PC Gamer

Microsoft doesn’t care whether or not you’re ready to upgrade to Windows 11 yet. If you’re a Windows 10 user, the latest update (KB5005463) will include the PC Health Check program that’s primarily used to determine whether or not your PC can handle Windows 11. Previously, you had to visit Microsoft’s Windows 11 site to download and install PC Health Check. While the app itself doesn’t force you to install Windows 11, it’s the primary tool for you to check if your computer will be able to withstand the upgrade.  Unfortunately PC Health Check isn’t as reliable as you might…

Blizzard has announced a “pause” on plans for an online BlizzCon event that was expected to take place in early 2022, saying that the effort required to mount the show “is best directed towards supporting our teams.” The first BlizzConline, as Blizzard dubbed it, took place in February 2021 as a stand-in for the 2020 live event, which was cancelled because of the Covid-19 pandemic. A live BlizzCon 2021 event was called off earlier this year for the same reason, at which time Blizzard announced that the all-digital event would return in early 2022. But that plan has been derailed…

Trains are built to do exactly one thing: Stay on their tracks. The ultimate power move when you’re playing god with trains is sending them flying off the rails—it’s definitely what I did with my childhood Lego train set as soon as I got bored watching it travel in circles. In Satisfactory, a building game I’ve been obsessed with since early 2020, trains are a lot more useful and a lot less playful than a toy train set. They’re one of the best ways to move stuff long distances, and they run on electricity instead of fuel, which makes them…

If you’re wondering how to start the legendary weapon quests in New World, there are a few things you need to do before it shows up. One of those requirements is hitting level 60, so if you’re not quite there yet, our leveling guide should help you out. Once you hit max level, you’ll want to concentrate on improving your gear. While the weapons you get from this quest aren’t the best in the game, they should help give your overall gear score a big boost. With that in mind, here’s how to start the legendary weapon quest in New…

I was prepared for this to be bad news. One of the things I appreciate about Deep Rock Galactic is that it gets new, fun updates every few months without desperately clinging to players the way so many of today’s live service games do. It’s a great game to hop into co-op for a week or two, then set aside for a few months until the urge to go mining and bug exterminating strikes again. When Deep Rock’s developers told me they were switching to a seasonal model and introducing a battle pass, I assumed it was following the Fortnite…

The new refer a friend feature in Fortnite (say that five times fast) has launched, meaning you can get new rewards for convincing your friends to open up Fortnite for the first time—or at least the first time in a long, long while. Of course, being a battle royale, Fortnite is almost always a better experience with friends. So if you’re hoping to build your squad up, you might as well get some cosmetic rewards for your trouble. You can even get the new “Rainbow Racer” skin if you complete tasks with your friends. The only catch? You need to…

A recent update to Steam’s code includes signs of an upcoming new login method: Scanning a QR code with the Steam mobile app. That’s according to a tweet by SteamDB creator Pavel Djundik.  The feature isn’t live yet, but seems likely to release alongside the Steam Deck later this year to make logging in on the handheld more convenient. The Deck’s touchscreen should mean typing in passwords won’t be too onerous, but logging in by scanning a QR code sure sounds better to me. The code Djundik highlighted shows two login options: one with account name and one with QR…

Activision Blizzard’s request to pause its ongoing lawsuit has been rejected. The developer and publisher tried to put the suit on hold following an ongoing battle between the Department for Employment and Housing—the state department currently suing Activision Blizzard for discrimination and sexual harassment—and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The EEOC had also brought a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard, which was settled on the same day it went public for $18 million (thanks, Law360). The DFEH opposed the settlement, saying that it would cause “irreparable harm” to its own lawsuit. The EEOC then hit back, revealing that two of the…

I did not expect to root for Guardians of the Galaxy this much. It was weighed down by so many stagnant vibes during its pre-release cycle. The shadow of Marvel’s Avengers, Square Enix’s 2020 attempt to transmute the total media superiority of the Marvel Cinematic Universe into a living co-op videogame, loomed particularly large. That game’s cast of Hollywood facsimiles—all of these fake Chris Hemsworths—left customers ice cold, and while the core narrative was decent, nobody enjoyed the meaningless currency grind. Guardians comes from the same publisher and appears to be made of the same stock, except that this time,…

On the evidence of its timeless tyranny over the RTS genre, there’s a case to be made that there’s no surpassing Age of Empires 2—now in its ‘Definitive’ form. Its competitive scene is thriving, people are lapping up its ongoing DLCs like bread loaves dished out by a benevolent ruler, and its gorgeous sprites have a cleanliness that 3D graphics just can’t quite seem to match. So on the one hand, it makes sense that new series developer Relic has decided to loosely model Age of Empires 4 on the beloved second entry. It strips away some of the complexities…

To say anticipation for Elden Ring is through the roof is quite the understatement: it’s through the firmament, through the galaxy, distant alien lifeforms are probably hyped about it. The open world RPG by the creators of Dark Souls and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is probably the most coveted game since Cyberpunk 2077. The Elden Ring release date is February 25, 2022 – it was delayed by a month in October, because according to From Software the “depth and strategic freedom of the game exceeded initial expectations”. Public gameplay footage has been pretty thin on the ground so far, but…

Runescape developer Jagex’s publishing wing has picked up a promising indie release for its Jagex Partners label, making Melvor Idle an indie no longer. The idler game, similar to games like Clicker Heroes or Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms, released on Steam last year and wears its influences from Jagex’s flagship Runescape very proudly.  Melvor Idle is a detailed, multi-track idle game that seeks to reimagine “the core components of the RuneScape franchise in a way that they could be enjoyed casually,” says the publisher. It’s a fairly feature-rich idle game, one that has a lot of things to…

Impressively large and strange roguelike Caves of Qud has a new update out on October 25, a big one adding two new regions, a new village, and a bunch of improvements for those looking to get into what can be an intimidating genre.  In short, the creators say that the patch, called Palladium Reef, has got: “Wander and Roleplay modes, 9 preset builds, gorgeous new chargen UI, an arcology plastered in coral, gutsmongers and organ markets, thousand-year-old frogs, biblically accurate angels, extradimensional clams, anarchist commune, an algae snack, something called “sunslag”, skin glitter, tongue tyrants, spaser weapons, star kraken, flowerfolk,…

Welcome to This Week in PC Gaming, a show where we take a look at the new games, updates, events, and more coming at you over the next week, every week, until the end of PC games as we know it.  This week we get up close and personal with the Guardians of the Galaxy, Age of Empires 4 brings back classic RTS action to the PC, Darkest Dungeon 2 promises to be the most stressful road trip ever,  The PC gaming forecast is taken over by scary games you should play this week in order to get in the…

James Ohlen was lead designer on both of BioWare’s Baldur’s Gate games, and now he’s head of Archetype Entertainment, an internal studio working on story-driven videogames for Wizards of the Coast. Apparently he also had time to whip up a supplement for Dungeons & Dragons based on Baldur’s Gate, with help from some other ex-BioWare veterans (Drew Karpyshyn, Brent Knowles, and Jesse Sky are in the credits).  Minsc & Boo’s Journal of Villainy contains write-ups of characters from both the original games statted for D&D 5th edition. Some are presented as potential patrons for your characters, others as opponents. It…

From 2010 to 2014 Richard Cobbett wrote Crapshoot, a column about rolling the dice to bring random obscure games back into the light. This week, the adventure that brought Tolkien’s epic fantasy to life like never before—using text! Wait, hang on… In the middle of the earth, in the land of the Shire, lives a brave little hobbit who we all admire. With his long wooden pipe, and fuzzy woolly toes, he lives in a hobbit-hole and everybody knows him. Bilbo. Bilbo Baggins. He’s only three feet tall. Yes, Bilbo, Bilbo Baggins. The bravest little hobbit of them all. Well,…

The latest marketing push for Call of Duty: Vanguard wants you to believe its graphics are so realistic that conflict photographers can’t tell the difference between the videogame and reality. “Call of Duty: Vanguard captures the epic intimacy of World War II in an incredibly immersive manner,” said chief marketing officer Fernando Machado, presumably keeping a straight face. A pair of photojournalists were given “special camera-like portals [to enter] into the game engine itself,” where they captured images just as they would if they were photographing a real conflict. Naturally, they also raved about how realistic the experience was: “As…

Through November 5, 2021 players on Battlenet can change the battletag associated with their Overwatch account for free. It’s only available for the limited time through the 5th of November, and you can only grab it if you don’t already have a free name change on your account.  So if you already have one, use it and snag another free one, I guess. It’s a great opportunity if you, like Blizzard, regret the name you chose. Such as, for example, a prominent character in your shooter.  For you, however, it’s probably more like when I chose my StarCraft username back…

Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – Definitive Edition system requirements have been revealed via the Rockstar Store, and things have come a long way since 2005, when GTA: San Andreas was released on PC. Back then, visiting Los Santos called for only a GeForce 3 video card, though the GeForce 6—released a year before—was recommended for seeing all of CJ’s possible hairstyles at their most glorious. You also needed a whole 256MB of RAM, with 384MB recommended and a parenthetical note adding “the more the better!”  In 2021’s version, you’ll need a GeForce GTX 760 or a Radeon R9 280,…

October was seconds old when people started declaring the start of spooky season, but Halloween is the one yearly event we’re happy to let claim an entire month. No one complains when signs for costume shops start appearing on the sides of abandoned department store buildings—it’s exciting, unlike the cloying Christmas songs that later invade all the still-operating department stores sometime in November. (It did, however, feel a bit tragic to see the Spirit Halloween sign on the side of an old Fry’s Electronics, the iconic Silicon Valley electronics chain that went out of business earlier this year.) Likewise, in-game…