series' better stories, exploring familial relationships and Norse culture with more nuance than you'd expect.

Read more: Assassin's Creed Valhalla review 

Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord

(Image credit: TaleWorlds Entertainment)

Release date: 2020 | Developer: TaleWorlds Entertainment | Steam (Early Access)

A true RPG sandbox, giving you full freedom to make your mark upon the world. There's no big story campaign to follow; instead you're left to set your own goals, and work towards achieving them in whatever way you wish. Fight wars, smuggle goods, compete in gladiatorial combat, recruit followers, invest in trade caravans, or pick up a quest or two from a local lord. And then betray that lord, kill him, and take ownership of his land.

Bannerlord is still in Early Access, and still regularly receiving new updates with new features and fixes. But even without a full v1.0 release, there's enough here to make it worth the recommendation. In addition to its singleplayer sandbox, there's also multiplayer and modding tools—meaning you can lose yourself in Bannerlord for months, even years to come.

Read more: The best Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord mods 

Outward

(Image credit: Nine Dots Studio)

Release date: 2022 | Developer: Nine Dots Studio | Steam

Outward immediately disposes of the self-centered savior complex that we've become cozy with in so many action RPGs. While other heroes dispense of bandit camps before lunch and save the world in time for dinner, Outward sits you down and reminds you that no, you can't just go out and slay wolves with no training. The types of fights that RPGs typically treat as tutorial fodder are genuine accomplishments in Outward. 

To make matters worse, or better, in our opinion, Outward constantly auto-saves your game. Your mistakes are permanent and death can't be sidestepped by loading a recent save. In a cruel marriage between Dark Souls and Minecraft, you're likely to be knocked down a peg every time you die, retracing your steps to find lost gear and left missing progress you'd so jealously hoarded.

Read more: Outward review

The best CRPGs

Disco Elysium

(Image credit: ZA/UM)

Release date: 2019 | Developer: ZA/UM | Steam, GOG

Disco Elysium returns to the absolute fundamentals of tabletop RPGs. It's all about playing a role and becoming your character and embracing whatever success or failure that entails. Your predetermined protagonist is a detective who wakes up after an amnesia-inducing bender without a badge, gun, or a name. As the detective, you'll attempt to solve a murder in the retro city of Revachol while also solving the mystery of your past and identity. 

There is no combat, at least not in the way you'd expect of a classically-inspired RPG. Instead, the majority of Disco Elysium takes place in conversation either with characters you need to interview about the murder or with your own mind. Each of your skills in Disco Elysium are parts of your personality with opinions on what to say and do during your investigation. Empathy will helpfully clue you in to the feelings of people you talk to so you can better understand them while Logic will help you poke holes in a bad alibi or understand a clue you find. Investing in skills helps you pass dice roll skill checks all throughout the game for everything from kicking down a door to hitting on a woman at the hotel. It's a massive RPG with clever writing where each playthrough is significantly different based on the kind of detective you choose to play.

Read more: No other game comes close to Disco Elysium

Divinity: Original Sin 2

(Image credit: Larian)

Release date: 2017 | Developer: Larian Studios | Steam, GOG

Outside of tabletop games, there are few RPGs that boast the liberating openness of Larian's humongous quest for godhood. If you think you should be able to do something, you probably can, even it's kidnapping a merchant by using a teleportation spell and then setting fire to him with his own blood. Almost every skill has some alternative and surprising use—sometimes more than one—whether you're in or out of combat. 

You can enjoy this game of madcap experimentation and tactical combat with up to three friends, to boot, and that's where things start to get really interesting because you're not forced to work together or even stay in the same part of the world. Indeed, there are plenty of reasons to work against each other. The player is always in the driving seat, and with four players, collisions are inevitable. Just remember: if you freeze your friends and then start poisoning them, at least apologize after.

Read more: The making of Divinity: Original Sin 2

Planescape: Torment

(Image credit: Beamdog)

Release date: 1999 | Developer: Black Isle Studios | Steam, GOG

There is no other story in gaming like the Nameless One’s. His is a tale of redemption in the face of countless sins, a tale of not knowing who you are until you become the person you’re trying to be. That open-endedness is central to what makes Planescape: Torment so captivating. At a literal level, you spend the game trying to discover who the Nameless One is, but your actions also help to define him. It’s one of many RPG tropes that Black Isle sought to subvert—others include the fact that rats are actually worthy foes, humans are often worse than undead, and you don’t have to fight in most cases.

The Nameless One’s companions are some of the best written, most enjoyable NPCs ever coded. Most have been affected by your past incarnations: pyromaniac mage Ignus was once your apprentice, though it’s more impressive that he’s constantly on fire. Or Dak'kon, who swore an oath of loyalty to you, even though you’re not sure why. Others are just interesting, well-rounded characters: Fall-From-Grace is a succubus cleric who prays to no god and, though a creature of evil, wants to do no harm. The best is Morte, a floating skull whose sarcastic wit is sharper than his bite attacks.These characters would be odd in any normal high fantasy world, but Torment uses the Planescape AD&D campaign setting, the strangest world TSR ever designed.

Read more: If you haven't played Planescape: Torment, the Enhanced Edition leaves you no excuse

Shadowrun: Dragonfall

(Image credit: Paradox Interactive)

Release date: 2014 | Developer: Harebrained Schemes | Steam, GOG

Shadowrun's setting features the usual array of RPG creatures. There's orks, there's trolls, and there's even a dragon or two. But it's also set in a version of our world, 30 years in the future. The ork runs a shelter for impoverished metahumans. The troll is a former special forces veteran who doesn't want you around. The dragons run the world's most powerful megacorporations—taking the concept of hoarding wealth to its most logical conclusion.

As a shadowrunner, you navigate this clash of cyberpunk and fantasy by taking questionable jobs for shady clients. As the head of a team operating on the wrong side of whatever passes for law in anarchist Berlin, you'll have a range of choices as to how you complete each job. And thanks to an enjoyably deep turn-based combat system, you'll also have plenty of chances to experience the destructive potential of both technology and magic.

Read more: Robbing homeless old men and other shady dealings in Shadowrun: Dragonfall

Baldur's Gate 2

(Image credit: Bioware)

Release date: 2000 | Developer: BioWare | Steam, GOG

One problem with AD&D is that low-level characters are pretty boring. Baldur’s Gate 2 solves that problem by letting you carry over your party from the first game, or start fresh with level 7 characters. It makes a huge difference: instead of wimpy fighters and frail wizards, you get powerful, useful spells and warriors that can take a punch.

It also helps that the scope of Amn is enormous, with more quests and content than most other comparable RPGs. BioWare’s Infinity Engine handles the quests and the combat perfectly, highlighting the game’s focus on strategy and tactics in combat. It’s hard to imagine controlling a six-person party without pausing and giving orders, and any newer game that relies on real-time decisions makes us long for the Infinity Engine.

Read more: The history of Baldur's Gate

Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura 

(Image credit: Activision)

Release date: 2001 | Developer: Troika Games | Steam, GOG

Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura was astoundingly buggy when it came out, and many of its battles were as laughably imbalanced as its title. Patches and mods have alleviated some of that pain over the years, helping reveal what a great mix of fantasy and steampunkery thrived under its surface. As we said in our enthusiastic review in 2001, "If you can’t find something to love about this game, dump your computer in the garbage right now."

That assessment holds up. Arcanum was dark 'n' gritty before some such tendencies became all the rage, and its character creator allowed players to create everything from gnome gamblers who brandish self-explanatory Tesla-guns to outcast orcs lugging along rusty maces. Toss in non-linear progression and multiple solutions for quests, and you've got a winner that holds up 14 years later.

Read more: Overlooked RPGs that are worth playing today

The best linear RPGs

Mass Effect: Legendary Edition

(Image credit: EA)

Release date: 2021 | Developer: BioWare | EA, Steam

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Mass Effect 2 is the standout here, streamlining the clunky systems of its predecessor to focus on the action, and the consequences of the choices that you—as no-nonsense space captain Shepherd—make along the way. As a result it's a good third-person cover shooter, and an even better inter-office relationship simulator, tasking you with building a crew that will survive what seems destined to be a suicide mission.

Really, though, you'll want to play through the whole series, making the Legendary Edition a joy to work through. The thrill of Mass Effect is seeing the choices you made pay off tens, even hundreds of hours later. And across the three games, you'll form lasting bonds with your ragtag crew. Don't let Mass Effect 3's ending controversy put you off: the finale is a game full of endings, most of which do justice to your crew, and all of which pay off beautifully in its Citadel DLC.

Read more: Why I love Mass Effect 3's endings

Anachronox

(Image credit: Square Enix)

Release date: 2001 | Developer: Ion Storm Dallas | Steam

Former id Software designer Tom Hall had a vision for his first, and only, Ion Storm game. He wanted to make a turn-based RPG, like Final Fantasy, but with a distinctly Western voice. It’s that tone that makes Anachronox so brilliant: few other games of any genre have dialogue as funny as Sly Boots’ negotiation with a sock-chewing mutant warlord, and no other game we’ve played lets you add an entire planet to your party.

Ion Storm built the game on a heavily modified version of the Quake 2 engine, and it’s never looked like a normal game. But even today, the blocky character models still have personality, and the facial animations are surprisingly effective. Sly’s look of resignation as he’s thrown out of his own office window is brilliant, and he carries it with him throughout the adventure. The development cycle was plagued with issues and the final product rushed, but playing Anachronox now still feels like a revelation. It’s hard not to wonder what Hall’s planned sequels could have achieved.

Read more: The history of Ion Storm

Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines

(Image credit: Activision)

Release date: 2004 | Developer: Troika Games | Steam, GOG

It’s all about atmosphere—from the goth clubs where you meet contacts, to the back alleys where you scavenge for rat blood, to the haunted Ocean House Hotel (one of the best quests in the game). Bloodlines’ ambitious use of White Wolf’s Vampire universe means it looks and feels different from the other sword and sorcery games on this list.

Unfortunately, that signature Troika ambition also means lots of bugs and some mechanics that just don’t mesh well. The endgame includes some particularly sloggy dungeons, but no other game truly drops you into a Vampire world. This is truly a cult classic of an RPG, and the fanbase has been patching and improving the game ever since release.

Read more: Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines has aged like fine wine

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2

(Image credit: LucasArts)

Release date: 2005 | Developer: Obsidian Entertainment | Steam, GOG

While BioWare’s first KOTOR is a Star Wars classic, KOTOR 2 takes the franchise in a bolder direction. Instead of focusing on the Light or Dark sides of the Force, the Jedi Exile of Obsidian’s sequel deals in shades of gray. Alliances are made, then broken, then remade in the aftermath. Choices you think are good just turn out to betray other characters. The end result is possibly the most nuanced take on The Force in the entire Star Wars Expanded Universe, and definitely its most complex villains.

Like many Obsidian early games, KOTOR 2’s truncated development meant that whole areas had to be cut out. A fan-made mod restores much of that content, including a droid planet, and fixes lots of outstanding bugs, showing yet again that PC gamers will work hard to maintain their favorite games.

Read more: Now more than ever, Knights of the Old Republic is a refreshing take on Star Wars

System Shock 2

(Image credit: EA)

Release date: 1999 | Developer: Irrational Games | Steam, GOG

Lonely. That’s the defining emotion of Irrational’s debut game. You’ll hear audio logs from fascinating characters, many of whom are struggling to survive in a battle against the bio-terror creatures called the Many. But you won’t meet those people, because they didn’t make it. That loneliness is key because Shock 2 is all about taking things away from you. Ammo? Check: you’ll probably waste those on an assault droid when you should have saved them for later. Hypos? Yep. Think twice before you walk into that radiated room.

Irrational made games where the environment is the central character, and here, that character is the Von Braun. It creaks and moans as you pad quietly down its corridors. Every door you open yelps. Its security systems attack you as if you hurt their feelings. Staying on the good side of this character is hard, but Shock 2’s leveling system of earning experience points through exploration balances the risks and rewards. Some play through with all guns blazing, but the psionics skills balance well with combat, and Tech skills open new areas later in the game. There’s a lot of balance to be found in what on the surface looks like a streamlined action RPG skill system.

Read more: System Shock 2: How an underfunded and inexperienced team birthed a PC classic

Dragon Age: Origins

Release date: 2009 | Developer: BioWare | Steam, Origin

Capturing that old Baldur’s Gate feel was goal number one for Dragon Age, and it comes pretty close. Ferelden evokes much of the Forgotten Realms without feeling like a rehash, and your relationship with your team has that old BioWare magic. The darkspawn feel like the kind of world-consuming threat that demands our attention, even if most of them are faceless hunks of evil for us to cut down.

But it’s the combat that feels most familiar, and most fun: the satisfying tactical depth of pausing your combat, issuing orders, and reacting to the results works like a modern Infinity Engine game should. It’s sad that BioWare will never make an RPG like this again—Dragon Age 2 is too streamlined (although still has a charm of its own), and Inquisition’s more open world—so in many ways, this is the last hurrah for the old BioWare, and a fitting end for its classic design.

Read more: Major events in the Dragon Age timeline

The best JRPGs

Yakuza: Like a Dragon

(Image credit: Sega, Ryu Ga Gotoku)

Release date: 2020 | Developer: Rya Ga Gotoku Studio | Steam

It may be the seventh mainline game in the series, but don't let that put you off. Rather than a continuation of the story that came before, Like a Dragon is all about change: a new protagonist, a new main city, and a new genre underpinning its combat. Brawling is out; turn-based combat is in. This is a pure JRPG, but one that carries forward all the drama, absurdity and satire that make the series what it is.

New lead Ichiban is obsessed with Dragon Quest, and sets about turning his new friends into the perfect party to defeat the great conspiracy at the heart of Yokohama's criminal empire. The usual class list is filtered through the satirical lens of the Japanese job market, with bouncers, buskers and hostesses instead of warriors, priests and mages. There are even summons—weirdos that you phone up to help you in battle. But don't let the parody fool you: this is a proper, in-depth JRPG that does justice to its inspiration.

Read more: Yakuza: Like a Dragon's secret weapon isn't a magic baseball bat, it's optimism

Persona 4 Golden

(Image credit: Atlus)

Release date: 2020 | Developer: ATLUS | Steam

There's real tactical depth to Persona 4's dungeons—lengthy, combat-heavy mazes that constantly test your knowledge of its systems. In these turn-based fights you'll utilise your Personas—creatures that can be equipped, upgraded and fused into more powerful monsters that do your bidding in battle. Exploit an enemy's elemental weakness, and you'll get another turn, too, so bringing the right Personas for the job is the key to making it through relatively unscathed.

So the JRPG elements are all present and correct. But the real meat of Persona 4 Golden is the social side, between the dungeons when you hang out with friends, explore the sleepy rural town of Inaba, and work to uncover the mystery behind a string of bizarre murders linked to a local legend about a midnight TV broadcast. Sure, you can battle through hordes of weird demons. But can you survive a school year and create lasting friendships along the way?

Read more: Holy crap, it's a good time to be a weeb on PC right now

Final Fantasy XII

(Image credit: Square Enix)

Release date: 2018 | Developer: Square Enix | Steam

The smartest Final Fantasy game finally got a PC port in 2018. The game can't render the sort of streaming open worlds we're used to these days, but the art still looks great, and the gambit system is still one of the most fun party development systems in RPG history.

Gambits let you program party members with a hierarchy of commands that they automatically follow in fights. You're free to build any character in any direction you wish. You can turn the street urchin Vaan into a broadsword-wielding combat specialist or an elemental wizard. The port even includes a fast-forward mode that makes the grinding painless.

Read more: 15 years on, Final Fantasy 12's combat system is still the best

The best ARPGs

Path of Exile

(Image credit: Grinding Gear Games)

Release date: 2013 | Developer: Grinding Gear Games | Steam

This excellent free-to-play action RPG is heaven for players that enjoy stewing over builds to construct the most effective killing machine possible. It’s not the most glamorous ARPG, but it has extraordinary depth of progression and an excellent free-to-play model that relies on cosmetics rather than game-altering upgrades. It may look muddy and indistinct, and the combat doesn’t feel as good as Diablo 3, but if you enjoy number crunching this is one of the brainiest RPGs around.

Path of Exile’s scary complexity becomes apparent the moment you arrive on your character’s level-up screen, which looks like this(opens in new tab). As you plough through enemies and level up, you travel across this huge board, tailoring your character a little with each upgrade. Gear customization is equally detailed. Path of Exile borrows Final Fantasy VII’s concept of connected gem slots. Every piece of armor has an arrangement of slots that take magic gems. These gems confer stat bonuses and bonus adjacency effects when set in the right formations. Ideally you’ll want to build synergies between your gemmed-up gear and leveling choices to create the most powerful warrior you can. Doing so requires plenty of planning, but it’s an engrossing slow-burn challenge.

Read more: The making of Path of Exile

Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls

Release date: 2014 | Developer: Blizzard | Battle.net

Let’s face it: the real-money auction house was a bad idea, one of a few in the original Diablo 3 release. Blizzard nixed the cash auctions right before Reaper of Souls’ release, but it’s the addition of Adventure Mode that turned the game around from disappointing sequel to crowning achievement for the series. Instead of rehashing the game’s acts, Adventure Mode’s task-based milestones and randomized areas make the game feel fresh for much longer. It’s a standout mode, and it’d be hard to imagine playing Diablo 3 any other way.

But RoS added another feature that changes the way we love our action RPGs: guild support. Having friends to talk to as you grind through a dungeon, even if they’re not with you, makes the game far less lonesome, and it’s that kind of small touch that justifies Blizzard’s always-online philosophy. Adding all this to the already-tremendous feeling of wiping out hordes of baddies with a well-timed ability change, RoS is the defining action RPG for us. It’s a game we’ll be playing for a long, long time.

Read more: Diablo 2: Resurrected just makes me want to run back to Diablo 3

Grim Dawn

(Image credit: Crate Entertainment )

Release date: 2016 | Developer: Crate Entertainment | Steam

If you’ve rinsed Diablo 2 for every magical trinket and are looking for a modern fix, here is your game. Grim Dawn is a gritty, well-made action RPG with strong classes and a pretty world full of monsters to slay in their droves. It’s the distant brooding son of Titan Quest, sharing some designers and mechanics with that fine 2006 Greek myth ARPG. Like its cousin, Grim Dawn lets you pick two classes and share your upgrade points between two skill trees. This hybrid progression system creates plenty of scope for theorycrafting, and the skills are exciting to use—an essential prerequisite for games that rely so heavily on combat encounters.

The story isn’t bad either, for an ARPG. Don’t expect twisting plots and decisions with consequences—this is very much a game about single-handedly destroying armies—but there is a neat faction reputation system that spawns harder mobs and villainous nemesis heroes as you become more hated by the criminals, cults and monsters that rule the wilderness. The local demons and warlords that terrorize each portion of the world are well sketched out in the scrolling text NPC dialogue and found journals. Ultimately, it’s about the monster-smashing and sweet loot, though, and Grim Dawn delivers on both effectively.

Read more: Daring to care about the denizens of Grim Dawn

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[Score an AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT GPU for less than the price of an RTX 3050]

Newegg has an excellent deal on a couple of Gigabyte AMD RX 6650 XT video cards. Both are going for $284, massively below their launch price. Both GPUs are great if you're looking for 1080p performance and have little money to spend. More importantly, these AMD entry-level graphic cards are cheaper than Nvidia's budget RTX 3050, which is currently selling for $300 at the lowest price we've seen.  

The Gigabyte Eagle Radeon RX 6650 XT and Gaming OC Radeon RX 6650 XT are 8GB, triple-fan GPUs that have had a couple of significant price cuts in the last year, but this is the cheapest the cards have been so far. 

Seeing that the RX 6650 XT falls in between Nvidia's RTX 3060 and 3060 Ti in terms of performance, $284 is a perfect price for each of the GPUs, especially if you're looking to build yourself a rock-solid gaming PC. 

Gigabyte Radeon RX 6650 XT Eagle | 2,048 cores | 8GB GDDR6 | 128-bit bus | 2,635MHz boost | $339.99 $284.99 at Newegg (save $55)
This is the cheapest we've seen a triple-fan RX 6650 XT in a long time. It can keep up with Nvidia's RTX 3060 line of cards while costing less than Nvidia's budget RTX 3050 offerings.  View Deal

 Gigabyte Radeon RX 6650 XT Gaming OC | 2,048 cores | 8GB GDDR6 | 128-bit bus | 2,694MHz boost | $319.99 $284.99 at Newegg (save $35)
Aside from a higher boost clock speed, this RX 6650 XT is pretty much the same as the Eagle. It's a 1080p-focused GPU that will give a nice upgrade to any budget rig. 

As I mentioned, the RX 6650 XT is a good 1080p gaming card that'll offer triple-digit frame rates on medium to high graphics settings, assuming you're not using ray tracing. You can game at 1440p if you're willing to make some compromises.

However, since these are AMD GPUs, you can take full advantage of FSR 2.0 to get a little bump in performance for games like God of War, or even upcoming games like The Callisto Protocol.

Both cards are virtually identical, except that the Gigabyte Gaming OC GPU has a slightly higher boost clock speed and cooling than the Eagle. So, if you want the absolute most bang for your buck, the OC is the way.

View the full article

[The best Amazon Prime Early Access gaming PC deals]

Amazon Prime Early Access deals 2022

(Image credit: Future)

Jump straight to the deals you want...
1. Gaming PCs
2. Office PC deals
3. UK gaming PCs

There's an all new event called Amazon Prime Early Access, or Prime Day mark 2 as we're not-so-affectionately calling it in the office. This is where we've collated all the gaming PC deals, of which there are already quite a few even before the clock strikes midnight on October 11 PT.

We're relatively confident Prime Early Access will see gaming PCs powered by RTX 30-series graphics cards coming down in price, and not just on Amazon, either. Between the impending RTX 40-series release, AMD's RDNA3 teasers, and Intel's Arc GPUs, the market is getting a little heated. That means machines should be available at discounted prices in anticipation of all this saucy, graphical battle royal.

Don't get me wrong, the components in the gaming PCs on this list will stay relevant for some time, you'll just have to make peace with the fact you'll soon be a generation behind GPU wise, potentially two or three when it comes to CPUs, depending on your budget.

• Check out more of the best Amazon Prime Early Access PC gaming deals

Pre-built machines with high-end GPUs like the RTX 3080, RTX 3080 Ti, Radeon RX 6900XT, etc. are most likely to see discounts, as they'll be replaced first. The next generation offering is looking to be a significant performance increase over the current standard, so expect high-end machines to boast bigger savings.

Of course, the GPU makes up a huge portion of a gaming system's prowess, but that's not the only component firing the sales furnace. CPUs are seeing price drops what with AMDs 7000-series announcements, and Intel's allusion to 13th Gen CPUs coming next year.  On top of that, SSD prices continue to tumble, and RAM has never been cheaper.

For now, we're sending out our finest scouting bots to track down the best deals, and updating this page with the gaming PCs that appeal to us when they show up. So keep checking back to see what we've unearthed. Alternatively, if you're in the market for a laptop, then check out the best Amazon Prime Early Access laptop deals.

When is Amazon Prime Early Access 2022?

Amazon Prime Early Access will begin at 12 am PT, Tuesday October 11, and will run all the way through to 11.59 pm on Wednesday October 12. Expect 48 hours of potential PC gaming deals, before we get into the meatier discounts expected to drop on Black Friday—that's November 25 for anyone willing to wait that long. Truly, Amazon isn't messing around when it says Early Access. In fact, let's just have a deal event every month. 

Where are the best Prime Early Access gaming PC deals?

• Amazon - Save up to $460 on RTX 3070 gaming PCs already
• PC Gamer's favorite desktop - Alienware Aurora PCs from $1,176
• RTX 3080 - iBuyPower Gaming RDY S6MBG201| $2,399 $1,899 at iBuyPower (save $400)
• RTX 3070 - Skytech Shiva | $1,899.99 $1,439.99 at Amazon (save $460)
• RX 6700 XT - Alienware Aurora R10 | $1,699.99 $1,175.99 at Dell (save $524)
• RTX 3060 Ti - ABS Master Gaming PC | $1,699.99 $1,399.99 at Newegg (save $300)
• RTX 3060 - HP Pavilion | $899.99 $699 at Walmart (save $200)
• iBuyPower - Fast shipping on machines with up to $360 off
• Best Buy - Save up to $300 on gaming desktops
• Lenovo - Legion Tower 7i with RTX 3070 $2,239.99 $1,599.99
• Newegg - ABS Gaming PCs starting at $1,250
• Microsoft - Save up to $500 on desktop and laptops
• Dell - Save up to $690 on Alienware PCs
• HP - Gaming PCs from $550
• Corsair - Up to $800 off Corsair's gaming PCs
• NZXT - Affordable gaming PCs starting at just $799
• Walmart - Plenty of RTX 3060 gaming PCs here starting from $699
• B&H Photo - Gaming machines starting at $799

Amazon Prime Early Access gaming PC deals

iBuyPower Same Day RDY gaming PCs | Delivery 2 days
Gaming PCs are your best bet for getting your hands on the latest hardware, but that can still lead to month-long waits for your rig to arrive. iBuyPower's Same Day RDY gaming PCs, however, are pre-configured, pre-built machines that it can ship out normally within three days. These gaming PCs—from GTX 1660 Super systems to RX 6900 XT and RTX 3090 machines—represent the absolute fastest way of getting a brand new rig right now.View Deal

Up to $550 off Alienware gaming PCs | Delivery within 5 days
We've had to put up with long lead times on a lot of systems over the past few years, but Alienware is ready to ship out a host of discounted Aurora PCs in 5 days or under. They include AMD Ryzen 5000-series and Intel 12th Gen CPUs and budget and high-end Nvidia and AMD graphics cards. Unlike iBuyPower they're also customizable before they ship.View Deal

Save up to $350 on NZXT Gaming PCs | Delivery within 6 days
There's still time to bag a $400 discount on NZXT's prebuilt gaming PCs. The build quality is always excellent and they are great-looking, reliable machines. There are also a selection of bundles, with NZXT keyboards and mice, too.View Deal

HP Pavilion | RTX 3060 | Core i5 10400F | $848 $749 at Walmart (save $99)
This is an incredible price for an RTX 3060 PC. It really is that simple. The CPU is a bit old now, but still fine for 1080p gaming, and the 8GB RAM and 512GB storage could do with a boost, but that's easy to do after the fact. And when you're saving this much money, you'll still end up with a great value PC. View Deal

NZXT Dreamer Plus | RTX 3060 | Core i5 10400F | 16GB RAM | 500GB SSD | $1,399.99 $1,049.99 at NZXT (save $350)
A nice entry-level gaming spec and ever so stylish case here,  backed up by a decent chunk of storage and a good amount of RAM for gaming, as well as a 360mm all-in-one cooler. The 10th Gen Intel CPU may seem a little outdated as we stare down the 13th Gen, but don't let that put you off.View Deal

iBuyPower Gaming RDY | RTX 3080 | Core i7 12700K | 16GB RAM | 1TB NVMe SSD | $2,399 $1,899 at iBuyPower (save $400)
This RTX 3080-powered gaming rig will ship, and be on your desktop in two days. In a world where sometimes buying a new gaming PC would take months, that's a refreshing and reassuring buying experience. The rest of the spec is solid, too, with a decent Alder Lake CPU and the 16GB RAM/1TB SSD you'd expect for a modern rig.View Deal

Alienware Aurora R13 | RX 6500 XT | Intel Core i5 12400F | 8GB RAM | 512GB SSD | $1,549.99 $999.99 at Dell (save $550)
The first thing to say about this Alienware machine is that  the memory kind of sucks. You can probably grab some additional RAM over deals season, though, and with a spiffing 12th Gen CPU nested in there with AMDs RX 6500 XT, it'll deliver outstanding performance in todays games. Even better for the price.View Deal

Skytech Shiva | RTX 3070 | Ryzen 5 5600X | 16GB RAM | 1TB NVMe SSD | $1,899.99 $1,499.99 at Amazon (save $400)
This is a damn healthy saving on a gaming PC. The GeForce RTX 3070 is a powerful card that can manage 4K in plenty of cutting-edge titles and the Ryzen 5 5600X was our top CPU until Intel Alder Lake appeared. Throw in 16GB of DDR4 RAM, 1TB NVMe SSD, and a sweet-looking InWin case, and you're good to game.View Deal

ABS Master Gaming PC | RTX 3060 Ti | Core i5 12400F | $1,699.99 $1,299.99 at Newegg (save $400)
The GeForce RTX 3060 Ti is a surprisingly powerful card that can handle 1440p with ease and even tackle some 4K gaming. Paired with an Alder Lake CPU, 16GB of DDR4 RAM, and 1TB of storage, there's plenty to love about this machine. It even looks pretty good, with its top-mounted PSU enclosure offering something a bit different.View Deal

HP Omen 25L | RTX 3070 | Core i7 12700 | $1,749.99 $1,499.99 at HP (save $250)
HP has introduced a few different case sizes for its Omen line, but this 25L chassis is certainly big enough, and it's good looking in white too. It's what's on the inside the counts of course and the combo of an RTX 3070 and Alder Lake Core i7 12700 is simply beautiful for this much cash. The 512GB is a bit on the small side, but you do get a 1TB hard drive too. This is a great PC for 1440p and plenty of 4K gaming too.View Deal

Skytech Shiva | AMD Ryzen 5 5600X | RTX 3080 | 16GB RAM | 1TB NVMe SSD | $2,399.99 $1,699.99 at Amazon (save $700)
Knocking $700 off the price of this rig has made superbly tempting. It may not have the most current CPU but that RTX 3080, 16GB RAM, and a 1TB SSD makes it a gaming PC which will run happily out of the box without any issues. A little more RAM wouldn't have gone amiss for the price, but it'll still ace most games you throw at it.View Deal

Acer Predator Orion 3000 | RTX 3070 | Core i7 11700F | 16GB RAM | 512GB SSD + 1TB HDD | $1,699.99 $1,444.99 at Amazon (save $255)
The CPU may be last-gen, but it's still an 8-core, 16-thread beast that will more than handle your gaming needs. Importantly, it won't bottleneck that RTX 3070, meaning you'll get to enjoy 1440p and even 4K gaming without worry. The rest of the spec is solid, with plenty of RAM, and a decent storage combo of 512GB SSD and 1TB HDD. A decent amount of PC for the money basically.View Deal

Alienware Aurora R10 | RTX 3080 | Ryzen 7 5800X | $2,519.99 $1,655.99 at Dell (save $854)
This is a phenomenal saving on a seriously powerful gaming PC. The star of the machine is the RTX 3080, which will handle 4K gaming with ease, but the Ryzen 7 5800X is no slouch either. There are no obvious compromises in fact, with 16GB of RAM and a speedy 1TB SSD in there, alongside a 1,000W PSU. Nice.View Deal

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Amazon Prime Day Office PC deals

Dell Inspiron | Core i3 12100 | $469.99 $382.19 at Dell (save $87.80)
That's really not much cash for such a capable PC. The 4-core, 8-thread Core i3 is an Intel 12th-Gen Alder Lake chip too, so it's bang up to date. You do only get a single 8GB stick of DDR4 RAM, and you're in spinning hard drive territory here, but it's hard to be too down on a system that's so cheap. You even get a copy of Windows thrown in.View Deal

HP Envy TE01-2250xt | Core i5 11400 | $599.99 $479.99 at HP (save $120)
This HP box is a bit more expensive than Dell's offering, but that extra money does net you a more capable CPU. It may be last-gen, but the Core i5 11400 is a powerful 6-core, 12-thread CPU all the same. HP has gone for a 2x 4GB memory configuration for optimal performance too. Shame you only get a single 256GB SSD. Still, this is good value for more serious work.View Deal

IdeaCentre AIO 5 AMD | Ryzen 7 5700U | 24-inch | 1080p | $989.99 $959.99 at Lenovo (save $30)
This 24-inch all-in-one is surprisingly good-looking for what is essentially a boring office machine. At its heart, you'll find an AMD Ryzen 7 5700U, which is an 8-core, 16-thread beast that can turbo up to 4.3GHz. You get 16GB of RAM for your money too, although the 256GB SSD is a bit on the small side, at least there's a 1TB HDD as well. View Deal

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Amazon Prime Early Access UK gaming PCs

CCL Horizon 5M | RTX 3060 Ti | Ryzen 5 4500 | 16GB RAM | 1TB SSD | £1,006.99 at CCL
It's worth stating up front that this machine is only this price because you can choose to have it ship without a Windows 11 installation. That will save you £65 off the standard price and you can install your own OS, whether that's Linux or Windows, when you get your system home. That will gain you an RTX 3060 Ti system for a decent price. The only let-down is maybe that odd Ryzen 4000-series CPU. It's a Zen 2 based chip, but still a six-core, 12-thread option.View Deal

Acer Predator Orion 3000 | RTX 3060 Ti | Core i5 12400 | 16GB RAM | 1TB HDD + 256GB SSD | £1,199 £1,099 at Currys (save £100)
Right, the first thing to say is, yes, that SSD is miserly beyond all degrees. Just 256GB of speedy storage just isn't enough in 2022. But this is PC gaming and sometimes compromises have to be made, and there is still plenty of sloooooow storage to help. And a larger SSD is just a cheap upgrade down the line. The rest of the spec is fine, though, with one of our favourite Intel budget chips, and the excellent RTX 3060 Ti helping you plough through games.View Deal

HP Omen 25L | RX 6600 XT | Ryzen 7 5700G | 16GB RAM | 1TB SSD | £1,349 £1,199 at Currys (save £150)
The RX 6600 XT will deliver a slightly higher level of gaming performance than the RTX 3060. I mean, it's close, but on average across our benchmarking suite the AMD card has the edge at 1440p gaming by a few frames per second. And this rig will deliver a great 1440p gaming experience, with an eight-core, 16-thread CPU, and plenty of storage and memory to back it all up.View Deal

HP Omen | RTX 3090 | Core i9 11900K | 32GB RAM | 1TB SSD + 1TB HDD x2 | £2,799 £2,199 at Amazon (save £600)
This gaming PC is for those that don't mind spending some extra cash for a higher-end rig. With an RTX 3090, an 11th Gen processor, and 32GB of RAM, you won't struggle to run any game on max settings. This PC boasts a lot of storage too, giving you a total of 3TB to house even the beefiest AAA games without breaking a sweat. The current price is also the cheapest we've seen this particular machine.View Deal

Lenovo Legion T5 |  RTX 3060 | AMD Ryzen 5 | 16GB RAM | 1TB SSD | £1,099.99 £799.99 at Amazon (save £300)
If you're looking to break into the wonderful world of PC gaming, this is a great machine for the price. Boasting an RTX 3060 GPU, an AMD Ryzen 5 processor, and 16GB of RAM, you'll play most games comfortably. The 1TB of SSD space isn't to be sneezed at either and means you'll have plenty of room to store your favourite games. At under £800, this gaming desktop is the cheapest it's ever been.View Deal

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[How to find and open Vaults in Fortnite Chapter 3 Season 4]

Tracking down the Fortnite Vault locations in Season 4 is a tricky task, but these secret underground stashes are one of the best places to get rare items and weapons so you can get one over on opponents and emerge on top. Thankfully, vaults have been improved from previous seasons, and you no longer need multiple players to open them.

What you will need, however, are vault keys. Some vaults will open with just one key, whereas those with the very best loot will take two separate keys to crack. In this Fortnite vault guide, I'll run through where each vault is, and how to get those all important vault keys so you can unlock these stashes during a match. 

All Fortnite Vault locations

(Image credit: Epic/Fortnite.gg)

There are 17 potential vaults scattered across the island in Season 4, but you need to pick up a vault key during your match to be able to see available vaults on the map. Those that don't appear have already been opened. Some vaults also require two keys instead of one, and you can tell these as they're marked with a double padlock. They do give you better loot, though. 

The Fortnite.gg interactive map has a great location list of every spawnable vault that you can also see above, making it easier to know what to look for. When you start a match, you just need to find a key, locate your nearest vault on the map, then it's looting time. Here's a brief breakdown of where the vaults are relative to named locations:

• North-west of Logjam Junction
• West of Grim Gables
• South side of the Rave Cave
• West of the Rave Cave across the river
• South-west of the Reality Tree by the coast
• East of Greasy Grove across the bridge
• South-west of Tilted Towers on the hill
• South-west of Rocky Reels
• North of Rocky Reels across the river
• West side of Chrome Crossroads
• West of Chrome Crossroads across the river
• South of Chrome Crossroads
• West of Chonker's Speedway
• South of Cloudy Condos across the bridge
• North of Cloudy Condos
• On the island to the north-east of Fort Jonesy
• North-east of Lustrous Lagoon

Where to find vault keys in Fortnite

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You can get vault keys from chests (Image credit: Epic)

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Simply slot the key into the vault door to open (Image credit: Epic)

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Enjoy your loot! (Image credit: Epic)

The best way to get vault keys in Fortnite is from chests, but you might also find some as floor loot, or be able to take them from a dead player's drops. You can also get vault keys from inside other vaults. When you've got one—or two if you're going for a bigger vault—simply head to the location and slot it into the door. 

Vaults are most often underground, with the staircase down to each entrance hidden behind boulders, bushes, or inside a building. The icon on your map should help you locate it. You'll then be able to head inside and take everything that isn't nailed down. There's usually a load of chests and plenty of assorted items you can pilfer.

View the full article

[Steam u-turns on ban for Danganronpa dev’s game and reworks review process]

Valve has decided, in its inscrutable and mysterious way, to reverse course on a previously-announced ban on the Steam release of Chaos;Head Noah, an anime visual novel and crime against the semicolon from the developers of Danganronpa. Good timing, too: the game releases today.

Even Valve's laissez-faire 'anything goes' release policy has its exceptions, as developer Spike Chunsoft discovered when its port of 2009's Chaos;Head Noah (itself a port of 2008's Chaos;Head) was unceremoniously banned from launching on Steam. Neither Valve nor Spike Chunsoft said which rules the game supposedly violated, the latter only announcing that it wouldn't be making the "guideline-required changes to the game's content" to secure a Steam release.

To be fair, there are several things you could point at. The "Mature Content Description" on Chaos;Head's Steam page reads like its writer thought their job was to just write down everything that could be considered mature content in the world ever. There's knives, strangling, torture, "mangled fingers, dangling entrails," and "exposed brains". Plus, horror of horrors, "partially exposed breasts and buttocks". 

None of that really seems like it would be enough to draw Valve's ire, though: some people point to the game's (let's be honest, pretty creepy) lingerie DLC for its high school characters as a potential point of contention, but all we have is speculation. Either way, Valve has decided that—whatever it was—it's not a problem anymore.

In fact, Valve has "examined the process" that led it to the ban decision and "made some changes to avoid situations like this in the future," so let a hundred senpais bloom. There was a fairly loud campaign from Spike Chunsoft fans to save the game's Steam release, complete with a requisite Change.org petition. Perhaps that caught the attention of Steam employees, or perhaps someone just had a dramatic change of heart in the depths of Valve's offices. That would be pretty anime.

Chaos;Head Noah releases later today. On Steam, no less.

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[Intel Arc A750 Limited Edition]

We've seen Intel's best graphics card to date, now it's time to take a look at its more affordable one. The Intel Arc A750 doesn't feign to be top of the class when it comes to frame rates, but it's also not asking top dollar, either. At $289, this entry-level graphics card helps keep graphics card prices down at a time when you could run up a significant bill buying one. And, for that reason, the Arc A750 is perhaps even more important than its pricier sibling.

The Arc A750 offers a moderately cut-down version of the Arc A770 GPU, the G10, which you can read about more in my Intel Arc A770 review. It comes with 28 Xe-cores, the building blocks of the Xe-HPG architecture, which is only four off the 32 Xe-cores found in the Arc A770. For that, it's not massively off the pace of that card in terms of performance, either, but it does run slightly slower and has half the total overall memory capacity.

The included 8GB of GDDR6 VRAM is plenty for the A750's target resolution of 1080p and, as our testing shows, it also often delivers a steady 60 fps at 1440p. You'd definitely not be at a loss pairing this card with a FHD or QHD monitor. It's surprisingly close to the Arc A770 at 4K, too, though admittedly neither card will get close to a steady 60 fps at this demanding resolution.

It's also worth noting Intel's Alchemist GPU architecture will perform at its best in games using either the DX12 or Vulkan APIs—essentially, the more modern APIs work best. That's because Intel's driver package is focused on delivering top performance in the latest games first, and it's still working on getting those older games, on older APIs like DX11, to work as well. Intel's graphics boss, Raja Koduri, says that the company's drivers will "get there", but Intel has previously admitted the process will take some time.

Arc A750 specs

(Image credit: Future)

Xe-cores: 28
Ray tracing units: 28
Graphics clock (MHz): 2,050
Memory config: 8GB GDDR6 @ 16Gbps
Memory interface: 256-bit
Memory bandwidth: 512GB/s
Power (TBP): 225W
Price: $289

That's one thing to consider with this graphics card, and its impact on your day-to-day gaming experience; it will all depend on those games you frequent most. Some long-standing competitive and service games still use DX11, such as Destiny and League of Legends, though most new ones have long since moved on to DX12 and Vulkan. You're not going to require much graphical grunt for League of Legends or CS:GO, but it's still not ideal to leave so much performance untapped in some games.

The other thing to consider with this GPU is that you'll need to have Resize BAR supported on your CPU and motherboard to extract top performance out of it. That's no issue if you have a modern CPU from either Intel or AMD, even going back to the 10th Gen and Ryzen 3000 generations. However, if you're rocking anything older, again you won't be able to extract full performance out of this card. In my testing the A770 was as much as 22% down at 1080p with Resize BAR disabled. The A750 will be equally affected.

I'd say that's a deal breaker. If you can't enable Resize BAR, don't buy this card.

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You're then probably better off with one of the competitions' cards, and at the Arc A750 level there are two key ones to consider. There's AMD's Radeon RX 6600 and Nvidia's GeForce RTX 3050, both of which bring excellent GPU architectures to bear at a budget price. 

The RX 6600 is the real thorn in the A750's side. This card should be the most expensive of the lot, with an original MSRP of $329. However, nowadays it's found for nowhere near that price tag, and even going for $250. At these prices, which appear to be common enough to be stick around, it makes both the $289 Arc A750 and $300 RTX 3050 look comparatively pricey.

1080p performance

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Test rig

CPU - Intel Core i9 12900K
Motherboard - Asus ROG Strix Z690-F Gaming WiFi
RAM - Trident Z 5 RGB 32GB (2x 16GB) DDR5 @5,600MHz (effective)
CPU cooler - Asus ROG Ryujin II 360mm liquid cooler
PSU - Gigabyte Aorus P1200W
Monitor - Gigabyte M32UC

The Arc A750 is usually batting around the same sort of average frame rate as the RX 6600 in most games at 1080p. There are the exceptions of Metro Exodus, which has been very well optimised for Intel Arc; Assassin's Creed Valhalla, which AMD's RX 6600 works best on; and Far Cry New Dawn, which also prefers AMD's silicon.

These two cards are fairly well matched in our benchmark runs at 1080p. Though, that doesn't necessarily work in Intel's favour when the RX 6600 is mostly cheaper.

1440p performance

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Instead it's at 1440p where the Intel Arc A750 catches a big break. Even in Assassin's Creed Valhalla, the Arc A750 is just edging ahead of the RX 6600. In Far Cry New Dawn it's getting pretty close to parity, too. Generally it's a prettier picture of performance at 1440p, so if that's your target resolution I can see the Intel A750 appealing to you. Is it worth that extra $39? Well, it's close, but you may be further convinced if you're a fan of real-time ray tracing.

4K performance

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Ray tracing performance

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Synthetic benchmark performance

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The Arc A750, surprisingly, is great at ray tracing, same as the Arc A770. The Arc A750 isn't quite a match for Nvidia's RTX 3060, but it's not far off. That's super impressive considering this is Intel's first generation Ray Tracing Unit at work, and it hasn't taken the company long at all to catch up with Nvidia's far more mature RT Core. That said, ray tracing is still an awfully demanding graphical feature, and I'd really recommend you turn on some form of upscaling technology to take advantage of it with this card.

Intel's own XeSS upscaling technology works a treat to improve performance on Intel's Arc GPUs especially, thanks to XMX acceleration on the GPU. Though AMD's FSR will also work just great.

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As a complete picture of performance, then, Intel's Arc A750 is certainly competitive at this price point. AMD's RX 6600 edges out the competition at 1080p, and it's clearly the better choice for the money at that resolution, but there's a lot of positive stuff to be said about the Arc A750 at 1440p, and with ray tracing enabled. The architecture and the memory—likely the high memory bandwidth on this card versus the competition—seems to put it on a better footing for QHD gaming.

The performance is mostly there at 1080p, and at 1440p it's pretty tight with the competition.

There's no doubt as well that the Arc A750 appears simply a better graphics card for the money than an RTX 3050. Even in a game like Total War: Three Kingdoms, in which Nvidia's RTX 3060 makes massive gains over the Arc A770, the RTX 3050 only just scrapes the lead over the Arc A750. It's hardly a divisive victory, and for the most part the RTX 3050 is much slower.

Thermals and power

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The Arc A750 Limited Edition is going to be a tough cooler to beat on this card, too. It's priced at not a penny over the all-important MSRP and it's quiet and cool, despite the card's very high relative power draw. I'm sure third-party manufacturers will come up with some solid designs, but I'm not turning my nose up at the Limited Edition trim. It doesn't come with the same fancy RGB LED lights as the Arc A770, unfortunately, which do look lovely, but it's still great-looking in its own right.

So, for the cash, would I be happy with an Arc A750? Yeah, I would. The performance is mostly there at 1080p, and at 1440p it's pretty tight with the competition—even in those games where it shouldn't necessarily do so well. There will be cases where it's way off the mark, and that pretty much rules this card out for anyone on an older system without Resize BAR support, but generally I think the same can be said of this card as I did in my Arc A770 review: if I bought a cheap prebuilt PC and it had an Arc A750 in it, I'd be cool with that. And for a first generation GPU, that's actually pretty high praise.

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[Stellaris's game director isn't thinking about a sequel: 'There's so much stuff for us to continue working with']

Galactic news

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Stellaris VR: A roguelite VR spin-off is in development

Check out this Mass Effect mod: Thanks to Stellaris modders Mass Effect is now a strategy game

Stellaris board game: The upcoming board game adaptation will permanently change as you play

It's strange to think that, after more than 6 years of enduring popularity, Stellaris was once a bit of a gamble for Paradox. Even now the developer remains best known for historical grand strategy, but this weird sci-fi 4X ended up slotting neatly into its dense library of games. Since then, it's been reconfigured, overhauled, gone through multiple game directors and spawned 16 expansions, species packs and story packs. No matter what brand of sci-fi is closest to your heart, you'll likely find it represented in this humungous cosmic conflict. 

Given its impressive breadth, surely it's running out of space to explore, at least in this iteration? Before catching up with game director Stephen Muray in Paradox's hometown of Stockholm last month, I was convinced a sequel was, if not in development already, at least at the concept stage. But according to Muray, the future of Stellaris remains focused on the original game.

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"There's so much stuff for us to continue working with," he tells me as I try to ferret out details on what the team's post-Toxoids plans are. Even with that being the case, though, I wonder if there's a desire to move to a newer engine and escape the technical debt that accumulated over the last six years. "I have things planned for ages," he explains. "So yeah, it's not something that I'm personally very worried about or interested in right now."

Despite my sequel assumptions, there definitely isn't a sense that Stellaris is winding down. This was especially clear when, last year, Paradox announced the 'Custodian Initiative'. A new team was formed to assist with the big job of maintaining this mammoth game by tweaking the balance, enhancing old DLC, improving the AI and working on quality of life improvements. This allows the expansion team to focus on filling the game with more alien species and features.

Picking up the pace

This is why, only four months after the launch of the latest major expansion, Overlord, Paradox was able to release the Toxoids species pack. It took a year for the Toxoids to go from concept to reality, and it likely would have been longer if the custodians weren't holding the game together in the meantime. 

"The custodians are one of the best things that have ever happened to Stellaris," says Muray, "so I'm really happy to keep doing that." And it's a job that never ends because, he admits, the expansion team is always creating more work for them.

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"Sometimes the things that we fix actually unfix some of the other things indirectly. They made massive performance improvements to the game, and then we improved the AI. Now the AI is much better at playing the game, so their economies are gargantuan compared to two updates earlier. I joke that they do the performance improvements, and then we stumble."

Sometimes the things that we fix actually unfix some of the other things indirectly.

Paradox doesn't usually announce packs and expansions until it's got plenty to show off, which is why Toxoids were only unveiled a few weeks before launch. So Muray's not ready to spill the space beans on what's coming next, beyond the upcoming free Orion update, but he's not averse to teasing things he's interested in either, like features from other Paradox games. Overlord, for instance, has more than a bit of Crusader Kings in it, with its focus on vassals and fracturing empires. And now Victoria 3 is finally on its way, there's a whole host of new systems to potentially pinch.

Learning from the past

"I steal good ideas from anywhere I find them," says Muray. "I love how [Victoria 3] has interest groups and things like that. I love how it grows dynamically, and over time they've got demands—it all makes sense, it's great. [Tech lead Lorenzo Berni] will murder me if I'm like 'Hey, let's do pop rework number three'. But yeah, there may be parts that we will swipe or emulate."

Every sci-fi trope and story under the sun is within our purview.

Sci-fi itself still provides plenty of ideas, too. "That is one of the greatest things about working on Stellaris. Every sci-fi trope and story under the sun is within our purview. So we can grab and pick what we want and see how they interact with each other. You can have these hard sci-fi stories mixed with weird space fantasy, and you just sometimes get really awesome stuff. So yeah, everything, everything, is ours."

One of the issues with the amount of things Paradox can do and already have done with Stellaris is that it can be hard for new players to know where to start. There's $200 worth of DLC at the moment, some of it very broad, some of it very specific. It's good news for me, of course, because it means I get to make things like this Stellaris DLC buying guide, but I wonder if Paradox has thoughts about how to simplify the process of getting into the game.

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"It is actually something that is kind of tough," says Muray. "Our players tend to make these tier rating things and lots of posts on Reddit about 'What DLC should I get?' and the answer is always, you know, obviously, buy Utopia first."

Utopia is the one thing most players can agree on: it represents one of the most dramatic and broadest improvements to the game, which is even more impressive given that it was the very first expansion. As Muray says, "Utopia was huge and gargantuanly overscoped." It's the expansion that introduced megastructures, hive minds, ascension perks and fancy, advanced civics. Even with some of its features eventually making their way into the base game, becoming accessible to everyone, it remains essential. 

So it looks like new players are going to have to keep relying on the community to guide them towards the best DLC. That said, the studio is still looking for other ways to make things more accessible for both new and existing players, from streamlining some of the overcomplicated aspects of managing vast empires to improving existing features, like ship construction. A text to speech feature is also on the docket, and should appear later this year in the Orion update. 

Wishlist

Some of these additions came up in a Stellaris panel at PDXCon 2022, just after my chat with Muray, where the team discussed things like updating the AI ship designer, which is another change coming with Orion. You'll be able to assign roles to ships so that the auto builder can tailor the ships to your specifications. So if you want a more assault-focused ship, for instance, you can tell the AI and it will select modules that are best suited to that role. New ship capabilities are also being explored, so components could have different effects based on where the ship is and what leader you have. For example, a ship might do more damage when it's in a nebula. 

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During the panel, the topic of Stellaris 2 reared its head again thanks to a question about what the panel would include if they could start from scratch with a sequel. Adding gestalt empires to the base game was on the shopping list, along with more gestalt customisation and roleplaying potential. A population system that scales better once you get big was also mentioned, as well as a more tactical approach to warfare. As a counter to that, automated warfare Victoria 3-style was also suggested. As someone who has spent countless sleepless nights directing wee ships to conflicts all over the galaxy, I second this motion.

That's the kind of thing I'd like to explore more. Explore exploring.

As for Muray, he wishes the exploration phase could be longer. "I really love the beginning part of Stellaris where there's so much wonder out there and you're exploring. That's the kind of thing I'd like to explore more. Explore exploring."

A man after my own heart. In pretty much every 4X, that initial phase, where there's untapped potential everywhere and you're still figuring out the shape of your empire, will always be my favourite—especially in Stellaris, where exploration has so much to offer from a storytelling perspective. Hopefully we'll see that extended and expanded in future DLC, following in the footsteps of Distant Stars and Ancient Relics. And if not in Stellaris 1, then maybe in Stellaris 2. It might not be on the cards yet, but I'm still convinced it will happen eventually.

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[Guide a doggo astronaut home in this upcoming indie puzzle-platformer]

Laika is one of the world's most famous dogs: On November 3, 1957, during the early days of the Soviet Union's space program, she became the first animal to be launched into space. She died not long after launch, but exactly 65 years later, the puzzle platformer Space Tail: Every Journey Leads Home will, with some effort, deliver a happier ending.

Space Tail tells the tale (it's a pun, see) of Bea, a dog astronaut (dogstronaut?) who makes it much deeper into space than any previous terrestrial explorer—to an entirely new alien world, in fact. Now it's time to get home, but just like in real life, her human masters have apparently dropped the ball on that part of the operation, so Bea is on her own. Fortunately, she's a pretty resourceful dog.

I'm not really a fan of conventional jump-or-die platformers, but I do dig more puzzle-focused, atmospheric side-scrollers—I love the Trine games, for example—and Space Tail seems very much in that vein. Bea does more than just run and jump: She can also use her highly attuned doggo senses of sight, smell, and hearing to help navigate the world and its obstacles. And rather than dodging or stomping on the alien creatures she meets (there are alien creatures to meet, by the way), she can greet them with a number of different gestures, like raising a paw, rolling over, or butt-wiggling, in the hopes of making friends. Barking and growling are also options, if it doesn't look like friendship is going to sell. Either way, your newfound friends and enemies can help you along your journey, for instance by carrying you past obstacles, or just smashing holes through them. 

Telekinesis also comes into play, and fairly early on in the adventure Bea meets a wisp named Rose, who may or may not be the servant of an alien god. There's lore, too, because of course there is: I stumbled into a hidden cave with a picture of a big dragon (or something) on the wall, which Space Tail informed me I could scan to learn more about, you know, everything. There's a lot going on.

Publisher Longterm Games called Space Tail a tribute to space exploration and its early non-human pioneers. "Real-life dog astronauts and cosmonauts didn’t have a happy life and many were lost so mankind could reach the stars," the studio said. "Space Tail wants to show an optimistic and heartwarming tale of a dog that returned from its journey and make players consider how much we owe to our four-legged friends."

To be honest, I was halfway to hooked by the basic concept—"dog astronaut needs to find her way home"—and then developer Enjoy Studio made Bea look like Laika and gave her a teddy bear friend, and how do you say no to that? I haven't played anywhere near enough to make a definitive judgment but so far I like what I see, even I've died a little more easily than I expected: I've fallen off a few ledges, which I expected, and got blown away by a patrolling sentry robot, which I did not. Fair to say that the ambience is cute and cuddly, but the edges are still sharp.

Space Tail is coming to Steam (and Nintendo Switch, if that's your thing) on November 3, the day of Laika's launch. You can take the early parts of the game for a spin right now by way of a demo that's available as part of the ongoing Steam Next Fest, which runs until October 10.

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[My kind of modders are re-building the first Vampire: the Masquerade in Skyrim]

A group of ambitious modders is working on recreating the first World of Darkness videogame, Vampire: the Masquerade - Redemption, as a total conversion mod for Skyrim.

Four years before the release of Troika's swan song, absolute vibes machine, and one of my personal favorite games, Vampire: the Masquerade⁠—Bloodlines, Nihilistic Software (aka nStigate Games) unleashed Redemption on the world.

In contrast to the Fallout-but-in-3D structure of Bloodlines, Redemption almost feels like a proto-Knights of the Old Republic. Redemption has combat halfway between a tactical pause-and-play and an ARPG, as well as a story-heavy campaign following the crusader knight, Cristof.

Chris gets embraced in Prague in the 12th century, and the story sees him acclimating to vampire life, attempting to reunite with his lover, and generally swording and boarding around Central Europe before getting locked in a coffin for 800 years. Chris wakes up a fish out of water in the "Final Nights" of New York and London in the year 1999 for the game's second half.

It's a unique, intriguing premise for an RPG, and I enjoy how Nihilistic baked in that contrast between the European low fantasy of its first half and the Y2K, Punk-raver-cybergoth swag of its second. It's also an extremely obtuse, difficult game that indulges in that '90s ARPG penchant for complexity without depth. There's a lot of numbers to juggle without meaningful build choices, and a full party cohort lacking tactical options. Just the sort of classic PC jank that begs a remaster treatment.

Enter Nexus modder Galejro (who looks to be an old hand at modding the WoD into Gamebryo/Creation) and the rest of the team behind Vampire the Masquerade: Redemption Reawakened. The first person action of Skyrim ironically enough brings things closer in feel to the better-known Bloodlines, and I appreciate the way the team's tweaking things to fit the World of Darkness. They're adjusting Skyrim's UI to have that VtM bloody, gothic flair, swapping the menu font with the more vampy one from Bloodlines, and replacing Skyrim's skills with VtM disciplines.

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This gameplay footage from September shows Skyrim's base aesthetic making a nice vehicle for the 12th-century portions of Redemption, with a high-fi recreation of an early game dungeon romp. I'm really impressed with the team's presentation of the early modern portions as well⁠—their snippets of London '99 have that Deus Ex-y blue haze we all remember from cities of the era (at least in videogames, I guess).

The mod is not yet playable, and has no set release date, but the team has made impressive progress in just one year. Galejro's NexusMods and YouTube pages seem like the best place to follow along with progress, and the mod team also has a Discord Server. 

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[Overwatch 2 tier lists are a mess, but most agree that one hero is coming out on top]

Overwatch 2 has been online for a few days now and players, when they've not been queueing, have been pouring into the game for a taste of the action.. There is a certain amount of Overwatch 2 that hasn't changed since Overwatch, like the core abilities of much of the main cast, so players have already started destroying each other with honed skills from the first game. But who's coming out on top? 

Having a look at a variety of tier lists over the last day has revealed that almost everyone agrees that Lucio is not only the best support but maybe just the best hero in the game right now. Though the opinion for many of Overwatch 2's cast changes drastically, Lucio is consistently at the top of the rankings. 

Other heroes that are currently considered the best include Soldier 76 (the new beard really works for him), Tracer, Genji, Ana, and new healing hero Kiriko. D.Va is occasionally considered really good, as is Winston, Junker Queen, and Orisa. But the one tank that seems to be really struggling to keep up with everyone else is Roadhog. He's just not having enough of an impact on games right now, and he's struggling to keep relevant in the single tank role.

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Everything else though, seems like a mess of opinions and nothing is yet settled. Widowmaker, Symmetra, Junkrat, and Wrecking Ball seem to be having a tough time towards the bottom end of tier lists but the middle is just a mishmash of preference which, to be perfectly honest, is the way Overwatch has been for quite a while. A good Mercy is great, but Mercy by herself is pretty average according to these lists. But a bad Lucio, as I've seen in these first Overwatch 2 matches, won't live up to the devastating potential these lists claim he has. 

For the moment, I'd recommend mostly just playing whatever you're having fun with because Blizzard will inevitably be making a bunch of changes to heroes in the future for balancing. Learn the new dynamics and maps, play a lot of Quick Play until you're comfortable. Play whatever makes you happy for now, and only when the game is more settled I'd start thinking about team compositions seriously. And anyways before long we'll see the professional players create metas for the Overwatch League, and then the true grind will start. 

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[Public voting now open in the Golden Joystick's 40th anniversary awards]

The 40th Golden Joystick Awards has revealed this year's shortlisted games, and voting is now open worldwide until Friday, November 4 2022. The event is the longest-running public-voted game awards show around, with millions of votes cast every year, and is run by PC Gamer's parent company Future.

Winners will be revealed in an all-digital awards show broadcast on all major streaming platforms on Tuesday, November 22, 2022. The 18 categories include over 70 games, so you'll surely find something worth your own precious vote.

Among the hot favourites is Elden Ring, which has a whopping four nominations including 'Best Multiplayer Game', 'Best Visual Design', 'PlayStation Game of the Year', with developer FromSoftware Inc. being nominated for 'Studio of the Year'. Other biggies with multiple nominations include Horizon Forbidden West, Splatoon 3, Final Fantasy XIV and Teardown.

There's even a spot for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge, which warms this old shellhead's heart.

"With a few glorious exceptions, many of 2022’s hotly-anticipated blockbuster releases have shifted into 2023 [...] making this one of the most eclectic, unpredictable and hard-to-spell-check Golden Joystick Awards shortlists in recent memory," writes Daniel Dawkins, content director of games and film. "Indies, AAs and even a few solo devs diversify the field, with titles such as Immortality, Cult of the Lamb, Tunic, Vampire Survivors, I Was a Teenage Exocolonist and Neon White (to name but a few) leading the ever-contentious debate among our shortlist judges.

"Of course, some of 2022’s biggest games are 2021’s biggest games. Or even 2013’s biggest games. This shift to always-on 'service' gaming is reflected in our 'Still Playing' award, where franchise titans jostle to claim the Golden Joystick trophy. Equally, some of 2022’s best games won’t be officially released until 2023, and we recognise the importance of Early Access titles in our new award, 'Best Early Access Launch'."

The Nominations are: 

Best Audio

• We Are OFK
• Xenoblade Chronicles 3
• Metal: Hellsinger
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge
• Gran Turismo 7
• OlliOlli World

Best Storytelling

• IMMORTALITY
• Return to Monkey Island
• Horizon Forbidden West
• NORCO
• I Was A Teenage Exocolonist
• Wayward Strand

Best Game Community

• Dreams
• Final Fantasy XIV
• GRID Legends
• No Man’s Sky
• Splatoon 3
• Warframe

Best Game Expansion

• Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker
• Destiny 2: The Witch Queen
• Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course
• GTA Online: The Contract
• Guild Wars 2: End of Dragons
• Total War: Warhammer III - Immortal Empires

Best Gaming Hardware

• Playdate
• Steam Deck
• Analogue Pocket
• Backbone One: PlayStation Edition
• Roccat Kone XP
• WD_Black SN850 NVMe SSD for PS5

Best Indie Game

• Cult of the Lamb
• Tunic
• Rollerdrome
• Dorfromantik
• Neon White
• Teardown

Best Multiplayer Game

• Elden Ring
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenue
• MultiVersus
• Splatoon 3
• Tiny Tina's Wonderlands
• LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga

Best Visual Design

• Elden Ring
• Horizon Forbidden West
• Cult of the Lamb
• Ghostwire: Tokyo
• A Plague Tale: Requiem
• Lost in Play

Most Wanted Game

• The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
• Final Fantasy XVI
• Assassin's Creed Mirage
• Dead Island 2
• Forspoken
• Street Fighter 6
• Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
• Warhammer 40,000: Darktide
• Honkai: Star Rail
• Starfield
• Exoprimal
• Redfall
• Hogwarts Legacy
• The Day Before
• Mass Effect
• Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
• Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
• Hollow Knight: Silksong
• Kerbal Space Program 2
• Dead Space

Nintendo Game of the Year

• Xenoblade Chronicles 3
• Pokémon Legends: Arceus
• Kirby and the Forgotten Land
• Live A Live
• Splatoon 3
• Nintendo Switch Sports

PC Game of the Year

• Neon White
• Return to Monkey Island
• Hardspace: Shipbreaker
• Teardown
• Total War: Warhammer 3
• Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters

PlayStation Game of the Year

• Gran Turismo 7
• Horizon Forbidden West
• Stray
• Elden Ring
• The Last Of Us Part I
• Sifu

Xbox Game of the Year

• Halo Infinite
• Scorn
• Grounded
• As Dusk Falls
• Sniper Elite 5
• Dying Light 2: Stay Human

Still Playing

• Genshin Impact
• The Sims 4
• Destiny 2
• Final Fantasy XIV
• Minecraft
• Fortnite
• Pokémon GO
• Apex Legends
• Lost Ark
• The Elder Scrolls Online

Studio of the Year

• Roll7
• Terrible Toybox
• Half Mermaid
• FromSoftware Inc.
• Interior / Night
• Tribute Games

Best Early Access Launch

• Disney Dreamlight Valley
• Slime Rancher 2
• Dune: Spice Wars
• Core Keeper
• Vampire Survivors
• Gloomwood

Best Game Trailer

• The Callisto Protocol The Truth of Black Iron Trailer
• Goat Simulator 3 Announcement Trailer
• skate. Still Working On It Trailer
• Bloody Hell Hotel Reveal Trailer
• Time Flies Announcement Trailer
• Alan Wake 2 Reveal Trailer

The one category not included above is Ultimate Game of the Year, which has a separate voting window opening on Monday, November 7. There are also three categories decided by a panel of journalists from across Future's various gaming titles, including GamesRadar, PC Gamer, Edge magazine, Retro Gamer and Play magazine. The winners of the 'Best Performer', 'Breakthrough Award' and 'Critics' Choice Award' will all be revealed on the night.

You can vote here, but make sure to cast that ballot before November 4.

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[Make your gaming experience bulletproof with Decksaver's ultra-durable keyboard covers]

Gaming PCs aren't cheap, so it's important to keep your machine protected from any possible damage. Yet while it's easy enough to tuck the tower under your desk, looking after your keyboard is much more difficult. Sprawled across the middle of your desktop, it's potentially the most exposed part of your setup, constantly accumulating dust and dirt and always one spilled drink away from needing to be replaced entirely.

But now there is a way to reduce the risk of putting an unnecessary dent in both your gaming time and your bank account. Enter Decksaver's series of protective covers, designed to keep your keyboard safe from dust, liquids, impacts, and anything else that might turn your keyboard into an expensive dinner tray. For the last fifteen years, Decksaver has dedicated itself to safeguarding the electronic gear of DJs, music producers, pro audio specialists; and now gamers.

(Image credit: Decksaver)

As a result, Decksaver's protective covers are no simple or flimsy plastic covers. Each cover is fashioned from the company’s specification smoked clear, ultra-durable polycarbonate, the same material that's used in bullet-proof glass! These super-tough covers are not one-size-fits-all affairs either. Each cover is designed to fit precisely onto your specific keyboard, with a wide range of covers available for keyboards from established brands such as Razer, Corsair, Logitech, Roccat, SteelSeries, and Hyper X.  Many hours of design, prototyping, and testing go into every cover, ensuring they provide the neatest possible fit over your keyboard while maximising protection.

If your cup of coffee slips out of your hand when you sit down at your desk in the morning, not only will a Decksaver cover protect your keyboard from the liquid, it'll protect it from the heavy ceramic too.

But the usefulness of a Decksaver cover stretches far beyond preventing occasional accidents. As well as keeping your keyboard safe, Decksaver helps to keep it clean. The average computer keyboard has 104 keys, which is great for playing complex strategy games or nuanced tactical shooters, but less ideal when all those keys start to get gummed up with dust and grime. Nobody wants to lose an entire afternoon to cleaning a keyboard, prying out every single keycap, clearing out whatever horrors have accumulated beneath, washing the keycaps, and waiting for them to dry, before having to painstakingly reset every single one. It's a fiddly, time-consuming, and precarious task, one that can be turned into a thirty-second wipe with a dust-cloth with a Decksaver protective cover.

(Image credit: Decksaver)

The polycarbonate shell of a Decksaver cover also makes them ideal for transportation. If you're moving house, for example, you don't want to spend an hour unpacking and setting up your PC only to discover your keyboard doesn't work, and a Decksaver cover is much more durable than a roll of bubble wrap or a few packing peanuts. But the covers are also suited for more general travel. Their bespoke slimline fit adds minimal bulk to your keyboard's existing dimensions, making it much easier to sling your keyboard into a case or a rucksack for easy, convenient, and safe transportation.

Indeed, Decksaver's covers complement their protective qualities with a distinctive flair for style. Each cover has a subtle smoked clear colour that perfectly complements your keyboard's particular design, letting the specific qualities of your keyboard (such as LED backlighting) shine through. Decksaver's cover design also accounts for the positioning of any wires or ports on your keyboard, ensuring there's no need to unplug or make any alterations to your setup when fitting the cover after your latest gaming session.

Prevention is always better than cure, so if you want to maximise your gaming thrills while minimising the risk of spills, head on over to Decksaver's official website and check out their full range of keyboard covers. Your keyboard might be peripheral in name, but it's an essential part of any PC gamer's setup, and a Decksaver cover ensures that your keyboard stays at the centre of your gaming until you decide that it's time for an upgrade.

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[Logitech G Cloud]

The Logitech G Cloud is a curious device. On paper, it makes a lot of sense. It's a handheld cloud gaming system that focuses on giving you instant access to games through the magic of the cloud. This would make it excellent for gamers who want to jump straight into games and not waste precious time downloading massive install files or tweaking game settings to conserve precious minutes of battery life. 

In reality, though, its inconsistent streaming performance, high price, and very specific use cases keep the G Cloud from seriously competing in the rising handheld gaming space.   

As much as you'd want to make a Steam Deck or Nintendo Switch comparison, you shouldn't, despite it looking like a stylish hybrid of the two. If I have to compare the G Cloud to anything, it would be a premium Android tablet in both power and functionality. 

The idea is to leverage the massive cloud gaming libraries of Xbox Cloud Gaming (via Game Pass) and GeForce Now, which lets you stream games you own on various platforms such as Steam, Epic, and Ubisoft. Just like that, you're only a handful of button clicks away from playing your favorite games whenever the mood strikes without needing to download a thing. And since it's accessing games via the cloud, the G Cloud can get away with not having to have much going on under the hood hardware-wise, which boosts comparative battery life.

The G Cloud has two modes: handheld and, surprise, a tablet mode. Handheld mode is the most convenient for gaming since it has full controller and touchscreen support. All your apps can be pinned to the main screen, allowing easy scrolling. Tablet mode turns the G Cloud into a traditional Android tablet (home screen and all) with controller support disabled.

GamesRadar's Alyssa Mercante playing some Halo at her desk.  (Image credit: Future - Jorge Jimenez)

However, regardless of whichever mode you're in, booting the Xbox or GeForce Now apps will accommodate both controller and touch screen support, which is pretty convenient. And since it's streaming the games, the battery life on the G Cloud is around an impressive ten hours or so of gaming and media usage. 

Much of your enjoyment of the G Cloud will be tied to how good the internet is where you are. At home, I ran into very few issues connecting to games; even online shooters like Fortnite and Halo Infinite were pretty easy to get into. I could even connect a Bluetooth headset and party chat with friends throughout the night with no problem. But it was actually playing the games where I ran into some issues.

The problem is that latency, particularly on competitive shooters, is widely inconsistent. Far too often in both Xbox Cloud Gaming and GeForce Now I would get significant input lag in online games like Halo and Forza Horizon. Even when the games felt like they were running at their absolute smoothest, I found it near impossible to get a bead on enemies in firefights, especially with precision weapons like sniper rifles. The aiming cursor always felt milliseconds behind. Or in Forza, where my steering felt delayed, and braking on a hairpin turn led to catastrophic yet borderline hilarious crashes.

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(Image credit: Future - Jorge Jimenez)

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(Image credit: Future - Jorge Jimenez)

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(Image credit: Future - Jorge Jimenez)

My cursor would jump around far too often because my thumbs could never set themselves right on the G Cloud's joysticks. Combining this with the slightest input lag due to latency issues made playing online shooters a lousy time. It's disappointing because I like everything else about the G Cloud's design. It's smaller and lighter than a Steam Deck and only slightly bigger than a Switch, and I'd argue it feels better to hold than Nintendo's console for long periods. 

Logitech G Cloud specs

(Image credit: Future - Jorge Jimenez)

CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G (SD720G)
RAM: 16GB LPDDR5 @ 5,500MT/s 32-bit quad-channel
OS: Android 11
Storage: 64GB
Display:  1920 x 1080, 60Hz 7-inch IPS touchscreen
Connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth,
Battery: 6000 mAh
Size: 10.11 x 4.61 x 1.3-inch (256 x 117 x 32mm)
Weight: 1.48 lbs (673 grams)
Features: Dual microphones, MicroSD Card Expansion Slot
Price: $350 | $450 (CAD)

Games like God of War and Cyberpunk 2077, on the other hand, did an excellent job of showcasing the handheld's streaming capabilities. God of War's rhythmic brutal combat felt great, and whenever I did get a dip in network performance, the visual quality would go down with some notable artifacting, but it mostly kept it at a pretty manageable frame rate. My guess is since these are games with no online multiplayer components taking up more bandwidth, it was still like night and day in terms of streaming quality. 

As much as I really do like Xbox's cloud gaming, I found that GeForce Now provided a better gaming experience. I tested Fortnite on both and saw that I had slightly better latency numbers on Nvidia's streaming service. But if you don't own many PC games, Xbox Game Pass is a better deal since a subscription gives you access to hundreds of games for one monthly fee. Whereas GeForce Now can only stream games you already own or free-to-play games like Fortnite. 

The games that played the best on the G Cloud weren't games I streamed but games I downloaded from the Google Play Store. Diablo Immortals, Blizzard's mobile hack and slasher, worked well since it supports the gamepad and honestly did a better job of selling me on the G Cloud than anything I streamed on Game Pass.

The G Cloud still feels underpowered when playing Android games, however. Diablo Immortals can only be played at 30fps on low-quality settings. It was surprising to see games like Apex Legends and Call of Duty Mobile not run well since they perform pretty well on many phones and tablets. Some games also only support touch controls, making it a cumbersome experience since you have to reach over the d-pad and joystick to use imprecise on-screen touch controls.  

(Image credit: Future - Jorge Jimenez)

Outside gaming, I used the G Cloud like any ol' tablet; I sat on the couch and fell into deep PC gaming TikTok rabbit holes on the couch as my wife watched her various reality shows with fighting housewives on the big TV. It was nice to be able to connect some Bluetooth earbuds as I watched my New York Mets blow a division lead to the Atlanta Braves on a bright 450 nit 1080p 60Hz display. I could easily see a parent using one of these to pacify a young kid with some YouTube or Minecraft. 

The games that played the best on the G Cloud weren't games I streamed but games I downloaded from the Google Play Store.

But I still find it tough to nail down who the Logitech G Cloud is for. Logitech has made a neat streaming handheld that works well in very specific conditions. The G Cloud could be perfect for someone who wants to play in some matches of Fortnite on the patio or to try out some indie games on Game Pass without downloading them before bed. Even then, this assumes they don't own a Switch, an iPad, or a smartphone. 

Since the G Cloud doesn't have LTE support and is a Wi-Fi-only device, you're restricted to using this thing where there's Wi-Fi. So if you had dreams of streaming Crusader Kings III on your bus ride, you're out of luck unless you want to try tethering it to your phone, acting as a hotspot. It's doable; I've done it, and it's not fun at all. You could, of course, download a game ahead of time on the Google Play Store, but even then, you could just play those games on your phone. 

(Image credit: Future - Jorge Jimenez)

Streaming from Xbox Game Pass and GeForce Now is super easy to use so long as you have decent internet, but then you still have to deal with sometimes finicky latency issues. But what keeps it from being the ultra-convenient pickup and play device Logitech wants it to be is the price. At $350, you're asking a lot from a person who can spend roughly the same amount on a good android tablet with better hardware that could technically do the same thing. Or even spend a tiny bit more and get an actual Steam Deck or whatever Razer is cooking up. 

The Logitech G Cloud isn't a terrible handheld; it just feels like it is made for a gamer that doesn't exist. With the lack of LTE, high price, and terribly inconsistent streaming performance, the G Cloud, while easy to use, doesn't give you enough reasons to justify ditching cloud gaming on your phone or tablet.

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[No Man's Sky's new update is for space captains who 'just want to chill out']

No Man's Sky hits its next big "point zero" update today, this time in the form of No Man's Sky 4.0: Waypoint. Hello Games is promising "an overhaul of design and balance" in this patch, which introduces a new 'relaxed mode', sweeping inventory changes, and various tweaks to help people who have been away from the game ease back in. Oh, and the game's getting a Switch release too, if you're into that.

The new relaxed mode promises to let players meander through the No Man's Sky universe at a, well, relaxed pace. It tones down the game's survival elements for players who "just want to chill out". It's basically a stop-gap between the game's normal and creative modes: letting players kick back for a bit but without unlocking everything and eliminating challenge almost entirely. As if to compensate, survival mode has gotten a few tweaks to make it a bit more challenging.

Most interesting for me—someone who last played No Man's Sky some time in the Mesolithic Period—is the emphasis that Waypoint is putting on welcoming back returning players who might be baffled by the myriad updates the game has received over the years. Players coming back to the game will find a log that summarises No Man's Sky's story thus far, as well as a "new milestone system, new collectibles and improved mission content" to ease re-entry into the game.

There's a spate of other updates too: inventories have been expanded and streamlined, and ships, players, and weapons have received increased level caps. Plus, players can now fine-tune various difficulty settings themselves: you can now toggle discrete settings like permadeath even within modes that don't usually have it.

The Waypoint update was described as a bit of a house-cleaning for No Man's Sky when Hello Games' Sean Murray chatted to PCG recently, and it's certainly true that 'inventory changes and a new mode' doesn't have quite the same flagship feature pizzazz as 'ridable sandworms'. But the little things add up, and it sounds like the game's 21st major update will have serious impact on a game that was once in a pretty dishevelled state all those years ago. You can check out the full patch notes here.

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