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September 30, 2022

Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous, Owlcat Games' demon-slaying CRPG, has now been upgraded to the Enhanced Edition via a free update. It's wide-ranging, but as someone who paused their quest until they could play it on their Steam Deck while lazing around on the sofa or lying in bed, the addition of controller support is the main highlight.

I've only had time to take it for a quick spin since the update appeared last night, but I felt very comfortable playing it in controller mode, as well as on my Deck, even though it's yet to be verified by Valve. It's flexible, too, letting you control the party directly with the stick or more traditionally, by bringing up the cursor. After playing it at my desk for nearly 110 hours, I'm very much looking forward to continuing my adventures in greater comfort.

As well as letting you ditch the mouse and keyboard, the Enhanced Edition also gives fashion conscious adventurers more tools, letting you change the colour of your armour in the appearance menu, or reforge its appearance by chatting to a new golem NPC.

The enhanced battle log, meanwhile, adds a bit of extra transparency to the combat system, which should make it easier to figure out why that demon keeps kicking your arse. Your inventory should also be easier to untangle thanks to the addition of a search function. Digging through that massive thing to look for absolutely anything used to be a nightmare, so this is a bit of a godsend.

A photo mode was not on my list of things to expect from a CRPG, but Owlcat went and made one anyway. It's surprisingly good! A bit fiddly, maybe, but also considerably more flexible than you might expect. So now I can get a good look at my grumpy lich.

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Speaking of mythic paths like the lich, you'll now see new quest outcomes and reinforcement options for "various" mythic paths, and your soldiers will even throw you a lovely party if you don't take any mythic powers and head down the Legend path.

To check out the rest of the new features, as well as the bug fixes and tweaks—of which there seems to be quite a few—take a gander at the patch notes. And if you don't want to update just yet, maybe because you use a lot of mods that might break, you can select the 1.4.4 branch in the betas tab of the game's properties menu on Steam.

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September 30, 2022

The best USB Wi-Fi adapter cuts the wire on your network connection. Whether you're using a desktop PC or a laptop, it frees you from having to trail yet another cable through your home and given the performance of the latest Wi-Fi standards that doesn't mean compromising on your connection either. I'd still recommend a wired connection just for reliability, but realistically there's not much difference between wired and Wi-Fi these days.

This is good news if you want to live a wireless lifestyle but don't want to invest in a new motherboard with built-in wireless. It's a cheaper alternative than a full-on upgrade and is super easy to set up. Plug in the USB adapter and go.

A wired connection will give you the best stability and throughput in a perfect world, especially when paired with the best gaming router. The reality is, for many folks, the idea of running an ethernet cable down a flight of stairs or through the kitchen is neither particularly appealing nor safe.

If you're looking to minimize cable clutter in other areas, the best wireless gaming keyboards or wireless headsets should be your next stop. Together, we, too, can build a wireless future.

Best USB Wi-Fi adapters

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1. Trendnet TEW-809UB

The best full size Wi-Fi adapter

Standard: AC1900 IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac | Frequencies: 2.4GHz + 5GHz | Dimensions: 3.4x 2.9 x 0.8-inch (85 x 75 x 20mm) | Weight: 1.7oz (48g)

Fast AC1900 speeds

Great range

No bundled software

Not the most portable

There are nano adapters at the tiny end of the scale, and at the opposite end is the Trendnet TEW-809UB. This networking adapter tosses portability for faster AC1900 (N600, AC1300) speeds and serious antennas—four, to be exact, all positionable with a strength of 5dBi each. There is only a driver provided, but no software. Instead, Windows is in control of the networking duties. The adapter does not support MU-MIMO but does support Beamforming.

The TEW-809UB has great range but is often inconsistent with its performance, so that's something to consider the further away. It's also bigger than other USB Wi-Fi adapters on the list below. It's four large antenna

In use, the Trendnet TEW-809UB is stable and fast. It puts its antennas to good use, beating every other adapter tested on our wireless fringe location testing—on both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands. This is an excellent solution if you're using Wi-Fi in a challenging situation with a weak signal.

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2. NETGEAR Nighthawk AC1900 WiFi USB Adapter

Best Wi-Fi adapter for gaming laptops

Standard: AC1900 IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac | Frequencies: 2.4GHz + 5GHz | Dimensions: 4.7 x 1.8 x 0.9-inch (120 x 45 x 22mm) | Weight: 2.3oz (66g)

Excellent dual-band connectivity

Included Desktop cradle

Not the fastest option

A somewhat bulky design

When it comes to the best gaming routers, there are few names as ubiquitous as the Netgear Nighthawk. Netgear has been producing excellent gaming routers for some time, and the Nighthawk AC1900 brings that same performance to a portable USB adapter.

This won't necessarily get you a blazing fast connection in your local coffee shop, but at home, you can use the included magnetic desktop cradle to ensure your rig is getting the best possible connection from your router a couple of rooms away.

The Nighthawk AC1900 is a remarkably powerful and portable adapter but is somewhat bulky when compared to its peers; there were occasions where I was mildly concerned about snapping it off in one of my laptop's USB ports, and its size means that it may not always find a vacant port with the necessary clearance.

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3. ASUS USB-AC68

Best portable USB Wi-Fi adapter

Standard: AC1900 IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac | Frequencies: 2.4GHz + 5GHz | Dimensions: 4.5 x 1.2 x 0.7-inch (115 x 30 x 17mm) | Weight: 1.6oz (44g)

Plugs directly into USB or included cradle

Two deployable antennas

Unimpressive 2.4GHz performance

5GHz not the fastest either

The Asus USB-AC68 adapter features a novel folding design that incorporates dual deployable antennas. It supports USB 3.0, as well as the AC1900 standard, Asus AiRadar Beamforming, and MU-MIMO via a 3x4 antenna design. The results are a bit of a mixed bag as this Asus adapter lags in the 2.4GHz tests at a distance. While the 5GHz tests are much more reliable, it still wasn't the fastest at either the close or far distance tested.

While the Trendnet TEW-809UB is our favorite Wi-Fi adapter for its performance and range, it isn't exactly the most compact or portable solution. For those who are hoping to use their adapter for gaming on the road, the Asus USB-AC68 is a much better choice. The low street price of $75 also works in its favor. The adapter includes a cradle for use at home but can be plugged directly into a USB port for easy travel.

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4. Edimax EW-7833UAC

Best mid range USB Wi-Fi adapater

Standard: AC1750 IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac | Frequencies: 2.4GHz + 5GHz | Dimensions: 3.4 x 1.1 x 0.7-inch (87 x 27 x 18mm) | Weight: 0.8oz (23g)

Dominated throughput tests

Deployable antenna

Not the best at range

Runs warm after prolonged use

The Edimax EW-7833UAC is the update to our previous budget adapter pick, the EW-7822UAC. While many mainstream adapters suffice with AC1200 specs, this one takes it a notch up with AC1750 speeds (N450, AC1300). Installation was straightforward, with Windows 10 managing the settings. While it is similar in size to other mainstream adapters, it cleverly features a small deployable piece that contains three antennas to increase range and throughput, along with support for both MU-MIMO and Beamforming technology.

The EW-7833UAC smoked the competition, with class-leading throughput on four of the six tests, which included both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequencies. We came away particularly impressed on the close 5GHz test of 298.9 Mbps, much faster than some other respectable adapters could muster. The only real weakness was on the far tests where this adapter gave up a little ground to the competition. Perhaps the best part is that the street price of this adapter is $34 making these kinds of speeds affordable for all.

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5. Linksys WUSB6300

Best nano USB Wi-Fi adapter

Standard: AC1200 802.11ac | Frequencies: 2.4GHz + 5GHz | Dimensions: 1.6 x 0.7 x 0.5-inch (41 x 18 x 12mm) | Weight: 0.6oz (17g)

Very compact

Supports MU-MIMO

Unexciting 2.4GHz throughput

Can block other USB ports

The Linksys WUSB6300 gets termed "micro" by the Linksys folks. To be fair, it is quite small. It offers AC1200 speeds, which translates to about 860Mbps via 5GHz, and 300Mbps on 2.4GHz. Even with the tiny size, it supports the latest technology for wireless adapters, including MU-MIMO and Beamforming.

The WUSB6300 balances its small size against decent range and throughput. While the spec does limit the 2.4GHz scores, the speeds on 5GHz, even on the more extended distance tests, bring home the win for throughput on three of the six criteria for this increasingly competitive category of the adapter.

The longer distance tests for this adapter are even more impressive when you compare it against the competition that falls short in the wireless fringe testing. The list price of $40 makes the Linksys WUSB6300 an excellent choice for an adapter to toss in a bag with your notebook or to carry as a backup.

Best USB Wi-Fi adapters FAQ

Do USB Wi-Fi adapters work well?

The best USB Wi-Fi adapters can deliver an experience that's almost indistinguishable from a built-in wireless module on your PC or laptop. But those are generally the larger versions, with many antennae and a high price tag.

The smaller, nano adapters won't perform as well, and will likely need direct line of sight to your router to get the best speeds. But they are more practical if you need to be able to move around with your adapter.

Are USB Wi-Fi adapters good for gaming?

It's all about which adapter you choose, and how much you're willing to spend. The best USB Wi-Fi adapters will deliver online gaming performance that's practically indistinguishable from the speeds you can get from a built-in adapter.

But cheaper, smaller versions might well add some extra latency into the process which will make them less suitable for competitive online gaming, particularly FPS games.

How do you test Wi-Fi adapters?

Throughput testing was done using NetPerf software. A desktop with a Gigabit Ethernet port sends the data via a wired connection to the router. Three test runs are done on each wireless adapter at each of the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz frequencies, at three distances: close, far, and fringe, with the highest throughput of each parameter reported.

The router used is the ASUS RT-AX88U, our top gaming router. The throughput is tested at a "close" 8ft (2.4m) distance with a direct line of sight, and also at a "far" 30ft (9.1m) distance with an obstructing floor and wall in the way, as well as some metal ductwork intervening.

For this revision, we added tests in a Wi-Fi "fringe" location that we started using for our best wireless extender, guide except we did not plug in an extender to make the wireless connection more challenging for the wireless adapter and to test their antennas.

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September 30, 2022

The best wireless gaming mouse combines the precision of the best gaming mouse but without the hassle of wires. No drag, no tugging on the mouse cable when it gets caught on the edge of your desk, just cable-free action. The edge of the keyboard will no longer be your enemy. No, the best wireless gaming mouse serves up buttery-smooth, snag-free, clean gaming.

When it comes to picking the best wireless gaming mouse, your decision should be based on the same criteria as it would be when buying a wired gaming mouse: How many buttons do you need? Lefty, righty, or ambidextrous? Heavy or light? There are a few wireless-specific questions you'll need to ask though: like how does it connect? How good is the battery life? Some wireless gaming mice are rechargeable, while others use standard batteries. Weigh the pros and cons and see which fits your budget.

Thanks to advancements in sensors and communication protocols from Logitech, Corsair, and Razer, a new generation of speedy, wireless rodents has scuttled out of the darkness. These deliver great battery life and highly accurate sensors, while the intense competition makes for comfortable and clever designs, too.

We've tested all the best wireless gaming mouse wannabes so you could make an informed decision. And if you're looking to go wireless across the board, check out our lists of the best wireless gaming keyboards and best wireless headsets.

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1. Logitech G502 Lightspeed Wireless

The best wireless mouse

Tons of macros

Excellent design

Adjustable weight

Right-handed only

Busy left side can lead to misclicks

The G502 Lightspeed wireless is the latest iteration of a long-standing favorite among Logitech fans, the G502 Proteus Spectrum. The core of the G502 Lightspeed is Logitech's 16,000 CPI HERO sensor which makes it deadly accurate for competitive gaming. The mouse is rated for 400 IPS, so it won't drop tracking or stutter when you're wildly sweeping it across the mat; Logitech boasts the latest iteration of the HERO delivers that excellent performance at 10x the power efficiency of previous generations.

The G502 does charge quickly, up from nearly empty to 100% inside 90 minutes, and offers up to 60 hours of battery life with the lights off (48 hours with RGB enabled on the logo and CPI indicator).

The added customizability and macros set the G502 ahead of the competition.

The flashiest of the G502's features is its compatibility with the Powerplay charging mat. The mat continuously charges the mouse on the fly and if you pair them in Logitech's G Hub software suite allows your PC to register the mouse without having to plug in the USB Nano dongle. It's completely free of the detection issues I encountered testing Razer's similar Hyperflux charging mat solution, which lost tracking near the edges of the mat and charged the mouse at a very brisk rate. You can also sync lighting between the two peripherals in G Hub if you prefer a unified aesthetic across your desk.

It's not just the buttons that are customizable. The G502 also comes with optional weights in 2g and 4g sizes that can be added to the mouse chassis if you prefer a heavier pointer. Adding 16g to the unit makes it feel and behave substantially different and brings the overall weight up to a pleasant 130g. It's nice to be able to alter the mouse on the fly from its default sparrow weight to something with a little more heft—I tend to lean towards a heavier mouse for productivity and something lighter when I game, so building both options into a single chassis is an excellent convenience.

Our previous wireless mouse of choice, the Logitech G903, remains an excellent option, especially for southpaw shooters, but the added customizability and macros set the G502 ahead of the competition. This wireless version is the spitting image of its ancestors and the pinnacle of uncompromising performance in wireless gaming rodents.

Read our full Logitech G502 Lightspeed wireless review.

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2. Razer DeathAdder V2 Pro

Razer's best gaming mouse is now that little bit better

The same excellent DeathAdder design

Solid Hyperspeed wireless

Long-lived battery life

Needs proprietary USB cable to charge

Razer has recently unleashed a trinity of wireless gaming peripherals, building upon the V2 editions of its most popular products. The BlackWidow V2 Pro wasn't a huge success, but the Razer BlackShark V2 in both wired and wireless Pro iterations is one of the best gaming headsets.

When it comes to its updated mice, the wireless V2 Pro has the same super-comfortable, stylish design, and the Focus+ sensor is as swift and as accurate as any wired rodent you could find. With the HyperSpeed wireless tech connecting you to your gaming PC practically latency-free. With around 70 hours of gaming battery life, the DeathAdder V2 Pro is now the ultimate version of this long-lived rodent.

A button on the mouse’s base switches between custom profiles for sensitivity and RGB lighting.

The left and right mouse buttons are more durable than the Elite. They’re optical rather than mechanical (they use an infrared light beam to register clicks), so they should deliver fewer misclicks, lower latency, and longer life. Razer reckons they’ll last 70 million clicks rather than the 50 million for the Deathadder Elite. While I can’t possibly tell how accurate that number is, they certainly felt as responsive as I could ever need, and I never misclicked. In games of Fortnite and Escape from Tarkov, my shots felt instant, and I never had to worry about firing accidentally.

The up and down sensitivity buttons have been redesigned, too. The Elite’s were essentially one long, thin button split in two. The V2s are wider and separated by a sliver of plastic. It doesn’t look flashy, but the gap makes it easier to distinguish between the two without looking, ideal if you need to change sensitivity in the heat of battle (if you’re zooming in with a sniper, say).

A new button on the mouse’s base also switches between custom profiles for sensitivity and RGB lighting. If you sign in to Razer’s Synapse software, you can set up an unlimited number of profiles, and you can also store five in the onboard memory to use regardless of where you plug in the V2. Once you’ve set up the profiles, it’s easy to flip between options without digging into Synapse.

It still just about sits in the shade of the Logitech G502 Lightspeed wireless, mainly because the infinite scroll wheel of that mouse is so awesome. The DeathAdder V2 Pro is so good that it's a very close call.

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3. Logitech G305 Lightspeed

The best affordable wireless gaming mouse

Amazingly light, with solid build quality

Logitech's best sensor in an affordable body

Lacks premium Logitech feel

With the Logitech G305 Lightspeed, Logitech has created a high-performance wireless gaming mouse that doesn't cost the earth. Its mid-range price has it competing against some great wired mice, but there's no compromise here in terms of performance or design.

The G305 uses Logitech's Hero sensor, an iteration of the fantastic sensor in the G502. It can last more than 200 hours on a single AA battery (which helps keep the cost down vs. being rechargeable). The small wireless dongle can be stored inside the body of the mouse, but critically, the left- and right-click buttons are separate pieces from the removable palm rest, ensuring a reliable and satisfying click.

The shape of the G305 is based on a small, ambidextrous design Logitech has been using for years. While components like the scroll wheel and buttons don't feel quite as premium as the ones in the G502, they're still far better than anything you'll find in a cheap gaming mouse. The quality and performance of the G305 are killer features for its price.

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4. Corsair Dark Core RGB Pro SE

The best Qi wireless charging gaming mouse

Qi wireless charging

Great price point

This thing is BIG

Texture grip feels awkward

Palm grip style will turn some users off

Corsair's refreshed Dark Core RGB Pro SE improves on what became one of our favorite wireless gaming mice when it debuted back in 2018. Thanks to many small improvements, such as 18,000 DPI, Qi wireless charging compatibility, and 2,000Hz Hyper-Polling tech, the Dark Core RGB Pro SE is back with a vengeance.

The Dark Core RGB Pro SE also works well when paired with the Qi wireless charging mouse pad of your choice; that's the special bit in the 'special edition' naming. We found that you can use the mouse for about 4-5 days before completely draining the battery. Since Qi wireless charging mousepads are becoming more popular, the Dark Core is a good future-proof mouse.

Smart placement of the two buttons to adjust DPI on the fly.

There are fewer buttons than its predecessor, but the layout is now cleaner and more thought out because of it. The upgraded Pixart PAW3392 optical sensor now reaches 18,000 DPI, and the QI wireless compatibility and improved battery life are just some of the improvements under the hood that should get some folks excited. The other is the $90 price that well undercuts its competitors like the Logitech G604 Lightspeed or the ROG Spatha, which is another gaming mouse for people with big mitts.

I need to give the button layout a shoutout too. Mostly the smart placement of the two buttons to adjust DPI on the fly, located on the edge of the left mouse button that cycles through your onboard profiles. The light indicator to let you know which profile you're on is also a nice touch. At first, I was concerned that the LMB being slightly thinner than the RMB to accommodate the two extra buttons might affect my gameplay. Still, it ended up being a non-issue playing frantic shooters such as Call of Duty Warzone.

At under $100, the Dark Core RGB SE is a great price for a helluva fast and accurate wireless gaming mouse. It's worth noting that this weighty mouse's textured grip might feel a little strange if you're not used to a palm grip style mouse or if you have smaller hands, but it's worth persevering with.

Read our full Corsair Dark Core RGB Pro SE review.

Best gaming PC | Best gaming mouse | Best gaming chair
Best CPU for gaming| Best gaming keyboard| Best graphics cards

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5. Logitech G604 Lightspeed

The wireless mouse with the longest battery life

Excellent battery life

Comfortable design

Lots of well-place buttons

Bit office-y for our taste...

The Logitech G604 Lightspeed has only recently become one of our favorite gaming mice. Its insanely long battery makes it the perfect mouse for gaming on the go. Logitech boasts that the G604 can last over 200 hours in a single AA battery through some serious Logi-sorcery.

While less flashy than your typical gaming mouse, it still has everything a PC gamer needs. For starters, the six reprogrammable buttons along the comfortable thumb-rest make the G604 a great pick for those who religiously remap their controls. If you play many MOBAs or MMOs, the Logitech G604 might be the mouse for you.

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6. Razer Viper Ultimate

An ambidextrous and lightweight wireless mouse

20,000 DPI Sensor

Lightweight

Ambidextrous

Long Battery Life/Quick Recharge Time

Right and left clicks feel a touch flimsy

Fewer programmable buttons than competitors

This wireless, ambidextrous esports gaming mouse is for the serious competitor who wants something fast and accurate. The Viper Ultimate is almost the complete opposite of its bigger brother, the Razer Basilisk Ultimate, sacrificing buttons for a more lightweight design.

The Viper Ultimate is also loaded with Razer’s HyperSpeed Wireless transmission tech, which it claims is 25% faster than competitors. According to Razer, you should be able to achieve latencies of less than 0.2ms, which is essentially the same as the wired version of the Viper. In other words, it should perform just as well as the best-wired mice. And thankfully, it does just that from my testing.

It performed well at a variety of DPI settings.

I mainly tested it in Fortnite, where you need to snap to targets and often sweep across your entire mouse pad to build structures. I found it tracked my movement as accurately as any wired mouse I’ve used, no matter how quick my movements. It felt consistently sharp: I never detected any delays on-screen with either my movement or clicks, and it performed well at a variety of DPI settings.

I play with quite a low sensitivity, and dialing down the DPI on the Viper Ultimate is easy thanks to a small button housed on the bottom of the mouse, where you can’t accidentally nudge it. It has five settings to cycle through, and you can customize the DPI for each one in Razer’s Synapse software.

The only real shortcomings I found are that the right/left mouse buttons can feel a little flimsy due to the entire mouse being so light. It has fewer programmable buttons than its competitors, such as the Logitech G502 Lightspeed or even the Basilisk Ultimate, but comes in at the same hefty price range. Thankfully, its speed, 70-hour battery life, and ambidextrous design make it the best wireless mouse for competitive gaming around.

Read our full Razer Viper Ultimate review.

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7. Corsair Katar Pro Wireless

A no-nonsense budget wireless mouse

Comfy design

Lightweight

Lacks a little style

Perfect peripherals

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Taking cues from the Logitech G305, the Katar Pro Wireless takes a simpler, more elegant approach to the lightweight rodent. For a $30 mouse, the Katar Pro doesn't actually feel like a budget offering. Not bad if you need a reliable wireless gaming mouse with decent battery life. Just be sure you keep some extra AAs around to be on the safe side.

On the downside, the Katar Pro Wireless is a lot less flashy than Corsair's usual gaming peripherals, with no RGB to speak off or eye-catching features. That being said, it's a comfy mouse that travels well. Oh, did we already mention that it's $30?

Best wireless gaming mouse FAQ

What's the main reason to choose wireless over wired?

Today, most of the conventional wisdom about wireless gaming mice is wrong. Some wireless mice are still more expensive, and poor ones could suck their batteries dry in the middle of a match or lag thanks to a weak wireless receiver. But the best wireless gaming mice perform almost indistinguishably from wired ones, without a hint of the traditional lag or stutter to be found.

How does a wireless mouse connect to my PC?

Most wireless mice offer both 2.4G wireless connections, which will most often require a dedicated USB device, or they'll use Bluetooth. Bluetooth is more widely compatible with a range of devices, however, it usually adds latency to the connection, whereas a wireless connection has next to none. This makes wireless the preferable connection method for gaming.

How do we test wireless gaming mice?

We use each wireless gaming mouse for several days, at minimum, getting a sense of how the mouse feels in our hands, the grip and material, and the feel of its buttons. We pay attention to battery life and how often the mouse needs to be recharged if applicable.

For gaming, we primarily test mice with Destiny 2 and Apex Legends and twitchier shooters like Quake Champions to see how our performance stacks up against other mice. We scrutinize the cursor movement and responsiveness for lag, jitter, and other issues.

We use each mouse with its wireless receiver plugged into a keyboard giving it the best possible wireless situation to work with. We also tested the wireless receivers plugged into our test system a few feet away with my legs in between, increasing the opportunity for lag and interference.

Wireless gaming mouse jargon buster

Grip refers to how you hold the mouse. The most common grips are palm, claw, and fingertip. Here's a good example of how each grip works.

CPI stands for counts per inch, or how many times the mouse sensor will read its tracking surface, aka your mousepad, for every inch it’s moved. This is commonly referred to as DPI, but CPI is a more accurate term. The lower the CPI, the further you have to move the mouse to move the cursor on the screen.

Jitter refers to an inaccuracy in a mouse sensor reading the surface it’s tracking. Jitter often occurs at higher mouse movement speeds or higher CPIs. Jitter can make your cursor jump erratically, and even slight jitter could wreck a shot in an FPS or make you misclick on a unit in an RTS.

Angle snapping, also called prediction, takes data from a mouse sensor and modifies the output to create smoother movements. For example, if you try to draw a horizontal line with your mouse, it won’t be perfect—you’ll make some subtle curves in the line, especially at higher sensitivities. Angle snapping smooths out those curves and gives you a straight line instead. This is generally bad because it means your cursor movements won’t match your hand’s movements 1:1, and angle snapping will not be useful in most games. Thankfully, almost all gaming mice have angle snapping disabled by default.

Acceleration is probably the most reviled, most scrutinized issue with gaming mouse sensors. When a mouse sensor exhibits acceleration, your cursor will move faster the faster you move the mouse; this is often considered bad because moving the mouse slowly six inches across a mousepad will move the cursor differently than moving the mouse rapidly same distance. This introduces variability that can be hard to predict.

Perfect control speed, or malfunction rate, refers to the speed at which the mouse can be moved while still tracking accurately. Most gaming mice will track extremely accurately when moved at slow speeds, but low CPI players will often move their mice large distances across the mousepads at very high speeds. At high speeds, especially at high CPIs, not all mouse sensors can retain their tracking accuracy. The point at which the sensors stop tracking accurately will differ between CPI levels.

IPS measures inches per second and the effective maximum tracking speed of any given sensor is rated too. Not to be confused with the gaming monitor panel type by the same name, the higher the IPS of any given mouse, the better it can keep up with high-speed movement and maintain accuracy.

Lift-off distance is still a popular metric in mouse enthusiast circles, though it does not affect most gamers. LOD refers to the height a mouse has to be raised before the sensor stops tracking its surface. Some gamers prefer a mouse with a very low lift-off distance because they play at very low sensitivity and often have to lift their mouse off the pad to "reset" it in a position where they can continue swiping. With a low LOD, the cursor will not be moved erratically when the mouse is lifted.

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September 30, 2022

Even after seeing a 20-minute preview, I'm a little confused about what Hyenas is trying to be. It feels so far removed from Creative Assembly's prior catalogue, but here's what I do know: it's a PvPvE looter shooter that's a little too desperate for you to know how quirky and self-aware it is. It's colourful and bombastic but also so deeply, deeply cringe.

Earth has gone to 'frack', the billionaires have pissed off to Mars and left the little people to fend for themselves on…The Taint. Status doesn't appear to come from wealth in Hyenas, but rather from owning piles of pop culture tat. Inevitably the preview is packed with some not-so-subtle winks and nudges for Sega's library and even some non-blue blur outings like Fall Guys.

These bits of tat are mostly knocking about on giant spacecrafts called plunderships, which you (as a Hyena) and your two teammates will be infiltrating in order to secure these sought-after items. Nabbing loot and gaining enough 'clout points' (yes, really) lets you escape the ship with all your self-referential goodies. There are five teams per match fighting it out, along with security bots and other defensive mechanisms to fight through in order to reach each stash dotted around the map.

The mentions of clout, swag and other terms that should've been left dead in the 2010s are already making me grimace, and then out comes the explosive Mega Drive—or Sega Genesis for the US folk, as the narrator flippantly jokes—that are used to breach the loot rooms. Hyenas is clearly supposed to be very tongue-in-cheek, anti-capatalist, but also in a weird meta self-loving way that gives me absolute whiplash.

(Image credit: Creative Assembly)

The pack

I get a glimpse of three characters in Hyenas' roster: Sniper El Silbón, who employs foam grenades to create barriers and entrap enemies, which looks incredibly fun. Drag queen Galaxia sports reflective barriers and ballerina Prima can float around any part of the map with her zero-gravity jetpack. They all seem nice enough. The preview doesn't do a good job of making me feel attached to any particular one, something that's important to me when a game is pushing a fixed character roster at you.

Despite not feeling strong about a lot of Hyenas, the map and combat manages to grab my attention. Certain areas around the map allow you to make use of zero gravity, floating to either escape your enemies or provide a good vantage point for gunning them down. It can be used to quickly traverse from point to point too and feels like a good way to get some quick coverage across large spaces. The maps are also fitted with vents that can be used to sneak your way around the ship, which Creative Assembly says should open up opportunities for how each match is tackled by teams. I like the idea of trying to quietly tackle each vault, letting other teams fight each other and the environmental hazards and slipping away before anyone can notice.

Hyenas looks to be playing with some interesting concepts, but they're steeped in a weird metacringe I can't quite overlook. I can't tell if this is a game that's trying too hard or not trying hard enough, and I'm unsure how good a chance it has of squeezing itself into an already oversaturated genre. It feels a little rough right now, understandable considering the alpha footage, but I can't help but worry that Hyenas will be gone as quick as it arrives.

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September 30, 2022

Unconventional concepts require excellent execution, and Ravenbound's open world roguelite mashup is indeed unusual. After a promising first look at Ravenbound back in August I've gotten to play it sooner than I expected… and probably sooner than developer Systemic Reaction should have allowed. As of right now, Ravenbound's melee combat is not excellent.

And that combat is pretty important. Ravenbound's core concept is that it's an open world action roguelite, specifically third-person melee combat with fantastical baddies pulled from Swedish folklore. In a typical roguelike/lite, linear progression and randomization would force me to survive one room of combat and then the next, creating tension by not telling me what's through the next door. Ravenbound doesn't work that way.

The first thing I do is jump out of a tower, turn into a bird, and survey the symbols denoting combat encounters and key locations strewn about the mountainous, forested landscape beneath me. The world is at my wingtips so I soar for the location of one of three keys I'll need to unlock the area boss, dive to the ground, and transform into a human, ready for a scrap.

It comes down to combat

Ravenbound's combat gave me a set of familiar actions: light attack, heavy attack, charged heavy for stuns, blocking, dodging, and a plunging attack pulled off by jumping before dropping a heavy. My enthusiasm dried up as soon as I started tapping attack buttons because unfortunately, dodging, blocking, and sword-swinging—Ravenbound's fundamentals—all felt bad in the alpha build I played.

When I jump up and then press the right trigger for a plunge attack (Ravenbound recommends a controller) my character hangs in the air half a second too long. When goblin-like Tufftir enemies perform a similar move, they deal damage even if I've moved well out of their way before they land. The dodge maneuver lets me change direction mid-slide, which feels soupy instead of tactical. I can lock onto a target during combat, but tipping left or right with my analog stick to swap targets works so rarely that I found myself unlocking and relocking a new target instead. That's not ideal when those little goblin fellas often come in fast-moving packs of five or more.

(Image credit: Systemic Reaction)

The only bit of combat that nearly clicked was the perfect guard, which knocks back and stuns groups of enemies if I time it just before their strike. Even that I can seldom use to cancel my own attack animation—whether by design or error I couldn't tell.

These seem like solvable complaints individually, and maybe even as a whole Systemic Reaction will be able to yank the reins of its combat back on track. As it is now though, my first encounter with a group of dual axe-wielding humans actually made me wince and every subsequent encounter confirmed that gut reaction.

I was certainly prepared to forgive Ravenbound for mid-development oddities...but combat, the primary activity, wasn't negotiable.

Past the combat, all of Ravenbound's supporting elements encourage efficiency—an inclination I still appreciate towards controlling its openness. I can transform back into a raven at certain points on the map to fly to a new encounter faster. The town near the center offers additional health potions for sale along with quests from NPCs which will reward coins to buy those non-renewable potions. Combat encounters reward me with a card I can add to my hand: some giving additional attack, others defense, one particularly handy one would cause bleeding on nearby enemies any time I used a health potion. Tragically, I was already out of health potions by the time I received it and was loathe to take on a quest, and thus more muddy combat, in order to afford one.

(Image credit: Systemic Reaction)

The developers told me they hope to grab people who aren't typically roguelike/lite players—presumably those who are third-person action fans who might be open to a change. That's me. When a game has an intriguing prospect, something that I want to see succeed, I go in willing to make some excuses for it. I was certainly prepared to forgive Ravenbound for mid-development oddities like lighting glitches and placeholder text, or even the cohesion between its map and roguelite tension feeling half-baked. But combat, the primary activity, wasn't negotiable.

I'm still intrigued by what Ravenbound's trying to do. A roguelite with a known map, a day and night cycle, weather, quests to accept if I dare—those are all worthy ideas. I had hoped to come away from this first hands-on with a judgment on whether all those things together had legs. I want to know if its card-based upgrades feel as compelling as unlocking guns with weird effects in Enter the Gungeon. But I can't even make that call yet, when its core swordplay feels so off.

The hopeful note here is that Ravenbound is not imminently launching, so it's possible things will improve. Systemic Reaction is still planning beta tests sometime in the near future, which you can sign up for on its website. If you're still fundamentally interested in a roguelite stretched out into an open world, try getting your hands on this one ahead of time to be sure.

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September 30, 2022

If I asked you to name some of the nastiest Disney villains, you'd probably say someone like the Evil Queen from Snow White or Scar from The Lion King. Sure, they've earned their bad reps, but in Disney Dreamlight Valley there's nobody more villainous than the gold-loving, top hat-wearing Scrooge McDuck.

After Disney Dreamlight Valley launched in early access, DuckTales' feathered billionaire started getting compared to fellow capitalist critter and Animal Crossing landlord Tom Nook, with both seemingly performing similar roles on their respective islands.

(Image credit: Gameloft)

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When you arrive on the island in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, it's very much a fixer upper, and it's not going to look its best until you fork out and give Tom Nook a lot money—a slow process that means you'll be in debt to a wealthy raccoon for a long time. Pay off one debt, and he'll just seduce you with another loan.

Disney Dreamlight Valley follows a similar model, only it's got a more sinister twist. You're not just rocking up on the island to find it needs a bit of work—you're quickly informed about a curse called The Forgetting which has completely disrupted the status quo. People can't remember things, there's these horrible night thorns everywhere, and even worse… characters are missing, trapped in the void somewhere. Pretty creepy stuff.

While it's true that both Tom Nook and Scrooge McDuck are annoying little wealth-hoarders, Scrooge is by far the greater of two evils. Nook might laden you with debt, but ostensibly he does want to help you. Scrooge, meanwhile, is given multiple opportunities to help those around him, but he refuses to do it out of the goodness of his heart, instead demanding something in return.

(Image credit: Gameloft)

Throughout the game, even the nicest of characters ask you to run errands for them, which usually involves some foraging, digging or mining in order to craft some stuff. It's annoying that they can't do it themselves, but there's always a point to what you're doing, and you're helping the Valley look nice or function better. Scrooge's quests, on the other hand, are entirely self serving and he sends you on pointless wild goose (duck?) chases before he's willing to help you out.

Scrooge doesn't seem to care that people are apparently floating about in the void and could be in danger. When I was trying to track down Prince Eric with Ariel, Scrooge had a piece of a broken statue that could help, but instead of just giving me the piece, he had no interest in helping me unless I brought him five peridots… for no real reason. He didn't want me to craft anything or use them to track Eric, he literally just wanted some pretty peridots to stick in his vault, or "money bin", as he sometimes calls it. Damn that's cold, Scrooge. Eric could be dying out here.

Another of his quests sent me to track down the passcode for his vault, something he had clearly forgotten due to, you guessed it, The Forgetting. Of all the things he could want help remembering, he wanted access to even more wealth. His entire world revolves around money, even while his home is cursed and his friends, family and neighbours are in danger.

(Image credit: Gameloft)

Most characters have more wholesome motivations. Mickey wants your help rescuing Minnie, Anna wants to rekindle her love for Kristoff, who gave up his memories for her, and Wall-E just wants to build a nice garden for the community. It makes Scrooge's greed stand out even more.

He's stingy when it comes to rewards, too, even though I've poured so much money into the duck's various 'investments', upgraded his own store and keep paying to use the wells around town as fast travel. If he cared so much about all these investments, why doesn't he contribute something? Why do I have to do everything, including wearing a t-shirt of his own face and doing free marketing for the shop in a quest I still resent? I actually made sure the signs were pointing the wrong way, on principle, not that there's any other shops to visit nearby.

Here's a photo of me wearing Scrooge propaganda, and look, he's even holding money in it! He just can't help himself. He's always showing off even when I'm trying to take a nice selfie. Is there any need for this?

(Image credit: Gameloft)

I've now reached level 10 friendship (I use the term loosely) with the duck, and his final quest is just as irritating as the first one. I don't want to spoil it for those who have not advanced that far in the game yet, but you won't be surprised to discover it once again involves money. I'd hoped he'd have a change of heart and do something nice, like his nephew Donald's wholesome final quest, but nope. He sends you on another adventure just to make him a tidy profit.

At the time of writing, there are two 'real' villains living in the Valley: Mother Gothel and Ursula. But, hand on heart, Scrooge is no better than these two infamous baddies. He is equally as vain and self-centred. He even gets into a fight with Ursula at one point because she's making deals with residents and God forbid anyone takes any business away from Scrooge.

Sure, Ursula's deals are shady, but let's not pretend Scrooge cares about that. He just can't stomach the thought of other people making money, and he wants as much business as possible from everyone around him. He even has control over Goofy's produce stalls, and to expand them you have to go through him first. Again, he's profiting from the work of others instead of lifting a wing to help. This should all be more than enough to cement his place as Disney Dreamlight Valley's most villainous resident.

We really should just boycott this terrible duck's shop.

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September 30, 2022

Google Stadia is dead. Well, dying in January. While it always struggled to get off the ground, it had a dedicated fanbase and people who found some incredibly clever uses for it. Destiny 2 players will be familiar with Lucky "Luckstruck9" Lai, also known as 'The Checkpoint Guy'.

He's been making use of 11 Stadia accounts to share checkpoints with fellow raiders, cutting out the more mundane parts of loot grinding. It's something our own Destiny Guy Tim Clark has made good use of. But with the disappearance of Stadia, it casts an uncertain future for The Checkpoint Guy and reliant raiders.

Thankfully, it seems as though Lai is already hard at work hunting for new methods. He tweeted that everything will still be good until Stadia's closure on January 18, and is "looking for new substitutes" in the meantime. "GeForce now looks promising, but there are still limits on session length thus making it not the most feasible option," he surmised in a reply. It's a fair point—the free version only allows a one-hour session, but even the premium version caps you at six hours.

Just to give some more details on this, we will at least be set until January 18th. However, we are looking for new substitutes. Read the replies for more info on specific methods. https://t.co/gffhVeEUw1September 29, 2022

There's apparently the choice to try and run things off a virtual machine too, but that comes with its own pitfalls like upkeep costs and getting hardware beefy enough to deal with all the instances. Add to that the small matter that virtual machines are technically bannable and it's a potentially risky endeavour.

Right now, Lai says the simplest solution is making things a wider effort. "Community-based checkpoints is one of the easiest solutions assuming people can familiarise themselves with the system," he continued. There's currently the ability to do that through Lai's Discord, and he says it would only need "around 11 people AFKing at the same time" to get similar results to what he's pulling off with Stadia.

Having a poke around Lai's Discord server and it seems like players are already hard at work assisting in brainstorming long-term solutions. A discussion thread has a handful of users tossing in a variety of ideas, but right now a mod has said "the current plan is we're still looking at all our options." With just over 100 days until Stadia's demise, it's (hopefully) plenty of time for dedicated raiders to lend their thoughts and possibly their checkpoints.

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September 30, 2022

Nvidia's biggest and boldest card to date, the RTX 4090, is set to release on October 12 for $1,599. That's the reference price for the card, and the one you'll see on Nvidia's own Founders Edition card. However, you should expect to pay more for some high-end third party models, and early listings suggest that could be as much as, uh, €2,550. Or $2,000.

Gulp.

Over on German retailer Caseking, you'll find the Zotac Gaming GeForce RTX 4090 AMP! Extreme Airo for an eye-watering €2,279. It's a lovely looking car, sorry, card—I was just thinking about how I spent the same amount on my car. This card brandishes a 2,230MHz base clock and a 2,580MHz boost clock, and I can only assume it keeps cool with an absolute behemoth of a heat sink stuck atop it.

Zotac also offers the second most expensive card on the site, the Trinity OC, at €2,199.

Over in the US, Newegg has the Asus GeForce RTX 4090 24GB ROG Strix OC listed for $2,000. I was initially surprised as to the price of this one—MSI has its watercooled Suprim Liquid GPU going for $1,750—but then it is a Strix model and they've always run for a high cost. The Strix cards usually stay plenty cool, however, and I would expect no less of this RTX 4090 model at this price. It's likely to run relatively quickly, too, though neither Newegg or Asus note the clock speeds yet.

Though the highest price I've seen so far comes from Finland's Proshop, as spotted over at Videocardz, which has the Asus Strix OC going for €2,550 including VAT. Big oof.

UK prices are still largely to be confirmed, as Scan, Overclockers, and Box don't have prices listed. That is for all but one card over at Box: the Gigabyte GeForce RTX 4090 Gaming OC is listed for £1,872. I don't dare to think what the price of the Asus Strix might run up to in the UK right now.

Remember the UK is getting the worst of the RTX 4090 even at MSRP—the Founders Edition is priced at £1,679. That's roughly $1,858 on today's GBP to USD exchange rate, and a far cry from the $1,599 MSRP of the same card in the US.

(Image credit: Zotac)

It's worth noting that these are early listings and not necessarily the final price. Though I would be surprised if these aren't bang on the retail price come launch day.

I've also heard from retailers that there'll be no pre-orders for Nvidia's RTX 4090, or any card in the RTX 40-series, though that was to be expected. Anyone that does offer pre-orders might be breaching the rules, so be wary of any you see as they might not be genuine.

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What that does mean is that we can expect a rush for the RTX 4090 at launch. Nvidia hasn't announced where it will be selling its Founders Edition card at launch, though it's likely going to stick to its tried and tested channels. That means Best Buy in the US and Scan in the UK, though you can currently sign up to be notified closer to the time on the Nvidia website.

It might be that Nvidia goes back to its own store for the RTX 40-series Founders Editions, but that might run the risk of bots buying up all the stock, which was why Nvidia shut down its store following the initial RTX 30-series release.

If bots and resellers do get their hands (robotic or otherwise) on these cards at launch, and they will to some extent, then we can expect prices to be far in excess of even $2,000 for those second-hand listings. Just be prepared to pay a lot more for one of these GPUs if you're scouring eBay for one. Ideally, Nvidia will have plenty of stock initially and be able to replenish quickly, though demand will likely outstrip supply for some time. The RTX 4090 has an absolutely massive GPU inside it, too, so that's likely going to make supply slightly trickier.

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September 30, 2022

Despite being enamoured by what Souls games offer, I've never been one to dedicate the time and effort required to learn their intricacies. For Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn's development team over at A44, they want to capture the fun and grit of a Soulslike while also trying to make it approachable for people like me.

During my brief look at the game, I'm told that it lies somewhere between the Souls series and modern-day God of War and while that wasn't immediately obvious to me, I start to see it. Flintlock blends theatrical, twirling attacks and grand cinematics with strategic fights that require spacial awareness and trial-and-error to nail. The team has come a long way since its predecessor Ashen—I watch as protagonist Nor and her furry companion Enki scramble across platforms scattered across pretty environments, a blend of the medieval and magical. Nor brandishes her axe, swinging with weighty force, weaving in her gun attack as she whips it off her back to shoot the stumbling enemy. It looks like it flows lovely, and A44 says that the way you go about tackling each enemy matters. Getting an axe kill will net you bullets for your gun, which you can then use to kill baddies for extra armor.

It's not just Nor who can attack, either. While she partakes in more traditional methods of combat, Enki provides the dash of fun fantasy magic. They can attack and charge up abilities to support Nor, tripping enemies and causing mischief. It's a nice juxtaposition between the two, though at the point in the story I'm seeing the two are still relatively unfamiliar with each other. Nor does have minimal access to magic for traversal, but the two largely serve different purposes.

Power trip

There's another thing Enki can do: steal the power of the gods. With the door to the afterlife being opened, there are all sorts of old gods knocking around Flintlock's world. Putting them back in the place is the duo's goal, and with each god defeated Enki can knick their powers for their own use. One such god is the god of knowledge, holed up in a library. Nor once again spends time leaping along various platforms, dodging attacks as she goes. She goes straight for the god's knees, a weak spot. It's certainly got tells of Souls games running through the combat—carefully reading the bosses moves, dodging appropriately, but also feels more action-oriented.

(Image credit: A44 Games)

Outside of combat, Nor can help to rebuild towns similar to Ashen's Vagrant's Rest. Camps contain NPCs that have certain quests to complete, all contributing towards redevelopment. These camps are a sort of hybrid between Ashen's town and bonfires of the Souls series. They're where Nor can recuperate, spend influence (souls, basically), and eventually build up a tidy following. Whenever she finds a new camp, that following will set up with her, moving around as she darts from place to place.

I really like the look of Flintlock, despite it being pretty far from my usual game of choice. A44 has done a lovely job of making the game look rhythmic and flowing, and the concept of taking a Soulslike and making it accessible across difficulty options is massively appealing to me. While I'm unsure if the narrative will hook me in, the combat alone looks satisfying enough to lure me into this strange fantasy world.

Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn releases on Steam in early 2023.

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September 30, 2022

Meta is offering an AI video generation service via Twitter right now called Make-A-Video. Although it looks pretty horrendous right now, the number of comments in just a day suggests that soon the AI image generation fad will be superseded by AI video generation. It's a big leap, with researchers pushing the boundaries of generative art as we know it, in particular how much data is necessary to bring images to life.

"With just a few words, this state-of-the-art AI system generates high-quality videos from text prompts," Meta AI writes in the tweet, and calls for prompts. The trick to keeping heaps of unregulated gore and porn from being generated and posted on Twitter? Send the prompt to them, and they might post the results.

We’re pleased to introduce Make-A-Video, our latest in #GenerativeAI research! With just a few words, this state-of-the-art AI system generates high-quality videos from text prompts.Have an idea you want to see? Reply w/ your prompt using #MetaAI and we’ll share more results. pic.twitter.com/q8zjiwLBjbSeptember 29, 2022

The alternative to waiting for the (likely scarred for life) Meta AI team to potentially select your prompt out of the thousands now piling into the comments is to head over to the Make-A-Video studio and sign up using the Google form to register your interest in the tool.

The accompanying research paper (PDF warning) calls the Make-A-Video process "an effective method that extends a diffusion-based T2I model to T2V through a spatiotemporally factorized diffusion model." That's a fancy way of saying they used an evolved version of diffusion's Text-to-Image generation model to make pictures move.

"While there is remarkable progress in T2I generation," the paper reads, "the progress of T2V generation lags behind largely due to two main reasons: the lack of large-scale datasets with high-quality text-video pairs, and the complexity of modelling higher-dimensional video data."

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Essentially, the size and accuracy of the datasets needed to train current text to video AI models are just too vast to be viable.

The amazing thing about this evolution is that "it does not require paired text-video data," the paper notes. That's unlike many video and image generators out there that rely on galleries of content already paired with text. "This is a significant advantage compared to prior work," it explains, as it isn't as restricted and doesn't require as much data in order to work.

There are a few ways to use the tool, with it either filling in the motion between two images, simply adding motion to a single image, or creating new variations of a video based on the original. The results are fascinating. They're dreamy and psychedelic, and can be generated in a few different styles.

Sure these are a little spooky, especially when you remember that the results are only going to get more realistic, but a little hike through uncanny valley never hurts on the lead up to Halloween.

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September 30, 2022

Whether you're searching for a helpful clue to help nudge you in the direction of today's Wordle answer or you'd like the solution to the puzzle of the day handed out as quickly as possible, you'll find everything you need to solve the September 30 (468) puzzle on this very page.

As if to make up for the unpredictable rollercoaster Wordle's had me on this week, today's answer came with the minimal amount of fuss. A few productive guesses swiftly followed by the answer isn't especially exciting, but it's not a bad way to start my Friday either.

Wordle hint

Today's Wordle: A hint for Friday, September 30

Contempt. Disdain. A lack of respect. Today's answer is a word used to describe a negative emotion and one, that thanks to the English language's colourful quirks, can be metaphorically poured on its target.

Wordle help: 3 tips for beating Wordle every day

If there's one thing better than playing Wordle, it's playing Wordle well, which is why I'm going to share a few quick tips to help set you on the path to success:

A good opener contains a balanced mix of unique vowels and consonants.
A tactical second guess helps to narrow down the pool of letters quickly.
The solution may contain repeat letters.

There's no time pressure beyond making sure it's done by midnight. So there's no reason to not treat the game like a casual newspaper crossword and come back to it later if you're coming up blank.

Wordle answer

(Image credit: Josh Wardle)

What is the Wordle 468 answer?

Sometimes you just need to save your win streak. The answer to the September 30 (468) Wordle is SCORN.

Previous answers

Wordle archive: Which words have been used

The more past Wordle answers you can cram into your memory banks, the better your chances of guessing today's Wordle answer without accidentally picking a solution that's already been used. Past Wordle answers can also give you some excellent ideas for fun starting words that keep your daily puzzle solving fresh.

Here are some recent Wordle solutions:

September 29: SCALD
September 28: USURP
September 27: SOGGY
September 26: BRISK
September 25: ADMIT
September 24: GRATE
September 23: GLORY
September 22: SAINT
September 21: RECAP
September 20: ALIKE

Learn more about Wordle

Every day Wordle presents you with six rows of five boxes, and it's up to you to work out which secret five-letter word is hiding inside them.

You'll want to start with a strong word like ALERT—something containing multiple vowels, common consonants, and no repeat letters. Hit Enter and the boxes will show you which letters you've got right or wrong. If a box turns ️, it means that letter isn't in the secret word at all. means the letter is in the word, but not in that position. means you've got the right letter in the right spot.

You'll want your second go to compliment the first, using another "good" word to cover any common letters you missed last time while also trying to avoid any letter you now know for a fact isn't present in today's answer.

After that it's just a case of using what you've learned to narrow your guesses down to the right word. You have six tries in total and can only use real words (so no filling the boxes with EEEEE to see if there's an E). Don't forget letters can repeat too (ex: BOOKS).

If you need any further advice feel free to check out our Wordle tips, and if you'd like to find out which words have already been used you'll find those below.

Originally, Wordle was dreamed up by software engineer Josh Wardle, as a surprise for his partner who loves word games. From there it spread to his family, and finally got released to the public. The word puzzle game has since inspired tons of games like Wordle, refocusing the daily gimmick around music or math or geography. It wasn't long before Wordle became so popular it was sold to the New York Times for seven figures. Surely it's only a matter of time before we all solely communicate in tricolor boxes.

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September 30, 2022

As far as strategy games go, Master of Magic is one of the old school all-timers, right up there with Civilization and Master of Orion. Originally released in 1994, it gave you a settlement and a scout in the traditional manner, but it also made you a wizard rather than, say, boring old Abraham Lincoln. Researching varied kinds of magic let you summon different troops and call down different spells from its selection of hundreds. If you never tried it, Master of Magic Classic is available for free right now on GOG.

Though originally published by Microprose, Master of Magic ended up at Atari before being rescued from obscurity by Slitherine, who released the Caster of Magic DLC a whole 25 years after the base game launched. Slitherine is also publishing a modern Master of Magic remake by Polish studio MuHa Games, responsible for the Thea series, and has announced that it will be released on December 13.

GOG is celebrating its 14th anniversary right now, and as well as giving away Master of Magic Classic, it's brought Skyrim to its store at last. Yes, that really is a thing people wanted. The thread requesting it on GOG's community wishlist forum has over 15,000 votes in its favor. GOG's also having a sale, with over 900 games discounted. Here are a handful of the highlights.

Dragon Age Origins Ultimate Edition, 75% off
Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak, 90% off
Mordheim: City of the Damned, 90% off
Thief Gold, 86% off
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines, 50% off
And, yes, The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim Special Edition, 67% off

Master of Magic Classic will be available for free until Sunday October 2 at 3pm PST/11 PM BST. The remake's designers have been explaining what's new in their version in a series of dev diaries, noting why they've made changes to spells like web and flying fortress, increased the movement for units, given magical ranged attacks ammunition, and reduced the hydra's number of heads from the original nine down to three. The remake will be available on GOG, Steam, and the Epic Games Store.

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September 30, 2022

During the annual Warhammer Skulls for the Skull Throne event earlier this year, when Warhammer 40,000 CRPG Rogue Trader and retro FPS Boltgun were announced, we also heard word of a digital card game called Warpforge. Now, developers Everguild (who also made Horus Heresy: Legions) have announced an alpha build of Warpforge will be available during Steam Next Fest, and anyone who tries it will get exclusive cosmetic rewards when the full launch happens next year.

Two of Warpforge's factions will be playable during Steam's extravaganza of demos, letting players choose between the Goff clan of orks and the Ultramarines. The Goffs are hand-to-hand specialists who dress in black and favor bull's horns as accessories, and many of them are natural leaders (infamous ork warlord Ghazghkull Thraka is a Goff). The Ultramarines are the space marines' most stolid exemplars of doing things by the book, and the only loyalist chapter whose Primarch is alive and active. The two make for a pretty classic match-up of popular armies, but it looks like the full game will also include necrons, aeldari, tyranids, and Chaos marines.

Warpforge will have singleplayer campaigns for each faction as well as draft and constructed competitive modes, time-limited events with special rules for their duration, and something called "massive alliance wars, which will test the mettle of even the most seasoned veterans."

As well as making the alpha build available, Everguild are hosting a livestream during Steam Next Fest about their plans for Warpforge and its development roadmap. The press release says we should, "Expect information about the initial line-up of armies, game modes, closed beta periods, supported languages, and more!" It also explains that anyone who plays Warpforge's alpha build during Steam Next Fest "will earn exclusive in-game cosmetics for taking part and for reaching certain milestones."

Steam Next Fest will run from October 3 to October 10 and will feature hundreds of demos of upcoming games, as well as a bunch of livestreams. Warpforge is scheduled for a full release in 2023, and will be free-to-play. You can find more info on its Steam page.

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September 30, 2022

It's notoriously hard to cut through the noise on Twitch: for every million-sub streamer, there are tens of thousands of aspiring streamers with almost no views. Streamer KeatDawg has come up with a good way to get attention, though: self-punishment, in the form of a dunk tank contraption.

As you can probably guess, KeatDawg's nasty machine drops him into a tub of water every time he fails. And if being dunked in a tub of water with every mistake isn't bad enough, KeatDawg is playing Jump King, a notoriously tough platformer about scaling an increasingly ludicrous tower with jumps alone.

Needless to say, KeatDawg is getting very wet.

PROGRESS STREAM. After 4 streams I finally escaped world 2 after 254 dunks. 7 worlds to go (I only dunked 222 times in the main game...) pic.twitter.com/UD2StnKHVhSeptember 29, 2022

KeatDawg is a 19-year-old from Georgia who, according to their bio, usually plays Valorant, Minecraft, Risk of Rain 2 and Overwatch. The streamer would be having a much drier time if those games were on the menu, but as it stands, during this playthrough of Jump King KeatDawg has already been dunked 335 times. Today alone, he's been dunked over 50 times. Damn.

As you can see in the oddly satisfying footage embedded above, KeatDawg is seated on a board above a tub of water. A headset is held suspended on a hook, so that when the inevitable dunk happens it doesn't get ruined. Here's a closer look at the diabolical contraption, via KeatDawg's Twitter:

(Image credit: KeatDawg)

KeatDawg has been at it for a while: the Dunk King streams have been happening since at least early August. But now's the time to give KeatDawg some love, if only so there's no escalation. What if a dunk tank except the water is slime? Or Mountain Dew? Or dog poop? To stay abreast of proceedings, watch the stream on Twitch.

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September 30, 2022

The Dread X Collections are packages of bite-sized horror that are at least partially responsible for the recent resurgence of retro horror games, particularly of a PS1 vintage. The games featured across the five collections range from comedic through to genuinely creepy, and touch on genres ranging from first-person shooters through to point and click adventures.

You could say, given their episodic nature, that they resemble George Romero's old horror anthology Creepshow, which was a feature length film consisting of five short, grizzly stories. If you've ever said that, you can now feel vindicated, because the team behind the Dread X Collections is making a Creepshow game to tie into the more recent episodic revival produced by AMC.

Revived in 2019, the new iteration of Creepshow is exclusively available on the horror-themed streaming service Shudder. A fourth season is wrapping up production at present, but the game adaptation won't be ready until 2024. It'll probably be worth the wait though: the studio responsible for the supremely effed up The Mortuary Assistant is involved, and a developer on that game, Brian Clarke, will serve as creative director for the Creepshow project as a whole.

AMC and DreadXP have teased more announcements in the coming months, and it's unclear whether the adaptation will be based on actual episodes from Creepshow, or if it'll be kinda like the older Dread X Collections with a new name. The announcement confirms that the game will "retain the iconic franchise’s anthology horror format, consisting of multiple self-contained horror stories that cross gameplay genres and tone." So yeah, basically a Dread X Collection.

Dread X isn't the only videogame horror anthology out there: the Haunted PS1 Demo Disc is one high profile example of modern retro horror, which capitalises on the creepy, unheimlich qualities of early 3D graphics. My personal favourite developer in this mould is Puppet Combo, whose Murder House is brilliant. Nun Massacre looks good too.

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September 30, 2022

The news that Stadia is shutting down is a little surprising, but no one's cleaning spit take coffee off of their screen. The Stadia offer just never sounded very good: Here are some games you like, but with video compression, extra input lag, and other internet problems, and they cost full price, plus a subscription fee if you want 4K streaming. There were some good features, and Stadia did work as well as any game streaming can work right now, but Google really Leeroy Jenkins'd the whole thing by launching it before it was ready, cavalierly starting an in-house game studio and then axing it after a year, and making a ludicrous ad that failed to communicate why anyone should take a chance on the service.

It's classic Google: There's a website dedicated to memorializing products the search and advertising giant has buried. Maybe that bold willingness to fail is why Google has a market cap of over a trillion dollars and I don't, but it's not great for the people who trusted the company's commitment to Stadia. Stadia users are going to lose access to their games, and although they're getting refunds, a lot of save files are going to disappear into the void. Meanwhile, game developers who were making Stadia versions of their games have apparently been wasting their time, and based on the reactions we're seeing, they found out that Stadia's a goner at the same time we did.

From disappointment to I-told-you-sos, here's how the games industry is taking the news.

Destiny 2 game director Joe Blackburn

The developers at Stadia created a development platform that's empowered us to continue to create and evaluate Destiny 2 from home over the past few years. I'm sure today is rough for a lot of folks, thanks for helping us make games.September 29, 2022

Rocksteady senior gameplay programmer Aadit Doshi

To be fair, Google Stadia faced terrible odds in the past 3 years, having to deal with:- a global pandemic forcing people to turn to online entertainment.- graphic cards and console shortages, creating high demand for alternatives. If only they hit the market at a better timeSeptember 29, 2022

(Got 'em.)

Necrosoft Games director Brandon Sheffield

I know everybody is having a great time laughing at this but stadia had the best dev revenue of any streaming service, and launching Hyper Gunsport there was going to recoup our dev costs. We were launching there in November and are now in a much tougher situation. https://t.co/ZM8MfKrc5ASeptember 29, 2022

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney

Google made a really solid and good-spirited effort with Stadia, supporting a lot of developers along the way. F https://t.co/ShDFbZYaOuSeptember 29, 2022

SFB Games co-founder Tom Vian

Tangle Tower was due to launch on Stadia in 2 days time, and this article was the first I heard about it shutting down https://t.co/Pu0UPTQlRnSeptember 29, 2022

Another game developer, Rebecca Heineman, replied to the above tweet: "We have a title coming out November 1st. Now we hear about this."

Game developer and consultant Rami Ismail

Part of me is just so sad at Google's spectacular mishandling of Stadia. When it was first pitched to me, long before launch, they had so many cool ideas - but conservative strategies, a lack of trust in devs, & absolute underinvestment - it killed it. https://t.co/ykhD5qZYyNSeptember 29, 2022

Creator, host, and accessibility advocate Steve Saylor

Super sad to see, especially for all the people working extremely hard on making this work. My heart goes out to all of them.Stadia had such huge potential. Even for accessibility, they were one of the first to list accessibility info on games in the store.Sad to see it go. https://t.co/k801OkF2dMSeptember 29, 2022

No More Robots director Mike Rose

Oh my god https://t.co/3lX9ExEfKBWe have a game coming to Stadia in November. Who wants to guess that Google will refuse to pay us the money they owe us for itSeptember 29, 2022

PC Gamer has contacted Google to ask for comment on what its closure means for studios that had deals with Google for Stadia games, such as Mike Rose, or who were independently working on Stadia versions of their games.

For Stadia users, the service will remain operational until January 18, 2023. Regarding save games, Google says it might be possible to hold onto progress in "some games that support cross-progression play on other platforms," which I assume means games like Destiny 2. "For the majority of games," however, Google says preserving progress "won't be possible."

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September 29, 2022

Earth had a good run. It spun happily around the sun for 5 billion years and for a while there it produced some pretty cool-looking dinosaurs. But the party's over: in the past couple centuries a swiftly spreading species of primate started digging gunk out of the ground and setting it on fire, and it's only a matter of time until the planet is more or less uninhabitable.

Typically in science fiction when their home goes completely to hell, the remnants of humanity look for a whole new planet to colonize, but in Aquatico you use submarines instead of rockets to reboot civilization. With the Earth's surface desolate and uninhabitable, your job is to create a booming metropolis on the seafloor in this underwater survival city builder, due out later this year.

A free demo of Aquatico popped up today on Steam, developed by Digital Reef Games and published by Overseer Games (who created Patron, another fun survival city builder). I spent some time with the demo creating my own version of Andrew Ryan's Rapture, this time one without giggling vampire children and magic powers sold from vending machines. And I'm happy to say that even in demo form, Aquatico feels like a pretty substantial city builder. Just clicking around in the menus for the first time, there's an impressive number of buildings to unlock and a tech tree that scrolls on for ages.

I started with a few basic production buildings to pump oil out of the seabed and convert it to fuel, I placed a couple oxygen generators so my small handful of humans can fill their diving suits with air, and planted some undersea turbines that use the water's current to generate electricity. Resources like oil and fuel all need to be connected with a pipeline that runs through the city, and the early stages of the game also depend on sending out underwater drones to scavenge the reefs for sponges to produce plastics (the sea's favorite snack) that can be used for everything from building new structures to fabricating clothing.

It's a little weird to think about going shopping for clothing while living at the bottom of the ocean, but once you start building domes it makes more sense. Your human survivors don't just scuttle around between airlocks in cramped tin cans, but can have homes built under huge water-tight domes, and those little air-bubble neighborhoods can have markets, health clinics, and schools, just like the surface world did.

(Image credit: Overseer Games)

Sunken city

And honestly despite being beneath the waves, Aquatico still functions a lot like surface-dwelling city builders. I was delighted to discover I could still build farms, and I'm currently growing crops of sea cucumbers and kelp under the watchful robotic eyes of my undersea drones, who plant, harvest, and then deliver the goods to market. You can raise livestock like tuna in pens and harvest them, too, just like an aquatic cowboy. And your citizens won't be crouched in a cramped metal tank spooning cold fish into their mouths: you can build proper restaurants under the domes for a fine dining experience. Sushi is on the menu.

Naturally, there's plenty of risk when you're messing around 100,000 leagues under the sea. There's nothing more alarming than seeing a warning icon pop-up over one of your human residents, especially when they're walking around on the seafloor. You don't want to run low on oxygen, obviously, but the ocean's depths are extremely cold so any shortage of heating fuel means your humans will begin freezing to death. And with new citizens regularly arriving from the surface you have to keep all those resources flowing and growing or a small shortage could become a major catastrophe.

(Image credit: Overseer Games)

Like the best city builders, it's also fun to take a few minutes to just sit back and watch things happen in Aquatico. There are some lovely animations as the various production buildings churn out resources, and it's fun seeing my human citizens walking around in their domes or trudging across the seafloor in mech-like diving suits. A mechanized submarine moves surplus resources from my base into storage, and schools of fish, sea turtles, and even sharks regularly swim by.

It's all really delightful to see in action. That singing crab was correct: it really is better down where it's wetter.

I'm looking forward to playing more: despite building quite a lot in the opening hour, the map I'm playing on looks huge and I've barely covered any of it with my city. And while I unlocked submarine expeditions, they're not available in the demo and I'm curious how they'll work. There are also government and societal policies that can be passed that I've barely begun to investigate. I only got a small look at Aquatico, but I like what I've seen so far.

One thing I do wonder: with oil drilling and plastic manufacturing and pipelines stretching all over the map, is civilization just making the same mistakes all over again, this time inside the ocean instead of next to it? I guess we'll find out when Aquatico launches later this year.

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September 29, 2022

Overwatch 2's new player experience, or First Time User Experience, locks the best parts of the game behind a grind. After playing on a temporary new account given to me by Blizzard, I've seen how it works, and it's as bad as it sounds.

When Overwatch 2 arrives next week, people who never bought the original game will have a mountain of hero unlocks to climb. Most of the game's 35-hero roster isn't available from the start. To unlock them, you have to complete up to 150 games. Wins count as two games and you earn progress toward all of the heroes at the same time, so the "100 matches" number that Blizzard says you have to play is probably accurate. And, at least at launch, you can't pay money to skip the process like in other games.

You start with a handful of heroes in each of Overwatch's three roles: four tanks, six damage, and three support. New tanks can instantly pick up beginner favorites like Reinhardt, Soldier: 76, and Mercy. It's an easy-to-learn starting lineup for people who are new to Overwatch, but if you want to try anyone else from the original cast, you need to start queuing up for games. One game will clear Genji for play, two for D.Va, three for Cassidy, four for Ana, and so on, all the way up to 150 games for Echo.

The order of hero unlocks doesn't have an obvious logic to it. Genji is a popular character so I can understand why he'd be first, but he's also a highly-mobile, projectile-based flanker hero that takes a long time to learn how to be effective on him; an actually new player would be much better suited with a hero like Mei, who for some reason takes a whole 70 games to unlock. It looks like Blizzard tried to line them up based on both popularity and difficulty without realizing that's not necessarily how people choose what heroes they want to play.

Blizzard's blog post frames it as the best solution to experienced players abusing new accounts so they can play their best heroes and ruin beginner games, also known as smurfing. I don't buy it. The game already limits what game modes you can access from the start, it could have forced players into the Arcade modes where team composition and hero picks don't matter, where the player are less prone to smurfing in.

(Image credit: Tyler C. / Activision Blizzard)

First impression

When the original Overwatch launched, part of the appeal to it was that I could pick any hero at any time. I started with Tracer and was tremendously awful at her (she's one of the hardest heroes to master), but it didn't matter because the matchmaking let me feel competent playing against people of a similar skill level anyway. The game encouraged you to pick whoever fit your style or used an ability on you that might be fun to try.

The new unlock method throws a lot of that away and wields that curiosity against you. If you really want something, you have to earn it—an ethos that is synonymous with free-to-play games, but an uncomfortable fit for Overwatch, which always guaranteed equal access to everything but cosmetics.

There were plenty of games where I got tired of playing the hero I had chosen from the start and felt restrained when I opened the hero select menu to a bunch of greyed-out faces. After getting team-wiped by devastating enemy ultimates, I was bereft of Zenyatta and his life-saving Transcendence. And for the 20 or so games before I could play Bastion, I wish I had a high-DPS character to pick when the enemy tank was becoming a pain.

(Image credit: Tyler C. / Activision Blizzard)

Overwatch 2's new player experience adds friction where it never was before.

As an experienced player who adores the rock-paper-scissors metagame of hero picks and counters, the limited choice hurts more than it would for a new player. But for a game that dropped its price tag to let anyone in, Overwatch 2 doesn't offer a better way to learn or even play with that metagame until you've put the time in. The new tutorial is too brief to teach anything other than the basic mechanics. It doesn't illustrate the part of the original that made room for a variety of players who weren't interested or capable of competing through raw mechanical skill. Mid-match swaps are essential to Overwatch, so essential that when you switch heroes in Overwatch 2, you keep up to 30% of your ultimate charge. The way it discourages it from the very start clashes with the game's entire pitch.

Millions of people already own Overwatch, and I assume many of them will play the sequel next week and won't have to deal with this at all, unless they group with or grouped against someone who has never played before. But there are plenty of people who have never touched the game in the last six years, and there will be more as time goes on.

The full effects of the new player experience won't be felt for a while, not until the list of heroes grows in a few years and the grind becomes immense. Over time, the hero limits could be frustrating and create a whole set of new players that don't understand that hero swaps are an integral, strategic part of the game and a healthy way to find solutions to problems in a match or avoid feeling stuck on a single hero.

Right now, Overwatch 2's new player experience adds friction where it never was before and arbitrarily limits the options for players in the most important hours of playing a new game. If Blizzard wants it to be approachable to a variety of players for a long time, this isn't how you do it.

Overwatch 2 will be out next Tuesday, October 4.

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September 29, 2022

Released in 1993, Myst is one of the most successful and influential videogames of all time. Naturally, it became a series, and a decade after the original, developer Cyan Worlds went all-in on its ambitions with Uru: Ages Beyond Myst, which was meant to feature a small-scale MMO component called Uru Live. Alas, it bombed, the whole Uru Live segment was cancelled, and that was that until GameTap released it in 2007 as Myst Online: Uru Live a few years later. That bombed too.

Eventually, the rights to the whole thing went back to Cyan, who put it out (again) for free. I've knocked around in it a few times and it's cool, but it also feels incomplete and small—a tiny memorial to what might have been. It's a forgotten corner of the game world, a place where a half-dozen or so people can wistfully wander and poke around and, on very lucky days, find someone else to talk to. I get the itch to hop into it every few years, and every time I'm happy to discover it's still there, but also kind of blue to see it left in such a state. So I was very pleasantly surprised—stoked, even—to see Cyan tweet yesterday that a new Age is coming to Myst Online.

A new fan-made Age is coming to Myst Online!Please join us in the Chisno Preniv Library on Saturday October 1 at 12:30KI (6:30pm GMT) for the unveiling..."Fahets: Highgarden is a small garden area in the Age of Fahets and is the first Age that I wrote." - Keith "Tweek" Lord. pic.twitter.com/u5B2GBIcY2September 28, 2022

The addition of new content to Myst Online is a bit like Everquest 2's recently-announced 19th expansion: Unexpected, and kind of weird, because who knew these games were still running in the first place? And, it's fair to ask, why? Particularly in the case of Myst Online—Everquest 2 is awfully old as videogames go, but at least it actually launched and was reasonably successful in its time.

It turns out that this isn't the first new Age added to Myst Online in recent years. Fans have been futzing around with the game for years, but in 2020 Cyan opened the door to fan-made-but-official new Ages, beginning with a Guild of Messengers Pub and a memorial garden called Veelay Tsahvahn, both of which link back to a new central area. As Zarf Updates explained at the time, all of this new content was 100% fan service, which was doubly interesting because the Myst Online fan base "is tremendously loyal and enthusiastic, but it's also small and not really growing."

"About 200 people logged in for this unveiling, which is an enormous crowd in Uru terms; I'm sure it's the biggest we've seen since 2010," Zarf wrote. "But in Internet terms it's not much. And clearly the active Cavern population will drop back off to a dozen-ish in a few days."

Here's a fan-made video from early 2021 that I think nicely captures the spirit of those fans:

I've never seen anywhere near 200 people in Myst Online; I'd call a dozen people at once a pretty good day. But that's what makes the addition of a new Age, and the prospect of more to come, so legitimately exciting and even a little uplifting: Through the efforts of a handful of dedicated followers and a game studio that supports them, this weird little world isn't just persisting, it's actually growing. As someone who was deeply disappointed by the failure of Uru Live 20 years ago (and, quite frankly, angry at Ubisoft for refusing to even give it a chance), I think that's very cool, and I plan on being there for it.

The unveiling of Fahets: Highgarden in Myst Online is set to take place at 11:30 am PT/2:30 pm ET on October 1. If you're curious, you can jump in for free at mystonline.com: You'll need a Pentium 4, 512MB RAM, and a 32MB video card to play.

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September 29, 2022

Mario presents a compelling caricature of a blue collar guy, sure, but who are the real working stiffs of the Mushroom Kingdom? That's right: the Goombas. Salt of the earth mushroom men walking back and forth on a platform day and night, all but turning to the camera and muttering "eh, it's a livin'!" They exist only to be trod upon by their betters. Goombas are the extras in a heated love triangle between an Italian, a turtle, and a neighboring monarch.

Indie 2.5D platformer Rog and Roll (spotted by Alpha Beta Gamer) puts the spotlight where it should be: it focuses on the mooks and the minions, having you take control of Rog, an adorable little tomato man. Absent protagonists or final bosses, the cute monsters of Rog's world built an egalitarian henchmen society, one which is now threatened by the return of an evil overlord.

Developer Punch the Moon recently put out a free demo for Rog and Roll consisting of its first world, a Green Hill Zone-type deal. The platforming controls feel good—bouncy, yet precise⁠—and the level design has already impressed me. Rog and Roll's levels have a bit of a Sonic the Hedgehog thing going on, with upper and lower paths through its levels.

If you lose your way on the trickier upper path, you can still muddle through to the end of the level on that easier lower route. Ample and cleverly placed collectibles seal the deal, with three crystals and four giant coins offering replay incentive and helping the levels feel generous and expansive.

Rog and Roll is also quite a looker, with a 2.5D presentation reminiscent of Paper Mario, or if someone had tried to do a Yoshi's Island on the Gamecube. I think it's hard to do a surprising or impressive take on a grassy green starter world these days, but Rog's striking palette and the addition of some mournful lost ruins really help this one pop. The game's promotional screenshots provide a small glimpse at later worlds, including a pastel-colored futuristic city like something out of the Pokemon anime (or the N64 Smash Bros. stage it inspired).

I'm excited for Rog and Roll⁠—it manages to have a similar sort of "how you remember it" magic as Shovel Knight but for the Gamecube/Game Boy Advance generation. It also ran perfectly on my shiny new Steam Deck despite its lack of a verified tag, so you can bring Rog and co. with you on the bus or to a rooftop apartment party like a twee model in an ad. Rog and Roll does not yet have a release date, but you can wishlist it and check out the demo on Steam.

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