PCGamesN News, Tips, Tricks, Ideas

Stardew Valley is possibly my favorite game of all time, with its uncontested cozy vibes and top-tier wholesome aesthetic. The art is brilliant, the writing is great, and I always find myself never wanting to leave the game’s small town. One of the most exciting things about Stardew Vally is the fact that ConcernedApe, the game’s sole creator and developer, often releases updates with new content. With the 1.6 update on the horizon, he has just revealed a sneak peek containing some of its features.

Counter-Strike 2 is finally here, which means both long-time fans and newcomers to Valve’s iconic shooter are already hopping in-game to play through the updated maps. CS2 arrived as a free update to Counter-Strike Global Offensive, replacing the latter in the process. Now that CSGO is officially dead and Counter-Strike 2 has taken over, an uptick in fans can be seen on Steam’s charts. CS2 has a whopping amount of players after just one hour, sitting with more than the next top nine Steam games combined.

It’s here. The complete Counter-Strike 2 launch has finally landed, heralding a new generation of multiplayer shooter. It began in 2000, with the first ever edition of Counter-Strike, and seriously hit stride in 2012 when we welcomed CSGO. Now, the biggest FPS the world has ever known begins a new chapter, as we exit the CS2 beta, and Valve says farewell to Counter-Strike Global Offensive.

Cyberpunk 2077 is back in business, baby. CD Projekt Red’s recent release of its futuristic RPG’s expansion, Phantom Liberty, has caused a serious uptick in Cyberpunk’s overall popularity. Fans are pouring back into Night City to check out the new content, from Solomon Reed to the fixes the game’s free 2.0 update has brought. Unfortunately, the sudden influx of both old and new players alike means that there are inevitable issues coming. CD Projekt Red has just made one of these apparent, sharing why autosaves aren’t syncing properly.

Doomsday Paradise, the upcoming multiplayer apocalyptic dating sim that’s blown up on TikTok, finally has a Steam release date. The Lemonade Flasbang developed game has been making the rounds on TikTok for its delightfully absurdist characters and beautiful art style, and while you wait for the newly revealed release date you can even give it a try yourself for free. Go on, you know you want to.

Deep Rock Galactic is one of those games that you simply can’t put down. If you’re playing with your friends, the addictive qualities show themselves tenfold. Unfortunately, a lot of us dedicated girl gamers can’t create the dwarf we’ve always envisioned ourselves as since Ghost Ship Games hasn’t added any female characters to Deep Rock Galactic. Adding them isn’t as simple as it sounds though, as the developer has explained why.

Devil May Cry is a core video game series for many of us, allowing us to experience the forefront of battles against demonic hordes as Dante, a demon hunter looking to avenge his mother’s murder by destroying the evil creatures. If you’ve played through the series yourself, then you also probably agree that Devil May Cry would make an incredible anime series. Much like other Japanese classics such as Castlevania, Capcom’s iconic series is getting an anime adaptation and it’s coming soon to Netflix.

Logitech is adding to its long list of existing racing sim peripherals, by teaming up with Playseat for the second time, to launch the Playseat Challenge X Logitech G Edition. A brand-new lightweight and fully adjustable racing sim chair, the Playseat Challenge X is another option for those looking to create a more immersive racing game experience.

The Genshin Impact 4.1 update is now here, and as with most recent version updates, this one brings a few unexpected quality-of-life changes. Version 4.1 has upgraded the interactive map on HoYoLAB, specifically to help treasure hunters and players who enjoy grabbing every single collectible on the map. There’s now a difficulty warning for each individual notable collectible to let you know how hard they’ll be to obtain.

Between Diablo 3, WoW, Overwatch, and Starcraft, Russell Brower has helped shape some of the greatest Activision Blizzard games of the last 15 years. Now, the legendary composer is moving onto a new massively-multiplayer project, as he joins the team behind Tarisland, the upcoming RPG with shades of World of Warcraft that is scheduled for a new closed beta later this year. If you’ve haven’t heard of Tarisland before, or needed a little more convincing before trying it out, Brower’s iconic music might be just the thing, as developer Tencent aims to rival WoW.

Lies of P patch notes 1.2 are here, and the main focus is making the game just a little bit easier, nerfing some of its toughest boss fights and buffing your carry weight and parries. If you’ve been playing the ‘Pinocchio does Bloodborne’ fairytale soulslike, and finding some of its encounters to be a bit too challenging, this Lies of P update should make your life a little more bearable.

When I saw the new League of Legends Coven Nami skin I was obsessed. As someone who owns every Coven cosmetic (even for champions I can’t play), to see one of my go-to supports finally get her spot in the moonlight has made my week. Given the skin is also an 1820RP one, there’s a secret little dance that triggers when Nami emotes, and it’s channeling some Wednesday Addams spooky and cooky.

Baldur’s Gate 3 hotfix 7 is here, and while it focuses on minor improvements to prevent crashes and help with save game issues, players are still asking Larian to “shave the cat” since His Majesty was given hair in patch 3. Whether or not Larian will turn the hissing cat back into a Sphynx remains to be seen.

Cities Skylines 2 is almost upon us, and from what we’ve seen, it’s delivering every minute and specific little detail we could want in a city builder. At the same time, the late Soviet era aesthetic of Stalker – and the upcoming Stalker 2 – provides one of the best-looking environments in all of gaming. Those big factories. The chunky old cars. Metro 2033, Metro Last Light, and Metro Redux make the most of the Soviet style, which brings to vivid life a kind of decrepit old world waiting to be reborn. You put all this together, the mechanics of Cities Skylines, and the visual flair of Metro and Stalker, and you get Workers and Resources: Soviet Republic, a superlative city sim that’s just signed to a new publisher, and available to try with a free Steam download.

As EA Sports FC 24 draws closer, old FIFA games including FIFA 23 have disappeared and been made unavailable to buy on digital stores including Steam, Epic, and the respective stores for PlayStation and Xbox. FIFA 23 is seemingly still available via the EA app, but otherwise older games in the football series are currently not available on PC.

Dark and Darker patch notes are here for the first major early access update to the cutthroat dungeon-crawling RPG. Developer Ironmace isn’t revealing all its changes in detail, but gives us a pretty good overview of what’s changed in this big Dark and Darker update. With multiple class changes including a huge Rogue Cutthroat buff, some nice Ranger buffs, and a Bard rework, there’s a lot to discover in Dark and Darker patch 1.

Cyberpunk 2077 is already having a massive Steam resurgence thanks to the combined releases of the 2.0 update and Phantom Liberty expansion from CD Projekt Red. In fact, the concurrent player count for players in Night City is the highest it’s been in three years, as we’re seeing the biggest number of players in the game since December 2020, the launch month.

High on Life is one of those silly, surreal experiences you never shake after playing through to the end. As a massive Rick and Morty stan, I really enjoyed it despite some of its repetitive qualities. It delivered what I had expected it to, a nice package of humor and the ultimate question, “What am I even looking at?” High on Knife, Squanch Games’ DLC, excited me as soon as it was announced. Some time has passed since then, and we’ve finally received an official High on Knife release date.

The Sims 4 is probably one of my most-played games ever, as it currently sits in my EA library with thousands of recorded playtime hours. I’ve been playing the series’ fourth entry since I was a literal child and started with the older Sims games as soon as I could move a computer’s mouse properly. The game continues to get better with each passing update, as EA drops new free content features and bug fixes. The Sims 4’s latest update is all about building upon culinary passion ahead of the new Home Chef Hustle Stuff Pack release.

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 is one of those game bundles that just brings up some of my deepest core memories. If you had access to games as a kid, you’ll probably remember doing some wild tricks on your virtual skateboard in Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater. Following Iron Galaxy and Vicarious Visions’ fully remastered bundle of the first and second Pro Skater, Activision saw the duo published on multiple platforms. It was previously only available on PC via Epic Games, but we Steam users are finally getting to play it as it comes to Valve’s store.

League of Legends is always subject to change, whether it be through a new hotfix addressing major issues or a large update aiming to resolve many. The game’s 13.19 update is underway, and it’s a massive one with loads of champion nerfs but even more buffs. The LoL character adjustments aren’t the only thing coming with Riot Games’ big update, as the developer introduces some new ranked restrictions and changes to in-game pinging so as to target toxicity. From Briar nerfs to Twitch buffs, here’s what to expect.

Valve has announced a new major update available for its virtual reality software, SteamVR. The SteamVR 2.0 Beta update brings a plethora of new features, changes, and bug fixes to the platform. This is all in an effort to improve the user experience and make it easier to discover the latest VR games to pick up and play.

Red Dead Redemption 2 is one of the best-looking games that Rockstar has ever produced. Though we’re deeply anxious to see GTA 6, and how the supposedly revamped and reimagined version of Vice City is going to look, ahead of the next Grand Theft Auto, another journey through RDR2 sounds like the perfect way to pass the time. Now, with a new Red Dead Redemption 2 HD overhaul mod, from the creator of Natural Vision for GTA 5, the world of Arthur Morgan, John Marston et al looks even better, and you can get the entire thing right now.

The entire Wolfenstein series is dirt cheap right now, as the series that started in the ‘90s is part of a Steam sale that sees each of its games get massive discounts for a limited time. Some of the Wolfenstein games are among the best FPS games ever made, with the modern Machine Games part of the series offering up top-tier action.

Valve has allegedly refused to allow Fortune’s Run, a new boomer shooter with shades of Quake, Doom, and Turok, to be listed on Steam. This is reportedly owing to a disagreement regarding a scene that the game’s developer says is designed to be “disgusting.” Originally scheduled for release on Wednesday, September 27, developer Team Fortune claims that Fortune’s Run has been “rejected” by Valve but hopes the company will eventually decide that the shooter can launch on Steam after all.

Now that Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty is upon us, I can finally tell you about the expansion’s best side gig. The themes of espionage and moral choice are rooted in Dogtown, with both the main story and side gigs offering up you and V opportunities to tackle objectives how you see fit, but one mission that I stumbled across exemplifies what is best about the DLC, and everyone needs to experience it.

Ubisoft recently unveiled the system requirements for the latest in the Assassin’s Creed series, Assassin’s Creed Mirage, and while Intel’s XeSS was included among the long list of upcoming features, similar technologies from Nvidia and AMD were nowhere in sight. However, this Assassin’s Creed Mirage DLSS and FSR omission seems to have simply been an oversight, as a recent update to that post shows the game will be getting these features after all.

One of the biggest players in the graphics card war between Nvidia and AMD has left the building. Well, they will be leaving the building at the end of the year. That’s right, Scott Herkelman, the head of the AMD Radeon GPU business, is leaving the company at the end of 2023 after leading the graphics business unit since 2016.

Solium Infernum has the best gimmick I’ve seen in a strategy sim in years. Set in Hell, Satan has suddenly disappeared, leaving the Infernal Throne suddenly vacant. Playing as one of several archfiends, the objective is to marshall the forces of the damned and defeat your rivals to become the new ruler of the underworld. But this isn’t all about military might, building armies, and plundering resources. Facing competition from the likes of Civilization 7, Ara History Untold, Millennia from the publisher behind Cities Skylines 2, and Total War Pharaoh, Solium Infernum has a unique take on videogame strategy – it’s all about politics, charm, manipulation, and psychology. And it’s just revealed its newest playable character.

Starfield is the biggest Bethesda RPG to date, so of course features, mechanics, and ideas either got cut, reduced, or changed during development. This natural part of the development has been highlighted by Starfield director Todd Howard, who’s explained why a more in-depth planetary affliction system was cut down in favor of other mechanics.

All Cyberpunk 2077 mods are being disabled across Night City thanks to developer CD Projekt Red, as the studio wants to ensure that players avoid compatibility issues with the newly released Phantom Liberty expansion. While CDPR has warned players to disable mods prior to the expansion’s launch, this move has split the community, as many wanted to at least try playing Phantom Liberty with cosmetic mods.

From Oblivion to Skyrim, Fallout 3 to Fallout 4, Bethesda games and bugs go hand in hand. It’s become, essentially, part of the charm. Watching Deathclaws rocket into space, putting buckets on people’s heads to steal their gold – who doesn’t have fond memories of Bethesda bugs? Starfield, however, seems comparatively slick. Despite the size of the Settled Systems, the new world built by Todd Howard and company rarely presents any big bugs or graphical errors. Nevertheless, the ongoing community Starfield patch, which aims to remove any and all issues from the RPG, has identified a considerable 249 separate potential problems. From ships to companions and NPCs, there’s a pretty long hit list of Starfield bugs.

Payday 3 has only just launched, but it’s already struggling with broken matchmaking and a flood of negative Steam reviews. While the online functionality and server status go up and down, players are looking toward Starbeeze for any word on the matter. The developer made a post sharing its plans for updates addressing the matchmaking issues, and it looks like we’ll see fixes for the server problems drop very soon.

CSGO Twitch viewers be warned – the longstanding online shooter is no longer listed among the streaming site’s games library. Following a tease from Valve, it seems like the Counter-Strike 2 launch will be imminently upon us. Adding a little more evidence to that theory, Counter-Strike Global Offensive has disappeared from Twitch, to be replaced by an entirely new category. It’s a bit spooky. It certainly feels like something big is coming. What is going on with CSGO, CS2, and the entire Counter-Strike lineup?

G2 Esports, the Berlin-based esports organization, and Herman Miller, the world-famous furniture designer, are collaborating to produce a limited edition G2 Esports Embody Gaming Chair. Only 250 units will be produced, and they will go on sale September 26, 2023.

Cyberpunk 2077 is back on many of our radars as its upcoming expansion, Phantom Liberty, nears its official launch. With a brand new story accompanied by legendary actor Idris Elba himself, these are especially exciting times for CD Projekt Red’s futuristic game. Despite all of the other big releases dropping recently, including entire games rather than DLC or expansions, Cyberpunk 2077 has made its way back to the top of Steam’s global top sellers. What’s right behind it, in second place? Phantom Liberty.

Steam is the ultimate PC game provider of lightning deals and jaw-dropping discounts. Whenever a new fest or sale-oriented event starts, my wallet trembles in fear. Valve’s timeless storefront continues to slay with its sales, now celebrating some of the most fast-paced, thrilling shoot ’em up during its week-long shmup fest. If you’re in search of a new game to add to your ever-expanding Steam library, then this limited-time event and its exclusive deals are the perfect opportunity to find one (or many).

Vampire Survivors is one of my all-time favorite games, and it isn’t just because of my completely illogical obsession with all things vampire. In fact, it’s a running joke within the community that vampires may or may not even exist in-game yet. Poncle’s game is actually incredible due to its addictive gameplay and fast-paced combat. While each stage is half an hour long, you’ll easily lose hours in-game as you forget what time even is. The indie developer recently sat down for an AMA on Reddit, answering questions and alluding to possible online multiplayer.

Starfield is well on its way to becoming Bethesda’s most iconic release yet, currently sitting as the beloved developer’s biggest launch to date. If you’ve been exploring the game’s star systems and diverse planets, then you may have run into some bugs or performance issues here and there. Bethesda has just released its 1.7.33 update for Starfield, addressing some of those problems and fixing them ahead of a bigger planned update.

Payday 3 developer Starbreeze says that matchmaking and server issues with the heist-driven shooter are connected to software updates created and released by a “third-party matchmaking partner,” and that as instability continues, the developer will be “evaluating” a new partner for Payday 3 online services. In the wake of Payday 3 server issues, the game’s Steam rating has dropped to ‘mostly negative’ as players struggle to access matches and confront long wait times.

There’s never been a better time to snag a copy of PC Building Simulator, with the game on offer for as little as $1, and you can raise money for a charity of your choice in the process. The PC Building Simulator Humble Bundle gives you the chance to pick up the PC-building sim for a fraction of its full value, with bundles worth up to $79 costing $10 or less.

Everyone and their dog has played The Elder Scrolls 5Skyrim, but what about taking a journey through Bethesda’s back catalogue? Fanatical’s fantastic build-your-own Bethesda bundle lets you fight fantasy creatures in Morrowind, slaughter demons in Doom, kill Nazis in Wolfenstein: The New Order and much, much more.

Cyberpunk 2077, especially the new Phantom Liberty expansion, has that wonderfully neon-soaked, sleazy, lived-in aesthetic that really makes Night City pop. You mix that with the ultra-tough platforming combat of Dead Cells, a hint of the boss fights from Dark Souls, and a maybe a touch of Hotline Miami and anime classic Akira, and you get Dark Light, a beautiful Metroidvania that’s racking up great Steam reviews, and is available right now at a decent discount.

Baldur’s Gate 3 has become a phenomenon since it launched last month, being heralded for its unique cast of characters, in-depth battle system and clever writing. Yet, even as one of the most highly-rated video games of all time, the D&D RPG hasn’t been able to shake off a slew of issues, from CPU slowdown to frame rate drops, which occur the longer you progress into the game. While developer Larian Studios has been consistent with its fixes and updates, the third act is still riddled with issues, but this Baldur’s Gate 3 DLSS 3 mod may be exactly what Baldur’s Gate 3 needs.

Feel like going for a dip in Starfield? Then you might want to avoid this particular planet. It has a lake or ocean that’s so corrosive that it instantly kills the animals in it. What were they doing there? That’s a question you should perhaps ask Bethesda.

Cult of the Lamb publisher Devolver Digital has, as revealed by its latest financial results, had offers to put some of its titles on a Game Pass-style subscription service. However, it turned these offers down as the company believed they undervalued the games.

There could be some more Resident Evil 4 DLC coming after Separate Ways, at least according to a little detail hidden in the RE4 Remake Steam backend. With Ada Wong finally back in Resident Evil 4 for a full campaign mode, and The Mercenaries also available for free, if we compare to the original Resident Evil 4, that only leaves Assignment Ada absent from RE4 Remake. But whether this is the missing chunk of DLC from Capcom’s superlative survival shooter remains to be seen.

The Genshin Impact version 4.1 update goes live this week, which means that it’s time for HoYoverse to announce the new roster additions coming in version 4.2. The Steambird reporter, Charlotte, will be joining the list of playable characters alongside the Hydro Archon herself, Furina. There’s no doubt that Furina is a five-star character, being an Archon, but there’s no way of telling whether or not Charlotte holds that same status.

Baldur’s Gate 3 isn’t short on NPCs, companions and otherwise, but fans are now clamoring for the addition of a new character. And it’s all thanks to the recent live-action Dungeons and Dragons session which saw the game’s origin characters acting out their roles.

Between Resident Evil, Monster Hunter, Street Fighter, and myriad other games, Capcom is on a roll. So if you’re a fan, you might be worried that a bigger company, say, Microsoft – which is getting closer to completing its buyout of Activision Blizzard – is about to swoop in and gobble them up. Fortunately, Capcom has confirmed that’s not going to happen.

Payday 3 matchmaking issues continue as the heist FPS faces a tough response on Steam, where it now has a ‘mostly negative’ rating based on player reviews. Users cite issues with getting into Payday 3 matches and also the game’s always-online functionality. Wait times and some performance issues are also cause for complaint, with only 33% of all Payday 3 Steam reviews now offering the shooter a positive notice. Developer Starbreeze also reports that it has encountered a fresh problem with Payday 3 matchmaking that as of this writing it is still attempting to stabilize.

Cities Skylines 2 isn’t far away, but there’s still plenty of opportunity to either experience the amazing, original city builder for the first time, or have a final, celebratory playthrough with all the Cities Skylines DLC packs. Courtesy of a huge new sale, you can get the entire Cities Skylines base game, plus the deluxe edition upgrade and all the major expansions and map packs for $20. The definitive spiritual successor to SimCity, this is the best Cities Skylines deal anywhere, perfect for bagging basically the entirety of CS1 ahead of CS2.

Baldur’s Gate 3 is full of gorgeous armor sets, and it can be difficult to choose a favorite. Perhaps even tougher is having to come to terms with the fact that your most fashionable set of boots or gloves just don’t offer a good enough bonus to keep wearing them any more. Fortunately, there’s now a solution, in the form of a cosmetic armor mod that allows you to apply the look of any gear piece to another without overwriting its stats.

Take Civilization 6, with its strategic city building and decision making as you expand your empire across a hex-based map while outsmarting your rival factions. Add Slay the Spire, with its card-based tactics, asking you to build a deck capable of consistently delivering the tools you need to secure victory. Now shake those up and pour over ice, and you get Hexarchy, a cool 4X deck builder coming to Steam in October. Ahead of its release, PCGamesN spoke to developer Main Tank Software at WASD to find out what makes it tick.

We now have a FFXIV 6.5 release date and a look at everything we can expect from the Growing Light update, courtesy of the latest letter from the producer. FFXIV Live Letter 79 just took place at the Tokyo Game Show, and as always game director Naoki Yoshida and community producer Toshio Murouchi held their light-hearted, laid-back look at everything coming in the next big Final Fantasy 14 patch. We’ve got all the details below, including a promise of math with Thaliak, a glimpse at the Zeromus fight, Stormblood joining the free trial, and the much-touted FFXIV KFC collab.

Destiny 2 players have been having a bizarre couple of weeks, and the strange behaviors continue with instances of enemy AI being completely broken. If you’ve managed to log into Destiny 2 servers this weekend but found that enemies have adopted a seemingly passive approach, ignoring you altogether, you aren’t alone. Elsewhere, players are finding doors that won’t open, and running into constant ties in PvP modes.

The First Descendant beta continues to prove very popular on Steam, with the crossplay beta test for the co-op third-person looter shooter managing to pull in a pretty consistent player base that’s hovered around 40,000 concurrent users on the Valve platform throughout the weekend. If you’re playing, you’ll be pleased to know that developer Nexon Games has just introduced a surprise login rewards event, giving you a healthy heaping of currencies just for hopping on in the final days of the test period.

Every time Hollow Knight Silksong pops its head up, the memories come flooding back. I avoided Team Cherry’s first game for years, thinking it wasn’t for me, only to fall completely in love with what now sits among my favorite games of all time. Like so many people, then, even the slightest sniff of news feels like blood in the water to a school of starving piranhas. The first Hollow Knight Silksong Steam update in months, then, is doubtless set to make waves, whether there’s anything more to follow or not.

Minecraft Mob Vote 2023 is around the corner, and it seems like Mojang is teasing that duck mobs might finally be on the cards. Whether it is or not, plenty of fans are getting excited at the possibility of quacks dominating the overworld, in whatever form they take.

If Starfield hasn’t satisfied your space cravings, a huge Everspace 2 update is on the way for free, making it a great time to get into or return to one of the most fun interstellar games of the year. The Armed and Dangerous update arrives at the start of October, and it’s packed with new features, improved ship customization, and some welcome quality-of-life changes.

The Cyberpunk 2077 2.0 update brings a lot of new features and overhauls to CD Projekt Red’s take on Night City, and chief among them is a super secret in-universe boomer shooter, styled after Wolfenstein 3D, the ‘90s era of Doom, and much more. No, I’m one hundred percent not kidding, and yes, I’m about to tell you where to find it.

Valheim has given players plenty of reasons to come back lately, with the Valheim Hildir update providing a good opportunity to jump back into the Viking co-op survival game while we await more details on what the Valheim Ashlands will look like. Following an update to servers earlier in the week, developer Iron Gate Studio delivers a fresh set of Valheim patch notes, this time resolving issues with crafting stations and keybinds.

If you’ve finished Baldur’s Gate 3 and want to see even more of Astarion, Lae’zel, Karlach, Gale, Wyll, and Shadowheart interacting with each other while abiding by the laws of Dungeons and Dragons (who doesn’t?) then do we have a treat for you. The Baldur’s Gate 3 companion cast of Origin has just started their own game of DnD, and it’s as heartwarming and frantic as you’d expect.

As the Warhammer Vermintide 2 Necromancer career gets ready to unleash its undead pals on the armies of Chaos and the Skaven hordes alike, developer Fatshark reveals the weapons that Sienna will get to use in the upcoming Warhammer Vermintide 2 update. With a devastating scythe and a staff offering her unique magic abilities for the new career, you’ll be making and reanimating corpses in equal measure.

Cyberpunk 2077 is officially back, everyone. After a rocky launch in 2020 filled with bugs, stability issues, and broken promises from CD Projekt Red, the 2.0 update ahead of the Phantom Liberty expansion has seen Night City’s virtual streets bustling with players, and there’s even a sale for those of you wanting to hang out with Keanu Reeves’ Johnny Silverhand for the first time. Be careful though, he’s got a bit of a foul mouth.

Starfield can be a rather gorgeous game at times. Peer too closely, however, and you’ll start to notice the cracks in the facade. Many of the game’s textures and effects don’t hold up to close inspection, while a lot of the faces have a rather plastic look to them – something you’ll likely become very aware of, given how close in proximity Bethesda NPCs like to stand while you’re chatting to them. Fortunately, legendary Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 mod creator ‘Halk Hogan’ is here to instantly improve your Starfield graphics.

Payday 3 is finally here, but the Starbreeze always-online heist shooter has already had quite a rough launch. Matchmaking issues have plagued both the early access period and yesterday’s full launch, but Starbreeze is saying that things are already starting to “look better” with more fixes and improvements on the way.

Starfield is the biggest Bethesda game thus far, which means it’s pretty darn massive. Since its recent release, players have been flying through the interstellar setting in search of new companions, missions, and more. If you’ve played the game yourself, then you’ve likely come across the adorable cube-shaped Chunks food items. Every time I see one of the Chunks, I’m not sure whether I’m hungry or scared. I mean, there are cubed cakes, eggs, and pretty much every category of food you can think of.

Grand Theft Auto has long stood the test of time as one of the most iconic game series ever. Rockstar Games’ long-lasting line of city-based criminal activity-focused experiences has just evolved even further with the company’s new GTA+ subscription membership benefits. The developer just announced that all players subscribed will have access to a steadily changing selection of classic Grand Theft Auto games, from beloved entries like San Andreas to Vice City.

Payday 3 has only just released from Starbreeze into the exciting wilderness that is the gaming community, but players are already having issues with the highly anticipated game’s online play. Following feedback from fans regarding problems with matchmaking, the developer has released an official response stating that the team is aware of the trouble fans are having in-game and is working hard to get an update deployed to ensure Payday 3 runs properly.

Unity is the cross-platform engine used by many of my favorite developers to create everything from small indie gems to bigger, more well-known games. The company recently disclosed upcoming changes to its fee policy which would see developers pay per-install of their games. The out-of-the-blue announcement was controversial, prompting a variety of game devs to respond detailing why this would have a negative impact on their work, with some creators going as far as backing out of using the engine altogether.

Tales of the Shire has me excited like no other game has in a very long time. It combines two of my favorite things ever, cozy games and Lord of the Rings, to create a wholesome Tolkien-inspired experience like no other. Publisher Private Division has teamed up with Wētā Workshop, a special effects company known for its work on Peter Jackson’s iconic The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings films, to create the Shire-based game.

Slay the Spire has the intricate roguelike deck building that sees you put together powerful card combos to take on the random encounters ahead of you. Baldur’s Gate 3 has the bold fantasy setting and the unquestionable thrill that comes from leaving your fate in the hands of a dice roll. Bring them together and the result is Diceomancer, a new roguelike announced at the Tokyo Game Show and heading to Steam.

CCP Games has revealed that you can finally get what you’ve been asking for over the MMO’s 20-year history and align with pirates in the new Eve Online expansion, Havoc. The Angel Cartel and Guristas pirate factions will recruit Capsuleers in Eve Online Havoc to help them spread corruption.

MSI is running a ‘back to school’ promotion in the UK with discounts of up to 35 percent on a range of gaming laptops, including some ultra powerful current gen machines. Even if you’re not heading back to the classroom, this MSI gaming laptop sale could be a great opportunity to save big on your next PC gaming purchase.

Seamless travel between planets is one of the most desired – and sorely missing – features in Starfield. Though it’s technically possible, if you want to fly organically between planets in the same system without going into the menus, it takes hours upon hours of real time. Starfield is at its best when you lose yourself in its visuals, its atmosphere, and its serene, cosmic pace. As it stands, jumping in and out of the Starmap every time you want to travel breaks up the journey – that wonderful sense of traveling that you get in Skyrim, Fallout, and the rest of the Elder Scrolls series, is rarer in Starfield without seamless flying. But now, Starfield seamless travel is possible thanks to a new, pioneering mod.

Lofree has announced its latest keyboard, the Lofree Flow, a brand-new low-profile mechanical keyboard. The peripheral and hardware innovator created the Lofree Flow as the world’s first low-profile keyboard to contain Kalih full POM switches.

In a surprise announcement at Eve Fanfest in Reykjavik, Iceland, CCP Games has announced its brand-new standalone FPS game, Eve Vanguard. Being developed using Unreal Engine 5, the shooter will see players take on the role of the Vanguard for the first time ever, and will be available separately to the main Eve Online experience.

Cities Skylines 2 roads are already being overhauled, thanks to addition of roundabouts, better highway ramps, and improved traffic AI that means Cims now use every single lane. There’s one key road-building feature we’ve been missing since Cities Skylines 1, however: the ability to create dedicated turning lanes and to exclude cars from going straight on at intersections. While CS1 allowed for some workarounds, it looks like CS2 is making dedicated turn lanes a simple reality, as Colossal Order shares fresh Cities Skylines 2 gameplay footage.

What do you get when you cross a gaming laptop with a supercar? Razer and Lamborghini have teamed up to find out in a bizarre crossover precisely no one asked for. This unique collaboration, which we found out about earlier in the year, has resulted in the Razer Blade 16 x Automobili Lamborghini Edition gaming laptop. With just 150 units available, Razer calls its latest product a “statement of elite gaming combined with supercar prestige.”