PC Gamer UK 01.2021

BEST
INNOVATION

MICROSOFT FLIGHT
SIMULATOR

BEST James Davenport: It’s Which is probably part of the
VR GAME easy to say Microsoft reason why Microsoft Flight
Flight Simulator’s Simulator landed so perfectly
HALF-LIFE: ALYX greatest trick is that it’s just for me this year. It’s an
Bing maps in an aeroplane astonishing technical
Chris Livingston: twist on the old story, one so costume, but it’s the flight achievement, and the feeling
Whatever tech satisfying it makes me fervently simulation wrapper that of picking somewhere in
wizardry Valve did hope we don’t have to wait grounds a free web application the world – anywhere – and
under the hood, it allowed me another decade or more to in reality like no other game. near-instantly flying over a
to play Half-Life: Alyx for continue the tale. Flying over your hometown photorealistic representation of
sessions lasting for hours at a Andy Kelly: I was not expecting hits differently from typing its it still rules, even after doing it
time without headaches. That’s Half-Life: Alyx to be such a name into a search bar. a thousand times. Whether it’s
something I’ve never managed good horror game. The I can’t speak to the depth of some dramatic landmark like
to do in VR before, as typically Combine firefights are fun, but the flying simulation. It’s not the Grand Canyon, or just the
after a half-hour of wearing a it’s when you’re in the tunnels why I keep revisiting Microsoft small Scottish suburb I grew up
headset I’m ready for a break. beneath City 17 that the game Flight Simulator. Like so many in, it all looks amazing, with
Alyx is also, by far, the best becomes really special. Poison of us, I’m stuck at home waiting volumetric clouds, cities
looking VR game I’ve ever headcrabs were unsettling out a pandemic. But in MFS lighting up at night, and some
played, with so many stop-and- enough in Half-Life 2, but being I’ve charted a course from a of the prettiest, most realistic
stare moments I lost track. in a dark room full of them, in remote Siberian airport to the skies I’ve ever seen in a game.
But Alyx’s true success is in VR, with nothing but a tiny Tunguska meteor crater; I’ve
somehow finding the waning flashlight to guide your way is skimmed the top of the Tetons; I also love how customisable
interest I had in the Half-Life the most my nerves have been I flew to the northern tip of the experience is. Sometimes I
saga after all these years and wracked since Alien: Isolation. I Iceland, turned on active pause, like clipping the full yoke and
setting it ablaze again. The first always found headcrabs a bit and stared out at the edge of throttle setup to my desk and
half of the game dragged more annoying in the first two games, everything. MFS’ to-scale really getting into the
than a little, confining me to but in VR they’re sensational. rendition of Earth is much simulation. But it’s just as easy
slimy sewers and throwing They leap and screech at you, more than a bullet point, it’s to plug in an Xbox controller,
headcrabs at my face, but the and you can’t help but flinch the closest I’ve felt to the world stream my PC to the TV, and
second half became a thrilling when they do. And your run-in glued to a monitor. play it on the couch. That’s a
adventure as the story finally with Jeff, a terrifying super- Andy Kelly: Before the remarkable thing to say about a
began to unfold and I rushed zombie, is one of Half-Life’s pandemic I travelled a lot, and hardcore flight simulator, but a
wide-eyed into its powerful greatest set-pieces. with every day I’m stuck at good example of how Microsoft
conclusion. As both a prequel home I miss it more and more. Flight Simulator is more open
and a sequel it seemed like it It’s also a strange sensation and accessible than ever.
might be tied too tightly to past seeing City 17 from such an
and future events to contain intimate perspective. It’s always
anything surprising or been a great setting, but now it
contribute much to the saga. feels infinitely more real and
But it cleverly tampered with tactile. If you thought striders
events and characters we’ve were big in Half-Life 2, wait till
known for years to put a new one’s towering over you in
Half-Life: Alyx.

JANUARY 2021 51

THE GAME OF THE YEAR
2016 Awards

BEST
ACTION

HADES

Rachel Watts: As someone who has zero want a gun in a game about I adore Hades’ take on
patience for dying in games, Hades has fighting Greek mythology? But classical gods, inter-related
made me a roguelike convert. It’s a Hades encourages you to try and over-dramatic hot people
dungeon crawler that gives the gods of ancient every weapon, offering bonus perfect for soap opera. I was
Greece action and attitude, all encased in currency for a random one each pleasantly surprised Zagreus
Supergiant’s signature artstyle. But the most run, as well as bounties for isn’t just rebelling because that’s
impressive feat that Hades has, that defeats one of defeating bosses with each. what sons do, but is on a quest
the genre’s biggest hangups, is it makes failure fun. Eventually I gave in and got to find his birth mother after
Combat feels punchy and intense, and there used to the very different being lied to his entire life – a
are plenty of godly boons to be bestowed that rhythm of a real experience
make every run a new endeavour. Testing out each weapon that plenty of
newly discovered weapon or ability never feels needs CHOOSING A adoptees have.
like a waste of time, each one feels like it’s been reloading, WEAPON IS LIKE I also need
carefully thought out by Supergiant. realised I
Progression and persistence just melt away should be that time to
as each run gets easier and dying never feels spamming CHOOSING A unwind because
frustrating when I get to catch up with the its grenade CLASS IN DIABLO the frantic
characters back at the hub. If you’re familiar with intensity of each
Greek mythology, you’ll know that the gods special. run, whether
thrived on drama, and Hades drops you right into And that’s spent launching
the middle of it. Learning more about the how I got my first clear. grenades empowered by
interweaving narratives that tie this family Choosing a weapon in Dionysus to do hangover
together acts as a reward for your failed runs. Hades is like choosing a damage or just swinging a
Navigating the underworld and the inner class in Diablo. You’re sword, leaves my arms jittery
workings of this dysfunctional family are playing the same game, with adrenaline. And I need
what makes Hades such a blast. but completely different. time to plan my loadout – the
Jody Macgregor: I didn’t think I’d like the Irrelevant boons become combination of keepsake and
gun. There’s a shield with a charge-bash, and essential, bosses become weapon, upgrades and boons,
metal gloves that make you Hellboy. Why would I cakewalks. Then you get that’s definitely going to get me
cocky, then you get killed. my next clear.
52 JANUARY 2021

GAME OF THE YEAR AWARDS 2020

BEST PERSONAL
FPS PICK

DOOM ETERNAL Fraser Brown

James Davenport: I could fill a bathtub character and weapon skins, weapon mods… you CLOUDPUNK
with the palm sweat Doom Eternal milked can’t walk 50 feet without stumbling into some
from me this year. It is easily the most kind of floating, glowing pickup. I did feel like the Cloudpunk isn’t a long game,
intense shooter of 2020, and not just because it overemphasis on these resources took some of the but I could drive around the
throws dozens of demons at you at once. purity out of the action, but the bigger point colossal dystopia of Nivalis for
Arenas are filled with hazards and demon remains: Doom Eternal is one of the only hours. Every skyway is filled
compositions designed to test FPS habits, old and singleplayer FPSes that draws out that rare, with vehicles buzzing around
new. The most hated enemy of 2020 might be the electric feeling of genuine improvisation. Every stunning voxel skyscrapers like
Marauder, who inverts your embedded Doom other major FPS campaign of the last few years, hundreds of neon insects. It’s
habits with melee duels. The expansion continues pleasant as they might’ve been, doesn’t produce gloomy and vibrant, and you
the trend: the Spirit possesses and buffs fellow spur-of-the-moment reactions as a baseline. can explore the whole thing –
demons, while the giant tentacle And despite that very modern from the grim undercity to the
pancakes whole arenas while the progression system, Eternal corporate spires. You also get a
ants (you and co) below duke it achieves this the old-fashioned lovely AI pooch! The post-
out. Pointing and clicking alone DOOM ETERNAL way: by empowering you with launch addition of a first-
won’t cut the cake. Eternal DEMANDS SHARP progressively more agility and person mode makes it even
demands sharp situational SITUATIONAL throwing stupid amounts of evil
awareness at 1,000 mph. AWARENESS at you. Whatever cocktail of bad more essential.
All the while you’re treading guys Eternal spills into the
water, topping up resources with environment, mindlessly PERSONAL
glory kills, fire and chainsaws. spamming your favourite weapon PICK
Doom Eternal is a violent give-and-take that tests isn’t going to cut them down. You’re going to have
endurance, reflex and wit in equal measure. to move continuously, juggle your weapons to
Evan Lahti: One of the interesting criticisms of preserve ammo, and find the right moment to
Doom Eternal is that it’s ‘overdesigned’. Id refill your armour and health. When you pull it
scattered piles of stuff to collect across Eternal’s off, you feel like your motor skills are driving
hellscarred worlds: Sentinel Crystals, Sentinel Doomguy faster than you can make sense of
Batteries, Slayer Keys, Runes, one-ups, Doomfish, what’s happening, and it’s glorious.

Jody Macgregor

FORT TRIUMPH

Fort Triumph is turn-based
tactics with Heroes of Might &
Magic’s overworld, battlemaps
covered in objects that can be
moved or knocked over with
spells, tools, or just kicks, all
wrapped in Pratchett-esque

fantasy parody. A troll with
concerns about dungeon
health and safety explains you
should “skulk from the knees”.
It’s knockabout fun that had
the bad luck to release within
weeks of Chimera Squad and

Gears Tactics.

JANUARY 2021 53

THE GAME OF THE YEAR AWARDS 2020

PERSONAL BEST
PICK ROGUELIKE

Rich Stanton SPELUNKY 2

WIDE OCEAN Evan Lahti: Olde Spelunky, our 2013 Rich Stanton: I almost think of Spelunky 2
BIG JACKET GOTY, was a clever proc-gen platformer as an old-fashioned sequel, a 2020 game from
that along with other roguelikes helped the 1990s, when a platformer’s sequel would
This is a game that presents a usher in the era of ‘Difficulty is Good’. But seven be simply more of the same, but better. This
camping trip from multiple years later, the indie hit’s legacy might be the was the right approach for following up a
daring, creative player feats it inspired: the roguelike that was already as near-as-
perspectives: a pair of teenage eggplant run (escorting a useless eggplant all the dammit perfect.
friends and an older couple. way through to the end of the game), the no-gold Spelunky 2 knows this won’t be the first time
run, a speed run of Hell itself. for any of its players, so has dastardly
You switch between them over What’s special about Spelunky 2, then, is how moles purpose-built to interrupt thinking time,
the course of the trip while the much the game’s lead designer a jungle with spiked walls and
Derek Yu drew on the legendary bear traps to snap-off careless
characters discuss growing achievements of the Spelunky SPELUNKY explorers, and the temptation
up. It’s a wonderful short community as inspiration for this REMAINS of the ghost jar.
experience about the slight sequel. The eggplant, for example,
limbo of no longer being a That fragile jar embodies
is no longer just an item: it’s a PC GAMING’S my personal Spelunking motto:
child, but not yet an adult, and path to reach a sprawling, secret MARIO get rich or die trying. You often
how we think of it at different level that contains the sacred lore have to choose between carrying
times of our lives. It’s also the of the eggplant god. NPCs are no it to the exit, or a companion
funniest game I played all year. longer cardboard cutouts, they’re (money vs health). It’s easily
part of the exponentially deeper web of secrets, smashed, so you’re even more terrified of
PERSONAL and helping them can produce unexpected help getting hit than usual, and completely neuters
PICK later in your run. offensive options. The money’s irresistible, but
Spelunky remains PC gaming’s Mario, a one slip can end your run. Spelunky 2 is all
platformer built on pleasant, slippery physics that about making choices, and dealing with the
drips with the things that make our platform consequences, up until you make the choice that
unique: self-created goals, intricacy, depth, and a kills you. Reaching out to grab the ghost jar, you
rich community of hyper-enthusiasts to admire. feel that in microcosm.

Tyler Wilde

ORI AND THE WILL
OF THE WISPS

This isn’t a high concept
sequel: it’s another lavishly
illustrated platformer, but with
far bigger cross-sections of
forests and swamps and caves
to explore, more characters,
and a grander narrative. The
increased scope introduces
some sloppiness – I found the
combat mostly unfun – but
taken at a leisurely pace,
triple-jumping through Ori and
the Will of the Wisps is like a
soothing eucalyptus balm.

54 JANUARY 2021

BEST
RPG

ASSASSIN’S CREED
VALHALLA

BEST Steven Messner: James Davenport: I knew
MULTIPLAYER Valhalla was a bit of Valhalla was something special
a surprise to me, when, as part of a sidequest, I
VALORANT honestly. I expected it to be pulled an axe out of a Viking’s
pretty good, but I had no idea skull. Important note: he was
Evan Lahti: Despite Phil Savage: Counter-Strike has that Ubisoft’s next Assassin’s alive and talking to me, asking
decades of developers always felt impenetrable to me Creed was going to be such a if I could help with his little
borrowing and – so heavily dependant on memorable adventure. What problem. The guy collapsed
improving on each others’ learned knowledge of maps matters here are the little and died immediately of course,
ideas, it’s surprising that we still and weapons and sightlines details – the numerous ways and a little XP notification
often get hung up on ‘copycat’ that I never felt I had a chance Ubisoft listened to feedback popped up to let me know the
games. And there’s no series to catch up. Valorant’s main from Odyssey to make Valhalla quest was done with. That was
more sacred, more untouchable appeal, then, was that it was a much more inviting RPG. it. Stumble into a dying man,
than Counter-Strike on PC, an a lot like something I wanted Level-gating is gone, the pull out the painful jewellery.
FPS whose weapons and maps to try, but new enough that open-world doesn’t feel like a Quest complete.
mostly resemble what we I felt I wasn’t at a massive checklist of boring activities,
played 20 years ago. With disadvantage coming in. and the combat has been In another I told a girl
Valorant, we learned that not refined to include more depth. clinging onto a false symbol
only can Counter-Strike be And while I quickly took to It’s also the first time an – the last leaf hanging from a
copied, but that it’s durable the pace and lethality of a Assassin’s Creed story really tree – that it doesn’t mean her
enough as an idea to be CS-like shooter, ultimately it’s gripped me from beginning father was still alive. So I told
mutated and mixed without the characters and their to end. Odyssey’s storytelling her to move on, then shot the
diluting the essence of what abilities that keep me coming was often clunky and a little leaf down. Dick move, but I’m
makes a high-lethality, back. As Evan notes, they don’t obtuse, but Valhalla does a a realist. Quest complete.
angles-driven team FPS so fun. eclipse the action – it’s not fantastic job of exploring
At first Valorant was a glossy Overwatch – but they do give Eivor’s relationship with her Valhalla is utterly riddled
invitation to dust off those you a specific skillset that helps adoptive brother Sigurd while with these odd encounters
mothballed Counter-Strike you find a place within your questioning the traditions of rather than the usual
skills; its weaponset is overall team strategy. At first Norse culture with a surprising convoluted sidequests. It’s more
practically untouched from their skills can feel amount of nuance. Red Dead than Elder Scrolls,
CS:GO’s. But it quickly became underwhelming, but Valorant While the series’ transition imbuing the old English setting
its own thing, a remix of CS’ taught me to appreciate the into a big, meaty RPG has been with a sense of life beyond the
format with walls of vision- power of a subtle play that a little clumsy, Valhalla makes main conflict. For the first time
denying smoke, healing, revives, nudges a match in your favour. it all worth it. in a while, a Ubisoft open world
scout drones, a turret and I felt incredible the first time I doesn’t feel like a checklist, it
powerful ultimate abilities. It used a smoke to disrupt an feels like a world.
all worked: the range of utility enemy push, buying a few
abilities are harmonious with seconds needed to let the bomb
the maps, and the characters do its job. And I love the way
don’t eclipse the action. Even abilities like Jett’s Updraft
teleporter fake-outs started to create an added dimension to
feel novel to this CS purist. the precise, measured
movement and gunplay.

JANUARY 2021 55

THE GAME OF THE YEAR
2016 Awards

BEST
STRATEGY

CRUSADER KINGS III

Fraser Brown: Crusader Kings III is this – you’ll have to keep your eye on under a matrilineal marriage,
year’s best strategy game, but it’s also one them all. They’re maddening gave her offspring land of their
of the greatest RPGs and sandboxy sims and wonderful and I’m really own, then switched over to her
around as well. On the surface, it’s not much of a sorry I keep assassinating them. eldest son when he came of age.
departure from its predecessor, but this is a game Rick Lane: I knew I would love Now King Brian Lane rules all
with astounding ambition that couldn’t have Crusader Kings III when I of Ireland, which extends across
happened without eight years of Crusader Kings discovered that there, is a the Irish Sea, engulfing large
II. It refines and reconfigures so much that, while House Lane. With the motto parts of Scotland and northern
at a glance it’s familiar, it’s far from a repeat. of ‘We Choose Violence’, England (or, as it’s known in
It’s been made knowing that the audience for House Lane my 1066, the
this sort of thing is surprisingly large and broad, comprises a Danelaw).
something Paradox probably wasn’t that sure of single woman THE MOST This is the
last time, and that means it’s also the studio’s most named Debbie ACCESSIBLE beauty of
accessible grand strategy behemoth. It remains who is both a Crusader Kings
endlessly complex, but the abundance of nested lunatic and a GRAND STRATEGY III. It lets you
tooltips and all the different ways it guides you, nymphomaniac. BEHEMOTH spin your own
subtly and overtly, makes it a lot more palatable, Ascribed to no narrative
even if it’s still a bit on the intimidating side. court and with tangent through
Let it get its hooks in you and you’ll have no other family, its immensely
something that will keep you engaged for the she exists as an island in the detailed medieval world, coming
foreseeable future. If you fancy a quiet life game’s aristocratic ocean. up with ridiculous ‘what if’
managing some smallholdings in West Africa, Once I learned this, I knew I scenarios and watching the
you can take that break, or you take some Vikings had to elevate House Lane from consequences ripple across
to Asia, start a generation-spanning war and a horny madwoman living as a hundreds of years of history.
establish a controversial new religion where you hermit into a global medieval A game that lets you become
eat people. Whether you dream big or small, it’s power. Self-imposed pope is interesting enough. A
really about the members of your court. Jealous mission accepted, I game that lets you marry, kill,
knights, torture-obsessed spouses, kids who married Debbie off then eat the pope is something
keep getting lost in the woods and eaten by bears to an Irish Duke else entirely.

56 JANUARY 2021

THE GAME OF THE YEAR AWARDS 2020

BEST PERSONAL
CARD GAME PICK

MONSTER TRAIN Wes Fenlon

Wes Fenlon: It’s impossible to play tracks isn’t your end goal – the real reward is RISK OF RAIN 2
Monster Train without Ozzy Osbourne building a killer faction combination that feels
singing Crazy Train in your head. And unbeatable, then finding a single card or relic to It’s a hell of a year for
honestly, that’s exactly how it should be, because it build an even better combo around. That’s when roguelikes with Hades and
is a crazy train. My favourite thing about this things really go off the rails. Ay ay ay. Spelunky 2, but my heart this
deckbuilder is its wild makeup of factions, which I Robin Valentine: I’ve described Monster Train in year belongs to Risk of Rain 2,
can mash together into unlikely allies. The the past as a game for people who’ve already put a perfect co-op time-waster.
Awoken, for example, are burly plant boys that I 200 hours into Slay the Spire, though that’s maybe RoR2 is all about broken builds,
use as front line defenders to soak up damage for a little uncharitable. It definitely walks in that finding a combination of items
units I place behind them. But depending on the game’s shadow – and overall, Slay the Spire is the that transforms you into an
faction I pair them with, that more focused and finely tuned invincible murder machine
strategy totally changes. experience. But Monster Train’s – that is, until a boss one-shots
With the Stygian Guard I A KIND OF CHAOS relative messiness is its strength. you and you do it all over again.
sometimes like to go all-in on THAT NEVER It combines the core tactical The power curve is seriously
spell weakness, using puny satisfying, and finding all its
magicians to stack a multiplicative deck-building of its inspiration secrets can keep you busy for
debuff on enemies and then STOPS with a kind of chaos that never
one-shotting them. But the ESCALATING stops escalating through a run. weeks on end.
Stygians also have a whole other Your roster is always stacked with
ridiculous powers and abilities, PERSONAL
set of warriors that grow stronger and with overwhelming odds PICK
every time you play a spell, turning them into stacked against you, you’re actively encouraged to
deadly direct damage dealers with the right hand. throw together effects in combinations that would
It’s breezier than Slay the Spire. You might even feel utterly broken in any other game.
win your very first run. But it keeps layering on Slay the Spire’s cold efficiency is a wonderful
new challenges, and after a few hours it becomes challenge that keeps me coming back again and
clear that the easier start was just Monster Train’s again – but Monster Train is a gleeful explosion of
way of making sure it’s firmly set its hook before illegal fireworks that never lets the adrenaline
reeling you in. Getting the train to the end of the drop long enough to let you get bored.

Andy Kelly

BLACK MESA

This Valve-approved remake of
the original Half-Life finally left
Early Access this year, adding
its anticipated Xen chapters to

finish the story off properly.
The new Xen is a revelation,
turning one of the original
game’s worst sets of levels into
a late-game highlight. Purists
will question some of the more
dramatic changes, but this is a

great way to experience
Gordon Freeman’s first
adventure, with vastly
improved visuals and physics.

JANUARY 2021 57

THE GAME OF THE YEAR AWARDS 2020

BEST
CO-OP

PHASMOPHOBIA

Rich Stanton: The first what players are saying, BEST
thing my team of crack whether deliberately or ADVENTURE
spook-hunters look at thoughtlessly. And there’s no
in a Phasmophobia mission is thrill quite like being in a room PARADISE KILLER
whether the ghost responds to with your mates, asking “where
everyone, or only people who are you?” and, a few seconds Andy Kelly: Paradise demons, but also blandly
are alone. When it’s the latter, later, the silence is broken by Killer came out of contemporary, with
the mood darkens. the word “here”. nowhere and single- convenience stores and
Communication is at the James Davenport: Finally, a handedly reinvented the apartment blocks sitting
heart of this experience, and game for all mid ’00s teens detective genre. The first alongside immense crystal
even the most hardened don’t glued to paranormal message project from indie studio statues of goat-headed deities.
enjoy being alone with a ghost. boards, staying up late on Kaizen Gameworks, this is Like the soundtrack, it’s a
The array of equipment forces school nights to record the a detective game that lets dazzling fusion of styles that
the team to work in tandem, newest episode of Ghost you actually detect. You’re gives the game a completely
necessitating constant chatting, Hunters. It’s apt that Amnesia: presented with a crime, a unique identity.
while the ghost ‘listens’ to The Dark Descent released a densely detailed island full of
what’s being said. Rule one: decade ago, catapulted into the clues and suspects, and you can The first time I presented
never admit you’re scared. social consciousness by its go to court and present your my case to court, I was
The most common popularity among early case whenever you like. This convinced I’d hoovered up
sentences in the game begin YouTube personalities. freeform structure is bold, but every last morsel of evidence
with “I think I saw…” as one Phasmophobia is experiencing a it pays off. A single, well-hidden on the island. But the outcome
player half-catches something similar explosion on Twitch, clue can transform the version was far from satisfying, as half a
and the team rushes over. but this time the experience is of events you’ve built up in dozen characters I loved ended
When the lights are on and shared among friends. your head, and it’s possible to up being executed. I wasn’t
you’re setting up, it’s all pin the crime on the wrong sure, but I felt like something
bonhomie and wisecracks Because Phasmophobia uses person if you missed a clue. was wrong, so I loaded an
about the wallpaper. Then stuff tools straight off the hardware The game won’t even tell you if earlier save and looked for
starts to happen, the chat gets store, ghosts feel like real you got it wrong; you just have more clues. Then I found
quieter and, with no real means existential threats rather than to live with it, like a real something that completely
of protection from the ghost, thematic provocations to wrap detective would. turned my case on its head; the
you’ll see players start to a moral around. Throw in some As well as being a great smoking gun that every
huddle together. friends and Phasmophobia detective game, Paradise Killer detective dreams of. I returned
The brilliance of this co-op easily replicates that same fear, is also an audio/visual feast. to court and watched things
experience is that it thrives on grounding the supernatural in The vivid art style, outlandish play out in a shockingly
communication, then builds something a little more real and character designs, idiosyncratic different – and less traumatic
aspects of the experience on far less predictable than any writing, and superb soundtrack – way. Paradise Killer sets a
scripted horror. combine to create one of the new bar for detective games,
most visually and aurally and does it with a singular,
stimulating games I’ve played eccentric style. It’s also one
in years. It’s also deeply, deeply of a very small number of
weird. This is a mythical videogames whose soundtrack
fantasy world of gods and I’ve bought on vinyl. The music
is just that good.

58 JANUARY 2021

GAME OF
THE YEAR

DEATH STRANDING

James Davenport: Death Stranding is a pads? Fresh boots? Confidence? of crossing a river or ascending
hypnotic exercise in dramatic serenity. Why do I explode like a little a mountain peak is very specific
For 90 percent of my 100-plus hours nuke when I die? Only way to to that game. But I would like to
wandering the gorgeous, rocky terrain, I was find out is by making the slow, see other developers, inspired
completely alone. It was just me and Norman steady climb. Baby steps. by Kojima Productions, make
Reedus’ gentle breath. It’s nothing special for an Andy Kelly: Death Stranding traversing terrain more involved
open-world game to punt you out into a huge has completely changed the and considered. It kinda
space on your lonesome, but Death Stranding way I think cheapens
understands how isolation feels, that jerky about traversal Valhalla’s
oscillation between peace and terror. in videogames. majestic
You’re alone in your job, delivering gear (and As much as I WHY DO I Scandinavian
oxytocin) to subterranean settlements, and you’re love Assassin’s EXPLODE LIKE A peaks when you
alone out there in good ol’ indifferent, unforgiving Creed Valhalla, can scramble
nature. Death Stranding is about carrying on merrily LITTLE NUKE up them so
anyway and trying not to panic when things get skipping across WHEN I DIE? effortlessly.
worse. Because they will. I’ve tumbled down cliffs mountains I also love
and slid down a river or 12, but scrambling to feels, suddenly, how Death
adjust and salvage my shipment is always a thrill. quite ridiculous. I don’t think Stranding constantly drip-feeds
Wrap it up in morose themes and visually every open-world game should you tools and gadgets to
stunning sci-fi concepts, and Death Stranding goes go to the same lengths of gradually make your job easier.
from hiking sim to ineffable mood sim real quick simulation as Death Stranding, At first it’s just you, your boots,
– like Journey but with gravity and consequence. because the exhausting struggle and the elements, but later you
And Death Stranding is a PC get access to floating cargo
simulation game at heart, platforms, electric tricycles, and
treating each of Normie’s legs exoskeletons that let you carry
with the same attention that more weight. However, even
SCS Software gives to the 18 with these helping hands,
tyres on a semi-truck. I wish I getting from place to place is
could import my own terrain still a challenge. When you
data, because getting from point encounter one of the game’s
A to B is an exhilarating duel many varied, rugged landscapes,
with physics, tipped into one it almost feels like a puzzle to be
another’s favour based on how solved. You stand at the foot of a
much time you spent in prep. mountain, bulky packages
Can you carry a tower of resin strapped to every inch of your
up that mountain, through body, and wonder how the hell
waist-deep snow, all before a you’re gonna get to the top. And
blizzard arrives? Do you have when you do, after much toil, it
enough climbing gear? Thermal feels incredible.

JANUARY 2021 59

REVIEW
HOW WE REVIEW
Chaos reigns
We review each game on its own merits, and try to match it
to a reviewer who’s a passionate expert in the field. The main We’ve entered a strange season of
aim of reviews is to help you make buying decisions. To this reviews. A time of sudden,
end, we’re selective about what we review, and try to focus pandemic-induced delays, and
on the notable, interesting, exciting or surprising. games taking their last chance to be
out before Christmas 2020. A time
DOWNLOADABLE CONTENT of next-gen console launch games
sheepishly showing up on PC too
DLC might be new missions for a game, or it might be a single (and looking all the better for it). A
new item. If we think you want to know about it, we’ll review it. time of hopeful indie games
growing increasingly bizarre as they
EARLY ACCESS fight to stand out from the crowd
– or just go viral on Twitter. A time
Any released alpha, beta, or otherwise unfinished game that of Harmonix relaunching the music
you can currently pay for. For these games, we won’t assign a game, again (or perhaps just a
score, but we will tell you whether they’re worth your time. Mouth Sounds simulator). A time of
April Fools jokes becoming full-
THEY’RE BACK fledged Yakuza sequels. And, most
of all, a time of games scrambling to
Whenever there’s a bargain or re-release of a significant game, stay out of the way of Cyberpunk
our expert will revisit it and tell you whether it holds up today. 2077 as its release date drifts month
With jokes. by month, while Ubisoft releases the
year’s three biggest open world
OUR SCORING games within a six week span like a
SYSTEM EXPLAINED squid squirting a cloud of ink to
dissuade an oncoming predator.
00%-09% Broken or offensively bad; absolutely no value.
Example Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude ROBIN VALENTINE
10%-19% We might be able to find one nice thing to say about PRINT EDITOR
it, but still not worth anyone’s time or money. [email protected]
Example Gettysburg: Armored Warfare
20%-29% Completely falls short of its goals. Very few LET US KNOW
redeeming qualities. WHAT YOU THINK
Examples Family Guy: Back to the Multiverse
30%-39% An entirely clumsy or derivative effort. There’s Email us via letters@
little reason to play this game over a similar, better one. pcgamer.com with your
Examples Trials of the Blood Dragon
40%-49% Flawed and disappointing. reactions, or simply
Examples Aliens: Colonial Marines tweet us your thoughts
50%-59% Mediocre. Other games probably do it better, or its
unique qualities aren’t executed well. @PCGamer
Examples Primordia, Homefront: The Revolution
60%-69% There’s something to like here, but it can only be
recommended with major caveats.
Examples No Man’s Sky, Ghost Recon: Wildlands
70%-79% A good game that’s worth playing. We like it.
Examples Prey, NieR: Automata
80%-89% A great game with exceptional moments or
features, and touches of brilliance. We love it.
Examples Overwatch, Night in the Woods
90%-94% A compelling recommendation for most PC
gamers. Important to PC gaming, and likely ahead of its time.
Examples Bayonetta, Dishonored 2
95%-96% Far and away one of the best games we’ve ever
played. We recommend it to the entire world.
Examples Half-Life 2, Kerbal Space Program
97%-100% Advances the human species. Boosts the
immune systems of nearby children and small animals.

The Editor’s Choice award is
granted in addition to the score,
at the discretion of the PC Gamer
staff. It represents exceptional
quality or innovation.
Find out more
www.bit.ly/pcgreviews

60 JANUARY 2021

78

84

62

Contents 86 Ghostrunner
88 I Am Dead
62 Assassin’s Creed Valhalla
66 Yakuza: Like a Dragon FREE GAMES
68 Dirt 5
70 The Falconeer 90 Empty
72 Bugsnax 91 Spårvagn
74 The Pathless 91 Beyond Your Window
76 The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope
78 Watch Dogs: Legion THEY’RE BACK
82 Fuser
84 Doom Eternal: 92 Batman: Arkham Origins
The Ancient Gods – Part One 93 Hollow Knight
93 Fahrenheit
93 Frostpunk
93 The Long Dark

This month’s hairy, axe-wielding reviewers…

STEVEN ANDY KELLY LUKE KEMP TYLER WILDE CHRIS TOM SYKES MATT ELLIOTT
MESSNER LIVINGSTON
Specialist in Specialist in Specialist in Specialist in Specialist in
Specialist in Whatever the hell is Hawking his wares. Eating things he finds Specialist in Sparking joy. Ice cold justice.
Viking stealth. going on in Yakuza. on the floor. Making friends.
Currently playing Currently playing Currently playing
Currently playing Currently playing The Falconeer, Currently playing Currently playing Empty Batman: Arkham
Assassin’s Creed Yakuza: Like a Dragon The Pathless Bugsnax Watch Dogs Legion Origins
Valhalla This month
This month This month This month This month Got into minimalism, This month
This month Put a chicken in charge Diligently covered all Got to critique Built a deadly team of though mostly just as Engaged in Christmas
‘Assassinated’ half of of a shop. That’s one this month’s someone else’s bad living statues and an excuse to write fisticuffs, also known
England with an axe. way to make a buck. bird-based indies. puns for once. terminally ill writers. fewer words. as Christmicuffs.

JANUARY 2021 61

REVIEW
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla

VIKING INVASION

ASSASSIN’S CREED VALHALLA is the best
Assassin’s Creed to date. By Steven Messner

My favourite Assassin’s Creed is now Assassin’s Creed NEED TO KNOW Red Dead Redemption 2, the
Valhalla, which is saying something considering it’s a settlement is a home base that I
series that spans 23 games. It builds on the already WHAT IS IT? return to frequently in between
excellent RPG foundations laid by Origins and Odyssey, An enormous quests. New buildings unlock new
but with meaningful improvements that iron out many Viking RPG upgrades, like a forge so I can
of the frustrations I had with both games. Case in point: not once during EXPECT TO PAY enhance my equipment or a brewery
the 60-hour story was I told to stop and level up a bunch before I could so I can host feasts that give me a
take on the next quest. That also means Ubisoft isn’t selling optional £50 temporary buff to my stats. As the
experience boosts, either. Thank God. DEVELOPER settlement expands, it draws new
characters, sidequests and even the
What really stands out to me, though, her adoptive brother Sigurd, two Ubisoft opportunity for romance.
is how much better Valhalla is at fierce Norse warriors chasing glory. PUBLISHER
telling an engaging story that twists Like Odyssey, Eivor can be played as Most of the story is concerned
and turns according to my decisions. either a man or a woman, but what’s In-house with what’s happening outside the
Valhalla does a great great is you can now REVIEWED ON borders of my settlement, however.
job of introducing switch between them i7 8700, RTX 2070, In order to cement a permanent
characters, concepts, As the freely to test which one place in England, Eivor and Sigurd
and themes, and then settlement suits you instead of 16GB RAM have to negotiate alliances with the
forcing me to decide expands, it being locked into that MULTIPLAYER various Viking tribes (and the
how Eivor, the main draws new choice from the outset. occasional Saxon king). This is all
character, relates to characters Whichever Eivor you No centred around an Alliance Map,
them. When one of play as, the story LINK where I choose which region I want
assassinscreed.com to venture to, participating in a
somewhat self-enclosed series of
my beloved clansmen unfolds in mostly the quests to win the favour of whichever
betrayed me and tried same way. Sigurd was faction happens to be there.
to take my life, I had no choice but supposed to be made a local king, but
to kill them in self defence. But I the unification of Norway under King It takes a while before it all starts
agonised for almost a full minute over Harald leaves him two choices: bend to come together, but Ubisoft does
whether to let them grasp their axe the knee or leave. Unwilling to give a great job juxtaposing my
with their dying breath or kick it up his dream of ruling, Sigurd relationships with Sigurd and the
away, denying them entrance into convinces Eivor and much of his clan rest of the Raven clan with the much
Valhalla. I had come to love this to abandon Norway and sail to more epic sagas as I wage war on
character and their betrayal was England so they can violently carve Picts with the legendary Halfdan
upsetting, but does that justify out a new future for themselves. Ragnarrson, establish puppet kings
denying them an eternity in heaven? The anchor of this story is my with Ivar the Boneless, or trade
settlement, called Ravensthorpe, veiled threats with Aelfred, King of
RAGNARÖKIN’ which expands slowly over time as I Wessex. All the while, dialogue
Set during the Viking invasion of gather new resources and construct choices poke and prod the rigidity of
England, the story follows Eivor and new buildings. Like Dutch’s camp in Norse culture and traditions with
surprising nuance. It’s hard to explain
SKILLING IN THE NAME OF without spoiling specific moments,
but Valhalla has some wickedly
Some must-have abilities you should get from the skill tree knotted moral conundrums. There
were a dozen or more times I stared
COUNTER ROLL HEAVY DUAL ADVANCED BREAKFALL at dialogue choices, completely
WIELD ASSASSINATION stumped over which option was the
Let’s you counter Automatically right one to go for.
unblockable attacks Dual-wield Instantly roll when falling RANSACKED
two-handed assassinate There are still some moments where
by getting behind weapons to take higher-level enemies from big Valhalla feels like a bad Game of
your enemy so you on the hordes. after a simple QTE. heights, reducing Thrones episode, though. Entire
armies show up undetected at a
can stab them. your damage. moments notice, and characters will
inexplicably change sides in a conflict
just to reveal they’re actually a part of

62 JANUARY 2021

The female version of Eivor is,
again, the better choice.

Raiding is fun a few times, The game is also
but feels too shallow. absolutely stunning.

Valhalla goes to some
unexpected places.
Ubisoft’s take on 9th century
England is incredible.

JANUARY 2021 63

This ability lets you punch
a man to death.

The lighting effects create plenty
of breathtaking moments.

A Christian statue?
Better desecrate it.

Like Odyssey, there’s plenty
of horny people to romance.

During sieges, you can
man the battering ram.

64 JANUARY 2021

REVIEW
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla

the Templar order – the villains of
G A M E D A Ythe Assassin’s Creed mythos.
These cutscenes are relatively few When you’re not hewing off limbs, there’s some fun side stuff

and far between, and ultimately this
is a game about two warring cults
reliving historical simulations to
uncover mythological artefacts in
the modern day. A bit of cheese is
expected. But, and I can’t believe I’m
about to say this, Valhalla even makes
Assassin’s Creed’s sloppy overarching GET DRUNK ORLOG BUILDING CAIRNS FLYTING
meta-narrative interesting again.
Challenge locals to a A surprisingly complex Stacking rocks on top Viking rap battles. Outwit
drinking competition and strategic game of of each other. It’s really your opponent with your
that you both will lose. dice. Roll them! very soothing stuff. lyrical flow and win cash.
Without spoiling anything, the final
two hours are a whirlwind of
revelations with implications that
stretch all the way back to the first changing my combat style while also be found that unlock new abilities,
game. God help me, I actually want giving me access to special moves like being able to set your weapon on
to see what happens next. unique to my offhand weapon. fire or a harpoon you can use to yank
The Viking fantasy is great, but Playing on a harder difficulty, I enemies off cliffs. This, coupled with
there are times when Ubisoft pulls immediately favoured the traditional a skill tree that recalls Path of Exile
punches in a way that is frustrating axe and shield for the extra defence. – hundreds of nodes that offer
and clumsy. Take raiding, for But then I unlocked an ability on incremental stat boosts mixed with
example. To gather resources to Valhalla’s skill tree that let me ability unlocks – makes customising
expand my settlement, I have to dual-wield two-handed weapons. Eivor feel deeply satisfying.
pillage Christian monasteries dotted What a game changer. This all feeds back into the
along the various riverways of Instead of sporting a measly axe, open-world exploration, which
England’s different kingdoms. The I’m holding a two-handed battle axe remains largely untouched from
first few times I did this, it was in one hand and a spear in the other. Odyssey save for a few improvements.
exhilarating: my soldiers stormed the Or I can hold two spears and be extra The map is still littered with icons in
town, hurling torches onto thatched- stabby, or two shields and be extra typical Ubisoft fashion, but you can
roof cottages, slaughtering the shieldy. It’s so much fun discovering (and should) turn that all off in the
guards, breaking windows, shattering all of these combinations. options so that you can just explore
pots and crates, and helping me kick It’s also hard to overstate just how without signposts everywhere.
down doors to get at more valuable gnarly some of the finishing moves Most of the stuff you’ll find is new
loot. But God help you if you kill an are. I’ve repeatedly knocked enemies equipment and treasure you can
unarmed clergyman, down and then take back home or use for upgrades,
even by accident. Kill impaled them on but I also found hidden caves with
too many and it’s game It’s exactly their own spears, or challenging puzzles, secret boss
over. Burning their what you’d chopped their hands battles, and weird little one-off quests
entire lives to the hope for in a off as they raised them that are often bizarre and sometimes
ground, however, is game about to defend against the absolutely hilarious. Instead of a
totally OK. axe I was about to checklist of things to do, it feels more
Vikings lodge in their skull.
I’m not saying like an organic world I actually
Valhalla should There’s even one want to fully explore.
gleefully reward you where Eivor sticks an These little improvements go a
for butchering Christians, but axe in a guy’s face and then punches long way in making Valhalla more
including a hard rule against it feels his head off. It’s exactly what you’d inviting and fun than Odyssey.
like the developer intervening to hope for in a game about Vikings. Assassin’s Creed’s transformation
wag a finger in my face. It’s even Of course, stealth is still an into a full-blown RPG hasn’t been
stranger when I start a quest with a option, but it’s quickly becoming the cleanest one, especially as
Saxon lord who completely ignores the most antiquated part of features like stealth feel left to
the fact that I pillaged every church Assassin’s Creed – if only because stagnate while other aspects get so
in his lands on the way to meet him. so little of it has changed. Valhalla much better. But Valhalla succeeds
It makes raiding feel like a shallow brings back some cool features like on so many levels that it’s easy to
feature clumsily stitched on to being able to blend into crowds forgive the times when it doesn’t. It’s
the rest of the game rather than to avoid guards and creating an enormous game, and it’ll probably
something incorporated into and distractions to draw them take me another 20 hours to finish
accounted for by the story. away, but I’m often frustrated by how everything I still haven’t completed. I
shitty the AI continues to be. At least honestly can’t wait.
AXE, MEET SKULL Valhalla is more willing to let me
Some of these issues would be a lot forgo stealth entirely in all but a few
more frustrating if combat weren’t so quests. Being a sneaky Viking doesn’t VERDICT
much fun. The system is similar to feel appropriate, anyway.
Odyssey’s in a lot of ways, but much Bloody and captivating, 92
more satisfying. For example, I can Fortunately, Eivor has more tools Valhalla is Assassin’s
than just the weapons she wields. Creed at its best. And the
now dual-wield any two weapons, While exploring, special books can setting injects some new
life into the formula.

JANUARY 2021 65

REVIEW
Yakuza: Like a Dragon

DRAGON QUEST

YAKUZA: LIKE A DRAGON doubles down on the series’ RPG elements
with a brave new turn-based battle system. By Andy Kelly

Playing a Yakuza game without series stalwart Kazuma Kiryu in NEED TO KNOW fight, but the battles were over pretty
the leading role takes some getting used to. But luckily for quickly and seamlessly. Here, the
Yakuza: Like a Dragon, it’s easy to warm to new hero Ichiban WHAT IS IT? endless transitioning in and out of
Kasuga. He has all the strength and determination of his A new take on the turn-based battles really ruins the
predecessor, but with a goofy sense of humour and an Yakuza series inspired flow of exploration.
endearing enthusiasm for everything he does – whether that’s taking on by classic JRPGs
You feel like you’re being
the Korean mafia or employing a chicken to run a sweet shop. EXPECT TO PAY interrupted, rather than these
£55 encounters being an organic part of
the world. And the sheer volume of
Ichiban starts out as a low-level DRAGON PUNCH DEVELOPER battles means the novelty of your
yakuza in Kamurocho, the Tokyo red The problem is, there’s far too much Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio party’s ludicrous special abilities soon
light district that serves as the main fighting. Yokohama isn’t as dense or wears thin, which in turn makes the
setting for most of the Yakuza games. storied as Kamurocho, despite being PUBLISHER combat incredibly repetitive.
But after a series of unfortunate several times its size, but the Sega
events, he ends up homeless in developer’s knack for evocatively This extends to the dungeons too.
Yokohama. Yakuza: capturing the mundane REVIEWED ON These maze-like collections of bland
Like a Dragon is about details of everyday life RTX 2080 Super, Intel corridors are filled with rubbish loot
Ichi getting his life back When it comes in Japan is as strong as i7-9700K, 16GB RAM and non-stop battles, marking a real
together, reckoning to the combat, ever. I just wish I could low point for the series.
with his past, and this is anything enjoy the place at my MULTIPLAYER
beating a lot of people but a typical own pace without No It’s a shame, because when the
up along the way. Yakuza game running into large LINK combat isn’t grinding you down, Like
groups of enemies a Dragon has moments of brilliance.
In many ways, this likeadragon.sega.com I love hanging out with my party
between missions, singing karaoke,
is classic Yakuza. It every 30 seconds. bullshitting, and knocking back beers.
features an immersive, In previous Yakuza The characters are as colourful and
detailed urban Japanese setting filled games you’d frequently get stopped interesting as you’d expect from the
with minigames, absurd sidequests on the street by thugs looking for a series – especially Nanba, a tough but
and karaoke bars. The story is an kind-hearted homeless guy who gets
unlikely mix of criminal conspiracy, some of the game’s funniest lines.
heartfelt melodrama and slapstick
comedy. And when a problem arises, FREAK SHOW The Yakuza games have always
it’s usually solved with outlandish told great stories, but Like a Dragon
violence. If you’ve played any Yakuza Some of the weirder enemies you’ll face lacks the thrill and focus of Yakuza 0.
There are some standout scenes,
game before, its distinctive rhythms especially in the first few acts.
and quirks will be instantly familiar. Ichiban crawling out of the gutter
However, when it comes to the and trying to make a name for
combat, this is anything but a typical himself in Yokohama are some of the
Yakuza game. The usual combo- best moments in the game. But the
based brawling has been replaced by overall narrative is quite weak, with a
a new turn-based battle system. It’s PSEUDOTRASH DINE-AND- WELTRAISER meandering pace and some slightly
pretty standard JRPG fare, with buffs, DASHER ridiculous twists towards the end.
debuffs, status effects, and a mix of This oddball A body piercing
disguises himself Big lads who are fanatic who has Like a Dragon is one of the most
the scourge of uneven Yakuza games in the series. A
as a bin bag and Yokohama’s modified himself lot of the time you can’t help but get
ambushes you as streets. so much that he no swept up by its eccentric charm.
weapon-based and magic attacks. you walk by. longer feels pain. Then, at other times, you’re praying
The vibrant presentation, superb for the battles to end as you traipse
animation and lively pace make up through another series of corridors.
for its simplicity, but selecting things
from a menu does lack the satisfying
brutality and immediacy of a
standard real-time Yakuza fight.
There are some real-time
elements. Hit the block button at the
precise moment an enemy’s attack IMP PATIENT TURNCOAT FASHION A fun, charming, and VERDICT
TITILLATOR POLICE occasionally brilliant
A patient who has Creeps who inflict A fashionista who Yakuza game, let down 72
escaped from his negative status attacks anyone he by an overabundance of
lands and the damage you take will ward. Sneezes on effects by dancing sees who has zero turn-based battles.
be reduced. And the power of some you and gives you a suggestively. fashion sense.
special abilities can be boosted by debilitating cold.
following simple QTE prompts.

66 JANUARY 2021

Grumpy, booze-loving cop It’s nice playing as someone
Adachi is the party’s tank. a bit cheerier than Kiryu.
This is the wildest collection
of Yakuza enemies yet.

Ichi gets tangled up in
Yokohama’s dark underworld.

Yokohama is particularly
atmospheric at night.

JANUARY 2021 67

REVIEW
Dirt 5

STUCK IN THE MUD

DIRT 5 ventures down a
well-travelled track. By Phil Iwaniuk

W ho and what is Dirt 5 for? I don’t know the answer, and NEED TO KNOW Surprises aren’t in abundance on the
I’m not sure Codemasters does either. After all, this is a track either. There’s a lot of fireworks
series that made a name by injecting a bit of extreme WHAT IS IT? and confetti and pyrotechnics going
sports culture into the Colin McRae Rally series, which An offroad racer with a off as you hit a jump, but AI drivers
was itself beginning to feel a bit warmed-up by 2007. splash of Tony Hawk’s don’t mix it with you or with each
Colin McRae: Dirt was fresh and fun, chucking its pace-notes out of the other as they would in a GRID game.
passenger window and doing a doughnut just because it felt like it. that doesn’t like It’s all a bit civilised, even in the ice
braking racing events, which prove something
The problem, is that recently Dirt you from the career menu like a of a highlight throughout career
Rally and its sequel came along. comfort blanket. We all fancy that EXPECT TO PAY mode. There are plenty of other event
Lovely, strait-laced Dirt Rally. It sometimes, and Dirt 5 is those things, £45 types – they just don’t discern
was so brilliant it reminded us how certainly – it’s just a very familiar themselves very well.
much we missed pace-notes, and version of those things. DEVELOPER DIG THE DIRT
realistic offroad handling, and drizzly The handling model doesn’t want Codemasters What you do get a sense of, as you
Welsh lanes. Just like to step out at the back PUBLISHER plunge down the next hill or launch
that, we like the old and have you wrestling Codemasters into an outrageously cambered
style of rally game It’s all a to find balance. It REVIEWED ON hairpin, is geographical variation.
again. The one Dirt was bit civilised, wants to comply. You i7 9700K, RTX 2080 Ti, There’s no missing the fact you’re
invented to revitalise. even in the can toss most vehicles racing in China, or Italy, or Norway,
into most corners with 16GB RAM or NYC. This sense of touring the
Which leaves game ice racing a quick lift of the MULTIPLAYER world adds much-needed interest to
number 5 without a events throttle and emerge your career since the different event
clear raison d’etre. All Up to 12 types don’t distinguish themselves
LINK very clearly other than the infrequent
one-on-one showdowns.
store.steampowered.
com/app/1038250/ It’s at this point that it should be
acknowledged that a team of
DIRT_5/ hundreds of people worked tirelessly
and adapted to working at home in
the core elements, its more or less on the order to put this game out. Doing so
essential Dirt-osity, pace. And, ah yes, is an achievement in itself, and
were devised as a deliberate there’s the wadge of race events in despite some minor performance
departure from sim-minded, realistic the career mode menu, each with issues in the Steam review build, Dirt
driving. But right now, as Dirt Rally 2 medals for arbitrary tasks. As you’d 5 doesn’t bear the scars of an unusual
enjoys a passionate community and expect, cars can be daubed in colours development process.
sim-racing esports gain momentum, and vinyls and sponsor stickers until
sim-minded, realistic driving is they’re ready to detach your retina. So Dirt 5 isn’t a bad game, then.
exactly where the excitement is. From structure to track design to Whereas Project CARS 3 seems to be
Of course, you might really fancy a presentation to handling, it’s all jutting out its chin and actively daring
non-taxing racer, where braking is exactly what you expect to find in a you to find something of the
genuinely optional and a familiar Dirt game, delivered without franchise’s prior identity which you
pyramid of events wraps itself around surprises or noticeable steps forward. liked among its new mess of utterly
characterless racing, Dirt 5 is guilty of
AROUND THE WORLD the opposite. Instead of jettisoning its
identity it’s playing too safe, holding
Dirt 5, travel correspondent onto it too closely in search of the
apocryphal casual racing gamer
NORWAY CHINA who’s scared of brake pedals.

Rolling hills of delicious Where bamboo and
snow. Aurora Borealis? lasers meet. Ancient
Every night mate. and modern at once.

UNITED STATES GREECE Codemasters’ Dirt 5 VERDICT
offers up some arcade
A frozen tundra Look at the quality of offroad racing of the 60
punctuated only by these roads? Where did sort we’ve played four
icy puddles. all that EU money go? times previously.

68 JANUARY 2021

Some of Norway’s layouts take on
an enticing, driveable ski slope vibe.

Ah, Playgrounds. Where Dirt 5 I win again. My reward? A sticker of a carrot,
becomes Trackmania. to place on my car wherever I choose.

This looks bad, but I can assure you
it was entirely P Bernard’s fault.

Believe it or not, this is
the correct route.

JANUARY 2021 69

REVIEW
The Falconeer

PRETTY FALCON GOOD

Talon stories of good vs eagle in the world of
THE FALCONEER. By Luke Kemp

Despite all the dialogue and narration, I walked away from this NEED TO KNOW agitation, impatiently awaiting a fight
game with the most important question of all unanswered; that I know is coming while the ship
are they tiny people, or huge birds? I like riding on the back WHAT IS IT? merrily chugs along at what is now a
of a falcon as much as the next person, but give me a sense of A game that gives you a frustratingly slow pace.
perspective! This didn’t bother me during play, as I was too gun and a giant falcon
busy gawping at the graphics and shooting down enemies; but it sat at the One small but noticeable issue is
back of my mind throughout the adventure. (or a tiny person) the cash awarded for completing
EXPECT TO PAY story or side missions (needed for
The Falconeer takes place in a unique them. The Falconeer is a joy to control items such as weapon and falcon
world that sits somewhere outside no matter what you’re doing, and not £25 upgrades), which often isn’t
our own, a world that slowly drew just because you’re rather amusingly DEVELOPER proportionate to the effort involved.
me in as I progressed through the given a barrel roll evasion move. Tomas Sala An optional quest that takes just a
story. A huge expanse of water Now, I ordinarily hate escort PUBLISHER few minutes might pay as much as a
littered with islands controlled missions, and there are several of Wired Productions lengthy story mission, which doesn’t
by warring factions, the those here. Yet REVIEWED ON make any sense. And while you’re
tale that this place tells accompanying a ship GeForce GTX 1650, given clear direction for story
is interesting enough to The Falconeer on its slow but steady Ryzen 5 3550H, missions, you’re left to fend for
prevent you from is a joy to journey doesn’t bother 8 GB RAM yourself when it comes to exploring
skipping through the control no me in the slightest. MULTIPLAYER the open world outside of them, with
NPC chatter that Nothing going on for a nothing but the names of locations
precedes each mission. matter what while? Who cares? No ever marked on your map.
you’re doing Have you seen those LINK
As a falconeer, you’ll graphics? This is a thefalconeer.com Difficulty throughout the story is
dive to increase speed all over the place, with no smooth
and flap in place to gorgeous game, and I’ll 4 gradient. Significant difficulty spikes
reduce it, stretching your falcon’s relish any opportunity to soak up its are rare, but very annoying when they
wings out to turn when necessary. vistas while enjoying the simple fun hit, to the point where I eventually
The accompanying squawks, flaps, of flying my falcon. Once combat kicked the difficulty down to Easy to
and screeches work in tandem with makes its inevitable appearance, it’s a soften (but not negate) their effect.
the wonderful animation to give a pleasing aerial dance between me Also, having an ally for most story
convincing sense of being in control and, usually, just a few enemies missions is a nice touch, and they
of a bird. Or at least, a small/normal before we continue on our way. always pull their weight – but they
sized person on top of one. won’t always follow instructions
While the shooting would feel at WING WING, HELLO? (limited to ‘hit this target’ or ‘get this
home in a WWII dogfighting game, it However, there are no checkpoints, enemy off my back’).
feels perfectly natural here. Although and this is a big issue for these
activities broadly fall into one of three missions. If I die partway through, I Despite these criticisms – and
categories (attack, defence, delivery), need to start all over again. I then despite the absence of the option to
I never found myself getting bored of find myself circling the ship in automatically target a chasing enemy
– the game still, mostly, shines. It says
WING AND A PRAYER a lot that although optional missions
are hollow instructions along the
Decoding the UI lines of ‘go here’ or ‘kill that’, I still
eagerly dived into them for the extra
1 This bar powers 2 Your health. cash. Any excuse to go back out into
boost and roll. Don’t let this this intriguing world, I’ll take.
Refill with dives disappear, or you’ll
and updrafts. be an ex-parrot. The lack of direction outside of
the story is as much a blessing as it is
a curse, leaving long-term appeal up
for debate. Even so, this is a flight you
should take if you get the chance.

3 Keep this in the 4 Your minimap. SUBHEADXXX VERDICT
centre, and you Bizarrely, it
know you’re on the doesn’t show 3 Xxxxcted dead bodies Despite a little 78
right track. enemy locations. axxx1xx xx x x xxx xxxx x x x turbulence, The
2 xxx x stack up in Falconeer takes you on a
buildinags fanonchalant memorable ride as you
about it. x xx x xxx swoop through the sky.

70 JANUARY 2021

If you liked it then you
should’ve put a wing on it

Try telling me that
doesn’t look lovely.
I’m too old for this ship.

Incredibly, the game uses
no premade textures.
Die, you… thing!

JANUARY 2021 71

REVIEW
Bugsnax

ANOTHER BUG-HUNT

Hunting BUGSNAX isn’t as much fun as hanging
out with its cast of grumpuses. By Tyler Wilde

The bugsnax that affected me most is the weenyworm. A NEED TO KNOW could pick it up. It was more
weenyworm is a hot dog (with bun) that squiggles around in a awkward than satisfying, like herding
circle saying “weenyworm” in a sing-songy voice I’d describe WHAT IS IT? a cat with clown props. There were
as ‘nasal’ if that didn’t imply a nose, which weenyworms don’t A singleplayer also a few times I felt I might’ve been
have. “Weeny… weenyworm,” it says again and again as it adventure on an island hindered by bugs (the software kind),
circles, waiting for me to capture it and feed it to a grumpus – a furry populated with but bugsnax hunting is such a sloppy
person, more or less, whose body parts turn into the bugsnax they eat. business that it was hard to tell.
snack-based bugs
The consolation is that you don’t
EXPECT TO PAY have to catch all that many bugsnax.
£18 Following the main quests, you only
Bizarrely, grumpuses love turning There are a variety of bugsnax- need to trap whatever bugsnax the
into bugsnax. And they aren’t Justin catching tools, but they all have very grumpuses ask you to feed them. I
DEVELOPER didn’t bother much with optional
Roiland-style shrieking monsters. limited use cases, so Bugsnax is often Young Horses snax, because the characters are the
highlight of Bugsnax, not the hunting.
They’re regular people, albeit just a matching game. Use the trap PUBLISHER MONSTER MUNCH
bean-like and snaggletoothed. device on these kinds of bugsnax, but The leads, Lizbert and Eggabell, are
Young Horses missing, so their story plays out in
video diaries. Fryda Wolff’s
They’re cute, actually, and when they not these. Use the grappling hook on REVIEWED ON performance as Eggabell is the
aren’t becoming snack this one, but not that Windows 10, Intel Core highlight – at moments I really ached
foods, they even edge one. Shoot peanut for the character, an egg-shaped fur
past wackiness and As you may butter on this bugnax i5-9600K, 16GB RAM, creature who is obsessed with eating
sentimentality and slice have guessed, to make it fall, and Nvidia RTX 2070 Super bugs that are also snacks. Wolff
into human experience. the bugsnax are ketchup on that one to benefits from Eggabell being the
I didn’t care for the literally bug- make its friend ram MULTIPLAYER best-observed character, a powder
actual bugsnax into it and knock it out. No keg of self-doubt. Also great are
catching in Bugsnax, like snacks The closest I got to LINK Snorpy, a standoffish scientist who
likes to give hugs, and his buff
bugsnax.com boyfriend Chandlo, who likes lifting
and seeking spiritual peace. The
but working through doing something mystery’s resolution doesn’t
the grumpuses’ creative was when I disappoint, either. And reveals the
insecurities was sweet – like a used my portable spring-loaded cast’s obsession with eating and
sweetiefly or a sprinklepede, perhaps. launcher to hurl a flaming bowl of becoming bugsnax isn’t just wacky
As you may have guessed, the noodles off the side of a cliff and then for the sake of wackiness.
bugsnax are literally bug-like lured it into a pond with hot sauce,
snacks: grapeskeetos, pineantulas, extinguishing its flames so that I I wish Bugsnax was more fun,
sandopedes, and so on. You play but its cheerful grumpus body horror
as a nameless journalist who has did change me, ever so slightly, and
been summoned to investigate these £18 is a fair price for its weird, grisly
bugsnax by their discoverer, dashing GROAN story (at the end, it might be a bit
adventurer Lizbert Megafig. Except, dark for little kids). I suspect it’s
when you arrive at Lizbert’s island, Bugsnax’s bug-snack combos aren’t all hits. better shared with someone who
she and her partner Eggabell are Here are some of the best and worst can laugh with you than played
both missing, and the settlement alone at a monitor, having your sense
they established is in ruins. The NOT BAD BIT OF A STRETCH NOT BAD of self eroded by the repetition of the
words “weeny, weenyworm”.
grumpuses who followed them
there have scattered to the island’s
conveniently distinct biomes to do
their own things – all except hapless SANDOPEDE SPRINKLEPEDE COCOMITE
mayor Filbo, who enlists your help to They can chain into Now you’re just Sounds kind of like
reunite the town and find Lizbert and a multi-segment sticking ‘pede’ ‘coconut’, but it’s a
Eggabell. It’s all up to you now. sub sandopede. on words. mite. Sure.

Over the course of seven-to-ten
hours, you’ll locate the scattered
BIT OF A STRETCH NOT BAD BIT OF A STRETCH

townsfolk in a forest glade, on the
beach, among desert mesas, in an
alpine forest, and on the peak of a
volcanic mountain. Of course, none of VERDICT
them will come back to town straight HUNNABEE BUFFALOCUST TACOROACH Bugsnax is a weird little
away: you have to capture and feed story with loveable 60
them certain bugsnax to help them A honey bee is A buffalo wing Only works if you characters, but the
fulfil their objectives first. already a thing, so locust that dives pronounce actual bug hunting isn’t
is this wordplay? into hot sauce. ‘cockroach’ funny. all that much fun.

72 JANUARY 2021

Filbo’s town parties break up
the narrative nicely.

The spring launcher helps Some bugsnax can’t be caught
break up a sandopede chain. until you have the right tools.

Cocomites have to be split in two
before they can be caught.

JANUARY 2021 73

REVIEW
The Pathless

ROAD NOT TAKEN

THE PATHLESS goes in the
right direction. By Luke Kemp

W hen your enemy is called The Godslayer, you might NEED TO KNOW stopping whenever the big bad’s
hope to have more to hand than a bow and arrow and gaze falls your way. This starts to
an eagle. In fact, this is a game notable in part for what WHAT IS IT? become tiresome after you’ve done
it doesn’t have. It’s an open-world game with no An open-world game it a few times.
minimap, no fast travel, no player deaths, no enemies done very, very right
(apart from bosses), no NPCs and no vehicles. Yet what it does have has Secondly, once you’ve got your
been so expertly crafted, that the end result is something truly remarkable. EXPECT TO PAY bird back, you need to cleanse it by
£32 simulating a stroking motion all
This isn’t easily comparable to comes to light once you start trying over until all of the curse juice is
anything else, something that to work out what to do and where DEVELOPER gone. I know this is meant to build
becomes apparent within seconds to go. There is no map, and no Giant Squid a bond, but it too becomes a little
of taking your first dash across a waypoints. Engage spirit vision, and PUBLISHER annoying. Also, one of the boss fights
field. Your sprint is powered by everything turns a shade of blue, Annapurna Interactive went on a bit too long when I
your spirit meter, which is depleted with distant areas of interest pulsing REVIEWED ON struggled to hit multiple weak spots
rapidly but can be red. There’s often no GeForce GTX 1650, AMD in a row. OK, fine; three criticisms.
constantly topped up indication of precisely Ryzen 5 3550H, 8 GB
by shooting the many Travelling on what might be there, These are, at worst, minor
floating talismans foot at speed but you can guarantee RAM annoyances. I can’t stay angry at
scattered throughout is almost an that it’ll be worthwhile. MULTIPLAYER this game. The main motivation
the entire game. extended (but for The Godslayer’s evil deeds is a
enjoyable) QTE The world offers No desire to provide everybody with a
Even shooting puzzles in place of LINK strict path to follow in life, which
arrows is nothing like enemies, and I’ve thepathless.com seems to be something of a
commentary on Giant Squid’s
a traditional action yet to find a single approach to designing the game.
game. When you get one I didn’t enjoy.
close enough to a target and/or point They test your brain without being While bosses follow a fairly rigid
the camera towards it, it’s obnoxious. This isn’t an indication pattern – a chase to hit weak spots,
automatically highlighted, and all you of puzzles that are too easy, but an arena fight to hit weak spots, then
need to do is to hold down a button rather another sign of the developer’s one or two final stages to hit weak
for a second or two, and then release. philosophy of allowing the game to spots – the bulk of the game does
Travelling on foot at speed is be an experience of constant motion. not. You ‘unlock’ boss fights by
almost an extended (but enjoyable) collecting and using certain items,
QTE. You rush to your destination EAGLE AID but each area of the map has more
while carefully timing shots to keep I have two criticisms. Firstly, before than you actually need. The items
that meter active. It makes simply you’re ready to face them, each you collect, and the order in which
moving from one place to another area’s boss will sometimes trigger you collect them, are dependent on
into a light challenge and a joy. an event whereby you’re separated nothing more than where your
Your hunter has a special power: from your eagle. You then need to curiosity takes you.
spirit vision. The genius of this idea slowly creep over to rescue it,
The story comes to an epic
N A V I G A T I N G T H E P A T H L E S S What’s all this, then? and very satisfying end, after
which I gleefully jumped back in
1 Cleanse three of 1 to start mopping up the remainder
these towers, and of the puzzles. The cherry on top
the boss fight is on! of this delicious gaming cake is the
soundtrack, a wonderful Austin
2 The Godslayer lives Wintory score that incorporates
up here. I pity the superb sounds of Tuvan throat
the postman. singing ensemble Alash. The Pathless
sacrifices difficulty at the altar of
fun, and I am very much here for it.

3 Your spirit meter. 3 VERDICT
Keep this topped up 2
and you’ll do just fine. 4 Offering up a smooth 85
and mesmerising
4 This is a tree. That’s experience, The Pathless
nice, innit? takes you exactly where
it wants you.

74 JANUARY 2021

Looking and feeling cool.

Find these to help increase
how high you can fly.

“What you lookin’ at?” I could do with one of these
Pull your neck in, mate. eagles round Sainsbury’s.

JANUARY 2021 75

REVIEW
Little Hope

SCOOBY GANG

LITTLE HOPE is a ghost tour that’s
better with friends. By Fraser Brown

Cerebral horror is fine, but I like my scares to come from NEED TO KNOW student and their professor. Two of
monster chases and stuff jumping out of the shadows. Idiots in them are dating, but nobody really
peril, abandoned towns, maybe some ghosts – that’s where I WHAT IS IT? gets along that well in Little Hope.
get my thrills. Little Hope, the second game in the Dark A choice-laden horror They’re stressed, but they’re also
Pictures Anthology, has all of that, along with multiplayer game with some great just kinda dicks, with one bland
modes that help it simultaneously capture the experience of watching and exception. They’re all familiar
being inside a goofy horror flick with your pals. co-op modes archetypes, like the vanilla do-gooder,
EXPECT TO PAY the tense academic and the Queen of
Like its predecessor, Man of Medan, Little Hope is a social game. You Karens. Being painted in broad
it’s through the co-op modes that the can enjoy it on your lonesome, but £25 strokes makes it easier to slip into
game reveals all of its mysteries. In you’ll miss out the best parts. You’re DEVELOPER their personalities when you take
singleplayer, you’ll control different meant to yell, swap theories about Supermassive Games control of them, though, and while
members of the stranded quintet, why the gang is trapped and develop PUBLISHER none of these characters are
trapped in the town of Little Hope these characters together. After every Bandai Namco particularly nuanced, most of them
by fog and plagued by surprise, I found myself REVIEWED ON are fun roleplaying subjects.
visions of 17th century hitting pause so we GTX 1080 Ti, Intel
witch trials. The shared Nobody could talk about what i7-8086K, 16GB RAM Between QTEs and conversations
story, however, lets you really gets just happened and MULTIPLAYER are opportunities to explore, mostly
experience these build the full picture by looking at objects the game clearly
scenes from a different along from our individual Yes highlights. The camera has been
perspective, and when that well in perspectives. This was LINK freed up to give you more control,
the game splits you up, Little Hope the magic that made thedarkpictures.com and while there aren’t any puzzles,
Supermassive uses the time to ramp
you’ll have to rely on Man of Medan work, up the tension and tease some hints
your co-op buddy, too, and good co-op about what’s really going on.
listening to them investigate ruined can make it easy to overlook places
buildings or get ambushed by a where the game is less refined. But Sometimes its cinematic notions
monster, with only a QTE between Little Hope doesn’t really develop get the better of it, however, and the
them and death. it further, and it actually takes camera abruptly switches to a
The frantic QTE sequences made advantage of it less. Where Man of dramatic angle, like maybe you’re
me feel like I was always just about Medan used it to foster paranoia and being watched from some bushes.
to die, but they’re actually easygoing. sow distrust between players, Little Perfectly fine for a movie, maybe, but
To make them more accessible, there Hope’s approach to co-op seems every single time this happened, my
are unobtrusive alerts ahead of the more straightforward. co-op partner and I stopped in our
prompts now warning you that a tracks because we thought we’d hit
QTE is coming. This extra second ABANDON HOPE a cutscene. There are quite a few
to prepare doesn’t diminish their There’s still lots of character drama, awkward scene transitions, too, or
impact, but it does make it less likely mind you. The gang is made up of places where the pace abruptly
that you’ll hit the wrong button. three students in their 20s, a mature speeds up and it’s not clear what
the heck is actually going on.
HALLOWEEN PARTY
Most of the time, though, it’s like
Here are the three ways you can play Little Hope being stuck in a schlocky horror
movie. It’s Final Destination meets
The Crucible, where you’re watching
yourself die one minute and
attending a dimly lit witch trial the
next. The co-op doesn’t impress quite
as much as it did in Man of Medan,
but this is still one of the best ways to
get spooked with some mates.

SOLO SHARED STORY MOVIE NIGHT While Little Hope is not VERDICT
quite as novel as its
On your own, you can still This is an online-only You’ll need four friends predecessor, the co-op 74
play as each member of the co-op option for two to make the most out is still bewitching and
group and get a favourable players that lets you of this one, which is an offers up some scares.
ending, and you might find experience scenes from offline co-op mode where
it a little scarier. a different perspective. everyone takes turns.

76 JANUARY 2021

Nobody in Little Hope pays their electric
bill, so it’s perpetually dark.

Don’t you just want to give him a big
kiss right where his lips used to be?
The Curator is the anthology’s
strongest character.
He doesn’t look thrilled about exploring
this obviously haunted house.

You’ll sometimes interact with the past, 77
mostly by speaking to a spooky girl.

JANUARY 2021

REVIEW
Watch Dogs Legion

LONDON BRAWLING

Liberate the city with buskers and beekeepers
in WATCH DOGS LEGION. By Chris Livingston

A couple of hours into Watch Dogs Legion I look at my small NEED TO KNOW billionaire tech mogul to contend
team of DedSec agents and think to myself: these people with. Starting from scratch with a
actually suck. The concept seems sound – rather than WHAT IS IT? single, largely unremarkable citizen, I
playing a traditional protagonist, you recruit a team of An open-world slowly assemble a new DedSec crew
heroes from randomly generated, ordinary citizens of action stealth game to fight back against Albion.
London. The problem with ordinary people, though, is that they’re set in a dystopian
ordinary. I have a filmmaker on my team. An ambulance driver. A legal future London Looking for new recruits in
assistant. A lady whose only skill is that she owns a car. EXPECT TO PAY London is an engrossing and
time-consuming activity in and of
It’s not exactly a dream team, and just looks like a driver from an action £55 itself. Scanning citizens as I pass
initially I’m so uninterested in my movie. I like this guy a lot, and I like DEVELOPER them on the street or peeking at them
collection of ‘heroes’ that when one playing as him, and the thought of through security cameras gives me a
of them (the car owning lady) is some enemy stealing him from me Ubisoft look at their attributes, both good and
kidnapped by an enemy I don’t even is absolutely unacceptable. That’s PUBLISHER bad. An elderly mechanic might
bother rescuing her. Go when I realise Legion’s wield a heavy wrench for melee
ahead and keep her, I play-as-anyone system In-house attacks but have low mobility and
shrug. I can steal a car DedSec has is actually working for REVIEWED ON damage resistance due to his age. A
if I need one. been framed me, and that I’ve gotten RTX 2080, Intel medic may have a uniform, useful for
for a series of invested in it. It just i7-9700K , 16GB RAM infiltrating hospitals, and a dart gun
But a few hours and took a while to MULTIPLAYER for non-lethal takedowns, but they
several new recruits terrorist assemble a team of Coming in December also might be a compulsive gambler
later, another member bombings anyones I actually who will regularly lose DedSec’s
of my team is LINK money. A beekeeper I met has the
ubisoft.com/en-us/ ability to send swarms of cyberbees
game/watch-dogs/ to attack targets, but also has
incurable hiccups that can alert
watch-dogs guards when they’re trying to be
stealthy. Every trip through the city
kidnapped, and this cared about. adds someone new to your shopping
time I fly into an list, either because they seem useful,
absolute rage. This is another team PEOPLE PERSON like a hacker or combat specialist, or
member who owns a car, but it’s an In Watch Dogs Legion, hacker group they’re a novelty, like a guy who farts
extremely fast car because he’s a DedSec has been framed for a series uncontrollably or someone who may
getaway driver. He has a skill that of terrorist bombings in London, and abruptly drop dead.
prevents police drones from chasing its members are all dead, missing, or
him while he’s driving, and another jailed. An oppressive private military Each citizen has a schedule, and
skill that forces every car in his path firm, Albion, is now running London, relationships. Even enemy guards
off the road, parting traffic like the a ruthless mob boss is running drugs, don’t work 24-7. They leave their
Red Sea. Both are indispensable to weapons and human trafficking posts and walk around in civilian
me. He also has a cool leather jacket operations in the city, and there’s also clothing, which is both a nice detail
and driving gloves and shades – he government intelligence and a and can provide the opportunity to
safely dish out some revenge when
S K I L L S H A R E The strangest people we met in London, and their skills they’re not in heavily restricted areas
(like I did with the one who
MARTIN CHAI AMY YI BOB O’KEEFE BRITTANY MANAL AWAD kidnapped my getaway driver).
BHATTACHARYA
Occupation: None Occupation: Occupation: Age: 76 Now and again you’ll run into a
Claim to fame: Has Living statue Novelist Occupation: Occupation: Adult person you met earlier, or someone
Fun fact: Spends Busker who knows someone you’ve met: a
disease named 20 percent of her Weird Skill: Will film star relative, girlfriend, their doctor. If
after him income on paint gamble away Hobbies: Car Theft Age: Again, she’s 76 you’ve helped their acquaintance,
Weird Skill: Weird Skill: Can Weird Skill: Can Weird Skill: She’s they’ll know about it and have a
Flatulence. hide from pursuers DedSec’s money. still beatbox positive opinion of you, making them
by holding still. Weirder Skill: while wearing so famous that easier to recruit to the cause. If
Uncontrollable. It Spontaneous mascot costume. she’ll be recognised you’ve beaten up their friend, they’ll
alerts enemies. death. know that too and they’ll dislike you.
in public.
Most missions in Legion’s
open-world are pretty similar:

78 JANUARY 2021

Protests can be found all over London.

Drones are pesky enemies until
you learn to control them.

Beekeepers control swarms of
cyberbees. Hey, it’s the future.

I hope everyone can
tell I’m from London.

JANUARY 2021 79

Investigate using AR Cargo drones can carry
recreations of past events. you anywhere.
Cops are dicks, but people will rise up.

Recruit street performers.
Because… why the hell not?
80 JANUARY 2021

REVIEW
Watch Dogs Legion

stealthy infiltrations into secure
D R O N E Z O N Ebuildings and areas filled with guards,
Legion’s flying robots and what they can do for you
cameras and other security measures.
While the configurations of mission
areas usually aren’t wildly different,
it’s still satisfying to virtually infiltrate
a location, hacking security cameras
to spy on the premises, mark the
guards, absorb the layouts, and
activate traps. Most mission locations
can be tackled from different CTOS DRONE PARCEL DRONE NEWS DRONE RIOT DRONE CT DRONE
directions and in different ways using
gadgets available to all your team Pros: Like Pros: Can drop little Pros: Can take Pros: Has a shotgun Pros: Has a heavy
smartphones, boxes on people. pictures and daze and can fire gas machine-gun and
they’re everywhere Sometimes they crowds with a canisters. lots of missiles.
members, plus whatever special skills and easy to find. explode! camera flash.
Cons: It’s usually Cons: Built by the
are unique to them. I can send in a Cons: Can only Cons: Someone is Cons: Like the news firing them at you. lowest bidder:
semi-creepy spiderbot to crawl distract enemies, impatiently waiting industry itself, it’s Best to hack it as constantly
through vents or a drone over the can’t attack them. for that package. pretty fragile. soon as possible. overheats.

roof and into windows to disable
security features, then sneak inside,
performing stealth takedowns on Killing with those characters feels disable one enemy drone,
enemies or slipping past when perfectly in-character, and I can commandeer a second one and tell a
they’re distracted. swap to someone else if I want to third to fight for him on autopilot.
return to non-lethal tactics. That’s five different drones Fallon
HACK AND SLASH has access to within a few seconds in
If I don’t feel like being all that DRONING ON a single fight. Drones went from
stealthy, which is often the case, I can Just as it took me a few hours to start being a nuisance to the centrepiece
take a shortcut by airlifting my agent appreciating my team, it took me a of my infiltration and combat
to the roof with a hijacked cargo while to warm up to the sheer strategy, and Fallon became the star
drone to get as close as possible to number of drones in Legion. I hate of my team. He’s basically my
my goal. Or I can just fight my way in fighting drones – they’re basically protagonist now.
with melee combat and guns. As in giant flying insects, one of my least I never really got into Legion’s
the earlier Watch Dogs games, it feels favourite enemy types. At one point story, which is almost entirely related
the best to clear an entire building of in Legion I was piloting a drone to you by Bagley, DedSec’s fast-
threats remotely and make off with while trying to protect a friendly talking, deeply sarcastic AI who
stolen data all while standing drone from being attacked by swarms briefs you before missions, during
innocently outside. It’s of enemy drones. missions, after missions – he’s not as
also hectic fun when Watch Dogs Legion bad as some chattering robots I could
something goes wrong, I hate fighting really goes all in on name, but he never really shuts the
the sirens blare, the drones – drones, and for a while hell up. Since you’re playing as any
guards are alerted, and they’re I couldn’t stand it. one of your team members rather
you have to engage in a than a main character, there’s little in
battle to escape. basically giant But as I unlocked the way of meaningful interaction
flying insects more skills for my with Bagley – pretty much
Initially, my crew team, my anger at everything he suggests is A-OK with
was largely non-lethal drones slowly turned
types, but it’s not long into appreciation whichever character you’re
before I start dropping bodies using because I could disable them, hijack inhabiting at the time. There’s a
other characters. I recruit a former and pilot them, and even turn their single choice to be made during the
MI6 spy to my roster, armed with a AI against my enemies. Now, main campaign, otherwise, you’re
silenced pistol and a cool watch overhearing a soldier say he’s sending just following a to-do list, completing
gadget that lets him jam enemy a drone out to look for me is music to objectives and being agreeable.
weapons. He’s a James Bond type my ears. Dude, you’re just giving me Legion’s play-as-anyone gamble
who wouldn’t give a second thought another weapon to destroy you with, just about pays off. Most of London’s
to headshotting any guards that get in thanks though! If the bad guys don’t citizens are way too ordinary to be
his way. That’s just part of the gig. send drones after me I’ll hijack any much fun, but the few I grew to care
I’ve got a professional hitman on my random ones flying around the area about wound up feeling more
squad, too, who I recruited after instead. I am a drone convert. important to me than most
following him around at night and I even have a drone expert on videogame protagonists ever
witnessing him stabbing some my team, a guy named Fallon. He do. Not bad for a group of
unfortunate citizen to death in a park. can summon his own drone, randomly generated misfits.
I even recruited a member of Albion, which can be remotely piloted to
whose uniform lets me wander deliver electric shocks that KO
around secure buildings without most enemies with one blast. He can Playing as anyone works VERDICT
drawing too much attention. She also chuck a second drone into the great in Watch Dogs
doesn’t seem the type to worry too air that will divebomb and Legion, when you’ve 80
much if someone gets riddled with incapacitate a targeted enemy. Plus, finally found the right
bullets or dies in an explosion, either. my unlocked team skills let him
group of anyones.

JANUARY 2021 81

REVIEW
Fuser

PICK AND MIX

Chasing after the ultimate high is what
makes FUSER electrifying. By Rachel Watts

I’m grooving nicely to my current Fuser mix. I’ve got Carly Rae NEED TO KNOW want the vocals from Coldplay’s
Jepsen’s upbeat drums from Call Me Maybe blended with the Clocks for the purpose of letting me
deep synths of LMFAO’s Party Rock Anthem and the cool guitar WHAT IS IT? score more points, I gasp in offence
riffs from Don’t Let me Down by The Chainsmokers. It’s going A flexible DJ simulator and duck the request. A bit
pretty well, and the crowd is diggin’ it, but I’ve got one space left counterintuitive, but I’m making
for vocals. I have one song in mind, but I’m hesitating. Do I dare use the EXPECT TO PAY magic here.
vocals from Smash Mouth’s All-Star? £55 DECKS-TERITY
It may sound like Fuser’s campaign
The mischievous streak in me needs mini-goals throughout your set. Tasks DEVELOPER is all solely about point-scoring, but
to know what it would sound like, can be anywhere from fading out a Harmonix the campaign does much more than
and before I think of the devastating disc, switching between keys, or PUBLISHER that. It’s tempting to fire on all four
consequences of a hundred people creating a loop and all while keeping NCSOFT cylinders, switching discs as quickly
shouting “Hey now!”, I’ve already in time with the rhythm of the music. REVIEWED ON as possible to get cheap cheers from
clicked on it. The disc drops, and to Audience members will also shout I5-2500K, 8GB RAM, the crowd. But Fuser encourages
my astonishment, it’s requests at you during GTX 670 you to create music with more
not terrible! a set, and completing MULTIPLAYER depth. Bringing a crowd down
Fuser’s music Fuser them earns you more with a humble drum loop is just as
encourages points towards your Yes important as launching them into the
mixing does a great job you to create overall performance. LINK sky with an exhilarating bass drop.
of inviting you to mix music with fuser.com It’s all about creating anticipation and
to your heart’s content. more depth Most of the time I then landing the ultimate pay-off so
It’s essentially a DJ found rising to these 1 when that high hits.
simulation where you tasks enjoyable, like
mash up music on the including Rick Astley 2 If Fuser’s campaign mode is
go, taking samples from into my Latin-Pop blood-pumping EDM at 150 BPM,
different songs and playing them fusion. But sometimes Fuser can lob 3 then the game’s free play mode is a
together. You can choose which tasks at you that put a real damper on calmer rhythm of laid back R&B. It’s
elements of a song you want to mix your flow. When an audience 4 an endless mode, free from point-
and assign it to one of the four member shouts that they specifically scoring or crowd demands where you
turntables, praying that it sounds can experiment as much as you like.
great when the disc begins to spin. Free play gives you the space to
With the 100-song playlist, it may create interesting mixes in your own
seem almost impossible to try to find INTRODUCING time, and you can revisit the mixes
a musical match, but Fuser cleverly DJ GIGAWATTS you quickly saved in the rush of
blends each of your chosen samples campaign mode.
together – it’s quite incredible. No Here are some tips
matter how different your chosen on how to create Although it’s tempting to stay in
song’s genre, tempo and musical key your perfect DJ the comfort of freestyle where the
might be, Fuser morphs each song persona crowds magically enjoy everything
effortlessly to match the other. Not you play, the campaign mode is
every mix is going to be a where you’ll find the game’s
masterpiece, and sometimes it sounds 1 An animal mask to hide exhilarating highs. When you’re in
like your discs are making their way your tears when you land the throes of mixing and you create
the perfect four-disc drop. an absolute banger (on purpose or by
accident) it’s electrifying, and after
through a shredder but when it 2 Confidence so powerful you’ve done it once you want to feel
works it’s harmonic euphoria. that people won’t it again and again. Fuser is a rhythm
care when you sneak game where you never stop chasing
There’s nothing quite like some country into your those incredible highs.
stumbling upon this sweet spot and hardcore EDM mix.
it’s this feeling that is at the heart of
Fuser’s campaign. Playing as an
undiscovered DJ, you need to prove 3 Random leg straps and VERDICT
your mixing skills to a string of spiked shoulder pads to
eccentric music producers by externalise your inner edge. 77
headlining gigs at a sting of different
venues. How well a concert goes 4 Steel toe-capped boots Fuser lets players take
depends on how many points you can for jumping around on control of the music
score from completing timed stage and stomping on all of more than ever before.
the haters. And you might even
sound quite good.

82 JANUARY 2021

You’ll need to be quick at fulfilling
requests from the crowd.

They love you now, but wait until you drop
All Star for the fourth time this set.

Choosing special effects can
make your concert really pop.

With over 100 songs, Harmonix still thought
it was OK to include Rick Astley.

JANUARY 2021 83

REVIEW
Doom Eternal: The Ancient Gods – Part One

VICIOUS CYCLE

Hell boils over in DOOM ETERNAL:
THE ANCIENT GODS – PART ONE. By Jeremy Peel

If the Doom Slayer is a race car, as id Software has described him, NEED TO KNOW trap you into a process – as if
then The Ancient Gods – Part One is a series of victory laps around shooting by instruction manual. But
three new courses. It picks up right at the finish line of Doom WHAT IS IT? the Spirit presents more tactical
Eternal, and the experience is akin to waking up at the wheel of a The first half of Doom choice, not less: do you focus your
Ferrari screaming down the track at 200mph. While it’s possible to Eternal’s master-level firepower on the host, and hope you
play without having completed its parent game, you’d be foolish to try. can follow through with the plasma?
DLC campaign Or demolish the most powerful
You inherit the Slayer plus all the towards enemies who can only be EXPECT TO PAY demons on the periphery first,
extras, souped up with weapon mods defeated in highly specific fashion. ensuring there are no large homes
and ability runes picked up during Take the Turrets, new fixed £16 left for the ghost to haunt?
Eternal’s original campaign. And placement shooters that appear like DEVELOPER
despite having completed it, I spent miniature Eyes of Sauron. A couple of id Software The biggest worry going into The
the first 20 minutes embarrassing shots through the scope of your PUBLISHER Ancient Gods was that Doom’s
myself, thumping at a reload key that assault rifle will burst the orb – but Bethesda momentum might be stalled by the
doesn’t exist. It’s the take too long during REVIEWED ON absence of Mick Gordon, its
shooter equivalent of targeting and the ball Windows 10, Intel Core composer since 2016, whose hell
flicking into sports The truth is will retreat inside its i5-6500, 8GB RAM, choirs and industrial crunch have
mode and realising that The pillar, surviving until Nvidia GTX 1060 become central to the series. It’s a
you’ve activated the you can loop around MULTIPLAYER fitting compliment to Gordon’s work
wipers instead. Ancient Gods for another try. that he’s been replaced by not one
regularly HOST WANTED No man, but two – and while there’s
id Software, like the LINK nothing as striking as BFG Division
Slayer, is at the height frightened me bethesda.net/en/ soundtracking the Ancient Gods,
game/doom Andrew Hulshult and David Levy do
an admirable job.
of its powers. Doom Then there’s the Spirit,
2016 saw the studio which makes a This is Doom at its most
reinvent the wheel – quite literally, ghostbuster of the Slayer. Mostly oppressive and intimidating. There’s
building the game around spinning invisible, you’ll know it by the blue a little respite outside combat, and
arenas that set you in constant aura that encircles its host – as well you certainly won’t find any in the
motion. Ever since, it’s been coming as the super-speed, hyper-aggressive centrepiece battles. There were
up with inventive ways to thrust a assaults on your person. Once the moments, after several minutes in the
stick in the spokes, tripping up host is killed, the possessing Spirit mosh pit, where the appearance of a
players by disrupting the formula. bursts out, and you have a few charging Marauder, or two towering
Doom Eternal’s most notorious seconds to zap it with the plasma Tyrants or three Barons of Hell left
example was the Marauder, a rifle’s microwave beam. If you’re me buckling emotionally, not
relentless runner who pursued the tardy or get distracted, then the Spirit knowing how I’d keep up the act that
Slayer like a shadow, if your shadow will hop into another host and you’ll I was the Slayer, the only thing the
owned an axe and a bright-orange have to begin again. demons fear. The truth is that The
attack dog. He returns in The Ancient You would think this kind of Ancient Gods regularly frightened me
Gods, and exemplifies id’s trend step-by-step enemy disposal would with its intensity.

INFERNAL INTERN The Ancient Gods – Part One is a
virtuosic display, then – and demands
The best quotes from the UAC’s fearless tea boy that you rise to its level. After
finishing the campaign missions on
“I mean, “I, er, see that your “Ready for Ultra-Violence, I was so exhausted I
we’re about mission objective launch, couldn’t quite tell whether I’d
to save the states that you’re actually enjoyed myself – synapses
world. Like I going to destroy Doomguy! fried by the sheer mental and
said, I’m in.” I’m sorry.” physical challenge.
the sphere, not
retrieve it?” VERDICT

Doom Eternal: 89
The Ancient Gods – Part
One is a frankly terrifying
exercise in pushing
Doom as far as it can go.

84 JANUARY 2021

Since there’s no co-op, you
can’t cross the streams.

You might scare the
internet, mate, but not me.

I’ll be honest, I included Chaining jumps and dashes
this screen to show off. is essential for navigation.
You don’t want to be in a
facility the Slayer visits.

JANUARY 2021 85

REVIEW
Ghostrunner

FEEL LUCKY, CYBERPUNK?

A world of pain – usually yours – in
GHOSTRUNNER. By Luke Kemp

The fundamental concept is easy to understand, and mildly NEED TO KNOW without reducing the challenge.
terrifying. Each enemy dies in one hit, and so do you. You’ll Levels are split into chunks,
sometimes die (many) more times in one level here than in WHAT IS IT?
an entire game elsewhere. It’s hard – brutally, unforgivingly A cyberpunk parkour enemy encounters and tricky
so – but fair in a way that some obnoxiously difficult games slasher that thinks Dark platforming sequences divided by
don’t even try to be. I’ve brought a knife to a gun fight, and I love it. Souls gives players too checkpoints. Each fight is essentially
a blood-spattered parkour puzzle. I
If you’re moving, you’re running. To more, sliding under a huge laser blast many hit points worried that this might be a game
stay still is ordinarily to invite death; to destroy the mech that sent it your EXPECT TO PAY where you could only progress by
most enemies have guns, they’re all way, is a unique thrill. following a strictly determined path,
excellent shots, and you only have a Nonetheless, Ghostrunner £25 but each arena usually offers at least
sword. There’s no time for quiet occasionally seems determined to DEVELOPER two routes to start down, and the
contemplation while you’re in the air stab itself in the foot. There are One More Level, sequence you kill enemies in is
or running along walls either. Miss a multiple instances of travel through Slipgate6, 3D Realms entirely up to you. I prefer to destroy
jump or react too the ‘Cybervoid’, a PUBLISHER shield generators first so everybody’s
slowly to fling yourself blocky electronic space 505 Games, All In! vulnerable at once, take down any
at the next wall, and You’re between areas. walking mechs with their huge laser
you’ll fall ungracefully constantly on Sometimes, this serves Games blasts next, then pick off everybody
to your death. You’re the move, like a as a tutorial area for REVIEWED ON else according to threat.
constantly on the move, stray dog with new abilities. More GeForce GTX 1650, AMD
like a stray dog with parkour skills often, it’s used to force Ryzen 5 3550H, Near the end of the game, that
excellent parkour skills the player into tedious most unoriginal and annoying enemy
and nothing left to lose. puzzles which may or 8 GB RAM type is introduced: The Thing That
MULTIPLAYER Explodes When It Gets Too Close.
Dying because you run into one
No around a corner, or get hit by one that
LINK you didn’t know was right behind
ghostrunnergame.com you, is no fun. Thank goodness they
only make a brief appearance.
Despite the fact that may not involve
you’ll often have somebody chatting slow-paced platforming. There’s There are a total of four abilities
in your ear, there’s no strong absolutely no reason for these unlocked during the course of the
narrative to hold everything together. (rare) sequences to exist, and game. Three kill enemies from a
Something about betrayal, something they completely kill the pace distance, while the fourth
about a vicious ruler, something and atmosphere. temporarily turns an enemy into an
about human experimentation… it’s, ally. The upgrade system links to
y’know, fine. A Saturday morning GHOST OF A CHANCE these in an interesting way. The more
cartoon co-directed by Ridley Scott Back in the ‘real’ world, things have upgrades you have equipped (easier
and Quentin Tarantino. been designed very well to avoid to deflect bullets with your sword,
Honestly though, that doesn’t some foreseeable pitfalls. The gradual mark collectibles on your radar, etc),
matter. At its best, Ghostrunner is introduction of new enemies and the slower the focus bar necessary to
fantastic. Bouncing between walls to environmental elements prevents use these abilities passively charges.
jump down to the floor, cutting monotony setting in without Like moment-to-moment play, it’s
through two enemies in a row, overwhelming you. Crucially, about risk and reward.
grappling up to the wall so that you checkpoints have been set out in such
can run along it to leap down once a way as to make things reasonable It’s flawed, then, but never
critically so. Ghostrunner wants to
B A D I N F L U E N C E The games that haunt Ghostrunner make you feel like a cybernetically
enhanced badass – and it achieves
this almost all the time with great
style. A game that’s tough and fair
and fun? Who’da thunk it.

MIRROR’S EDGE DOOM DISHONORED Incredibly tough VERDICT
but perfectly fair,
The game that demonstrated The modern Doom games, like You can close distance quickly in Ghostrunner cuts 81
first-person parkour could work, Ghostrunner, are all about constant both games, and they even both the cybernetically
and even be fun. movement (and gore). have an ability named Blink. enhanced mustard.

86 JANUARY 2021

Go ahead cyberpunk, Why can’t I clone myself?
mech my day.

She’s not your friend.
He was so upset,
he fell to pieces.

You won’t have time 87
to enjoy the scenery.

JANUARY 2021

REVIEW
I Am Dead

GHOST TOWN

I AM DEAD is a playful exploration of
life in limbo. By Rachel Watts

Ilove the laid-back vibes of hidden-object games. I like the feeling NEED TO KNOW angle. Zoom in on a computer and
of easing into a scene and taking my sweet time searching for a you can see all its circuits inside, or
long list of items. I Am Dead is a hidden-object game that keeps WHAT IS IT? inspect a grass lump and find a
the puzzle elements of the genre, but is about finding out what A hidden-object puzzle burrow full of rabbits. These little
small curiosities mean to people as much as spotting objects. It’s game about exploring wonders are a joy to find, and there
a game about death, but also how we remember people after they are are hundreds of items to inspect.
gone through the things they leave behind. the afterlife Scanning each and every one is
EXPECT TO PAY worth it for the jokes and surprises
That’s a pretty ominous introduction the memories of the living who knew that have been hidden away, and I
to I Am Dead, but it’s more upbeat the deceased, locate the objects the £16 Am Dead’s quaint world never makes
than it sounds. Sure, there is talk of ghost cherished when they were DEVELOPER you feel like you have overstayed
ghosts, the afterlife and morality, but alive, and then summon them from Hollow Ponds and your welcome.
it handles these topics with heart and their eternal slumber. It sounds like Richard Hogg TREASURE TROVE
a sprinkle of silliness. It’s nowhere a lot, but I Am Dead makes it as PUBLISHER I Am Dead is essentially one long
near as dark as the streamlined as possible, Annapurna Interactive treasure hunt, but each object is more
name implies. with some free- REVIEWED ON than just an item on a checklist. After
You play as Morris Morris can also roaming along the way. i5-2500K, 8GB RAM, finding out that an ex-Shelmerston
peer inside resident, Ogden Beckett, would be a
Lupton, an ex-museum objects with The game divides GTX 670 potential candidate to be the island’s
curator who has a strange the island into five MULTIPLAYER protector, I find that a chap named
unfortunately died and chapters, each Henry has a fond memory of him
now finds himself as a ‘slicing’ ability exploring an area that’s No that I can rummage through.
ghost haunting his home to one of LINK Learning that Ogden was an avid
iamdeadgame.com multi-instrumentalist, specialising in
the sousaphone, I set on finding his
home, the quaint Shelmerston’s ghosts. trusty bronze mouthpiece. With
volcanic isle of These scenes are some light deduction work each item
Shelmerston. The afterlife isn’t quite bursting with character, like a park is easy enough to find, but what make
as peaceful as Morris thought, the that’s been turned into an outside art these objects more meaningful are
island’s ancient guardian has decided exhibit, or a lighthouse that doubles the memories attached to them.
to retire, meaning that the volcano as a yoga retreat. Alongside memory
will erupt unless another guardian is delving, Morris can also peer inside Henry remembered Ogden
appointed. It’s up to Morris and his objects with a strange ‘slicing’ ability, because of how wonderfully he
ghost dog, Sparkly, to find a similar to X-ray vision. Couple this played in Shelmerston’s brass band,
replacement and save the lovely with his ability to float, and you can and the mouthpiece reminds him of
seaside town from total destruction. satisfyingly swoop around each area, those good times. Each object in I
The best candidates for the peering into buildings and clicking on Am Dead comes with its own happy,
position are Shelmerston’s deceased objects for further inspection. sad, or bittersweet tale that really
residents, but the only way to ask if When you click on an item, it will fleshes out the person you’re
they are up for the role is to first pop out of the scene and turn into a summoning back from the dead.
conjure up their spirit. With Morris’ tactile vignette you can pivot and
ghost abilities, you need to delve into zoom in on and inspect from every These items represent how we
remember those who have passed on
SLICE OF LIFE with all we have left of them: objects
and our memories. There’s no
Here are some of the cool objects you can open in I Am Dead mention about how any of the ghosts
died, the focus is on who they were
when they were alive, and I Am Dead
is very touching in that respect.

TOASTER OVEN DIVING HELMET With leisurely puzzles VERDICT
and gentle humour, I Am
I wish I had a toaster that Zooming in on this oven I really hope that skull Dead explores death in a 75
could fit six slices of bread, reveals a pie baking inside. doesn’t belong to this diving light-hearted way. And
I’d be unstoppable. It’s a vegetable one at that. helmet’s previous owner. I’m grateful for it.

88 JANUARY 2021

Morris’ ghost dog Sparky will
help you sniff out ghosts.

The artists of Shelmerston Even in the afterlife, Peter Noach still rocked a pair of crocs.
have an unusual eye for art. This robot has quite the green thumb.

The Shelmerston quay is chock-a-block
with objects and buildings to inspect.

JANUARY 2021 89

FREE GAMES REVIEW

COOL TITLES FOR NO CASH by Tom Sykes

Not every object has to disappear.

You rotate the room on a central axis.

Nice table. Shame I have to vanish it.

NOW YOU SEE IT

How to disappear completely in minimalist puzzle game EMPTY
Stuff. It’s great, isn’t it? Except when it’s not: when you attach
personal baggage to it, and you have so much that you can barely NEED TO KNOW right, and voilà. There’s usually one
move in your own house. Empty is a game about stuff, more tough-ish puzzle in each stage that
specifically getting rid of it, as you Marie Kondo your way WHAT IS IT? unlocks the rest, as something of an
A soothing puzzle avalanche. Ah, so the table was
around a sequence of rooms, ridding the colourful 3D spaces of game about making blocking the football was blocking
all their clutter. Once it’s gone, and each room is basically just the walls, stuff disappear the car was blocking the lampshade

floor and ceiling, you move on. There are other domestic spaces, and later EXPECT TO PAY – and now it’s empty.
on more abstract scenes, that demand your attention. Free It was only when I had cleared a
few rooms that something like regret
But Empty is a puzzle game. Rather complexity to a puzzle game that DEVELOPER came over me. Is this really a better
Dustyroom

than dragging the unwanted items seems to have held back a little. I was PUBLISHER space now than when it was lived in?
into a skip, you have to vanish them expecting another system to come In-house Who owned that bike, and what was
instead, by lining each up against a along that would fully open up the the story behind that telescope? Oh
surface of the same colour. Turn the concept, so it felt a bit unsatisfying to REVIEWED ON God, I’ve turned a home into a
scene so that the orange lamp is find that, oh, I had suddenly AMD [email protected], clinical Ikea showroom, just a shame
facing the orange wall, and the lamp completed the game. The puzzles are there’s no meatballs.
6GB RAM, GeForce
GT 610

will disappear, while the wall will linear, and never scale greatly in MULTIPLAYER GAME OVER
turn white so that it difficulty, no matter No Perhaps the interstitial story blobs
can’t be used again. Oh It felt a bit how many objects the LINK could have wrestled with that, or
fantastic, you think, unsatisfying to developers can cram with, well, anything. Instead, the
the lamp’s no longer find that, oh, I into each scene. But I bit.ly/EmptyGame text-based musings are a little too
blocking the green had completed managed to get random to cohere. They hardly get in
desk, so let’s rotate the the game through them all
room until that lines annoyingly quickly. the way of the puzzling, however,
up with the green PUZZLE TIME which is satisfying and relaxing, and
ceiling. You see how it without being a massive hassle like a
goes: you vanish each item in turn If I’m griping, it’s because the act of real clear-out would be.
until all the marked items are playing this is a little magical, and,
absent, and the room looks like it’s frankly, I wanted more of it. If only
never been lived in. real-world clutter could be tucked More could have been VERDICT
away so easily. Each tactile scene is done with the idea, but
Later levels introduce objects that part dolls’ house and part Rubik’s Empty is still a lovely 77
will paint surfaces colours other than Cube, as you rotate the world with puzzler that hits
white, so they can be used again, but
this adds only a little more the mouse until you can line it up just
medium heights.

90 JANUARY 2021

FREE GAMES REVIEW

COLLISION COURSE Exclamation marks alert
you to potential collisions.

How (not) to run a tram line in SPÅRVAGN

Ifeel that Spårvagn is a game another tram running on the same
that knows it’s frustrating. line. And that makes all sorts of mess.
Why else would this game of There are red tracks, featuring red
metropolitan tram traffic control trams, and blue tracks featuring blue
feature such a soothing ambient ones, with the different colours
soundtrack? Without it, I might operating at different speeds.
have thrown a trammy tantrum and Multiple trams soon appear on each
thrown in the towel before criss-crossing track, but you can only
finishing it, but that minimalist halt one of each colour at a time,
soundtrack – and its beautifully giving you another thing to have to
alive top-down city – combined to worry about – it’s a little hectic.
offset the frustration, just long This is a game of chain reactions,
enough for me to complete its as all your tactical pauses – even the
handful of stages. briefest ones – come back to haunt
In each cityscape, you have to you. Make just one tiny catastrophic
manage a couple of tram lines long collision and you’ll have to replay the
enough for all the waiting passengers entire stage, which is awfully
to be collected. The trams move frustrating. But how can you stay
automatically, but you can pause mad at such a lively digital train set?
them momentarily by clicking on The rub – aside from the frustration
them – and if you don’t, a collision – is that Spårvagn feels way too short. You’ll be seeing this failure screen a lot.
will occur sooner or later. However,
leave them paused too long and they After just a few exciting 72 NEED TO KNOW
might be bashed from behind by levels, it’s all over, and
that’s a shame because I EXPECT TO PAY DEVELOPER LINK
was enjoying it. Free Dustyroom bit.ly/3jTGdPF

PANE SAILING There’s a cheeky nod to the
game in one of the stories.
Be a nosy neighbour in BEYOND YOUR WINDOW The scenes are full of detail,
like this crazy clown mug.
This asks you to imagine the fourth wall, coolly smoking a
world on the other side of cigarette, but it didn’t seem to change
that pane of glass. What’s based on the few decisions I had
going on in the lives of your made throughout the stories. You’ll
neighbours? By clicking on four influence some quite a lot – by
apartment windows, in any order getting a woman back with her ex,
you desire, you’ll witness glimpses for example – and others only a little,
of their lives, as they struggle with but you never get any satisfying
relationships and work-life balance. closure on any of them, perhaps
There’s the middle-aged couple who appropriately for a game where
snap at each other over a seemingly you’re only catching fleeting glimpses
inconsequential matter, a man and a of other peoples’ lives.
woman coping with breakups, and Overall, I really enjoyed the
the lead of an indie studio wrestling glimpses. The comic book-style art is
with coding errors and a fast gritty and beautiful, and there’s a
approaching deadline. great sense of atmosphere, as you
view the outside of the building
You’ll drop in on each twice before diving in to see what’s going
before witnessing the resolution, on inside. But there isn’t enough of it
which takes the form of direct to cohere into a satisfying story, let
interviews with the cast and alone four: not enough interesting
seemingly a few of the (real) dialogue, or choices to
developers of Beyond Your Window. make. It’s a sketch of a 62 NEED TO KNOW
game, though it is a DEVELOPER LINK
It’s an unusual ending, and I striking one. EXPECT TO PAY Team SolEtude bit.ly/35XL5hL
enjoyed how it leant against the Free

JANUARY 2021 91

THEY’RE BACK

OLD GAMES REVISITED by Matthew Elliott

Croc is actually escaping from Batman’s
presumptuous cranial massage.

CHRISTMAS KNIGHT

Separating the naughty from the nice in BATMAN: ARKHAM ORIGINS
There’s a sense of trepidation firing up Arkham Origins for the
first time. It has a reputation. This is the estranged, drunk NEED TO KNOW Knight. These slightly worn edges
uncle of the series – one who starts celebrating Christmas in don’t sound like much, but they
September and might not actually be a blood relative. His WHAT IS IT? diminish an experience we’re used
Festive Batprequel to being immaculate.
timing is terrible. He’s slightly unreliable. But he’s not the made by WB Montreal, Despite this, I do like Origins. And
urine-soaked catastrophe you expect and, in fact, some people like him not Rocksteady
in fact, the contrarian in me might
more than the other uncle with the flashy car. like it more than Knight. There’s a
EXPECT TO PAY
£15 lack of urgency to the story which,
That’s a potentially-too-personal way that takes much of the threat out of instead of making things flat, gives
of saying Origins isn’t as bad as you the ‘kill Batman’ subplot. Instead of DEVELOPER
WB Games Montreal, me space to pretend to be Batman. I
probably think, even if it never lives the parade of supervillain assassins Splash Damage can go back to the Batcave and bicker

up to the promise of an enriching being the thing that moulds Bruce PUBLISHER with Alfred and it doesn’t feel like
prequel. In practice, the showcase of Wayne into a gushing justice spigot, I’m putting innocent lives at risk
Warner Bros.
Interactive
Bats as a rawer, more savage version they’re snails crossing a busy road. Entertainment when I spend an hour getting
of his later Rocksteady They’re going to get distracted by petty crimes. The
incarnations feels crushed eventually. REVIEWED ON villains are enjoyable, too. This has
hollow. The Batman of The title refers Other things about Intel Core i7-7700 CUP the best version of Bane in the series,
Arkham Knight wasn’t to the origin of @ 3.60GHz, 16 GB RAM, and actually getting to fistfight
exactly gentle. There Origins feel off. There’s NVIDIA GeForce GTX Deathstroke is a valuable narrative
are only so many ways the broader a vague lack of finesse moment in Batman’s history. And the
you can explode a knee Arkham that a game designer 1070, Windows 10 period and setting are fantastic, even
or rupture an eardrum, could pinpoint and MULTIPLAYER if Gotham looks a bit drab and
and few of them say mythology articulate far better No industrial in places. The snow and
‘I’m better at dealing than me. The timing of LINK tinny Christmas songs make Gotham
the fights is sluggish, bit.ly/34X9kNM

with things now’. It’s a missed like controls in a rhythm action game feel like a real place, with Bats acting
opportunity. The title refers to the that need recalibrating. And the like a Kevlar-coated Santa delivering
origin of the broader Arkham camera is more unruly than in other fists of coal to naughty boys.
mythology, rather than of Batman games in the series.
himself, but it would have been great Technically speaking, it’s more
to see a more fragile side of Bruce stable than it was at launch – I had VERDICT
Wayne. Instead, Origins makes you one slightly catastrophic crash, but
appear disproportionately capable as generally it runs well and looks A fussier, frayed prequel 74
you glide through Gotham as a fully gorgeous, even if it can’t compare to that sporadically delivers
equipped, upgraded Dark Knight, and the rain-drenched lustre of Arkham on its premise. The
experience of being
Batman is still sublime.

92 JANUARY 2021

REVIEW

BUG SMACKS Those are spores, not blood.
(But he’s still dead.)

How HOLLOW KNIGHT puts the ‘warm’ in ‘swarm’

The theme this month was who are wonderful to rescue and
meant to be festive. And with bored merchants who crave
that in mind, Hollow Knight is adventure. Even the insects you
a stretch but it’s a winter-adjacent batter to death are oddly sweet. And
excuse to play one of the best once it’s got you, it’s near-impossible
Metroidvania games ever made. to escape from Hollow Knight’s
Another is that it’s simply brilliant. mesmerising charms – like some rare
There’s a crispness to it all that breed of benevolent spider that
satisfies like stepping on a semi- catches you in its web just to pay you
frozen puddle – a clear, sharp sense compliments and give a back rub.
of purpose that’s unusually The way Hollow Knight pushes you
compelling, even if it can be a harsh further into its world, whether
experience at times. The setting of through power-ups or crumbling
Hallownest is uniquely appealing floors, is so compelling that 35 hours
despite having the same wistful sense here will seem like a nice afternoon
of decay that British seaside resorts spent examining insects. And that’s
have in October. It’s a place long past the low end of the scale: glance at the
its prime, full of echoes of former Steam reviews and you’ll see them
glory. But it doesn’t have the same from people with 100+ hours in the
oppressive gloom as its thematic game, all complaining that ten quid
gaming counterparts, such as the for this much game feels like
likes of Lordran. Despite it being a burglary. That’s maybe a
tired, dangerous place, the flashes measure of how good this 91 NEED TO KNOW
of humour and humanity make it is – a game you’ll want to DEVELOPER PUBLISHER
endearing. There are squealing grubs pay more for. EXPECT TO PAY Team Cherry In-house
£11

Come back here and
accept your fate, dinner.

“THIS is for using the HAND Things will be different.
DRYER for AGES”. But not in the way you hope.

FAHRENHEIT FROSTPUNK

There are loads of things that stick Playing Frostpunk sometimes is THE LONG DARK
in the memory after your first like reading a historical account
time playing David Cage’s Fahrenheit. of some fatuous, ineffectual king who
QTE boinking. The heartfelt failed upward into a position of
probably-necrophilia. Floating power. “Idealistic but impractical, he
kung-fu fights against psyche-insects. invested heavily in schools. But the I’m not saying that my current
And that means it’s easy to forget children stopped being able to write playthrough of The Long Dark is
how good the setting and opening when their fingers fell off due to going badly. Just that I might struggle
are. There’s a palpable sense of panic frostbite.” Compared to the constant, to survive if I don’t manage to kill
to the opening crime scene that I escalating crises of Frostpunk, every this rabbit by chucking stones at its
don’t think I’ve seen recreated as other city management game feels adorable head. And I just ran out of
effectively in any other game. And like Farmville. And as well as being a stones. It’s one of those games that
while the story stays small, before the brilliant exercise in humility, it’s also remind you just how dead you’d be if
SWAT teams and spirit mediums a useful way of learning to say no to you had to spend even one night
arrive, it’s surprisingly effective people. Or ‘yes’, if the question is outside in mild temperatures, let
– more so thanks to some restrained ‘should we keep working even if it alone an endless winter in the wake
characterisation and seasoned voice kills us’. It sounds grim, but of a geothermal disaster. It’s a brutal,
acting. It’s also maybe the Frostpunk is so good that unusually brilliant survival
most January game that’s 76 you’ll suffer this and more 88 game, but it’s utterly terrible 81
ever been made. just for a scintilla of success. for your self esteem.

JANUARY 2021 93



96

GROUP
TEST

Give your machine a
new lease of life with
the perfect SSD.

100

TECH
REPORT

The technology that
could connect our
minds to computers.

102

GBUUYIDEER’S

Putting a new machine
together? Check out our
recommended builds.

JANUARY 2021 95

GROUP TEST

PCIe 4.0 SSDs
Next-gen storage is key to the future of
gaming, and here are your best options
right now. By Alan Dexter
ne of the easiest
ways of giving At the moment only AMD’s
your system a Zen 2 and Zen 3 platforms
natively support PCIe 4.0
Operformance drives, although Intel’s
boost is to next generation of CPUs
upgrade your storage. This is (codenamed Rocket Lake)
particularly true if you’re still will also jump aboard this
rocking a spinning hard drive particular super speedy wagon.
or two, although SATA SSDs So even if you don’t have a
will also see a notable speed supporting platform right now,
boost when you upgrade to you will do when you next
the latest drives. Right now, upgrade, which is why we
the best storage around uses think that moving over to a
the PCIe 4.0 interface to PCIe 4.0 supporting SSD is
produce blistering read the best way of protecting
and write speeds. your storage investment.

2

1

96 JANUARY 2021

HARDWARE
Group Test

1

980 Pro 500GB Rocket 2TB Gen4

SAMSUNG £135 SABRENT £360

The fastest next-gen SSD money can buy The best budget next-gen SSD

1 Samsung has been The only problem is the 2 Like a lot of the drives fastest and slowest as well.
the go-to name for price, particularly on this 500GB here the Sabrent Rocket They’re all pretty fast basically.
SSD storage for years, model. At £135 that equates to Gen4 SSD uses the
and while a long time coming, 27p a gigabyte, which is a bit Phison E16 controller, which is a There’s a real price war going
the 980 Pro with its next-gen much. The 1TB drive for £230 is decent PCIe 4.0 controller, on with these next-gen drives
Elpis controller has been well slightly better value at 23p a although it does lag behind the and price fluctuations are
worth the wait. If you’re looking gigabyte, although even here more recent Samsung Elpis common. Sabrent seems to
for the best headline there are better deals to be controller that can be found in stay out in front though, and
performance right now, then had for almost the same the 980 Pro. That means the given the overall package it’s
nothing else can really challenge performance. Real world peak sequential figures are this drive that gets the nod
it. With sequential read and write performance is that much better slightly off the pace, and the from us. 2,000GB at £360
speeds hitting 6,900MB/s and than some of the other drives randoms are a bit slower as well, equate to 18p a gigabyte, which
5,000MB/s, incredible 800K here either, so you’re going to although in real terms there’s is nothing to sniff at. The 1TB
IOPS for random performance, need that extreme throughput. hardly anything between them. version offers even great value
and the awesome Magician In fact in terms of file copying, for money at 17p a gigabyte.
software making managing the VERDICT this Sabrent drive was
drive a breeze. The 980 Pro is moderately quicker. When it VERDICT
the performance junkie’s drive Awesome sequential throughput comes to game loads, there’s
of choice. Strong random access less than a second between the Strong performance and capacity
Samsung Magician The best value for money
Good software suite

SPECS CAPACITY: 500GB / CONTROLLER: SAMSUNG ELPIS / MEMORY: SAMSUNG 3-BIT MLC SPECS CAPACITY: 2TB / CONTROLLER: PHISON PS5016-E16 / MEMORY: TOSHIBA 3D TLC
/ INTERFACE: M.2 PCIE 4.0 X4 / SEQ. READ: 6,900MB/S / SEQ. WRITE: 5,000MB/S / INTERFACE: M.2 PCIE 4.0 X4 / SEQ. READ: 5,000MB/S / SEQ. WRITE: 4,400MB/S

JANUARY 2021 97

GROUP TEST

CAN HIT INCREDIBLE
THROUGHPUT
NUMBERS ON INTEL’S
CURRENT PLATFORM
3 3

Black AN1500 2TB Aorus 1TB NVMe Gen4

WESTERN DIGITAL £452 GIGABYTE £179

Next-gen performance for PCIe 3.0 motherboards A next-gen drive that adds a little old school bling

3 Apart from looking there’s a very real hit on your 4 On release there was the Sabrent and Addlink drives.
completely different to wallet waiting if you want to so little between the This means that we recommend
the rest of the drives in see what 6.5GB/s reads feel Corsair MP600 and it over the Corsair MP600, but
this group test, this Western like. You will need a free PCIe this Gigabyte Aorus drive that honestly the difference is so
Digital drive is actually a bit of a 3.0 x8 slot in order to hit these you wouldn’t be able to tell slight you probably wouldn’t
cheat entry because it isn’t performance figures too, which them apart even if you had a notice in the real world. About
actually a PCIe 4.0 drive at all. could knock your graphics whole raft of benchmark the only thing that is different
No, this WD Black add-in-card is card bandwidth down to x8 results to look over. And that’s is that copper heatsink, which
actually a PCIe 3.0 device that throughput as well (not as big because beneath the wildly adds a certain retro charm to
manages to hit next-gen levels of a deal as you might think), different heatsinks, they were any motherboard – it also does
performance thanks to running a depending on your platform. essentially the same drives; a decent job of keeping the
pair of M.2 PCIe 3.0 drives as a Even so, this is a clever solution using the same Phison E16 SSD cool. Just make sure you
striped array. This means it that could give older systems a controller and the same have room for it in your case
can hit incredible throughput new lease of life. Toshiba 3D TLC NAND flash. before you buy.
numbers on Intel’s current Since launch, however,
platforms, or AMD’s first-gen VERDICT Gigabyte has tweaked the VERDICT
Ryzen CPUs. firmware of the drive so that it
Such performance will cost Impressively strong performance performs slightly better, and Strong overall performance
you of course, and in this case Decent software suite more on a par with the likes of Good value for money
Great looking Integrated heatsink

SPECS CAPACITY: 2TB / CONTROLLER: MARVELL 88NR2241 / MEMORY: WD 96L TLC SPECS CAPACITY: 1TB / CONTROLLER: PHISON PS5016-E16 / MEMORY: TOSHIBA 3D TLC
/ INTERFACE: PCIE 3.0 X8 AIC / SEQ. READ: 6,500MB/S / SEQ. WRITE: 4,100MB/S / INTERFACE: M.2 PCIE 4.0 X4 / SEQ. READ: 5,000MB/S / SEQ. WRITE: 4,400MB/S

98 JANUARY 2021

HARDWARE
Group Test

45

TOMORROW’S
PERFORMANCE

PCIe 4.0 SSDs are the fastest drives you
can buy at ‘reasonable’ prices right now,
offering higher sequential performance and
improved random read and writes over
everything we’ve seen before. While the
performance can be incredible in
benchmarks, when copying files and
loading games it’s fair to say that they aren’t
fully utilised just yet. A shift to make the
most out of these next-gen SSDs that could
potentially banish loading times as we know
it, and make for more seamless transitions
between areas.

What form this will actually take, and
how it’ll fit into a landscape that still has
gamers running hard drives is tricky to
fathom, but we wouldn’t be surprised if
future titles demand a certain level of SSD
performance in their system requirements.

6

S90 1TB MP600 1TB

ADDLINK £187 CORSAIR £173

An affordable up-to-date next-gen SSD A next-gen drive that offers good value for money

5 When the Addlink S90 as this is a budget drive first 6 This Corsair SSD was can work in its favour too,
was first released and foremost. one of the first PCIe 4.0 although make sure there’s
there was nothing drives to appear, with room for it on your motherboard,
else really out there that The good news is that it is AMD grabbing a bunch of these as Corsair doesn’t recommend
competed, and thus quickly a more up-to-date take on the (and the Gigabyte ones) to ship removing the cooler in order to
became the goto next-gen Phison E16 controller that can out with the first review samples slot it under any cooling offered
drive. Since then other be found elsewhere, meaning of its Zen 2 processors. That by your motherboard, as it runs
manufacturers have caught on it offers ever so slightly better was a year and a half ago now, a bit hot.
to the fact that budget drives performance than the Corsair but these drives are still going
can sell in decent numbers, and and Gigabyte drives. So while strong and offering decent value It is inexpensive for a 1TB
so pricing has tumbled across they’re slightly cheaper, this for money thanks to some keen drive, and is also faster than any
the board. This is good for us as has a slight edge in terms of price cuts. PCIe 3.0 SSD around. There are
buyers, but it means you’ve got peak throughput, and that’s Newer drives have scraped more affordable versions on their
to keep on your toes. At the time a price we think is worth a bit more out of the Phison way, and potentially faster ones
of writing the Corsair, Gigabyte coughing up for. controller and the NAND flash, too, but this one is here today.
and 1TB Sabrent drives are all which is why this SSD is slightly
cheaper than this, and it does VERDICT lower down the list, but it’s still VERDICT
put the Addlink S90 in a bit of a quality offering. The fact that
awkward spot – particularly Strong overall performance this ships with a big heatsink Decent next-gen performance
Good value for money Great value for money
Excellent endurance Integrated heatsink

SPECS CAPACITY: 1TB / CONTROLLER: PHISON PS5016-E16 / MEMORY: TOSHIBA 3D TLC SPECS CAPACITY: 1TB / CONTROLLER: PHISON PS5016-E16 / MEMORY: TOSHIBA 3D TLC / INTERFACE: M.2 PCIE 4.0 X4
/ INTERFACE: M.2 PCIE 4.0 X4 / SEQ. READ: 5,000MB/S / SEQ. WRITE: 4,400MB/S / SEQ. READ: 4,950MB/S / SEQ. WRITE: 4,250MB/S

JANUARY 2021 99

TECH
REPORT

Clinatec’s
exoskeleton,
which allowed the
patient Thibault to
walk again.

Image credit: Clinatec MIND READING

Brain-computer interfaces could revolutionise the way we livelot of sci-fi ideas seem to have their roots
in the ’70s. We don’t know whether it’s
the availability of mind-bending drugs at

A the time, or the free love, or the fashions,
Take the case of two subjects in a recent DARPA- Cyborg
supported clinical trial carried out by the University of
Melbourne, Australia. Both suffer from upper-limb paralysis In 2019, a man
thanks to ALS, also known as motor neurone disease, they called Thibault
but something seems to have sparked off were fitted with tiny wires that picked up electrical signals was able to walk
a load of ideas that still seem modern today. from the nervous system, and passed the results to a in a mind-
controlled
computer. This was able to distinguish between the different exoskeleton after
being paralysed
One of those ideas is the brain/computer interface (BCI), types of signals received when the subjects thought about in an accident.
The tech, from
which you kind of expect Elon Musk to talk about in the same different things, and these were mapped to various computer French firm
Clinatec and
way he might discuss hollowing out a volcano, but sit up and commands, including moving the mouse on an unmodified Grenoble Alpes
Hospital, took a
take notice when Valve starts talking about it too. Research Windows 10 PC. By adding an eye-tracker, they were able to few months to
master using a
into them began in the ’70s, and earlier this year the UK send messages, order online shopping, and use internet videogame-like
training system.
Government received a report into them from the banking. They were then allowed to take the interfaces home, Brainwave
recording
Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology, in which it and achieved click-selection accuracy rates of over 92 devices were
implanted at the
was stated that entertainment companies are developing percent. Sadly, there was no mention of whether they used sides of his head,
reading the
non-invasive BCIs “to play computer games”. This no doubt this new ability to play StarCraft II. motor cortex of
Thibault’s brain.
made a few honourable members wonder what a ‘computer The surgery required for the interfaces is described as

game’ was, but the next sentence is even better: these ‘minimally invasive’ by the study’s authors, but still means

products are currently being offered to consumers. wires in your brain – specifically the superior sagittal sinus

Non-invasive BCIs, which use sensors worn on the skull, adjacent to the primary motor cortex – inserted through veins

are a world away from the invasive type Musk is implanting in using a tiny expandable tube called a stent. This is probably

the skulls of pigs, which he describes as “kind of like a Fitbit in what Musk’s pig has gone through too – although the South

your skull with tiny wires”. We’re not sure we’d want that, but African-born billionaire suffered a blow in September when a

for anyone who’s suffered a disconnection between their brain survey suggested 90 percent of people wouldn’t use one, with

and the rest of their body, perhaps as a result of an accident, 32 percent worried it could be used for spying. The survey,

an implant may be able to reconnect the nerve signals. carried out by OnBuy.com, was hardly scientifically rigorous,

100 JANUARY 2021