PCGamesN Friday, November 19, 2021 3:51 PM Deathloop is about being one of the only people on an island who knows what day it is, but that doesn't mean you want your enemies to be completely clueless. Indeed, the Eternalists on Black Reef aren't the brightest crayons in the box sometimes, and the FPS game's latest patch should perk them up a bit. The patch notes for Deathloop Game Update 2 start off with a section devoted to NPC behaviour, and list the ways in which the increasingly drunken Eternalists are getting smarter. They'll notice now when bullets whizz by but don't hit them, and when someone nearby gets assassinated. They'll be able to hear nearby footfalls better and will react to them faster. Enemies will no longer try to move to cover if you've gotten too close to them, and they're able to work out where a grenade has been thrown from. They also won't stop trying to kill Colt if Julianna links them to him using the Nexus slab ability. Developer Arkane Lyon says the patch also includes "numerous other small fixes and improvements to NPC behavior, reactions, pathing, and placement". RELATED LINKS: Deathloop review, Pre-order Deathloop, The best FPS games on PC |
PCGamesN Friday, November 19, 2021 3:02 PM There's a hotfix out for Doom Eternal that makes some tweaks to version 6.66 of the demon-infested FPS game. The patch notes run through a pretty standard list of crash fixes, tweaks, and other issues spotted by the Doom community, but they also note that the latest round of Nvidia graphics drivers seem to be causing some problems with Doom Eternal's implementation of both ray-traced lighting effects and DLSS. Both the 496.13 and 496.49 builds of Nvidia's graphics drivers appear to cause performance and stability issues for Doom Eternal players using RTX cards while ray tracing and DLSS are enabled in the game. It's unclear whether it's an issue with the update or with the latest round of drivers, but id Software says Nvidia is aware of the issue and that both companies are on the hunt for a solution - although they're having trouble reproducing the issue on their test setups. Users on both Steam and Reddit have reported that the problem has disappeared when they switch chromatic aberration on and off in the graphics settings menu, but that may not work in most cases. RELATED LINKS: Doom Eternal review, Doom Eternal system requirements, Play Doom Eternal |
PCGamesN Friday, November 19, 2021 1:54 PM While Pac-Man fever may have abated in the 80s, the dot-gobbler remains an icon of videogame history. Bandai Namco is putting out a new collection of Pac-Man games called Pac-Man Museum+, which lets you play as Pac-Man playing Pac-Land, Pac & Pal, Pac-Attack, and yes, Pac-Man itself. (Okay, let's restate that with a smaller pac of tongue twisters.) Pac-Man Museum+ is a collection of 14 Pac-Man games, ranging from the arcade original up through modern iterations like Pac-Man 256. The games are tied together with a meta progression system, where completing challenges earns you coins that you can either drop into arcade machines or spend on decorations for your arcade. You can then explore that arcade as Pac-Man. It's a fun gimmick, but the real attractions are the games themselves. You've got the original Pac-Man (of course), the side-scroller-before-Mario-made-it-cool Pac-Land, the excellent Pac-Man Championship Edition, and the surprisingly entertaining Crossy Road follow-up Pac-Man 256. |
PCGamesN Friday, November 19, 2021 12:34 PM Ah, Total War: Rome 2 mods. While the strategy game struggled at launch to forge its own path, it has in the years since its release found its footing, and its place in the pantheon of Total War games. It wasn't until the recent release of Total War: Rome Remastered that really made us appreciate what made it stand out from its popular predecessor. It still lacks the epic civil war of the original Rome: Total War, the climactic endgame of Shogun II, nor the looming narrative weight of Total War: Attila, and the grand campaign of Rome II has always been a little flat around the edges. That being said, it still commands a respectable player count, even after all these years and despite the newer games that have released since. Even Total War: Three Kingdoms didn't manage to last as long as Rome II did in terms of post-release support. But for those rough patches that still linger, the Total War modding community is here to help. Boasting some of the most exciting player-created content of the series, the mods listed below help push Rome II from a good, but lacklustre sequel to a genuinely great strategy title worthy of its revered lineage. RELATED LINKS: Total War: Rome II requirements, Rome II: Empire Divided impressions |
PCGamesN Friday, November 19, 2021 12:42 PM Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition is out, and while I hate to put too many qualitative statements about a game here in a news story, there's no way around it. It's bad. Rockstar has provided an update on the "unexpected technical issues" plaguing the remastered open-world games. Patches are coming and the originals are getting relisted on PC, but in the meantime, Rockstar asks that you kindly stop harassing the developers. The original versions of Grand Theft Auto III, Vice City, and San Andreas will be relisted on the Rockstar launcher as a bundle "shortly". If you purchased the new Trilogy - or you pick it up before June 30, 2022 - you will receive this bundle for free. There is no word on whether the games will come back to Steam or other PC storefronts. A title update is set to launch "in the coming days" for the Trilogy that will "address a number of issues". Rockstar plans to continue with additional updates until the games "reach the level of quality that they deserve to be". |
PCGamesN Friday, November 19, 2021 12:26 PM In much the same way that it's making massive changes to the way warfare is conducted, Victoria 3 is shifting gears for its naval management layer. That's a hugely important piece of the game, too: the period from 1836-1936 was in many ways defined by global oceanic trade, and the control of key shipping lanes. A new dev diary explains how the grand strategy game is approaching this side of empire management. Navies in Victoria 3 are going to function in many ways like armies will. Specifically, you're not going to be moving individual ships or flotillas around, but rather giving orders to your admirals, who will then use the ships and resources available to them to try to carry out those orders as best they can. There are key differences between navies and armies, however - importantly, navies operate on the sea, and as the diary points out, the moving front system that defines land warfare would be meaningless on the open ocean. Instead, admirals can be ordered to do things like patrol, raid convoys, support beachheads, or run blockades on ports or straits. RELATED LINKS: Victoria 3 release date, The best grand strategy games on PC, The best strategy games on PC |
PCGamesN Friday, November 19, 2021 12:18 PM Xûr is Destiny 2's Exotic gear merchant. He appears every weekend to sell the game's most coveted items in exchange for Legendary shards, but if you're a casual player with limited shards to spend, it can be hard to know which of his wares is most worth your investment. That's where we come in. As of June 12, 2020, it appears that Xûr is back to providing random rolls - so the Exotic merchant is providing more excitement than he has in a long time. Xûr appears every Friday at 9am PST / 12pm EST / 5pm GMT, and will stick around until the Tuesday reset. We'll update this guide shortly after he arrives, so if you're reading this, you need only read on to learn where he is, and which are the best items he's selling this week. Now we're in Beyond Light territory, but Xûr's first appearances have been at the usual spots - so maybe don't expect too many surprises from the merchant in the new year of Destiny content. RELATED LINKS: Destiny 2: Beyond Light review, Destiny 2 exotics, Play Destiny 2 |
PCGamesN Friday, November 19, 2021 12:16 PM Bungie's pinnacle PvP activity is back in rotation with a major revamp, and if you're looking for details on the Destiny 2 Trials rewards this week, you've come to the right place. Before you start working your way up through the ladder, you'll want to know what you're actually working for - so here's a breakdown of what's available each week, and what map you'll be playing on. If you're not familiar with Trials of Osiris, it's a weekly PvP challenge where you enter a competitive gauntlet of 3v3 elimination matches. Your rewards are now doled out with a reputation system, so it's not about pure wins anymore, but you will still get special rewards if you can manage to go flawless. Trials lands with the reset every Friday at 9am PST / 12pm EST / 5pm GMT, and lasts until the Tuesday reset at those same times. Each week provides a new set of rewards and a new map to play on, so here's what you can expect for the latest rotation. RELATED LINKS: Destiny 2: Beyond Light review, Destiny 2 exotics, Play Destiny 2 |
PCGamesN Friday, November 19, 2021 12:08 PM Just when we've settled into the slightly-more-pleasant grind of the Halo Infinite battle pass, developer 343 Industries has unveiled details on a whole new range of cosmetics to unlock with the Fracture: Tenrai event, which starts next week. You've got another grind ahead of you, but it's not quite so bad as it might initially appear. Fracture: Tenrai kicks off on November 23, as previously announced, and this'll be your opportunity to get that samurai-styled Yoroi armour you might've seen on the customization screen. 343 says that there'll be 30 tiers of rewards to level through on the event pass, a notable increase on the 20 tiers the studio previously announced. Events are scheduled to last for a week at a time, which is not nearly enough to grind through 30 levels for most players, even with the challenge revamp. Take heart, though, because as per 343's previous announcement, "This event will be available for all players approximately one week per month during Season One, and the event will come and go throughout the season; available for players to make progress. Each time the Fracture returns, your progress will carry over." RELATED LINKS: Halo Infinite release date, Halo Infinite E3 2019, Halo: The Master Chief Collection PC |
PCGamesN Friday, November 19, 2021 11:59 AM So, you want to know about Stellaris multiplayer? Like all of Paradox's iconic grand strategy games, even though Stellaris is primarily geared towards solo play versus AI opponents, everything can be done in multiplayer as well. Up to 32 players can compete for dominance over the galaxy, although smaller groups can always work together in co-op as well to take on the other AI-driven empires. Multiplayer in Paradox strategy games has always been a bit of an inconsistent aspect of the game - the backend infrastructure has historically been a bit weak, desyncs can happen frequently, especially with high player counts, and overall online players only make up a small percentage of any one game's player base (it will vary from game to game). As of August 2021, Stellaris uses the Nakama infrastructure to power its multiplayer backend. This was developed by the third party, and completely replaces Paradox's previous internal infrastructure, and most notably enables cross-platform multiplayer between stores. The developers believe this version will be way more stable than their previous version, and it's also been rolled out to other older games such as EU4. RELATED LINKS: Stellaris review, Stellaris mods, Stellaris DLC guide |
PCGamesN Friday, November 19, 2021 11:33 AM The Battlefield series has always strived to deliver multiplayer moments that you can't get anywhere else. Jumping out of a jet, sniping another pilot, and hijacking their jet in Battlefield 3; levelling buildings in Battlefield: Bad Company 2; parachuting away from a collapsing skyscraper in Battlefield 4 - when it comes to scale and bombast, DICE regularly knocks it out of the park. Other times, the studio has taken a swing and a miss by trying something completely different, like Battlefield 2142, an experiment in future warfare that launched with countless issues and sparked some wariness in my 13-year-old self about buying multiplayer games at launch. Battlefield 2042's reveal trailer shows that DICE is doubling down on what it's known for: fun over realism, chaos over order, and plenty, plenty of 'Battlefield moments'. Set in the near future, the FPS game depicts a world wracked by the effects of climate change and the collapse of the European Union. It's a pretty bleak prophecy, with many cities being ravaged by tornadoes, sandstorms, massive battles, and sometimes all three. But at least the soldiers are having a good time: they can modify their weapons while running around, or hitch a ride on tornadoes and then use their newfangled wingsuits to glide to safety. Maybe the future won't suck. Climate crisis aside, warfare doesn't appear to have changed all that much. Battlefield's classic Conquest and Breakthrough modes return, scaled up with even larger maps and clustered capture zones rather than flags dotted around the map, all to accommodate the new 128-player count. Breakthrough, the latest incarnation of the long-running Rush mode, divides players into attacking and defending armies that fight over a linear series of objectives to establish dominance across the whole map. RELATED LINKS: Battlefield 2042 review, Best multiplayer games on PC, Best FPS games on PC |
PCGamesN Friday, November 19, 2021 10:40 AM Developer RocketWerkz has just revealed the Icarus release date, as well as what kind of hardware your gaming PC will need in order to secure your ticket to the game's hostile alien wilderness. The Icarus system requirements are surprisingly high, especially when it comes to RAM, but it's a tad more forgiving on the GPU side. Icarus is a new sci-fi survival game from Dean Hall, the creator of DayZ. You and up to seven other spacemen must work together to survive missions that can last from just a few hours to several weeks. For those who reckon they'll master the game's challenge in no time, Hall has said the development team aims to "add new items, missions, biomes, talents and balance changes after launch. Icarus will be a living, evolving game." Unfortunately, no AMD CPU or GPU system requirements have been provided, but we've reached out for comment and will update this page as soon as we hear back. However, those with the best graphics cards and best gaming CPUs from team red should be able to run the game just fine. RELATED LINKS: Best SSD for gaming, How to build a gaming PC, Best gaming CPU |
PCGamesN Friday, November 19, 2021 11:03 AM Icarus, a brutal upcoming survival game that's designed to "feel like Skyrim", has now got a release date. Developed by Day Z creator Dan Hall's studio RocketWerkz, it's a session-based PvE experience about surviving a "savage alien wilderness" and everything it throws at you - and it's due out next month. RocketWerkz has revealed that Icarus will launch on December 4 on Steam. This follows a series of beta weekends that have been rolled out for pre-ordering players to dive into over the past few months since the game's initial release window of August was pushed back. "After three months of beta testing and feedback from one of the most engaged gamer communities I've ever seen, Icarus is ready for launch," says game runner Dean Hall in a press release. The game supports solo play and co-op for up to eight players and sees you head down to the hostile, terraformed planet Icarus in sessions - missions that can last from hours to weeks - before returning to orbit to progress your character and get ready for next trip down. |
PCGamesN Friday, November 19, 2021 9:28 AM Amazon Games' first MMO, New World, has already taken our world by storm. Launch day saw a massive 700,000 people trying to cram into the servers, and the game is still going strong, with thousands of users logging on each day to explore the fantastical world of Aeternum. Now that we've had a chance to get acquainted with New World, we know that one of the more unique elements of the game is that the MMO staple of class systems has been done away with. Instead, characters are allowed to grow in a more organic fashion, with players choosing their strengths and quirks using a complex skill tree design. One of the appeals of an MMO is the social aspect, however, so don't expect to go full lone-ranger when you enter New World for the first time. After a certain point, you'll be expected to join up with one of three factions – the Covenant, the Syndicate, or the Marauders. Each faction has its own deep-rooted values, along with a long-term goal to secure the future of Aeternum in their favour. Deciding where your loyalties lie means you will be a part of the struggle, in a mutually beneficial arrangement that will aid you in the development of your own story. RELATED LINKS: New World system requirements, New World beginner's guide, New World review |
PCGamesN Friday, November 19, 2021 9:31 AM If you're just getting started with PC gaming and aren't sure how to build a gaming PC, then prebuilt machines are a great place to start, with a large variety of available options sure to cater to your budget. Even veteran PC builders can benefit from a ready-made PC's convenience, as you don't have to search through compatibility lists or twiddle your thumbs for multiple component deliveries. We've put together a list of the best gaming PC Black Friday deals, whatever your previous experience, to help you level up your gaming performance. Given how much gaming PCs can cost, it's important to understand what the most crucial components are for your gaming needs. For example, the best graphics cards are an absolute must if you're bagging yourself one of the best gaming monitors with 4K resolution and high refresh rates. However, if you're planning on streaming or video editing in addition to gaming, then you might want to consider making the best gaming CPU a high priority. Then there are other niceties such as SSDs, which can offer improved loading times over hard drives but you should consider how much storage space you need for all your games and those enormous Call of Duty: Warzone updates. RELATED LINKS: Best SSD for gaming, How to build a gaming PC, Best gaming CPU |
Rock Paper Shotgun Latest Articles Feed Friday, November 19, 2021 12:55 PM While New World seems mostly to be occupied in a war against exploits like duping, forever firing off fixes or disabling features, this week brings an update focused on adding newness. That's nice. The 'Into The Void' update introduces the magical new Void Gauntlet, a weapon which can be used to heal or harm. You can perform violence upon new enemies too, because various Varangian forces have arrived to plunder the island. Read more |
Rock Paper Shotgun Latest Articles Feed Friday, November 19, 2021 12:23 PM There's no time to explain: the Intel Core i5-12600K has a Black Friday deal. I mean that's weird, right? It only came out scant weeks ago and it's already on the sharp end of a meaningful discount. Not that I'm complaining, mind, as this Intel 12th Gen Alder Lake mid-ranger proved itself the best CPU for gaming immediately upon arrival. Read more |
Rock Paper Shotgun Latest Articles Feed Friday, November 19, 2021 12:00 PM Slipping into a military-controlled 'dark zone' to plunder some high-end electrical equipment sounded like an easy job. You could be in and out in minutes, in theory, slinking through the locked-down multi-storey car park with a nice sequence of slides and skids to grab your treasure before vaulting a fence and scampering off. But there's a problem: the lights are out, down in these concrete depths. The zombies are strong here. Special banshee-like screechers are primed to alert their undead brethren to the presence of any would-be intruders, prompting an unending wave of decaying meat to fling itself at you, all teeth and claws. So this mission requires more finesse. You need to use all that agility and poise you've mastered in Dying Light 2's impressive parkour 'n' puching open-world city, sure, but you also need to layer more skills on top of that, cherry-picked from the new toolkit Techland has provided. Read more |
Rock Paper Shotgun Latest Articles Feed Friday, November 19, 2021 10:50 AM For all the loathsome talk of the metaverse from companies like Facebook and Epic as the future of reality, many facets of the concept already exist in sandboxes like Roblox. The problem with Roblox for them is that it's a lawless frontier town, one they don't control. Still, Roblox is obscenely popular, so it's popular with brands who don't need control, they just want to advertise products. Enter Nikeland, an official Roblox game from the cobblers at Nike. Read more |
Rock Paper Shotgun Latest Articles Feed Friday, November 19, 2021 10:30 AM I've spent some more time with FPS Battlefield 2042, having freed myself from EA's vice grip. And it's safe to say the fields of battle have taken on a vastly different complexion now it's largely in the hands of many more players. Compared to my three-night imprisonment alongside other journos and influencers, my feelings have definitely levelled out. The honeymoon period is over, basically. My relationship with the game in the real world, outside of EAs strict boundaries has lessened. I'm sorry to say it, but we've grown apart. Things are average between us, and perhaps only Portal, the game's custom mode creator, can salvage things. Read more |
Siliconera Friday, November 19, 2021 3:00 PM Over the years, we've seen off-the-wall, disturbing and just plain cool descriptions in the Pokedex. But which are the best Pokedex entries? The post The Best Pokedex Entries appeared first on Siliconera. |
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PC Invasion - FeedDDD Friday, November 19, 2021 3:45 PM  It Takes Two filled a large puzzle-solving hole in my heart after my buddy and I cleared the game. More accurately, it left me feeling empty, as I would no longer hear the screams of my purported allies as they grew irritable at my inability to solve puzzles. Luckily for them, there's a new co-op puzzler that's on the horizon. I was lucky enough to get a first look, and I can confirm: my friends will still hate me after this game. Zorya: The Celestial Sisters is a co-op puzzle game with a rather uncommon gameplay mechanic. One player controls Aysu, goddess of the night. She needs to find her way back to the sky, next to her sister Solveig. If you're paying attention, you'll know that your friend will control Solveig, the goddess of the sun. A tale of two sisters If Aysu steps out into the sunlight, she instantly burns to death. That's not ideal, so Solveig steps in to create shadows. Solveig will control sun rays around the map, creating shadows... |
PC Invasion - FeedDDD Friday, November 19, 2021 3:30 PM  Halo Infinite's multiplayer mode just went live in beta, allowing players to jump into the game ahead of its full December launch. When that comes, everyone can enjoy the Master Chief's next adventure as a solo experience — at the start, anyway. For the first time in the series' 20-year history, Halo Infinite will be the first mainline game to launch without a co-op mode. It's not ready, even after a year-long delay. And according to Halo boss, Joseph Staten, Infinite won't have campaign co-op until at least May next year. Forge, too, is being pushed. The original plan for 343 was to have the co-op mode ready by Season 2. With seasons initially scheduled to be three months long, the co-op campaign would be absent in Halo Infinite until at least March. However, 343 decided to extend Season 1 until May 2022. What does this mean for co-op? Well, exactly what you think it means. Speaking to Eurogamer, Staten confirmed that co-op has been pushed... |
PC Invasion - FeedDDD Friday, November 19, 2021 1:45 PM  Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition came out just over a week ago, and it wasn't a smooth launch. That's me being diplomatic, mind. The GTA Trilogy remaster is a mess, earning the ire and disappointment from many fans of the series. Bugs and graphical glitches have only been the tip of the iceberg, with many calling out Rockstar for the uncaring versions of its beloved games. The company today acknowledged the concerns over the GTA Trilogy, apologizing and promising an update and the return of the PC versions to its online store. "Firstly, we want to sincerely apologize to everyone who has encountered issues playing these games," Rockstar wrote in its online newswire. "The Grand Theft Auto series — and the games that make up this iconic trilogy — are as special to us as we know they are to fans around the world. The updated versions of these classic games did not launch in a state that meets our own standards of quality, or the ... |
PC Invasion - FeedDDD Friday, November 19, 2021 1:30 PM  I wasn't expecting to find out that DX Racer made a mesh gaming chair. Mesh isn't even remotely on my radar when it comes to the usual lineup of race car seat wannabe office chairs. I've been using a DX Racer Air chair for a couple of weeks now, and I'm mostly satisfied by it. The construction is undeniably high quality, it has all of the usual features, plus it stands apart from the rest of the pack due to how much like a normal office chair it is. But it also has some issues with comfortability, especially when using it for long periods at a time. Assembling my DX Racer Air was a task much like assembling any other chair. The instruction booklet uses numbered pictures to convey what you need to know, but anyone who's put an office chair together before will be familiar with what goes where. The chair didn't come in a huge amount of pieces, so you can put together rather quickly, depending. Upon removing everything from the box, I was surprised t... |
PC Invasion - FeedDDD Friday, November 19, 2021 12:30 PM  Spotting has become an iconic mechanic of Battlefield ever since it was introduced in Battlefield 1942. It has been through various iterations with more recent titles moving away from the ability to spot individual players in favor of pinging a general area instead. Battlefield 2042 continues that trend with the ability to ping enemies, seemingly inspired by the systems often found in battle royale games like Warzone. The ping mechanic in 2042's open beta was bugged and didn't always appear for teammates. Thankfully, the full release fixed this, but many players still don't bother to spot enemies. The reasons for this are up for debate, but it's probably just because players genuinely don't know it exists. The game does not explain how to do it, or when it should be done. How to spot enemies You can ping an area in Battlefield 2042 by pressing Q. Double-tapping Q will mark an area as dangerous, while tapping once will place down a regular ping. T... |