PC Gamer UK 01.2021

THE WORLD’S NUMBER ONE PC GAMES MAGAZINE

GAME OF TECH REPORT
THE YEAR
BRAIN-PC
INTERFACES

CAN WE CONNECT
MAN & MACHINE?

BRUTAL CO-OP COMBAT IN
A MEGA-CITY AT WAR

REVIEWED ISSUE 352

ASSASSIN’S CREED: H A R DWA R E
VALHALLA
WATCH DOGS LEGION SSDs RANKED
YAKUZA: LIKE A DRAGON GIVE YOUR PC AN
DIRT 5 INSTANT BOOST
BUGSNAX

& MORE







WELCOME

#352 JANUARY 2021 “GRIMDARKNESS, OVER-
THE-TOP VIOLENCE,
Future Publishing Ltd AND HUMOUR”
Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA
Tel 01225 442244 | Email [email protected]

www.pcgamer.com

facebook.com youtube.com You can barely swing a
/pcgamermagazine /pcgamer Catachan death-feline these
days without hitting a
twitter.com twitch.tv Warhammer game – and the
/pcgamer /pcgamer sad truth is, a lot of them
aren’t great. But that only
forums.pcgamer.com pcgaming makes it more special when a
show.com developer really gets Games
Workshop’s worlds.
All contents © 2020 Future Publishing Limited or published under licence. All ROBIN VALENTINE And is there any developer
rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be used, stored, transmitted or that gets it more than
reproduced in any way without the prior written permission of the publisher. Specialist in Fatshark? With the
Future Publishing Limited (company number 2008885) is registered in England Heresy Vermintide series it found the perfect balance
and Wales. Registered office: Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA. All of grimdarkness, over-the-top violence, and
information contained in this publication is for information only and is, as far as Twitter most importantly absurdity and humour. I
we are aware, correct at the time of going to press. Future cannot accept any @robinlvalentine couldn’t be more excited that they’re back to
responsibility for errors or inaccuracies in such information. You are advised to take a crack at 40,000 – and to mix up their
contact manufacturers and retailers directly with regard to the price of products/ This month co-op formula with even bigger, spikier
services referred to in this publication. Apps and websites mentioned in this Fell in with a bad horde. weapons of war…
publication are not under our control. We are not responsible for their contents or
any other changes or updates to them. This magazine is fully independent and

not affiliated in any way with the companies mentioned herein.

NEXT ISSUE ON SALE: January 7

If you submit material to us, you warrant that you own We are committed to only ROBIN VALENTINE SUBSCRIBE TO
the material and/or have the necessary rights/ using magazine paper which PRINT EDITOR
permissions to supply the material and you is derived from responsibly [email protected] Check out our
automatically grant Future and its licensees a licence to managed, certified forestry latest offer!
publish your submission in whole or in part in any/all and chlorine-free
issues and/or editions of publications, in any format manufacture.The paper in SEE p44
published worldwide and on associated websites, social this magazine was sourced
media channels and associated products.Any material and produced from The PC Gamer team
you submit is sent at your own risk and, although every sustainable managed forests,
care is taken, neither Future nor its employees, agents, conforming to strict
subcontractors or licensees shall be liable for loss or environmental and
damage. We assume all unsolicited material is for socioeconomic standards.
publication unless otherwise stated, and reserve the The manufacturing paper mill
right to edit, amend, adapt all submissions. and printer hold full FSC and
PEFC certification and
Amemberofthe accreditation.
AuditBureauof
Circulations

12,708

January-
December2018

Future plc is a public company quoted Chief executive Zillah Byng-Thorne RICH STANTON FRASER BROWN RACHEL WATTS JAMES DAVENPORT
on the London Stock Exchange Non-executive chairman Richard Huntingford
(symbol: FUTR) Specialist in Specialist in Specialist in Specialist in
Chief financial officer Penny Ladkin-Brand Extremely outdated Painting Necrons Playing by the book Comments sections
www.futureplc.com headshots
Tel +44 (0)1225 442 244 Twitter Twitter Twitter
Twitter @FraserIBrown @rachel_wattts @my_beards
Er, nope
This month This month This month
This month Got promoted to be our Added a touch of Successfully argued for a
Became our new News Online Editor. To be lightness to our grimdark GOTY decision that is
Editor and official honest he has always issue over in previews. almost certainly going to
Kojima Enthusiast. been extremely online. Absolutely unacceptable. make you angry.

JANUARY 2021 5

Contents #352 SUBSCRIBE TO
JANUARY 2021
36 Check out our
latest offer!

SEE p44

Monitor
08 THE TOP STORY

Is Seraphine based on a real person?

10 THESPY

The month’s spiciest rumours.

12 SPECIALREPORT

Microsoft Flight Simulator mods build
better worlds.

1I4N FPLOUSEITNICVEE

We chat to developer Alex Hutchinson.

16 DNATRACING

The rise, and fall, and rise of id.

Previews
20 BookofTravels

24 GoodbyeVolcanoHigh

26 KingofSeas

28 Everspace2

EARLYACCESS

30 SecondExtinction

Features

36 Warhammer
40,000: Darktide
49 Game of the Year 2020

20 36 49

BOOK OF WARHAMMER GAME OF THE
TRAVELS 40K: DARKTIDE YEAR 2020

Warning: includes words ‘Vermintide with guns’ doesn’t Join us as we hand out awards to
like ‘friendly’, ‘meaningful’, scratch the pox-ridden surface our favourite titles of 2020, and
and ‘emotions’. of Fatshark’s next game. then yell at us for being wrong.

6 JANUARY 2021

GAME OF Reviews
THE YEAR
62 Assassin’s Creed Valhalla
20 49 66 Yakuza: Like a Dragon
68 Dirt 5
62 70 The Falconeer
124 72 Bugsnax
74 The Pathless
96 76 Little Hope
78 Watch Dogs Legion
62 96 124 82 Fuser
84 Doom Eternal: The Ancient
ASSASSIN’S SOLID STATE RUNESCAPE Gods–PartOne
CREED DRIVES RATED REINSTALL
VALHALLA 86 Ghostrunner
Cut your loading times and empty The old-school RPG that never 88 I Am Dead
Swede dreams are made of this. your wallet with our speedy stopped growing, with yetis, FREE GAMES
storage recommendations. portals, and Mr H Death Esq. 90 Empty
91 Spårvagn
91 BeyondYourWindow
THEY’RE BACK
92 Batman: Arkham Origins
93 Hollow Knight
93 Fahrenheit
93 Frostpunk
93 The Long Dark

Hardware

96 GROUP TEST

Speedy SSDs reviewed.

100 TECH REPORT

Connecting mind and machine.

102 BUYER’S GUIDE

Extra Life

106 NOW PLAYING
110 UPDATE
112 MODSPOTLIGHT

116 HOWTO
118 DIARY

122 WHY I LOVE

124 REINSTALL

128 MUST PLAY

JANUARY 2021 7

MONITOR
NEWS | OPINION | DEVELOPMENT

The pink-haired
Seraphine looks
similar to Stephanie,
and poses in
illustrations
somewhat like
Stephanie’s photos
with her cat, which
she says she sent
John in 2019.

COPYCAT?

Woman says LEAGUE OF LEGENDS character is based on her, Riot denies itwoman named
Stephanie has alleged
that a new League of

A Legends character
with a similar left Riot more than a year ago and an alias. Stephanie says she and John
was in a department and role that met twice, and otherwise chatted and
has no input whatsoever into the played League over three months in
creative design process.” 2019. When Stephanie visited Riot’s
We omit Stephanie’s full name at LA headquarters for a tour, John
appearance and name, Seraphine, is her and Riot’s request. In a Medium produced artwork depicting her as
based on her. At the crux of this post, Stephanie shared texts and Ahri, which she thought “strange”
allegation is her brief relationship recounts her relationship with ‘John’, given how briefly they’d known each
with a Riot employee in 2019, who other. She adds that John implied he
she believes borrowed details from could influence the KD/A project.
her likeness and life for the popstar Afterwards, Stephanie cancelled
from fictional girl group K/DA. “IT’S BEEN KIND OF future plans to see John and told him
Riot denies the allegation, “Seraphine HORRID TO HAVE A he was moving too fast. Then “he
was independently created by Riot LEAGUE CHAMPION ended things and blocked me”.
Games and was not based on any WHO LOOKS LIKE YOU”
individual. Additionally, the former Roll round to September 2020,
and Stephanie was reminded of
something John had said: a K/DA
employee [Stephanie] is referring to surprise revealed on her birthday. On

8 JANUARY 2021

COMPLETELY BATTY USER-GENERATED CONTENT NEWS | OPINION | DEVELOPMENT

V:TM BATTLE ROYALE WARZONE BOMB DRONE BRAIN WAVES

Recently-formed developers After months of annoying C4 SOUND BEAMING TECH
Sharkmob are creating a antics in Warzone, Infinity
battle royale game based on Ward and Raven have now Tired of hot ears? You need
tabletop RPG Vampire: The backed the MacGyver sound beaming – a
Masquerade, bewildering fans and approach to explosives. One redditor technology coming to
non-fans alike. Set to release in 2021, found a bomb drone in a bunker, fruition that allows audio to
you’ll need to collect blood and use your seemingly modelled on the DIY be beamed from a speaker-like
powers to survive the night and be the version that saw players strap device direct to your brain. Isn’t that
last man –er, vampire – standing. RW C4 to flying spycams. JP just called a speaker? No! This is sound
only you can hear, and without needing
to wear anything on your head. JR

Highs & Lows

TOP: One challenge that day an illustration of Seraphine was posted to the HIGHS
to this allegation is character’s Twitter to announce she was ‘working’ with
that Riot senior KD/A. It seemed like more than coincidence. World of Warcraft
designer Jeevun
Sidhu claims his “I’ve felt really grossed-out about it, to the point that I WoW speedrunner DesMephisto
partner, another can’t play one of my favourite videogames,” writes took a Death Knight from level 10
employee who goes Stephanie. “It’s been kind of horrid to have a League
by Riot Whiskies champion who looks like you, has so many of your to 50 in 3 hours 33 minutes.
online, inspired characteristics, and has a name that’s almost identical to
Seraphine’s yours. People I’ve never met send her to me online and Apex Legends
personality. point out the similarities, there’s already immense
Stephanie amounts of porn of her.” Respawn hasidentified 419 top-level
acknowledges THE LOOK players using an exploit to beat up on
this and says she As for legal options, Michigan State University law
doesn’t believe professor Brian Kalt says those would likely involve “the Bronzers, and banned them.
Seraphine is based tort of right of publicity, also known as appropriation of
only on her. likeness”, which “protects your name or likeness from Mass Effect
ABOVE: Stephanie unwarranted intrusion or exploitation”.
notes that Seraphine A return to Andromeda? Who knows,
comes from regions Whatever happens legally, it’s understandable why but Bioware is releasing artwork that
in League lore she Stephanie believes Seraphine is based on her. But there’s
wrote an essay about also a chance this is pure coincidence. If the resemblance gives hope for humanity’s future.
– an essay shared is intentional, it seems hard to prove unless someone like
with John, which she John confirms Stephanie was the direct inspiration, and Among Us
claims he printed that seems unlikely indeed.
out and framed in Tyler Wilde Since the game became a viral hit,
Riot’s office. Steam has been flooded with
knock-offs.

Capcom

The Japanese giant was hit by
a huge ransomware attack in

November.

Ubisoft Montreal Hoax

Some moron called in a hoax
hostage situation at Ubisoft
Montreal, and the building was

cleared by armed police.

LOWS

JANUARY 2021 9

The Spy NEWS | OPINION | DEVELOPMENT
canonical text of the entire subculture. Clearly others have
seen it already, as proven by a recent attack on Capcom.

BUT WHO WATCHES THE SPY? HACK’S OFF TO YA
In November, Capcom was hit by a ransomware attack
that “affected access to certain systems, including email
and file servers”. Later, a reported 60GB of the over 1TB
of bank statements, tax documents, business information,
and contracts the hackers claimed to have downloaded
was leaked to 4chan. While it’s hard to confirm the
T he Spy has finally accepted that veracity of this information, IGN cited sources “close to
the internet is here to stay. Capcom” who claimed that many were the genuine thing.
Originally, The Spy assumed it
was a pointless novelty, in part – If true, the data reveals plenty about Capcom’s
The Spy has since learned – due upcoming plans, including a release date for Resident Evil
to a coordinated and malicious Village. While it was known that the next major game in
rickrolling campaign. “All links the series would be arriving next year, the leak narrows
the launch window to late April.

If zombies aren’t your thing, how about monsters?
According to the leak, Monster Hunter Rise and Monster
lead to Astley,” The Spy thought. Hunter Stories 2 will also arrive on PC. The latter is the
“This will never catch on.” And sequel to the turn-based RPG in which you hatch and
yet it appears The Spy was wrong; such was the befriend monsters, Pokémon-style. Aimed at a younger
people’s need for an on-demand source of Never Gonna audience than the main series, the first game launched to
Give You Up. And also it turns out that other websites somewhat disappointing sales back in 2017. If the leak is
did actually exist. The Spy isn’t clear on the details. accurate, the PC version of the sequel will launch
simultaneously with the Switch release in June 2021.
After briefly catching up on the last decade of online Monster Hunter Rise, meanwhile, is the next proper
trends, The Spy took the obvious next step of figuring out game in the series, following the hugely successful
how to utilise this tool for The Spy’s own personal gain at Monster Hunter World. It’s set to feature new monsters
the expense of others. Unfortunately cybercrime is and apparently it will release on PC in October 2021.
trickier than American police procedurals make it seem. The leak also had details of a new game, codenamed
The Spy tried all the tricks: creating a GUI interface using Shield. Supposedly a shooter featuring a campaign,
Visual Basic; isolating the node and dumping them on the multiplayer, raids, and even base defence, it sounds like a
other side of the router; even recruiting a sadsack office throw-everything-at-the-wall kind of project. Hilariously,
drone to share The Spy’s keyboard during high-pressure the translated document even includes a business plan
hack-offs. None of it worked. around utilising streamers, which notes that “contract fees
The Spy is undeterred, are extremely high and it’s
though, and has already likely that the streamer will
checked out a book about stop playing as soon as the
THE SPY piracy from the local library THE LEAK ALSO HAD DETAILS contract expires”. The Spy
in the hope of learning how OF A NEW GAME, is heartened to learn that
The Spy will never to download a copy of we’re all still trying to figure
tweet a fleet. Hackers – a film The Spy CODENAMED SHIELD out the internet.

can only assume is the The Spy

This month in… 2010

ISSUE
222, January 2011

ON THE COVER
EVE Online

IN THE CINEMA
TRON: Legacy

1 EVE Online was over seven years 2 The first 3 Minecraft was our 2010 Game of
old at the time of this cover feature, Black Ops the Year, which seems obvious in

but PC gaming has always been a space game was “let hindsight, but it’s worth remembering

where games could thrive long after they down by bad that it was still in Alpha at the time.

were unleashed on the world. And thrive scripting, glitchy Despite that, after a year of discovery, of

EVE did, generating countless multiplayer and creation, of communities sharing

fascinating stories about intrigue, dull firefights,” amazing builds and mods and tools, it

betrayal and full-scale space war. Even claimed our review. was a phenomenon worth celebrating.

now, 17 years after its release, it’s an Hopefully Cold War As with EVE, it remains relevant today.

essential story generator. fares better… Great games never die.

10 JANUARY 2021



Special
Report

PCG INVESTIGATES

The London skyline,
as furnished by
Orbx’s premium
city pack.

HACK THE PLANET

MICROSOFT FLIGHT SIMULATOR modders imagining a better Earthicrosoft Flight Simulator’s version of
Earth is a marvel. Satellite data from
Bing Maps (hey, someone’s got to

Muse it) interpreted by Microsoft’s
Azure AI platform creates an key part of the Flight Sim community on Reddit, where he How to
goes by the username ‘Jonahex111’.
If you fancy
When it comes to those urban centres, much more trying out some
detail is required. Flight Sim uses 3D-scanned of these
photogrammetry where possible – but Bing’s library only creations
approximation of our planet, all 200 million square covers around 400 cities, most of them located in the yourself,
miles of it. The result is a feat of engineering to rival USA. “For all the other cities, towns and villages in the flightsim.to is
the real-life aircraft you fly over it – an evolutionary world, 3D models of buildings are automatically generated the place to
leap from Google Earth, exactly the world tourism by neural algorithms developed by Blackshark.ai. This is start. Its scenery
simulator we all need right now. Except when it’s not. better than nothing, but far from good.” repository is
Living in Minsk, this is something that Perapechka already over
Drop beneath the clouds, and you may notice the generic knows all too well. “There is no photogrammetry for my 1,000 packs
office buildings that replaced iconic landmarks such as country … and the quality of autogenerated buildings is strong – just
the Washington Monument and Buckingham Palace. Or quite poor,” he says. “But I was ready for it. The real pick the one you
the Brazilian airfield swallowed by a mile-deep chasm. Or disappointment was when I flew to London.” It’s not just want, download
the 2,000-foot monolith piercing the skies of Melbourne, the Queen’s gaff that gets a rough deal there – many of the and unzip into
apparently the result of a typo in OpenStreetMap, a source capital’s bridges are submerged in the Thames, while the the game’s
that Bing Maps itself pulls data from. Gherkin, a skyscraper that looks like the result of Community
These (often hilarious) errors grabbed headlines and procedural generation IRL, is entirely absent. folder. Finding
became in-game tourist attractions in their own right. But For a location as frequently visited as this, you’ve got that folder this is
they’re not the only gaps on Flight Sim’s globe, as anyone options. On launch day there was already a London city the trickiest part
who’s discovered a flat texture where their home town pack available for purchase from Orbx, which offers of the process.
should be will tell you. “It’s great outside of cities, where handcrafted versions of the famous skyline. You can find
all you need is rather rough heightmap and ground Microsoft is gradually expanding on its work with free plenty of guides
textures with decent resolution, and satellite images are updates that take on one country, and a few of its most online, but for
enough,” says Ilya Perapechka, a software engineer and a prominent cities and landmarks, at a time. But what about me, the folder
was inexplicably
on the top level
of my hard drive.

12 JANUARY 2021

NEWS | OPINION | DEVELOPMENT

FAR LEFT: Revisiting
my university
campus, thanks to
FlyingTheston’s
Birmingham UK
pack, was a quietly
emotional
experience.
LOWER LEFT:
Before and after
shots of High_Frame_
Rates’ Melbourne
Cricket Ground.

W E I R D W O R L D The most existentially troubling spots on Flight Sim’s algorithmic Earth

THE MELBOURNE ANOMALY THE BENEVENTO TWIN THE JAPANESE DEATH SPIKES THE LAGOA NOVA PIT

The one that started it all – a 212-storey But it’s not alone. Rising out of the Located in the Saga prefecture, these You can take off from the airstrip at the
omen that, when the Combine come Italian countryside, this tower is too spines appear to be… oh God… organic bottom of this chasm, but be warned:
for Earth, Australia will be first. eldritch for its peaceful surroundings. in nature? Horrifying. physics get a little weird down there.

the rest of the world? That’s where the modding Seeing its own community switch to Google data is
community comes in. The FS2020Creation subreddit is perhaps a little embarrassing for Microsoft, given Flight
a bustling swap-shop packed with homebrewed cities, Sim is, in part, a showcase for its tools and platforms. But
airports and natural wonders. And while some are the it hasn’t discouraged modders yet, and the ones I speak to
result of modders applying their 3D modelling skills, are unconcerned about any issues – at least, not from
there’s another approach that accounts for the majority Microsoft’s side. “Since day one there has been talk about
of these creations. Bing isn’t the only source of publicly this breaking Google’s Terms of Service, which it may
available photogrammetry for cities. very well,” High_Frame_Rates says. The 3D imagery
Google has its own bank, used for Google Maps, and they’re using is commercial, and not intended to be used
“its coverage is much better than in Bing Maps”, explains in this way – but there have been no cease-and-desists yet,
Perpechka, who says the quality of imagery is also better. and the general consensus is that Google isn’t too worried
The community quickly found a way of ‘slurping’ data about some gamers demonstrating its product’s
from Google Maps, feeding superiority over the
it into Blender’s modelling competition. “I think the
tools and back into the only real concern is anyone
game – Perapechka has “PEOPLE WERE SPENDING trying to use Google’s
made this even simpler WEEKS TO RIP JUST A FEW photogrammetry scenery
with his Google Earth SQUARE KILOMETRES” and profit off of it – that’s
Decoder tool. “People were when Google will probably
spending weeks to rip just a have a problem with it.”
few square kilometres. So I Instead, Perapechka sees
decided to make something better, something where you a bright future for Flight Sim modding. He’s currently
can just select region on map, press ‘download’, and voila.” researching autogeneration to replace Microsoft’s own
processes. He believes that by implementing neural
IS IT A BIRD? post-processing methods, it should be possible to
One of the most prolific modders working with this automatically create more detailed cities. “Of course,
slurped data is known as ‘High_Frame_Rates’ in the you can say that just one software engineer cannot do
community. “I’ve never done any kind of modding to this something better than Microsoft, but recent research
extent in other videogames,” he says – but just a few days papers make me think that it’s possible. Moreover,
after Flight Sim’s launch, having taken a test flight around communities often implement better features than
his native Australia and noticing a lot of missing original developers,” he says. Flying over yet another of
landmarks, he got to work. Since then, he’s uploaded High_Frame_Rates’ reworked cities, it’s hard to disagree.
versions of Adelaide, Perth and Brisbane. Alex Spencer

JANUARY 2021 13

Positive
Influence

INSPIRATIONS AND CONNECTIONS IN GAMES

FAR OUT

How THE SIMS shaped the career of Far Cry director Alex Hutchinsont’s hard to imagine a more prestigious PC
gaming university than Maxis in 2008. When
an industry fresher named Alex Hutchinson

Ijoined the Spore team, he was introduced to
notion that console players are stupid or impatient.
Hutchinson later took that perspective to Ubisoft,
where he headed up Assassin’s Creed III and Far Cry 4.

Civilization IV designer Soren Johnson, KILLING WITH COMEDY
SpyParty creator Chris Hecker, and producer “The one throughline of my career is the idea that the
extraordinaire Lucy Bradshaw – who Fortune would player’s narrative is more important than the game’s
later name one of the ten most powerful women in narrative,” he explains. “Allowing room for player
gaming. Presiding over it all was SimCity genius and expression, making that as wide as possible and
walking TED talk Will Wright. celebrating their decisions. That was always something
that Soren and Will were excited by, and I think that
“It was a very big learning curve, working with some of probably infected my thinking.”
the smartest people I’ve even seen,” Hutchinson recalls. With Far Cry, Hutchinson inherited a bleak message
“There were all these luminaries from the business, which embedded in the series by a fellow Ubisoft game director,
for a 20-something Australian was pretty exciting.” Clint Hocking: the idea that the player couldn’t really
As it turned out, though, Maxis was a better change anything for the better with a loaded gun. “Clint’s
environment for learning than it was for building games. an old friend,” Hutchinson says, “and a very serious man”.
Despite its acquisition by EA, the success of The Sims had Hutchinson’s own instinct was different: to embrace the
insulated the studio from publisher influence that might black comedy of a man murdering his way across Kyrat so
have given it tighter structure and goals. that he could bury his mother’s ashes. For him, Far Cry was
“There were endless fascinating discussions with people best handled with a weary smirk.
about the role of videogames and the purpose of mechanics,” “I’d become so exhausted by linear shooter narratives
Hutchinson says. “I was exposed to all kinds of new ways to about how shooting people is bad,” he says. “The only way I
think about games. The downside was that getting through could get through rewriting the script was to make it a big
those debates was time-consuming and exhausting – joke – the idea that a person would fly to a warzone for any
everyone had very strong opinions, and a forceful idea of other reason than to get involved in a war. I liked the idea
where Spore should go and how it should be.” that we could make this big systemic soup, and then the
Wright wasn’t always around to narrative we did build would be a
mediate, and the finished Spore bore commentary on how that narrative
the marks of that indecision. It wasn’t was essentially farcical.”
one game but several, of varying Small wonder, then, that since
quality, taped together. Ultimately it VACUUM DREAMER leaving Ubisoft, Hutchinson has
hasn’t been Spore that’s defined leaned into the systemic side of Far
Hutchinson’s career, but his least Five features from Cry – rejecting story to focus on
high-profile work at Maxis – working Hutchinson’s cancelled discovery, aggressive wildlife, and
to adapt The Sims for consoles. Ubisoft space game, Pioneer organic encounters between AI. That

“For a while they were trying to 1 2 was the pitch for Journey to the Savage
make the brand more palatable for Planet, which Hutchinson built with
what they thought a console audience N O N - V I O L E N C E Z E R O - G R A V I T Y an independent team before joining
wanted,” he says. “They’d added Google Stadia last Christmas.
objectives and locations with fixed 3 “We’re working on new games,” he
characters. But when we got to The says. “It’s the last thing I haven’t ever
Sims 2, it occurred to me that perhaps tried, which is to be first-party. Google
we should try as earnestly as possible SMALL, DETAILED STATIONS is very new to the games business,

to be true to the experience.” 4 5 which is exciting. They haven’t got
It’s an attitude that’s since become any historical assumptions about how
the prevailing one – to launch PC games are made, so that can be
games across multiple platforms TRUE REALISTIC challenging, but also it’s a positive.”
without compromise, eschewing the 3D SPACE PROBLEMS Jeremy Peel

14 JANUARY 2021

NEWS | OPINION | DEVELOPMENT

“THE PLAYER’S NARRATIVE
IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN
THE GAME’S NARRATIVE”

LEFT: Assassin’s
Creed III’s homestead
shares a clockwork
domesticity with
The Sims.
LOWER LEFT: Far
Cry 4’s Pagan Min
was an ugly reflection
of the player.

JANUARY 2021 15

DNA
Tracing

GAMING’S LINEAGES EXPLORED

ROMERO HAD QUIT OVER
FRUSTRATION WITH

CARMACK’S BELIEF THAT
TECH SHOULD COME FIRST

16 JANUARY 2021

NEWS | OPINION | DEVELOPMENT

DOOM SCROLL

How id Software reclaimed its history by losing its leadersn the early days, id Software was all about ego.

It wasn’t unique in that regard: like practically
all of its contemporaries, id was founded by

Ikids of the late ’70s and early ’80s, for whom
game development had started as a bedroom But that individualism had its downsides.
Communication broke down within id as the team burned
out on the protracted development of Quake. Romero left
to form Ion Storm, and the remaining founders never
seemed to rebuild their rapport. Working in separate
hobby. Without university courses or internships, offices, they made Quake III as a multiplayer-only game
theirs had been a self-directed education – driven by – allowing them to effectively work together, but apart.
the thrill of getting light to move across a screen. Romero had quit over frustration with John Carmack’s
belief that tech should come first, not play. And in the
Knowledge was shared, through computer clubs and Doom designer’s absence, that approach came to shape
magazines, but games of the time were not made through the company, for good and ill. With nobody left to
teamwork – instead they were the godlike act of an challenge and redirect Carmack’s focus, the id releases
individual typing the most efficient, creative and accurate of this middle period were showcases for his genius
code into an Apple II keyboard. – moreso than they were enjoyable shooters.
Thanks to the accessibility and simplicity of the tech, Doom 3 doubled down on the potential for horror
John Romero had developed dozens of published games Petersen had discovered, and boasted some bold
before working on Wolfenstein 3D. His story was no design touches – namely the
exception – id’s other founding members, John Carmack, controversial flashlight that
Adrian Carmack (no relation) and Tom Hall, had each required you to put away your
spent their most formative decade in self-imposed solitary BELOW: Can’t shoot weapon in order to clear the
confinement, programming game after game. a Pinky in the face corners of its Mars research facility.
any more – they’re But its slower pace and cramped
It’s no surprise, then, that this history seeped into the armoured up front.
culture of the studio. Though id Software worked corridors prioritised Carmack’s
together to create Wolfenstein 3D, Doom and Quake, its BOTTOM: Marty distinctive stencil shadowing over
process wasn’t exactly collaborative by today’s standards. Stratton worked fun. For a year or two, Doom 3
In the beginning, John Carmack would work solo to on id’s Quake screenshots were inescapable in
develop the next innovation in 3D graphics and AI. Then team before the pages of this magazine, and
Romero and his fellow designers would build stages alone, rebooting Doom. promised an impossibly moody

placing every door, light and monster by hand. future for PC gaming that was

SINGLE PLAYER
That autonomy defines the flavour of early id games:
every level has an author, and reflects their personalities.
While Romero favoured firepower and flow, you could tell
a Sandy Petersen creation by its scant resources and
Lovecraftian horror. Throughout, the tricks and secrets of
a Doom level ensured you felt the presence of its designer.

TERMS OF EN-TEAR-MENT

How to refer to Doom’s protagonist

“DOOM MARINE”

Grounded, human, American. But is
he American? He never speaks, so we

can’t be sure.

“DOOMGUY”

Overfamiliar and, frankly,
disrespectful. This ‘guy’ could beat

you to death with your own arm.

“DOOM SLAYER”

It’s high fantasy, it’s heavy metal.
It’s a bit daft and pretentious. It’s

modern Doom.

JANUARY 2021 17

NEWS | OPINION | DEVELOPMENT WOLFENSTEIN KEY
3D Wolfenstein 3D engine
ENGINE id Tech 1
DRIVERS First-person id Tech 2
shooting with no id Tech 3
The bloody ceiling. Literally. id Tech 4
path left in id id Tech 5
Software’s wake DOOM id Tech 6
id Tech 7
QUAKE Still eminently Apex Engine
playable for its Saber3D Engine
Planned as a pace and Unknown
Thor simulator, whooshing
but wound up as projectiles. DARKNESS
an FPS.
DOOM II Full-fledged
QUAKE II survival horror,
More of a level pack abandoned after 18
PC Gamer called than a sequel; months.
it “sensational dizzyingly creative
and subtle”. nonetheless. RAGE

QUAKE III DOOM 3 World-leading tech,
ARENA tired wasteland
The scariest and clichés.
No single-player, slowest of id’s
unless you count catalogue. RAGE 2
the bots.
DOOM 4 Overseen by id,
QUAKE LIVE built by Avalanche.
A cancelled,
The last word in story-driven reboot
hyperspeed sometimes dubbed
deathmatch. ‘Call of Doom’.

QUAKE DOOM (2016)
CHAMPIONS
Folded Quake-style
Tim Willits’ loving arenas into
tribute to mid-air single-player, with
murder. terrific results.

18 JANUARY 2021 DOOM ETERNAL

Bolder, tougher,
and more tactical.

DOOM
ETERNAL: THE
A- NPCAIRETN TO NGEO D S

The fastest game
of chess ever.

DNA Tracing

undeniably exciting. But inevitably, the graphics have LEFT: Rage 2’s
faded, and the game’s shadow doesn’t loom quite so vehicular exploration
large these days. is oddly reminiscent
of Brütal Legend.
ALL-SEEING EYE
The problem became more profound by the time Rage
launched in 2011. For id’s ambitious Mad Max tribute,
Carmack invented a texture streaming system that would
enable every surface in the game to look unique – but
players without high-end hardware understandably
complained when textures failed to load in on time,
compromising the complete first-person immersion
that had once made Doom so alluring.
When Carmack ultimately left to head up technology
at Oculus – pursuing the same holodeck dream that had Studios, the Just Cause developer which simply had the
powered his obsession with 3D engines in the ’90s – it better technology for making open worlds – an admission
turned out to be a mercy. With the last big ego out of you could never imagine id making in Carmack’s day.
the building, id was finally free to remould itself as a Studio creative director Tim Willits would regularly sit
collaborative studio for the modern age – where triple-A down with Avalanche’s designers, in sessions the team
shooters are made by teams of hundreds, not individuals. dubbed ‘Willits University’, to impart id’s wisdom on level
Doom 2016 was the result of that soul-searching: a building and pacing. He taught that a shotgun shouldn’t
rebirth which reclaimed the speed and ferocity of sound like a shotgun – it needs to boom like a cannon.
Romero-era id, yet freed itself from the compulsion to You can feel id Software’s influence in the calm,
push technology forward. The new Doom looked good, female tannoy that tells you when all hostiles have been
of course, but it had no eliminated from an area,
headline innovation that and thus the doors can
might sell new graphics unlock. You can hear it in
cards. Instead, the genius ETERNAL ONLY WENT FURTHER, the guitar amp hum of your
was all design: the way id TURNING DOOM INTO A CONSTANT car when it’s nearby. But
reimagined the combat it’s most apparent in the
arena as a spinning FIGHT FOR RESOURCES combat, which pushes you

whirlpool, with you right in to close the gap on enemies
the centre, fighting to keep for extra health; of all
your head above water. Eternal only went further, turning Doom 2016’s innovations, the least appreciated is that it
Doom into a constant fight for resources, in which has made melee irresistible in first-person.
enemies were as much food as they were foe. Where once The key resource in Rage 2’s world is named ‘feltrite’,
id was accused of creating dumb fun, it now asked for and that pun is a pithy summary of id Software’s guiding
mind-frying concentration. philosophy. Though the studio didn’t touch Rage 2’s code
directly, the game’s battles are imbued with Doom-feel. It’s
RAW FURY proof that id’s magic can be taught – that its power now
The game that exemplifies contemporary id Software is lies in collective knowledge and company best practice,
one not entirely its own. For Rage 2, the company not the hands of a few precious individuals.
relinquished day-to-day development duties to Avalanche Jeremy Peel

JANUARY 2021 19

20 JANUARY 2021

PREVIEW
Book of Travels

NEED TO KNOW DEVELOPER PUBLISHER LINK
Might and Delight In-house mightanddelight.com
RELEASE
TBC

BOOK OF TRAVELS taking into account what secrets they
like, the direction of the game, and which
storylines they react to. We want to tailor
the game’s future to both match that and
to also challenge perceptions people
have in the game.”

Adventure in a world where PAGE TURNER

Book of Travels is definitely challenging

you’re not forced to be the hero perceptions. Might and Delight has been
more than happy to celebrate that Book of

Travels is not your traditional MMORPG.

I love playing the role of the wanderer in Many of the story beats that guide the
games, but it’s pretty difficult to explore
virtual worlds without some bloodthirsty player through a fantasy world have been
set aside. With no overarching goal, no
real beginning or end, you are the one in
monster trying to kill me. It is too much charge of shaping your own journey.
to ask to quietly traverse The Witcher 3’s Novigrad, “Our world is serene,” Tuchten says.
collecting herbs and picking plants, without a
ferocious wolf trying to gnaw my arm off? “It’s not plagued by an evil monster or a

bad king. It doesn’t have that cliché dark

fantasy storyline where everything is

I’m down for fisticuffs more often than FIRST about to go to hell, and you’re the focal
not, but there are moments when I just LOOK point of trying to set it right.”
want to explore and take it all in.
But just because Book of Travels’ world

Thankfully, Might and Delight has come has a peaceful cadence, it doesn’t mean

to my rescue with Book of Travels, an Might and Delight has scrapped all means

upcoming RPG that embraces this of conflict. Tuchten explains how entering

wanderer philosophy. a fight with monsters is a serious event

Self-described as a “collaborative with consequences. The team’s still

and friendly roleplaying experience”, deciding the exact mechanics, but

there are no linear quests or nagging promise that encounters will often be

plotlines. Players are free to explore traumatic and have an emotional

the handcrafted world of Braided Shore aftermath – not something to take lightly.

at their own pace. Might and Delight “We have the opportunity to actually

describes it as a TMO, a ‘tiny multiplayer do combat that is meaningful,” Tuchten

online’ game, with a focus on exploration explains. “When it happens, it involves

and companionship, two themes that risk and has a dramatic impact on your

the studio is more than familiar with. character. We debated for a long time

“Making the Shelter games taught us whether combat should be a part of the

how to evoke strong emotions and how world at all, but we want to convey the

to make simple things matter,” Might serenity or the calmness of the world, and

and Delight’s art director, Jakob Tuchten that needed to be accentuated by having

explains. “We felt we had stumbled upon a danger just outside of the road.”

many unique and interesting multiplayer Roads wind between important

mechanics that seemed to make people locations, but every wanderer knows what

interact and roleplay in really friendly and lies off the beaten path is worth

creative ways, mechanics we wanted to discovering too, even if danger lies in the

develop further.” wilds. Luckily you’ll have plenty of skills

Book of Travels will be Might and and abilities to help you explore, and

Delight’s first Early Access title, and after just like combat, Might and Delight has

a successful Kickstarter with 7,000

backers, the team is more than eager ENTERING A FIGHT WITH
to get the community involved in the

development process. MONSTERS IS A SERIOUS
“We see ourselves a bit like a dungeon EVENT WITH CONSEQUENCES

master,” Tuchten explains. “We want to

emulate what the community wants,

JANUARY 2021 21

PREVIEW
Book of Travels

approached these RPG elements in its mother and her cubs in the Shelter Stick to the main roads
own unique way. games, the friendship between a bear and and paths for safety.
a lynx cub in Paws, and Tiny Echo’s silent Braided Shore has a painterly
“There is a sort of levelling-up system, spirit delivering mail to a community. style to its gorgeous visuals
but it’s not tailored to the same sort of
framework as normal MMOs. It’s based In Book of Travels, NPCs will speak to
around skill slots,” Tuchten says. “As you you in little dialogue bubbles but you and
progress through the game, you’ll get your party can only communicate through
more empty slots for learned skills you get symbols and emotes. It’s an idea the
from the world. You may have ten skills but studio explored in their first MMO,
only three slots, and each one takes up a Meadow, where it created some surprising
certain amount of space. For example, a meaningful player bonds.
powerful skill, like the ability to transfer into
an animal, would take up five skill slots.” You don’t have to buddy up with others
though, Book of Travels lets you be a lone
Skills are not something you learn wolf if you want. You can go off and have
automatically, but through teachings from your own adventure, following story leads
the world’s characters. If you want to learn and uncovering mysteries on your own.
how to fish, you’ll need to seek out a There is a wealth of lore under Book of
fisherman. Same with tea brewing and Travels’s fairy-tale surface for players to
knot tying – the two major magical dive into – if they so choose. It’s
practices in Book of Travels. Knots hold completely up to you.
short-term magical abilities that when
untied provide a short burst of magic One storyline kicks off in one of the
(such as teleporting to the other side of game’s cities, Casa. It acts as the starting
a river), whereas teas have long-term point for adventure when you first begin
magical properties, but must be carefully the game and it didn’t play out like I
brewed while sitting next to a fire. expected. “There’s been a murder in the
city,” Tuchten says. “A mythical creature
Abilities can be heightened with called a Sepra, which is what we call the
choices you make in the character genies of this world, has been murdered,
creation process by choosing talents, and that’s never happened before. There’s
backstories, and personality traits. You a mystery surrounding how it died and
can be a carefree traveller who grew up in how it’s affected the politics of the city.”
the mountains, a historian seeking to
discover Braided Shore’s lost past, or a As serene as Book of Travels world
mysterious cloaked outlaw with a knack may seem, Might and Delight wants the
for the magical arts. It’s refreshing to see a world’s cities to be like the metropolises
character creator that puts the focus on of the real world – neither good or bad
things other than combat ability. but somewhere in the middle.
Settlements are going to be bustling with
“The biggest thing for me personally is activity and are supposed to make the
that we have developed a game design player feel somewhat overwhelmed.
surrounding roleplaying freedom,”
Tuchten says. “Because of the game’s The world of Braided Shore looks
open-ended design, you’re not forced to stunning. It has Might and Delight’s
be a hero, which to us makes the roleplay signature visuals, but this time on a grand
aspects so much greater.” scale. It may look 2D, but there’s plenty of
depth and, as you explore each area,
QUIET COMPANIONS layers of the scene fade in and out of the
foreground, like a delicate paper theatre.
One particular mechanic that makes
Might and Delight’s game collection Book of Travels has taken traditional
unique is that they create meaningful aspects of online RPGs and reimagined
ways of communicating without using any them in a very Might and Delight way. And,
words or dialogue. Creating from the overwhelming success of the
companionship through wordless Kickstarter campaign, both fans and
interactions has always been a key theme those not familiar with the studio’s work
in Might and Delight’s games: the have been spellbound by the strange,
unspoken bond between an animal whimsical idea of a serene RPG.

IT HAS MIGHT AND DELIGHT’S It’s not often a game gives you the
SIGNATURE VISUALS, BUT opportunity to embody the archetype of a
THIS TIME ON A GRAND SCALE wanderer, but Might and Delight seems to
be on track with Book of Travels. It’s a
whole world designed for those who want
to let their curiosity guide them, and that’s
pretty special.

Rachel Watts

22 JANUARY 2021

Cities come alive with NPCs PREVIEW
and traders during the night. Book of Travels

Traverse the world on your
own or in a group.

JANUARY 2021 23

PREVIEW
Goodbye Volcano High

Volcano High, before
saying goodbye.

NEED TO KNOW DEVELOPER PUBLISHER LINK
KO_OP In-house goodbyevolcanohigh.com
RELEASE
2021

GOODBYE DRAMA, with their best friend Trish – and
their music will be featured in the game.
The idea of potentially prioritising the band

VOLCANO HIGH over personal relationships is certainly a
very interesting one.

It’s the nature of KO_OP as an

artist-owned and -run studio, though,

which gives Goodbye Volcano High its

true heart. There have been no barriers to

It’s time to play triceratops trumps infusing the game with the identities of the
people who made it. “[KO_OP is] made up

of a lot of queer people, and a lot of trans

ou’d be forgiven for thinking that, of people,” says Dabbous. “We’re able to
the many things a game about dinosaurs
Y that go to high school is likely to be, have those elements be a part of the world
‘relatable’ isn’t one of them. Yet you and the story and the characters … we
don’t have to fight for that, and we don’t

have to necessarily centre that either.
would be wrong. Despite the dinos, this is set to be They’re just a part of our world as a given.”
a game that tells a deep, surprisingly human story.
THIS IS THE END

Goodbye Volcano High is a narrative Development began in 2018, and the idea

adventure game. The player drops in was always to give the story something of

when graduation is on the horizon and an apocalyptic vibe. The end of an era in

the protagonist, Fang, needs to make a terms of graduation from high school; the

decision about where they want their life fact that the characters are dinosaurs,

to go. “What this game is really about,” which as we know went extinct; the

says Saleem Dabbous, studio director pressures of making important life

and Goodbye Volcano High co-director, choices… stress, endings, and the

“is asking yourselves, if you knew unknown were always in the mix.

everything was going to come to N E W And then, 2020 happened.
an end, what would you do with I N F O “Since [2018] things [have

that time? What are the choices become] more and more dire,

that you would make? And who in terms of just like our political

would you want to be?” climate, our ecological crisis,” explains

KO_OP isn’t quite ready to go into great Dabbous. “There’s a lot of things out

detail about how the game will play, but it’s there that feel like these looming huge

keen to stress that player choice will be issues that are almost cataclysmic, Tails round the campfire.

important. Things go much deeper than right? And we’re just like, OK, what is our

‘path A or path B’, as co-director and responsibility as creators to tell narratives

animation director Kyle McKernan that capture this feeling in time? … I think

explains: “There’s [a] choice of pursuing that we’re trying to ask ourselves, like,

newer things versus your really close what does it mean to exist at the end of an

friendships or relationships, or your family, era? What does it look like? And what is

or your music, it all interweaves and adds your personal responsibility?”

up as the story goes on.” The coronavirus pandemic has proven

Ah yes, the music. The audio will be an to be an instructive lesson in how humans

important part of Goodbye Volcano High react to cataclysmic events (for good or

(“we think audio and music is what makes bad), but it also means, as Dabbous puts

an emotional lasting connection,” says it, “We have to make sure that it’s not read

Dabbous). Fang is in a band, VVORM as a straight COVID [commentary].”

McKernan adds, “I think that a really

“WE THINK AUDIO AND MUSIC interesting balance to try to strike, is
that we’re trying to treat the subject as

IS WHAT MAKES AN EMOTIONAL responsibly as we can and with as much
LASTING CONNECTION” weight as it warrants, while still having
our own kind of world.”

Luke Kemp

24 JANUARY 2021

PREVIEW
Goodbye Volcano High

History must be a It’s not all doom and gloom,
pretty short course. there will be laughter as well.

JANUARY 2021 25

PREVIEW
King of Seas

Settlements have powerful
defences. Trust me.

NEED TO KNOW DEVELOPER PUBLISHER LINK
3DClouds In-house kingofseas.net
RELEASE
TBC

KING OF SEAS

Looking like hot ship, most of the remaining time trying to find makes tight turns in battle easy (and a
flagging this one now targets; often before being sunk by a little tense). The combat is pretty simple,
nautical shopkeeper. I’m more but enjoyable. Timing shots is important
P irate. Game. Not that kind. If you’re Threepwood than Blackbeard. – cannons take a while to load, don’t you
anything like me, those two words are know – and there are gloriously unrealistic
enough to generate excitement (the Is my difficulty in finding merchants abilities to be had. In this early build alone,
concept) and despair (recent examples) linked to the fact that this ARPG is I nab a flamethrower for roasting other
in equal measure. By concentrating on sailing, and procedurally generated? Perhaps. But ships and a sort of magical cloud that
ensuring that it doesn’t take itself too seriously, it’s already clear that this will be a game briefly interferes with aiming.
King of Seas seems to be setting course for success. where joy is found in wandering around,
doing your own thing. I’m more than BOOTY CALL
PLAYED Considering the fact that your character is happy picking up wayward crates and
IT something of a reluctant pirate – you play looting wrecked ships, levelling up and Oddly enough, you can’t rotate the
as the son or daughter of the king of the discovering new equipment for my boat. camera, but you can zoom it in and
seas, framed for his murder – you don’t Bigger ships will be available to buy, and out a bit, which proves important when
wait long to start causing chaos, I’m salivating at the prospect of having it comes to being aware of your
graduating from delivery person to ten cannons rather than just two. surroundings (or just appreciating the
merchant murderer with amusing speed. pretty graphics). This feeds into the
On my small ship, each of the three social dynamics, whereby the pirates
My first truly piratey objective is to sink sails is raised or lowered one at a time with both trade with settlements and raid their
three merchant ships. The preview build is a button tap, a little touch I love which also merchants. Attack a trading ship too close
limited to 45 minutes of play, and each to port however, and that community will
time I run through, I never seem to have I’M SALIVATING AT THE (understandably) refuse to trade with you.
enough time to sink the required number PROSPECT OF HAVING Buying and selling prices vary across the
with my modest little sloop. This is partly TEN CANNONS RATHER sea, so it literally pays to keep everybody
because, as the map doesn’t mark the THAN JUST TWO onside. It’ll be possible to conquer areas,
positions of any nearby ships, I spend though, so I look forward to punishing
anybody who dares to cross me.
Luke Kemp

26 JANUARY 2021



PREVIEW
Everspace 2

Now, imagine all
this is on fire.

NEED TO KNOW DEVELOPER PUBLISHER LINK
Rockfish Games In-house everspace.game
RELEASE
January, 2021

EVERSPACE 2

Be nice to Freelancers, they may game, but revealed that it wasn’t when asteroid or the rotting superstructure of a
come back with homing missiles you picked away at the surface, the beta long-abandoned industrial facility. The
has more ships, more characters, more ability to move vertically up and down
W hen you start up a free-roaming space plot, more infinity. The voices are provided plays into this, making it possible to hide
shooter, the last thing you expect is to be by a text-to-speech app right now before and pop up to surprise your target
flying down a tight and twisting tunnel, the voice-acting is added, and sound like – particularly useful when hunting defence
in search of something called the ‘core’. you’re being lectured by jerky robots, but turrets or getting close enough to a
There are anemone-like creatures all over the the game has something extra: it hangs jammer to disable it. Bandit craft and their
walls, and they fall easily to your ship’s lasers. together right now as a scripted drones scatter everywhere, leaving threat
experience rather than a collection of markers spread across your HUD. Long
PLAYED You don’t even know who you are at this disparate areas in space. cutting beams fill the void, the red trails of
IT point, referred to as just ‘the wingman’ on missiles burning toward targets, and if
comms, but once you’ve defended the A SHOT IN THE DARK you’ve got the right gun equipped you can
core, and the miners trying to exploit it, join in with the light show, dazzling pink
from a giant drill that lets in angry drones, Freelancer, from 2003, is still very much projectiles arcing toward enemy ships.
you’ll be slightly closer to finding out. the reference, but while that game tended
toward long wheeling dogfights where the And while the voices may be
This is the closed beta of Everspace 2, objective was to get on your opponent’s placeholder, the glorious cosmic
the final stage before its Early Access tail and stay there, in Everspace 2 there’s backgrounds, crystalline caves and
release in January. The game is running always something in the way – be it an floating wreckage – as well as the chunky
from the gravity well of Cyberpunk 2077, fighters you pilot – are looking extremely
rescheduling from a December release CUTTING BEAMS FILL good. Special mention too for the sparse
that saw CD Projekt’s own delay threaten THE VOID, THE TRAILS cutscenes rendered to look like paintings.
to crush it. The other side of Christmas, OF MISSILES BURNING
the theory is, it can shine. TOWARD THEIR TARGET Rockfish Games’ decision to delay is a
positive one, then: a launch with more
And there’s no reason why it shouldn’t. polish at a dry time of year, avoiding the
While the prototype build looked like a gravitational waves of a big release, could
be exactly what the game needs.

Ian Evenden

28 JANUARY 2021



EARLY ACCESS PREVIEW
Second Extinction

Yeah, this guy is definitely
not a real dinosaur.

Second Extinction really does not
skimp on the explosions.
The map is peppered with optional side
bits, for hoovering up extra resources.
30 JANUARY 2021

EARLY ACCESS PREVIEW
Second Extinction

NEED TO KNOW DEVELOPER PUBLISHER LINK
Systemic Reaction In-house secondextinctiongame.com
EXPECT TO PAY
£19.50

SECOND justification for their existence – all
mutations and a fallen Earth – but
honestly, it doesn’t really matter. What

EXTINCTION does matters is that Second Extinction
crams the screen tight with uber-dinos,
and hands you the means to put them

back on the endangered species list: guns,

For anyone who thought Muldoon grenades, and the odd orbital laser.
You and couple of friends pick

was the hero of Jurassic Park characters, each with a smidge of
personality and an expandable selection

of perks and gadgets, then drop into the

he Ankylosaurus roamed the plains of enormous map for a self-guided dinosaur
what is now North America in the late
T Cretaceous period. It weighed as much safari. I mean that ‘drop’ bit literally, by the
as a pair of rhinos, and put their thick way – you enter the level in a metal pod,
skin and horns to shame with an armoured shell burning through the ozone and clouds.

JURAS-SICK MOVES
and bony club at the end of its tail that could sweep This is a game untroubled by subtlety, the
predators’ legs from under them. same way my dancing is after three gin

and tonics. It’s all explosions and strafing

Seventy million years later, it was and body parts sent wheeling through the

discovered by a Victorian palaeontologist air (and so is the game, wocka wocka).

named after – of all people – PT Barnum, Occasionally, you shoot a velociraptor so

the circus barker from that Hugh Jackman hard its tail falls off. Occasionally, they

musical. And a century after that, I’ve just drop nuggets of glowing loot I’d normally

managed to get one tipped onto its back, describe as tickling my lizard brain, but

and am hastily emptying my minigun’s this is a slightly thorny term given that’s

entire belt feed into the glowing weak what I’m currently busy splashing all

spot on its exposed belly. (Oddly P L A Y E D over the shop.
enough, this tactic is kind of I T This is about the most Second

historically accurate, minigun aside Extinction ever attempts to engage

– flipping an Ankylosaur tortoise- your brain. It makes for a perfect

style was the only way predators could hangout game, with plenty of space for

get past that armour plating.) you to shoot the shit while you shoot shit,

Playing Second Extinction results in a but also means that, without friends, your

lot of moments like this, where I find my mind might start to wander to half-

mind reaching back over a childhood of remembered dino-facts. It’s clearly not

dinosaur books like a tongue over a cavity. meant to be played this way – alone,

Trying to remember whether the you’ll get absolutely murdered,

venom-spitting was a real thing or an something that developer Systemic

invention of Jurassic Park’s, while failing to Reaction is trying to rebalance a little.

sidestep the latest glob of acid catapulted The game is currently in the Cambrian

through the air. And I’m left wondering stages of Early Access – meaning you can

why I never heard about these raptors expect to find some really weird-shaped

with the invisibility powers and naturally- bugs and the occasional explosion – so it

occurring flashbang grenades. may be wise to hold off a little before

Has there ever been a more OK, you probably won’t be surprised to taking the plunge. But if you’re looking for
videogames location?
learn that these last two are rather less a conversational backdrop more

faithful to scientific fact. There’s a flimsy stimulating than that fake beach you use

to mask the state of your living room on

I WONDER WHY I NEVER Zoom calls, or have an inner child who
won’t mind seeing their favourite creature

HEARD ABOUT RAPTORS WITH endlessly massacred, then Second
INVISIBILITY POWERS BEFORE Extinction delivers exactly the thrills you’d
expect at first glance.

Alex Spencer

JANUARY 2021 31





conJvoeirnsathtieon!

Discuss all things PC gaming with fellow
readers at our official forums
forums.pcgamer.com



COVER FEATURE
Warhammer 40,000: Darktide

36 JANUARY 2021

WARHAMMER 40,000:
DARKTIDE is coming,
so grab your torch

and chainsword

By Fraser Brown

JANUARY 2021 37

COVER FEATURE
Warhammer 40,000: Darktide

A fter more than five Fatshark co-founder Martin The humble guardsman
years surrounded Wahlund. “It’s all about the fun factor is the lasgun-toting
by Vermintide’s and getting it right, and getting the backbone of the
skittering, shrieking feeling right. We want to welcome Imperium’s army.
Vermintide players, but we also want
Skaven, Fatshark has to make sure that everyone who
jumped into the grimdark future of hasn’t played them is just as
Warhammer 40,000. Darktide pits welcome, and we need to onboard
another four brave souls against them in a good way.”
unrelenting waves of monstrous
enemies in a city being corrupted What is clear is that Darktide
by the power of Chaos. It’s a meat expands on Vermintide rather than
grinder, but you get to be the teeth, completely reinventing it. You charge
chewing through hordes, leaving into missions with three friends,
nothing but dismembered body slaughter your way through enemies
parts in your bloody wake. And this – with occasional breaks for some
time, there are chainswords. problem solving – and over the
course of your misadventures you
There was a teaser trailer in July, but grow stronger, get better equipment,
since then Fatshark hasn’t given and maybe tart yourself up with
much away about its next co-op some cosmetic flourishes. Within
outing. Chatting to the team, it’s clear that familiar routine, however,
they’re being careful about what Fatshark is tinkering away and
exactly they reveal at what is still a planning some significant changes,
fairly early stage. They want to keep with seemingly every little system
some surprises, but there’s also much being put under the microscope.
that’s still up in the air. They’re GRIM TIDINGS
asking themselves a lot of questions The setting, of course, necessitates
about Darktide’s final form. some of these changes. This is the
far-flung future, so there’s fancy tech,
“We are still iterating on it and guns everywhere, and gargantuan
still trying to find our feet,” says hive cities that house billions of
people. But this is still a universe
with knights who wade into battle
with swords and shields. There’s a

“AS WE’VE SEEN IN
VERMINTIDE, PLAYERS
REALLY ENJOY TWEAKING

THEIR LOADOUTS”

38 JANUARY 2021

COVER FEATURE
Warhammer 40,000: Darktide

HIVE TOURS 4 SERVICE TUNNELS
Why not explore the guts of the
It’s a prime holiday destination – just ask Nurgle hive? Though the weather isn’t great
– we’ll warn you, an umbrella doesn’t
1 HABZONES protect you from acid rain.
The hive’s billions live in the
habzones, where you might even find
some survivors holding out against the
tide of Nurgle’s abominations.

2 WALKWAYS 3 MARKET 5 PRISON
If you want an idea of the scale of Come to the underground water market to admire the uplifting graffiti and Don’t forget to be on your best
the hive, why not visit one of our gothic, cheery atmosphere. It’s probably even nicer now that Nurgle’s moved in. behaviour. The Imperium isn’t delicate
picturesque bridges and walkways. when it comes to upholding the law.
Don’t look down. Hence all the blood stains.

medieval fantasy element amid the MAIN: We haven’t the most fundamental, perhaps, is “As we’ve seen in Vermintide, players
gun-toting sci-fi, which means there’s seen any yet, but melee and ranged combat now really enjoy tweaking their loadouts,”
the potential for a lot more flexibility. apparently there will sharing the spotlight. Vermintide is a says creative director Anders De
occasionally be NPCs first-person melee series with several Geer. “And since we have a lot of
“We want to make it possible for in the streets. ranged options, but in Darktide it’s an great modders, they also want to
players to play in more ways,” says even split. Guns are extremely tweak individual weapons, talents
Wahlund. “So we’re going to have common in 40K, but the tabletop and other stuff. So we are working
way more customisation than we had fights still frequently devolve into with a system right now that will
in Vermintide. We work in a lot of close-quarters brawls; and this makes allow players to have way more
that, and you’ll see more varied even more sense within the confines freedom than they had in Vermintide
characters.” He stops short of actually of a hive city. What you use depends to customise their toolkit when they
unveiling the full list of who exactly on the mission you’re on, as well as go into a mission.”
we’ll be playing, unfortunately. The the specific encounter, so character
Imperial guardsman is the only one builds are becoming more situational. This is something Fatshark’s
that’s been confirmed, though more already been trying to do more in
have been shown off in concept art “Expanding the gameplay loop to Vermintide II – letting players have
and trailers, including a huge ogryn. include a ranged component and more control over their rat-slaying
seeing how we can push that to adventures, via everything from
Fatshark’s desire for variety has provide a better variety of gameplay rebalancing weapon choices to
manifested itself in several ways, and experiences also connects with the introducing entirely new subclasses
loadout choices that you make both as DLC. In Darktide, though, it
personally and as a team,” says game sounds like an even more targeted
designer Mats Andersson. “You get to approach is going to be cropping up
play very targeted group setups, or everywhere from the off.
make one with a very wide variety
of different playstyles. If you look You can’t make choices about
at Vermintide II, you are more loadouts and talents without proper
pigeonholed than we want to make intel, and that’s where the mission
this type of game. We want to provide map comes into play. This is the
more options for you to approach the evolution of Vermintide II’s rather
same kind of content.” plain mission board and offers up a
HIVE MINDS selection of crises affecting the
Before they delve back into the various sectors of the gargantuan city.
infested hive for another mission, the The idea is that you’ll be able to see,
squad can prepare for the challenge at a glance, just how intense the
with more granular customisation mission will be and what modifiers
– it’s not just about picking the right are affecting it, like acid rain or
tools and accessories for the job. blackouts. The city is constantly
Fatshark is also considering things changing, too, with missions
like talents for weapons, not just vanishing and maps you’ve already
characters, and generally more ways explored getting a refresh thanks to
to let you refine your character and some fresh quirks.
get that alluring progression buzz.
“In Vermintide II, a lot of the
dynamism came from the conflict
director and how we spawned the

JANUARY 2021 39

Warhammer 40,000: Darktide

Gothic architecture never
really goes out of style.

THE PACE AND THE
TENSION WILL

HAVE MORE PEAKS
AND VALLEYS

enemies,” says Wahlund. “Now we funnel, and then open it some more, fear, too, which Space Marines are
want to have the same type of feeling, because the more enemies we throw also largely unfamiliar with.
but also working with the actual at people, the more fun it is,” says
level itself, so it could be a bit Andersson. “But you can also go Slowing things down doesn’t
different depending on how you the opposite direction of actually always mean making things
play it and the missions that you bringing down the tempo and making comfortable. If there’s a power
play, but also because of the weather, it a bit more lenient. We want to be outage, for instance, you’ll have
electricity or gas leaks. There’s a lot able to still provide that gameplay to rely on flashlights to see
of things we can play around with to experience where your heart is up where you’re going, making your
get a completely different feeling here all the time, but we also want exploration of the sector more
when you play a mission.” to expand it into a place where methodical, but no less tense. An
PACE MARINES you actually have time to talk and abandoned dark sector is obviously
Violence, gore and waves of enemies breathe. If we lower the tempo, we fertile ground for some horror.
are probably the first thing your get a completely different kind of While the Skaven are extremely
mind conjures up when you think mood, if you will, in a level.” unsettling, Darktide seems more
about Vermintide, but in Darktide
the pace and the tension will This is one of the reasons why
have more peaks and valleys, with you won’t be playing as Space
quieter moments to sneak around Marines. They’re unstoppable
or solve a puzzle. It’s more of what juggernauts who, in a real-time
you might expect in a dungeon- setting, could easily just march
delving RPG. through the hordes of enemies, never
needing to rest, and certainly never
“It’s really easy when making a taking a break for a chat. They’re
game like Vermintide to just open the stoic and a little boring, and Fatshark
wants characters with charisma. And

40 JANUARY 2021

COVER FEATURE
Warhammer 40,000: Darktide

TOOLS OF THE TRADE

Choose your weapon

BOLTGUN CHAINSWORD

The standard The classic melee
Space Marine weapon of the
weapon, the Imperium across
boltgun is a the galaxy. Its
devastating bit of sharp, grinding
a kit – a mobile teeth make quick
cannon that can work of thick
blow enemies to armour and alien
smithereens. flesh. It’s usually
Smaller versions accompanied by a
are carried by the gun, so you can
Astra Militarum. shoot and shred.

LASGUN POWER
HAMMER
The main weapon
of the Imperial This bad boy is as
army, the lasgun good at cracking
shoots out a armour as it is
focused energy rocks thanks to
beam that can sear the disruption field
off limbs and even that surrounds it.
puncture power Just think of how
armour. It’s not the many poxwalkers
beast the bolter is, you could take
but it’s still a good, out with one
solid weapon. devastating swing.

I would just hide behind primed to get you jumping out of squads the opportunity to sneak
the ogryn, honestly. your seat, at least when you’re around them. But that can also
sneaking through pitch-black areas make them even more dangerous
that are filled with poxwalkers, the than the Skaven.
gruesome zombies cursed by the
Chaos god of disease, Nurgle. Just before we spoke, producer
Steven Brigas found himself
Poxwalkers are Darktide’s horde climbing up a ladder in the hive,
enemy. They gather in large groups believing himself to be alone, only
and, though weak individually, can to find a horde of poxwalkers just
overwhelm squads with their huge hanging out, waiting for him right at
numbers and relentless attacks. the top. If they’d been Skaven, they
What makes them different from would have been jumping down that
the Skaven, though, is that they’re ladder straight away, spoiling their
not constantly dialled up to 11. ambush. The poxwalkers got the
When you see the Skaven, they’re better of Brigas, but next time they
charging at you, screeching at the might not appear there, or he might
top of their lungs, but zombies are be able to mow them down with a
typically a bit more chill, giving very large gun. Having all this

JANUARY 2021 41

COVER FEATURE
Warhammer 40,000: Darktide

Try not to interrupt the
poxwalkers when they’re

shuffling around.

“CO-OP IS SOMETHING
THAT WE’VE FOCUSED
ON EVEN MORE THIS

TIME AROUND”

devastating weaponry means you hive is, even if the odds are one in MEET THE NEIGHBOURS
can annihilate more enemies, and trillions, it’s already happened. And
Fatshark can throw even more at that’s just such a fun concept to play Who you’ll be sharing the hive with
you – but not all of the time. with. It gives us a lot of room to just
IN THE DARK keep growing and doing interesting POXWALKERS TRAITOR GUARD
Making sure players aren’t entirely stuff for a long time.”
sure what’s lurking around the Poxwalkers are the cannon The traitor guard are former
corner has been key to keeping One mission could see your squad fodder of Nurgle’s cursed members of the Astra
people around in Vermintide, and navigating the hive’s disgusting armies – shambling, Militarum who have pledged
Brigas says that Fatshark’s taken a sewage system in the dark, while plague-ridden husks that serve themselves to Chaos. This
look at all of its systems to see how it your next misadventure could take as the living weapons of the regiment is the Moebian Sixth,
can throw more surprises at players, you to a well-lit habitation zone traitor guard. They attack with deployed to help out the
rework maps and refine Darktide’s that might even contain NPCs teeth and claws and whatever Moebian government, but are
ability to keep dragging everyone who have yet to be killed or simple weapons they can find, now attempting to seize power.
back to the hive. The city itself gives transformed by Nurgle’s minions. and they keep mutating even
the team even more freedom to You probably won’t be making following death. These treacherous
experiment. These arcologies are your way through throngs of people, guardsmen fight with anything
designed to house billions of people, but there will be reminders that Like regular zombies, from simple melee weapons
and while a hive world might contain you’re fighting in a place that was poxwalkers gather in hordes and chain axes to lasguns and
thousands of them, each is still a once teeming with life. and can quickly swarm you. combat shotguns.
self-contained city that functions
like a world within a world. Revisiting an area that once
housed some NPCs and seeing it
“The scale is huge,” says Brigas. taken over by enemies or emptied
“For me, what’s really fun about a by a deadly gas leak is also bound to
have more of an impact, reinforcing
the stakes and making it clear that

42 JANUARY 2021

GamenamexxxxFaloctoslahksaasrtektshhyaeesptn,l’abtyucatobhnleefirrcemh’saeordauacrltlfeitrrhsset.

this is a warzone. Dynamic missions MAIN: Hives aren’t encouraging dedicated players to learn to cooperate effectively. “And if
seem to suit live service games in just very big, they’re watch out for them and jump in as they don’t,” Brigas warns, “then
particular, where developers can also very tall. Don’t soon as one appears. they’re not going to survive.”
react to player feedback, tweak the take the stairs.
modifiers, or introduce brand new If you’re looking for a group to There are other things that might
ones in an update. The mission map take on these missions, Fatshark’s be used to bring players together
can be “altered instantly, basically,” trying to ensure that you still get to – non-combat activities, for instance,
says De Geer, with Fatshark able to choose where you go. Where and puzzles that are a bit more
wrench out a feature, like some bad Vermintide 2 strongly encourages involved than pushing some stones in
weather, make some changes and players to use Quick Play, which the correct order. There might be
then pop it back in once it’s happy throws you into a random mission, times when the party has to split up,
with the improvements. It also lets Darktide will grant more freedom to too, but with the cooperative
the team design special missions choose specific missions to play. elements still intact. Maybe two
that appear only for a set time. players could fight off waves of
Wahlund says these could come with “Co-op is something that we’ve enemies, while the other half of the
additional unique rewards, focused on even more this time quartet deal with a less bloody
around,” says De Geer, and that goes problem. This could also provide
beyond letting you have more of a say more opportunities for players to
on where your co-op adventures take shine even if they’re not racking up
you. “We’re trying to find more places the kills. But Andersson emphasises
to introduce co-op, and one of the that it’s really about letting the whole
strongest ones are special enemies, team shine; letting everyone feel
but there’s also customising your powerful together. “It’s way more fun
loadout with your team and making moving down a horde together than
sure you’ve covered all your bases.” you doing it on your own with
STICK TOGETHER everyone else watching,” he says. So
Vermintide’s specialists, even the ones the idea is to give everyone a chance
who couldn’t take much of a beating, to contribute, whether it’s solving a
forced players to work together. If puzzle, helping your squad by
there’s an assassin around, you need tanking a tough enemy. or utilising
your teammates to keep their eyes everyone’s skills to kill a specialist.
open, or to kill it if it jumps you. In
Darktide, Fatshark wants to use them Darktide is still in this exciting
to challenge players more and make stage where it’s ripe with possibilities,
them experiment with proper team but at this point it’s hard to predict
tactics. It’s still not settled on what what it will look like when finished.
these specialists will be, however. Fatshark’s idea of Darktide is still a
There’s a lot of units that could fit the compelling one, though, drawing out
bill, though the team is mostly the best bits of Vermintide and
restricted to the roster of the tabletop investigating why they worked so
game. Whatever the final list ends up well, and how that can be applied in
being, the goal is to create encounters other places or taken in new
where it’s imperative that players directions. And honestly, you can’t go
far wrong with chainswords.

JANUARY 2021 43









FEED YOUR MIND
www.howitworksdaily.com
nsefuwrposAemavrgmaaeilalnlargtbksoleeoatsdnd

TM

FEATURING NEW AUGMENTED REALITY EXPERIENCE!

SCIENCE UP CLOSE INSIDE GADGETS COOLEST TECH ILLUSTRATIONS AMAZING FACTS

BUY YOUR ISSUE TODAY
Print and digital subscriptions available at

www.magazinesdirect.com

How It Works magazine @HowItWorksmag [email protected] howitworksmag

FUTURE SHOCK

We have to address the
elephant in the room:
Cyberpunk 2077 came
out after our cut-off date,
and thus wasn't in
consideration for any
category here. But it may
feature in the extra
awards given on
www.pcgamer.com.

GAME OF
THE YEAR

Celebrating the best
in PC gaming from a

year like no other

BEST BEST BEST BEST BEST BEST
VR GAME ACTION ROGUELIKE RPG CARD GAME ADVENTURE
p55
p51 p52 p54 p57 p58

BEST BEST BEST BEST BEST BEST BEST GAME
ONGOING GAME INNOVATION FPS MULTIPLAYER STRATEGY CO-OP OF THE YEAR
p53
p50 p51 p55 p56 p58 p59

JJAANNUUAARRYY22002201 49

GAME OF THE YEAR AWARDS 2020

PERSONAL BEST
PICK ONGOING

Chris Livingston FINAL FANTASY XIV

BLASEBALL Steven Messner: Final Fantasy XIV is the year’s expansion. I love this game, and I love how
most consistently excellent MMO I’ve Square Enix has created such a wholesome and
Blaseball is a lot of things – a ever played. I started back in 2013, with positive relationship with its fans.
website where you can bet fake the relaunch, and have consistently played for James Davenport: Final Fantasy XIV represents
seven years. What keeps me coming back isn’t just one of the strangest eras of my life. I don’t care for
coins on simulated games, the memorable boss fights and beautiful locations, mainline Final Fantasy games, I don’t usually play
where fans can vote on rule though. It’s that Final Fantasy XIV tells an MMOs, and yet I played the pre-condensed A
changes, and where umpires emotionally gripping story that just keeps raising Realm Reborn all the way through to the end of
blinded by solar eclipses can the stakes. Case in point: its latest expansion, Shadowbringers in two months. It was compulsive
incinerate players on a whim. Shadowbringers, takes players on play at first, something to do in a
Occasionally The Shelled One an interdimensional journey to a depressive bout, but it gripped me.
appears, a sort of angry peanut parallel universe while somehow FINAL FANTASY Final Fantasy XIV’s story is as
god who can imprison players also keeping a tight focus on the XIV TELLS AN heart wrenching, subversive, and
inside a shell until freed by a characters that I’ve come to love surreal as videogame storytelling
weather condition known as over these past seven years. EMOTIONALLY gets, and the best expansion by a
Lots of Birds. Blaseball is weird What makes this the best GRIPPING STORY mile is part of the free package
and probably indescribable. now. Heavensward is a bleak
ongoing game in 2020 is down to
That’s why it’s great. how scientific Square Enix is with real-world analogy where two
updates. While other MMOs have warring nations interrogate their
PERSONAL big ups and downs, FFXIV’s expansions and shared history to find out where their hatred for
PICK updates are always on an upward trajectory, one another first took root. Characters are driven
adding more new dungeons, satisfying endgame by dogma without foundation, epic journeys end
activities like raids, and a hearty helping of in empty denouements, and characters are
episodic story quests. Even though the pandemic plagued by sheer exhaustion and sorrow more
delayed it, the 5.3 patch was worth the wait. It often than convoluted twists and betrayals. And
offered a surprisingly emotional climax to the once it’s done, there are two excellent expansions
main Shadowbringers story as the narrative that follow. I play Final Fantasy XIV strictly for
shifted to begin laying the foundations for next the story and the game supports it.

Rachel Watts

IF FOUND

Dreamfeel’s adventure is a
powerful coming-of-age story
about being young, queer. and
trying to get your shit together.
If Found follows Kasio, a trans
woman returning home to a
small Irish town in 1993, and
her experiences with the rural

community. Wiping away
images instead of clicking
through dialogue is a smart
twist, and erasing Kasio’s
words means letting go of the
past to make room for a new

beginning.

50 JANUARY 2021