PC Gamer - USA (January 2020)

“AS OPPOSED TO JUST PUBLISHING,

WE ACTUALLY HELPED THEM

CONSTRUCT THEIR DREAM”








code base. The complete engine Greig’s team tested this concept with
refresh, called Core, was described to Post Scriptum, a WWII FPS made by
me as “Squad engine 2.0”. Core Periscope Games using Squad’s
incorporates new techniques and engine and published under
wisdoms learned after years of Offworld. “We contributed our
working with their own tools. Squad framework, our code, a lot of our
itself will benefit from Core, but its assets and our marketing. As opposed
main purpose is as a framework that to just publishing, we actually helped
Offworld can licence out to other them construct their dream,” Greig
developers in the future. Greig says. He describes his unique
aspires to make Core the “best publishing division as “a bigger piece
TOP: Soldiers can framework for an FPS that exists in of what OWI wants to evolve into”.
stabilize their the industry”. His team will work Core is still a few years down the
wounds with with developers to implement Core road, but Offworld is certainly staying
bandages, but they
can’t regain health and guide them to their game’s busy with Squad. And that’s good,
without a medic. release. The relationship described to because there’s still plenty of room to
me sounds like somewhere between add new features and squash those
publisher and co-developer. Last year remaining bugs that occasionally pull
me out of the moment. Beyond its
own contributions, Offworld sees a
lot of potential for modders to help
IN A SPIN A typical first go with the newly introduced the game live on for years, just as
they did with Project Reality over a
and intimidatingly realistic helicopters
decade ago. You can already play a
Starship Troopers mod that turns the

It’d be nice if I could game into PvE survival against an
land without army of giant bugs. That’s cool, but
exploding into a I’m really here for what Squad
I already have fiery wreck already is—an exercise in skill,
no idea what coordination, and teamwork on a
I’m doing and So I’m supposed to be
I’m still in the transporting people massive scale. I crave the chaotic
in this thing?!
C O N F U S I O N know how to fly add emotional stakes to every minute.
tutorial
gunfights and social interactions that
Er, anyone else
Playing Squad is like trying to
one of these?
T I M E
Sometimes that doesn’t happen, but
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 (MINS) force a miracle into existence.
win or lose, it’s one hell of a ride.

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GOOD COP, BAD COP






Create your dream detective in DISCO ELYSIUM, a surreal adventure


influenced by classic RPGs. By Andy Kelly






ou are not well. You’ve woken up on the floor of a grimy personality, how the population
hotel room with a hangover so devastating you might as NEED TO KNOW reacts to you, and the outcome of
well be dead. You don’t remember who you are, which city WHAT IS IT? quests. The things you say and
you’re in, or what happened the night before. Apparently A stylish, dialogue- decisions you make in Disco Elysium
Y you’re a detective, in town to solve a murder, but you don’t heavy detective RPG really, actually matter, impacting your
feel like a cop. You feel like total, utter crud. EXPECT TO PAY role in the world and the inner
$40 workings of your mind in a
Disco Elysium is a detective RPG of disaster. The taste you get in your DEVELOPER meaningful way.
improbable depth. It’s part mouth the morning after a heavy ZA/UM You also have to watch what you
Planescape: Torment, part police night of drinking made flesh. The say, because doing the usual RPG
PUBLISHER
procedural. Your hungover detective sticky floor of a discotheque given In-house thing of exhausting every
peels himself off the carpet, nude life. But the beauty of the game is conversation option regularly leads to
except for a pair of soiled underwear, how you can mould this grotesque REVIEWED ON you putting your foot in your mouth
GTX 1080, Intel
and begins the laborious process of lump of sin and despair into i5-6600K, 16GB RAM and getting someone (or yourself) in
piecing his broken something else entirely. trouble. Characters will remember
mind back together, Thanks to that MULTIPLAYER things, so it pays to think carefully
while attempting to It pays to think skull-shattering None before making any rash decisions or
solve a gruesome carefully hangover, and the LINK betraying someone. Then again, a
murder on the wrong before making amnesia conveniently zaumstudio.com cavalier attitude can lead to
side of the tracks. brought on by it, your interesting, unexpected things: An
The game has stats, any rash detective is truly a example of how well Disco Elysium
skill checks, decisions blank slate. caters to different play styles.
companions, quests, You can reveal Skills are important too. There are
and an interface things about yourself 24 in total, ranging from logic,
inspired by classic Infinity Engine by talking to the poor souls caught in perception, and reaction speed to
CRPGs. But it also has a lot in the wake of your apocalyptic bender. endurance, conceptualization and
common with visual novels, tabletop But you’re also given the opportunity authority. A character with high
games, and point-and-click to suppress these discoveries, even authority might find it easier to
adventures, with dense, branching down to denying your own name and pressure a timid witness into spilling
dialogue and the ability to intimidate, choosing a new one. their guts. A high logic character can
charm, or bluff your way out of tricky The degree of freedom you have divine truth from a clear-headed
situations via several novels’ worth of to shape your character’s psyche is analysis of a crime scene.
strange, vibrant dialogue. really quite astonishing. There are some more esoteric
A man has been found hanging skills too, such as inland empire,
from a tree in an empty lot, and it’s D-I-S-C-O which lets you pluck inspiration from
your job to find out who killed him— Through conversations you control dreams and talk to inanimate objects.
if you can get near the corpse without every facet of your personality. You’re Conversely, a character with low
puking. Disco Elysium’s sallow, given a variety of ways to respond to perception can miss case-breaking
flare-wearing protagonist is a total people, and this dictates your clues floating right in front of their
face, while a low endurance cop will
struggle in even the most trivial
physical trials. All the defining traits
MIND GAMES The stats that make up your character of the best fictional cops are in there,
but importantly, the worst too.
INTELLECT PSYCHE So if you want to have the
This stat governs logic, the Understand and empathize superhuman insight of Sherlock, but
ability to engage in intellectual with people, rely on your also be a self-destructive mess like
discourse, detecting lies, and hunches, and talk to items of The Wire’s Jimmy McNulty, Disco
analyzing crime scenes. your own clothing for clues. Elysium lets you. It’s like a bottomless
detective pick-and-mix.
PH YSIQUE MOTORIC S When you create a character, your
This stat lets you take a punch Composure, perception, and starting skills are determined by the
to the jaw like a champ, hand/eye coordination, as well stats you roll. Your base stats are
physically intimidate people, as handy skills like lockpicking, intellect, psyche, physique, and
or endure a drug trip. are determined by this stat.
motorics, which make you better or

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Disco Elysium



The game’s full of bizarre
clothing items to wear.




















































Your skills literally talk to you,
suggesting what to do next.










Intelligent cops can mentally
reconstruct past events.



































The city is a grimy, run-down Lt. Kitsuragi is your
mess of a setting. constant companion.



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Disco Elysium



Indugling your character’s addictions
confers stat boosts—but comes at a price.





















































The setting is a strange alt-history,
with very different tech to our world.















There’s an entire quest
devoted to karaoke.











It’s surprisingly easy to die if
you’re not careful.
















Failing a skill check is often as
enjoyable as succeeding.


56 JANUARY 2020

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worse at certain things. But as you
play you earn experience points that
let you upgrade any skills you like, CRIME FIGHTER What kind of detective are you?
allowing you to sculpt your character
further. You might start out physically THINK ER SENSITIVE PH YSICAL
weak, but stick enough points into You can choose a preset character if This one has a magnetic personality This chap is dumber than a sack of
and a deep understanding of
rocks, but is extremely physical. He
you don’t want to make your own.
the appropriate skills to transform This guy is educated, insightful, and people’s psychology, but also suffers prefers to punch rather than think
your detective over time into a creative, but physically unimposing. from an unstable mind. his way out of tricky situations.
proverbial force of nature.
5 INT 1 INT 1 INT
1 PSY 5 PSY 2 PSY
THOUGHT CRIME 2 FYS 4 FYS 5 FYS
And I haven’t even mentioned 4 MOT 2 MOT 4 MOT
thoughts yet. As you speak to people,
you’ll reveal thoughts that can then
be slotted into your brain and
developed over time, unlocking stat
buffs and fascinating, insightful
nuggets of story. Some of these have a
major impact on your character’s
mental state, while others are more warmth and humanity too. People the sheer volume of stuff to interact
frivolous, and largely played for making the most of a bad hand, with, people to talk to and quests to
laughs. You’re limited to three struggling against an uncaring world. pick up is quite overwhelming.
thoughts to begin with, but skill It’s a lavishly realized setting with You’ll investigate a dilapidated
points can also be used to unlock acres of history and culture to apartment block, a frozen coastline, a
more. And the more thoughts you discover, although occasionally, in crumbling boardwalk, a dockyard,
develop, the more complex your some optional conversations, I felt and other suitably grim locations, all
character becomes. like a mountain of rather dull, of which are brought to life by that
The result of all this is one of the long-winded lore had been suddenly beautiful art—not to mention
most preposterously malleable dumped on my head. atmospheric music, lighting, and
characters in RPG history. You can The writing is funny, subversive, ambient sound design. It’s a place
create a highly empathetic and, admittedly, a little self-indulgent that you can really get lost in.
communist disco music enthusiast, a at times. But it’s also incredibly good How you complete tasks and solve
self-deprecating artist who punches with an anarchic literary flair that crimes is dependent on your
first and asks questions later, a makes even the most matter-of-fact character. If you’re the physical,
deluded rock-and-roll cop with a conversation hugely entertaining. all-action type, you’ll deal with
passion for democracy, There’s partial voice situations in a more direct, aggressive
or a drug-addicted acting too, although it way. But if your character is
feminist psychic. Every Everyone who varies wildly in quality. psychological or empathetic, you

person who plays Disco plays Disco The sleazy, rasping might find a more subtle solution.
Elysium will have a Elysium will delivery of your ancient Crucially, every kind of player is
different experience as reptilian brain, which catered for. You’ll never hit a brick
a result of the frankly have a different regularly emerges to wall because of the way you’ve built
audacious depth of its experience taunt you, sounds your character. This makes Disco
role-playing. wonderfully evil. And I Elysium a supremely satisfying RPG,
The game is set in love the soft, calming because if you want to play a certain
the fictional city of Revachol; voice of Lt Kitsuragi, your partner, way, the game is primed to
specifically a dreary, forgotten district who is a kind of moral center for the accommodate it.
called Martinaise. Plagued by poverty, wild and unpredictable protagonist. The thing about Disco Elysium is
crime, corrupt unions and scarred by that my experience of it is completely
a violent revolution, it’s exactly the HEAD CASE unique to me, such is the variety of
kind of place you’d expect to wake up Freedom in Disco Elysium isn’t just skills, stats, conversation and
after a three-day drug binge. limited to shaping your character. thoughts options on offer. You could
Disco Elysium is a gorgeous game The structure is also extremely play through it five times and still not
with a stylish, painterly aesthetic, open-ended, letting you pursue the see everything. In that sense it defies
expressive characters and detailed murder as doggedly, or not, as you a traditional review, because there’s
backgrounds. But it’s filthy too, which see fit. A list of tasks is constantly no one experience to assess. But I can
is relayed mainly by that gloriously building up in your notebook, and say that it’s one of the finest RPGs on
rich, evocative writing. A vividly you can perform them in any order PC if you value depth, freedom,
described autopsy made me feel you like—including those linked to customization, and storytelling.
genuinely queasy. the main case. And they’re all
Many of the people you meet say interconnected, meaning doing one V E R D I C T
disgusting, offensive things, which is task before another can open up An irresponsibly deep
entirely justified by the grotty completely new avenues of and intricate detective
bleakness of the setting. Martinaise is investigation when on the case. RPG that lets you be any 92
a horrible place filled with horrible Martinaise is a large, open space kind of cop you want.
people. But there are flickers of made up of several distinct areas, and Even a bad one.


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GO TO HELL






Demons want to have fun and they want


to get wasted in AFTERPARTY. By Callum Agnew






ell is where everything you order is delivered by UPS. Hell more drinks, things escalate, and you
is where you have to read every single subtweet that might NEED TO KNOW start to do progressively stupider
be about you. Hell is a queue that never ends. Hell is only WHAT IS IT? things. The repercussions aren’t a
two days off work a year. Hell is being kicked out of a bar A branching narrative real concern, it’s a bit of fun, you’ll be
Hbecause you have to fill out paperwork. Hell is where you adventure set in Hell leaving soon anyway. You’ll probably
condemn a terminally ill med student to the ninth circle of hell in order to EXPECT TO PAY never see any of these people again.
get into a party. Oh, and there’s also an Arby’s. Welcome to Afterparty. $20 But inevitably the revelries draw
to an end. The bars empty, the clubs
DEVELOPER
Afterparty is a branching narrative option, which changes depending on Night School Studio begin to close, and a guy urinates on
drinking game set in Hell. Our what drink you’re sipping, is usually the side of a building, one hand
PUBLISHER
protagonists are Lola and Milo, two the most entertaining. Night School Studio against the wall to hold himself
recently deceased college graduates Hell is full of life. The pub talk is upright. The party is long over, and
and lifelong best friends. With no entertaining: people of all shapes and REVIEWED ON now only a desperate few remain. As
memory of how they got there, Lola sizes walk the streets, the GTX 1070, i7-8700, a new day arrive,s they are forced to
16GB RAM, SSD
and Milo seek to conversations flow face reality and their problems. It gets
escape Hell, but the smoothly, and there’s a MULTIPLAYER surprisingly sobering.
only way home is to The real meat is bar to suit every taste. None
out-drink Satan found in its As you drink your LINK BUGFAST TONIC WINE
himself. Hell is a social multiple-choice way home and through Link: I didn’t encounter any major bugs,
battleground, one that their interactions with nightschoolstudio. but I noticed stuttering whenever a
com/afterparty
they are ill-suited to conversation others, you quickly character started a new animation,
deal with, sober. system grow to understand Satan’s cape once tried to fly off of his
Fundamentally it’s Lola and Milo, as well shoulders and, every time the taxi
simple to play. You as the dynamics of dropped me off, it did a 90 degrees
move left and right along a 2.5D their relationship. For a game wheelie in the river of lava. These
plane and interact with points of predominantly about drinking, as I issues weren’t huge, but seeing such a
interest. Most of your time will be played I grew concerned that beautiful, well-animated game
spent talking and partying with the Afterparty was over-glorifying it all. regularly trip up is disappointing.
denizens of hell, with the occasional Portraying alcohol as this perfect and When time permits, I look
game of beer pong or a dance-off to wonderful thing, laughing off all of forward to returning for my after-
mix things up. The real meat of the repercussions and acting like the Afterparty to see what other routes
Afterparty is found in its multiple- answer to every situation is a shot of Lola and Milo could have taken, what
choice conversation system. absinthe. But my concerns were other tortured souls they may have
As others speak two possible quickly addressed. met. There are clearly multiple
responses appear above Lola or It is the definitive night out different solutions I could have
Milo’s head. The responses simulator. You try new drinks, travel explored and lessons to be learnt, but
themselves are either positive or between bars, and connect with due perhaps to how doggedly I
negative, agree or disagree. The third incredible people. Then, after a few played, the lessons didn’t seem to
stick for the main cast.
I had high expectations for
Afterparty. I was expecting a comedy
DRINKS ON WHO? title, but the very real relationship
between Lola and Milo, the humour
Every beverage has its own effects that had me chuckling and the

audacity from Night School Studio to
go where they did, at the risk of their
player’s discomfort, made Afterparty
more than I thought it could be.


V E R D I C T
LOOK OUT BLUEBE ARD’S WIT ENHANCER LITER ALLY
BEHIND YOU L AST WIFE It’s all just a bad ACID Afterparty has top-
The highballs If it drinks like a joke or a pun to you, It’s an alcopop. notch writing and 80
have eyeballs. pirate and speaks isn’t it? superb voice acting,
like a pirate… coupled with a visually
vibrant hellscape.

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Afterparty



There’s that vore
representation.





















































In case you were wondering
where advertizers go.





























Sounds like LA would be
more appropriate.


One guy’s eternal punishment is to play Demon-only bars aren’t that
the keyboard for orgies. great. Free hot pot, though.

















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PRICE HIKE






CALL OF DUTY: MODERN WARFARE is a new high bar for the


series, despite parts of it feeling dated. By Morgan Park






his latest sequel/reboot has sold itself as a return to the Field Upgrades—small-scale tools like
setting that “started it all”. It’s a snappy marketing line, and NEED TO KNOW a recon drone or ammo cache that
it’s not entirely misleading. The warfare is once again WHAT IS IT? add a bit of strategy to a standard
modern and Captain Price is your squad dad. Yet it’s Modern A big-budget reboot of loadout. Field Upgrades allow for tiny
T Warfare’s moments of unfamiliarity that impress me—rebuilt an extremely influential moments of real teamwork, a feat for
weapon handling, new modes, and characters that aren’t the cookie-cutter single-player and CoD’s typically selfish playstyle.
operatives we’ve seen in the last decade. multiplayer FPS Gunfight, Modern Warfare’s new
EXPECT TO PAY 2v2 round-based elimination mode, is
Unfortunately this evolution is only form a supersonic flurry of blows, $40 my bastion away from that chaos.
half-realized in multiplayer. Here the closing on the intoxicating coin flip DEVELOPER Gunfight ditches killstreaks and
relics of 2007 clash with fresh ideas. ‘ding’ that says I’ve won the firefight. Infinity Ward ratchets up intensity with 40-second
Modern Warfare aspires to be But despite an aesthetic turn PUBLISHER rounds and no health regeneration.
grounded and tactical while also toward reality, Team Deathmatch and Activision Every round is a burst of improvised
giving you the power to pilot your other core modes remain cyclical REVIEWED ON strategy as both teams adapt to
own heavy gunship, meat grinders of RTX 2080, Intel randomized identical loadouts. It’s
and it doesn’t work. kill-die-respawn-kill I9-7900X, 32GB RAM simple and amazing.
It’s easy to forget The warfare is where the only skill MULTIPLAYER
about that complaint in once again check is the first to Up to 64 players REBOOTS ON THE GROUND
the heat of a match, modern and click on a head. Oh, Within the campaign, Infinity Ward
LINK
because Modern and whoever scores the callofduty.com/ has scaled back on thrill rides. It
Warfare’s action is Captain price is first killstreak. modernwarfare shoots for the variety of distinctive
exceptional. Weapons your squad dad I hate killstreaks. In missions that Call of Duty 4 set trends
explode with my years away from with, avoiding on-rails murder fests
concussive energy and the series, I haven’t in favor of missions about cautious
rattle with recoil until the magazine missed getting carpet bombed by a infiltration where walking is the
is spent. Reload animations bask in $90 million jet while minding my default move speed.
the moment with motion-captured own business. Killstreaks hand more One stressful section has Garrick
flare that celebrates a kill and snaps power to players already topping the guiding a civilian through an
back into place for the next fight. scoreboard, turning the rest of us into enemy-littered office by cycling
Facing the lethal end of Modern ants under a magnifying glass. And through security cameras. Going
Warfare’s weapons is often petrifying. when the roles reverse, the pride of a Dark is a lone wolf stealth mission
Bullet impacts are loud, disorienting long killstreak is devalued. I got 30 with nonlinear objectives. The stealth
thuds. Near-miss bullets slice through kills, yay, but really I got 20. The rest mechanics are light, but just deep
oxygen with the deafening echoes of are empty ant kills. enough to avoid gimmick territory.
a military sim. The classic hit marker The superiority of killstreaks also It’s undoubtedly my favorite CoD
‘thwoops’ are now blunt strikes that cheapens Modern Warfare’s new campaign, but a familiar structure
holds it back. I want the eight-hour,
fully fleshed-out version of Going
Dark more than fleeting vignettes.
KILLSTREAKS, RANKED BY ANNOYANCE Modern Warfare sets the bar high

for first-person gun feel. Gunfight is a
Which killstreaks make me want to rip my hair out the most? standout mode that proves to me Call
of Duty can slow down and the sky
5 4 3 2 1
won’t fall. Modern Warfare is a
promising platform for new ideas, but
the sentiment will carry little weight
if Activision shoves it aside and we’re
CLUSTER STRIK E PERSONAL PRECISION CHOPPER UAV talking about Black Ops 5 in 2020.
FIVE K ILL S R ADAR AIRSTRIK E GUNNER THREE K ILL S
A cluster of missiles THREE K ILL S FIVE K ILL S TEN K ILLS Secretly the most
that target an area. A radar drone that This one lets you Fly around the map destructive tool in V E R D I C T
It’s not too difficult pings enemies on designate a straight shooting a minigun the game. If you’re Call of Duty: Modern
to avoid, but its low the map. It’s so easy line to be peppered and missiles at ever wondering if Warfare evolves the
kill cost means it to earn that I’m with bombs and anyone unlucky the enemy has a 80
happens way too always spotted by machine-gun fire. It enough to be UAV in the air, just series for the better,
often. something. tips matches. outside. assume they do. but it could have been
so much more.

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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare



One of Modern Warfare’s
rarer moments of bombast.




















































In Gunfight OSP players have to
quickly scrounge for weapons.






























No, you.


Spec Ops missions take place Captain Price and company
across large sandbox maps. raid a terrorist cell in London.

















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GHOST STORIES






The Moon may be haunted, but DESTINY 2: SHADOWKEEP


hopes to fill Bungie’s shooter with life. By Phil Savage






t was a mistake to refer to Destiny 2 and its ilk as ‘games-as-a- as an environment, the Moon is
service’. ‘Service’ implies consistency and a smooth user NEED TO KNOW dripping with atmosphere.
experience. Destiny 2 is something else. Destiny 2 is games-as-an- WHAT IS IT? The campaign’s ending may be
infrastructure—a subway system that gradually builds into The spooky third abrupt, but, as always, the expansion’s
Isomething bigger and more sprawling; that needs to be constantly expansion for story is more of a tease of things to
maintained; that will sometimes keep you waiting because such projects loot-shooter Destiny 2 come—some of it through the next
are complicated and the people running them can’t do everything at once. EXPECT TO PAY year of seasonal releases, the rest
$35 likely further out still. In the
With Shadowkeep, Bungie is As a collection of missions, DEVELOPER meantime the familiar and steady
redrawing the map. The expansion Shadowkeep’s campaign is largely Bungie rhythm of Destiny 2 resumes after
adds a revitalized tourist business as usual. You’ll fight your PUBLISHER players have hit the relatively
destination—the Moon, returning way to an arena and kill a big Ogre. In-house easy-to-reach soft power cap of 900.
from the first Destiny with a handful You’ll fight your way to an arena and The slower journey to the hard cap of
REVIEWED ON
of new attractions and a fresh coat of kill a big Captain. You’ll fight your GeForce GTX 1070, 950 may have been remixed, but the
paint—but also way to an arena and 16GB RAM, i5-6600k notes are largely the same—relying on
spearheads a more kill a big Wizard, and the weekly drops of powerful gear
fundamental shift in As an then run away very MULTIPLAYER from three-player Strike missions,
MMO-ish
purpose. A series of environment fast. There isn’t the Crucible PvP matches, the still-
small tweaks and the Moon is same thematic LINK brilliant competitive PvE of Gambit,
changes that add up playfulness as, say, bungie.net and the new raid, which challenges
to something that feels dripping with Forsaken’s campaign, players with a series of puzzle-like
at once far-reaching atmosphere which used the skillset encounters among the Vex-infested
and, paradoxically, of each Baron as the greenery of the Black Garden.
not as dramatic as it basis for how you’d
first seems. beat them. Instead, Shadowkeep POWER UP
Players return to the Moon in works in part because of the reason There’s a renewed focus on bounties
search of series regular Eris Morn, Destiny always works—it feels good now, with each vendor offering a
the Destiny character voted most to shoot the guns—but also because, powerful reward if you complete a
likely to keep a LiveJournal. set number within a week. Thanks to
Shadowkeep’s campaign manages to the XP awards now granted by
highlight both the best and worst of bounties, which award progress along
Bungie’s storytelling. The specific DRESSTINY a season pass full of goodies as well
objectives are tiresomely monologued The path to 960 is paved with fashion crimes as powering up the new seasonal
by Eris before you head out; the artefact, the steady tick of treats
mystical technobabble ensuring I keeps things moving at a nice pace.
rarely ever know what I’m actually That said, I’d love a central bounty
doing. The broad strokes are that you board that collected them all up for
need to forge a new, special armor easy access. Nothing delays a fireteam
set, but the delivery is rendered like having to bounce between
obtuse thanks to the density of arcane vendors hoovering up bounties for
Hive rituals and mystical MacGuffins. every activity that might be on the
And yet! On a wider level it’s a cards for that evening.
triumph, thanks to an overarching As for specific additions and
threat that feels grand in both its changes, yes, there’s a new Nightfall
menace and in the way Bungie has variant—The Ordeal, which has
seeded it throughout the last two 750 -9 0 0 900-950 950 -9 60 curated modifiers that increase in
years of the game. As someone who’s POWER POWER POWER number as you up the difficulty. Yes,
read my fair share of Destiny lore As you journey to Progress is slower The last ten levels the Crucible playlists have been
the soft cap, every as you head will only drop
collectibles, coming face to face with bit of loot you pick towards the hard through ‘pinnacle’ retooled, giving players more control
the thing that hides beneath the up will be higher cap. You’ll pick up a activities such as over what mode they play (and
Moon felt dramatic and shocking. “I level than your best mismatched set of the new raid. Time letting you earn Glory score without
have to deal with one of those?” I felt gear. Don’t infuse world drops, but to spend upgrade ever having to suffer through a round
should also
cores on infusions.
unprepared, which speaks to how your favorites: Just consider infusing Get your look right, of Countdown). And yes, there are
accept looking
successfully Bungie has teased the terrible. some of your guns. Guardian. new Strikes and a couple of Crucible
Destiny universe’s larger antagonist. maps from the first game that make
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Destiny 2: Still extra.






















































It’s not just spooky rocks. There The new finishers look cool in
are also spooky flowers. motion, silly in screenshot.















The backdrops look
incredible.




































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Destiny 2: Shadowkeep



Scooting about on a Sparrow
still feels nice.






















































































You could have told me
there was a dress code.


There sure is a lot of
shooting in Shadowkeep
















64 JANUARY 2020

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GUN GAME Please enjoy shooting some of these good guns










ERIANA’S VOW DE ATHBRINGER PLUPERFEC T OP TATIVE THE RECLUSE
What is it? Exotic What is it? An exotic What is it? A legendary What is it? A legendary What is it? The best gun in
hand cannon rocket launcher assault rifle hand cannon the game
Poses the question: What if a Angry metal and Hive magic. Pretty standard, but it just Sure, it’s just another hand OK, so it’s not a new gun. But
cannon was a sniper rifle? Drops big, dirty void orbs that makes an incredibly satisfying cannon. But look how cool all Shadowkeep hasn’t stopped it
Answers it by being good. carpet bomb the area. noise when you fire it. the new Vex weapons look! being the best gun in the game.




their PC debut. But there’s also a lot mod system. Instead of consumables, sub-machine gun loader perhaps
of repeating the same things that mods are now unlocks—free to be wasn’t the most interesting way to
we’ve been doing for over a year. You switched in and out into any armor shake things up given The Recluse’s
will run the Pyramidion strike and piece of the same elemental affinity. continued dominance in PvE.
earn a Ten Paces. You will play a Any armor you collected before
Control match on Vostok and be Shadowkeep will remain tied to the GENEROUS OFFERINGS
rewarded with a Does Not Compute. old mod system, but will also—in my Where Shadowkeep was billed as a
The lack of new world or vendor experience, at least—have been bold new template for the third year,
loot isn’t a surprise—if Destiny 2 assigned some woeful stat rolls as a the reality is messier. Nowhere is this
game director Luke Smith’s essay on heavy-handed incentive to switch. more clear than for ‘New Light’, the
the state of the game pre-Shadowkeep Your mileage will vary with the new user experience that puts the
had a single throughline, it was the new system. Being able to easily emphasis on repeatable activities and
limitations of what a development experiment with different mods is a playing with friends. It’s great in
team can reasonably produce. change for the better, but the theory: Certainly the amount of stuff
Nevertheless, I was surprised how elemental restrictions feel rooted in you get for the newly free-to-play
much being awarded the same old old-school MMO design in a way that base game is incredibly generous. But
guns hurt my excitement for the will likely be at odds with how some it also does a bad job of onboarding
year ahead. Ah, here we go again: play the game. Personally I like a little new players. After a short
Another year of friction when it comes introductory mission, you arrive at
dismantling Go Figure. to theorycrafting the Tower only to be inundated with
That isn’t to say Personally I builds, although the quests. It’s confusing and unhelpful,
there aren’t new guns. like a little foundations of to the point where I’ve had a couple
Both Shadowkeep and friction when it Shadowkeep’s armor of friends who are trying out the
the Vex Offensive system aren’t as solid as game ask me how you even find the
activity that headlines comes to I’d like. The biggest campaigns. For reference, they’re
the Season of the theorycrafting issue is that, if I’m with the shipbuilder.
Undying (which runs in using a solar helmet, To be clear, Destiny 2 is still an
parallel to the for instance, I can only engaging shooter that—when you
expansion’s release), each have their see the solar mods. The system needs step back and take stock of all that it
own new weapons. If anything, a Collections tab that lets me see both has to offer—is absolutely packed full
though, they’re too generously the mods I’ve earned and where to of stuff to do. Shadowkeep is both an
awarded. Ever since seasons were unlock the ones I haven’t. The entertaining assortment of new
separated from DLC with Season of theorycrafting potential is interesting, activities and a solid base from which
the Forge and the Black Armory, each but that only works if you can easily the game at large can build and
has had a different approach to see the possibilities. improve. But Shadowkeep also doesn’t
awarding weapons. Last season’s For this reason the seasonal feel like Destiny 2’s final form, and
Menagerie felt like it hit the sweet artifact is a much stronger addition. there’s a real sense that there’s still
spot: Letting players decide what With it, you can unlock a selection of much left to be tweaked and
weapons or armor to chase. The Vex mods that will only be available tightened. The subway is being
Offensive approach appears to be all throughout the Season of the refurbished slowly, one station at a
guns, all the time. I’ve played maybe Undying. As someone who time. That doesn’t stop me from
eight rounds of the event to remembers Destiny more as a series enjoying the ride.
completion and have amassed nine of metas—the year of being killed by
scout rifles. It feels like overkill. Graviton Lance, the year of being V E R D I C T
On the other side of the loot pool, killed by Luna’s Howl, the hilarious
the chase for new armor sets does at weekend of being killed by Not the best or neatest
expansion in the series’
least have more obvious purpose. Prometheus Lens—I’m excited by the history, but Shadowkeep 76
Shadowkeep brings new armor stats idea of formalizing it. That said, this sets a solid foundation
and a new, ostensibly more flexible season’s inclusion of an enhanced for what’s to come.


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WICK-ED FUN






Action and tactical puzzles converge


in JOHN WICK HEX. By Robert Zak






runt 1 rounds a corner, and I lash out at him like a coiled ammo, and health resupplies are at a
snake, judo-flipping him to the ground. Grunt 2 spots me, NEED TO KNOW premium, but through a combination
fires a shot, but I duck back into cover, finish off Grunt 1, WHAT IS IT? of meticulous melee moves you’d be
then run out to meet the pursuant Grunt 2 with another A hex-based tactics amazed at how many corners you can
G takedown. Grunt 3 tries running up behind me, but I whip game set in the John fight your way out of.
round and gun him down, timed perfectly to greet the recovering Grunt 2 Wick universe
at my feet with concussive smack across the chops. EXPECT TO PAY HEXCELLENT HEXECUTION
$20 Certain moves, like Takedown, not
OK, that last bit may not have been moves at the same time as you along DEVELOPER only chuck your enemy to the ground
terribly slick and John Wick-like the minimal hex-based grid. Each Bithell Games and stun them, but change your
(budgetary restraints reflected in the action—shooting, melee attacks, PUBLISHER position, letting you preselect a
game’s animations, perhaps), but weapon pickups—has a ‘preparation’ Good Shepherd contiguous tile where you want John
beyond that this feels just like a time as well as the time it takes to Entertainment to stand after the move. Similarly the
movie tie-in, and prequel, to the complete the actual action. Most REVIEWED ON Push move lets you grab an enemy
super-stylish hitman actions, apart from Windows 10, Intel Core and haul them back a few tiles—great
series should. regular melee strikes i7, 16GB RAM, Nvidia for breaking line of sight from a
The above sequence All this imbues and gunshots, use GTX 1060 nearby gunman or closing the

took me about 30 the game with a Focus points too, which MULTIPLAYER distance on an another enemy.
seconds to complete, satisfying sense you can recharge None The cel-shaded art style is
but I can work out whenever you have a LINK complemented by that color-de-
from the all-important of action-movie couple of in-game johnwickhex.com rigeur neon palette of mostly blues

timeline at the top of improv seconds to spare. and pink. It’s a sparing aesthetic, and
the screen that it took Timelines at the top a little flat in detail. Character faces
John Wick a mere nine of the screen show how are beady-eyed and blank, and
in-game seconds to carry it out. This long it takes for you and visible animations are limited. There isn’t
may be a stop-start tactics game, but enemies to carry out each action. one for attacking downed enemies,
it’s one of the fastest feeling games of This is vital, as you use it to gauge for example, so instead they’re jolted
its type that I’ve ever played, whether you can execute attacks instantly and awkwardly into upright
interposing an aggressive sense of before your enemies do, or at least positions for the attack.
flow into a methodical framework make sure that during their attacks This means that the zoomed-in
that would make Keanu Reeves you’re on the move dodging to real-time replays you can watch at
himself whip off his shades and minimize your chances of being hit. the end of each level don’t look quite
earnestly frown in approval. All this imbues John Wick Hex as flashy as you’d hope for, even
A crucial part of this sense of pace with a satisfying sense of action- though they are a welcome touch.
is the fact that the game is timeline- movie improv, like a more regimented But beyond that, John Wick Hex is
based rather than turn-based. You top-down version of Superhot, or a movie tie-in that doesn’t go for the
have as long as you want to make indeed the John Wick movies lowest common denominator. What
your move, but every character themselves. You often run out of could easily have been a generic
real-time action game works
wonderfully in this form—converting
the pace of the movie action into a
UI-LOGY Here’s how the UI in John Wick Hex works very elegant illusion of it.
It works admirably despite some
Focus points let The most vital lapses in the presentation, and feels
1 you carry out 3 piece of your UI is
various attacking this timeline, which like an idea that the developer could
actions. Make sure to 3 2 tells you who’s doing evolve into something really special
recharge often. what and when, and in the future—with or without the
lets you plan John Wick licence.
In the tougher 4 accordingly.
2 Expedited Mode,
you have five seconds When you select V E R D I C T
to carry out each 4an enemy and John Wick Hex is
action, amping up 1 highlight a move, you an elegant tactical
the pace. get a detailed 80
breakdown of puzzler that captures
its effects. the pace and action
of the movies.

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John Wick Hex



Ammo is at a premium, so picking
up fallen enemies’ guns is crucial.





















































The end-of-level replays let
you see your run in real-time.










Ian McShane and Lance Reddick reprise
their roles as Winston and Charon.


Shooting one enemy while another
shoots you isn’t a good trade-off.




































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BOREDOMLANDS






GHOST RECON: BREAKPOINT is a tedious


open-world tactical shooter. By Rick Lane






host Recon: Wildlands was a middling experience, but it organizations, is a rich seam to
wasn’t entirely devoid of potential. With more diverse NEED TO KNOW explore in a tactical shooter. Sadly
missions, a greater range of tactical gadgets and abilities, and WHAT IS IT? this potential is squandered in favor
a better thought-out story, it might have succeeded in Tedious and confused of a more generic military tale
G justifying its huge world and absurd number of activities. open-world tactical exploring Nomad and Walker’s
shooter relationship, which is detailed
As a sequel, Ghost Recon: Breakpoint outset, Skell’s operation is hijacked by EXPECT TO PAY through long, unskippable flashback
adds none of these things. In fact, a former Ghost named Walker $60 cutscenes. Jon Bernthal does a
Breakpoint adds nothing of value to (played by Jon Bernthal), who plans DEVELOPER splendid job inhabiting the role of
the Ghost Recon template. Instead it to use Skell’s drone army for Ubisoft Jon Bernthal, but it’s hard to take his
transplants into Wildlands’ structure non-specific Nefarious Means. PUBLISHER character seriously when every NPC
several systems from other Ubisoft Players assume the role of Nomad Ubisoft around him looks and acts like a
franchises, systems that have no place (which, incidentally, also means mannequin with a mop on its head.
REVIEWED ON
in a game like Ghost Recon. ‘Walker’, suggesting the writers Windows 10, AMD The quality of the storytelling is
Meanwhile, it actively struggled to come up Ryzen 5 3600, Nvidia generally poor, but the real issue is
removes some features with two generic GTX 2080 Super, 32 GB how insistent it is upon its own
that were present in At least the soldier names) RAM, misplaced importance. To dispense
Wildlands, while story isn’t likely deployed as part of a MULTIPLAYER its narrative, Breakpoint has adopted
making others to trigger a large team of Ghosts to Up to 4 player co-op, 8 wholesale the conversation system
considerably worse. In investigate the situation player competitive from Assassin’s Creed Odyssey.
case I’ve not made it political on Auroa. But the LINK It’s virtually identical, from the
clear, I don’t think it’s incident Ghosts’ helicopters are ghost-recon. shot, reverse-shot camera angles to
very good. shot down by the ubisoft.com the occasional (and in Breakpoint’s
At least the story island’s weapons case, largely pointless) dialogue
isn’t likely to trigger a political system, and Nomad finds himself choices. Only instead of playing a
incident, although this is mainly alone and hunted through the forest flirtatious Greek mercenary who
because it’s unlikely to trigger any by Walker’s gang of mercenaries who chats with Herodotus and argues
spark of emotion whatsoever. call themselves the Wolves. with Socrates, you’re a dead-eyed pile
Wildlands’ real-world setting of of khaki chewing over plot exposition
Bolivia has been switched out for the FEEL THE BERNTHAL with Scientist #315.
fictional island of Auroa, an offshore There is some potential in the new Across Breakpoint’s 30-40 hours,
Silicon Valley where your friendly setting. The amorality and you’ll sit through reams upon reams
neighborhood techbro Jace Skell tries unaccountability of modern tech of tedious, sometimes laughable
to make the world a better place by giants, particularly in their dialogue. My favorite line, stated
building killer drones. At the game’s associations with the world’s military entirely seriously, is, “You might be a
Ghost, but you’re not untouchable!”
It’s quite shocking what an absurd
waste of resources Ubisoft has
BODGED BADGES Ghost Recon: Breakpoint features many eyebrow plunged into Breakpoint’s narrative,
not least because it obstructs the flow
raising design decisions, but the class emblems take some beating
of the game far more than it ever
contributes. Conversations will often
occur mid-infiltration. In one
example I triggered a chat with a
scientist lady while enemy guards
were literally stood around us.

BREAKPOINT-LESS

AS SAULT SHARPSHOOTER FIELD MEDIC PANTHER Speaking of wasted resources,
Bears are strong. So I’m down with the eagle, What’s the best way to Why does the panther Breakpoint adopts a Division-like loot
strong they can bite a gun eagle-eyed and all that. represent healing people? have a knife in its mouth? system, also known as ‘The Division’s
in half. The gun that you But why is it carrying a That’s right, snake with a It’s basically made of loot system’. But the whole concept
use to shoot enemies as gun, while also being knife. Seems like it goes knives. Also it’s covered in of loot is rendered pointless by how
an Assault character. targeted by a gun? Is the against the Hippocratic lightning for some
Leaving you with no gun. eagle the sharpshooter? Oath somewhat. baffling reason. Ghost Recon’s combat works. Damage
is meted out according to ballistics

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Ghost Recon: Breakpoint



Ground-based vehicles are not
very effective for getting around.



































































The perfect cover!
Nobody will spot me here.


Helicopters are much better for travel,
but flying them is dull.




































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Ghost Recon: Breakpoint



Sniper rifles are incredibly effective
at bringing down helicopters.


































































The snow and mud effects are one of
the best things about the game.


After almost dying in an explosion,
it’s important to remember to stretch.











There are lots of characters.
You will care about none of them.





















70 JANUARY 2020

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rather than level-gating. No matter completely, but the game doesn’t
how much armor someone is COOKIE CUTTER compensate for this in solo play.
wearing, if you shoot them in the Breakpoint is not an especially
face, they die. This is generally how I How Ubisoft is it? difficult game, but there are points
prefer shooters to work, and I’m glad when it becomes punishingly hard to
Ghost Recon sticks to this. But it also play solo. In one example, where I
means the first gun you pick up is Large map covered in icons had to defend a scientist stood at the
functionally very similar to the last. Cookie-cutter quest design end of a causeway, the only way I
Ubisoft’s struggle to make drab could stop my position being rushed
military gear interesting as loot also Stapled-on systems by enemies was to deliberately crash
leads them to some absurd places, a helicopter in the doorway from
where a trucker’s cap offers greater Drones which they approached. Criticizing a
protection than a crash-proof helmet. co-op game for poor solo play may
Large, obnoxious UI
These bolted-on systems come at not seem fair, but there are plenty of
the cost of improving the core Murderable animals similar titles on the market which are
experience, which, in the right enjoyable when played alone, such as
circumstances, can be enjoyable. Like Sidestepping its own politics Remnant: From the Ashes or Ubisoft’s
Wildlands, Breakpoint can be played NPCs whose behavior is own The Division 2.
with up to four people. Personally I at-odds with the situation Even when played properly in
found it most enjoyable with two, as co-op, Breakpoint never evolves
beyond that it’s difficult to play Iconic cap beyond the basic teamwork I’ve
stealthily. Specifically, one of us outlined. The upgrade tree, which
would deploy as a sniper in an becomes the main thrust for
overwatch role, while the other progression in the absence of
performed the wetwork of infiltrating scrambling mechanic is one of compelling or distinctive loot, is far
bases and completing objectives. several ideas intended to reflect this. too anaemic. The most interesting
Using this structure we quickly One of the few ideas I genuinely like unlockable tool is a torch for cutting
fell into a fun routine, hovering over about Breakpoint is the way your through fences, and even this is so
bases in a helicopter and studying the character gets covered in mud and slow to use that it’s generally easier
layout, before dropping off the sniper snow as they traverse the terrain. You to find another point of entry. Your
at a nearby elevation point with a can even use it to camouflage objectives, meanwhile, nearly always
good overview of the base. They yourself, although since most of the involve collecting ‘intel’ from a base,
would then scout out enemy patrols fighting takes place in buildings and which then usually points you to
and take out straggling guards, while urbanized areas, the system doesn’t another base where more intel has to
the other player located an entry get much of a look-in. be collected. Sometimes you’ll need
point and tried to sneak The other major to extract an individual from an area
to the objective. If the component to the or assassinate a specific target, but
alarm was raised we’d Trying to survival element is these are much rarer by comparison,
switch to all-out navigate Auroa bivouacs. These are and more bespoke mission structures
assault, which Ghost on foot is unlockable fast-travel are one in a dozen if you’re lucky.
Recon facilitates nicely points where you can Ghost Recon: Breakpoint is a
through its slick aiming incredibly set-up a camp that lets bizarre Frankenstein’s monster of a
and lethal-feeling guns. difficult you purchase and craft shooter, functional in a basic sense,
Played in this way new items, summon but fundamentally at odds with its
Breakpoint is fun in vehicles, and activate own existence. The only breakpoint
short bursts. However, it takes little buffs by eating, drinking and cleaning here is for Ubisoft’s carte-blanche
for the enjoyment to stall. Trying to your gun. It’s not a terrible idea, but open world design, which completely
navigate Auroa on foot is incredibly it is terribly implemented, forcing loses sight of the core experience
difficult due to its craggy terrain, you to watch a protracted cutscene Ghost Recon is supposed to offer.
compounded by Breakpoint’s weirdly every time you bivouac, even if The systems borrowed from other
specific simulation of traversing you’ve already been to that spot. Ubisoft games are about as fitting
slopes. If you run too quickly down Once you’ve done that, you’re for a tactical shooter as a clown
one or try to climb one that’s too forced to contend with a dreadful suit, while the toolbox available
steep, you’ll start to slide, before menu, which amongst other to the player is nowhere near
eventually stumbling into a health- problems, doesn’t let you bulk buy deep enough to spread across the
depleting roll. Ground-based vehicles basic items like grenades, or hundreds of samey activities
are also generally a no-go, as they too quick-spawn a specific vehicles. It’s filling the world. If Wildlands
easily alert enemies to your presence. so slow and clunky that, despite was disappointing, Breakpoint
There is some method behind this the advantages they offer, you’ll edges close to disaster.
apparent madness. Breakpoint is avoid them wherever possible.
notionally a survivalist shooter, one V E R D I C T
where your team is deep inside ON YOUR OWN Poorly stapled-on
enemy territory, forced to subsist in Breakpoint caters particularly mechanics and lack of
the wilderness over a long period of poorly for solo players. The AI polish make Breakpoint’s 40
time. Essentially, it wants to be a companions who accompanied open-world tactics not
Bravo Two Zero simulator. The scree- you in Bolivia have been cut out worth the time.


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DIGITAL WIZARDRY






MAGIC: THE GATHERING ARENA is the best adaptation


yet of the classic card game. By Jody Macgregor






here are countless online collectible card games inspired by The benefit of this system is the
Magic: The Gathering these days, but there’s one element NEED TO KNOW turnaround it enables—there’s so
almost all of them fail to capture: That feeling of a magical WHAT IS IT? much room for clever counterplay at
duel. A good game of MTG is like that scene in The Sword in The first CCG’s latest every stage of a match. Just like
Tthe Stone. Merlin plays caterpillar, Madam Mim plays and possibly greatest Merlin you can be faced with an
chicken to eat the caterpillar, Merlin plays walrus to crush the chicken. videogame incarnation elephant that’s about to crush you
EXPECT TO PAY and then turn into a mouse and
Though it’s top dog among physical at the start of my turn and then Free-to-play frighten it away—metaphorically
CCGs, previous attempts at bringing tapping it is inherently nostalgic for DEVELOPER speaking, at least. It’s a vital part of a
Magic onto screens have always been me. However, when I have one of Wizards Digital Games game with a huge number of combos,
second-rate at best, and UI those games where I don’t draw Studio which are fun when you interrupt
nightmares at worst. No digital enough land cards to do anything, PUBLISHER them or when you pull one off.
version has ever really been able to suddenly those warm feelings dry up Wizards of the Coast When you play a card that gives
get the full experience off the table and I realize maybe simplifying this REVIEWED ON bonus life when you summon
and onto screens. Arena into ‘one more mana Windows 10, Intel Core something else, then follow it with a
is the best attempt yet. each turn’ was actually i7, 16GB RAM, Nvidia summon that gets powered up when
For starters it’s Levelling up a good idea. GTX 1060 you gain life, it feels like a tidy
free-to-play, and rewards a MULTIPLAYER one-two jab. At the far end of the
generous with it. pleasant HOLD UP 1v1 possibilities you’re pulling off
Levelling up rewards a The other thing that’s LINK interactions that end with eight
pleasant amount of free amount of always been a part of magic.wizards.com/ monsters on a previously empty
cards and when you free cards Magic is ‘interrupts’. en/mtgarena board, or dealing 42 damage at once.
buy a booster pack, Spells marked ‘instant’ There’s a popular deck based
whether with cash or can be cast with around Nightpack Ambusher, which
gold earned in-game, they contain leftover mana on an opponent’s turn. gives you a free wolf if you don’t cast
extra wildcards which can be traded At the table this promotes a snappy spells on your turn. The trick is
for any card of an equivalent rarity. back and forth. In a videogame it can combining it with a deck full of
It’s more generous than tabletop make for a stop-start experience instants, so you do your casting on
Magic. You’ll still need to drop money where you have to click Next or Pass your opponent’s turn while your
for whatever deck’s dominating the repeatedly just to let the game know army grows. The first time I saw this,
meta, or if you can’t be bothered you don’t want to interrupt during I was playing a vampire-heavy deck
grinding for gold. But if you climbed this phase, and no, not the next one that bypassed those wolves to drain
out of the money hole of collecting either. It also gives an opponent who my opponent’s life direct, and got
cardboard crack back in the day, this is mad you’ve taken the lead lots of them down to their last three points
is a safe way of re-experiencing that opportunities to drag things out. before the pack overran me. But
without going broke. when someone pulls off a combo like
If you’re not coming to Magic this against you, you’re frequently left
from the table, some of Magic’s BEGINNER SYNERGIES too impressed to be angry—and eager
assumptions may seem strange. to try something similar.
Despite the similarities to games such You can pull these off with the basic cards Sometimes I get a couple of those
as Hearthstone (spending mana to frustrating stop-start matches in a
play cards, faces with life points that row, but Arena gives me plenty to
have to be smacked away by think about during downtime.
summoned creatures, etc), a few of There’s always another strategy to
the bumps other games have try, and even though I was only a
smoothed over will catch your feet. kitchen-table Magic player, it’s
One is that rather than simply reactivated parts of my brain I
gaining mana every turn you have to BLOOD FOR , WELL , ME HE AL TURN thought long lost to the cobwebs.
play land cards, then tap them for
Vindictive Vampire gives a point Ajani’s Pridemate gains +1/+1
their colored mana. Forests give of life when one of your whenever you heal, Bishop of V E R D I C T
green mana, swamps give black, etc. creatures dies, Bloodthirsty Wings gives life when you play Slick and generous,
Most cards require at least one mana Aerialist gains +1/+1 whenever an angel. Stack a deck with Magic: The Gathering
of an appropriate color, and some you gain life. Sacrifice minions enough winged warriors, and Arena is finally an 79
extra that can be any flavor. to heal while bolstering these you’ll finish matches with more adaptation worthy of the
vamp acrobats. life than you started them with.
Something about putting down land grandfather of CCGs.

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Magic: The Gathering Arena



A deck built on surveil, which lets you
inspect and swap your undrawn cards.



































































Years of expansions, books, and comics give
Magic plenty of characters to draw from. The deckbuilder in action.


Goblin Grenade
is a work of art.











Less intimidating
than Path of Exile’s.






















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SECOND PASS






SIX AGES: RIDE LIKE THE WIND updates a cult


classic for the modern world. By Tom Hatfield






he council of clan elders look at one another gravely. This GLORY TO GLORANTHA
year’s harvest has been poor, and our people need food to NEED TO KNOW Let’s talk about that ritual at the
make it through the winter. The warmaster, a young fire WHAT IS IT? beginning. This is one of the more
mage called Yakatan, pipes up, “Perhaps we could raid a Visual novel/town unusual aspects of Six Ages—it’s set in
Tnearby clan, and steal their cows?” But Shaman Kimka has an management sim the world of Glorantha, a board game
alternative plan: “How about if we get one of our farmers to put on a mask EXPECT TO PAY and RPG setting created by Greg
and prance around pretending to be the cow goddess, until they get $20 Stafford over 40 years ago in which
transported to a mystical otherworld, commune with the gods, and ask DEVELOPER myth and reality are tightly
them to beam down 100 cows directly into our fields?” Both suggestions A Sharp intertwined. The farmer is both
are very sensible, but I think we’re going to go with the mask thing. invoking the legend in a muddy field
PUBLISHER and transported to a mystical
Kitfox Games
Welcome to Six Ages. It’s a long- characters. One of Six Ages’ best otherworld, and a significant part of
belated follow up to the 1999 features is the Clan Circle: An REVIEWED ON the game is learning the secrets to
cult oddity King of Dragon Pass, advisory council of characters who Intel i5, 16gb RAM, these myths so that you can re-enact
Nvidia GTX 1660
and works the same chime in on every them correctly. Alternatively you can
way: You manage a decision you make. MULTIPLAYER go off-book, putting a spin on the tale
small clan in an iron Try to imagine They’re all None and creating a new interpretation.
age fantasy world, and CK2 without randomly generated, LINK A quick word on ports, Six Ages
try to help them the overmap, but each one has their blog.sixages.com was originally released on iOS, and
prosper by making a own little personality: the PC version is basic but functional.
series of decisions, but with more This one hates elves, No, there aren’t a lot of graphics
largely involving weird events this one always wants options, but then the game consists
praying to gods and to stick to tradition— entirely of still screens, so it hardly
acquiring more and my priestess, Ailara, needs them. What’s important is that,
more livestock. It’s a sort of hybrid was a very wise old woman whose unlike the 2015 Steam re-release of
of visual novel and town comments always amounted to some Dragon Pass, it feels like it has been
management game, with large parts variation on “ugh, men”. Most of the designed to be used with a mouse
played out via little choose-your- time when you perform an action— instead of a touch screen. During
own-adventure vignettes, plus town such as sending a trade caravan to a play, I only ever encounter one major
management-esque decisions on neighboring clan, exploring the bug, where my trade caravans seem
various menu screens. Try to imagine nearby mountains, or performing a to visit with a different clan than I
Crusader Kings 2 without the ritual—one of these characters will be intend, which is annoying.
real-time strategy overmap, but with the public face of it. In an alternate universe where
even more weird events. You inevitably get really attached King of Dragon Pass spawned a genre
That’s probably the best to each character, only to see them (clan management sim? Passlike?
comparison to modern gamers, not catch a stray arrow in battle, Turn-based cow raider?), Six Ages
just because of the vignettes, but also disappear while exploring, or just would probably be considered an
the emphasis on personality and grow old and die. unoriginal and derivative follow up. It
does play in almost exactly the same
way, just with new fiction and a thick
layer of polish (the tooltips in
WHO’S WHO A colorful cast of characters particular are a godsend considering
how obtuse the original game could
be). I hope to one day live in that
world, but in the current one there is
no modern experience quite like Six
Ages, and I’m just glad to be back in
Glorantha again.
UL ANAI YATAK A N TARG ARUNG DOREN AIL AR A KOSYALOR K IMK A
Skills: Skills: Skills: Skills: Skills: Magic Skills: Skills: Talking
Combat, Combat, Everything Diplomacy Likes: Belonging to to ghosts V E R D I C T
leadership magic Likes: Horses Likes: Long Healthcare the right family Likes: Ghosts This charming sequel
Likes: Fighting Likes: Fire Dislikes: Doing tedious stories Dislikes: Men Likes: Dislikes: The doesn’t need flashy
Dislikes: Dislikes: all the work Dislikes: Nepotism living new innovations to 88
Making peace Chariots Those barbaric Dislikes:
Orlanthi Meritocracy craft a seriously
engrossing adventure.

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Six Ages: Ride Like the Wind



It’s useful to have one clan you
can beat up to show you’re not weak.





















































Fighting an imaginary water dragon so I can
cross a river, normal strategy game stuff.











Me when I open Twitter.





















Circle members personalities
influence their advice.











If it seems like most of these screenshots are just weird cool
events, that’s because that’s what most of the game is.



JANUARY 2020 75

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PRANG TURISMO






Exhilarating on the track, GRID is let down by barebones


game modes and half-baked new systems. By Rick Lane






fter the precise simulation of F1 2019 and the outright terror hours. There are different track
of the Dirt Rally games, GRID sees Codemasters promise a NEED TO KNOW layouts, but Brands Hatch backwards
return to the arcade joys of its beloved 2008 racer. Here, WHAT IS IT? doesn’t lessen the disappointment of
slightly mistiming a turn isn’t going to ruin your race, and A ‘back to basics’ returning to Brands Hatch for the
taki
A ng the lead from the back of the pack is not just viable arcade racer that’s a 15th time when you’re not even
within three laps, but actively encouraged. GRID is about enjoying the little too basic for its halfway through the career.
fantasy of being a racing driver, rather than recreating the reality of it. own good The career is little more than an
EXPECT TO PAY event selection menu. It’s unfortunate
It’s a promise partially delivered. On The early Touring Car events $60 because GRID boasts a couple of
the track GRID is frequently thrilling, evoke pleasant memories of the DEVELOPER potentially interesting ideas. The
less about pedal to the metal and TOCA games from the late ’90s, as Codemasters most notable of these are the new AI
more metal to the other metal, as you you cruise around Silverstone and PUBLISHER driver behaviors. Bump into a specific
shunt and shoulder your way through Brands Hatch under quintessentially Codemasters car too hard or too often, and they’ll
tightly packed crowds of aggressive British slate grey skies. From here REVIEWED ON become your ‘Nemesis’, hulking out
and occasionally you can jump into a AMD Ryzen 5 3600, and attempting to run you off the
unhinged AI drivers. grunting muscle car Nvidia GTX 2080 Super, road.
Yet off the track the Unfortunately and thrum along the 32 GB RAM. Unfortunately vendettas only last
game is lacking in vendettas only graceful arcs of the MULTIPLAYER for the duration of the race and the
features and, in some last for the Crescent Valley Up to 16 player lack of any personality in either
areas, conviction, with speedway, or head for competitive individual drivers or the wider career
several half-baked ideas duration of the opulent GT LINK means this isn’t the Shadow of
that merited deeper the race category and slam a codemasters.com/ Mordor of racing games—a lot of
exploration. Porsche 911 along the game/grid potential is left dangling.
Initially you might harborside of Havana. There are other curious issues too.
wonder what there is to complain Each car is distinct in its handling For example, you can hire new
about. After an introduction, GRID and momentum too. When barreling teammates to drive with, but this is
flings you into career mode, through a corner there’s a world of never pointed out to you during the
presenting you with a wall of races. difference between the sturdy grace career. Instead, the option is hidden
There are four categories, including of a Vantage and the barely- away on your profile page.
touring cars, stock cars, and a controllable grunt of a Ford Mustang. Finding a multiplayer game is
Fernando Alonso-branded supercar limited to private lobbies or public
category, each of which has 14 events ROLLING START matchmaking, with no public lobbies
and somewhere between 40 and 50 For the first five-to-ten hours, GRID or option to browse for servers. The
races. Add to that the number of is a delight, but that initial burst of keyboard control layout is downright
‘Invitational’ events, which let you locations isn’t the start of some grand bizarre, with button allocations
race anything from Mini Coopers to tour, it’s all the locations thrown at scattered all over the place.
Ferraris, and you’ve got around 30 you within a handful of events, which This is still an entertaining racer,
hours of racing ahead of you. are then recycled for the following 20 one that looks lovely and runs
smoothly. But I can’t help but feel like
a premium-priced game like this
should be doing a bit more, especially
THE STARTING GRID if you compare it to something like
Forza Horizon 4, a similarly arcade-y
Where does GRID rank in the series? experience, but with considerably

more to offer. Had GRID explored
P O L E P O S I T I O N B AC K O F T H E PAC K that might have given it the extra
some of its ideas in greater depth,

boost for a podium finish.


V E R D I C T
R ACE DRIVER: GRID GRID AUTOSPORT GRID GRID 2
Still the strongest and Technically a spinoff, its It may be lightweight on GRID 2’s dynamic tracks Invigorating arcade
most well-rounded entry, focus on realistic handling features, but GRID’s couldn’t compensate for racing that’s let down 68
this is the landmark for all and a wide range of race finely-tuned driving is its wonky driving model by lightweight
of Codies’ arcade racers. types earns second place. worthy of a podium finish. and lack of an in-car view. multiplayer and
campaign modes.

76 JANUARY 2020

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GRID



GRID awards points for your
skill and bravery while driving.





















































































All the locations have character, but
Shanghai is by far the most spectacular.
















Weather effects like sunlight and rain make driving
from the in-car perspective a perilous experience.



JANUARY 2020 77

RE VIE W





SPACE ACE






Take a breezy tour of the Halcyon system


in THE OUTER WORLDS. By Tom Senior






n the edge of the solar system, an old scientist runs through equip melee weapons too and, if you
the corridors of an abandoned colony ship. He pauses before NEED TO KNOW unlock the right skills, there’s a light
a cryostasis control panel and, of all the thousands of WHAT IS IT? parry system that lets you block
scientists and engineers he could thawed out, for some A funny RPG that tours precisely to rebound opponents.
Oreason he chooses me: a janitor called Pippin with a twirly a corporate-owned
moustache and a wonky moral compass. solar system STAR TREKKIN’
EXPECT TO PAY Combat isn’t challenging, and
This is the beginning of a quirky pulpy choose-your-own-adventure $60 enemies fit into worn categories—
romp across a solar system ruled by experience. If you don’t go in DEVELOPER face rush melee types, sniper types,
brutal corporations. The Outer Worlds expecting a deep systems-driven Obsidian dog types. But the Jetsons-style sci-fi
is a light-hearted RPG that aims to sandbox, it’s a pleasure to go through. PUBLISHER weapons are fun to use, and battles
emulate the Firefly fantasy. You fly There’s still plenty to tinker with. Obsidian are frequently hilarious. Enemies
from planet to planet, gather a crew When you level up you get ten points explode into chunks with
of misfits, pick your way through a to pour into your character’s stat REVIEWED ON enthusiasm, often while screaming
GTX 970, Intel
series of moral sheet. I went all-in on i5-6600K, 8GB RAM overwrought barks.
quandaries, and shoot my handgun Fights exist to put some light
people with laser guns. The story competency to pay MULTIPLAYER friction between meetings with The
None
The game’s winds between homage to Obsidian’s Outer World’s oppressed but
aesthetics and dark pockets of cult spy RPG Alpha LINK surprisingly merry citizens. The
sense of humor pitch Protocol, but you can outerworlds. corporate colonies are full of
obsidian.net
The Outer Worlds people trying also put stock in employees keen to do the best job
against Bethesda’s their best personality traits such they can—largely because getting
Fallout games, but as perception and fired can mean exile and death. The
there are important intelligence to unlock story winds between pockets of
differences. True, you have ray guns extra conversation options. people trying their best to survive.
and companions who shoot enemies You can also mod weapons to add The game’s main dilemmas ask you
for you, but this game isn’t a sights, improve their ammo capacity to side with one faction against
sprawling sandbox experience. You or, most importantly, change their another. You’re free to play the
hop between planets and space damage type. There’s a loose rock freedom fighter or a corporate shill,
stations, exploring fairly large zones paper scissors system to combat. but quest outcomes are frequently
full of corporate employees staving Energy weapons mess up animals, messy and unexpected. Along with
off plagues and wild animal attacks. electric weapons mess up robots, and multiple endings, that gives the game
Each area is loaded with loot and pretty much anything messes up some replayability.
sidequests, but it’s a tight and humans. You don’t really have to care It’s a fun journey. The advantage
prescriptive RPG. about that if you don’t want to, of the planet-hopping structure—
That’s not a bad thing, but in a however. For hand-wavy science rather than having a single
world of 70-hour RPGs it’s best to set reasons, you can slow down time and contiguous wasteland to explore—is
expectations. The Outer Worlds is a easily line up headshots. You can variety. It’s a colorful universe full of
lumpen spaceships. There’s a
category of games I think of as
Saturday morning cartoon games.
GRAND TOUR Your guide to the solar system They lack depth, but they’re fluffy
and easy to enjoy. As I look back on
TERR A 2 MONARCH some screens as Pippin laser blasts a
1 Your adventure 3 Beware of this marauder into a pile of dust, I realize
starts here! A lovely largely abandoned hell that’s what The Outer Worlds is to
planet, but look out for planet full of giant,
marauders and alien murderous insects. me. If you meet it on those terms, I
dogs. think you’ll enjoy it.

GROUNDBREAKER SCY LL A V E R D I C T
2 A lawless trading 4 A beautiful, peaceful
post that the system’s outpost on the edge of The Outer Worlds is an
corporations need too space. A good place to entertaining and 79
much to conquer. 3 4 1 2 see the stars. uncomplicated RPG set
in a colorful yet
dystopian universe.

78 JANUARY 2020

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The Outer Worlds



There’s plenty of variety on the
planets in The Outer Worlds.


































Your ship, worringly named
The Unreliable.


































ADA, the ship’s AI, makes me nervous.
Is she hiding something?




































JANUARY 2020 79

THE Y ’RE BACK


OLD GAMES REVISITED by Matthew Elliott






















If you’ve played this level
you’ll recognize this face.












I made this.




HOOD RIDDANCE






While you were enjoying HOTLINE MIAMI, I studied the blade




here’s definitely a quicker way of doing this. ‘This’, in the WE LIVE IN A SOCIETY
introductory anecdote you’re currently enjoying, is NEED TO KNOW It helps make Hotline Miami feel as
murdering a room full of people who intend me harm. And WHAT IS IT? immediate and exhilarating as it did
my chosen method—the thing that’s slowing me down—is to Pulsing, top-down seven years ago. It’s still better than
Tslice them all up with a samurai sword, especially those murder simulator with a the sequel, and numerous other
enemies with automatic weapons. It’s a futile, ill-timed, self imposed fine line in animal top-down, one-bullet action games
masks
challenge that represents everything I love about Hotline Miami. that have followed. The relentless
EXPECT TO PAY nihilism of it all is slightly tiresome
Sometimes I glide through rooms Jackson Pollock of fluids and meat. It $2.50 now—it might be because I’ve also
elegantly dispatching everyone, then feels so good that I’d have forgotten DEVELOPER been playing Gone Home, but I could
get shot by someone offscreen. Other about the repeated failures had I not Dennaton Games do without the fridged girlfriends
times I’m bludgeoned by the first had to write about them here. PUBLISHER and clumsy psychosis—but it’s still a
enemy I encounter. Eventually, long Part of this re-review, then, is a Devolver Digital compelling game. The soundtrack is
after I should have gone to bed, I celebration of Hotline Miami’s restart REVIEWED ON still thrilling, too—the music and
succeed. A combination button—perhaps the Intel Core i7-7700 CUP setting work in beautiful unison,
of luck, persistence, greatest use of the R @ 3.60GHz, 16 GB RAM, shoving you along and punctuating
and frequent restarts I’ve made a key in all of PC gaming. NVIDIA GeForce GTX each beat with squelchy, satisfying
gets me through, but brilliant mess There’s no shame in it. 1070, Windows 10 violence. It’s a game with all the
the failures don’t and had a You never press it by MULTIPLAYER warmth and depth of a semi-frozen
matter. However badly mistake. It’s an No puddle, but I’m okay with that.
it goes wrong, I’m wonderful time instantaneous do-over LINK Because truthfully, deciding that I
satisfied it’s my own doing it that erases what came hotlinemiami.com want to kill everyone with a sword is
fault when my avatar before, and it’s the the only dramatic motivation I need
lies jittering on the reason I’m happy to be to have fun. Once upon a time, there
floor like a smashed crab. My stuck for 20 minutes so I can was a man in a horse mask who
triumph is the only thing I remember eventually do something cool. It killed everyone. It felt nice. Nobody
in detail: a crescendo of flying celebrates how crisp and lived happily ever after. The end.
swords, stolen weapons, and eyeballs compartmentalized Hotline Miami is.
being popped like bubble wrap. I’m Every room is a puzzle to solve in V E R D I C T
sure I’m supposed to feel a degree of milliseconds, and while the specifics Coming back to Hotline
guilt as I track back through the level, might change, it rarely feels random. Miami has reminded me
sloshing through pools of gore, but I You can alter your plans instantly if that it is brisk, brutal, 82
don’t. I’ve made a brilliant mess and they don’t work. Or, like me, you can bloody, and above all,
had a wonderful time doing it—a keep trying until they do. absolutely brilliant.

80 JANUARY 2020

RE VIE W





PAST JUDGEMENT He ignored the

warning, readers.
Uncovering family secrets in GONE HOME




fter the twitching brutality It’s a game that can’t be consumed
of Hotline Miami, it’s lovely passively. Early on I struggled to
A to play something as parse which character was which so
genteel as Gone Home. At least, it I had to go back and double check
should be lovely. But instead, I find names and journals. And the house
myself in an empty house, with a itself requires you to suspend your
storm raging outside, stumbling disbelief. But it all slots into place in a
about in the semi-gloom looking for way that’s satisfying and sad, and the
hidden compartments. location itself is incredible. It’s
crammed with scrawled notes and
Gone Home maintains its restraint, trinkets that hint and reveal; echoes
and in doing so manages to capture of past events, all with diminished or
something few other games do—the redirected significance. The
persistent fear of being alone in a interactivity helps too. You don’t need
familiar place. It’s not that you’ll see to open every pizza box or play every
anything scary, more that you know tape, but doing so will make you feel
how frightening it would be if you like you’re uncovering your own
did. The sense of unease is memories, and it sets you up
heightened by cryptic notes perfectly for Gone Home’s elegant
suggesting the house is haunted. ending. It’s the sort of experience No, this isn’t an accidental
Outlast screenshot.
The real story, however, is far that inevitably makes you reflect on
more real and effective than any your own choices, and one NEED TO KNOW
traditional ghost story, even if the that does an excellent job 84
tension and detective work feel like of making personal things EXPECT TO PAY DEVELOPER PUBLISHER
they’re from the same world. seem monumental. $15 Fullbright Fullbright




The joy of pixel games: Flies are No mate. That’s not covered
interchangeable with full stops. under a standard MOT.












CROSSING SOULS OUTDRIVE

The place where cutlery
and crime converge.
f Gone Home is all about here are a few reasons I picked
Ireconnecting with bygone youth, TOutdrive. The Steam reviews are
Crossing Souls is about never growing good, and it’s dirt cheap. The MONACO: WHAT’S YOURS IN MINE
up. It’s a celebration of walkie-talkie- premise, too, is the most ’80s thing
ing, BMX-riding ’80s adventures, conceivable: The only way you can
with obvious influences from the keep your dying girlfriend’s heart hether it’s tunneling through
likes of The Goonies, Stand By Me, beating is by driving fast down an Wwalls or hacking computers,
and ET. It’s honest, unadorned, endless glowing road. It’s nonsense, most problems in Monaco can be
nostalgic fast food that refries old but the thought of racing to a pulsing solved by walking into them. That
tropes in a loving if wholly soundtrack doesn’t sound so bad. might make this slick, purloin-’em-up
predictable way. Unfortunately, Outdrive is wretched. seem simple, but it’s anything but. It’s
The group has all the archetypes The onscreen feedback is practically most entertaining when things go
of the era—leader, nerd, big guy, girl, non-existent, a problem exacerbated wrong, and it usually reaches peak
etc—and the mystical MacGuffin that by some clumsy translation. Your failure when you’re trying to
unites them is suitably perilous. It’s level of success is measured by ‘Girl coordinate a heist in multiplayer.
nothing new or groundbreaking, Lifetime’, which might be the most Much like writing a children’s book,
then, but that’s probably the point: depressing metric imaginable. Like everyone thinks they could plan one
It’s a loving, if slightly clumsy Hotline Miami you can press perfect crime. The excellent
ode to the Hollywood 70 R to restart. You just won’t 52 Monaco reminds us how 88
American childhood. want to. wrong we are.


JANUARY 2020 81

EXTRA LIFE











CONTINUED ADVENTURES IN GAMING






Honk!










































“They have seen us, and they have



lampooned us good and proper”





Admiring the accuracy of UNTITLED GOOSE GAME




s a piece of software PHIL SAVAGE The man—meticulous and fussy—
A designed to accept THIS MONTH is performatively relaxing with the
input from your hands
considerable passive aggression of an
Honked with careless
to produce lights and
abandon. older gentleman who just cannot
sounds for your with his neighbor. She is artistic and
eyes—in the most utilitarian and ALSO PLAYED messy and feminine and other
reductive sense—Untitled Goose Destiny 2 adjectives that have no place in his
Game is fine. Sometimes I want the world. The morning has passed in a
goose to move quickly, but the blur of thin-lipped pleasantries and
somewhat awkward control scheme moment. A boy is playing in the town tutting. At one point, inevitably, he
interprets it as a leisurely waddle. square. A man is enjoying a quiet would have muttered the word
But overall: Good. afternoon in his garden. It’s nice. It’s ‘unbelievable’ under his breath with
peaceful. It’s a lie. exaggerated annunciation and a few
The reason Untitled Goose Game The boy is halfheartedly enacting decibels louder than he’d intended.
succeeds to the extent it does—the the mechanics of play because he
reason it is now more meme than would rather be inside playing
game—is, I think, as much about the Fortnite or being awful on Reddit. He THE GOOSE IS A HARBINGER
setting as the malevolent goose. It’s a has been forced outside by his OF DISORDER, STRIPPING THE
masterful depiction of English parents, who are no doubt the sort of
country idyll as a mask of tranquility people who think playing outside is FALSEHOOD OF CIVILITY
that threatens to crack at any the thing a boy ought to do.

82 JANUARY 2020

N OW PL AY IN G


THE GAMES WE LOVE RIGHT NOW



Honk! Of course, the most unrealistic
thing of all is Leon’s surreal haircut.


















Honkedy-honk!







“Are they lost in an



urban purgatory?”






I have met these people. I have Exploring RESIDENT EVIL 2’s nightmarish otherworld
been this boy. I have dealt with the
quiet judgement—the banal malice—
that is a countryside village. You ROBIN VALENTINE incoherent either. Instead it’s almost
might think the gardener of the first dream-like, a world that at first
act is just a nice man tending to his THIS MONTH glance seems mundane, but houses
beds. But I know his shed is filled Developed a lifelong grudge no end of strange mechanisms and
with the footballs of every child who against Mr X creatures behind the facade.
kicked one over his fence. The ALSO PLAYED
developers might be Australian, but Unavowed, Disco Elysium, BRAIN DAMAGE
they clearly know what we’re like. The Outer Worlds I’d thought of Resident Evil 2 as
They have seen us with our B-movie horror, but this reimagining
broadsheets and our rakes. They have eading into this lavish feels like something more surreal. As
lampooned us, good and proper. remake, I had my I descend into a sprawling industrial
But then, a goose! The goose is the H reservations. My space beneath the station, there are
perfect foil. It’s a harbinger of assumption was that hints of Day of the Dead, but I’m
disorder, stripping the falsehood of much of the original’s reminded more of the Silent Hill
civility. It is wrong in a way that can’t retro strangeness wouldn’t hold up series’ transitions from everyday
be ignored. I can say with confidence in the harsh light of HD graphics spaces into nightmarish realms.
that there is not a goose in your and modern sensibilities. Even its denizens feel more
garden right now, because, if there archetypal than biological. An
was, you would not be reading this. No amount of clever streamlining enormous reptile dwelling in the
You would be dealing with the fact and updated controls could make its sewers. A hulking stranger that
that there is a goose in your garden. Scooby Doo-esque police station, simply follows you. Savage hounds
replete with elaborate statue-based that roam abandoned streets. They’re
HONK! puzzles, an impressively stocked more like urban legends than escaped

By letting us be the goose, we’re given library, and secret underground test subjects. Even the zombies feel
permission to take a break from our passages, make sense. The original’s unearthly in their relentlessness.
own social obligations. Hating people setting, though deeply atmospheric, Are Leon and Claire lost in some
can be exhausting—the sheer mental was a product of an era when we urban purgatory? His anxieties over
effort of constructing a justification expected less logic from videogame starting a new job unravelling into a
for your disdain that holds up to even settings. Transplanted to 2019, and nightmare where he has to shoot past
the smallest of scrutiny. But Untitled invested with so much more detail the undead, then solve a convoluted
Goose Game gives permission to cast and realism, how could it possibly logic puzzle just to open his desk?
off the flimsy code that keeps us from maintain the suspension of disbelief Her need for familial connection
tearing each other apart and lets us that’s so vital to truly tense horror? reflected in a lost little girl trying to
celebrate in the mentality of petty And yet, I think that weirdness is make sense of her dad turning into a
jerkdom; the sheer joie de l’oie of it all. its greatest strength. Raccoon City horrible eyeball monster? And which
Fuck that gardener and his simple indeed doesn’t feel like a grounded, one subconsciously associates sewers
toil. Why? Because goose. real place, but it doesn’t feel with chess?


JANUARY 2020 83

N OW PL AY IN G


THE GAMES WE LOVE RIGHT NOW


The old Game Bar shyly asks its question from the side of the
screen when run on a non-game (the Photos app in this case).
































“I almost feel bad about it, but the



Game Bar only wants to help”






Taking advantage of an app’s eagerness to please in the WINDOWS 10 GAME BAR




ne of the greatest IAN EVENDEN Microsoft says it must only capture
O decisions Microsoft THIS MONTH games. So it asks about every app,
with a tickbox to not ask again. Is this
took when designing
Abused an app’s innocence
Windows 10 was to
include the Game Bar, a game? Each time, I say yes. It’s like
lying to a small child to get their
a video capture utility that was ALSO PLAYED cooperation in chores.
meant to run in the background Borderlands 3, Elite I almost feel bad about it, but the
while you’re playing a game. And Dangerous Game Bar only wants to help, and by
only when you’re playing a game. letting it expand outside the limits of
instead of the familiar grey overlay its original remit I’m giving it a gift, in
My day job often involves creating sliding in, I was faced with a a really weird way.
tutorials on how to use Windows question: “Is this a game?”
apps, and these need to come with I don’t know how the Game Bar IT’S ONLY A GAME, SO…
screenshots. I’ve taken to recording detects whether you’re playing a Photoshop is a game. Chrome is a
video of what I’m doing, and then game or not. Perhaps it knows if game. Blender. The Control Panel.
capturing screengrabs from that you’re in fullscreen mode, or running Any number of rotten shareware
rather than trying to set something a different resolution to the desktop, backup utilities I’m trying out.
up artificially and wait for Snipping or perhaps it has a list of games built Anything I need screenshots of is
Tool to do its stuff, only to catch itself in like the Windows XP firewall did. now a game, and my hard drive fills
in its own screenshot and forcing me But if it comes across something it with beautifully captured 1080p
to start all over again. doesn’t recognize, it asks. And if you video of all these games. Why
This is the way a lot of the say yes, it runs perfectly. And if you Microsoft wrote it this way is a
screenshots of games in this say no, it then it exits. puzzle. Why not have a way of
magazine are captured, as not every The Game Bar is innocent. The capturing video of every app? Why
digital marketplace has a useful Game Bar believes me every time, limit it to games? Why make it so
screenshot shortcut like Steam does. even when I’m lying to its face. It can easy to use on non-games?
I’m looking at you, Epic. capture video of anything, but But then, with a recent update, the
That’s when I discovered the Game Bar has changed. It no longer
Game Bar. It’s triggered by a asks, but hidden in its settings is a
keyboard shortcut while you’re in I DON’T KNOW HOW THE GAME tickbox “Remember, this is a game”.
another app, so I started up BAR DETECTS IF YOU’RE It’s written in the way you might
Photoshop Elements, or maybe it was speak to a child, underlining the app’s
Windows’ Photos app or Luminar… it PLAYING A GAME OR NOT apparent guileless personality. I still
doesn’t matter. I hit the shortcut, and love you, Game Bar.

84 JANUARY 2020

E X TR A LIFE


I
I
I
I
I
I
N O W P L A Y I N G U P D A T E M O D S P O T L I G H T H O W T O R E I N S T A L L W H Y I L O V E M U S T P L A Y
“Players have been swapping scenes

of physics-driven violence”





Melt your own face with magic in the chaotic NOITA




t’s official: Magic TOM SENIOR see new spell effects, creatures and
I wands are better than THIS MONTH secrets come into the game gradually.
guns. Why shoot a
Early Access is a worthwhile
Exploded in a ball of
bullet when you can
Noita and Dead Cells. You get to enjoy
shoot a bouncing ball sulphur. experience for action roguelikes like
of energy that dribbles fire ALSO PLAYED the novelty of each new addition and
everywhere? Noita lets you Too much Destiny 2 watch the game evolve towards its
customize your own magic wands, eventual final form.
so, if I wanted, the projectiles could Noita is already full of secrets. If
fire in a shotgun spread, and the misfortune with the world. Players you journey to the left edge of the
projectiles could be venom instead have been swapping scenes of map at the very beginning of a run,
of magic energy. If I find the right spectacular physics-driven violence. you can propel yourself up to the
spells and wand components I can One player equips a thunderstone to branch of a tree. Digging around
shoot antigravity bolts that curve make them electrically charged. Then reveals mysterious tablets and an egg
up toward the ceiling. they shoot water-creating bolts and that hatches a giant worm. There’s
walk into the puddles to electrocute plenty of room to add strange new
I’m not sure why I’d want to do that, enemies. Another player finds a events and secret zones. Noita would
but Noita gives me the option chainsaw and starts drilling down do well to look to Terraria’s array of
anyway, and that’s why I love it. It’s a through the crust of the earth to bizarre boss monsters.
2D roguelike set in a cave system full reach the end of the level. Personally I haven’t had much
of zombies, spiders, bats, flaming fortune myself in Noita’s depths, but
demons and, er, snipers with laser MOST WANDED the chance of finding a really killer
sights. Fluids and materials are Noita has only just arrived in Early wand keeps me coming back. I’m still
meticulously simulated. Every pixel is Access, and should stay there for experimenting with custom wands,
affected by gravity. Wood smoulders, “about a year” according to the devs. applying extra caution after I
water flows, blood splatters, whisky It’s already good, but I’m excited to accidentally blew myself up with a
goes up in flames. Your custom poorly chosen ‘explosion of sulphur’
wands are little matchsticks that can spell effect. That casts at point-blank
set off extraordinary chain reactions. WOOD SMOULDERS, WATER range, it turns out. The wand that
Sometimes they kill your enemies, FLOWS, BLOOD SPLATTERS, fired out a spray of lit dynamite sticks
often they kill you. also ended bloodily. Little by little I
Noita lets you export gifs of these WHISKY GOES UP IN FLAMES will learn my craft. The zombies of
chain reactions so you can share your Noita will fear my mighty wands.


































They probably should’ve
raked those leaves.



JANUARY 2020 85

UPDATE


WHAT’S NEW IN THE BIGGEST GAMES



THE SIMS 4 little lonely you can clone yourself
and talk to yourself about your own
life, or do what I did and challenge
myself to a magic duel, which I
unfortunately lost. So, of course, I set
REALM OF MAGIC my clone on fire to teach her a lesson.


SPELLCASTING
If you want to use any of the
advanced spells like cloning, you’ll
need to get to the top spellcaster rank
and acquire a bunch of perks along
the way. But first you have to become
Setting fires just got a lot easier. By Joanna Nelius
a spellcaster if you didn’t make one in
the CAS (create a sim): Enter the
pellcasters are back in NEED TO KNOW magical realm through a portal
S the newest game pack RELEASE DEVELOPER nestled in a mountainside of a small,
for The Sims 4, Realm
sleepy-looking town called
Maxis
Out now
of Magic, but instead
HQ and find one of the three head
of rehashing the PUBLISHER LINK Glimmerbrook. Head to the magic
simple witch skills and traits from Electronic Arts origin.com mages who keep the realm of magic
The Sims 3 Supernatural, this game in order. Have one of them perform
pack brings the magic of Hogwarts your wand, summon ghosts from the Rite of Ascension on you, and
into The Sims: Wands, curses, and their graves, bring people back to life, bam! You can now cast spells, brew
all. A few familiar spells return with conjure up a midnight snack without potions, and all that good stuff.
a new twist, but Realm of Magic lets setting foot in the kitchen—the list
you specialize in the school of goes on and on.
magic of your choice, and gives you EACH TIME YOU
the option to either use your SCRUB A DUB DUB LEVEL UP, YOU
newfound powers for good or evil. Don’t want to give your kid a bath?
The scruberoo spell allows you to CAN BUY THINGS
There are 24 spells and 15 potions to make anyone or anything sparkle and
learn in Realm of Magic. Alchemy smell like daisies in an instant. You AT THE SHOPS
recycles some previous spells from can also fix leaky sinks and fried
The Sims 3 Supernatural, but it also computers with the repairio spell or However nature must find a
has a few fun new ones: You can transport yourself to the magical balance or else a spellcaster could
make another sim sick to their realm without having to walk or ride wreak havoc on every city. If you use
stomach with the potion of nausea or a broom to the portal. Practical spells too much of your magic it can
even ensorcell someone into liking are all about making your sims’ lives overwhelm you and kill you if you’re
you with the potion of forced that bit easier. not careful. But of course there are
friendship—now you have a way to But there’s more malicious spells perks, potions, and spells that can
get all those five-star celebrities to than good ones. Mischief magic lets protect you from death, just like
pay attention to you. you turn another sim into an Volde… I mean, he who shall not be
But the other three schools of inanimate object, like a gnome, with a named. Also, each time you level up,
magic—practical, mischief, and spell called morphate. You can also you can buy different things at the
untamed—add a fantastic dynamism make a sim feel depressed, steal shops—wands, familiars, tombs,
to The Sims 4. Anyone from things that don’t belong to you, and potion ingredients etc, are all
pyromaniacs, to backyard gardeners, do other horrible things to your available at Caster’s Alley, which has
to necromancers will find something friends for your own entertainment. a similar feel to Diagon Alley, but the
useful in their spellbook. You can But untamed magic is the most shops are run by ghosts. I’m
light things on fire with a flick of devilish of them all. If you’re feeling a eventually able to buy a bone wand
and a skull familiar that hovers over
my shoulder. I’ve named it Snuggles.
Your spellcasters’ children can be
BE-WITCHED Most useful spells in the home born spellcasters as well, similar to
The Sims 3 Supernatural. Spells don’t
pass down through the bloodline, but
children born to spellcasters develop
the Magical Bloodline trait, which
varies in strength depending on how
old the magical bloodline is. The
DELICIOSO SCRUBEROO MINIONIZE PROMP T older the family, the more likely their
Instant meals with Why clean the toilet With this you can RESURREC TION offspring will inherit the Ancient
zero prepwork and force your kids to No inheritance for
zero cook time. do their chores. the children. Bloodline trait. Oh, and try not to get
cursed—it’s, er, not very pleasant.

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Face off in a
magical duel.


You’re a wizard Harriet!













Klaatu barada nikto!



































Got a hot dinner
I’m melting… date tonight.



JANUARY 2020 87

MOD SP OTLIGHT


MAJOR MODS, ANALYZED








































































The committee wants this
dude dead. I don’t ask why.









































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MISSIONS




COMMITTEE










Customisable quests in Fallout 4. By Christopher Livingston


here’s no shortage of really like. You never know when you
T things to do in Fallout may be called into action, though you
4. Main quests, side
can fiddle with the options to make
quests, and all the
depending on your tastes. If you
random skirmishes missions more or less frequent
you get into along the way. There’s know you’re going to be busy with
exploration, gathering, and crafting, other tasks for a while, you can
and—if you opt to take Preston switch it off until you’re ready to start
Garvey’s nagging advice—lots and accepting more missions again.
lots of settlements to liberate and
manage. But hey, no matter how CONTROL POINT
long your to-do list already is, The mod can assign you several
there’s no reason not to add a few different types of missions, though
more items to it, right? The they are all centered around combat,
Missions Committee mod for as opposed to story-based quests.
Fallout 4 is perfect in that respect. When I first activate the mod, I’m
It allows you to volunteer for running around near one of my
challenging combat missions of settlements in the north gathering up
several different varieties, which crafting resources. Eventually a
can take place nearly anywhere in message comes through from the
Artillery crews are the Commonwealth.
tough as nails.
Think of the Missions Committee EVENTUALLY
like a group of shadowy overlords A MESSAGE
Align with a faction and sitting in a conference room with
you’ll have lots of backup. their fingers on the Bat Signal. Via a COMES THROUGH
holotape you pop into your Pip-Boy, FROM THE COMMITTEE
you can register as sort of a hero on
duty. If the Missions Committee ON MY PIP-BOY
needs you, they’ll send you an alert
and some instructions on where to go Committee on my Pip-Boy: There’s
and what to do. You can also request an enemy faction trying to take
a mission at any time via the control of an area of the map near my
holotape, and soon after your request location. Following the marker on the
you’ll get a new mission alert. It’s not radar, I quickly discover the problem:
instantaneous, which is something I a bunch of gangsters are clustered
around a lake, up to no good.
This is an area capture mission,
not unlike a control point mode in a
multiplayer game. You have to wipe
MOD SQUAD Other great Fallout 4 mods out the baddies and then get close to
a flag until the area has been
conquered, at which point the
mission ends. This first taste of the
mod isn’t much of a problem for
me—the gangsters are pretty
lightweight, and it doesn’t take me
SIM SE T TLEMENT S ALTERNATE START RE VOLTED YOUR BEST FRIEND long to bring down the half-dozen or
No need to micromanage: Fun for roleplayers, it lets Adds a custom retro Lets you keep Dogmeat so that are trying to move into this
Let the settlers build their you start as someone corridor shooter you can with you, even if you’ve swampy section of the map. But this
own homes. besides a Vault Dweller. play inside Fallout 4! got another companion.
is just a skirmish, the easiest type of


JANUARY 2020 89

MOD SP OTLIGHT


MAJOR MODS, ANALYZED


mission you’ll receive from the Then there are artillery tough, they’re also not alone. In the
Committee—area control battles can destruction missions. An enemy elimination missions I’ve completed,
get much, much bigger. faction has dragged a massive cannon my targets have always been
Case in point, a while later I get out into the Commonwealth, and surrounded by raider bodyguards or
another notification for an area they’re bombing the hell out of a other tough packs of goons. You don’t
control mission. This time the bad target, something the Committee is need to bring all the protectors down,
guys are heavily armed and armored none too happy about. just your assigned target, but that’s
Gunners, and there are scores of Your mission, should you choose easier said than done. I’ve always
them. Luckily, I’m not alone. On the to accept it, is to either destroy the wound up in a full-on war, and had to
Missions Committee holotape, you massive gun or kill the artillery wipe everyone out. It’s a welcome
can choose to align with a faction (or crew—but since you’re headed into distraction from my junk collecting,
remain solo as a freelancer). I’ve the wasteland you might as well do and sometimes your target will drop
registered as an ally of the both, right? Artillery crews are tough, some high-end legendary loot. Bonus!
Minutemen, so I’ve got some backup. and can take a pounding, but battling Missions from the Committee can
Over a dozen Minutemen swarm them is fun with the massive cannon take place just about anywhere you
on my location, and the landscape periodically blasting into the air to happen to be wandering. I’ve had
erupts into a massive firefight as my remind you what you’re fighting for. them happen while I was on the
allies and I clash with the Gunners. furthest reaches of the map, as well
It’s genuinely surprising—when I as when I was puttering around one
think of Fallout 4, I generally don’t MISSIONS FROM of my settlements. One time I got a
think of huge battles between large THE COMMITTEE call to take out an assassination
groups. It’s usually just me, maybe target, and he was so close to my base
with a sole companion or a few CAN TAKE PLACE JUST that even my settlers got to pitch in
settlers. It makes for an intense fight. ABOUT ANYWHERE YOU to help. I appreciate when a bad guy
Capturing an area doesn’t mean makes my job easy by spawning close
it’s forever safe from your enemies. HAPPEN TO BE to my bedroom.
When you and your allies have The Missions Committee mod is
cleared out a location and taken a Blowing up the giant cannon is also customizable. You can opt in or
flag, it will remain under your satisfying, too, especially after a long out of any mission by clicking them
control, and your allied faction will and brutal fight with its operators. on the list on your Pip-Boy. Don’t
continue to spawn. But there’s a enjoy area control? You don’t have to
chance that later on an enemy faction ON DEFENSE do them. Restrict yourself to rescue
will attempt to regain control, so you There are also defense missions, in missions or target elimination
may be called back to fight them which the Committee basically needs missions, or opt in to everything and
again. It’s a nice touch, and helps give to use you as bait for some of their see what you get. You can also tweak
Fallout 4 a sense of a dynamic, enemies. These are fun because you mission timers, which will probably
ongoing struggle, which is fun. don’t need to kill all the bad guys. take some tinkering. Receive mission
In addition to these control point They’ll swarm your location, looking alerts too often, and you might get
style missions, you can opt in for for you, but to complete the mission annoyed by the interruptions, but if
rescue missions. While I’m running you can also just escape safely you don’t get missions often enough,
back to my settlement, I get a without so much as firing a shot. It’s you’ll forget you even have the mod.
notification that a group of slavers are up to you how to handle it. Once you find the right balance, the
transporting a prisoner nearby. They Best of all, there are assassination mod feels great. Like I say, it feels like
are, in fact, beating the hell out of missions. The Committee has the Bat Signal summoning you for a
that prisoner, which gives me extra decided they need one particular dangerous task only you can handle.
motivation to kill them quickly and scumbag in the Commonwealth dead, And there don’t seem to be any
free the captive. I fail my first rescue and they’re calling on you to do their punishments for failing or
mission—they kill their prisoner—but dirty work. This is a good chance to disregarding a mission, except for a
on my second rescue mission I use a bit of stealth and approach notification.
manage to bring down the slavers carefully from a distance, because not The factions you align with can be
and save the person they’ve captured. only is this target typically very any that appear in the game, but if
you’re keen to create your own
custom faction, you can do it fairly
easily using the Creation Kit. (There
are instructions on the Missions
ALLY OOPS Which faction should you ally with? Committee mod page at Nexus
Mods.) If you’re using the game’s
factions, be aware that you should
only side with a faction that you have
a good or neutral relationship with.
If you choose a faction that
doesn’t like you, well… let’s just say
MINUTEMEN THE BROTHERHOOD THE PACK THE INSTITUTE you don’t want to call in backup if the
Yes, they have cool hats, OF STEEL They’re raiders, so they’re Robots are cool, and their people arriving to help are much
but Garvey’s settlement Pros: Power armor. Cons: pretty gross. On the plus HQ is the only clean place more interested in killing you as
fetish is vexing. Paladin Danse. He’s a drip. side, no moral compass! in the Commonwealth.
killing your enemies.

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Target eliminated.
And then some.


































Sign up for the types of
missions you like.




This flag is mine, capice?


































































JANUARY 2020 91

H OW TO


GET MORE FROM YOUR GAMES





GET STARTED IN DESTINY 2











Power through confounding lore and get grinding, Guardian. By Harry Shepherd






NEED TO KNOW

DIFFICULTY
Easy

TIME
Ten hours
VITAL LINKS
Lore guide:
bit.ly/2OKQCBc
Best guns: NEW LIGHT YEAR ONE LORE ENFORCEMENT
http://bit.ly/2N3po6w Bungie brought down one of the But what do you get? Everything from Destiny 2’s wider narrative can be
PvP tips: 1 biggest barriers to entry for Destiny 2 the first year of Destiny 2 is yours for 3 confusing, but don’t let that put you
http://bit.ly/2qvTxUn
2’s third year: The price. Now you can access nothing: The base game and first two off. All you should know is that your
hundreds of hours of interstellar action for expansions. You also have Crucible, Gambit, character, a Guardian, uses a mystical
precisely nada. Zoom in on your Sparrow, Strikes, the Leviathan Raid, and you can power drawn from their robotic companion,
and get your feet wet. explore every planet. their Ghost, to beat back The Darkness.




SHOCK
AND AWE

Weapons
5
come in three
classes: Kinetic,
energy, and power.
Use kinetic ammo
on trash mobs,
RED WAR energy on shielded

You start the game strong enough to enemies, and power
4
tackle the main story and the Curse of on armored foes to
Osiris and Warmind DLCs in any order, so rip through The
pick whichever you fancy to start your PvE Darkness like a hot
adventure. Zip through the Cosmodrome knife through the
starter level, and go from there. proverbial butter.




PVP

Destiny 2 isn’t
6
all unleashing
space lead into AI
enemies: You can
fight your fellow
Guardians, too. The
Crucible is the
game’s PvP pastime RARE FINDS
and Gambit is an 7 Loot is central to looter-shooters like
innovative PvPvE Destiny 2. In Bungie’s MMO, weapons
mode. See Shaxx and armor will drop in common (white),
and The Drifter for uncommon (green), rare (blue), legendary
PvP-specific (purple), and exotic (yellow) variants. Oddly,
bounties. you’ll find that you see rares most often.

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CLASS ACT Titan, Warlock, or Hunter: You can’t go wrong


TITA NIC
TA NK
If you find shooters a
struggle, pick the Titan.
With a beefy health bar, it’ll
give your Guardian the
protection it needs solo.
The Barricade ability is
very useful too.













AGE OF HUNTER
M AG E G ATHERER
The Warlock is a great The toughest archetype
for solo and team play. With for beginners, the agile
higher defense than a Hunter forces you to move
Hunter, and stronger DPS constantly if you don’t want
than a Titan, Destiny’s the enemies to rip
mage is a versatile through your low
class pick. health bar.






















POWER LEVELLING BEGINNER BUILDS WEEKLY RESET

Every piece of equipment you pick has You can only equip one exotic weapon For Destiny 2’s most lucrative
8 9 10
a score attached, known as a Power and one exotic armor piece at once, activities, the powerful loot you can
Level. The higher that is, the stronger your so they are pivotal in your Guardian’s get through them can only be acquired once
overall level. So don’t get too attached to loadout. Pay close attention to the useful per week. After the reset time (Tuesdays at
run-of-the-mill-equipment, and swap it out perks they offer, and then build your 6pm in the UK) hit Heroic Strikes, Raids, and
when you find something stronger. character around them. weekly bounties again to get stronger.




JOIN OUR
CLAN
Clans are a
12
great way of
meeting like-
minded players,
allowing you to pose
questions to
MOON’S HAUNTED veterans, and work
If you’re hooked on the grind, there are together to earn
11
more stories in the galaxy to rewards. And what
experience if you’re willing to pay. With better group is
Forsaken and Shadowkeep, you have access there to join than
to more Raids, Strikes, and Exotics to get ours? Find out how
you locked in for good. at: bit.ly/32ec1qF.


JANUARY 2020 93

REINSTALL


OLD GAMES, NEW PERSPECTIVES







































































































It’s exciting to be in a world that’s


this coherent and restlessly creative







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The Enhanced Edition runs in the Source Engine for better
compatibility. The remake is a complete rebuild.

















































SYSTEM SHOCK feels like I’m reaching into the world;



it’s surprising how few games use
this simple idea to establish a direct
connection between player, the
screen and the environment.
But my favorite thing has to be

Back to Citadel to see the origins of the emergent sim. By Alex Wiltshire System Shock’s HUD, which takes up
the lower third of your view and
consists of three multifunctional
Citadel, the Guardian for an AI called inventory, which has various tabs,
displays. In the center is the
caverns and labyrinths for the
can’t remember how
I System Shock the first SHODAN, and fantasy spells for guns and on either side are screens which
far I got through
and cyborg abilities. I remember
let you choose what they display. I
time around. It was
1995, a few months
which also gives you specific controls
after it came out, and I was seeing it as a heady blend of Doom have the weapon display on the left,
and Ultima. Perhaps I could finally…
attempting to play it on my family’s talk to the monsters? for things like loading different
486/33 PC. But it was a full 3D ammo types and displaying overheat
game, with lighting and all kinds of HUDS UP! levels. On the right is my automap.
amazing stuff going on, and it was Returning to System Shock today, by But I could put a little game of Ping
far too much for our entry-level PC. way of Night Dive Studios’ excellent or Road in one of them, browse my
Enhanced Edition, I’ve been realizing emails, or check the Citadel’s status.
I had to give up, but oh my, I wanted just how far ahead Looking Glass was Then, superimposed in the main
to love it. This adventure through the back in the mid-1990s. Well before view, I can set up a rear-view video
decks of a cyborg-riddled space the immersive sim was recognized as feed, so I’ll see if I’m being attacked
station was a spiritual follow-up to a subgenre, System Shock was by assailants from behind (I never
Ultima Underworld II, which had showing how to create a world in
stunned me the summer before. Like which you feel completely enveloped, NEED TO KNOW
Ultima Underworld, System Shock is where everything fits in the fiction.
RELEASED DEVELOPER Looking Glass/
also in first-person and lets you jump And it still feels special. The feeling
1994 Night Dive Studios
and look up and down, and it features of mousing over something in the
a huge, non-linear space to explore. environment and dragging it into my PUBLISHER Origin LINK
Systems/NDS nightdivestudios.com
But it exchanged Underworld’s inventory is still really powerful. It


JANUARY 2020 95

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OLD GAMES, NEW PERSPECTIVES



You can set the mission difficulty from not needing Play Ping against your own computer
keycards to imposing a strict seven-hour time limit. brain (in the left display screen).















































Some cyberspace enemies are
faces. You shoot stars at them?




have it on, since it consumes loads of the Wall’ trope. The details of its awfully obtuse if you’re not paying
energy, which is essentially System narrative about corporate attention. There’s aways a full
Shock’s mana). There are also buttons shenanigans, hacker criminals, and a explanation of where you’re going
for my various other cyber-abilities, very bad AI play out through found next, what you’re meant to do there
such as the Enviro-Shields texts and audio logs, which the game and why you want to do it, but to get
(protection from toxic bad-stuff), a also pretty much pioneered. The it, you have to sift through every
weird quick-but-slidey movement result is an experience in which you audio log and note, some of which
mode, a compass, and going full- feel like you’re a part of the world, a are found on easily-missed corpses,
screen. What I love is that it feels like place where your actions are the and to remember where certain
I’m taking an active role in managing result of your own choices. rooms are when it’s time to backtrack
my gear. All these features are But replaying System Shock has across the station and up and down
presented as plugins to my robot- also turned out to remind me of how decks to get to the next objective.
head. Get a better shield and it’ll be much Looking Glass had yet to learn. What’s more, the environments
called v2. Get the targeting system, The flip side of all that emergent are pretty difficult to read. Things
and the game will superimpose a openness is a game that can be like buttons and levers have a real
hitbox around enemies and indicate
the damage levels you’re causing
them. If it presented them as menu
options, they wouldn’t feel so special, DO DRUGS Chemical ‘patches’ come with interesting side-effects
and I wouldn’t feel like a cool 1990s
cyberpunk hacker.
The way everything fits into
System Shock’s world is matched by
the way it tells its story. It only
features cutscenes at the start and
end of the game, instead leaning on SIGHT BERSERK GENIUS DE TOX
environmental storytelling. Its grisly Lets you see in the dark Raises your melee Shows next puzzle step Removes build-ups of
tableaus of a skull on the floor next to for a while damage when you’re within three radiation and bio-
a note about encounters with Side-effect: Dims your Side-effect: Reverses steps of a solution contamination
homicidal mutants set the form, and vision after using it, all the colors in the Side-effect: Reverses left Side-effect: Also removes
it might well also be the source of the because you’ve abused scene to make everything and right, because you’re all patch effects, because
your cyber-eyes. look awful. a drug-addled boffin. it’s a straight-edge killjoy.
‘Dire Warning Written In Blood on

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System Shock enjoys a spot of body horror,
with lots of mutants and cyborgs.




















































These issues are compounded by running out of time or getting killed
BUT THE HANDS-DOWN the level layout, which struggles to in cyberspace hurts you in real life.
make spaces that are memorable. The And yet I also love cyberspace. It’s
WORST THING ABOUT THE technical restrictions that came with yet another layer of detail and

GAME IS CYBERSPACE developing a game of this complexity ambition in a game that’s stuffed with
that could nominally run on our old things to poke at and understand, and
family PC means that the Citadel’s then get rewarded with an upgrade
tendency to blend into walls. One decks are arranged on a very evident that makes things better.
particularly fun part for me is when grid that’s pretty horrible to navigate. It’s exciting to be in a world that’s
I’m meant to get an Important But the hands-down worst thing both this coherent and restlessly
Science Thing from a room doused in about the game is cyberspace, creative, where there are mini games
radiation. Thing is, it’s encased in a something I’ve hated for—could it to play and hacking puzzles to solve,
forcefield. I figure I’m not meant to really be 24 years? Across the Citadel that there’s a stance system that lets
get it yet, maybe until I have an are several cyber-terminals which you lean and crouch, loads of
Enviro-Shield, but in fact I’d missed a allow you to enter wireframe enemies to shoot, in-world screens
small button which blends into the Lawnmower Man hell. that show views of other spaces. Oh
blocky textures of a room that was Here, you access keycodes and and it also experimented in fresh,
steadily killing me. unlock doors by flying into big 3D new ways to tell stories.
shapes in 3D space, and it’s really There’s a real sense of a
CYBER-HELL annoying. One crime is the fact you’re development team showing off,
Lots of important interactive things constantly moving forward, so you pushing itself, and exploring what PC
have a tendency to hide among the can’t take stock of where to go at gaming could be in System Shock, and
wall textures. I love the way you can your own pace. Another is the fact it’s good to think about how its
click on any surface or object to find that the walls of the cyber-rooms and sequel, which came out five years
out what it is, often with a little detail cyber-corridors are transparent, so later, built on all of them, creating a
(“bulb needs replacing”), but it’s you often can’t tell when you hit a more credible world, supported by
sometimes the only way you’ll wall. Still another is the need to actually-good combat and a clearer
discover a bit of wall is actually a decipher all the talk of ICE and story. Playing the original today is to
door. Some of the names it gives countermeasure electronics and be reminded of where some of the
things, like ‘comm port’, can be rather realize it’s really just an overly most involving games of all time
confusing, too. Is this something I complicated shooting game with zero came from. It only makes the thought
should be using later? sense of hit impact, and where of the upcoming remake sweeter.


JANUARY 2020 97

WH Y I LOVE


WHAT MAKES GAMES SPECIAL



SESSION’S






BRAIN-BUSTING







CONTROLS












A skating game that revels in


simple struggles. By James Davenport




























































RIGHT: Session’s
rubbery ragdolls
soften repeated
failure with
physical comedy.









98 JANUARY 2020

E X TR A LIFE


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N O W P L A Y I N G U P D A T E M O D S P O T L I G H T H O W T O R E I N S T A L L W H Y I L O V E M U S T P L A Y
efore landing my
B first kickflip, I fell on KICKFLIPPED Changing stance alters which stick-legs
my ass hundreds of
times. I thought the
muscle memory do what. Here’s a ‘simple’ kickflip in four stances
would never catch up with my teen
dream to do something cool on a 1 2 3 4
wheeled piece of wood, but one REGUL AR SWITCH FAK IE NOLLIE
evening in the Pizza Hut parking
L L R L L R L L R L L R
lot, the sun setting, snow falling, it
happened. Pop, slide, spin, slam—
I landed a kickflip.
other. It feels pretty bad at becomes second nature is a rare
Practice aligned with confidence, and first, but then so did wrapping feeling—not exclusive to videogames.
I did the thing as if I’d always done my brain around how to look and Things are made more
the thing. A frustrating process gave move in a first-person shooter with complicated by a ‘free grind’ system.
way to joy. Suddenly, I was a real a keyboard and mouse. THPS and Skate lock the player to
skater boy rolling around with The analog sticks are where edges and rails marked as grindable
something like prestige, my ass things get truly strange. Imagine a surfaces, meaning if you approach
now radiating pride with the pain. skater in a regular stance (left foot the rail from just about any angle
near the front of the board, right foot with some amount of momentum,
FLIPPING TRICKY at the back). Players manipulate the you’ll snap to it and get to sliding.
Skateboarding videogames have been board with analog feet, the left foot In Session, edges and rails aren’t
great at capturing the fantasy of as the left stick, and the right foot coded as grindable surfaces because
being a kickflip master, but skip out as the right stick. literally every edge and rail is free
on how to get there in the first place. So, to perform the most essential game. But as a result, the player isn’t
In Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, you’re manoeuver, an ollie, players move the coded to snap to them.
what Tony Hawk dreams about at right stick down, just as a skater
night, a skateboard superhero pulling would with their right foot to pop the GRINDING IT OUT
off 900s and darkslides and Christ tail, and swipe the left stick up to A perfect angle of approach, speed,
airs with the ease of an incoming fart. kick the board up with the left foot. and height are required to begin a
In EA’s Skate, things tip towards For a kickflip, the left stick-foot grind, and even then you need to
realism, but waggling the analog stick needs to hit the edge of the board, so treat each stick as the weight pressing
about spits out advanced flip tricks down on each end of the board to
like they’re on a factory line. stay balanced. 50-50s, the default
But Session, a new Early Access MY FIRST HOURS OF SESSION grind in most skating games, require
skate sim from Crea-ture Studios, pressure on the front and back. To
treats the arduous process of learning WERE SPENT NOODLING pull off a nose slide it takes a
to skate with as much love as actually AROUND IN A PARKING LOT perfectly timed ollie and 90-degree
being a skateboard pro. And it does turn, perfect spacing between the
so with a bonkers control scheme surface, and the board to land the flat
guaranteed to turn away—disgust, rather than swipe up, players swipe part of the nose on the surface,
even—the most dedicated genre fans. left. To spin the board in order to pull pressure on the nose-stick, and no
Turning is assigned to the left and off shove-its and varials, the right pressure on the tail-stick.
right triggers—the scheme is so stick-foot needs to scoop rather than It’s a lot to think about for such a
distinct that it only supports pop. A 360-flip takes a hard simple move, and exactly why it took
gamepad play—to simulate leaning to clockwise spin of the right stick and a me about 20 minutes to land my first
shift weight from one side to the leftward swipe of the left stick. noseslide. But the feeling brushed up
Pulling off basic tricks is difficult, but against my early days of skating,
NEED TO KNOW all the more gratifying to master. proof that persistence pays. Simple
My first hours of Session are spent tricks don’t just look cool, they’re
RELEASED EXPECT TO PAY in a parking lot, barely moving, built on the back of dozens of failed
Out now $20
committing the basics to muscle attempts. Every new trick mastered is
OUR REVIEW LINK memory. It sounds boring, but the a major win—a victory as big as
N/A www.crea-turestudios.com
way the control scheme slowly beating any Dark Souls boss.




RIGHT: My first
noseslide, captured
for posterity.












JANUARY 2020 99

E X TR A LIFE


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T YLER B U N N Y H O P D R O P A B U N N Y P R O T E C T T H E B O M B S
WILDE








RATZ INSTAGIB 2.0 THE HUNTER: RAINBOW SIX SIEGE
CALL OF THE WILD
ratzinstagib.com rainbow6.ubisoft.com
I hang out in Discord In the tradition of Unreal callofthewild.thehunter.com Siege is like Home Alone, except
and play games with
people. Sometimes I Tournament’s instagib mutator, A family of deer used to munch on there are five Kevin McCallisters, and
garden. The garden everyone’s got a one-hit-kill gun, and grass near my house, eyeing me they all have guns. It’s all about
doesn’t play any is encouraged to hop around like the suspiciously. I loved them. Their tails hijinks, like the time a spectating
games with me. floor’s lava. Hardly anyone plays Ratz were so cute. And those big eyes! I teammate shouted “left!” at me, and
Maybe my tomatoes anymore, because most people are never want to shoot a deer or a rabbit I turned left, unloaded into my only
would get more water
if they’d play Siege uncultured bores. Please come shoot or anything else, so I cannot explain living teammate’s back, and then got
with me, but all they at me so I can stop playing bots. why I enjoy punching holes in them tangled up in barbed wire. Exactly
do is provide in The Hunter: Call of the Wild. like in Home Alone.
nourishment.
Ridiculous.

H I T T H E B A L L B E T R AY YO U R F R I E N D S
MUST








ROCKET LEAGUE PROJECT


PL AY
rocketleague.com WINTER
Rocket League is no longer a projectwinter.co
‘game’ to me. It’s a ritual, a I once let two survivors freeze to
performance, a part of life. I don’t death in a blizzard because I was
play it for ‘fun’. What a vulgar A PERSONAL LIST convinced they were the traitors.
thought. I’ve spent 1,000 hours OF THE BEST They were not the traitors. The
tracing circles in the grass, flying, GAMES YOU CAN traitors were the friends standing
yelling, transcending my limitations. PLAY RIGHT NOW next to me saying things like, “I think
Rocket League is about cars who those guys are the traitors.” I’m very
play hockey and soccer. by Tyler Wilde clever and smart.



T E L L A S T O R Y W H AT I T S AY S G R I N D T H E WO R L D










THE YAWHG GOLF WITH SESSION
YOUR FRIENDS
theyawhg.com crea-turestudios.com
The Yawhg only has local blacklightinteractive.com Unless you’re any good at its
multiplayer, but I played it with It’s janky. It’s fun. It’s golf, and you two-stick control system, you’ll be
friends by streaming through can do it with your friends. Get a big nothing like Tony Hawk in this
Discord. There’s no delay, so they group together in Discord (up to 12 skateboarding sim. I’m not. I coast
could easily tell me what choices they players), find some Steam Workshop gently into picnic tables I’m trying to
wanted their characters to make. maps, and have a stupid time, grind, and then flop all over them. Or
Note that most choices lead to a life guaranteed. So grab your worst try to do a kickflip and dislocate my
of loneliness and misery, which, to be jumper and put a hat on your golf thumbs. So it’s like me trying to
honest, is just like real life. ball. Don’t ask questions. skateboard, but in a game.



100 JANUARY 2020