PC Powerplay

JAMES COTTEE Always looks forwards, not backwards. He may or may not be twirling, twirling, twirling toward freedom, however. Borderlands 3 is finally out (though not quite in time for a review this issue (-Ed), and some people aren’t happy. There

1 “Mutations kind of go hand-in-hand with an apocalypatic setting, I’m always very interested in a player character whose identity is shifting over the course of the game, and mutation seemed a really interesting way to explore that.” 2 “One of one

MEGHANN O’NEILL has never seen The Little Mermaid. Her entire understanding of mermaids is based on on the movie Splash, which you could totally recreate in The Sims, if you were so inclined. I’ve mentioned this before, but it bears repeating becau

GREAT SCOTS No Code is a BAFTAwinning indie studio based in Glasgow, Scotland. Its first game was 2016’s Super Arc Light, a well-received mobile game. Then it teamed up with Devolver Digital in 2017 to release Stories Untold, a stylish horror antholo

DEVELOPER SICK CHICKEN STUDIOS • PRICE $14.50 https://www.sickchicken.com/ In 2047, the world is sliced in two. How can it be saved? Is it even possible to stick a planet back together? Guard Duty opens a few centuries before this dramatic event. Y

From the very first announcement of CDProjekt Red’s next game, Cyberpunk 2077, it was a title that made an impact. From the choice to remake one of tabletop gaming’s most iconic – and iconoclastic – settings, through to employing its original creator

PCPP: If you could tell past you that your tabletop game would be getting the AAA video game treatment decades after its release, how would past you respond? Mike Pondsmith: Cyberpunk has been optioned for video games since it was first released, so

Wargaming is no stranger to tweaking and adding content to its popular military titles. It even knows when something is a bit undercooked, and when to pull back on it or ditch it entirely, so it’s a company that’s proven itself to be pretty agile - b

Total War is delving into mythology. For the last couple of historical games, myths and legends have been creeping into the war-torn sandbox, but in Total War Saga: Troy, Creative Assembly Sofia is taking things one step further, honing in on a confl

DEVELOPER FRONTIER DEVELOPMENTS • PUBLISHER IN-HOUSE • RELEASE NOVEMBER 2019 planetzoogame.com Swinging the camera over my zoo, I watch throngs of people wander between enclosures, cooing at the animals and slurping soda. But then there’s a ripple o

DEVELOPER STAR THEORY • PUBLISHER PRIVATE DIVISION • RELEASE SPRING 2020 kerbalspaceprogram2.com When you land on a celestial body in Kerbal Space Program 2, whether it’s the Mun or another planet entirely, your mission doesn’t end with you planting

On ground level, the street that houses Amplitude Studios is a uniform block of contemporary cafés, flats and office buildings. But stand on the eighth floor balcony and the first thing you’ll notice is the 1930s. The concrete dome of the Église du S

‘What’s next?’ For an independent studio riding high after a big hit it’s an exciting question, and a daunting one. After the success of its excellent action roguelike Dead Cells, Motion Twin is in the process of deciding what to do next. In a normal

DEVELOPER 505 GAMES • PUBLISHER REMEDY ENTERTAINMENT www.controlgame.com The omnipotent Finnish janitor of the Federal Bureau of Control really wants to go on vacation, but can’t until I’ve vanquished his old nemesis, The Clog. In what we’ll call th

DEVELOPER PANACHE DIGITAL GAMES • PUBLISHER PRIVATE DIVISION ancestorsgame.com The aroused moaning of the prehistoric ape I’m trying to bang is getting to be a bit much. She’s really into this backrub I’m giving her, but I’m having trouble feeling t

DEVELOPER DOUBLE DAMAGE GAMES • PUBLISHER DOUBLE DAMAGE GAMES rebel-galaxy.com The boundless promise of space exploration is a precarious asteroid field for a developer to navigate. It takes the luxuries of time and funding for galaxies like those o

DEVELOPER SUPERMASSIVE GAMES • PUBLISHER BANDAI NAMCO bandainamcoent.com Man of Medan isn’t particularly scary. If it were a movie, it’d be the kind that releases direct-to-video, one of those schlocky DVDs lining the convenience store displays. The

DEVELOPER GUNFIRE GAMES • PUBLISHER PERFECT WORLD www.remnantgame.com/en This odd genre mash-up looks like it was coughed out by a game development algorithm. It’s equal parts a third-person looter-shooter and a Dark Souls-inspired boss rush, with a

DEVELOPER FOAM SWORD • PUBLISHER DOUBLE FINE www.foamswordgames.com If your childhood was anything like mine, you would’ve spent an inordinate amount of time riding a bicycle. I rode my bike into town to trade in games at an indie game store, cycled

DEVELOPER CRYTEK • PUBLISHER CRYTEK www.huntshowdown.com In this multiplayer shooter you don’t win, you survive. After the tutorial, I was already on edge and sweaty. Nearly two-dozen hours later, I’m coming out of every round much the same, only wi

DEVELOPER BLIZZARD ENTERTAINMENT • PUBLISHER BLIZZARD ENTERTAINMENT worldofwarcraft.com Classic is a full recreation of World of Warcraft as it was at launch, or not long after – a sort of digital time machine that lives alongside the modern version

The original RTX 2080 is equipped with the TU104 GPU with 2,944 of the maximum 3,072 cores unlocked. The RTX 2080 Super comes with all 3072 cores unlocked. Further resources are also available, including 384 Tensor cores and 48 RT cores (compared to

PRICE $1,479 www.asus.com/a If the RTX 2080 Super is an improvement over the standard 2080, then the Asus ROG Strix 2080 Super is on another level again. It’s faster, cooler, quieter, has a better build and arguably a better look. It’s no surprise t

PRICE N/A www.nvidia.com Externally, the RTX 2080 Super Founder’s Edition looks almost identical to its non-super sibling. The exception is the addition of a classy mirror finish on the face of the card. It retains the impressive build quality, desi

With a massive proliferation of options flooding the market seemingly every week, finding the best gaming mouse can be a bit of a slog. Fear not, however, we test mice by the dozens to sort the best value propositions out of a crowded field, and to f

There is a bit of a cult of personality surrounding the best gaming keyboards. Ask 10 people what the best gaming keyboard is, and you’re liable to get 10 different answers, and maybe get stabbed depending on how heated the argument gets. This fanati

When deciding the best gaming headsets, we look at a ton of different aspects of each pair that come in. Are they comfortable? What kind of gaming-specific features does it offer? Is it hideous? And, of course, how’s it sound? We look for the headpho

It doesn’t matter how incredible a gaming PC you’re rocking if your W key sticks, or the music doesn’t sound right through your aging headphones. Without the latest equipment, your PC is being wasted; you want your gaming to be comfortable and conven

PRICE$169 www.thermaltake.com For a while there every case-maker and their dog was trying to be the most aggressive designer on the block. Coloured panels! Inset RGBs! Weird angles that you might expect some Lovecraftian horror to emerge from! It wa

PRICE $3,999 www.acer.com/au Ticking off just about every monitor spec a modern PC gamer could dream of, this 35-inch LED-backlit VA screen from Acer has been a long time coming. First revealed back in August 2017, the X35 has taken nearly two years

PRICE $145 & $239 www.amd.com AMD Ryzen 5 3400G Socket AM4; 4core/8thread; 3.7GHz base/4.2Ghz boost clock; 4MB L3 cache; Radeon Vega 11 Graphics; Supports DDR4-2933; 65W TDP; Wraith Spire bundled cooler. AMD Ryzen 3 3200G Socket AM4; 4core/4thread;

PRICE $315 & $389 www.amd.com AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Socket AM4; 6core/12thread; 3.6GHz base/4.2Ghz boost clock; 32MB L3 cache; Supports DDR4-3200; 65W TDP; Wraith Stealth bundled cooler. AMD Ryzen 5 3600X Socket AM4; 6core/12thread; 3.8GHz base/4.4Ghz b

Thermaltake’s product range is ideal for any PC enthusiast’s next build. Maintaining the ideal PC doesn’t just mean updating the video card or improving your RAM every few years – sometimes you need a new case, or a smarter cooling solution, or a tou

Price: $500-ish Distributor: EB Games or Aldi Maybe? arcade1up.com These mini arcade cabinets are a cheap and easy way to get some classic arcade gaming in your home if you don’t feel up to a full DIY project. There’s a decent range of games too, fro

RELEASED JANUARY 30, 2015 • OUR REVIEW 7/10 www.square-enix.com Of all the characters in the countless games I’ve played over the years, it seems odd that I’ve grown most attached to this one. I’m old enough to remember when mobile phones had aerial